Dinner time!

Natalie could barely concentrate during class. Her mind kept drifting back to Naomi and the last few days. At one point she realized that she was nervously biting her nails, a habit she had kicked in junior high. She stumbled through her day in anxiously until the time came to return home.

She debated about whether to tell Naomi she was on her way. She didn't want to interrupt some massive cleaning session and potentially upset her, but would giving her a heads-up be interpreted as a request for immediate sexual gratification or something? In the end she decided to send a text ten minutes or so before she got home.

As she approached the door to their apartment, Natalie's heart was pounding. She realized she had no idea what would be awaiting her. Would their entire apartment be obsessively cleaned? Would Naomi be sprawled naked on a bed of roses, ready for a night sexual servitude? Would she be like an eager puppy dog, bombarding Natalie with enthusiastic praise?

Nothing could have prepared Natalie for what she saw when she entered the living room. The smell of cheap alfredo sauce filled her nostrils and Naomi was sitting lazily on the couch, a controller in her hand. She greeted Natalie casually and asked how her day was.

Natalie took a moment to respond as she tried to understand. Had the effect worn off? Was the whole thing just a dream? "Fine. How was yours?"

"Great!" Naomi said with typical bubbly enthusiasm. "I made a new friend!"

A new friend? Natalie blinked, wondering if she'd misheard. Was this some kind of prank, or test, or something? "Seriously? Even with your, uh," (don't say curse), "condition?"

"Of course," Naomi said. "I'm devoted to you, but I'm still me." She explained that she had gotten lunch with a guy from her art history class.

Natalie sat down next to her. She was still stunned by this newfound independence. She suddenly realized that she had been in mourning all day - mourning the loss of her girlfriend, who had been replaced with a mindless love ****. A flicker of hope stirred within her and she asked the obvious question - why bother?

"I think he was hoping to ask me out," Naomi told her. "When I explained that I had a girlfriend, we decided to just hang out and be friends."

Normally Naomi hated when straight guys hit on her. Natalie was struggling to understand why she would do something like this, and she said as much.

"You wanted me to be a normal person with a normal life," Naomi reminded her. "What's more normal than making friends at college? Nat, babe, I'm going to do what's best for you! If an independent Naomi is what you want, then it's what you get."

Natalie was dizzy, still processing everything she was hearing, when Naomi abruptly changed subjects. "Now, are you ready for dinner?"

Natalie almost choked on her first bite of pasta. It looked exactly like every other Naomi meal - some cheap sauce poured over undercooked noodles - but the flavor and texture was much better than normal. She told Naomi as much and saw Naomi's face light up with joy at the praise.

"The usual. I just added some fresh basil and garlic to improve the flavor."

Natalie was amazed at what a few fresh ingredients can do. The sauce tasted almost homemade to her. "Well, whatever you did, it's incredible," she said as she forked another bite into her mouth. Naomi blushed at the repeated compliment and dug in to her own meal.

As she savored the textures and flavors of the enhanced dish, Natalie found her mind wandering. This was great, so much better than the servile **** she had anticipated. Still, she couldn't get the manic devotion of the weekend out of her head. Naomi had said she would die for her. Now she was hanging out with random guys and playing video games? Was this all just an act? Naomi was watching her and Natalie knew she was waiting for her to speak her mind.

She complimented the dinner again, then stumbled through formulating her question. "I'm a little worried that you're not..."

"Free?" Naomi offered. She explained very carefully her thought process. Natalie found it utterly alien, but was beginning to understand. She loved Naomi, and Naomi would never take something she loved from her. A thought occurred to her suddenly.

"You don't have to obey my orders anymore?" she asked hopefully. Naomi started babbling about paradoxes and obedience, but Natalie could hardly pay attention. She cut Naomi off to bark an order at her.

"Stand up!" she told her girlfriend, and to her surprise and delight, Naomi remained in her seat. She stared at the person across the table from her and she suddenly knew that it was still Naomi. Goofy, funny, brilliant, sexy Naomi. Natalie pushed her plate away before she remembered that Naomi would probably interpret that as a command to take it to the sink. They both eyed the plate for a tense moment before Naomi spoke.

"Bus your own damn plate," Naomi said, and all the tension Natalie had been carrying for days released at once.