The sleek commuter plane turned and banked over Canberra airport, then began it’s final approach. Cherie looked out the window at a city she had never been to and wondered if Julie had changed in the six years since she had seen her. The six years since, on a rainy afternoon in Carlton,  she, Julie and Karen had made love repeatedly, induced sneezing fits, gone through a lot of tissues and learnt that sometimes, you have to take a chance to get a good result.

That afternoon had always stayed with Cherie, along with the memory of how jealous she had been at Julie’s obvious interest in Karen, a jealousy which, as it had turned out, was quite unwarranted.

The plane was nearly down. Wouldn’t be long now. Cherie’s mind wandered back to the phone call she had received  that lunchtime.

*

“How do you fancy a change of scenery and a bit of fun in bed, Chez?”

Cherie chuckled.

“Are you coming on to me, Jules?” she asked.

“Coming? Always,” Julie replied.  “But yes, I am inviting you to make love to me. Karen’s in Sydney, isn’t she?”

“Yes, but she’ll be back tomorrow,” said Cherie. "What’s brought this on? Are you in Melbourne?”

“Nope. Still in Canberra. Haven’t been back to Melbourne since I moved up here. But I can have you up here this afternoon if you’ll be in it. And you’ll be home again tonight. Karen will never know you  were out of Toorak, let alone out of the state.”

Cherie’s interest was growing by the second. Karen’s recent promotion meant she travelled interstate for meetings several days out of each month. The one she was away on  at present was especially important,  a new client that could bring further expansion to the legal firm, not to mention the benefits for it’s  Commercial Lawyers, Karen included.

Cherie had quickly found, though,  that weekends alone without their constant banter, bedroom adventures and sneezy fun, left her feeling quite lost. She had never cheated on Karen in all their years together, but she didn’t consider going with Julie cheating. All three of them openly flirted over the phone all the time. Besides, Julie was right. Karen would never know…….

“I’ll be in it,” she said. “What do I have to do?”

“There’s a Government commuter flight leaving Tullamarine Airport at 2.45,”  Julie told her. “Just go to the Comair desk and give your name, saying you’ve been booked by me through the Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra. I’ll meet you at the other end.”

“Okay,” said Cherie, a little perplexed. “Do I need anything?”

“You got some of that talcum powder you’re allergic to?”

Cherie’s eyes opened wide.

“I sure have,” she said. “Do you have any crushed oleander?”

“Touche,” replied Julie. “It’s freshly crushed and ready to be inhaled.”

“Let’s do it, then,” Cherie told her. “I’m on my way."

*

True to her word, Cherie put her all-important talcum powder in her handbag and donned her fur-lined ski jacket. Melbourne might be the four-seasons-in-one-day city, but Canberra could be described in two words-bloody cold.

She locked up the unit and was in the garage, climbing into the car, within 20 minutes of getting the phone call.

Elite Toorak was behind her in a couple of minutes as she picked up Punt  Road, gritting her teeth at her distaste of city traffic. It took 40 minutes before she left Elizabeth Street and entered the Tullamarine Freeway. Now the pace quickened, and so did Cherie’s heart at the thought of seeing Julie again.

Traffic slowed again within sight of the airport and Cherie gritted her teeth as they finally edged around the three car nose-to-tail that was the cause. Finally, an hour after leaving home, she was parking in the general lot at the airport.

Tullamarine Airport was its usual busy self. Huge queues of taxis awaited business, shuttle buses came and went as did hordes of people of all nationalities. Cherie took in all of this at a glance, then ignored it as she strode purposefully through the Qantas terminal and the throngs of people there. Pausing only to use the Ladies before her expected plane trip, she headed for the Comair desk, situated right at the end. In spite of having been to the airport a number of times since they had come to Melbourne as fledgling University students, Cherie had had no reason to give the Government’s air fleet counter half a glance.

However, she now presented herself to the clerk there with her best winning smile, giving her name and following the instructions Julie had given her over the phone. She half-expected to get the third-degree, but the clerk’s fingers merely flew over his keyboard before he issued her with a boarding pass that looked completely different to the ones issued by commercial airlines. He politely instructed her to go through the metal detectors and walk to Gate 3 where the passengers were already boarding.

A minute later, Cherie’s watch, friendship and eternity rings set the metal detector beeping, but the guard merely noted the jewellery and gave her a desultory once-over with his hand-held device before waving her on. Momentarily, she was at the desk of Gate 3. It was, she noted, smaller than the other departure lounges and appeared to be used predominately for light aircraft.

Another clerk checked her boarding pass and sent her through the doors and down an air bridge. On the tarmac stood a sleek propjet and Cherie wondered for the first time who the hell was paying for this. She had a feeling Julie was going to sneeze on her via the public purse.

The plane seated 50, but was only half full, mainly serious-looking men in suits and a few women. Heads of both sexes were raised abruptly as the tall, beautiful lady in her mid-twenties stepped on board. Cherie wondered for about the millionth time how all the gawkers she encountered would react if they knew she was a lesbian.

Probably with great shock or disappointment.

Cherie found her numbered seat only three rows back from the doorway. Across the aisle was another woman about her age, dress in a smartly tailored suit and poring over some papers in a folder. She had not looked up when Cherie entered the plane and seemed oblivious to everything around her.

The bulkhead doors slammed and there came the muted sound of the jet engines cycling up. Two minutes later, they were bumping along the taxiway. Five minutes later, they were speeding down the runway and into the air. There had been no safety demonstration, no welcoming monologue. This plane was used by politicians and their staff. There were none of the niceties observed for tourists. Cherie calculated to pass the time and decided the flight would take about 50 minutes, ten of which they had now already been airborne for.

For the first time since Julie had rung, Cherie began to fret a little. What was she doing, going behind Karen’s back like this? They put a huge amount of trust in each other. It had been impossible to come this far without it. She consoled herself again with the thought that Julie was not some stranger, but it still felt wrong to run off and sleep with her, not to mention induce sneezing.

“Wish someone would give me a sign,” Cherie thought bitterly. “As if such a thing could happen.”

As if on cue, the woman across the aisle burst into a fit of rapid-fire sneezes. “Ishoo… Isshoo.. Ishoo… Ishoo…Ishoo!”

She caught the sneezes on the back of her hand, then, without raising her head from her papers, made a crumpled handkerchief appear and gave a loud, unattractive honk into it. Cherie observed all this out of the corner of her eye. A copy of The Bulletin was in the seat pocket in front of her. Cherie pulled it out and opened it, a barely perceptible smile playing around her lips. She wanted a sign. There it was.

  “Okay, Jules,” she thought. “I’m coming. In more ways than one.”

*

The flight took 54 minutes, then they were taxiing up to the terminal at Canberra airport, which was half the size of Tullamarine. There was no one in front of her on either side, but Cherie let the woman who had sneezed earlier get up and into the aisle before she moved. Admiring the shorter young lady’s buttocks, she followed her off the plane onto another air bridge, hearing the footsteps and muttered voices of the other passengers behind her.

Within thirty seconds, they were in the terminal. The woman kept walking, away towards the main concourse. There were not many other people there for a Saturday afternoon, aside from some more political-looking types in suits and several others in uniforms. Cherie tipped them to be chauffer drivers meeting other passengers.

Then her eyes riveted on someone standing apart from everybody else. A tall, attractive lady wearing tight designer jeans, white blouse, turtleneck sweater and a long, expensive-looking coat. The lady observed her and moved forward, her face lighting up in an innocent smile.

“Hi Chez,” she said.

“Hi Jules,” replied Cherie.

Instantly, the years fell away. Julie gave her a warm hug and Cherie drank in the other girl’s scent, her pussy lips moistening unbidden. They drew apart and surveyed each other, grinning.

“Welcome to my little corner of the world,” Julie purred. “Where you’re guaranteed a good time. I’ve got the car out the front. Let’s go.”

Without further ado, they left the almost-empty lounge, walking quickly towards the main concourse, close together, their hands almost touching.

*

By contrast to Tullamarine, Canberra airport all but closed down between commercial flights and there were few people around. Stepping through the sliding doors to go outside, Cherie immediately noted two things; there were even fewer people out here and it was cold!

“Hell!” she exclaimed, thankful for her fur-lined ski jacket. “This makes Melbourne feel like Jamaica. How do you stand it?”

  “Aw, you don’t notice it after a while. The air’s cold, but fresh,” replied Julie. "Bit of a heatwave at the moment. It was seven degrees at noon.”

Cherie wasn’t sure whether she was having her leg pulled or something, but shivered, despite her jacket. Julie quickly led the way to where a new Holden Calais with Commonwealth of Australia number plates was parked in a restricted area. Cherie wondered if the car came with a chauffer, but Julie produced a set of keys and zapped the remote locking. Momentarily, they were in the warm interior, then speeding away from the kerb.

“You’re not feeling guilty about this, are you,”  Julie asked. “I mean, you agreed to this readily enough, but you and Karen are the proverbial Siamese twins.”

Cherie shook her head.

“She’ll never even know I was gone,” she said. “And it’ll be so good to have a little session with you again after so long. Have you really got a fresh supply of oleander leaves?”

Julie nodded.

“They’re like your talcum powder, only a damn sight more potent. They’ll really set me off." She paused and flicked a glance at Cherie.

“You should have been here a couple of weeks ago. I caught a cold. I had such sneezes. And the mess in my hankies. And my hands when I sneezed into them.”

“You starting foreplay already?” asked Cherie mischievously.

“Yes, but it’s all true. I  was very sneezy.” Julie’s voice was as cultured as ever. “And I want to be again, for you now.”

Cherie’s heart quickened once more.

“Let’s both be,” she said with an eager smile.

Conversation switched to the trip Cherie and Karen had taken to Apollo Bay the previous spring, Cherie describing the sneezing fits she’d had from the wattle there, and the way Karen had taken pity on the teenage shop assistant, buying her Zyrtec tablets and slipping her money for an allergy specialist.

“It’s just the sort of thing Karen would do,” Julie observed wistfully. “The world’s running out of caring people. Living here with all the white-collar-criminals proves that to me."

They were quickly approaching the city and Cherie watched with interest as the landscape changed. Vacant land and paddocks followed by dingy-looking businesses and car yards set back from the Federal Highway turned to inner-city suburbia under the depressingly grey sky. Shortly, they left the highway and were on a wide tree-lined boulevard.

“Almost there,” announced Julie, indicating right.

They turned on to a similar wide street. Northbourne Avenue, Cherie observed. This area contained mainly office blocks and businesses with a smattering of motels. Julie turned left into one of these about halfway along the street. Cherie glanced at the sign on the front. The Country Club Motel. They rolled straight past Reception and into a huge courtyard area at the back. Cars were dotted outside unit doors and a woman pushed a linen trolley along the walkway. Cherie, however, let out a low whistle of admiration as she took in the spraying fountain and the manicured lawns, both of which seemed out of place in this chilly, dull city.

Julie grinned at her and swung into a space at the end of the courtyard. They were outside a unit with gabled windows and a security screen door.

  “Nice place, isn’t it?” she beamed and cut the engine. “Entry level is $250 a night., but don’t get the wrong idea,” she continued, as Cherie’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s not costing me a cent.”

Leaving the warmth of the car was like stepping outdoors at the North Pole. A breeze was blowing and it knifed through Cherie’s coat, making the average Melbourne winter feel like a summer’s day at the beach compared to this.

They both headed for the door of the unit at a rapid pace. Julie aimed the immobiliser back over her shoulder and the alarm chirped. Lowering her arm,  she jammed the same set of keys into the screen door lock. Throwing that open, she keyed the inner door as well. Momentarily, they were inside and she quickly closed and locked the door. Central heating whispered amicably and had obviously been set high for some time as the room was toasty warm.

Cherie glanced around. The room was more of a suite, sumptuously furnished with comfortable-looking sofas, a dining setting and a coffee table. A work desk with a computer port in the wall stood in one corner. Adjacent a kitchenette was a doorway that led into a bedroom containing a sizeable queen bed, chests of drawers and an en suite bathroom.

Cherie wandered out of there and stood in the main room again, a little awestruck.

“Jules….hon……you…….seem to have gone to a hell of a lot of trouble just to share some sneezing together.”

“How about a proper hug, then I’ll tell you how and why,” beamed Julie, taking off her coat.

“Hug? Whoops, forgot about that,” returned Cherie, taking off her own jacket also. The room temperature was highly pleasant compared with outside. They stepped into each other’s arms and began an embrace that made the hug at the airport terminal look like a brief handshake. The hugging turned to nuzzling, the nuzzling turned to deep kissing. Tongues intertwined. Breasts and buttocks were stroked. After a few more minutes, they paused for breath, surveying each other.

“You’re delicious,” whispered Julie, her eyes alight with arousal.

“You can eat me later,” replied Cherie, straight-faced.

Julie gave a brief chortle, then fell awkwardly silent.

“This room? The Government plane?” Cherie prompted.

“Yeah, well,” said Julie. “The plane is used for shuttle flights of parliamentary staff between here and Melbourne or Sydney. Getting you a seat via my department was simple. You’re not the first civilian to travel that way. It goes on all the time. The car is from the Commonwealth Government motor pool. I can requisition a vehicle for official use any time I want. Perks of the job. It’s not like they check, anyhow, what you’re doing with it.”

She paused.

  “This room…..is on permanent lease to the Attorney-General’s Department. It’s used for entertainment purposes by the man himself and some senior ministers.”

“What kind of entertainment?” asked Cherie, then immediately, she said, “No, don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to know.”

“No different to the sort of entertainment we’re here for, hon.” Julie recovered her poise. “And it’s all on expenses.”

“Nice to see the taxpayer getting value for money,” Cherie deadpanned.

“Oh definitely,” Julie returned. “Like large cash injections for Gay and Lesbian Counselling Services.”

“Hey, were you behind that?” Cherie asked.

Julie just smiled and wriggled her eyebrows.

Cherie sighed and her eyes fell on a menu on the dining  table.

“You gonna feed me?” she demanded. “Joe Public will pay.”

“Yes, but I’m itching to get you into bed,” replied Julie. "Why don’t I order it for 6.30? It’s barely 5.00 now.”

They chose a dozen oysters each, Braidwood trout with vegetables and a chicken dumpling basket. Julie quietly placed the order over the phone, then hung up and turned to Cherie.

“I’m ready for action,” she said soberly. “Are you sure about this? Karen’s my friend too”.

Cherie shook her head impatiently.

“Of course I’m sure,” she returned. “Karen’s never gonna know.”

Julie nodded sagely.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “I mean, Karen’s a beautiful girl and you’re both very lucky to have each other, but……" she paused"……she’s got such a small sneeze.”

They both burst into laughter.

*

A few minutes later, they were wandering into the bedroom, hand in hand. Unashamedly, they undressed together, stealing kisses, giggling and touching all the while. That done, Cherie took the talcum powder from her bag and put it on the bedside table, then tied back her long, silky hair. Julie pottered around stark naked, gathering a saucer and a sachet of the potent oleander leaves. To these, she added a box of tissues and a large white handkerchief.

Then they were in the big comfortable bed. Like the central heating, Julie had obviously turned up the electric blanket before she left for the airport. They snuggled together, kissing and cuddling,  touching and stroking.

“It’s hardly my business,” said Cherie when they finally paused their foreplay. “But are you actually seeing anyone?”

“Yes and no,”  Julie replied. “There’s this furry little press secretary at the office. We’ve been sleeping together about a year, but it’s only a loose arrangement and very clandestine……..and she doesn’t know about the sneezing.”

She paused.

“Come to think of it, her sneeze is no bigger than Karen’s. Not much fun.”

“Where is she this weekend?” asked Cherie.

Julie did the eyebrow trick again. “Oddly enough, in Melbourne with the Attorney-General his very self and his entourage. She’s in charge of the media spins he gives to tell the public what good value they’re getting for their political dollar.”

Cherie began to laugh. “So you know where your boss and your lover both are when you’re with your mistress?”

“Yep, spin-doctoring political issues,” said Julie who didn’t join in the laughter for some reason.

Cherie rapidly decided the press secretary meant more to Julie than she allowed to show.

Julie reached for the tissue box and put it between them. “And now it’s time for political tissues. Shall we start?”

“Who’s going to go first?”  Cherie asked.

“Why don’t you? You’re my guest.”

“Hmmmm……still like your breasts sprayed?”

“Yes please. Still like your face sprayed?”

“Uh-huh”.

They grinned at each other, a sudden shyness between them. This was it and about time too. Cherie picked up the talcum powder.

“Lie back,” she said softly.

Julie obeyed, her heart pounding in anticipation. Cherie shook a generous amount of powder into her palm and inhaled it deeply.  At once, there came a familiar tickling in her sinuses. She breathed steadily, letting it build.

Julie watched her, poised to receive a beautiful spray, her eyes like saucers.

“Ah……..Ah……..HA….HATISSSHOO……….HATISSSHH!……….HATISSSHOO!!”

Her face two inches from Julie’s firm, round breasts, Cherie released her first fit of sneezes in a triple explosion, moving her head slightly with each one so that both breasts got a liberal spray of spit.

Julie moaned and, for a moment, she was back in a rambling old house in Carlton, receiving  more pleasure than she’d ever known from both Cherie and Karen. She opened her eyes to find Cherie already inhaling more powder, her lips glistening wetly. Sniffing it up like a vacuum cleaner, it was easy to see she wanted to go on. In any case, Cherie knew she was good for a maximum of four fits before her nose became too irritated for the powder to be effective.

As the pre-sneeze tickle came on, Cherie drew several panting breaths, giving Julie time to get ready. Then she felt Julie’s soft hand slip gently over her nose and mouth Hmmm….the girl wanted something different, suddenly, she reflected. Not that it was different to Cherie though. With a final breath, she let go.

“HALISSEW…..HAISSSH……HAISSHH……SSSSSHHHOO!!”

A simultaneous intake of breath and the fourth sneeze had the two tangled up together and the result was even messier than usual. Cherie coughed several times into Julie’s hand, recovering. She lifted her head revealing a slowly running nose which she swiped at with her forearm. Julie was looking at her saliva-covered palm as though a new god had been discovered.

Unashamedly, she sniffed at it and rubbed the liquid with a finger. Not wiping her hand, she locked her gaze with Cherie’s, her eyes shining with arousal.

“More”, she begged. “Please. Breasts again.”

The begging tone was not lost on Cherie who nodded.

“I think I’m good for one more,” she said. “After that, I’ll have to blow my nose and that’ll probably be it.”

Her voice was already sounding clogged as her nose filled steadily with mucus. She sprinkled more powder into her palm and began inhaling. The fragrance filled her nostrils and the minute flecks tickled her sinuses and nasal linings. The tickle built, but with maddening slowness. The powder was losing effect. Cherie breathed steadily, urging it on. Finally, she felt herself reach the point of no return and bent again to Julie’s breasts.

  “AH….AHAA….ISSSHEW!!…. .HALISSSHEW!!…..HAISSSHH!!….. HAISSSHH!!…. ISSHH!…….. HAISSHH….OOO!!”

Again,  Cherie  made sure each breast got a liberal dose. She paused a few moments, panting for breath. Then, for a finishing flourish, she put a nostril over Julie’s left nipple, blocked the other side of her nose and gave a short, sharp blow, covering the excited little bud in thick, fresh mucus. Moving to the other breast, she began a sensuous licking on that nipple. With two fingers, she caressed the mucus-covered nipple. Julie moaned and writhed, eyes closed. She had been sneezed on and now this. How lucky was she?

Finally, Cherie sat up.

“I  have to blow my nose”,,she gasped. “I can’t sneeze any more.”

he took three tissues from the box on the bed and, with a deep breath, blew a long, liquid blast into them.

  “Errgh”, she said, wiping the excess carefully. “My sinuses must be the cleanest in the country. Everything comes out.”

She took two more and blew again. Gentler this time. Julie picked up the first wad of tissues and examined the sticky dampness. Cherie watched without comment. After all, it was nothing Karen hadn’t done a thousand times.

Shortly, with fresh tissues in her hand, Julie was wiping off her breasts, the nipples puckered excitedly. When she had finished, they looked at each other

“Do you need to……?” Cherie began.

Julie shook her head emphatically.

“Not yet,” she said. “We’ll make love when I’ve looked after you”.

Cherie nodded slowly, her own arousal pulsing contentedly. Julie reached out a hand to her bare shoulder.

“Come here and lie with me a minute,” she whispered.

Cherie lay down, moulding herself into the other girl’s warm body. They kissed and nuzzled in the half-light, whispering endearments.

“How did it feel to have me sneezing in your hand?” Cherie asked.

“It was beautiful,” whispered Julie, her eyes shining again. “That rush of breath and spit on my palm, I just can’t describe it”.

Cherie considered a moment, then explained briefly how Karen had  “come out” with her fetish, slipping a hand across Cherie’s mouth to catch an approaching sneeze when they had both been mere schoolgirls. Highly embarrassed, and afraid of losing her good friend, Karen had stammered out an explanation, then been flooded with relief when Cherie had admitted her interest.

“We’ve just gone on from there,” she said quietly. “Soul mates with a twist.”

Julie was silent for a few moments. “It’d only happen once in a hundred years”, she murmured. “You can’t get luckier than you’ve been.”

She held Cherie even closer. “You like satin, don’t you?”

“I sure do,” said Cherie. “I’d say all three of us do. You were wearing a satin blouse that afternoon we all got together. Don’t tell me it was by accident.”

Julie chuckled.

“It wasn’t, either,” she said. “But I’ve got something for you now.”

She released Cherie and hopped out of bed. Zipping naked to the wardrobe in the corner, she opened it and withdrew a garment from inside. There was not enough light in the room to see what she was doing from a distance, but she appeared to be putting it on, whatever it was.

A moment later, she was hopping back into bed and snuggling up to Cherie….wearing a beautiful satin nightshirt which exposed her crotch and buttocks, hugged her breasts and left little else to the imagination.

“You like?” she purred in Cherie’s ear.

“Ooooh….stay with me forever”, whispered Cherie, stroking the soft fabric.

After a few moments, Julie sat up. “I think it’s time you had a treat,” she said and reached for the saucer of oleander.

*

Putting her white hanky fetchingly in the pocket of the nightshirt, Julie began her task. She had never been all that galvanised into arousal by her own sneezing; she regarded it as more of a pleasurable act. Build and release. Again and again. Another girl sneezing could send her weak-kneed at times, though.

In fact, Cherie’s brief effort had had more effect on her than she let on, but she was determined to hold on until they could release their need together. Half-crouching over the other girl, she allowed Cherie’s hands to caress her breasts through the thin satin as she inhaled the fumes from the saucer of crushed oleander. Just as had happened with Cherie, she felt an immediate familiar tickle. She breathed gently through her nose, enjoying the build-up.

“You got a tickle, honey?” came a soft questioning. “Do you need to let it out?”

“I must”, whispered Julie, still enjoying her build-up. “Sneezy coming on”.

As the tickle reached the point of no return, Julie moved closer to Cherie’s face and opened her eyes, looking straight into another pair of  quietly trusting blue ones. Then, the dam broke.

“ATISSHOO!!….HATISSHH!!……TISSSH…..TISSSHH….TISSSHH….HATISSSHH!!…”

Cherie felt the spray sheening her face liberally, the cool sensation of Julie’s saliva sending her racing for seventh heaven. She opened her eyes again. Julie’s lips were wet, her nose yet to run, but the lips had traces of a smile. She was enjoying herself.

“More,” whispered Cherie.

"Plenty more where that came from,” murmured Julie and bent to inhale again. That duty done effectively, she moved back to her previous position, her face ten inches from Cherie’s.

  “AH…HA…HAAHHA… HA..ISSSSHH!!….HATISSHHOO!!….HATISSSHOO!!…. HA..ISSSHH!!…IIISSSHH!!…HA..AHHHH….ISSHOOO!!”

She paused panting. Now her nose was running and, unusually, she was aroused at the thought of the pleasure she was giving to Cherie. Cherie, at this moment, eyes practically spinning with pleasure, reflected fleetingly that while her own sneezes were not all that tiny, Julie’s were even bigger again. And wetter. Though she had never seen the girl sneeze naturally. The size might have something to do with the method of inducement.

“Oh, my goodness,” gasped Julie, almost primly. “I didn’t think that one was going to stop. Are you having fun yet?”

“Fun?”, Cherie managed. “My face doesn’t get this wet in the shower.”

Julie responded with a giggle and rubbed her nose.

“More?” she enquired.

Cherie nodded.

“I want to feel you in my hand as well, now,” she said.  “It’s not like I get the chance with anyone else.”

This time, they both giggled. All three girls often made jokes about Karen’s tiny, but cute sneeze. As much as she loved Karen, Cherie had the chance here to catch a sneeze with some full-bodied substance, as it were.

For the third time, Julie began hoovering up the oleander fumes. Then, for the third time, she crouched over her illicit afternoon lover. This time, Cherie’s hand slipped gently across her nose and mouth. The build-up only took a second and Julie began to sneeze.

  “HATISSHOO!!!…..AHHTIISSHH!!….. IIIISSHH!!…HA…ISSHOO!!..ISSHHOO!!.. ISSHHOO!!”

  Cherie felt the breath and the spray Julie had described earlier, only this time it was her who was receiving, not giving.  Julie paused, her third  fit finished. Cherie rubbed the wet palm against her nose. She was so aroused she couldn’t stand it. But Julie was on a roll.

“You like to sneeze into your hanky, babe?” she asked. “You like it when someone is watching you and wishing they could be your hanky instead?”

Her voice had taken on an odd dreamlike quality and Cherie realised Julie’s excitement was making her give vent to her darkest fantasies, something Cherie and Karen had long since shared, but poor Julie had no one to share with.

“Karen always loves watching me use my hanky,” she answered truthfully. “She always examines its contents for me and tells me my state of health.”

She didn’t add that both her and Karen did a few other things besides, while they both examined Cherie’s hankies. She had said once, semi-seriously, that they both seemed to have a hanky fetish as well.

Her reply got a grin, though Julie felt sudden trepidation at what she had just said.

“Last time pays for all,” she whispered and bent to the saucer of oleander.

Ten seconds went by before she sat right up,  knees either side of Cherie’s legs, the quilt around her shoulders. In one movement, she drew the handkerchief from the pocket of the nightshirt and unfolded it, her face already contorting.

  “HAIIISSHOO!!” she sneezed hard, into the white cloth. “HA..HA..HATIIISSSHHOO!!… IISSHH!!… IISSSHH….IIIISSSHHOOO!!!"

As Cherie watched beneath her, Julie bent with each powerful sneeze, the sound muffled only slightly.  It was a beautiful sight, but these had been the biggest sneezes of the lot. Time to pull the plug.

“Jules, that’s enough honey. You’ll hurt yourself. Blow your nose and let’s have some lovemaking”

Julie nodded, the hanky still covering. She took a deep breath and, like Cherie, expelled a huge amount of mucus in a long, gluggy blow. She wiped her nose, folded the hanky over and blew again. That done, she regarded Cherie with reddened eyes.

“Let me go down on you?” she asked softly.

Cherie nodded.

“Let me have that hanky?” she asked.

Julie didn’t hesitate. A second later, Cherie had the freshly-used hanky in her hand and Julie was gently parting her legs, buried under the quilt. As she felt fingers opening her pussy, then a tongue slipping in, Cherie reached down to stroke the satin nightshirt. With her other hand, she raised the hanky to her mouth and nose, burying them in the fluids Julie had just deposited.

Julie’s skill was equal to Cherie and Karen’s and it was a full two minutes of teasing before she let herself go near Cherie’s clitoris, which, by then, was screaming for attention. As her orgasm began, Karen’s face, as it always did, flashed into her mind’s eye. Her gentle smile, her gorgeously curved nude body, a tissue in her hand as she came to help Cherie blow her nose………

“Ohhhh….yes…oooohh…….yes…YES!…YES!!….OHHHH…darling……..oohhhhh!!!”

Cherie bucked and writhed as wave after wave swept through her, the pleasure rolling like an endless ocean. By an effort of will, notwithstanding the fact that Karen’s face still swam before her, she just managed to keep from crying out the girl’s name. It didn’t seem right when there was someone else loving her. And she certainly didn’t want to get into the habit of crying out Julie’s.

Slowly descending to the plateau stage, she felt Julie almost glide up and lie on top of her. Instantly, a pair of lips descended on her own and she returned the kiss hungrily. Murmuring endearments, they kissed and nuzzled as evening began to fall over Canberra.

*

“What position would you like?” asked Cherie after several minutes.

Julie looked almost shy.

“I  haven’t had a sixty-nine for a while,” she said, reddening. The bedroom was now only lit by the glow of the lamps in the main room, so Cherie didn’t notice.

“Give me a challenge,” she said cheerfully.

She moved down a little, shifting the pillows as well. Then, Julie climbed on top and slipped backwards until a pair of hands encased her bottom cheeks. Cherie moved down a little further and got her face into position, her nose just below the perineum (any excuse would do, Karen often joked) and her tongue ready to go straight into Julie’s eager pussy.

As she worked, hearing the little moans and cries above her, Cherie couldn’t shake the thought that she was cheating on Karen. The thought had grown in intensity when she realised just how much she had enjoyed her recent orgasm. Not that the ones Karen produced were any less enjoyable. She had the strange thought, momentarily, that she should have rung Karen in Sydney, and asked permission to sleep with their old friend.

But Julie was such a new, exciting entity. Her feel, her smell, this beautiful nightshirt that Cherie was constantly roaming her hands around.

“Ohhhh…..darling…..ohh Cherie….yes…..I’m going to come….don’t stop. Cherie…. Ohhhh…yes..yes….YES….YES!!….OHHHH!!……OHH Cherie!!!!!!….YES!!….”

Cherie’s face was dampened now, not with Julie’s saliva, but with her vaginal fluids as the girl came in a long rush.

“Hmmm….uses my name four times, but I didn’t use anyone’s” Cherie thought, bemusedly. “Oh well, to each their own.”

Julie manoeuvred herself off and turned around, lying back down to snuggle up to Cherie.

“Thank you,” she said, simply.

Cherie’s reply was a kiss. Then another. And another. They lay in each other’s arms and the only sound was the whispering of the heating vents.

*

At 6.20, Julie disentangled herself and climbed, a little unsteadily, from the bed.

“Let’s get cleaned up,” she said, reluctantly. “Food will be here in a tick.”

“Mmm…..” said Cherie. She’d almost been asleep.

They washed hands, faces and pussies, standard cleanup ritual between Cherie and Karen after a good sneezy session. Julie didn’t dress, merely putting her coat over her nakedness. Cherie put on her ski jacket and underpants. There was a discreet knock at the door. Julie opened it and Cherie heard a few muttered words as a large tray changed hands. Julie kicked the door shut behind her, beaming.

“The food here is almost as good as the sex,” she proclaimed. “Let’s get busy.”

She was right The oysters were just the right temperature, the trout cooked to perfection and the chicken dumplings done to a turn.

“This is so perfect I could start playing with myself under the table,” Cherie exclaimed.

Julie chortled.

“Your plane doesn’t leave until nine,” she said. “I don’t think you have to be that discreet.”

They left not so much as a single scrap. Julie put the tray outside the door and made coffee. They sat opposite each other. Julie took a breath.

“Do you think you’ll ever get tired of being aroused by women sneezing?” she asked.

“When someone finds me not breathing,”  Cherie shot back, “I’ve gotten tired of it.”

Julie chuckled and looked at the table a moment before speaking again.

“That afternoon so long ago,” she said, “You were pretty cool towards me for a while. Hostile almost. Why?”

Cherie looked at her for a long moment, buying time.

“Your interest in Karen was almost palpable,” she said at last. “It felt a little like you’d asked us to have a threesome just so you could have sex with her. I was there as an irritation.”

Julie rubbed her thumbs absently around the rim of her coffee cup, staring at the table.

“Yes, I was interested in Karen,” she answered after a moment. “But I was interested in you as well. Especially seeing as how you had the bigger sneeze of the pair.”

She checked the table for dust again, then went on.

“That afternoon was one of the most beautiful events in my life. I’d never received such affection. I even won you over in the end,  not so?”

Cherie couldn’t deny that.

“I wasn’t there to steal Karen from you,” Julie said, meeting Cherie’s gaze finally. “Just like I haven’t gotten you up here to convince you life would be better here with me and you should leave Karen.”

That thought hadn’t actually crossed Cherie’s mind until now.

“It’d be too cold for me up here, anyhow,” she said. “Melbourne’s bad enough.”

They became silent again, sipping coffee.

“This afternoon is between you and I,” Julie said after a bit. “But it’s about time you and Karen came up here legitimately for a weekend. You go everywhere else, after all. We’d have a great time, the three of us.”

She wrote every meaning possible into the last sentence and it wasn’t lost on Cherie.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “Let’s make it happen.”

They finished their coffee and by the usual unspoken signals, wandered back to the bedroom, undressed and returned to the warm bed.

“Still an hour to kill,” Julie said.

They lay cuddled in the dim light, lips almost touching as they talked softly, stroking each other’s faces in genuine affection. Sometime later, their lips did touch, in long, searching tongue kisses. After a while, they were making love again. Slower, this time, without the urgency of before. There was no sneezing or even talk of it. They both reached orgasm with the little moans and cries of any other couple-gay or straight.

Then, for the second time, it was over.

*

Cherie took a quick shower and got dressed again. Julie made the bed and threw away the used tissues and oleander leaves, both having served their purpose. She put her hanky in the pocket of her nightshirt and hung it on the wardrobe door.

“Are you coming back here after you drop me off?” Cherie asked.

“Yes, I’m sleeping here tonight…..just like I did last night. I requisitioned the room for two nights,” was the reply.

Cherie shook her head, amazed.

Leaving the lights on, they stepped outside and Julie locked the door. It was bitterly cold, but the air was deathly still, almost refreshing. Night had fallen in the nation’s capital. Saturday night traffic was light as they zipped back towards the airport, talking little.

Julie parked in the same spot she had that afternoon.

“I won’t come in,” she said. “We’ll make it brief and painless because it’s not goodbye. I hope I’m going to see you both within weeks.”

“I think you will,” said Cherie, holding her hand warmly.

“Thank you for coming up here and giving me such a beautiful time again.”  Her voice had gone shy again.

“Hey, thank you for inviting me!” Cherie reached over and hugged the other girl fiercely. They kissed just one more time in the dark interior of the car.

“The Comair desk is opposite the baggage carousel,” Julie told her. “Just announce yourself there and they’ll take you home.”

A few more words, another kiss, and Cherie got out of the car. Closing the door, she took half a dozen steps, turned and blew Julie a kiss. Julie had turned on the interior light and Cherie saw her grin and make a grabbing motion, catching the kiss. Then, Cherie turned and went through the double doors without looking back again.

Julie turned off the light and sat for a full minute, watching the door, as if Cherie was going to run out of it again, jump in the car and suggest they elope without delay.

It didn’t happen.

Shortly, Julie started the car and drove back to the lonely motel room.

*

Angrily wiping tears from her eyes before she went completely to pieces, Cherie followed Julie’s instructions in the almost-empty airport terminal and was quickly aboard what was probably the same plane she had arrived in. There were barely twenty other passengers, backbench ministers and their underlings.

She was sitting on the other side this time, still towards the front. She kept her mind carefully locked to automatic, refusing to analyse the last nine hours until she was safely back in the familiar Toorak unit.

The pilot headed the plane for the runway and a few minutes later, they were winging their way towards Melbourne again. Cherie ignored the subdued chatter behind her, looking out into the blackness of the night sky.

Fifty minutes only, and they were on the ground again. Cherie was first off, this time, and strode through the terminal which was full of late night travellers, both coming and going. Outside, it was cold and wet. Taxis raced past, running their endless errands and people stood huddled against the wall, puffing on cigarettes like lifelines or pushed baggage trolleys with scant regard for other pedestrians.

Cherie hurried to the automatic parking validator and stuffed in a twenty dollar note with her parking stub. The change would barely have bought a cup of coffee. Minutes later, she had found the car and was hurrying towards the Tullamarine Freeway. She had an urgent need to be home that she couldn’t really explain, but she knew guilt was somewhere at the back of it.

Reaching the city, she found the Saturday night traffic not much better than Saturday lunchtime traffic. Resisting the urge to cut up a few side streets, she took the most direct route, bending a couple of road rules before she reached the home stretch that was the infamous Punt Road.

Shortly, she turned onto Toorak Road, still keeping her mind carefully on automatic. The only thing she had decided was that Karen was going to receive love she had only dreamed about when she got home tomorrow. The turbocharged type. She turned into the driveway and worked the remote for the garage door. Rolling inside, she killed the motor and sat. After a moment, the door slid down again.

She locked the car and entered the house through the side door from the garage. The place was just as she had left it.

Now. More food. There was enough in the deep freeze to keep a football team going. Cup of tea and some late night telly while she had a decent think. She took three steps towards the kitchen before the phone rang.

“Hi sweetiebuns,” said a very familiar voice on the other end.

*

“Everything good over there?” asked Cherie

“Everything’s extra well,” replied Karen. “This mob were so impressed with the work we’ve put in to the new contract, they’ve laid on a sensational dinner for us in a private function room. This is going to be big and I’m going to be overseeing it. From Melbourne, of course, as much as possible. Accommodation aside, the less I have to come to Sydney, the better.”

“When are you coming home?” Cherie asked.

“Should be back tomorrow lunchtime,” Karen told her. “Don’t come out to the airport. You hate city traffic. I’ll jump a taxi.”

Cherie was hardly going to tell her she’d just come from the airport.

“Four days away from you has been murder,” Karen purred. “And I had a sneezing fit when I got out of the shower the last two mornings. How often does that happen to me. And you stuck way over there. I tell you, my fingers have had to work overtime.”

She paused.

“What have you been up to today, sweets?” she asked innocently enough.

“Aw, just hanging around the house, surfing the internet. Without you here of an evening, I’ve been staying at work pretty late. Amazing what you can catch up on when there’s not six people all needing your attention at once.”

“Well, I’ll be in your arms this time tomorrow,” Karen told her. “And I think I’ll need your undivided attention.”

“You’ll get it,”  said Cherie at once.

“Well, I’d better rush,” Karen observed. “Looks like dessert is about to be served.”

They confirmed tomorrow’s arrangements, then hung up with soft kisses and love expressed.

Cherie resumed her path to the kitchen, a cold chill running through her. She’d gotten through that one by the skin of her teeth and Karen suspected nothing. Perhaps a glass of white wine would go down better than a cup of tea. After that performance, she considered, she had earned it.

*

Karen closed her mobile phone and almost burst out laughing. She was standing on an enclosed balcony of the Sebel Townhouse, the place you booked into when the Hyatt was full. In the adjacent function room, she could see her colleagues, the team she now commanded, and the executives from the company that was now their biggest client of the prestigious law firm. After the four days work, the mood was jubilant.

As was Karen. She could always tell when Cherie was lying. Her voice went up an octave. Julie had phoned a little while ago to say the afternoon had been a sneezy, roaring success. Karen was pleased. She and Julie had gone to some considerable effort to set it up.

And Julie was right. It was about time her and Cherie went to Canberra for a weekend. Six years was too long to wait for another threesome.

Karen knew one thing. Cherie would give her more love than she could believe when they hit the bedroom tomorrow afternoon. Just to ease her guilt at “cheating”. God, Julie had some great ideas.

Karen headed for the door back into the function room, still smiling.

Life was so good sometimes.

                                                            THE END

AUTHOR’S  NOTE:

It is at this juncture, faithful readers, that we say goodbye to Cherie and Karen, and anyone who has read the epilogue at the end of Tom Sawyer will understand why.

I created them as teenagers and nurtured them into adulthood, moulding with them, the fetish that some of us have and fewer of us can explain.

The towns, suburbs and cities mentioned throughout this series are all real. Some locations within them, though, (eg. The Kissing Cave, the Apollo Bay restaurant/souvenir shop) exist, like the characters, solely within my imagination

But then, that is what fantasy is, not so? People and places as we’d like them to be…..not as they are.