6 - Too Friendly?

As I watched the timer tick down, I ran through the options on the screen.

"Filthy Mind" sounded transparently bad - Changing her mind like that crossed a line I didn't want to cross. Plus, she was getting into this in a way that made me a little uncomfortable, and I wasn't about to add to that if I could help it. So that clearly wasn't an option.

I wasn't certain what "Shorter Stack" would do, but I could guess. Alyssa was already a little curvy, and maybe a bit shorter than average. Maybe it would make her shorter and curvier? She had told me before she liked taller girls, so maybe she'd be alright with that. But knowing how much the change to my hair and makeup had altered my own life, I was wary of doing that to her, particularly when there was no time to discuss it.

What if whatever changed made her life worse, in some way I couldn't think of right now? What if it kept us from being friends? My heart was pounding.

I wouldn't dare let the timer run out. What if it gave her all three? What if it did something worse? Who knows, maybe it would punish me somehow too.

With only seconds left, I brought my finger down on the second option.

~ Ba-bing! ~

At least "Friendly Greetings" sounded innocuous, although I still had no idea what it did.

"Well?" she asked, posing with her hands on her hips. I looked her over. She had an expectant grin on her face. "I don't even know what it did. You look exactly the same," I explained. "I'm sorry Alyssa, but i really do have to get to class. I need to be early enough to review my notes, at least."

I really did wish I could stick around and talk through it with her. Damn that Matt. Even if his intentions were good when he said it.

I swung my book bag up over my shoulder, acutely aware of the way the simple action set my chest in motion. My hair fluttered gently down to drape over my shoulders.

Alyssa reassured me, with the same mischievous grin she'd been wearing since my last change, "Don't even worry about it, it'll be a mystery for both of us." She stepped towards me, and took my hand in hers. I stopped, surprised by the sudden intimacy - Alyssa was my closest friend, but she was never much of a toucher. She looked up into my eyes.

"I'll talk to you later then. And let me know if you figure out my other little command. That's going to be a fun one."

With that, she pulled me into her arms, rising up on her tip-toes, resting one hand on my hip while the other gently, tenderly, guided me by the back of my head towards her lips.

She embraced me tightly, and kissed me.

She kissed me deeply on the lips, for several seconds. Unsure of what to do, I kissed her back. I could feel the warm softness of her lips against mine, and without even thinking I opened my mouth. Our tongues met.

I was still lost in the shock of the moment when I realized she had already turned around and walked away, shouting a "See ya later Lauren!" over her shoulder as she did. I remembered the feeling of her hands on my body, her fingers running through my silky hair, the pressure of her body compressing my four gigantic breasts between us and against each other, and her own breasts against my top row. (C-cups, as I knew from her frequent self-deprecating complaints. Pretty sure I'd given her a complex somewhere along the way). I remembered the gentle suction as her tongue explored my mouth. I remembered the taste as my own tongue tentatively prodded back.

I replayed the moment in my mind. Had some change, somewhere down the line, made us a couple after all? I loved Alyssa, certainly, but only as a friend. And I knew, from a quiet, heartfelt moment of confession during a long night of gaming and underage drinking, that although she was definitely, hugely, desperately attracted to me, she valued our friendship too much to try to change it. Plus, it was pretty clear by then that I was straight as an arrow. She understood that too. I hugged her, at that point, which I quickly realized made things even more awkward. But we laughed it off. We always laughed it off. And we went back to our classic Dragon Quest marathon.

But that was the Alyssa I knew. This Alyssa had a different set of memories, and knew a different me. From her perspective, whatever change I'd just caused had no doubt been a fact her entire life. She even thought my impossible magic hair was normal. That, and she probably didn't remember whatever it was that the couple of changes she had just made herself had been, nor whatever small or large differences in our lives those changes had caused - things I now realized would always feel as natural to me as breathing air or obeying Matt.

Had our relationship changed that much in those few moments? And what part of it had I done to her?

Had this world's me endangered our friendship by going along, halfheartedly, with Alyssa's attraction for me?

My heart was caught in my throat.

I saw her across the cafe, meeting up with two people I didn't know - a skinny boy with dyed green hair and a flannel shirt, and a tallish black girl in sweatpants. The two of them got up from the table to greet her, and she kissed each of them in turn, deeply, on the mouth. First the boy, briefly, and then the tall girl, who she embraced tenderly, wrapping both arms tightly around her waist, pressing their bodies together, the other girl almost lifting her off her feet as she stood to her full height. When they finally separated, they all sat down and started talking as if nothing had happened.

Oh, I realized. "Friendly Greetings". Icon of a pair of lips. Okay. Sure. Whatever. Fine.

I could still taste her tongue on mine.

I took a breath, adjusted my sweater, combed my hair with my hands, and made my way to the classroom.