Sinéad stood nervously in line as the queue slowly shuffled its way towards the Immigration desk. She knew her paperwork was in order but there were still nagging doubts at the back of her mind. She’d heard of enough people who’d got deported from the States and she didn’t want to be among them.
It was her first time in America. In fact, it was the first time she’d ever been out of Ireland. She looked at the front of her passport for the five hundredth time. Her finger traced the embossed gold harp and the words Eire on the burgundy cover. She brought the passport to her nose. The pages still smelt new.
You’d have thought, the way her mother had gone on, that she was emigrating forever instead of just going to college in New York for an exchange year. Her mother was standing in the kitchen now, fretting. It was like something from a Flann O’Brien novel as she pressed a half dozen sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil into Sinéad’s hands.
“For on the journey,” she’d explained through a tear-stained face. Her mother’s tears had started Sinéad off and when her poor Dad came in to tell her that her case was in the car, he’d joined in too. They’d only needed the dog howling to complete the full set.
Sinéad had left the sandwiches in her Dad’s car. He promised he’d get rid of the evidence before he got home. As she got out of the car, her Dad sang the first few lines of the Pogues’ song, “The Body of an American” and Sinéad had to quickly shut the door and head into the airport before a fresh downpour of teardrops started flowing.
Once through Passport Control, with a “Welcome to America, Ma’am,” still ringing in her ears, she saw the sign “Sinead O’Really” in the arrivals hall held by a grinning woman in her early forties who was eagerly scanning the faces of the arrivals from the Dublin flight.
“HI, I’m Sinéad O’Reilly.”
“Hi, so glad you made it, Sinéad. Welcome to America. I’m Dorothy, I’m the International Students liaison officer for NYU.”
As Dorothy continued to talk, she led Sinéad out of the arrivals hall and towards the car park. Once the luggage was stowed and they were on their way, Dorothy explained that Sinéad would be living in a house with four other international students who were also studying at the Brooklyn campus but none of them would be on Sinéad’s study programme.
Sinéad wasn’t really listening. She was suffering a combination of tiredness and culture shock. She kept thinking, “it’s just like in the movies” as another yellow taxi drove by. She could see the skyscrapers of Manhattan as they drove across the bridge and the butterflies in her stomach did yet another fly past at the sight of the NYPD patrol car and the Walk Don’t Walk signs.
Dorothy pulled up on a residential-looking street and led her into the brownstone building and up a couple of flights of stairs before ringing the bell.
“I’ve got a key for you but I always prefer the students to know when I’m here rather than just busting in on them in the middle of god know’s what.”
Dorothy gave Sinéad a look as if to say, “I know you kids all do drugs and have sex all the time but I don’t mind as long as I don’t know.”
An Asian girl opened the door and smiled when she saw Dorothy.
“Alice, this is Sinéad. She’s from Ireland.”
Alice smiled, said hello then announced she was going back to bed. They watched her head back down the corridor. The pink tee shirt she wore as a nightshirt was not quite long enough to hide the fact she wasn’t wearing any knickers.
Dorothy started showing Sinéad around but after seeing her yawn, told her to go get some sleep and that she could meet the rest of her roommates later, once they were up. Sinéad agreed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Sinéad woke up a few hours later. She could hear movement and cupboard doors being opened and crockery being laid on the table. Brushing the sleep dust from her eyes, she wandered into the kitchen.
On seeing her, Alice introduced her to the rest of the inmates, as she described them. Stefan was a tall blonde Polish boy, Maria was an Argentinian girl and Lorenzo was a cute dark-haired Italian.
“Hey, Irish,” Lorenzo grinned. “Now we feel outnumbered.” He pointed to Stefan. “Three girls and only two guys.”
Sinéad laughed.
“I’m sure we won’t cramp your style that much.”
She looked at Alice who grinned back and raised an eyebrow while Maria just laughed.
After gobbling down a bowl of cereal, Sinéad felt better. Alice said they were all going to a party and they hoped she’d want to tag along. Sinéad agreed and went back to her room to get ready.
Half an hour later, with her blonde hair washed and styled and her favourite teal dress on, she met up with the rest of them. Lorenzo gave the obligatory wolf whistle while Alice grabbed her wrists and told her she looked fabulous.
The girls tottered off on their heels and Sinead was glad it was only a couple of blocks to the party. They stopped off en route to pick up some beers and Sinéad was relieved she’d turned 21 the month before when she was carded before being given the beer.
Stefan explained that a friend of theirs that they’d met a couple of days before was an actor and the get-together was the closing night party for the play he was in and there should be quite a crowd there.
The party was in full swing by the time they arrived and Sinéad soon found herself standing in the kitchen, her usual spot at parties. She was listening to a very earnest young poet called Benjamin trying to explain why studying at university was bourgeois and designed to crush your individuality when she saw Alice walk past, carrying a bottle of tequila. Alice waved then leant in and whispered, “Follow me.”
Sinéad excused herself and followed Alice up the stairs. Alice’s ass swayed in the tight black shorts and she remembered Alice’s walk that morning when she’d flashed her bare ass.
She’d expected to find a bedroom when she entered the upstairs room but it was another sitting room with several people lounging on a couple of settees and a few more were sitting on the floor.
A theatrical-looking man saw Alice and immediately reached out and took her hand.
“Darling, I’ve missed you.” He kissed her on both cheeks, then released her.
“Pull up your top. I want to do a line on your tits.”
Sinéad watched open-mouthed as Alice obediently put down the bottle of tequila then pulled up her white tee shirt and flashed her petite breasts at him. She didn’t need a bra, Sinéad conceded. She watched as the man sprinkled a line of white powder across Alice’s pale ivory-coloured flesh. She also noticed Alice’s brown nipples were hard and swollen. He leant in and inhaled as he ran his nose over Alice’s breasts before finishing by licking the last remnants of the powder from her tits. As she tugged her top down again, he grinned and kissed her again.
“Quite the party, eh?”
Sinéad turned and smiled at Lorenzo.
“Mmmhmmm,” she agreed.
“You know, if you want her, you only have to take her.” He indicated Alice with a nod of his head. “She likes you already.”
Sinéad felt the blush flood her face.
“She said she saw you checking out her ass this morning, and now you’ve been ogling her tits too.”
Sinéad tried to protest, tried to deny it, but instead, she just bit her lip and looked into Lorenzo’s eyes.
“Really?” She finally asked. “And what makes you think I’d want her?”
“It’s written all over your face, darling. I have excellent gaydar, even if you don’t.”
Sinéad swallowed. She wasn’t gay. She’d never been with a girl. Sure, she’d looked at lesbian porn, but I mean, who hadn’t? And yes, she may have enjoyed the odd kiss she’d shared with her friends but those were just friendship kisses, nothing more. And yet…
Her thoughts were interrupted by Alice bounding towards them. Lorenzo hugged her and laughed about her flashing her tits to the room. She’d just laughed and said she wasn’t well-equipped enough for anyone to notice.
“I think Sinéad noticed,” Lorenzo answered, smiling at them both before waltzing off in search of another beer.
Alice turned and looked. Sinéad swallowed and blushed but couldn’t tear her eyes away from Alice. Alice had such amazing eyes. They were almond-shaped with brown irises and big black pupils. Sinéad felt her own pale blue eyes looked so tawdry and boring by comparison.
Alice stepped closer until the distance between them had shrunk and everything around her was muted out.
“Did you like what you saw?” Alice’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Sinéad couldn’t trust herself to speak so just about managed an “uh huh” along with a nod of the head.
“Good,” Alice continued.
Sinéad glanced down as Alice ran her fingers up Sinéad’s forearm.
“I love your dress. It looks so classy compared to my shorts and tee shirt.”
Sinéad swallowed as Alice brushed her fingers over the teal material, delicate fingers traced the curve of her hip.
“It’s a bit hot in here,“ Sinéad finally managed to say. “Do you want to go outside for a bit?”
—
On the walk home, Sinéad discovered Alice’s real name was Yu Jun.
“Most Koreans have an English name as well as a Korean name,” she’d shrugged. “I think my Mum saw the Disney film and loved the idea of a white girl with blonde hair.”
She paused and looked at Sinéad.
“I like the idea of a white girl with blonde hair too.”
Then Alice kissed her. She casually leant in and pressed her lips to Sinéad’s mouth. Sinéad stood still, in shock, as the young Korean kissed her. Finally, Alice broke the kiss and took a half-step back, gazing into Sinéad’s eyes, searching for a sign.
“I think you should try that again,” Sinéad whispered. “I don’t think I was quite ready.”
Alice smiled and the two girls wrapped their arms around each other as they kissed under the streetlight.
When they finally came up for air, Sinéad blushed.
“I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“What? Kissing?” Alice laughed.
“Well… no… I’ve kissed… just… not like that.”
Sinead was finding it hard to get her thoughts out and felt herself blush. She looked at Alice who just smiled and took her hand.
“Come on, we can practice in private.”
Once they got home, Alice headed straight to Sinéad’s bedroom. There’d been no discussion. Sinéad blushed as she saw the mess she’d left everywhere in her rush to get ready earlier. But then the mess didn’t matter as Alice had come up behind her and pressed herself into Sinéad’s back.
Sinéad felt Alice’s lips on her neck as Alice slowly pulled the zipper down the back of Sinéad’s dress. Alice kissed her way across Sinéad’s shoulders, brushing her hair out of the way as the dress gathered around Sinéad’s hips. With the slightest tug, the dress slithered off and fell around her ankles.
Alice continued to press herself against Sinéad’s back and kiss her neck whilst her hands wrapped around and caressed Sinéad’s breasts. Alice’s fingers dipped inside Sinéad’s bra and teased the nipples awake.
Alice’s hands moved quickly, the fastening was undone and her hands were back sliding underneath the flimsy bra before Sinéad even realised what she’d done. Sinéad squirmed as Alice tugged and rolled her nipples, every touch seemingly hot-wired to her clit.
Alice’s fingers slithered down over her stomach and stroked Sinéad’s mound through the yellow cotton. Sinéad wished she was wearing a sexier pair of knickers but then they were tugged down and around her ankles and suddenly it didn’t matter anymore.
Sinéad had never been touched like this before. She saw her reflection in the dressing table mirror and blushed at her nakedness, watching as Alice slowly dragged her fingers over the smattering of light brown curls.
Their eyes met in the mirror’s reflection as Alice kissed her neck and Sinéad watched. Alice dipped her fingers between Sinéad’s legs, feeling the Irish girl’s heat and dampness as Sinéad shuffled her legs apart.
“Please,” Sinéad whispered and turned, wanting to touch Alice, frustrated at Alice hiding behind her. Alice took Sinéad’s face in her hands and kissed her deeply while walking her backwards towards the bed. When the edge of the mattress collided with Sinéad’s calves, Alice slowly lowered her onto the bed, then pushed her to lie on her back with her feet still on the floor.
When Alice dropped to her knees between Sinéad’s legs, Sinéad propped herself up on her elbows to watch. Alice didn’t break eye contact as she placed a hand on each of Sinéad’s knees and slowly spread her open. Sinéad bit her lip and watched. Alice’s eyes flickered downwards to take in the view then flicked back up to lock eyes with Sinéad again as she leant in and slowly dragged the flat of her tongue along the length of Sinéad’s slit.
“Fuuckkkkk,” she groaned as she felt Alice’s tongue explore her folds. Alice was in no rush and slowly kissed and sucked and licked and teased Sinéad until the girl was begging Alice to fuck her.
When Alice pushed two fingers inside her, Sinéad squeezed her muscles against her knuckles. Alice’s fingers were long and slim and soon were moving backwards and forwards as she scissored inside Sinéad. The tap tap tap on Sinéad’s g-spot was echoed in the whimpers and moans coming from Sinéad’s mouth.
When Alice wrapped her lips around Sinéad’s clit, it was all too much and with a whimpered squeal, she came all over Alice’s face.
Eventually, Alice stopped and let Sinéad collapse back onto the bed. She kissed her way up Sinéad’s body and leant over her, grinning, before kissing her softly on the mouth and letting Sinéad taste herself on Alice’s lips.
They heard the front door open and the others arrive back into the apartment but Alice just put her finger to her lips to shush Sinéad and drew the covers over them both.
