A Change in Heart
Monday is not a favourite day of mine. Not only is it the start of a long week of work, it holds significance marking the end of a weekend. End of the fun, end of the parties, end of all that gave one freedom! It had always been my most hated day, a day normally scheduled for a doctor's appointment or a day with the dentist when I was young. My Dad always used to say a healthy pup is a pup with strong teeth. But I was always a good girl, brushing my teeth, flossing and making them sparkle for Dad's weeknight inspection. I got a bit more leniency on a weekend, contributing to the reasons why I like them so much and why Monday is such a downer.
***
So there I was, clueless to what fate held for me that day, walking through the park on my coffee break. I was dressed in my business attire consisting of a pair of long, pinstripe trousers, a formal blouse buttoned close to the neck and a matching blazer. The suit itself was coal black, and the blouse beneath a navy blue. I worked for a law firm, a simple secretary that seemed to fluttered about the office space like some child about a playground, although I did not enjoy my job as such. It always seemed to be editing documents, walking them down to other floors and have executives make a move and even administer a rump slap. It's true what they say, guys can't keep their hands to themselves!
The fact that made the passes upon me worse was that I was in a committed relationship. I had only know Alex for a few weeks, but he was someone that I needed as some moral support after a long day at work. Someone I could curl up with and express my feelings...before delving into sexual exploits. If I'm honest, I could do without the latter. Don't get me wrong, I like sex as much as the next girl, but nothing was special about it. The dull routine of bending over and sitting there was getting old, and the only thing that changed was the positions. Alex isn't the smallest sausage in the pack, but sometimes I just found myself snoozing off or faking an orgasm to speed him up to his release so we could sleep the whole thing off.
***
Anyway, back to what was happening! I was walking through the park on a lunch break. I had decided to get to work early, leaving Alex to awaken with no one draped over his chest and a hot, sticky bed to keep him warm. I was reading through the newspaper I had purchased from the vendor by the park entrance. The park itself was indicated by the wide iron arch, the painted black metal having seen much weathering and the picky fingers of children at play. Found in the centre of the business district, the park was a popular place for work friends to meet and for people to relax upon their break. Upon the main, sandy path through the park was a pond offset where the duck's swimmingly swam about their day, watching the busy people flutter and fly in all directions in the hectic stream of modern life. Around the boundary of the park stood the trees, tall guardians and bearers of the shade that many looked to for shelter from the warm summer's Sun.
Although, most of the peaceful proceedings that day were broken by the body of a fur slamming into my side; my fault for not looking where I was going... The sudden jolt like a lightening strike sent me flying to the side, my newspaper desperately trying to take flight before crashing to the ground, my cup of coffee cascading across the surface and ruining it. I could hear the figure gasp in horror, the voice soft and sweet, cooing to me in melodic discontent of what had just happened. I thought I would be treated to a full musical number by a famous soprano as I pulled my face from the gravel of the path.
"Oh my God!" came the cry from above, "Are you alright? I am ever so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!!"
My eyes fell upon the female that stood in front of me, dressed in tight, black lycra shorts and top, keeping her curves under control with a yellow stripe down her sides to indicated speed! She wore a matching black helmet, and her feet were clamped in a pair of shiny, black rollerblades, almost new out of the box. Her body itself was wrapped within a soft, wafting layer of fur, dancing like the blades of grass upon a gusty plane. She was a sweet caramel colour, a mixture of dusty browns with intermittent, sporadic golden yellow circles liking miniature Suns giving glory to her brilliance.
"Crikey!" she chuckled in a familiar colloquialism with a thick accent, "Didn't see you there, hun'! I do apologize for knocking you down and such, rather rude of me..."
She just spent the time scanning my body, examining me to see if I had any injuries. I spent the time gawking up at her like a child at a zoo, starring curiously at the animals through the pane of glass.
"Not much of a talker, are ya?" she sniggered, offering her hand which was held in a black, fingerless glove, "Let's get you off of that gravel!"
I gripped her hand tightly as she gave a simple tug, pulling from the gravel and sandy path to have me stood in front of her, brushing down my figure to remove any debris.
"You look clean enough, just a few cuts of the fabrics," she began, "If I had my purse with me, I'd pay for the repairs too the suit. My name's Chloe, by the way. Chloe Vickers!"
"S...Sally..." was all I could muster, still in complete surprise and awe of the luscious female in front of me.
"By God, she speaks! Praise the Lord!" giggled Chloe sweetly, playfully sticking out her tongue, "I'm just messing with ya, hun'. Sally huh? It's a pleasure to meet you Sally, really is!"
Her eyes then fell to the downed and defeated newspaper to my side, drenched in the battle wounds and smouldering coffee from the collision.
"Oh crumbs, look at your coffee! Now that definitely won't do! Come along, let's get you something to drink for your lunch break!"
Before I could make put one muted protest, the female was tugging me along behind her, directed to the little, quaint café situated in the very centre of the park. The café itself was only a simple building of cream walls and simple décor. In front was a gated area for those to sit and hard plastic tables and enjoy the ambiance of the Summer's day. For those who wanted the protection from all the noise and chatter of the park goers, inside was fitted with booths to seat four comfortably, each one next to a window in a diner-like style. Soon it was Chloe dragging me through the front gate to a booth inside, picking up a menu and slowly licking her lips.
"I'm famished!" she sniggered, licking her lips, "All that rollerblading has left me one hungry bunny! Do you want anything, Sal'?"
Sal'? No one ever called me Sal' before! It's always been Miss Wolfe or Miss Sally or just Sally. Not even Alex called Sal'! The colloquialism made me shift a bit in discomfort of the rather brash situation I had been so hopelessly thrust into.
"Um, no thank you. I'll just have a coffee, black with no sugar please..."
"Suit yourselfsies!" beamed Chloe, exchanging the order with the waitress as she stumbled upon us on her rounds.
"So tell me about yourself," she began, flicking her ear happily, scanning my posture with her deep, blue pools of eyes she had, "You must be mighty important to be in that get up!"
"Well actually," I began, clearing my throat, "I'm just a secretary at the Brown and Sons Law firm. Nothing specially really."
Chloe gave only a simple shrug, "My mistake then. You seem rather important, and ever so smart. So I assumed you were a manager or something. That would be really cool to be a manager!!"
"Oh no, no it's not really," I replied, "An office job is not worth it. All you do all day is sit there and work; either typing up a document for the lawyers upstairs or shifting papers throughout the office. A manager would just make sure all of that happens." I gave a little smile, hoping the burning red of my embarrassment was not clear through my grey fur, "Now your rollerblading was exciting. Very impress, by the way. Up until the point you crashed into me!"
It was the turn of Chloe to blush, the little shade of crimson showing through slightly from the caramel before she smiled through it again, "Well that's kind of you to say! And yeah, sorry about that...I guess I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going..."
Just then, the waitress returned with our order. In front of me was laid a simple, steaming coffee, black as the night with no sugar, bubbling slightly like the ooze of a lake from a horror movie. Chloe, however, was presented with a bacon and egg bun, nice and messy, a tall glass of lemonade and a packet of ready salted crisps. I saw her tongue slip from her mouth and licking her lips in anticipation of the feast, "Mmmm, yummy!!"
I turned my gaze to stop staring at her food before returning it to my now rather horrid looking gunk frothed into the mug in front of me. Then it was Chloe's turn to steal my sight again, taking her soft, delicate hands and allowing them to wrap around the bun, her fingers squeezing tenderly into the fluffy white crust as she brought it to her mouth. Her bite was enormous, but not snobbish, placing the runny sandwich back down to come off unscathed from the event.
She looked back to me as I jumped slightly, taking my hands around my mug and bringing the coffee to my mouth, sipping it and cringing slightly. Her ears flicked in curiosity of my ritual of one sip, one cringe.
"If you don't like it, why did you order it?" she asked like a child watching an adult.
"Help keep up a good figure. No salt or sugar or any preservatives!" I said, explaining to Chloe, yet not to myself, why I had ordered the God forsaken slurry.
She gave a sweet little smile of understanding, "True, but why don't you exercise? You could blade like me, gives you a great figure, y'know?"
"Oh God no," I began, shaking my head, "I couldn't. I'd just crash and hurt myself!"
"It was my first time today!"
"It was?" I asked, utterly astounded, "But you weren't wobbly. I mean, you skated here with me! You seem like a pro!"
Chloe stopped for a second, taking her lemonade in hand, cool and crisp with ice as drips of perspiration rolled down the side to freedom. She twirled the straw with her fingers, slightly spaced out in thought by my comment. "I guess..." she finally stated after a considerable silence, "I guess you don't know that you like something until you try it. Also, you don't know if you're GOOD at something unless you try it."
Sometimes she seemed rather empty headed. Yet, this time, Chloe seemed to be right on the money... She was absolutely right. She could see her words of wisdom had hit me hard as she placed a finger on the rim of her plated sandwich and nudged it over. I blinked at this, wondering what she meant as I looked down at the sandwich, dripping with grease and bleeding out with running yolk like some war wound. I gave a cringe at the thought, before looking up to a smiling Chloe. Something in that smile gave me confidence...it gave me hope of something good was about to happen. So I trusted it.
My grey fingers lead themselves down to the sandwich, mimicking my companions movements as they went to squeeze the sandwich softly, sending more egg cascading onto the plate. I took it to my maw, softly biting through the layers to break them off and began to chew...and chew...and chew! Grease, runny egg, bacon fat, butter and cooked bread. What a combination! Another bite...and another! The glorious array of products kept within the floury blocks was an explosion. Chloe giggled as she watched half her sandwich disappear. The bright red blush lit up like a flare across my cheeks as I relinquished the sandwich and placed it back down on the plate, crumbs and drops of yolk across my cheeks, "Oh God, I'm sorry."
"No please," said Chloe, softly, "Finish it."
***
The weeks flew past since I met Chloe, the little vixen girl had fallen for me. She took me everywhere with her. She took me to bars, clubs, cinema, her house, my house. We had sleep-over's as if we were little girls again. The point is that I was changing. Chloe introduced me to so any things. I started to rollerblade, swim, ice skate, climbing...Chloe even put highlights into my hair! The guys at work liked them. They had even stopped slapping my ass and flirting with me. They said I seemed happier, more independent. We even started chatting and having a laugh! My life was getting so much better since Chloe had entered it. However, I didn't realise what was happening...and who I was spending my time with...
***
The day was a Saturday, and I proposed to meet Chloe in the centre of town that day for something. She said it was some kind of party. I was dressed in my new clothes. I wore a plaid kilt and sporran, hanging just on my hips with a buttoned up shirt above it to show my midriff, short sleeved. On my feet were Ugg boots, a special embroidered pair with my name on the side from Chloe. It was such a nice gift to get from her, and Alex seemed to like them, though I didn't say Chloe brought them. I don't even think Alex had seen Chloe...
I squealed as I felt two arms wrap around me front behind, giggling as the caramel fur held onto my hips like a belt.
"I know you're back there!" said I, tugging at her arms.
She smiled and moved in front of me, giving me another friendly hug, "It's so nice of you to accompany me here, Sal'!"
She wore a simple pink tank top and stone-washed jeans, all neat and ironed with a tight fit and simple sandals wit comfortable straw on the inner sole. In her hair was a hair clip of a female gender sign with another overlapping it, although what the arrangement meant was lost too me.
I nodded and gave her a squeeze in the hug back, "It's great to spend time with you! What's all this about then?"
I was unsure of what the whole event was about. Chloe only told me that it was an annual thing and loads of fun. I would take the time to look around me, finding my gaze met by other females. A lot of them were dressed in rather decorative shirts, mostly pink. One even had a sort of slogan consisting of an upper case 'I' beside a heart beside a picture of a cat's face. I though the sentiment was rather cute.
"Well...it's a sort of...pride march..." said Chloe hesitantly, scratching the back of her head.
With a worried look on my face, I turned to look at the crowd again. It seemed there were a lot of females. In fact...the whole crowd was female. Some even held banners with phrases like 'God is Gay' and 'Woman Love = Straight Love' and 'Two females are beautiful in the eyes of God!' My mouth went dry as I watched as a couple or two held hands or softly kissed each other, two female bodies grinding up again each other.
"This is a Gay Pride March!" I squealed, holding my heart and rushing off from the main high street into an alley by the side.
In a flash, Chloe was on my tail, trying to keep me calm as she grabbed at my wrist, eager to explain herself, "Sally, please!"
"I'm not gay!" I cried, trying to tear her hand way from my wrist and escape to where I was safe.
"Sally, will you just listen!?" she howled, pulling me back firmly, "I know you're not gay! But you're my best friend and I want to spend everything activity I have with you! This is a really important thing for me! Today, we're marching into the city centre, it's a protest against the ban on gay marriages! It's not just lesbians here, but straight females as well!"
My eyes were filled with horror as I tore my wrist away from her grasp, looking at her like a witness to a murderer, "Are you a lesbian!!?"
Chloe's eyes filled with a sparkle of tears, ready to burst into life as she softly nodded her head. The face I proceeded to make was that of utter disgust, one that was unforgivable to such a sensitive subject.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" I scowled, "I thought you were a normal person! I have a boyfriend, we have plans of getting married! And you stare me down like a piece of meat for your amusement??! Is this some sort of game to you!!!? Just so you could pick me up like some...some whore off the street!?"
Chloe gasped in horror, "Sally, I love you as a friend! I am your friend, when have I ever flirted with you out of a friendly context? I know you have a boyfriend!"
"And you disrespect the sanctity of my church and my God by demanding and protesting to honest people that your kind can marry!? You're genetically wrong, for God's sake! It was Adam and Eve in the Bible, a man and a woman! That's how we reproduce, you sick freak!"
I could feel my anger mounting, until it was flushed away by the look in Chloe's face. Like all her dreams had been burnt in front of her, as if something so sentimental like a friendship was just torn from her life. It was a look of utter desperation, a plea for sympathy and understanding. Tears were rolling down her face, her fur stained with the painful throbbing of her aching heart.
"Sally, please..." she sniffled.
My heart was crushed too, the way my primal urges lashed out on her in such a hetero-normative context to take all that she was and scrutinise it until nothing was left but ash and rubble. My lips would open to speak, but the 'sorry' was jammed in my throat behind foolish pride, guilt and sheer embarrassment. So I turned and I ran...
***
With my phone turned off and my heart on fire, I burst through the door of my apartment. I couldn't stop moving, in fear of the anguish catching up with me. I had turned tail and ran, leaving Chloe staring on her distress in the alley way and walked all the way home, a good two hour hike through the streets. Finally, I took my fear to one side and sat down on the couch, letting the stern wave wash over me and let the regret sink in like salt in a wound. The silence of all the catastrophe was broken by the answering machine going off with the regular message I had set. And then...came the voice.
A voice which seemed to dry after many hours crying. One bruised and battered over some many tears shed and heart beats lost that it was taken of all harmony and tune. One which I could remember making silly phrases and stupid jokes, only to softly giggle afterwards like a new born with a soft prod to the nose.
"Sally? It's Chloe," began the sniffling timbre, "I didn't mean to upset you. I didn't go on the march, would have been boring without you. I just want to let you know I have thought about what you said and you're right. I mean, lesbianism? What was I thinking... I was just confused. Could we maybe...meet for coffee? I'll pay you the sandwich you like. Just please Sally...call me..."
And with the end, I could hear her break into another sob before quickly placing the phone down. This girl, only weeks ago had crashed into me in the park, was pouring her heart out for the friend she missed greatly, so much so that she would change her sexuality just to be accepted by her. No hatred or unjust homophobia was left in me. I had become an empty shell, a shattered memory of a happier time with my best friend, Chloe. One that I had taken advantage of and spiked with such harmful words that she had broken down in heart-felt tears of loss and pain.
***
It was not long before a knock came at the door in the rather late evening. I watching TV at the time, on the sofa, curled up in a blanket, trying to keep my mind of the darkness that dwelled within me. The knock was frail and shallow, and then just a silence. Yet that silence, so loud that it deafened the TV. The hope of a caramel vixen waiting behind that door. Turning off the TV, I rushed too the door and took a deep breath, my apologize fresh in my mind after running it through my head throughout the evening. Yet, as the door swung open, the wisps of cold air mocked me as the empty space gave a bitter wave. There was nothing there...until my gaze worked it's way down to the mat at the foot of the door. There, wrapped in my favourite colour of crimson rough, paper, knotted neatly with a brown tie, was a box and note atop it. I bent down to take the note from the top of the mysterious parcel and read it through in my mind:
Dear Sally,
It is clear to me that I have deceived you in some way. You have every right to be angry at me. I shall not lie to myself any longer, or too you. You are a very attractive woman, probably the most stunning girl I have ever had the pleasure to know. But, when I bumped into you in the park, my thoughts were not to get you into the sack. My intentions were just and I wanted to make a friend out of you.
Enclosed in the parcel is a box of chocolates. They're a white chocolate tray, your favourite. I remember the first time you tried white chocolate and you had so many you felt sick! I remember that, I had to rush out to get you some medicine in the rain, remember? Hehe, you looked so cute when you dozed off on the sofa.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy them. I paid for your car to be towed back and it's outside by the curb. I made sure they didn't scratch it, I know it's your pride and joy. Do take care of yourself, I wish you all the best. I do hope you and Alex live happily ever after, and may your wedding be the best day of your life.
I will always love you, Sally Leanne Wolfe. The best girl I ever bumped into,
Chloe Miranda Vickers
XXX
No sooner had I dropped the note than I was flying down that staircase with only my pyjamas on. I jumped down three steps at a time, hoping that I was not too late. When I was at street level, I bashed through the front down as my Uggs hit the pavement. The night was none too forgiving as the thunder crashed through the sky and the rain poured down by the bucket loads. The streets were like rivers, awash with all the rain water. I was shivering as I became soaked instantly in the cold winter air.
Then...that sight. The short vixen climbing into the back of a cab down the road. Taking one last look back to the apartment above us...
"CHLOE!!!" I screamed with all my might, the elements already taking their toll on my fatigued body. The girl's glimmering eyes locked onto me immediately and left the cab, sprinting to my side as I shivered harshly to the cold night storm.
"Sally?" she wailed in worry, "Sally, it's too cold out here! You'll catch your death, get inside!"
"N..No Chloe, I have too..."
"Sally, you'll freeze! Look how soaking you are, get inside!"
"Chloe...I want you to know...I...I just..."
My throat was sore, my jaw chattered with the shivers surging through my form. It could not wait. I had to say what I had to say there and then, but Chloe was still worrying about me, and informing me to leave her and go back inside. But that would not do. I could not do it, I could not leave her. She begged for me to leave over the storm, she begged for me to turn away.
And then I embraced her. Her arms around me flailed in panic of the sheer passion of the moment as I pulled her in tight, my cold, dry lips locking onto hers and not letting go. No wind could batter us, no rain would dampen the fire. I stuck to her as she tried to pull away as if I were delusional. But I would not let her, holding at her shirt like a frightened toddler in a lightening storm. And then she held me too, wrapping her arms around me. The soft, tender caress of our lips, the friction of our bodies. The rain itself would evaporate before touching us, the passion so intense it would seem to last forever. I felt her take large intakes of air through her nose and I did the same, my tongue slipping into her mouth, the taste of the sweet vixen filling my maw.
'I love you too, Chloe Miranda Vickers...' is all that ran through my head.