Janice was almost certain she was straight. The one and only time she had touched another girl's breasts or even kissed another girl was that summer when she was sixteen and a camp counselor, and she chalked that up to youthful exploration. Since then, in her last two years of high school, Janice had dated boys, a lot of boys. She had finally slept with one of them, then spent the next two months worrying she was pregnant.

After finally getting a pregnancy test, and it was negative, she swore off having sex with a boy again until after marriage. She stopped dating entirely for a while, but then started dating guys again in her sophomore year of college; however, she refused to sleep with any of them, even after several dates.

Mostly, she stuck to going out with a mixed group of friends and often just with a couple of girls. As time went on and she did not find any particular boy she was especially attracted to, she found herself dating less and less. At first, she just attributed it to ‘the right guy' not having come along yet, but when her girlfriends pointed out certain guys' attributes and how some were pursuing her, she began to wonder if it was just her.

She finally started dating a few of the guys that seem to be the most attracted in her, but again, she just couldn't seem to get interested in any of them enough to go beyond a month or two together. She made excuses to her friends, many of whom were going steady or were pinned to a guy. By senior year, some of them had been dating the same guy for a couple of years, and a few were already engaged. One had even had a baby and dropped out of school.

After graduation, she was offered a job halfway across the country, and she accepted. The job involved some extensive traveling, including occasional time overseas. After about three years, she was offered a promotion, but it required a two-year stint in Italy. She was guaranteed the position would involve very little travel, other than an overnight trip here and there, and after the two years, she would be moved back to the States and likely get a promotion. Since she was tired of rarely being home for more than three or four weeks at a time, she accepted.

Until she was able to locate a place of her own, the company put her up in a residence hotel. Since she would be overseas for such a long time, she sold or donated most of her furniture and other stuff. The items she wanted to keep, she had shipped to her parents, who agreed to store it for her in their basement until she returned.

Other than her clothes and a few other things, she moved to Italy with a bare minimum of stuff. Once she located a place of her own, she would be given a generous allowance each month for her housing, so Janice figured that she would be able to buy any new furnishings she needed and maybe even save a fair amount of money over her time there.

Even though getting up to speed in her new position, and brushing up on her Italian took a lot of her time the first couple of months, she was able to find enough time to rent a gorgeous partially furnished apartment overlooking the mountains and within walking distance of her office. It was also within walking distance of restaurants, entertainment, and shopping, so she did not need a car for much. She bought herself a small scooter instead for the occasions when she wanted to go somewhere a bit further. She figured if she wanted to go on weekend road trips, she could just rent a car.

She made a few friends in the office and began going out with some of the other women there. A few guys asked her out, but once again, did not find anyone that really piqued her interest, though she did go out with mixed groups a few times. One holiday weekend, a friend from the office invited Janice to go to her family's villa out in the country. She accepted, and they left on Thursday right from work. The drive was several hours and they arrived at about 9 pm. They unloaded their bags, and the housekeeper let them in.

"Buona sera Rosalinda. Questa è la mia collega Janice." ("Good evening Rosalinda. This is my colleague Janice.")

"Buona sera Signorina Janice, Signorina Natalie. Vostra mamma e vostro padre non arriveranno fino a Sabato." ("Good evening Miss Janice, Miss Natalie. Your mom and dad won't come until Saturday.")

"Grazie, Rosalinda. Abbiamo fame. Cosa c'è da mangiare?" ("Thank you, Rosalinda. We're hungry. What's there to eat?")

"Ci sono po' di pesce bianco e una piccola insalata se le gradite. Altrimenti posso fare un piatto di antipasti per voi e il vostro amico. (" I have some white fish and a little salad if you like. Otherwise, I can make a plate of appetizers for you and your friend.")

"Well, looks like we will have the place to ourselves until Saturday. I hope you don't mind. How does some fish and a salad sound?"

"That sounds fine Natalie."

"Il pesce e l'insalata suona bene, Rosalinda. Ci sistemeremo mentre lo prepari." ("The fish and the salad sounds good, Rosalinda. We'll settle in while you're preparing it.")

"Follow me, and I will show you where you will sleep."

Janice followed Natalie to a wing of the villa containing several bedrooms. Natalie pointed out her room, then they walked into the room next to it.

"You will stay here. We share a bathroom, but you can lock the door on my side when you are using it if you wish. My parent's room is in the other wing. There is a pool in the courtyard. We can unpack after dinner and take a dip in the pool if you like."

"You didn't mention the pool. I did not bring a suit."

"It's okay. My papa usually does not swim, so we women swim in the nude. But if it bothers you to do so, I have a suit you can wear. Many of the beaches in Italy are nude or at least topless, so it is not a big deal here."

"Well, as they say… When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

They went back down to the dining room and ate their fish and salad. They each had several glasses of wine with the meal, then switched to a sweeter wine for dessert. They went back to their rooms and hung up their clothes, then headed out to the pool. Natalie stripped her clothes off quickly and jumped into the pool. Janice hesitated a few moments, then followed suit.

"You should not worry, Janice. As you American's are so fond of saying... what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

They chatted for a while as they swam around, talking about their families and their childhoods.

"I see many men in the office have been looking at you since you got here, and heard a couple want to ask you out. But I don't see you date any of them; do you not like men?"

"I like men okay, just the right one has not come along yet."

"No one in college that you fell in love with, even for a short time?"

"No."

"So you are still the virgin?"

"Well, not exactly. I slept with my high school boyfriend and thought I was pregnant. Luckily, I was not. But I swore after that I would not sleep with a boy or man again until I was married. For a long time, I did not date at all, then in college, I dated a few guys, but mostly just hung out with friends, male and female."

"Then maybe you like the girls instead?"

Janice did not answer right away.

"I… I don't know. I have never really thought about it. When I was sixteen, I kissed a girl and touched her boobs at summer camp once, but I just figured it was kids exploring stuff. I haven't even thought about it in years."

"How did it make you feel when you kissed her?"

"I really don't remember. Nervous I guess, afraid that we would get caught."

"And you have never tried again? Never let a woman touch your breasts again?"

"No?"

"Do you think you would like this?"

"Like to kiss another woman?

"Yes. Would you like to kiss me? Because I would like to kiss you."

Janice blushed and swam around in a circle.

"I am sorry, Janice. I do not mean to embarrass you, but you are a beautiful woman, and I would very much like to kiss you. But I will not mention this again. We will just have fun, and you will meet my mamma and papa, and we will wear swimming suits when we swim, and then we will go back to work."

"It's okay, Natalie. You just took me by surprise. I have never really thought much about it, I have always just assumed I have not met the right man yet."

"Nevertheless, I will not talk about it again. Now we should get some sleep. Tomorrow, we will go into town, and I will show you the wonderful shops there."

The two women went to their rooms, and Janice lay there for a long time thinking about what Natalie had said. She thought about that day at camp. She had really just started getting boobs. Even now, she was not huge. Kathy was a year older than her, and it was her second year as a counselor. There had been a meeting for the counselors, and they were heading back to their cabins. Kathy had pulled her off the path and into the woods. Kathy had taken Janice's hands and pushed them up under her shirt, then had squeezed them.

Kathy had pretty big tits already, and even through her bra, Janice could feel her nipples harden. She then grabbed Janice's tits and pulled her in close and kissed her hard on the lips. Thinking back on it, she remembered feeling funny and now realized it wasn't fear in the pit of her stomach, but twitching in her pussy. When Kathy let go and put her hands on her cheeks and pulled her in even closer, trapping Janice's hands where they were and pushing her tongue into her mouth, her whole body shivered with excitement.

Janice now wondered what would have happened if they had not heard voices and quickly slipped back onto the trail and hurried towards their cabins. After that, she had kind of avoided being alone with Kathy, and neither of them ever spoke of it. By the end of the summer, she had put the incident out of her mind. Or had she? It was right after that that she began dating a lot of boys. Maybe she subconsciously thought she might be gay and was trying to prove to herself she wasn't.

She thought about other things too. When she was dating a lot of boys in high school, she was never interested in going steady with any of them, even though a few of them asked her. The guy she finally slept with had been the one guy she had felt closest to, and thinking back on it, she realized he had been somewhat feminine. She wondered if perhaps he had been gay, and she had felt less threatened by him because of that. And maybe he was trying to prove something to himself by sleeping with her.

She thought about how she was more comfortable around girls, even when she was out in mixed groups. Some of those girls did turn out to be lesbians or at least bisexual, but she never made any connection between that and herself. The more she thought about it, the more she began to wonder. She finally had to admit that she did find Natalie quite attractive and that may have been one of the reasons she had accepted her invitation to come out here with her for the weekend.

Janice finally fell asleep but dreamed of kissing Natalie. Upon awakening, she found her pussy was quite wet. She was not sure what time it was but decided to take a quick shower. She went into the bathroom and locked the door on Natalie's side and jumped into the shower. While in there, she soaped up and rubbed herself to a quick orgasm to relieve the throbbing in her clit. She finished her shower, and dried off, then went into her room, dressed and made the bed. She headed to the kitchen after passing Natalie's open door and seeing she was not there.

"Buon giorno, sleepyhead." ("Good morning,")

"Boun giorno, Natalie. Sorry I slept in. What time is it?"

"It is only 8 am. You are fine. I am an early riser when I am here. I love to watch the sunrise in the silence. The city is so noisy all the time. Come. Rosalinda has made some fresh pastries and cappuccino. We will eat, then head into town."

They ate then left for town. The central business district was only a few blocks long, but had many fascinating small shops, some that specialized in just one or two items, and had barely enough room inside for more than one or two customers at a time. Many were nothing more than kiosks that were almost just cabinets where the doors were opened in the morning to display items inside and hung on the doors then closed and locked at night. Janice picked up some gifts for her family, as well as a beautiful scarf for Natalie's mother and some cigars for her father.

When the shops closed for the lunch break, they stopped in at one of the small alfresco cafés for lunch after dropping their purchases at the car. They had an excellent gnocchi dish in a fresh tomato basil sauce with meatballs and fresh garlic bread, along with a fantastic Chianti. Afterward, they walked down to the riverfront and found an empty bench to sit on. When a gondola stopped a short distance away to let off some passengers, they decided to go for a ride. The boat was quite narrow, and as they sat down in the seat, they were very close to each other.

"Natalie, I would like to discuss something with you, but I am not quite sure how to start."

"I have always found it best to start at the beginning. But perhaps, I can help? This is about what happened in the pool yesterday?"

"Well, yes…"

"I am really sorry again, Janice. I can be quite direct sometimes. I should not have embarrassed you that way. Can we not just forget it?"

"Oh, it's quite the opposite, Natalie. I want to talk about it. What you said really got me to thinking, and maybe there is some truth to what you said. I think what I felt with the girl at camp was not fear, or at least not entirely fear... I think it was excitement too. I remember now feeling her nipples harden as I squeezed her breasts; how soft and pliable her breasts were otherwise and how wonderful it felt when she squeezed mine. I never had any feelings like that with the boys I dated."

"So you think now maybe you do like the girls?"

"I think there is only one way to find out."

Janice leaned into Natalie and kissed her tentatively on the lips, then kissed her harder. Natalie responded by taking her face in her hands. After what seemed an eternity, she let go. Then she leaned into Janice, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her hard as she pushed her tongue into Janice's mouth. Janice responded by sucking on Natalie's tongue and swirling them together. They finally broke apart a third time as Janice took in a deep breath.

"So?"

"Well, I think we may have to do that a few more times. You know, just so I can be sure."

"Oh, of course. You must be sure. And I will be happy to help in any way I can."

As the gondola floated down the river, the two girls kissed many more times.

To be continued...