New troubles.

When her alarm went off, Jess awoke with a face full of fur.

Whu...? Ah ain't... got a pet...?

The cobwebs of sleep where slow to clear from the southern belle's mind, but she could feel the enormous plushie she was hugging against her body... no, wait. She could feel pleasant tingles running along the plushie's length...

"Oh, right..."

Memories came trickling back, of growing ears, a tail, of Cathy's hug, of the... activities of the evening... And of all those, the warm embrace of her coworker brought about the strongest reaction. Jess' face grow hot, her ears twitching wildly in embarassment as she covered her face. It had been nothing more than a hug! Between friends! She shouldn't be reacting like this. And yet, she did, inexplicably. Nothing like this had ever happened when Jess had hugged any of the guys back home on her father's farm, or even the older woman Jess' family had hired as her teacher. And growing up in the Middle of Nowhere, Texas, meant that the southern belle hadn't had any friends her age until moving to Bay Cove. Not that her father's employees hadn't done their best to be there for her, teach her things and play with her... but in the end, this meant that Jess could drive a tractor like an old farmhand, wrangle cows like a master and beat even the best farm workers at poker - but when it came to figuring out her feelings, the beautiful Texan was woefully underequipped. Sure, there had been talking about how things were supposed to go, the birds and the bees and everything, as well as the odd naughty joke from a farmhand, but beyond that...?

Shifting with a little whimper, Jess felt her tail brush against her thighs, the fur matted with her dried juices. This of course saved her from the neverending spiral of her thoughts since it obviously necessitated a shower. But it lead to a wholly different problem:

How in blue blazes 'm Ah gonna dry all of this? Or fit it in the shower, for that matter?

Standing naked in her bathroom, Jess chewed on her lower lip lightly, her tail swishing through the air behind her legs and brushing against the back wall. It wasn't like she had time to spare, but Jess also couldn't go to work with her fur matted with dried girl juices...

In the end, Jess had to make a mess: The beautiful Texan elected to only wash the upper fifth of her tail close to her butt, seeing as the rest was still clean anyways. To keep the rest of her tail dry, Jess had to leave the door of the shower stall open - and of course, lots of water splashed onto the tiled floor before she was done. Even so, pressed for time, Jess could only throw a towel into the puddle to soak it up after drying her tail. The rich, thick pelt had simply soaked up too much water. It took so long, in fact, that the southern belle even had to skip breakfast at home and eat at the beginning of her shift.

Hurrying towards the café, there were again the stares, some weirded out, others appreciative, but Jess barely had time to register them, having her hands full not to hit anyone in the face with her tail. At least her new appendage helped by being surprisingly useful in balancing Jess as she speedwalked. Her ears meanwhile flicked almost of their own volition, left and right and straight ahead to pick up sounds and the talking of pedestrians, even if the Texan didn't have the mental energy to really process what they said. Which was just as well - if they said something nasty, Jess didn't want to hear it anyways, and if they did say something nice, well, there were enough people at work that had nice things to say.

When Jess finally reached said work, she practically jumped up the steps to the patio, glad that she'd still made it with a little time to spare before the café opened. With a few steps, Jess was at the door, knocking to be let in, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey, you guys open yet?" Turning her head towards the voice, Jess opened her mouth to reply - and froze when she saw a guy in a gray tracksuit sitting at one of the tables on the patio, the Texan's fur standing on end along the entire length of her tail.

Oh... oh no, tha-that's... It ain't him! It can't be him! Why's he back?!

"You alright there, hon?"

"Ah... Ah'm..."

"Ach, there ye are, lass! About time, now come on in and hel-- aw, an donas dubh." The touch of May's hand on her arm broke Jess from the vicious circle of her thoughts as the scotswoman gently pulled the southern belle inside. "Sir, we open in about twenty minutes. Thank you for your patience."

Once inside, May led Jess towards the counter and made her sit down at a table before fetching a glass of water and setting it down in front of the Texan. Then, gently holding Jess' lower arm, May looked up at her employee's face - even though Jess was sitting and the scotswoman was standing.

"Now, listen here, Jess," May began, voice soft. "Yer obviously not well. Do ye want to go home, take a break today? Cathy and I can hold down the fort..."

"No!" All alone with her mind, with not much to do, and without Cathy? No way. "No, Ah... Ah wanna stay an' work. If y'all are alright with that."

"Don't want to be alone, eh, lass?" May's smile was almost motherly as she gently petted Jess' arm. "I understand. But if ye ever feel like wanting to go home, let me know. Do ye have anyone to keep you company in case?"

"No, Ah... Ah live alone..."

"Then if ye do, I'll call my girlfriend to keep you company. Lisa's a good girl, you'll be safe with her."

"Thank y'a..." Jess trailed off; May had said girlfriend, right? Her girlfriend, not a girlfriend. Like the guys on her father's farm had done.

"Oh my god, Jess!" Before the southern belle could follow that train of thought any further, though, Cathy came out of the back with a box of sugar packets which she immediately dropped on the counter to rush over to her friend and bend down to give Jess a hug - which, while feeling calming and exhilarating at the same time, only served to send Jess' mind spinning again. "You look-- sorry, but you look terrible! Are you alright?"

Jess shook her head lightly and returned the hug, the tip of her tail nestling against Cathy's ankle as she clung to her colleague. It was almost like Cathy exuded calm like a soothing mist, slowing Jess' hammering heart - to a degree, of course. It still beat in the southern belle's throat just from hugging her friend.