The blue-haired college girl who changed everything

Lucía met Vera at college, in Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday Italian class. It was impossible not to notice her. First, because she was gorgeous, with dark eyes that seemed never to blink and a mouth that was distracting in all the right ways. But she also had a tattoo that started on her right shoulder and snaked down to her elbow. Electric-blue hair, almost unreal, and a thin ring piercing her nose.

As if that weren’t enough, Vera had the habit of wearing T-shirts that were either too tight or too loose, and she never wore a bra. When she walked into a place, the whole room turned to look.

That happened to Lucía the first time she saw her. And it unsettled her, even though she had been dating Marcos for almost a year. She had never felt anything like it looking at a woman, and very rarely when looking at a man. Vera projected an unshakable confidence, almost bordering on arrogance, but she had style, grace, and a beauty that asked no permission. She gave off an image that was part rebel, part dangerous, and Lucía found it irresistible.

Lucía, by contrast, was her opposite in almost everything. The way she dressed would have led anyone to take her for one of those rich girls, vain and superficial, which was not true, or not entirely. She was shy, insecure, despite being very pretty. Her straight hair, an almost transparent blonde, drew the eye, and her sweet face was the complete opposite of Vera’s. They seemed to come from different worlds, and maybe that was why Vera kept watching her with the same interest the other woman watched her with. Beyond her soft beauty, she was drawn to that fragile air, like someone defenseless against everything around her.

Even so, for weeks they went on living in their separate worlds. The only point of contact was that shared class three afternoons a week.

One day, while Lucía was having something in the cafeteria and waiting for her boyfriend, Vera came straight over.

—Can you lend me two euros?

—Sorry? —Lucía replied, thrown off.

—I’m short for a sandwich. Come on.

And, without waiting for an answer, she opened Lucía’s bag and took the money herself.

Lucía didn’t even manage to react. Vera’s determination, her cheek, left her speechless. And deep down, she didn’t mind. On the contrary, she felt a kind of silly happiness. It was the first time they’d spoken, and that easy confidence, taking her bag as if they were lifelong friends, seemed charming to her.

—Thanks, beautiful. By the way, I’m Vera.

—I know.

—And you are...?

—Lucía.

—I like it —Vera said, and left as quickly as she had come.

***

From that day on, Lucía found she couldn’t stop thinking about her. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She loved Marcos, and yet she realized she had become infatuated with Vera, and that was absurd for two reasons: first, she didn’t know her at all; second, Vera was a woman, and she liked men. Or so she thought.

What Lucía couldn’t suspect was that the exact same thing was happening to Vera. She was drawn to that fragility, that insecurity, that porcelain beauty. For Vera there was no mystery about what she felt; she was a lesbian and had known it clearly forever. The only question was why she was fascinated by someone so opposite to her, so far on the other side of the world.

So the two of them started looking for each other, as if by chance, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the elevator. In class they sat near each other and stole sidelong glances, each pretending the other hadn’t noticed.

It was Vera who finally made the move, knowing Lucía would never dare. On Thursday they had class late in the afternoon, and Vera sat down beside her. Lucía grew visibly nervous, and noticing it, Vera felt immensely satisfied.

—Here, your two euros —she said, placing two coins on the table.

—You didn’t have to give them back to me.

—Then I’ll keep them. —And she slipped them back into her pants pocket.

Lucía couldn’t hold back a laugh, which annoyed the professor, who looked over his glasses at them.

—You two in the back. If the class doesn’t interest you, please leave.

They both stood up, and half the room turned to look. They were day and night. Vera was wearing jeans cut off at mid-thigh and a tank top so loose that, when she leaned over, it showed more than it should. Lucía wore a pale pink jacket-and-skirt set, with a thin pearl necklace. The contrast was so brutal that even the professor watched them a second too long before going back to the lesson.

In the hallway, Vera leaned against the wall with a smile.

—I’ll buy you a coffee.

—Okay.

—At my place.

Lucía hesitated only a moment. Her heart was hammering in her throat.

—All right.

***

Vera’s apartment was small, very small, and decorated true to its owner’s taste: old posters, plants on the brink of death, a guitar missing a string propped in a corner. It was not exactly cozy, but it had a forceful personality, just like her.

—Take off your jacket —Vera said, while she herself pulled off her tank top and let it fall onto a chair.

Lucía obeyed in silence. She was surprised and, above all, nervous. She didn’t say anything; when necessary, she answered with a yes, a no, or a nod.

—How cute —murmured Vera when she saw that beneath the jacket she was wearing a white silk blouse.

Lucía sat on the sofa, which creaked in a rather unsettling way. Vera settled in beside her and kept staring at her. She was gorgeous like that, so elegant, so frightened. She looked like one of those puppies that tremble without really knowing whether it’s from cold or fear, or both at once. Vera felt an almost uncontrollable urge to hug her, to protect her from anything that might hurt her.

Slowly, she leaned in and pressed her lips to Lucía’s. Lucía didn’t move. Vera could smell her perfume, soft and expensive, and for the first time it was Vera who felt shaken. Lucía’s lips were warm, wonderfully soft. She stayed there for a few seconds without moving, simply resting against her mouth, without forcing anything.

Lucía still didn’t pull away. She was still, expectant, holding her breath. Then Vera began to kiss her for real, gently at first, tracing the outline of her lips with her tongue, asking permission to enter. Lucía slowly opened her mouth, and a shiver ran down her entire spine when Vera’s tongue touched hers.

At first she seemed like a statue. But, in the heat of those kisses, she began to melt and started to respond, awkward and trembling. She was delicate, almost inexperienced. For Vera, used to the direct and the rough, it was the most beautiful kiss anyone had given her in years.

She got to her feet, took Lucía by the hand, and led her to the bedroom. From a drawer in the nightstand she took out a pair of handcuffs and closed one around Lucía’s wrist. When Lucía went to protest, Vera kissed her again, shaking her head slowly, as if telling her to trust her. She laid her back on the bed, threaded the chain behind one of the bars of the headboard, and closed the other cuff. Lucía was left there, with her arms over her head, completely at her mercy.

Trembling, breathing in ragged bursts, she watched Vera unbutton her blouse one button at a time, unhurried. She slid her hands down her back and unclasped her bra. Then she spent a moment looking at her breasts before leaning in to kiss them. A moan slipped out of Lucía that she didn’t know where it had come from.

Without stopping the kisses, Vera lowered the skirt zipper and took it off. Her hand slipped beneath the underwear, and two fingers began rubbing her clit in slow circles. Lucía writhed, closed her eyes, and let herself be carried into territory she didn’t know. Vera, despite her hard look, was a surprisingly tender lover.

Being handcuffed, helpless, added a kind of arousal Lucía hadn’t known she needed. By instinct she tried to move her hands, to caress Vera or herself, but since she couldn’t, the fire inside her burned even brighter.

Vera enjoyed it too. She had that woman who had completely bewitched her under her control, all her body was hers, and she explored it at her leisure: the slender, tempting neck, the breasts, the smooth, soft belly, the firm thighs, the wet, hot sex. She took it all in with her hands and her mouth, luxuriating in every reaction of her prisoner, who, overtaken by pleasure, grew more beautiful every second, arching, biting her lips, seeking with her hips the tongue that was devouring her.

When Lucía came, she did it in small jolts that lifted her barely off the bed, panting, almost on the verge of tears. Vera lived the best moment of the night watching her explode with a beauty that left her breathless.

***

Then she took off her jeans and let Lucía look at her, still cuffed, running her eyes over her. She leaned over her and rubbed her breasts against Lucía’s warm body, now without the urgency of before. Lucía trembled again at the feel of that firm skin sliding from her neck down to her lower belly. At last, Vera lay down beside her and they kissed with a kind of gratitude.

A few minutes later, she opened the handcuffs. Free, Lucía began to caress her with her delicate hands, fascinated above all by her breasts, which seemed to draw her in a special way. Shyly, she started to kiss them, to run her tongue over the nipples. Vera took off the last garment to make the path easier for her novice lover.

Even so, Lucía still didn’t dare go beyond her chest. Vera took her hand, moistened her fingers with saliva, and guided them to the entrance of her sex, teaching her the rhythm, the exact spot. After a few seconds she could let go, and Lucía’s hand began to move on its own, exploring with a curiosity that turned her on more than any technique. Vera found herself surrendered to that blend of innocence and desire, to the way she touched her as if she were afraid of awakening something dangerous. All of it was new to her, and she thought it was the most exciting thing she had ever tried.

Lucía loosened up as she watched her friend shiver, as she felt pleasure take possession of that strong, self-assured body. She dared to nibble the hard nipples while her fingers explored more boldly. Vera started to stir, and Lucía, frightened, pulled her hand back a little. Vera put it back in place, firmly.

—Don’t stop now —she panted—. Keep going.

Hearing that voice loaded with urgency made Lucía renew her caresses and kisses, intoxicated by how close she was to making her come. Vera shook herself, breathing hard, arching her back. Lucía watched her in ecstasy, amazed by the power her hands, her fingers, her mouth had. She felt happy, overheated, and gave her a long, deep kiss that seemed to come from her very guts. That was when Vera came hard, clutching the sheets.

They spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms, barely sleeping, feeling one another’s heat, the softness of skin, caressing and kissing slowly in the half-dark. Nothing existed beyond their bodies, desire finally unleashed, and that strange, clear feeling of having found, without looking for it, exactly what they had been missing.