Stepfordized: Part 9

Kelsey woke up from her slumber brimming with energy. The moment she’d realized that she was once again conscious, her eyes shot open and her hips began to wiggle excitedly like a dog wagging it’s tail. After throwing off her cheap and only moderately warm blankets, she cocked her knee up to her chest and with a mighty, hip-powered kick, practically launched herself off of the bed. Kelsey winced slightly. It turned out that getting out of bed that way wasn’t actually all that good for her body and her flying Liu Kang dismount power kick had pulled the muscles in her back and thigh. Even so, she was excited to be awake and alive.

Whistling along to Youtube Music, Kelsey slipped off her clothes and turned the shower knob until the temperature was approximately 7,000° Celsius and breathed in the steam with a happy grin on her face. Admittedly, Charli XCX wasn’t normally her cup of tea, but when “Break the Rules” had come on a few days prior she was surprised at how much she liked it. Normally her music was full of bass-filled industrial or powermetal anthems that got her in the mood to move, but this was nice too.

As the mirror began to steam, Kelsey caught sight of her naked body and gave it a wiggle, raising her arms above her head and shimmying to the music. She’d gained weight, she realized. It wasn’t much at all, maybe 10 pounds, she thought. Normally it would be time to start dieting, but with the added fat going to her boobs and hips, it didn’t seem all too dire to start cutting calories. If the freshman 15 looked this good on everyone else, she thought, diet culture in college wouldn’t be such a big problem. She stepped into the shower and let the water run over her newly supple but still slim curves, appreciating the new softness and accentuated shape of her body. It wasn’t that she hated girly or feminine things. It was more about the feeling that if she didn’t ONLY subscribe to things like pink clothes, pop songs, and cleavage she would become this old, miserable hag living in a swamp. Ansley Park wasn’t really any worse than the rest of the world in that regard, they were just less subtle about it.

DGWA was supposed to be the light in the proverbial darkness when it came to empowering women to be who they really wanted to be and in many ways it did. The classes were all top-notch in their instruction and the sheer number of courses available were mindboggling. Everything from Auto Shop to Zumba was available and the extracurricular clubs were some of the best Kelsey had seen. In that regard, the Grant family seemed to at least be trying to build a college that genuinely cared about the future of young women. The issue was that somehow despite all the bells and whistles that the school itself boasted, the culture was still intensely patriarchal. The school was located right in the center of a town affectionately referred to by it’s own residents as Stepford be they critics and fans alike, so even if DGWA was the most feminist school in the world, it was still surrounded by daycare centers, country clubs, rich neighborhoods, and a Christian church on seemingly every street corner. The coaches and teachers also seemed to be a product of their environment as any class that taught a non-domestic subject or skill was taught by a man while the rest were taught by curvy, plump, and often times pregnant women. The few instructors who retained their fitness looked and acted like complete airheads with plastic, overfilled breasts and butts. Every woman older than 25 was either a bimbo trophy wife or a domestic goddess and mother of 2+ kids. It was unfortunate, but worth it if it meant Kelsey could get her degree and move on with her life.

As she toweled herself off, Kelsey smiled. Today wasn’t a day for worrying about fighting the patriarchy and staving off the continual erosion of women’s rights through direct affirmative action. Today was a day for exercise. With a spring in her step, Kelsey bounded over to her dresser and put on a pair of panties and a sports bra before digging through a pile of washed, but unfolded laundry that still sat in a foldable wagon in the middle of her room. One pair of mismatched socks and a stretchy pink hair tie later, Kelsey was bobbling contentedly towards the door, humming that same stupid song that she was forced to begrudgingly admit she liked after it’d been stuck in her head for a few days. Minutes later, she was in the car rocking out to it the entire way to the campus.

Kelsey found the workout group trickling in slowly to the usual area as she walked up. She could feel her chest tighten and her pulse begin to elevate as she approached, but she’d come to expect that after a few weeks of attending both Tuesday and Thursday sessions. As she tied her hair back into her signature high ponytail Kelsey stopped walking in order to buy herself time to take a deep breath and remove the nervous energy from her face. It wouldn’t stop her hands from shaking, she knew, but at least she would look confident and capable as she approached.

(1)

With her very best casual face on, Kelsey approached the group while trying to smile at those she passed to not give the impression that she was angry. It’d been mentioned several times in various situations that Kelsey had a bit of a problem with Resting Bitch Face that put others off. When her male Physics teacher had mentioned it in the middle of the class, she’d very nearly punched him out, but suddenly Kelsey found that information incredibly relevant and good to know. The last thing she wanted was for the reason she was so excited to be up and on campus so early in the morning to see her scowling at her. Not only that, she thought, but unlike going against her teacher Kelsey was damn certain that she didn’t stand a chance of winning a fight with the current object of her affection.

Kelsey’s breathing skipped with a stuttering inhale as the instructor approached. As Lihua took her position in the front of the class, the skater-turned-tai chi enthusiast couldn’t hold back the tiny smile that crept onto her face at the sight of the stunning Chinese girl looking her way. She couldn’t tell if it was because of her or even if it was her she was looking at, but Kelsey’s eyes lit up when Lihua lifted a hand and gently waved in her direction. Kelsey had fought the urge to turn around and look behind her as best she could for what felt like an entire minute before wheeling around clumsily to see if anyone was standing behind her that her fit instructor might have been waving at.

There was not.

In reality, it’d only been a second before Kelsey had turned around. The moment Lihua had waved, the lovestruck feminist had jumped to confirm that she was getting the attention she’d secretly hoped for. When she turned back around Lihua was grinning widely, her almond-shaped eyes squinting slightly as she did. At that point it was clear that she was looking at Kelsey, causing her to practically melt into a puddle of embarrassment and floaty pink hearts.

(2)

Generally speaking, the workout was by nature something that was only as difficult as the individual wanted it to be. If something was too hard or too easy, there was almost always a way to modify the movement to adjust to that person’s individual skill level. While some of the other girls were much more flexible than Kelsey was, the former skaterat found that her leg strength and balance were more impressive right out of the gate. But for as much as any of them had or lacked natural ability or pre-conditioned kinesthesia, none of the girls and two remaining guys in attendance were anywhere close to as fit or flexible as Lihia herself. While Kelsey was fighting back tears to remain in a horse stance, Lihua was easily holding her leg above her head while balancing on a single bent leg. That wasn’t to say that Kelsey hadn’t improved, however. In the month she’d been attending both groups, she’d found that it had been taking longer and longer for her to fall out of stretches or lose her balance during the movements. In the previous session, she’d even managed to complete some more difficult variations of her usual moveset while taking fewer breaks. Lihua had even noticed and congratulated her, claiming that she’d “earned extra credit” for the day.

The praise had left Kelsey beaming and wanting to keep up the extra effort, but for whatever reason, Kelsey didn’t feel like her current class was as intense as it had been previously. Lihua was still doing more difficult movements than the students but this time she wasn’t demonstrating any special feats of flexibility or strength. Not that that was a problem at all to Kelsey who was happy to have the relaxed day, but it seemed to her that even her indomitable teacher was taking it easier than she usually did. Still, it was her pleasure from beginning to end to get to watch the very image of grace and beauty float around the academy lawn on invisible butterfly wings made of magic and kung fu. Until it was time to make her move at least.

Once the class was over and everyone had begun peeling off one by one and walking away with their individual yoga mats, Kelsey made sure to take an extra long time tying her shoes and fiddling with her outfit as justification for loitering in the area. She’d picked a Tuesday as a means of avoiding Charlie’s tendency to immediately glom onto her and begin gushing about who was fucking who or what was going to happen in Drama or whatever asinine gossip she’d heard that day. Charlotte wasn’t really Kelsey’s friend insofar as it being mutually acknowledged by both of them, but Kelsey did tolerate her company. In Kelsey’s mind, Charlie was #ThatGirl from high school who would run around claiming to be a vampire-werewolf-demon-angel who had the spirit of the reincarnated love interest of the equally magical spirit dwelling inside of whatever boy she happened to convince to date her at the time, only to suddenly be pregnant when he tried to break up with her then tragically miscarry when he was guilted into staying. She didn’t hate her per se, but Charlotte was never going to be more to her than the annoying fat girl from Drama Club.

Luckily, or rather by intended design, Charlotte did NOT show up on Tuesdays, nor did Kelsey have any classes to attend. Kelsey waited for the last of the students to “hurry up and fuck off” before taking a deep, nervous breath and approaching Lihua as casually as possible.

“Hey! Thanks for doing this, as usual. It’s really helping me with my fitness and I really do appreciate it.” Kelsey said, smiling broadly despite herself.

“Yeah, of course! I honestly didn’t even think I’d still have so many people at this point, but I’m glad you all stuck around. Plus, I notice you’ve been getting a lot better at it too. You’re really picking it up quick.” Lihua stated, smiling as she picked up her yoga mat and stuffed it into her bag.

Kelsey saw her getting ready to leave and forced back a bout of panic. She didn’t have much time.

“Yeah. Um… So actually, I was kinda thinking….” Kelsey trailed off, pressing the tips of her fingers together nervously as she became deathly aware that her face was growing hotter and was therefore probably beet red.

Lihua stopped and looked at her with what seemed to be a look of…Optimism? Intrigue? Casual, oblivious friendliness? Kelsey couldn’t tell.

With a failed attempt at swallowing down the dry lump in her throat, Kelsey forced herself to continue.

“So um…Yeah. Uhh…You know, we kinda sorta hang out twice a week but like….We never really do anything outside of exercise or that one garden party thing…So I was thinking like…If you’re not busy, wanna like…hang out or something today?”

For a split second, the Chinese girl looked like she’d been hit with a camera flash before blinking away the stupefied look on her face.

“Wait, you wanna go somewhere with me?….Like right now?” Lihua asked in a surprised tone.

“…Yes?” Kelsey responded weakly. “I mean, if not it’s ok or like if we need to schedule something or you just like…don’t…want to…that’s……….cool too….”

“Oh! No, it’s totally ok. Uh. I mean, I’m kinda sweaty and gross right now but…Yeah, we can totally hang out. Did youuu…..Have a plan or somewhere you wanted to gooo…?” Lihua asked, allowing her words to elongate and trail off at certain points.

Kelsey didn’t care. All she heard was “Yes” and it had set fireworks off in her brain.

Also that was not true. She DID care. A lot.

Every tiny microexpression and change in vocal tone was keenly observed and scrutinized as Kelsey was horribly nervous at having just asked her girl crush out on totally-not-a-date. The fireworks were real, as were the feelings of lightheadedness she felt at actually having her invite accepted and the sudden panic she felt while realizing that she’d spent so much time working up the courage to ask her crush to hang out that she never actually came up with a place to ask her to go TO. Instead, she defaulted to the safest and most reliable location a woman could be asked to go to.

“Uhh…..Coffee?” Kelsey meeped halfheartedly.

Lihua paused and closed her eyes, groaning in a long, low tone of voice. Her tone seemed to indicate a feeling somewhere between dread and pouty discontentment that terrified Kelsey into almost recanting the idea before Lihua opened her eyes again and responded.

“….Yeah……Yeah. Fine. That’s totally fine and I would love that.”

“…Are you sure?” Kelsey asked cautiously.

Lihua smiled. “Yeah, it’s a me thing. I’m actually kind if relieved because I really do want it and I have all morning. Did you walk or drive here?”

“I drove.” Kelsey said, still trying to feel relieved.

“Alright. Meet you across the street in a couple minutes?” Lihua asked, picking up her bag and throwing the strap over her shoulder.

“Sounds good.” Kelsey responded m, trying not to sound too chipper.

By the time Kelsey had hauled her stuff across the west side of campus and made it to her car, Lihua had already made it to the coffee shop and placed her order. Delighted to see her through the window, Kelsey psyched herself up one more time before walking in and shooting the dark-haired beauty a cocky smile before standing in line. She was doing her best to play it cool, choosing to ignore the embarrassing redness of her face, the long groan that came after her asking Lihua to coffee, and the looming terror of not knowing if Lihua was actually gay or if they were just gals being pals. Still, confidence was key, she thought, cocking her hand on her hip and glancing over excitedly.

(3)

When she’d finally received her order, Kelsey made her way over to the table where Lihua was sitting and grabbed a seat of her own.

“What’d you get?” Asked Lihua from a stool next to a counter by the window.

“I got the matcha crème frappe. It’s like the only thing I ever get here.” Kelsey beamed. “And you?”

Lihua gave her drink a sullen, guilty look and sighed. “I got the mocha cookie crumble…but I really shouldn’t have.”

The statement made Kelsey nervous. She wanted the outing to be as perfect as possible and the look of discontentment on her not-date’s face was troubling. Once again, she resolved to try to play it cool. Maybe it was a good talking point.

“Is there something wrong with it? I can totally just go tell them. I’m #ThatBitch who goes and chews out the cook when my friend didn’t want pickles or something.” She said, smiling.

“No…It’s not that. I actually come here all the time and order the same thing just like you. The problem is that this thing is like 600 calories on it’s own and I know I shouldn’t be saying this right away but I’ve been having trouble keeping weight off since the semester started. So yeah, I’m basically breaking my diet by being here.” Lihua confessed. She’d sounded more upset at first, but was chuckling to herself by the end.

The moment she’d said it Kelsey could tell that Lihua’s body was different. Normally she would have been too caught up in being flustered by her to pay direct attention to it, but on some level, Kelsey knew that she had been subtly aware of her tai chi/yoga instructor growing subtly softer. Sitting next to her made it more obvious. Lihua wasn’t fat by any means but the concave nature of her waist had vanished into a sort of smooth roundness with only the barest hint of a roll forming under her shirt. Kelsey even remembered seeing how her hips bunched up during their workout that morning but compared to the other women in town it barely registered in her mind.

(4)

Kelsey had realized that she wasn’t being subtle in her reckless eyeballing of Lihua’s slightly softer figure and jumped to stop checking her out so obviously, playing it off as being thoughtful. Lacking an explanation, she quickly jumped to change the subject.

“Well I think you look amazing. In fact, there’s a house party over in the east side of town if you wanted to like…dress up and go or whatever. I’m gonna be there but only because there’s this guy who like really wants me to go but I figured I’d be bored or whatever if I went alone.”

Lihua smiled, but quirked her eyebrow and moved her head backward slightly. “…Wait…If you think you’re gonna be bored, why are you going?”

Kelsey wasn’t prepared for so logical a response as quickly as it had come. She’d just been trying to change the subject from Lihua’s weight to doing more things together, but it had backfired when she tried to sound aloof during the invite. It was true that she knew a guy who was throwing a party and that she had been invited to go, but the guy in question was an irritatingly smarmy nerd named Dylan who had a visible crush on Kelsey. He’d approached her several times during the week to invite her to the party, but she felt like the event was almost entirely a way to get her to show up to his place so he could make a move on her. In reality, Kelsey had no desire to actually go to the party to hang out with him, but had not turned him down just in case she caught wind that someone attractive might be in attendance. It just so happened that inviting Lihua was an easy way to solve both issues at once, even if her execution was poor.

“Oh. Um.” Kelsey stumbled. If Lihua noticed, she didn’t show it.

“Well, uhh, my friend Ahanu told me about it and said she was gonna go and invited me but like….she had a thing come up and couldn’t go, so I was left going by myself.”

“But….If you don’t wanna go, then why not just cancel as well?” Lihua asked, still smiling in amusement at the bumbling narrative her friend was spinning.

“….Well…I mean….I didn’t want to be rude….And like…I dunno, maybe if someone cute was there I could still go or something.” Kelsey gushed, stupidly revealing too much again.

Lihua grinned. “So naturally you thought you’d invite me, right?”

Kelsey froze.

“Uhh…Yeah. I mean…Well…..I dunno….”

After a short period of blank staring, Kelsey broke character and decided to just spit out the truth.

“…Look. I think I’m trying too hard to make this coffee date go well and inviting you to a party was the first thing I could think of at the time to get your mind off coffee calories. Admittedly, I didn’t think it through too well, but that’s how it came out. There’s a guy who’s really trying to get in my pants and a party sounds fun but I just don’t want to hang out with HIM. So yeah. You totally don’t have to go but…yeah. The invite is there if you want to get out of the house on Saturday or whatever.”

It was all Kelsey could do to not shrivel up in her chair or slink out of the café in embarrassed disgrace, but once again, Lihua’s response surprised her.

“Well…I might have something to do on Saturday, but if I’m free I’d be happy to go. I’ll even make sure to dress up extra cute so as to not disappoint you.” She said, popping her eyebrows up and emphasizing her playful smile.

“Again, no promises, but if I can, I will.”

The rest of the coffee date was fairly relaxed and very enjoyable. Both girls laughed and teased each other for finishing their fattening candy frappes, promising to push extra hard during workouts to make up the calories they’d indulged in together. By the time Kelsey got to her car, she was stunned that she had somehow not only made it through a kinda/sorta date with her biggest girl crush and even got her to kinda/sorta agree to be her kinda/sorta date for a college party at the end of the week. She baked in the heat of her car, enjoying the oppressive temperature warming her café-chilled body before rolling down the windows to release the heat. Giggling and squealing to herself the entire way home, Kelsey walked into her dorm on cloud nine and collapsed onto bed one, passing out almost instantly from the emotional exhaustion.

When Saturday arrived, Kelsey had spent all day trying very hard NOT to seem too dressed up. Part of it was because she didn’t want Lihua to think that she was trying too hard to impress her while the rest was because she didn’t want Dylan thinking that she was dressed up for HIM. The second she’d arrived at the house Dylan had already begun offering her drinks and opportunities to get in the pool. Kelsey ignored him as best she could, trying to politely and innocuously turn down his advances for a multitude of reasons including the fact that she thought the house itself was going to be much smaller than it was. She’d expected a typical college dorm block like hers or a small 3 bedroom place where people would mill around with drinks and chat or dance to music in their own little cliques. Instead, she found herself wandering around an expansive 2-story house with a spacious heated pool and hot tub, two fire pits, and an entire basketball court in just the back yard alone. With all the people walking around already it had been fairly easy to ditch Dylan in the crowds, so Kelsey decided to bide her time with a few drinks, effectively pregaming some liquid courage for when Lihua showed up.

A couple hours had gone by and Kelsey still hadn’t heard from Lihua despite checking her phone every 5-10 minutes hoping for a text. When none came, she tried to enjoy the party as best she could, downing drink after drink out of boredom due to lack of interaction and irritation at Dylan’s desperate attempts to get her in the pool. The truth was that she’d actually been pretty pent up sexually and was hoping to get some kind of action from Lihua if things went especially well. It wasn’t meant to be predatory or anything like that, but she HAD opted to wear a particularly shear pair of sexy panties and was more than ready to have a few drinks with a certain hot martial artist to get her in the mood a little easier. If sex didn’t happen, that was fine, she thought. But if it did, she would be sexed up and ready. If nothing else, she was in college and her earlier café date proved that you miss every shot you don’t take, so she was taking the shot.

….Or rather, she would have been if her date was actually there. Granted, Lihua said that she wasn’t going to promise anything, but a tipsy Kelsey still held out hope that she’d show as she sat down to rest on a lonely side room couch.

“Hey! Oh my god! Kelsey!” Rang out a familiar and somewhat irritating voice.

Kelsey looked up and saw Charlie standing in the hall, beaming at her happily. She was slightly more dressed up than she usually was during workouts or class, but that wasn’t saying much considering she had still failed to escape the confines of her frilly black shirt that was almost synonymous with her name at this point.

(5)

“Charlie?” Kelsey asked, slurring ever so slightly.

“Yeah! I didn’t know you were going to be here!” Charlie said in an annoyingly upbeat tone that almost sounded more rehearsed than genuine.

“…In fact…..I thought you told me before that you weren’t coming…? Something about how you had a class..? Did…something change?” She continued, her bright, overenthusiastic smile drooping into a concerned frown.

“Oh. Shit, yeah. No, it got canceled at the last minute. That’s why I’m not really all that dressed up or anything. I came here straight from campus.” Kelsey responded.

Charlotte was immediately unconvinced. Her frown deepened from concern to disappointment as she moved to sit next to Kelsey on the couch to continue her inquiry with an almost motherly sigh.

“Oh, that’s handy….What time was your class again?” She asked passively.

“Oh. It started at 3 PM and went until 5 PM.” Kelsey said, effortlessly lying through her teeth.

“But…Before you said that your class was from six to nine and that’s why you couldn’t swing by after…” Charlie said softly, seemingly playing up her disappointment and hurt feelings.

Kelsey didn’t know what to do. She didn’t think she was drunk, but her brain was moving too slow to remember everything that she had said to whom and when. Her lies and excuses were getting jumbled and she had just been caught, but before the situation grew awkward, Charlie changed the subject.

“No worries! What matters is that you’re here now! But umm…Kelsey…have you been drinking?” Charlie asked, shifting gears.

“Oh. Yeah. I had a few beers is all. I’ll be good to drive later.” Kelsey assured her overbearing classmate.

“Well…Drinking itself isn’t a sin, but you should be careful about how it makes you act, okay? You don’t to do anything you might… Regret. Kelsey, are you okay?” Charlie asked in a way that was more prying than anything but disguised as concern.

In reality, Charlie was less worried about Kelsey’s well-being and more bothered by the fact that she kept checking her phone while the two were talking and ignoring her to do it.

Kelsey noticed that Charlie was starting to get annoyed at her not paying full attention and put her phone down.

“A sin, huh? You’re religious?” Kelsey asked, trying to refocus the conversation elsewhere.

“Well yeah. I’m Mormon. I thought I told you that before. Very invested in my relationship with god.” The fat girl said, her smile always seeming to show her pearly white teeth.

It was true. She HAD told Kelsey a few times, but the information wasn’t important enough for her to retain as Kelsey didn’t actually consider them friends outside of classes.

Before she could even respond, Kelsey’s phone buzzed and she very unsubtly lifted it to see who it was, only to be annoyed at a Duolingo notification warning her that she had fallen out of the promotion zone.

“Waiting for someone? A date maybe?” Charlie asked, once again beaming at the prospect of a juicy tidbit coming to light.

“Oh, nothing like that. And I’m sorry for being distracted. I was just…I dunno. I thought a friend might be coming is all.” Kelsey sighed dismally.

“Oh yeah? Who?” Charlie prodded.

“Oh. Uh. Lihua? Our fitness instructor girl? The Chinese chick.” Kelsey said carelessly.

That was a mistake.

Suddenly, Charlie’s face bore the look of someone mentally trying to solve a word search in record time while piecing together clues to a murder mystery. Things began to make sense. The googly eyes the two were always making at each other. The way both of them were always so uncharacteristically happy when they were together but not when they were apart. Charlotte had Drama with Kelsey, but Communications with Lihua, and neither of them were so chipper as when they were within 5 yards of each other. Two and two began forming in her head and Charlotte’s religious sense of righteousness began to flare to life. In her mind, this was a crisis that needed to be handled and handled quickly. So she did what she could.

“Oh! Lihua Chang! Yeah, of course! No, I don’t think she’s coming actually. I guess she was gonna meet up with her boyfriend at his place and couldn’t go today. I’m actually more surprised you thought she’d be here. Did she tell you that? I have Comms with her and she tends to do that. I ask her to do stuff with me and then she says she’ll do it but ends up flaking on me to go be with her boyfriend  It’s actually kinda shitty. That’s why I don’t really trust her all that much. She’s a good workout coach but kind of a sucky person. Sorry she did that to you too.” Charlie gushed enthusiastically.

Kelsey’s blood ran cold. Every word felt like a shard of freshly chilled glass being hammered into her heart. Actual goosebumps formed on her arms at the thought that all of what she’d seen from her and all the hopes she had after the café date were either lies or just not what she thought they were. Here she had been hoping there was a chance to have sex or at least make out with the girl who’d been on her mind since the moment she’d seen her only to hear from one of the most annoying people she knew that her crush had been in a relationship the whole time. It made sense too, considering how hesitant she’d been to say she was coming due to a possible scheduling conflict. She was going to her man’s place and that’s why she wasn’t at the party.

“Oh.” Was all Kelsey could muster at the time. “Sorry, I actually need to go to the bathroom really bad. Excuse me please.”

Kelsey got up and bolted to the bathroom, only stopping to pound two shots of rum on the way. Charlotte was pleased with herself. She didn’t bother following Kelsey to the bathroom as she was clearly upset now, but at the very least she’d saved the both of them from a drunken bout of damning homosexuality. Pleased with herself, she grabbed a sweet tea from the ice chest and made her way out to the backyard.

Kelsey had spent the next half hour sobbing in the bathroom until she’d heard Dylan knocking on the door.

“Hey…Kelsey? You okay? I heard you were in here…You okay?” He asked through the door.

The door creaked open and Kelsey stared at him for a moment, wiping away her runny mascara only to smear it under her eyes even more. Without a word, she brushed past Dylan and made her way to the table where she took several long gulps straight from the rum bottle, almost throwing up before growling through the burn and nausea.

“Kels?” Dylan asked cautiously.

Without warning, Kelsey stumbled towards him and bruised her mouth against his, drunkenly forcing herself onto him. Her tongue tasted heavily of Kraken and salt, but Dylan didn’t hesitate to allow her to do it. Together, the two made their way to an empty bedroom and locked the door. Kelsey stumbled her way out of her pants and sat angrily on the bed in her sexy, glistening panties staring at him.

“What’s…happening?” Dylan asked even as he smiled and threw his shirt on the ground.

Kelsey reached into her purse and unceremoniously threw a condom at him.

“I’m using you for sex. Now’s your chance. Lucky you. Now fuck me before I find someone more deserving and god DAMN it you better be good.”

“Well, uhh…I mean…I’ve never really worn a rubber so…” Dylan began, still grinning stupidly at his luck.

“Put the fucking condom on, Dylan,” Kelsey ordered.

(6)

The rest of the night was a blur to Kelsey. As light filtered into the bedroom she found herself awake in a strange bed, completely naked. She felt sore and sticky below the waist and stiff and achy above it, certain that she’d gotten way too drunk and had sex with someone. She turned her head and saw the bare back of a slim, but fit guy before she remembered who it was.

“…Dylan.” She mouthed silently.

Kelsey closed her eyes miserably and sighed at her stupidity.

“Nooo……” She groaned at the realization.

Forcing her eyes to focus, she blearily reached down and put her clothes on as quickly as she could before someone, especially Dylan came in and saw her. Once she was fully dressed, she reached into her purse to check the time on her phone only to have her heart stop beating as she stared at the three missed calls, two voicemails, and six text messages from Lihua. With a simultaneous surge of anger, fear, hope, sadness, and guilt all at once, Kelsey rushed out of the house as quickly as possible, making deathly sure not to wake Dylan up in the process.

....And completely failing to notice the completely unopened condom wrapper sitting upright against the bottom of the bed.