Don't Think

Thu was washing up, after breakfast, the following day when she heard an unexpected knock at the door. 'I'll get it,' Lucy called out, practically screeching as she scrambled to get there. It made her suspicious but she couldn't even begin to figure out who it might be. Just as she allowed herself to go back to focusing on the dishes, however, she heard a voice that chilled her to the bone.

'So, where is she then?' It was the voice of her old English teacher, clear as day. What the fuck?! Part of her wanted, quite desperately, to stay hidden but she powered through her fear and emerged. 'Ah, Thu. It's nice to see you after so long.' Seeing her felt surreal. As she stared at her former teacher's face, the same heart shape and big brown eyes, weathered ever so subtly by age, she froze. She heard her heart beating.

After a few false starts, she eventually managed to ask, 'what are you doing here?'

Miss Thornton, as Thu had always known her, frowned slightly. 'Your girlfriend called me. It was quite a blast from the past when she asked about that a letter of yours. Well, anyway, I spoke to the school and they agreed to let me hand it back to you.' After that barrage of shocking revelations, the older woman thrust a familiar piece of lined paper at her. Lucy snatched it up and scurried off with it before Thu could even process what was being said.

Her brow furrowed and she managed to put at least some of the things she was thinking into words, 'sorry, I'm having trouble here. The school had it?'

'Yes,' she said, with an unreadable expression briefly flashing across her face, 'I spoke to Mister Stevenson about it, back in the day,' the math teacher had been in charge of the school's GSA, he'd often pestered her to join, 'and we decided that, out of an abundance of caution, I'd inform the principal. He'd wanted to get your parents involved but Mister Stevenson and I convinced him not to.' It was strange to imagine Mister Stevenson sticking up for her, since he'd always been an annoying asshole.

'An abundance of caution,' Thu repeated back to her, struggling with its meaning.

'There was a worry that there might be an escalation.'

That made her feel sick, 'I've never been that kind of person.'

'You're right. You were always a very mature and responsible young woman.'

You specifically said I was being immature when you ripped my heart out, you fucking bitch. 'Thank you.'

'Well,' she said, slapping her hips for effect, 'I can't stay but it really was good to see you. I knew you'd done well for yourself, professionally, of course, but it's great to see you in a relationship. Lucy spoke very highly of you, over the phone.'

Thu managed a half-smile as she ushered her out. 'It was nice to see you too,' she lied. As soon as the door click shut, she turned on her heels and bounded into her bedroom, where Lucy was giggling madly as she read through the note. 'Give me that,' she said, as she snatched it out of her hands.

Lucy made no move to take it back and just leaned back on the bed. 'You were a freak,' she said, still laughing.

'I was a teenager,' Thu pled, as she hastily read through the words she hadn't seen in a decade. It was more embarrassing than even her taunting dreams had remembered. 'Ugh,' she said, conceding something she'd never thought she would, 'I don't understand why it's so wrought and ugly.' Is that who I was? Is it who I still am?

'Nah, it was sweet,' Lucy said, finally over her fit of giggles, 'totally fucking psychotic, but sweet. You should write me a letter.'

I should send you back to the pound. 'Give me a break.' With a heavy heart, she ripped the letter to shreds. After a while, she felt calm enough to approach the topic. 'That was a really shitty thing to do, Lucy.'

The girl pouted. 'Okay, but I only did it because you were shutting me out,' with that finding no purchase, her mind seemed to race behind her eyes for another explanation, 'and it's important for you to confront your past. You're, like, so hung up on it and now you know it was stupid.'

That burned. 'Yeah, it was stupid,' she raised her voice, 'I fucking already said it was stupid! I didn't need to hold it in my hands to know that.' Seconds later, another knock at the door came. 'What the fuck is that?'

'Sorry,' Lucy said, meekly.

Thu couldn't imagine who it was, she didn't dare to. Still, she went to the door and steeled herself. Looking through the peephole, she saw only a large eye staring back at her, one with a strange shimmering blue iris. It was a monster girl, she assumed. She opened the door and discovered that it was the latest member of her brother's harem.

'Hey, sis,' Caleb said, with a typical wide smile on his face, as he and they all barrelled inside. 'Lucy said you two were having problems, and maybe I could help.' Jesus Christ.

'I don't even know how to respond to that,' she said, letting an awkward laugh break away from her. She defaulted to big sister mode, 'have you had breakfast?'

'I could eat,' he replied, and his girlfriends all looked at her expectantly.

Cooking was something she could do, so she got to it, letting Caleb and his collection of tentacled monsters fill her apartment with the sound of laughter and loud multi-sided conversations. Once she was done, she laid out the pancakes on the kitchen side and left the syrup open. Caleb and his girlfriends came in one at a time and took their fill. She then found herself awkwardly hovering over them as they ate. One of the squid girls was eating her food much more slowly, since she was distracted by trying to tickle Lucy, who giggled uproariously after every attempt.

Caleb didn't seem bothered but Thu felt a sting of a resentment. Perhaps seeing it written on her face, he piped up to distract her. 'Mom wants you to come over for Thanksgiving by the way.'

'Why?' she snapped in reply.

'Liv's husband is on like a business trip or something. There's more to it, I think, but basically mom wants a united front. I also may have told her that you have a girlfriend.'

That sent a chill up her spine. 'You're a fucking asshole,' she said, without heat, drawing concerned looks from the girls.

'Sorry, we were just talking and it naturally came out. Look, I know you really don't get along but I do think she wants to meet you halfway.'

Thu groaned in frustration and pinched her forehead. 'Fine. Whatever, I'll try to figure something out.'

'Hooray,' her brother said, before finishing off the rest of his breakfast. She envied his easy confidence and carefree attitude. 'Oh, I wanted to show you something,' he later said, pulling out his phone. He held the display up to her, and it had a photo of monster girl, some kind of octopus creature, on it. 'That's Helen. She's who I'm sponsoring next.'

Thu looked to his other girlfriends to see what they thought but they were busy playing with Lucy. 'That's nice, I guess. Do you not find it overwhelming trying to keep them all happy?'

Caleb scoffed at that, 'no, it's the easiest thing in the world. We just do whatever we want and have lots of sex.'

'Must be nice,' she chided, though he didn't seem to get it.

'Are you not having crazy amounts of sex with Lucy?'

The dog girl's ears perked up at that, and everyone looked at her with a strange expectation. 'That's not what I'm talking about,' she said, trying to get back on track.

He'd seen his opening, however, and went all in, 'you know that refusing to sleep with a monster girl is a big no-no, right? It's like the worst thing you can do short of being abusive.'

His girlfriends all shot Lucy looks of compassion and concern and it made Thu feel weird. 'Enough with the interrogation, alright?'

'Alright,' he said, easily, 'so, anyway, we were thinking of going to the park, if you wanted to tag along.'

'Yes,' Lucy barked, answering for them and, before she knew it, they were off. 

Her bike got her there a little while before Caleb and his harem, so she took the time to ask a question that had been eating away at her. 'So, were you friends with some of those girls back at the facility?' She wasn't sure she was prepared to handle the answer she most expected.

'Yep,' Lucy replied, happily, 'we didn't get much alone time, though. Girls with tentacles and pseudopods are in pretty high demand, both inside and outside AWIO.'

Thu's lip flared involuntarily but she kept her cool. 'So you've slept with them?'

'Only Billie and Piper,' she replied, absently. That would be the squid girl who'd been tickling her and her twin sister, respectively.

Before she could ask any more questions - not that she wanted to - Caleb's car pulled up and he and his girlfriends spilled out. The squid girls immediately began to chase Lucy, who took off running, and Caleb's fourth girlfriend, a sea slime named Alyssa, soon followed. That left her with her brother and his heavily pregnant first girlfriend, Chiyo. She was a scylla, with a beautiful, barely clothed, upper body but twelve large, red-brown tentacles instead of legs. The point of transition was, perhaps thankfully, obscured by a small skirt that matched her bra, lilac in colour. Her hair was long, flowing, and golden blonde and her eyes were sharp and sparkling green. She must've noticed Thu staring because, once they got settled into a suitable outcropping to watch the girls play, she asked, 'would you like to feel it?'

Thu hesitated as the woman motioned to her swollen belly. Caleb encouraged her with a smile, however, and she reached out. She'd felt a pregnant belly, before, her own mother's in fact, with the very man sat beside her right there inside it. Still, she felt humbled and gave her brother's girlfriend an appreciative smile. 'It can't be long now, can it?'

Chiyo smiled and shook her head and Thu noticed her prominent canines, a lot like Lucy's, when she spoke, 'only a few weeks, at the most, they say. We are going to call her Claudia. What do you think?'

'That sounds lovely,' she replied, not really having any particular affinity for names. Her attention was then drawn by the distinct sound of tutting, as a group of elderly parkgoers walked past them, shooting them with looks of disgust and disapproval. 'Is there a problem?' Thu asked, reflexively, as her jaw clenched and her blood began to boil. Her question drew only more stares and shakes of the head as they walked past.

'It's okay,' Chiyo said, holding her arm, 'it doesn't bother me.'

'How can it not?'

'I have a wonderful life with a wonderful boyfriend and a baby on the way. I'm surrounded by friends. What other people think of that is irrelevant.'

'Yeah,' Caleb chimed in, 'you need to learn to let that sort of stuff wash over you.' He draped his arms around the mother of his child and they leaned into one another.

Thu didn't know what to say to either of them but her pager soon saved her from having to think. 'Shit, sorry guys. I'll take Lucy home and maybe we can do this another time.' Her girlfriend was currently rolling around on the ground, either winning or losing a playfight with the other girls.

'Why don't you leave her with us?' her brother asked, 'I'll bring her back to your place when you're back. That way, she won't go stir crazy in your apartment and make any ill-advised phone calls.'

Thu wondered when exactly Lucy had told him about that. 'Uh,' she started, really not wanting to leave Lucy with girls this handsy - or so free with their tentacles as the case may be - but she did feel bad about leaving her alone in her apartment, 'fine, I guess.'

On the ride to the station, her mind was plagued by unwanted images of what exactly Lucy would be getting up to. She managed to shake them off once she was in work mode but her jealousy unsettled her nonetheless. Hours passed and she found herself getting ready to go home. On the inside of her locker, she had a picture of her father. It always made her smile but it rarely made her happy.

'Am I doing the right thing?' she asked, a question directed as much to herself as to him. He didn't answer and she closed her locker with a sigh. Once it was shut, she was left staring at the name McCarthy. It made her sick. She almost let herself cry when she got home to an empty apartment. It should've been a familiar sight but the contrast against that morning's chaos managed to overwhelm her as the silence and darkness tore their way into her soul and she let herself slide to the ground.

Time passed indiscernibly until the sound of giggling roused her and she went to the door. She expected Lucy to dive past her, inevitably followed by one of the other girls. Instead, she was caught in a tight hug that almost knocked her off her feet. 'I missed you,' the girl said but Thu found it hard to believe. She squeezed her girlfriend back and looked up to see Caleb and his partners hovering by the door.

'Did you wanna' come in? I could make dinner.'

'Nah,' her half-brother replied, with a smile, 'you'll need to be at the AWIO soon, plus we already ate.'

'Oh,' she hadn't realised how late it was. 'Alright, then, so, I guess, good bye,' she said, awkwardly, as Lucy slipped out of her arms.

Her brother then surprised her with a hug of his own. 'It's always nice to spend time with you,' he said, 'and we loved having Lucy with us.' The girls behind him all nodded their heads in agreement. Thu struggled through the discomfort and hugged him back. 'You're definitely on for Thanksgiving, yeah?'

'Yeah, I got the day off. They were pretty surprised I asked and I'm not one hundred percent off-call. Like, if they really need me, I'll still have to go.'

'I get it. Still, we're really looking forward to it. Mom and everyone.'

Thu rolled her eyes at that and, thankfully, he didn't push it. They said their goodbyes, and she had to witness Lucy being showered in kisses from the girls but, soon enough, they were off to the dreaded AWIO meeting. Kara greeted them with a smile when they entered her office. 'So, anything new to report?'

Before Thu could say anything, Lucy started yapping. 'I **** her to confront her teacher, like the one she had a crush on. Then, her brother took me to his house. It's really cool, it's like a mansion, and Billie and Piper were there. And Chiyo is, like, super pregnant.'

'I know,' Kara laughed, 'so, let's start with this confrontation. Miss McCarthy, do you think it helped you work through some of your insecurity?'

She scoffed at that, 'I really wouldn't call it a confrontation.'

'Call it whatever you want, did it help?'

Thu furrowed her brow, trying to work out her feelings, 'I guess it, kind of, made me realise how silly it all was. I've been carrying this resentment for so long that I convinced myself I'd never get over it.' God, I sound like such a fuck-up.

'That's really good to hear. Now, how about this thing with your brother? How did it make you feel?'

Thu shook her head, confused. 'I don't understand. He's just my brother.'

Kara looked at her with curiosity, 'but how did you feel seeing Lucy interact with her old friends and lovers?'

Am I supposed to tell the truth? 'I, sort of, hated it.'

Lucy looked hurt by that but Kara's face remained curious. 'You were feeling jealous?'

'Yeah.'

'That's good, isn't it?' Lucy piped up.

'It's natural,' Kara corrected, 'but you shouldn't dwell on feelings like that. Miss McCarthy,' she began, before being interrupted.

'Uh, it's Thu. You can just call me Thu.'

'Alright,' Kara replied, in an unreadable tone, 'Thu, are you afraid of losing Lucy to your brother's girlfriends?'

Yes. 'No, I'm just being stupid.' She stared past Kara as she said it.

'It's good to hear you say that because, if you let yourself be controlled by jealousy, you will end up pushing her away.' Kara's words struck her but she found it hard to analyse them. 'Now, how are things developing between the two of you physically?'

Lucy answered that one, 'it's getting better but it's not happening fast enough.'

'I know it's hard but you did promise to be patient.' Thu's mind roiled during their back-and-forth. I am so pathetic.

'I know,' Lucy whined, 'but seeing Chiyo, and the others, and how they're so happy, it's just driving me crazy.'

Kara offered Lucy a sympathetic look and Thu found it hard to breathe. The rest of the meeting passed by in a blur as she put herself on autopilot. Her brain spent the time working on the difficult task of figuring out how to break down a wall she'd been building for years. She was quiet, deep in thought, when they finally got back to the apartment.

Lucy began to yap as soon as the door closed. 'Did you have dinner? It kind of sounded like you didn't. We could have a late meal together. What do you think?'

Thu saw her, really saw her, standing there in the threshold of the kitchen, and said nothing. Instead, she closed the distance, grabbed hold of her waist and kissed her. She let herself become intoxicated by the taste of her. It was the only she could think of to let it happen. Don't think, you need this. She drove a hand up the girl's hoodie and relished the moan she stole. Keeping her eyes closed for as long as she could, she let Lucy guide her to their bed as they discarded their clothes. Only once they were naked, and pressed against one another, did she dare to open them.

She choked when she finally saw her girlfriend, her head thrown back and her cheeks red as Thu rubbed circles around her clit. Lucy's eyes soon met hers and they pressed their foreheads together, as the blonde girl reciprocated her hand movements. 'God,' one of them cried, 'fuck.' The kissing returned soon after, hot and hard, and they only paused for air. Thu didn't let herself think rationally, allowing herself to be guided entirely by the needs and wants of her body.

She closed her eyes again and hoisted Lucy upside down, letting the girl's legs hang over her shoulders as she devoured her cunt. Lucy squealed and squealed and her tail slapped at Thu's stomach. Until she felt Lucy's legs shake and her hips buck with mad delight, Thu refused to let go. Lucy cried and screamed, 'fu-u-u-uck,' straining to **** out her words, soon devolving into slurred whimpers and whines of pleasure. When it was finally her turn, Thu was not so vocal, nor did her hips buck as wildly, but the pleasure still cascaded through her body and mind. When she came, she cried tears of joy.

When Lucy noticed them, it caused Thu to feel a rush of fear and embarrassed but her partner soothed her with hugs and kisses and they fell asleep, entangled with one another.