Carrie Minberg, Female, 19

	- Narrator, freshman at Bitterwood

	- Beige, freckled skin, 5'6, 145lbs, curly back-length dark-red or blue hair

Elise, Female, 19

	- Freshman at Bitterwood, Norwegian

	- Pale golden skin, 5'10, 155lbs, shoulder-length light blonde hair

The classes got harder, after the holiday break, more homework, less free time. The halcyon days of the first semester drifted away and our class seemed to settle into less explorative sexual relationships. Couples formed more easily, exclusive relationships that became more romantic, more private. There were several who still played around, but that time seemed to have slipped away for many of us.

It was the day that I earned my red wings that I finally admitted to myself how I'd grown to love Elise. I'd loved her since I met her, really, we were just instant close friends and I shared everything with her. It was a bit like when I fell for Lawton in that it came easily, unbidden, but welcome. I didn't tell Elise that night, that I loved her and wanted to be exclusive, but I wanted to.

We'd had a long couple of weeks in the middle of the semester, taken a field trip to Denmark, and another weekend in Germany, and packed in more class work than we'd faced before. It was tiring, and it left me feeling a little strung out, but in a good way, I suppose.

Elise and I were lounging in our room listening to some new American rock music. She looked a bit odd. Flushed, sometimes rubbing her stomach, went to the bathroom frequently. I knew her well enough to know she was at that point in her cycle, and I made her some hot tea, like my mom used to do for me.

She smiled, took the steaming cup, was silent a moment. She laughed, shook her head. “Feel like crap, but goddamn am I horny.”

I grinned and, despite my weariness, was more than willing to eat her cunt. “You'll feel better when I do this...” My tongue slid along her labia. I saw no tampon, which she typically wore during her flow, so I had no hesitation dipping my tongue into her vagina.

Elise moaned and rocked lightly as I ate her cunt. She came and I kept licking. It took a few moments after her orgasm to notice the change in her flavor. It was richer, metallic, something very different. I was about to pull back when her hands shot to my head and held me against her crotch.

I wasn't disgusted, hadn't yet identified what I tasted, was lost in making my lover feel pleasure. Elise bucked and came again, continued to grind on my face, didn't fall off her waves of euphoria, and was soon riding my tongue again.

She leaned her head up, briefly, looked down at me. I raised and smiled, then returned to my licking. Elise shuddered and came hard, loud, pumping her cunt onto my tongue. She finally quieted and I drew up beside her.

Elise giggled, blushed, giggled again, said, “you just earned your red wings, girlfriend!”

“Red wings? Where have I heard that...”

She took a finger and drew it across my cheek, showed me the blood she'd wiped off.

I really don't remember my reaction. I know it wasn't disgust. I think I was pretty surprised, a bit grossed out as the taste of blood became obvious in my mouth. Elise helped me clean up, handed me the mouthwash, and I cleared her menstrual discharge from my tongue and lips.

“Sorry, I didn't know that was going to hit so soon, I should have warned you.”

“S'ok... wasn't bad. I'd do it again.”

“Good... cause, I gotta admit. Seeing you eating me with my blood on your face made me cum so hard. So hard... Dunno why, but it did.”

“Ever earned you red wings?”

She shook her head and I smiled, “in a couple of weeks, you'll get your chance.”

- - -

Elise earned her red wings with a smile, and after bringing me to two orgasms, she looked up and showed me her beautiful face, streaks of my blood on her skin. I don't know why that was such a turn on. It felt great, her puss and mine both became swollen when we menstruated, sensitive, tender. Seeing Elise was like seeing an angel, bloodied but wonderful, and that's how I came to recognize that I was in love with her.

We'd had months of close friendship, many intimate experiences. But something about that shared ritual, the forbidden, 'dirty' blood shared like that, that made what I had with Elise feel special, enough that I wanted to call her my girlfriend.

It was hard to talk about. All that we shared and did together, that was the thing that gave me the most trouble. I didn't want to ask something she didn't want, was afraid to make her pull back from me to avoid making believe she loved me back. I feared rejection and I hesitated until the last couple weeks of school.

I'd done well in classes, aced them all. My sex life was strong with Elise, and though I'd had no cocks in me that semester, I still felt sated. Elise was more than my friend, my lover, and it took a joint and a bottle of wine to make me start that conversation.

We were sitting together on a bench near one of the numerous canals in Amsterdam, having a quick lunch before heading back for the afternoon sessions. We'd talked about plans for the summer, she was going to do intensive ski training, and I expected to hang out around a pool back home and wish nineteen and twenty year olds could drink in the US.

“Anyone you might fool around with when you get back?” She asked me with a tilted head and a sincerely curious expression.

“Not really... no. I dunno. I might talk to Michael... or... maybe Lawton... that one would be hard. He'd been so much to me, my first real strong relationship... old wounds, in way...”

“Yeah... would be hard to keep that just sex, right?”

“Exactly. Yeah... probably not Lawton.”

“You could always come with me.”

“What?”

“I'll be in Norway half the time, Russia the rest. Come with me. It would be fun.”

“I'm not that good a skier, you know that. And, I don't think we can afford it. The rooms and food and-”

She interrupted, “taken care of. My parents are putting me up in Norway, and I'm staying with a family friend in Russia. I thought maybe my ski partner from high school might join me, so I've already said there may be two of us... but... I dunno, I'm not really connected to her anymore. I'd kinda like you to go.”

It was my chance and I took it. “Elise... what are we? To each other...”

She was silent a moment. “I don't know.”

“Me either... I... You and I, we've been so close, and I know that, here, there's no pressure, or desire, to... you know... make things official.”

Elise grinned. “Popping the question, are you?”

“No! Uh... no, not that... kinda... I'm... I'm really attracted to you, Elise, and we're good together, you know? I miss you when we're apart, and I look forward to seeing you every morning and night and during the day I can't stop looking at you, thinking about you.”

“Saying you love me?”

“I am. I love you, Elise.”

“Very nice to hear you admit it. It's been obvious for months.”

I stammered, unsure a moment, “I didn't mean to, I mean... it's hard not to love you. You're beautiful and sexy and smart and your tongue... god, your tongue, Elise... I... I love you... do you feel the same?”

“I thought you'd never ask. Yes. I thought it was obvious to you, too, but there it is. I do love you, Carrie. So, what do we do about it?”

I kissed her as the first step, felt giddy, pressed myself into her body, felt her arms fill me with the love I hoped was there. I finally whispered, “I don't know, all I know is how I feel about you. Right now, you're all I want, all I need.”

“Want to be monogamous? That what you're saying?”

“I think so... I dunno... I think so...”

She relaxed and leaned into me. “For you. Only for you, I'll do that. Just you.”

And so we officially became girlfriends. I had to move fast to make arrangements to go with Elise for the summer. Mom convinced me to come home for a couple of weeks first, but agreed to give me some spending money and blessed my plans. Elise was ecstatic, ensured her parents and the family friend in Russia knew to expect me.

During finals week, I shopped for better ski clothing but didn't buy anything. Elise told me we could get it cheaper in Norway so I just window shopped and held her hand and gaily finished the school year.