Dorsai - Taxi

When the two of them were finally able to leave the shelter, I was able to help them find the resources they needed to get started on a new life – a decent inexpensive apartment, some used but serviceable furniture, and a few of the other things they had to have. Doris let me know how much she appreciated all I'd done by inviting me over to join them for a damn fine meal they'd teamed up to make. Even after that, Doris and I stayed in touch regularly; she had a wonderful character, a fine wit, and was certainly attractive enough to make it a pleasure looking at her. Gail proved to be an intelligent youngster, and without the oppressive influence of her father, soon developed a pleasant and outgoing personality. There wasn't anything more to it than my being a good friend to the two of them, which was fine with me.

With me being that friendly with them, I was there to watch as Gail grew over the years – eventually becoming a lovely young woman after she started puberty. That was also when I started getting more and more requests for assistance from Doris… most of them involving how to deal with Gail, or to provide an outlet for Doris' infrequent need to vent the frustrations of raising a teenage daughter.

Doris asked if I'd like to spend the evening with her one Friday night while Gail was at a sleepover one of her friends was hosting. I said I'd be delighted, and she fixed a nice meal for the two of us. After I'd helped with clearing the table and doing the dishes (over Doris' protests), the two of us went into the living room to listen to some music. I was sitting at the end of their couch with Doris tucked into my side when I heard her ask "Jim? Why haven't you ever made a pass at me, or tried to get something going between us?"

More than a little surprised by the question, I had to think about it for a few seconds before I could answer "Several things, really. The first one is how we met. Considering how your last relationship with a guy turned out, I didn't figure that you'd be in too much of a hurry to get into another one any time soon. Another part of it is that we've got an actual friendship going on – I like you, and Gail, and the two of you seem to like me; I have to wonder what would happen if you and I got… involved. Then there's always the question of where things go afterwards. Would it be two people enjoying some physical intimacy, or just the beginning of something more serious or permanent? What if one of us thinks of it as being one way, and the other one sees it as the other? Then there's the question of Gail – does she know about it, and if so, how much? Remember, it wasn't so long ago that you had the talk with her; how much difference would there be between what you said to her, and what you'd be doing?"

She pulled away from me long enough to give me a Look, then settled herself into my side again before saying "You've told me about going to college, and why you're driving a cab, and everything – and you always seem to have pretty good answers for the questions I've had. But I never really appreciated how much time you must spend just thinking about stuff until just now. I mean, I asked you what I thought was a pretty simple question, and I figured I'd get a pretty simple answer. But what you actually said… it made me realize that my question wasn't as simple as I thought, and that I shouldn't have expected a simple answer, either. The stuff you brought up, I don't know that I would have thought about any of it until a lot later – maybe too late, even."

I gave her a soft hug before saying "Sorry."

"No, don't be. The things you mentioned, you were right about them. I was pretty gun-shy about guys, and for a long time. I think the only reason I did get over it was because of you – you're about as different from that jackass as anybody could be, and you've shown me what I should expect from a guy. I thought we were friends, too, and that our friendship is special. I didn't think about how special it is until you said something about it maybe changing."

Taking a deep breath, she went on "The idea of us having any kind of relationship – that never even occurred to me, but I have to admit that the questions you asked are good ones. And the same thing goes for what you had to say about Gail, too."

She hesitated a moment, then said "I… I have to admit that I was starting to think of you and me maybe getting… involved, like you said. But now you've given me reason to stop and think about what I wanted – and I will, I promise."

It didn't escape my notice that she hadn't said she didn't want us to become more intimate; only that she'd think it through before anything actually happened. Quite honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about either possibility.

The two of us continued to sit there and listen to the music for a while before going on to other things. When it started to get a little late, I excused myself and got ready to head home. At the door, she moved close to kiss me goodbye as she usually did – except the kiss that I got made it more than clear that the idea of intimacy between us appealed to her; to my relief, she broke the kiss off before I had to decide how to respond.

For the next several weeks, it was as if Doris and I had never had that brief conversation. When Gail "graduated" from middle school, we celebrated by my taking the two of them out for a nice dinner. Despite the fact that I had been the one to suggest it was a good reason for them to get "gussied up", I wasn't anywhere near prepared for the sight they presented when I got into their apartment.

I'm not quite sure how Doris managed it on what I knew was a fairly limited budget, but she'd somehow gotten herself and Gail coiffed, manicured, pedicured, made up, dressed up, and generally loaded for bear. Doris was wearing a strapless sheath number that contrasted nicely with her ash-blond hair and complimented her light complexion. It revealed enough of her ample bust to make it enticing, but without making her look top-heavy or trashy. It followed the curves of her waist and hips to good effect, and was short enough to leave a goodly expanse of well-shaped leg exposed.

Next to her, Gail wasn't dressed as overtly womanly, but that wasn't at the expense of making it clear that she was a nubile young female. Gail had on a sleeveless number that did a fine job of hugging her developing bust, trim waist, and slender hips. The color nicely offset her hair (only slightly darker than her mothers), and it, too, was abbreviated enough to leave plenty of her long, smooth legs nicely displayed.

When the two of them did a little pirouette, I saw that Doris' dress was backless to just above her hips; her hair was fastened in a loose ponytail that hung to the middle of her back. Below her hair (which was put up in a French braid) Gail's outfit had a single not-very-wide strap across the back, leaving a nice expanse of her lovely skin exposed. Their outfits also showed that each of them had a small, nicely-shaped ass. Looking at them, I was glad that I'd made the reservations for the restaurant I had. Although they'd have easily fit in (and complimented!) Chez Snooty or any other high-end restaurant in town, they still wouldn't be overdressed for where we were going – I really hadn't expected the two of them to take getting dressed up as far as they had.

In response to the little show they'd given me, I applauded loudly and gave them a few whistles to let them know they'd succeeded in getting my attention. Both laughed, and even blushed a little bit, before Doris suggested that we might want to get going.

As we were being shown to our table, I saw quite a few male heads turning to watch my companions – and a fair number of shins being kicked under the table, as a consequence. Dinner was a casual and and pleasant experience with both of them displaying a measure of class and elegance that I seldom saw. We took the time to enjoy our meal, including the dessert and coffee (me and Doris) and hot chocolate (Gail) that we finished things off with. After we left the restaurant, I delayed the necessity of taking them home through the simple expedient of an unplanned side trip to a small club I knew that featured live Jazz music. That got me another couple of hours of their delightful company before Doris suggested that it really was time that the two of them got home. Bowing to necessity, I took them back to their apartment – getting there somewhat later than was Gail's usual bedtime. To my amusement, both of them shed their shoes as soon as they were inside the front door.