My heart was pounding in my chest as Marissa slowly lifted her hand over me, her fingers over my face, with gaps for me to see her above me. Why had I agreed to this? I knew why, but gods, was I stupid? Her hand pressed into me, and I felt her adding pressure, pushing the air out of me with her palm. I clenched my stomach and braced against it, my body tense and hard as she pushed harder and harder. It didn't hurt, but it was making it hard to breathe, and I was shoved deep into the comforter, the soft fluff making a wall around me. I pushed against her with my hands, struggling to keep her off, but her palm was too strong. How could something so soft be this hard to budge?
"Remember, if you need a break, you have the power...~" She said, tauntingly.
I realized I was holding my breath, and tried to suck in more air and she rocked more of her weight over onto her arm, pressing me even harder. I didn't think I could talk at this point without losing what little air I had, so I wrestled a hand free and smacked the side of her hand. She had to stop now, right? That was the rule, she had to get off, why wasn't she-
The hand pulled off me and I gasped, coughing and rolling over. I had thought she wouldn't, she took so long, I just- I closed my eyes and focused. It'd been less than a second after I patted, it wasn't that long, she'd listened, it was ok, I was ok.
"You good?" She asked
I flipped over and looked up at her. She had that mean, smug look on her face, and was walking her hands towards me with her fingers, her towering body still a wall between me and the rest of the world.
"I'm- yeah..." I said, still out of breath "I just- I need to breathe."
"Fiiiine~" she said, fake annoyed "You're fun to crush, you know that? You strain so hard but you're still so small and soft, it feels so good..."
"I'm glad you're having fun then." I said, giving her a look.
"But are you having fun yet?" She asked
I shook my head "I-I still need to get used to it for now..."
"Ok, well... try to see me as an unstoppable force, and just let the feeling of helplessness fill you up." she said "I want you to try and enjoy the feeling of being unable to stop me, but remember, you can stop me, so... it's ok to have fun, ok?"
That sounded... backwards, and wrong, but I nodded. She smiled and scooted more forward on the bed, her fingers 'walking' up to me again. Her fingernails were short and unpainted, but they were just long enough to poke over the edge of her finger. Using that edge, she pushed me to the comforter again, and 'walked' across my legs, up to my torso with her nails. I felt the hardness, the slight pain, and watched them make lines on my skin. If she wanted, she could press just a little too hard, and my literally paper-thin skin would tear open.
My heart rate was going up again, and I lay back as the fingernails made it to my ribcage. I tried to control my breathing, watching her as she slowly, slowly worked up to my chest, pushing my sweater up. I tried to find the enjoyment in it, the feeling of being overpowered in the good way, but I was still so, scared. Her nail touched my left breast and I flinched, I couldn't, not yet, I-
"Yellow! Yellow light, yellow, sorry...." I yelled.
She pulled her hand back and pursed her lips.
"Can- can I flip over?" I asked
"I love watching your little face though..." She complained "Fine, flip over, we'll start again."
I rolled over onto my stomach, and gripped the bed, her nails walked up my body, pressing into me and making me shudder. I closed my eyes and thought about her, so much bigger, so much more powerful, the ability to smear me across the bed like a crushed grape if she wanted... It wasn't working, it was still too scary. Her fingers crawled up to my head, and rubbed me, smushing my face into the comforter. I rolled away, and stood up, feeling the pricks and tingles of all the places her nails had dug into me.
"Look at you, like a little tiger with all your stripes..." She cooed
I glanced down, and saw that she'd pressed and drug her nails hard enough to leave marks on my skin.
"Will- Am I going to bruise?" I asked, rubbing the marks. Maybe I should have put my bandages back on...
"Who knows!" She said "I don't think so..."
She leaned in closer "But... How does it make you feel? All those marks on you? Knowing they're from me? They mean you're mine, you know..."
I thought about it "Well... I already have this anklet that shows I'm yours, so I'm kinda used to the idea?"
She rolled her eyes "That's no fun, like, I want you to feel intimidated and like, into it."
"I get what you're trying to do..." I said "...but it's hard to feel any different when you really do own me, all the time."
She huffed. "Yeah, ok. Let's try..." She thought for a moment, then smiled. "Let's try role-play."
I frowned "Like, with dice and stuff?"
"What?" She asked "Why would we need dice? No, I'll be a mean hungry cat, and you'll be..."
I fought to keep the grimace off my face "...the rat, yeah, ok."
She giggled and got up on all fours. "I know my bed is pretty big, but there's still not much room to run and hide, you'll have to work hard!~"
Joke's on her, I do cardio. I took off at a dead sprint, and she laughed, snapping her hand out to slap at me. I tried to jump over it, but it hit my legs, tumbling me head over heels. I scrambled up and dashed forward again, I just had to make it to the pillows, I could get lost in them and she'd never-
Her hand slammed into the bed behind me, knocking me up into the air, her other hand snatching me as I fell. I braced myself for the squeeze, but it didn't come, instead, she rolled over onto her back and held me over her.
"You know... cats play with their food..." She said in a low, growly voice.
I hung there, looking down at her as her grin got bigger and bigger, her eyes sparking, her hair spread around her, and my heart caught.
She was... so cute like that, her face open, relaxed, no walls up, nothing between her and me... The feeling of being held, the knowledge that she was using me for her own pleasure mixed the feeling of safety, knowing she was trying very hard not to hurt me but still scare me. It felt... nice, almost.
I rubbed her soft hands around me and I started to get it. I wasn't supposed to like being bullied because it was fun, I was supposed to like it because it was her. She was horrible, she was scary, but she'd never hurt me if she could help it, this was a game, and as long as I played along, we could both have fun.
I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to tell her I understood, but her hand twitched and flicked upwards, launching me into the air.
I flailed for a split second before I felt her hands close around me again, pulling me down and tossing me up, over and over. My head spun, I was weightless, I felt myself fly up and drop into her soft hands over and over. It was like a roller coaster, and while I wasn't a big fan of coasters, this felt safer, because there was someone in control. I tumbled past her hand on the last throw and I jolted, had she missed me? I went limp and anticipated the impact, but found myself dropping into her other hand, on her chest.
I panted for air, and started to get up, when her hand flipped over, pressing me to her chest, right along her lower sternum. I felt her skin through her thin t-shirt and her warmth mixed with mine. I knew I was blushing, but I couldn't even feel it because her body heat was so strong. It felt right, being here, her hand over me. It felt much warmer and more secure than when she'd had me on her knee, or on her shoulder. A rumbling sound filled the air, and the surface under me shook. I realized she was purring, or at least, purring as well as a human could. Her voice was low, but it didn't quite get as low as it needed to be for a realistic purr, but the vibrations still felt good on my battered, tired body. I lay my head down and let the warmth and rumble soothe me. I could melt here, if she'd let me, just melt into a gooey puddle and fall asleep.
I felt the world shift and turn, and I rolled, falling to the side, dropping to the bed through the gap between her arm and chest. The bed shifted, and suddenly she was towering over me again, on her elbows with her face lowering down. Still purring, she pushed me into the bed with her face, rubbing against me with her cheek. I pushed back and stood up, holding myself steady with my hands on her face. She pushed into me with her nose and forehead, and I went over backwards again, on my butt with my hands behind me.
Her ever-present grin softened, and her lips pressed together, puckering lightly. I gasped, realizing what she was trying. She watched me carefully, waiting on me to say anything as she slowly drew closer. I almost wanted to, I was only doing this game to get her to stop hurting me, right? But as much as I wanted to want to tell her no, I just didn't, I craved it, in a way. I leaned onto my arms, and waited for her.
Even if she was horrible to me sometimes, she really did care about me. She made me feel special, in her own way, and I needed that feeling, I needed it to counteract the feeling of being a tiny, valueless subhuman. Even her hurting me was because she loved me. She could hurt anyone, but she cared enough about me to hurt me, to care for me in the only way she knew how. I wanted her to stop hurting me, of course. At least, I thought I did. In this light though, feeling her heat, her care and tenderness, seeing her in front of me trying her hardest to get me to care about her the way she cared about me, I couldn't help but feel a pang of something for her. Maybe not love, maybe not even trust, but something that made me want to be close to her all the same.
I closed my eyes as her lips touched me, they covered my face and chest, soft and so, so warm. I lifted my arms and held her cheeks as she held the kiss, letting her know I was returning it, even if she couldn't feel it. My chest fluttered, my head swam, and a million feelings at once buzzed around me. She was so much, everything around me, taking up my whole sensory scope with her being. I understood everything now, I wanted her to overwhelm me, to make me love her, to make me feel like I belonged there, with her. The smell of her cinnamon toothpaste mixed with her body scent, her skin, smooth and covered in tiny silky hairs, her blood, rushing through her veins, she was filling me up, and I couldn't stand it.
I broke away, and fell to the bed, my breaths heavy and slow. She hung there,, her lips still pursed, for just a moment longer, then her grin returned. Her look was one of triumph, a look of victory. She knew she had me, she could see it in my face, she could feel it in my touch. She licked her lips, and bared her teeth, crouching over me, looking like she was about to-
Oh, right, cat.
I barely rolled out of the way as her teeth snapped closed where I was, or right above where I was? It couldn't tell. I went back to my original plan, make for the pillows. I didn't think I'd mind being caught now, but... I didn't want to just give myself to her. I dashed left and rolled under her next swipe, smiling to myself. It made me think of those video games with the big bosses, run, dodge, and roll to survive. I broke to the right as she slapped the bed again, and landed crooked, falling over in a heap. I pushed myself up, ready to run again when her fingers found my legs. I kicked, but she was holding me down for real, not letting me go. The chase was over.
She pulled in close again and breathed on me, the hot, humid air ruffling my clothes, and got her mouth right up next to me. I was panting, half from effort, half from anticipation, was she about to kiss me again? I closed my eyes and waited for the touch of her lips, but my shin twitched in surprise as something hot and wet touched it. My eyes opened, and I watched her lick up my leg, the tip of her tongue leaving a cold trail behind it, reminding me where it'd been. She reached my waistline, and used her tongue to slide up my sweater, licking my stomach gently. Her breathing was short and fast, her tongue felt firm and unyielding against my soft stomach and I felt dizzy from the contact. Just as she reached my ribcage, she stopped, and pulled away. Even though I hadn't said anything, she had remembered and respected my boundaries. Part of me was grateful. The other part of me wished she hadn't.
Her tongue flicked my cheek, and her right hand slid under me, sitting me up. Her face was so close I could see every detail, every single thing I was experiencing was her. Her mouth opened, her lips splitting apart and pulling back to show her teeth. She lowered herself over me, and my upper body went into her mouth. It was dark, and exceedingly humid, and her breaths in and out lifted and pushed my hair and clothes, but I didn't care, it felt right, to be like this, this kind of closeness felt like something I'd craved for years, and never even noticed it was missing. This level of human contact, this full-body hug, it felt so, so good, and so, so right, like the first rain after a drought. I pulled my arms inside her lips and let her close her mouth around me, my legs still on the bed.
The light was blotted out as her lips met around my stomach, and her tongue pressed me into the roof of her mouth. For a frozen moment in time, I felt a twinge of annoyance that I'd need another shower after this, but as I felt the pressure and texture around me, I stopped caring. Her jaw closed around my chest, her teeth closing on my ribcage, and my feet curled up in a mix of horror and satisfaction as her bite tightened. The air was growing thin, and the teeth were digging into my body. I tried to squirm, but she was clenched too tight. I could feel her shaking as her purring started up again, and I felt the bed under me shift as she clawed at the comforter. I felt something push too tight in my chest, and realized she was bitting me so hard I couldn't breathe. I gasped as much as a could, and flailed, but my arms just met hard teeth and soft flesh, nothing gave.
I coughed out with what little air I had, not ready to end it, but unable to keep going
"R-red light! Red! Red!"
The teeth tightened ever so slightly, and held for just a moment, just long enough to worry Marissa couldn't hear me outside of my cage, then her mouth opened, and cool, fresh air rushed in. She lifted her head, and I fell over to the side, coughing and gasping as my lungs re-inflated. She flopped down beside me, looking at me with a soft, lazy look.
"So..." She whispered "did you like it?"
I took one last deep breath, and slowly nodded. I'd planned to lie either way, but... I really, actually understood it now.
"I get it," I said, panting "I get what you were saying, about trusting you, and having fun with it."
She giggled, and reached over, pulling my damp sweater up. I looked down, and saw a row of teeth marks on my chest, deep enough to leave a bruise.
"See that?" she asked, pointing
I nodded
She gently picked me up in her hand and I curled against her fingers, enjoying the contact. "That means you're mine~"
~~~
I lay on her chest, re-showered and clean after our little experiment. The TV was on low, playing an episode of Andy Griffith playing in the background. Marissa's dad had watched it with her when she was a kid, so she'd wanted to start there. I'd tried to talk to her about the long-reaching negative effects of this show as copaganga, but she didn't want to talk about that right now, so we just sat, relaxing. Her chest rose and fell under me, and her hand cupped me gently. We'd had a long day, and I for one was exhausted, but I wanted to stay up with her a while longer.
She rubbed me gently and laughed under her breath at the antics of the deputy, her hand stroking me like you would a cat. I listened to her heartbeat, slow and gentle, and I wonder if she really had gotten it all out of her system, if we could be normal for once. I thought about school tomorrow, we didn't share a class with Henri, but we might run into her. She'd gotten very scared at the idea of me having my leg blown off, so I couldn't imagine she'd try anything. Marissa's arm was still scratched, but it was healing pretty well, Henri might see that and get suspicious that there was no tracker, but would she risk it?
Speaking of Henri, I supposed I had an answer for her now. Or at least something of an answer? I couldn't imagine her taking it laying down, she'd make a fuss over it, but I had to trust that she'd respect me and my decisions. I shifted to look up at Marissa, and wondered how she saw our relationship, was it as owner and pet? Girlfriends? Friends with Benefits? Or did she just assume she'd get what she wanted, no labels needed?
"...Hey, M?" I asked
"Mm, what's up?" She said, her voice thick with tiredness.
"What are we?"
Her breathing hitched, and she sat up slightly, moving me to sit in her palm so she could look at me. Her eyes traced over me with a curious fixation.
"...Why don't you tell me?"
I shook my head "I... don't really know. I know you're in charge, and for now I'm ok with that, but I wasn't sure what we looked like past that."
She rubbed her face with her free hand and looked at the TV. "Fuck, Amber, isn't just knowing I'm in charge enough?"
"Well..." I said "I was thinking about Henri"
She glared at me "What, like, while we were playing?"
I shook my head "No no no! Sorry... Just- just now. I was thinking about her confession, and... if I had an answer for her or not. I thought tonight might have given me that answer."
Marissa sighed. "Well... We did go on a date to a fancy restaurant earlier, if that helps you figure it out."
I gasped "Holy shit that was a date, wasn't it?"
Marissa snickered "Yeah, it was pretty obviously a date... And you made me wear a fucking school pride hoodie to our first date, remember that."
"But..." I said "I was still scared of you then, does it even count?"
"You're not scared of me now?" She asked, tipping her hand like she was going to drop me
I clung to her fingers "Stop that, no, I'm... I don't know, I'm scared of you like I'm scared of roller coasters, I guess."
"Are you calling me mentally unstable?" She teased
"No, but you are?" I said "I was more saying that I'm scared of you, but... if it's going to be like it was tonight, it's a thrilling fear, not a bad one. I don't know..."
She set me on her stomach and started petting me. "So, all that in mind, what are we?" She prompted
"We... We're dating, kinda, I think? But it's like, I'm dating you, and you're keeping me?" I tried to puzzle it out "I think we're together because we need each other, but maybe it's not quite dating, more like..."
"Like?" She asked
"Ugh, I don't have a word for it..." I muttered. "I still don't know what we are."
"I'll tell you what I think then." Marissa said. "I think you're the girl I've had a crush on for years, the person I would kill for, my favorite toy, my brand new pet, my stress relief, and my new best friend, all in one tiny package. What that makes us? That's up to you, but that's what you are to me."
I sat quietly, thinking it over "In that case... You're my jailer, my protector, my provider, the girl I'm scared of more than anyone else, my favorite place to lay down on, and right now? You're my closest friend."
"Aww, I'm glad you like laying on me at least." She smushed my cheeks, and I flushed pink
"Yeah, you're warm. I am constantly freezing cold, your body heat feels like heaven, laying on you is one of the most comfortable things in the world."
"Well, even if being a glorified heated mattress is the best I have going for me right now, I'm glad you think of me as your closest friend."
"It's between you and Henri..." I muttered "and Henri is kind of scaring me."
"Yeah, she could have crushed you by trying to smash open the locker like that, and the whole wanting to kill me thing? Gods."
"Oh, yeah, that too, but-" I hadn't told Marissa about this, I wasn't sure if I should. It couldn't hurt though... "...she's moved into my old room, she's using my old stuff, wearing my old clothes, all that, trying to feel close to me or something. It's scary of a different level."
"Oh, shit, that's like, actually obsessed kinda level." Marissa said sitting up further, making me hug her stomach to stay on "Your parents are ok with it?"
"I haven't talked to them..." I admitted "They're not great with tech stuff, so I don't have a chance to talk past a few sentences, and I just found out about this Sunday night. I miss them, though..."
"Well... I'd say maybe we could go see them, but if Henri's living there..." Marissa trailed off
"Maybe we still could?" I said hopefully "You could go over there after practice on Thursday, you get off early, and we could go there straight from school. Henri usually goes to the gym after you go home, so... There might be a couple hour gap?"
"You know my practice schedule?" Marissa asked, confused "I never saw you around, how do you know it off the top of your head?
"...Me and Henri liked to wait until after you finished to go to the gym, so we didn't run into you in the lockers. It paid to know when you'd be there"
"Oh, hm. I was wondering why I stopped seeing you down there..." She said sadly "I looked forward to it."
"Sorry... You tended to get up close and violent."
"Well, I had to get up close somehow."
"...Oh."
She sighed "We have two days, we'll see about going to visit your family later."
"Thanks, just... I want to give them a heads up, so... by tomorrow night?"
"Yeah, I'll let you know." She said, turning back to the TV and settling down, putting me on her chest "Ugh, meeting the parents, that's always awkward."
I lay down, and rested against her as the show droned on in the background, my eyes feeling heavy, and my body still aching from the past week of non-stop excitement. I closed my eyes and let myself slip away into the night.
~~~
I woke to Marissa putting me on the sofa in my house. I yawned and rolled up to a siting position.
"Ugh, is it morning already?" I asked.
"Yeah, just about." She said, looking at her phone. "I figure we'll eat in the dining hall again today. I've only got a couple classes, so we get to come home early, and we can do something fun?"
Her voice tilted up, like she was asking permission, but I wasn't sure if she wanted to 'play', or if she wanted to do something else. I pulled up my shirt to check my bruises, and saw that the teethmarks were still there, plain as day. I winced, and lowered my shirt.
"I think I'll need a while to recover before we have any more fun..." I said. I found myself almost feeling bad, I was sore and exhausted, but I wanted that connection and thrill from last night too.
"No, no, that's ok." Marissa said "Uh, I was thinking like, playing that one game I like? Or I could dress you up in different outfits and take pictures?"
"Oh, yeah." Being treated like a doll again... I was, in a way, and that didn't make me feel as gross as it would have a couple days ago, but I still got a strange, wrong feeling deep down when I thought about it.
"Anyway... get dressed, I picked out a nice blouse and skirt for you today, here." She set the items in question down on the couch. The skirt was long and pleated, and the blouse was fluffy and a rich blue color, with a low cut and short sleeves. "I remember you looking good in that blue thing you wore a while ago, so... blue."
"Do I get to pick your clothes again?" I asked, hopefully.
She stuck out her tongue "The hoodie's in the wash, no. You can make a request though, or you can go in the bottle, up to you."
"Ok, uhh..." I thought about it "I want to nap, actually, so anything that's good for napping."
Marissa thought about it "Well... it's a bit late in the year for it, but I can make an exception, I have a nice wool cardigan with one of those pockets that's on the inside and the outside, you can go on the inside."
I thought about curling up in a soft wool sleeping bag that smelled like Marissa and my insides buzzed again. I was... not used to feeling this way, especially not about her.
"That sounds great, actually, yeah."
"Perfect! I'll be back in a few minutes to pick you up."
I got dressed, and pondered my life. I'd gone through so, so much upset in such a short amount of time, it's like Marissa was a different person now, relaxed, happy, discussing things with me... I felt like I was betraying my past self by allowing myself to like her, but I just needed something safe, and if she could be that for me, I'd do whatever she wanted, even if she was the one I needed safety from. Today though, it'd give me a chance to see what life was like day to day, nothing weird, no plans, just school and home. I was looking forward to experiencing a normal day for once.
After getting to the school, Marissa made her way to the food hall, and ordered herself a salad and smoothie, and took her food to a table in the middle of the room, pulling me out of my soft, warm, cozy heaven and putting me on the cold, hard, bright table next to her food. I looked around, and didn't notice any faces I recognized, so I sat down and watched Marissa sip her drink. I remembered something I'd wanted to ask about, and scooted closer to her.
"You know, it's weird..." I said "Some of the class Bs in that group we went to said they could eat regular food without getting sick, one even had an all uncompressed diet."
Marissa frowned and shook her head "That's not possible, I've read up on it. Your guts can't break down the stuff in the food anymore."
"Yeah, and that tortilla you gave me made be sick too, but Babae said she almost died on compressed foods, and she only lived because her guardian fed her regular food."
"Well... If you want to test it, be my guest, but not here. The school doesn't have bathrooms for class Bs, and I do not want to figure out how you can use a full sized one."
"No, uh yeah..." I shuddered thinking of all the things that could go wrong "I wasn't going to try, I was just making conversation I guess."
"Maybe you should try, it could be- Oh, hello Quince." Marissa's attitude and mood snapped back to her usual self in an instant.
"Don't 'hello Quince' me, I heard you having a perfectly good conversation until I walked up, that's just rude." Quince quipped, dropping a meat patty on the table and unwrapping it.
"I was talking to my pet, not you." Marissa said bluntly.
"Aww, I'd prefer to talk to her over you too, M, it's ok!" Quince said, poking me with her finger. "Heyyyy Amber, I love your little outfit, you look like a little artist!"
"Don't fucking touch her with your meat-hands, just let her sit, ugh." Marissa snapped.
"My 'meat hands'? As opposed to the ones I have made of stone?" Quince jabbed. It seemed she was used to Marissa's demeanor, and wasn't particularly bothered by it.
"I think she means because you're eating a pastry with meat in it." I offered, pointing.
"Oh, yeah, whatever, it's not that greasy," Quince dismissed
"I still don't want you touching her, the oil from our hands is already-"
"Oh hushhhhh..." Quince said, taking a bite "Ah too' th' sa'am cla'ss 'u di'."
Marissa looked around, annoyed. "Where the fuck are Tracy and Darcy today?"
Quince flapped her hand, swallowing. "Mm, Tracy is at her dad's work, he has her doing 'intern work' there for class credits now, and Darcy left for Europe a couple days ago."
"What the fuck?" Marissa said "I just saw Darcy for dinner Saturday and she didn't say shit about a European trip."
"Well... maybe she didn't want you ruining it like you ruined her last one?"
"I didn't ruin it, I just happened to decide to go to the same hotel as her, she made it sound fun, fuck."
"You followed her on vacation?" I asked "That's wild..."
"Oh, shut up, it wasn't like that." She said pushing me against the side of the cup her smoothie was in. The chill cut through my body and I gasped, scooting forward again, shaking slightly.
Ok, so she wasn't all that different...
"Still... Tracy is doing intern work?" Marissa said "She can't even do her classwork, or afford to pay for it, like me, what's she even doing there?"
"Oh, you know, her dad wants her to take over when he retires in a couple years, so she's learning all his job stuff. Boring stuff for a boring bitch."
"I'm taking over both my parent's companies when I turn 26." bragged Marissa "Getting to run her dad's rinky dink bio studies lab isn't that impressive."
"Why 26?" I asked, fanning my damp shirt to dry it faster "That seems arbitrary."
"It's something to do with my graduation plan. I graduate, work under them, then they both give their companies to me after a set amount of time, and the two LundCorps become one again, and they make more money."
"Why do they make more money?" I asked "You'll be the owner, right?"
"They'll still be majority shareholders." Marissa explained
"Oh, ok." I said. I still didn't understand, but at that point I didn't care anymore.
"Gosh... she's so cute when she's all inquisitive..." Quince breathed, looking at me longingly
I wrinkled my nose at her breakfast breath and leaned back.
"Stop breathing on her, Quince." Marissa said "If you keep messing with her, I'm putting her away."
I wished she would put me away... I missed my pocket.
"Why do you care?" Quince sneered "You probably bully the fuck out of her yourself anyway. I can just see you putting her in your shoes, or like, taping her to a ceiling fan blade, or... I don't know, making her clean your bathroom or something."
I looked up at Marissa in alarm, she'd better not be planning on using any of those ideas...
"I care." Marissa said flatly "Because she's a $25,000 piece of property that gets sick extremely easily, broken at the slightest touch, or crushed by almost anything that falls on her, and I don't want to have fucking wasted all that money just to have you get her sick and die by breathing germs all over her."
"I really don't think they're that fragile." Quince said, but she lifted her head anyway.
"No, we really, really are." I assured her "I could be killed by a falling textbook or just falling from the table to the chair, please remember that when you adopt your class B..."
Quince looked at me, her face a mixture of boredom and 'd'aww', and pushed the rest of her breakfast into her mouth.
"I'll re'ember tha'." She mumbled around the food, standing up. She swallowed and glanced at Marissa "I've gotta go. We're still on for Friday night?"
"Yup, you, me, Tracy, Amber, and Henri." Marissa said. "Although I'm debating on if I'll actually have Henri over..."
"Oh you got to!" Quince said "An actual servant instead of one of those boring people in grey dresses that won't talk to you? It'll be so much fun!"
"I'm worried about a couple things..." admitted Marissa "But we'll see."
"You should see sooner than later." Quince said, jutting her jaw at something behind us. "She's been right behind you since I sat down."
Marissa and I both turned and looked. Sure enough, at the table behind us, wearing one of my sweaters and my favorite hat, was Henri, her phone out, recording us without any shame in her face.
I sighed and slumped. It just couldn't be a normal fucking school-day, could it?
~~~