"Was it what you thought it would be?" Olivia asked.
"It was ... intense," Stephanie replied.
"I thought so too," the older woman smiled.
Stephanie returned her smile.
"Is there anything else that you've thought about with another woman?" Olivia asked. "I'm just curious."
Stephanie didn't answer, but her thoughts flashed back to the night she had watched Gail and Elle.
"Maybe that was a question too far," Olivia noted as she turned her attention back to the laptop and hit a few keys. "Let me send these to the printer. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
As the high-speed printer hummed to life, Stephanie asked Olivia if she could ask a question, explaining that she was asking beforehand because it was sort of a personal question.
"My life is pretty much an open book," Olivia said, "so ask away."
"Are you a lesbian?" Stephanie asked.
"I would've thought I'd made it pretty clear than I am," Olivia laughed. "Was that really your question?"
"No, but I've been wrong about something like that before and I wanted to be sure first," Stephanie replied.
"Well, now you are, so ask away," Olivia repeated.
"Have you been trying to seduce me?" Stephanie asked.
"Oh my, that is certainly a good question," Olivia said, her observation delaying a response. "Do you think I've been trying to seduce you?"
"I guess I do," Stephanie answered.
"Really?" Olivia asked, curiosity in her tone. "And when did you first start to think that?"
Stephanie had to consider the question for a few seconds, then replied that she first began to wonder about it when Olivia had poured the second glass of wine.
"That was over an hour ago," Olivia pointed out.
"So?" Stephanie said, her expression saying she didn't see the relevance of the time frame.
"Did it bother you that I might be trying to seduce you?" Olivia asked, ignoring for the moment, the relevance Stephanie had missed.
"I don't understand," Stephanie replied.
"I asked if it bothered you when you began to wonder if I was trying to seduce you," Olivia repeated. "I ask because, if the idea did, why did you stay? I mean, you could've thanked me for the drink and tour at any time and simply gone home. After all, it's not like I was keeping you here against your will."
Stephanie didn't reply verbally, but again her expression reflected her thinking -- that the idea of leaving really never occurred to her.
"In fact, I can't help but think that the reason you didn't leave," Olivia offered, "is that you were actually hoping that I would seduce you."
That gave Stephanie pause, the comment seeming too implausible to be true. But, in asking herself the question a dozen times in as many breaths, she came up with almost a different answer each time.
"I ... I don't know," she said, instantly changed her reply to, "I'm not sure."
"Oh, I think you are," Olivia countered.
Stephanie asked herself the question once more, and this time the answer came back much more definite.
"I guess I was," Stephanie admitted.
