Things cool down

"Are you sure I can't take you to the hospital?" Erika tried asking as we drove. I shook my head "no" between gulps of water. I had let my hair down and only asked my blonde friend to take me home. I was going to get rid of my yoga clothes before she brought me back to my car.

"No, you need to get to work," I admonished.

"I have a couple old ladies getting dye jobs. I can pass that off on one of my coworkers," Erika tried again. It was still early in the day, and though I had called in sick, I didn't want my friend to have to do the same.

"Honestly Erika, I'm fine to drive," I did my best to reassure her. "I just want a medical opinion about what's happening to my body."

"Which to reiterate is overheating, losing hair, causing a rash on your face, AND making your cooch swell up," Erika retorted. "Please let me give you a lift."

I blanched at the last part and sank lower in the passenger seat. While I had avoided telling Erika about my unexpected masturbation, my yoga pants had made hiding my puffiness rather difficult. Even crossing my legs, the blob squished so it peeked out above my thighs and said "hello" from beneath the dark fabric. That and how damp my body had become made getting fresh clothes an imperative, but it did not mean I needed Erika to skip work.

"And I told you, it's okay. Going in groups to the doctor's office is just asking for Covid. Things are a little weird right now--," I began.

"They're a lot weird," Erika chimed in.

"But I'm not dying, and I'm certainly not in pain," I added firmly.

If anything the strange events at the gym were pleasurable if a bit surprising. I had not expected Marco to come in so close or for hot yoga to get so steamy. Sure, something was off with me chemically, but I could chock a lot of what happened this morning to my body just getting turned on under strange circumstances. I fully intended to relate this to my doctor, but didn't want to disclose it while Erika was in the room.

"Please Erika, just take me back to the gym. I promise I'll be fine," I said, adjusting my glasses as we pulled into our driveway.

"Jesus Riley, fine! But I'm telling Jasper," my hairdresser low key threatened, slamming the car door as she followed me inside.

"Again, I'm already pretty embarrassed. Keep the details to a minimum, okay?" I gestured to my groin, and Erika grimaced but nodded her begrudging assent.

Without my garage key, I headed for the front door. Erika commented on how nice our lawn looked, but I couldn't help but notice our trash can was giving off an odd smell. My engineering boyfriend met us at the door dressed for Zoom meetings: collared shirt on top, cheeto-dusted sweatpants on the bottom, and looking a bit frightened to see us back so soon.

"Uh...Erika?" he gulped, "and Riley, is everything alright?"

"Oh uh, yep," on instinct I clasped my hands above my waist so he wouldn't see anything, "I just need to get some different clothes, and Erika's going to take me back to my car."

"She needs to go to the hospital," Erika intervened.

"Whuh-what?" Jasper coughed.

"I just need to see a doctor," I said pointedly at Erika. "I got a bit overheated in yoga class and want to make sure everything's okay."

"Is that what happened to your face?" Jasper asked, drawing a circle with his finger while gesturing at his mouth.

"Yeah, just an allergic reaction to lipstick...or something. Erika can tell you. It's nothing serious," and so saying I made a beeline for the bedroom, leaving Jasper and Erika behind to grumble.

Pitching my soiled gym clothes, I changed into a set of bulkier garments: grey draw string sweatpants and a loose fitting fuchsia t-shirt. Looking in the mirror, the result covered my protruding labia but made me look a bit pear shaped. As opposed to my usual curves, the grey pants really puffed out my waist, but even stranger, the pink shirt made me look not as chesty as I usually did. I went to grab a fresh bra, but was shocked when it didn't fit right, so I adjusted my glasses, and took it off to check the label. Despite it being a genuine D cup, I had to pull the bra's clips to the third wrung to get any support, and beneath the shirt it looked like my usual cantaloupes were just a pair of high sitting Granny Smiths. I bit my tongue wondering if this was a new symptom to add to the list, but wrote it off as the result of using a different bra. I really only had one good one.

I brushed out my wavy dark hair and considered a shower before putting Erika's time table first and forgoing it. I did however unscrew my foundation lid for the second time today and liberally powdered by broken out face. The red circle disappeared a little behind the makeup, but still remained noticeable if you got too close. So I opted to grab a cloth mask to hide the blemish in full before returning to my boyfriend and hairdresser ready to depart.

"You sure I can't come with a ya...um babe," Jasper asked weakly while glancing over at Erika expectantly. He was sweet to ask, but my head suddenly swam with visions of Marco's shorts, and I guiltily shook my head as Erika's eyes narrowed at Jasper. I loved my boyfriend, but I still couldn't decide how much he should know about all this. I mean, maybe we needed to reevaluate our relationship if I wasn't getting off during sex yet becoming uncontrollably randy just from a fantasy about my yoga teacher. It's not like Jasper hasn't been weird to me this week. Between the move-in arguments and the morning douching, maybe my body didn't feel secure here and was trying to tell me. It was all pretty confusing and I didn't want Jasper to feel bad about it until I had come to a decision.

"No honey," I sighed, scapegoating the curly blonde. "Did Erika make it sound really bad? Honest sweetie, I just got dehydrated. I'm already feeling better. Don't worry about it."

"Okay, great," he replied a bit too cheerily. Erika rolled her eyes. "I've got that out of town client Saturday, and I'm still prepping for that. Obviously, I want to help, but...if you're good by yourself, you'd be saving me."

"Yeah no, of course," I nodded like a bobble-head as I shooed him away. "Go ahead and focus on that, I'll be fine."

Jasper pulled me into a hug and held me to his chest. I suddenly felt a rush of feeling as his large arms encircled me, and I did my best to close my legs as I felt the heat start to build below. Whoa, maybe there is something still between us, and I'm just overthinking things. The warmth subsided as Jasper withdrew, and he moved to hug Erika but she stopped him, her hands held up in front of her. Jasper sucked in a breath and opted to nod awkwardly before he retreated to his office. Oh my goodness, he clearly did not want to be in a room with Erika's chastising eyes. I guess she REALLY wanted him to come with me.

The pair of us then headed back to Erika's car, and after one more protest on her part, sat mostly in silence till we got back to the gym. As I gathered up my purse, Erika gave it once last try.

"Just text me, if you hear anything, okay?" She pleaded like a helicopter-parent, and I resisted the urge to sarcastically call her mom.

"Can do," I affirmed.

"And be careful," she tried once more, a bit of nervousness coloring her tone that I wouldn't have expected from the blonde.

"I'll be fine!" I smiled, and dove into my driver's seat. Erika looked on anxiously, but I turned away, not wanting to look out the window for fear of changing my mind.

Among other things...

That voice from earlier spoke again, and I shuddered.

"Hallucinations. I should add that to my list of symptoms," I nodded to myself as I left the gym parking lot behind.