Chapter 1
At 5:30 AM in the morning, Gabriella called and told me that she couldn’t make it for the shoot. I put the phone down, let out a little sigh and lay back in the bed. The curtains in the room were drawn. There was still some time left before the sun would peep in.
Beside me, my wife Arlene slept in peace, snoring ever so lightly. She was stark naked, and her enormous breasts rose and subsided as she slept. I thought Arelene’s breasts looked like two mountains moving up and down. That’s how beautiful they were. Sublime is the word, I thought to myself as I lay beside her and watched her naked body with its plentiful breasts.
Ten minutes later, as I had almost slipped back into a peaceful sleep, the phone rang again. It was Francoise. I remembered Francoise and Gabriella were lovers. She told me in her husky voice that she couldn’t make it for the shoot either.
I got out of bed and made coffee in the kitchen and brought it back to the bedroom. Arlene was still sleeping peacefully. I gazed at her strong legs as I sipped the coffee. The flesh on them. The right mixture of fleshiness and muscularity. I have never seen a more beautiful pair of calves on any other woman.
Francoise and Gabriella must have got a better offer from the DWW guys. They were number one in the business and were stealing girls from the other production companies.
The convention might have to be cancelled now. It was supposed to be a round robin featuring Gabriella, Francoise and Arlene and then the final. Now we were left with only Arlene. We had planned it to be a low-cost affair.
My production company, Fight and Fuck Productions couldn’t afford to host a big event. We were in serious financial distress. My former partner had run away with a lot of cash.
I finished the coffee, got back into bed and slipped into an uneasy sleep. It was close to 8 AM when I woke up. Arlene was still sleeping. She was not an early riser, my Arlene. She had turned over and now I was treated to the sight of her fleshy buttocks and her ample back.
I made another coffee in the kitchen and called Bufus, the production coordinator at Fuck and Fight Productions and told him about the situation.
"Fuck! Gabriella and Francoise were the main attractions. They have a reputation in the industry. And people bought their videos because they were fucking each other in real life and there was no acting in their videos", Bufus sounded like he was shattered. He knew his job was on the line.
There was a lot riding on this video shoot.
"I know, Buf. Can you call somebody else? Nadege, maybe? Or how about Luzia? Or is she still retired?”, I asked hopefully.
"Man, those girls are expensive. Let’s see who I can get. I'll call you in an hour". Bufus hung up.
I sipped on the coffee and watched Arlene sleeping on the bed. A thin film of sweat had appeared on her upper back.
Arlene turned around as I watched her as if she was aware of my gaze.
Arlene lay on her back again and pulled up one shapely leg while the other still rested on the bed. I got a glimpse of her cxnt and the area around her groin was covered with sweat. Arelene had a sweaty blonde pussy.
I have tasted Arlene’s pussy, and it is both sweet and salty, like a special oriental dish at a Hunan Chinese restaurant. The sweetness was the natural taste of her pussy, and the saltiness came from the pussy sweat.
I got out of bed and started to pack up the filming equipment. I was just about finished when the phone rang. It was Bufus.
"Listen Mickey, I called Nadege and Luzia. They can’t make it. Nadege doesn’t talk with your wife Arlene anymore. They had a fight over a guy, back in the day, if you don’t mind me saying, Mickey. Luzia is working with DWW. She is under a contract. So, I called Charlene. She'll make it", said Bufus. Bufus didn’t sound so happy.
"Buf, Charlene must be in her 40s now. I didn’t even know she was working”, I told him. I remembered Charlene from a wrestling convention in Budapest in which I had refereed a few matches. Charlene and I had gone to bed on the last day of the convention when everyone was stone drunk. Damn! I didn’t know if this was a good idea. I am a married man now. I knew Arlene wouldn’t like it.
"Naaa Mickey, she is 36. Same age as Arlene. Got divorced a couple of years ago. Has been trying to get back into the business. I booked her for two fifty dollars for a couple of days work. We got to pay her bus fare, and the room rent”, said Bufus.
"I don’t know Buf. We needed a star in the video. Even Arlene has been out of the business for a while. She hasn’t wrestled since she married me. We’re stuck with two fading lesbian wrestling stars, Buf”, I told Bufus, looking back to see whether Arlene was listening to me. She was still sleeping soundly.
"Mickey, this is the best I could do. Work with what you have, son”, said Bufus in a fatherly tone.
I hung up. Then I went into the kitchen and poured myself a gin and soda. I heard Arlene stirring and moaning in bed. I took a sip of the drink and looked out of the window into the grassy backyard.
Arlene walked naked into the kitchen. I was husband to a legend of lesbian wrestling.
We had married a year ago and even now the sight of a butt naked Arlene made me gulp. The fleshiness of Arlene was something to marvel at. How could a woman have so much flesh even though she was only 5’5?
Arlene took a look at the drink in my hand.
“Now that’s some breakfast you got there, Mickey. Nice early morning treat for your liver”, said Arlene winking.
“Francoise and Gabriella called and cancelled, Arlene”, I told her, taking a sip of the gin.
“Cancelled? What the hell! Holy shit, Mickey! What are we gonna do now?”, asked Arlene animatedly. She placed her hands on her hips and her enormous breasts formed a nice shape and hung down as she shifted her balance onto one leg. Her nipples were large and red, as prominent as her large boobs.
Arlene understood the gravity of the situation. She knew the state Fight and Fuck Productions was in.
“Well, we got Charlene. It’s going to be you and her, sweating it out together. No round robin like we had decided. Just you and Charlene”, I told her.
“Charlene?”, Arlene almost shouted out, raising her arms off her hips and raising it in front of her.
“Yeah Charlene”, I told her. A bit taken aback by her reaction.
“You mean Charlene Bandini? The one who used to appear in the Ripped Girls videos?”, asked Arlene, raising her voice.
“Yes. Arlene. That’s the one”, I told her.
“Mickey. Are you kidding me? Me and Charlene used to be lovers for fucks sake”, she said. Her breasts heaved as she spoke.
I noticed that her nipples had suddenly turned erect at the mention of Charlene. Arlene’s nipples became erect only when she was horny. It appeared to me that a mere mention of Charlene made Arlene all hot and horny.
“What? I never knew this”, I told her. I was telling the truth. Arlene was into both men and women.
“Yeah. A couple of years ago. We even did an outdoor naked lesbian video together for Pain and Pleasure Productions, Mickey. It was one of their biggest selling videos too”, said Arlene sounding indignant.
“Oh boy! How was I supposed to know this, Arlene? You’ve acted in tons of videos. You are the Betty Davis of the erotic lesbian wrestling and catfighting video universe, Arlene. Nobody has seen all the Betty Davis movies. Nor has anyone seen all your videos, Arlene”, I told her, taking a long sip of the gin.
“You don’t understand, Mickey. Charlene and me. We had an acrimonious break up. She started her own production company called Women Behaving Badly, and we made three lesbian wrestling videos together, all of which sold really well. But then the bitch cheated on me with another woman, Mickey”, said Arlene, almost pleading with me.
“Damn! I swear I didn’t know this, Arlene. You never told me you and Charlene were lovers”, I told her.
Arlene looked real pissed now. Was she going to bail out on the video shoot?
“I’ve had hundreds of lovers, Mickey. Both men and women. I’ve mounted many a man’s dick. Bumped cxnts with many a woman”, Arlene told me in a serious tone.
“This is no time to drop all this Mark Twain shit on me, Arlene. Are you gonna do the video shoot or not? We must leave in a couple of hours. Don’t bail out on me now, Arelene”, I pleaded with her.
Arlene placed her hand on her hips and raised her breasts in the air.
I once again noticed that Arlene’s nipples were erect. They were a deep dark pink like ripe grapefruit.
“Pour me a drink Mickey”, said Arlene, in a low and angry voice.
I gulped down my drink. I poured two more gins and sodas and handed one to Arlene.
Arlene gulped down the drink and slammed the glass onto the marble kitchen tabletop.
“I ain’t gonna bail out on you, Mickey dear. And I always wanted to get down and dirty with that bitch Charlene one last time. Just to show the bitch who is the tougher woman”, said Arlene in a confrontational tone.
She moved towards me, and I placed my drink on the tabletop.
We kissed, her mouth tasted of gin, and I placed my hand on her luxurious buttocks. Her body smelled of early morning sweat.
I was a lucky man to be able to place my hands on Arlene’s buttocks. Arlene Chinaski, the Betty Davis of the lesbian women’s wrestling world was my wife. She was Arlene Ventura now.
I also knew it was going to be some weekend, handling both Arlene and Charlene. Directing them together
Arlene lowered my cotton shorts and began to fondle my balls.
Arelene, Charlene and me.
The very thought of the two of them together got my dick real hard.
Chapter 2
Arlene and I reached Lathrop Wells around lunch time. It was a small town outside the state of Nevada. We took a cab from the train station to the hotel.
There was just desert all around as we drove to the hotel. It was hotter than a foxy wrestler’s armpit.
I took a hit from the bottle of gin in the back of the taxi and handed it over to Arlene. She took a long hit from the bottle. I could see the sweat on her neck and shoulders. Arelene looked especially sexy when she was sweating.
I could see the Mexican taxi driver’s face in the rear-view mirror. He was watching us with contempt.
“Arlene. I got a confession to make to you”, I told her in what I hoped was a sincere voice.
“What is it, Mickey?”, asked Arlene.
I was a bit tipsy and was going to give Arlene the truth about me and Charlene.
“I fucked Charlene Bandini, a long time ago”, I told her quickly, taking the bottle off her hands as I said it. I took a quick slug of the gin.
“What?”, asked Arlene, turning in the seat towards me. She was wearing a low top, and I eyed her heaving sweaty breasts.
“It was at a wrestling convention in Budapest. We all got drunk on the last day and Charlene took me upto my room and mounted my cock, Arlene”, it came gushing out of me.
Arlene let out a low whistle, eyeing me feistily. I looked away from her.
We were both silent for a few moments.
“Was she a good fuck, Mickey”, asked Arlene in a grave voice.
“Yes. Yes, Arlene. She was a good fuck allright”, I told her. There is no point hiding the truth from your wife. You can’t lie about fucking. Women can smell a lie off you.
“That cxnt had a nice tight pussy”, said Arlene, grabbing the bottle off my hands and taking a swig. What a way to talk about her ex-lover, I thought.
She didn’t sound too unhappy or anything. It didn’t seem like Arlene was raging.
“Hope you’re not too cross, Arlene”, I said, meeting her eyes.
She looked at me piercingly for a few moments. Would she smash the bottle of gin over my head?
“No Mickey. I am glad you told me the truth”, said Arlene, handing the bottle back to me.
“I hope you understand, Arlene. I mean, I don’t have any feelings for Charlene, anymore”, I said, hoping that I sounded convincing.
“Shit like this happens in this industry, Mickey. Everybody is fucking everybody. cxnts bumping cxnts. cxnts mounting cocks. So, Charlene Bandini and I have mounted your cock, Mickey. And your cock has been inside both our cxnts. What can I say? It’s the way of the world”, said Arlene, in a philosophical voice.
I relaxed and took another swig from the bottle of gin.
The taxi reached our hotel just then.
Chapter 3
It was a pretty hotel. A small and solitary yellow stone building. It was called The Blue Lagoon. I had filmed all my Fight and Fuck Productions videos over here. Not only was it cheap, but they didn’t have too many customers at this time of the year. They didn’t have too many staff either.
What they did have was a nice large swimming pool in the backyard. And the rooms were big, not one of those train compartment type stifling rooms that started to appear all over America in the early eighties. Rumor had it that The Blue Lagoon was once owned by Burt Reynolds, and he would drop in here with one of his mistresses every once in a while.
We checked into our room. We always asked for room 99 where Arlene and I had shot more than thirty lesbian wrestling videos before she retired. This was going to be her first shoot in a really long time.
I called room service and asked for a bucket of ice and a tumbler of soda and told Arlene to pour a couple of drinks while I took a shower. Arlene had taken off her top and brassiere and was drying her sweaty boobs under the air conditioner. She didn’t look too pissed about my affair with Charlene. If she did, she wasn’t showing it.
I turned on the shower, washed off all the sweat and grime off my body and tried to compose my thoughts. It was not going to be an easy weekend.
Arlene Chinaski was my wife. I had a one-night stand with Charlene Bandini a long time ago. Arlene Chinaski and Charlene Bandini had once been lovers. They had fucked each other on and off camera. They were not on good terms anymore because Charlene had cheated on Arlene with some other woman.
It was going to be a tumultuous weekend. Sparks were going to fly between Arlene and Charlene. I would have to step in occasionally, calm their tits, make sure things did not get out of hand and shoot the fucking video while the two women got it on.
The fact that Arlene and Charlene looked alike was a big advantage. All the men and women who bought these videos got off on things like that.
I toweled myself before stepping back into the room. The room was cool now and I could hear Arelene’s light snoring. She was stark naked, with her legs spread apart. I liked the shape her thighs and calves made when she lay sprawled on the bed.
I saw my gin on the table, topped with ice, soda and a slice of lemon. I slammed it down in one gulp.
Then I lay down on the bed beside Arlene, my legs hanging out of the bed. It was really quiet, except for the low hum of the air conditioner. I lay there for a while. I could be out of a job in a month. Or a week. I had to make this video work. Or I would have to get a day job selling office staplers door to door. Arlene might have to get a job nude dancing at some night club. I couldn’t let that happen as her man.
I was Mickey Ventura. Promising young American filmmaker of erotic lesbian wrestling videos. I was going to shoot the Pulp Fiction of erotic women’s wrestling and I was going to win the best director award at the AVN Adult Video Oscars. Arlene would win best actress. Daydreaming on gin was so easy.
The thought of being out of a job made me jump out of bed. I got dressed. Arlene was still sleeping like a baby. I closed the door behind me and went down to the lobby. I thought I’d check the lobby for Charlene. But it was empty, except for a young sleepy looking woman in receptionist’s uniform.
I remembered The Blue Lagoon had a nice little bar with a large round oak table at its center. I saw Charlene sitting on one of the bar stools around the round oak table as soon as I stepped into the bar.
Chapter 4
Charlene and I saw each other at almost the same time. She smiled and turned around on the bar stool as I walked towards her. I hadn’t seen her since that one-night stand in Budapest when I had rubbed my punch-drunk face in her sweat drenched breasts and nibbled at her milk tasting nipples.
Charlene was wearing a loose white shirt that was untucked and denim shorts. She had filled out a bit. My eyes moved down from her face to her ample breasts, I took in the smooth curves of her breasts which protruded from inside the shirt. And then my eyes moved onto her thighs which looked particularly plump. A mix of flesh and muscle. More flesh than muscle, which was the way I liked it.
She noticed my gaze travelling across her body and it brought a smile on her large, pleasant face with pink freckles all over it. Her blonde hair was wet and slicked back, 80s style. I pasted my cheeks on hers as I leant down and sat down beside her on the bar stool facing the round oak table bar.
Charlene wasn’t having no platonic cheek against cheek shit from me. She kissed me on my lips, pressing her lips forcefully onto mine, eager to pry my lips open. But I behaved like a married middle-class square and kept my lips sealed.
Charlene’s lips and breath smelled of gin. She smelled of strong perfume but there was also an extremely faint scent of sweat. I saw thin dark circles around her eyes as I smiled somewhat uncertainly into her face. Charlene was a regular drinker, judging by the circles around her face. But she still looked pretty. My eyes struggled to hold her intense and penetrating gaze. Charlene still had it allright.
A year ago, I had heard that she had married a lawyer and was done with this erotic wrestling business. I don’t know what happened to her marriage. But now she was trying to make a comeback. Not many women tried to comeback in this business at the age of 36.
"It’s so nice to see you, Mickey", she said somewhat unconvincingly, breathing gin fumes into my face.
"Hey, the pleasure is mine Charlene”, I told her, trying to sound sincere.
"It’s great to be working with you again”, said Charlene, raising her boobs up in the air to impress me.
" Hey. Same here, Charlene! Can I have a gin and tonic”, I said, turning towards the bartender, who looked like a young Joe Turkel, hair oiled and combed neatly and the slightest of smiles on his face.
Charlene placed a hand on my thigh as the bartender made the gin and tonic and I could not do anything else but turn my attention back to Charlene.
"How you been, Charlene?”, I ventured, uncertainly
“You mean what have I been doing since we fucked the living daylights out of each other in that hot Budapest hotel room and I mounted your sturdy cock, Mickey?”, asked Arlene in a voice filled with sexual aggression.
“Er ….. Ha! That’s a nice way of putting it”, I said, as the bartender placed the gin and tonic in front of me on the oak table.
Arlene pressed hard on my thigh with her hand, and I could sense an erection developing. I raised the glass of gin and tonic to my lips.
“Well, let’s see, Mickey. I acted in a shit ton of lesbian wrestling videos, started a video company with another female wrestler with whom I had a really acrimonious break up …..”, Arelene spoke animatedly, and I spilled a bit of gin onto my pants.
Charlene was clearly referring to Arlene here. Damn! What had I got myself into?
“What else? I got married to a criminal lawyer and we got divorced and he escaped from paying me any alimony using some obscure loophole, the sneaky fucker”, said Charlene, continuing in her animated voice.
I took a long sip of the gin and tonic.
“Anyway, here I am. Back doing the only thing I’ve been a success at in my life. Wrestle naked with other chicks and get all sweaty with them”, said Charlene, her voice suddenly turning forlorn. She took a sip of her drink and looked down at the bar room floor.
I felt bad for Charlene. I felt bad for all the chicks I had worked with in the lesbian wrestling video industry. Almost all of them ended up as fuckups, drunks and losers. Charlene was no different.
I looked down at Charlene’s fleshy thighs and the awesome shape they made as her butt rested on the barstool.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the two of for a few long moments. I saw the freckles on Charlene’s face and wanted to kiss her right then and there.
Just a few minutes with her and I was in love with Charlene all over again. While my wife Arlene slept peacefully in the room upstairs.
Charlene looked up, took another sip of her drink and smiled at me. I couldn’t take her eyes away from her freckled face and her red nose.
“I took a train as soon as I heard from that guy Bufus who works in your office. Glad you remembered me, Mickey”, said Charlene.
She really thought she was my first preference. What would she think if she knew she wasn’t even in my top five to wrestle Arlene? Hell, even Arlene wasn’t even in my top five to make a video with. These female wrestlers and porn stars were as delusional as Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard.
“Think nothing of it, Charlene. I’ve always been a big fan of your work”, I lied. Sure, Charlene was one of the greats of the lesbian wrestling video world. But she was past her prime now. Some of the younger ones, especially those slim Eastern and Central European chicks at DWW were leagues ahead of the American wrestlers who never took care of their bodies.
“Hey cheers Mickey. I needed that”, said Charlene, raising her glass towards me. I raised my glass towards hers and we clinked glasses.
I slammed down my gin. Too many lies and phony shit already and we had not even started with the shoot. I asked the bar tender for another gin and tonic.
“But one thing your guy Bufus never told me was who I was going to wrestle with”, said Charlene.
Damn! So Bufus had not told her she was going to wrestle Arlene, her ex-lover and business partner, whom she had cheated on.
The bartender placed the gin on the oak table, and I took a sip of the gin and tonic before answering her question.
“Arlene Ventura”, I told her with a straight face.
Charlene looked at me like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Arlene Ventura? Who the fuck is that? Now I know an Arlene Chinaski. She was my girlfriend and ex-business partner. We broke up quite acrimoniously”, said Charlene in an excited voice.
“Charlene ….. Arlene Chinaski, who used to be your lover and former business partner, is now my wife. She is now Arlene Ventura”, I said in a dispassionate voice, placing the drink on the oak table in front of me.
I saw Charlene’s mouth drop and she placed her drink loudly on the oak table.
She glared angrily into my face. Our eyes met and I tried not to look away, but Charlene looked like she was steaming inside.
“Wait. You’re telling me that I’m going to be wrestling and fucking Arene Chinaski this weekend for a video? Holy shit, Mickey!”, said Charlene. She did not sound angry. Just surprised.
“It’s Arlene Ventura. And yeah, you heard my husband Mickey right. You’re going to be wrestling and fucking me in the video we’re going to be acting together in”, said a voice from behind me.
I turned around and saw Arlene towering over me and Charlene. She had on a loose T-shirt that could not hide the shape of her enormous breasts and denim shorts that showed off her plump thighs.
I barely hid a gulp as the two women stared at each other. I looked from Arlene to Charlene and back to Arlene again. Neither woman was looking at me. They were glaring at each other. Their eyes had locked together and neither woman was looking away.
Arlene and Charlene had eyes only for each other.
“Well, look who’s here. My old friend and lover, Arlene Chinaski ….. oops I mean Arlene Ventura”, said Charlene in a mocking tone.
Arlene did not respond to the barely hidden taunt.
“Order me a drink, won’t you, Mickey?”, said Arlene, not looking at me. Her eyes were still locked with Charlene’s as she slipped onto the bar stool beside me.
I was about to order her a drink when Charlene interrupted me.
“I can order her a drink, Mickey. You still drink gin and sprite, Arlene?”, asked Charlene, confidently, not looking at me, addressing Arlene directly.
“Gin and soda. Got to watch the body. We ain’t getting any younger, Charlene”, said Arlene, in a sanctimonious voice that barely hid her rage.
“A gin and soda for the lady”, said Charlene to the bar tender who was watching the proceedings with some curiosity.
The bar tender began to make his drink. His face like a hovering hawk, who had sensed a strange situation.
He placed the drink in front of Arlene and retreated back into the bar, pretending to be looking for other customers who might have orders for him.
Arelene raised her glass towards me and Charlene.
The three of us clinked glasses and then took long swigs of our gin.
Arlene, Charlene and me.
There I sat on the bar stool of the Blue Lagoon, sandwiched between the two fading legends of lesbian wrestling.
My dick had been inside both their cxnts.
Both their cxnts had mounted my dick.
I felt like a fucking king right then and there. I felt like fucking Burt Reynolds.
Chapter 5
“Never thought you’d marry and settle down, Arelene”, said Charlene.
“Well, what did you expect me to do, Charlene? Become a nun”, asked Arlene, sarcastically.
“I thought you’d still be wrestling and fighting, Arlene. I remember how much you used to dig rolling around naked with other women”, said Charlene, suggestively.
“Well, Charlene, I didn’t come here to show off my husband to you. The two of us are going to be rolling around naked together in the next two days”, said Arelene, equally suggestive.
I had my drink in my hand and was leaning back on the bar stool as Arlene and Charlene addressed each other.
“Talking about Mickey, do you know Mickey and I have met before? Have you told your wife about me, Mickey?”, said Charlene, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking naughtily at me.
Before I could answer her question, Arlene answered it for me.
“Yeah, I know all about you and Mickey and what you guys were upto at that wrestling convention in Budapest. Mickey here is one honest and devoted husband”, said Arlene, placing her hand on my other shoulder.
Both women had one hand on one of my shoulders now. I felt like they were both laying claim on me like I was some piece of land which had a lot of oil on it.
“He is one devoted man allright. Especially in bed”, said Charlene, amorously.
She moved her hand from off my shoulder and onto my inner thigh as she uttered those words. I felt an erection rising in my pants.
“I can vouch for that. My husband is a devoted lover in bed”, said Arlene, challengingly.
Arlene matched Charlene’s move and took her hand off my shoulder and placed it on my other inner thigh that was not occupied by Charlene’s hand.
Now both their hands rested on one of my thighs. I felt my erection gain in strength. I acted cool and took a sip of the gin, barely able to contain my glee.
I need not have worried because Charlene and Arlene were not watching me. I was like a mere object that they were tussling over.
These two short Amazonian women had more than my cock that linked the two of them together. They had bumped cxnts before one of them had cheated on the other.
“I think his cock was inside my pussy long before you ever entered the picture, Arlene dear”, said Charlene continuing in her mocking tone.
Arlene looked like Charlene had just slapped her.
“Who cares? Mickey’s cock has entered a million pussies. You’re just one of them. His cock only penetrates my pussy ever since I married him, Charlene dear”, said Arlene in a half angry and half taunting tone.
Now it was Charlene’s turn to look like Arlene had just slapped her.
The two short and fleshy women were glaring at each other, their hands placed next to my tumescent penis. The bar tender who looked like Joe Turkel was watching us intently.
I knew I had to step in before things got ugly between the two women.
“Allright ladies, we have all had a bit too much to drink. Unfortunately, we have no time to waste here. Remember we have a video to shoot. I’m going to pay the bill now and the three of us are going to go up to our room and shoot the damn video”, I said quickly.
I gestured to the bar tender who looked like Joe Turkel and told him to put the bar tab with the room bill. He nodded and winked at me. I winked back.
Arlene and Charlene held on to my inner thighs for a moment longer before they removed their hands almost simultaneously as if they had signed a silent truce.
The three of us stood up to leave. But even as we walked out, Arlene and Charlene’s eyes were locked together, neither woman willing to break their hostile mutual stare.