Coming Clean

Beth usually enjoyed moving fast, but even she had to admit Vivian’s driving was a bit much for her. Not that she could blame the redhead for rushing given who she had waiting back at home. That thought made her gut twitch uncomfortably with longing but she **** that thought down.

‘I am not going to screw this up anymore than I already have!’ she yelled at herself before a wave of guilt tugged at her. ‘Ugh, why do I always have to put my foot in my mouth?’

Beth’s emotional turmoil left her blind to where they were and she snapped her head to look out the window when Vivian pulled to a stop near an abandoned looking warehouse.

“That was pretty fast,” Beth muttered, undoing her seatbelt and sliding out of the car.

“Sorry if it wasn’t the smoothest of rides,” Vivian profusely apologized.

“It was fine,” Teri’s disembodied voice spoke out, her invisible form causing odd distortions in the seat as she followed Beth out.

“Still, I’m not usually this-” Vivian said, only to be cut off by Beth.

“Impatient?” the dark haired girl offered.

“Yeah, let’s use that word,” Vivian quickly said, her face growing red.

“Well, don’t let us hold you up,” Beth said, her tone clipped as her stomach flipped again.

Vivian looked at her for a moment and Beth worried she was going to linger and try to talk but the redhead merely shook her head and smiled at them.

“Don’t hesitate to call if anything comes up, either of you,” she said. “I know I’m going to finish up those alert beacons but that shouldn’t take up the whole day.”

“I’ll let you know if the elders have any choice words,” Teri remarked, the space she was occupying rippling slightly.

“Unless something weird happens, I’ll be around,” Beth added, trying to give off the appearance of indifference.

"Until tomorrow then," Vivian bade them farewell and pulled away, her car kicking up debris in her wake.

"Well, guess it’s bye for now," Beth said to the empty looking space Teri occupied, already turning so she could jog back home.

"Actually, if you could wait for a moment, I would like to talk about something," Teri implored.

"What's up?" Beth asked.

"Are you alright?" the hidden goblin inquired.

The question caught Beth flat-footed and she stuttered out, "What?"

“Your emotions were kind of hard to not pick up during that phone call,” Teri said, her tone soft.

Normally, Beth would have deflected Teri’s inquisition, nonchalantly saying she was fine and not to worry about it. But the emotional strain of the day, from the generally high of the good parts of the school day and dungeon run to the low of her sister calling her and her faux pas with John’s phone, left her without the will to deny the goblin’s assertion.

“I’ve been better,” Beth dully stated. “Guess after all the good that happened, some bad had to rear its stupid head.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Teri asked.

Beth let out a snort. “Not really the place for a heart to heart. And from what I’ve heard, don’t think your people are going to like me waltzing in for a therapy session.”

“Fair point,” Teri grumbled, her dislike of the situation clear. “But if you want to at any point, I’m all ears.”

Teri’s invisible form shimmered slightly, and Beth made out enough of her silhouette to see the goblin lightly tap the point of her ears, drawing out a smile from her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the dark haired girl said, eyes drifting to the sky. She let out a weary sigh. “Getting a bit dark. I’ve got a bit of a way to go to get home. Best to get running.”

“Yeah,” Teri remarked, her tone just as weary. “Not looking forward to the elders getting on my case. But the longer I put it off, the worse it’ll get.”

“These guys aren’t going to do something stupid, right?” Beth couldn’t help but ask.

“I hope not,” Teri replied. “But I’m ready for them to give me a headache no matter what stance they take.”

Beth shuddered a bit. “Don’t think I’d have the brainpower to deal with all that.”

“It is a lot to deal with,” Teri admitted. “But if I can help my people, it’s a small price to pay.”

Teri sighed. “And now’s the time to pay the toll.”

“You got this,” Beth said, trying to give the goblin a reassuring smile. “See you later, right?”

Teri nodded, causing the air to ripple. Then she turned down the alley and vanished into the Barrier. Fighting off a pang of loneliness that was somehow both familiar and alien, Beth turned and began her jog home.

True to her assertions, it didn’t take her too long to reach home. With a leaden bitterness, Beth entered into the lightly furnished abode, dropping her bag by the door. The silence was crushing, a stark contrast to the past long gone. Shaking off those painful memories, she slipped past the small kitchen and down the hall to her room.

In contrast to the rest of the house, it had the distinct look of being lived in. Punk rock band posters covered the walls, a computer sat on a knicknac covered desk, partially opened drawers with clothes haphazardly stuffed in them and an unkempt bed with a worn yellow dragon plushie resting near the pillow. Beth trudged to her messy bed and collapsed on it, pulling the old stuffed toy into her arms.

After a few moments of cathartic cuddling, Beth **** herself up. Not content with wallowing, she retrieved her bag and plucked a can of soda from the fridge. She took a swig of the cold beverage and opened one of her school books.

“Let’s get this stuff out of the way,” she said, eyeing the mathematical formulas before her. “Don’t want to fall too far behind and have Lynn swing by unannounced. And I don’t want to rely on John’s brains for everything. Time to pull my own weight.”

She would spend the next few hours doing her homework and reviewing her classes, eventually collapsing into bed, a satisfied smile on her face as she hugged her dragon plushie close to her chest.

Vivian’s driving slowed as she came to a red light, and she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. Her heart thumped with anticipation as she thought about what was awaiting her back at home.

‘This is really happening,’ she thought as the traffic light turned green and the cars ahead of her began to move. While not one overly dedicated to plans, she hadn’t actually believed her efforts into establishing a business would lead to her ending up in a romantic relationship, to say nothing about it being with two people.

She hadn’t put much thought into such things back when she lived in the shadows of her far more talented family, her efforts focused on learning what she could so she could live up to her last name. She hadn’t really had friends, most of the people her age were at best merely pawns of their parents, being used in attempts to get close to her family. At worst, they had their own ambitions and tried to befriend her for their own aims, only to break away once they found out her status as the black sheep of the Renoux family.

It had been a lonely adolescence, but it had galvanized her will towards striking out on her own. And while the path towards her dream of proving her family wrong regarding her talents was still exceptionally far off, she felt happy with how things were going, especially with her personal life. She would have been content with just a strong group of friends but gaining not one, but two lovers seemed like winning the lottery.

A small amount of doubt still nagged at her, a fear that she wasn’t going to be good enough for them, both in and out of the bedroom. Vivian shook her head, banishing the thought for the thousandth time since Tuesday.

‘No bad thoughts,’ she chided herself. ‘They don’t care that I’m a virgin or that this is my first relationship.’

Despite that belief, Vivian hadn’t been able to keep herself from looking up both relationship advice and erotic materials to ready herself, though those vidoes paled in comparison to the show John and Aeolia had put on for her. Her pussy pulsed with need as she recalled that display and she shifted in her seat.

‘Why is the traffic always worse when you’re trying to get somewhere?’ she grumbled as she waited to make the final turn before she hit her parking garage. The universe seemed to listen to her complaining and the slow vehicles began to move, letting her reach the garage. She sped to her designated spot, parked, and hurried back outside, feet pounding a harsh beat as she took the final leg of her journey.

Vivian was slightly out of breath when she reached home and took a moment to collect herself before slipping into the Barrier.

“Kitchen!” Aeolia shouted, obviously detecting her return. Vivian strode to the indicated room, expecting to see her girlfriend and boyfriend at the table. She was half right, Aeolia obviously was there, but John was absent. That wasn’t what caused her to freeze in the doorway, her gaze locked on what she saw.

Aeolia was seated at the table, clad only in a towel that even with her shorter stature, barely kept her modesty. The winged woman noted her staring and smirked at her, shifting slightly to reveal some cleavage.

“See something you like?” she asked seductively.

Vivian dumbly nodded before getting her brain back into proper gear and she stuttered out, “Um, where’s John?”

“Oh, he’s in the shower,” Aeolia answered nonchalantly. “Come to think of it, he and I’ve shared a shower. And you and I shared a shower.”

Vivian’s mind flashed back to last night when Aeolia surprised her while she washed away the day’s grime, minor as it was. The winged woman used the same logic then and it wasn’t hard to grasp Aeolia’s reasoning for bringing it up.

“You think I and John should..?” Vivian asked, her voice weak.

“Best to get clean before we get down and dirty,” Aeolia remarked saucily. “And it’ll save time. Can’t argue with that.”

Vivian teetered in the doorway, overwhelmed a bit by the suddenness of this development. Apprehension began to well up, the same cloying worry that had nearly stolen her nerve as she fled her family’s shadow and influence. But, like that big step forward to claim her own destiny, she was going to take it.

Her determination must have shown on her face as Aeolia’s smile grew larger.

“What are you wasting time here for?” she asked, her voice amused. “Don’t want John to finish up before you can get in there. Think I’ll be waiting in the bedroom, so don’t take too long.”

Jolted slightly by Aeolia’s words and the wink she gave her, Vivian composed herself, finished gathering her courage and headed for the bathroom. On her way, she saw Senka seated at her computer, watching some video, the knife she was born from resting on the desk.

‘She must be tied to it instead of John,’ she thought, feeling a slight amount of relief that the spirit wasn’t hanging around in John’s head. Not that she believed that the shadowy spirit would invade such private moments, but the possibility did bother her ever so slightly.

Shaking off that dark thought, Vivian continued down the hall until she reached the small bathroom. She could now hear the water moving through the pipes and an errant thought about checking the water supplying device came to the fore of her mind before she banished it. Taking a quick glance back to the room Senka was in, she stoked her courage one final time, and quickly stripped off her clothing. Then, fully nude, she slipped into the steamy bathroom.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.