A Failed Explanation

“WHAT!?” You and Stella react in surprise, while Cassie exclaims “Called it!” as her reaction.

“What!? What happened?” Maddy reacts from the doorway.

You were all too preoccupied with the revelation that Celeste and her boyfriend used to be Viv’s doms that you didn’t even notice Maddy enter your apartment. Brooke has an awkward look on her face, realizing that Viv hasn’t told you about her history with Celeste and her boyfriend yet.

“I told you so.” She tells Stella. “Pay up.” Cassie adds while holding her hand out.

“Wait, you guys made a bet!?” Viv reacts in surprise.

“Back at the Aphrodite, Celeste said you and her hooked up. I already assumed that’s what she meant, and Stella bet me it wasn’t that and that you were just — and I quote, ‘in lesbians with each other’.” Cassie explains.

“Wait, is that what you were threatening Celeste with during Truth or Dare? That you’ll —”, “The TODD!” Viv corrects you, “Okay! The TODD! Was that what you threatened her with? That you’ll reveal she’s a dominatrix like Becca?” You continue your question..

“She’s a switch, actually.” Viv points out the technicality.

“Not the point!” You react, but not in agitation towards Viv, just shocked at the information.

“Thanks, B.” Viv sarcastically thanks Brooke through gritted teeth, who still has that awkward look on her face.

“I thought you were going to tell him once you were together!?” Brooke reacts defensively. Even still, Brooke knew she slipped up and apologized to Viv for letting it slip before she was ready to talk about it, similar to what Stella did earlier with her fear that she’ll find you bland.

“Holy shit. The next family get together is going to be super awkward.” Stella reacts in disbelief as well.

“Woah! Hey! Off limits! Celeste told me to reveal it to only you guys. She definitely does not want her family to know. She has a son who she’d rather not know for obvious reasons.” Viv points out, and you immediately understand her reasoning. It would be incredibly awkward if her son, Jesse, and the rest of the family found out about her sexual kinks.

“Celeste said you could tell her secret to us?” You ask Viv, to make sure that Celeste gave her permission for her secret to be relayed to you, and Viv nods in to confirm.

“She said you were going to ask eventually, and gave me permission so I didn’t have to lie or hide anything from you. She also said you should call her after you found out, so that she can stop you from blabbing about it to the rest of your family.” Viv tells you, before glancing at Stella.

“Oh-uh~, yeah. I’ll call her later.” You tell Viv with a nod, still trying to process what you just found out. You never really considered the thought of Celeste being kinky like that. More than that, the fact that Celeste and Viv shared the same guy as a dom is the bigger surprise to you. It’s only now that you start connecting the dots that relate to what Viv and Celeste have slightly hinted at during your previous interactions.

Viv mentioned something last night, about not wanting you to date someone like Becca, in fear of repeating her past. Based on what Celeste said during the TODD, Viv and her never dated or considered each other in a romantic sense. Is that what Viv meant about complicating another relationship with her bullshit? She doesn’t want another scenario where she and someone she had a relationship with shared someone else? Was she in a relationship with Celeste’s boyfriend?

“Viv, were you and Celeste’s boyfriend—” You were about to ask, before realizing that your girlfriend might not be comfortable with having this conversation right now, or at all. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you didn’t want us to find out this way.” You immediately stopped what you were saying to apologize. “If you’re not ready to talk about it, you don’t have to. We were just surprised. I’m sure you understand why.” You comfort Viv.

“No, Jay. This one’s on me. You kinda asked about it last night, and I was going to tell you, but you’re such a sweetheart that you let me rest instead. I should’ve told you already. You have a right to know about my previous complicated relationship with Celeste and Hal, and the dumb shit I put them through. So you don’t need to apologize.” Viv reassures you with a gentle smile.

“I’m sorry, what’s going on?” Maddy asks, standing next to Viv and Brooke after she made her way across your apartment to join you guys at the dining area. She was already wearing her workout outfit, and if the bombshell about Celeste wasn’t dropped by Brooke accidentally, you would all probably be leaving for the gym by now.

“Celeste, Jay’s cousin, along with her boyfriend, Hal, used to be my Mistress and my Master.” Viv explains to Maddy, and also clarifies for you, Stella, and Cassie what exactly their relationship was.

“Oh~, so you’re Lisa; and Mr. Craig’s cousin is Ally, and her boyfriend is Alan.” Maddy replies, but it only makes you and Brooke confused as to what Maddy was talking about. Viv, Cassie, and Stella seemed to understand what Maddy was referring to though. Maddy notices yours and Brooke’s confused looks, and you notice her smile a bit; before attempting to explain, but Viv answers her question before she could.

“Kinda~. Except in my version of the story —” Viv starts before taking a deep breath. You thought the deep breath was so she could gather courage to explain her past. Apparently, it’s for her to try and explain it all in one breath.

“— Lisa met Alan and got dommed by Alan and fell in love with Alan but didn’t tell Alan that she was in love with him for years and instead of telling Alan she stupidly added their friend Ally into their dom/sub relationship and Alan fell in love with Ally and Ally and Alan became a couple with Lisa’s blessing while still domming Lisa and Lisa was just the dumb fuck who didn’t tell Alan her feelings and Lisa got jealous then made it exponentially worse by forcing Alan to choose between her and Ally and he obviously chose Ally and Lisa was a coward who left her life behind instead of talking to them like an adult.” Viv explained at a rapid pace, so you couldn’t follow much of it. The fact that she was using different names confused you as all hell too.

From what you could gather, in combination with what you already do understand, your assumption about Viv and Celeste’s boyfriend may have been incorrect. She wasn’t in a relationship with Celeste’s boyfriend… but she wanted to be.

“I know you were using Sunstone characters, but I didn’t get any of that. Could you slow it down a smidge?” Stella asks Viv. Maddy seemed to follow Viv’s explanation though, and immediately gave Viv a hug to comfort her.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, V.” Maddy says with a muffled voice, as she had her temple resting on Viv’s shoulder when she said it. Viv returns Maddy’s hug, to thank her for comforting her and caring for her.

“It was a while ago now, M.” Viv tells Maddy, before glancing at you and then smiling a content smile. “For a long time, I used to wish I could change all the stuff I did back then. It was only recently that I’m starting to not regret it anymore… because this wouldn’t have happened. It wouldn’t have led me here. To you guys.” Viv says, before staring deeply into your eyes while continuing to hug Maddy.

“To you.” Viv then adds with a content smile.

“To me?” Maddy asks in confusion, after breaking her hug from Viv abruptly. “Oh. You meant Mr. Craig. Of course.” Maddy says with an awkward chuckle after seeing that Viv was looking at you. Viv couldn’t help but smile at Maddy’s confusion.

“I wouldn’t want to change any of it anymore.” Viv assures Maddy, and you as well. Viv’s still staring at you with her content smile as she finishes what she’s saying, and you can only return it with a content smile of your own.

“This is really sweet.” Brooke says next to Viv and Maddy. “But-um… I think you need to explain it in English for the people in the room who don't know that story.” Brooke points out to Viv, and she sees Cassie and Stella’s confused looks, as well as your content smile turning into an awkward one as you agree with Brooke’s point that not everyone may have fully understood what she meant. Hell, even with piecing it together, you’re not entirely sure if how you understood it is exactly what happened.

“Oh.” Viv reacts with a chuckle. “Right.” Viv adds. “Well, I guess I should start at the beginning.” Viv surmises.

…

…

“Oh, man. Why was this easier when I used different names?” Viv asks herself while nervously chuckling.

“You can still do what you did earlier and use other characters. If Maddy understood it, we could too. Just do it slower so we won’t get lost.” You advise her.

“Right, right. Um… So-uh~, I’m Lisa in this story, and —” Viv started explaining, but she’s interrupted by the sound of yours, hers, Stella’s, and Cassie’s phones ringing simultaneously. The four of you check your phones to see that it was Tanya video calling the group chat. At the same time, you all notice what time it is.

“Crap. We should’ve left fifteen minutes ago.” Cassie points out, after seeing the time. Your girlfriends all look at you, and it seems they want you to answer Tanya’s call.

“Hey~, T. Sorry we’re late. We’ll be there in a—” You started apologizing to Tanya, but the smile on her face didn’t seem to mind that you were running a little late, and before you could finish apologizing, you got interrupted by someone else entering your phone’s screen.

“BRO!” Chad shouts, seemingly having taken the phone from Tanya. Viv shrieks in surprise from hearing Chad’s voice unexpectedly.

“Oh god, I’m getting meathead flashbacks.” Viv jokingly says while rubbing her forehead.

“I’ve been waiting for you all day, bro! Where’ve you been!? Have you been smashing mad puss—” Chad asks you, obviously excited, before cutting him off after you noticed he was going to ask something rude.

“Hey~, Chad. We’re going at night now during weekdays to join Tanya’s schedule. We’ll be there in a few minutes. Can you give the phone back to—” You started to explain to Chad, but he didn’t seem to listen to what you were saying.

“Bro! Meet Courtney!” Chad shows a blonde woman on screen, his date who’s photo he showed you in the locker room a couple of days ago. It doesn’t avoid your notice that there are a couple of women behind Courtney that you’re familiar with too. “Bro! Your advice—” Chad continued, but whatever Chad was going to say was cut off by the multiple reactions that followed from seeing the people on screen.

“Courtney!?” Brooke asks in shock, upon seeing her roommate enter your phone’s screen.

“Brooke?” Courtney asks back after hearing Brooke’s voice.

“Brooke!” Chad excitedly greets Brooke upon seeing her on your screen when she slipped into your background with Viv.

“Becca!?” Viv shouts in surprise, catching the attention of Becca who was behind Courtney.

“Chef Lady!” Chad reacts upon seeing Viv on your screen.

“Vivian.” Becca responds calmly to the phone camera upon hearing Viv shout her name. You noticed that Becca had an awkward smile while greeting Viv, almost as if she’s not sure how Viv would react to her.

“Donkey!” Stella jokingly shouts in her best, but still pretty bad, Eddie Murphy impression. “Ow!” Stella reacts, after getting a playful kick from Cassie under the table for adding to the confusion. Despite the warning from Cassie, she was obviously stifling her own laughter from Stella’s joke.

“Hey Stella! I can’t see you on screen, but I know that voice even with the awful Donkey impression.” Paige says loudly next to Becca, so that Stella could hear her.

“Hey, Paige! We’ll be there in a few minutes!” Stella shouts from across the table, unable to see your phone screen, but recognizing Paige’s voice.

Tanya then grabs the phone from Chad and slaps him on the side of the arm for taking her phone without permission, and Chad immediately apologizes.

“I’ll switch to a voice call, give me a sec.” Tanya tells you before her camera turns off, prompting you to grab your phone and put it to your ear. “Hey, sorry about that. I was just checking if you guys were already on your way. If something’s keeping you, we can wait. No rush, papi.” Tanya assures you.

“Yeah, something came up, but… it can wait?” You say in the form of a question, looking at Viv and the others whether or not it can wait. The girls all nod to table the discussion so Tanya can be with all of you when you discuss it.

“Yeah, it can wait. We’ll be on our way.” You reply to her.

“Are you sure?” Tanya asks.

“Positive. You’re going to hear the story eventually. Might as well hear it at the same time as us.”

Author's Plug: The Patreon is up to date and is up to eight chapters ahead if you subscribe to the highest tier, which is two weeks worth of chapters. Thanks again to everyone who supported me last year! Cheers!