— Success chance: 60% Emma is bound and determined not to fuck this second chance up. This option cannot be failed.
— General results: Emma and Taylor will hang around in Taylor’s bedroom, doing those kind of awkward things that only a former bully with a desperate crush on her cute little ex-victim can do, like stare awkwardly at wallpapers and make menial small-talk about things that seem valid for the first two seconds and then reveal themselves for being as crushingly boring as they actually are.
Spoiler: Stat Gains/Losses
Stat gains:
Charlotte:
+3 Lust
+1 Loyalty
Aisha:
+2 Loyalty
+1 Lust
Spoiler: Plot Progression
In this chapter, Taylor spent some time in the morning flirting with Madison. Madison made cupcakes with her father, and brought them in with her for Taylor to eat.
Taylor used this as a pretext to flirt with Charlotte, primarily by making Madison eat a cupcake from the palm of her hand— something Madison was not unenthusiastic about. While exercising her sensory powers, Taylor felt disgust emanating from Charlotte, and assumed it was because Charlotte was homophobic. Using this as a subconscious pretext for her pre-existing attraction, Taylor used her power to make Charlotte feel attracted to her.
Taylor acknowledged that she got off on the act of doing so. She continued her use of power on Aisha, to a lesser extent than on Charlotte.
Interlude 4— Charlotte/Taylor
With a mother working as a nurse and a grandfather working as a part-time gardener, it rarely comes as a surprise to most people that Charlotte enjoys supporting people. Nurturing them, almost. It’s a familial trait. Her grandfather nurtures plants, her mother nurtures her patients, and she nurtures her friends.
A smirk crosses her face unbidden. She probably shouldn’t tell Fern that one. He’d find it entirely too humorous.
When her grandfather had first proposed the idea of starting a tutoring group late last year, she’d been hesitant. It seemed—it still seems—like a lot of effort for something that not a lot of people would be interested in. She’d given it some consideration, though, and—it wasn’t a bad idea. If there are people willing to turn up, why shouldn’t she offer her help?
Glancing down at her watch, she lets out a sigh. It’s nearly four, and there’s still nobody here. People are supposed to be here by half past three if they want any tutoring, and while she’s been lenient enough to stick around, she’s not going to waste her time waiting until five. It’s not the first time people haven’t turned up, and it seems to be happening more and more lately.
It’s not really surprising that people don’t want to turn up. By the time five o’clock rolls around, it’s already getting dark, and there’s only a couple of buses that stop at the bus stop near Winslow that late. Unless you’re lucky enough to live on one of their routes, you have to walk home—and considering how bad the area near Winslow is, that’s really not a good idea unless you’re either supremely confident in your ability to ward off any threat or unaware of how bad things are.
That and most of the people at Winslow don’t particularly want to be here. It’s recent, but the PRT has begun offering up scholarships for people in bad financial straits or people with particularly good grades to get into private schools in the region. Charlotte had seriously considered trying for one of them, until she’d dismissed the idea. She doesn’t plan on applying to university.
With a frown, she stands and begins putting her books back in her bag. There really isn’t any point in her staying any longer.
She packs up quickly and heads to the door on the opposite side of the library. The study area at the end is fairly large, so it takes her a few moments to walk close enough that she can hear hushed voices coming from a row ahead. She perks up a little. Oh, yes—she forgets sometimes that Taylor and Madison come here to study as well. They keep to themselves all the time, although to be fair, if Charlotte had a girlfriend as cute as either of them she probably wouldn’t want to share either.
She’s about to step forwards when their low words register in her ears.
“… so cute, though.” Taylor’s voice is deeper than Charlotte is used to it sounding, huskier. She unconsciously shivers, tightening the straps of her bag around her. “Besides, it’s not like you’re doing much to stop me.”
“Of course not.” It’s Madison, this time. Her voice is breathier, and she sounds kind of like she’s—panting? Charlotte bites her lip, considering. “I’ve told you before, I’m yours. But it’s risky in here. People could see. It’d be embarrassing.”
There’s a pause before Taylor responds, as though she’s gathering her thoughts. “Okay,” she says eventually. “If you’re not comfortable with it, then I won’t ask you to do it.”
“I didn’t say that.” There’s the sound of fabric rustling over clothes, and Charlotte bites her lip. Then she hears a soft, wet sound—one she recognizes all too well as the sound of kissing—and her mind is made up.
She feels more than a little guilty, but she doesn’t indulge herself very often, and it’s even rarer than she has the chance to indulge her voyeuristic tendencies. If it wasn’t Madison and Taylor, she probably still wouldn’t be indulging them, but she’s been nursing a small crush on the two of them since they started dating, she thinks. She didn’t recognize it at first, but what else could it be?
She admires that kind of courage, the kind of courage you need to date publicly in a school like Winslow. Watching the two of them in the hallway yesterday, with Madison’s flirtatious giggles in the hallway, the lidded look in Taylor’s eyes as Madison’s tongue had trailed over her palm, the way Madison had waited eagerly on her hands for Taylor to offer her her food—it’d done something for her. She’d never walked into class with panties that wet before.
She’d felt disgusted with herself at first, intruding upon the couple’s private moment like that, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself watching. And the more she’d watched, the stronger her arousal had grown. The more she’d thought about it afterwards, the more she’d imagined the two of them together, the more turned on she’d felt. It had been a struggle to wait until she went home to deal with it, instead of locking herself in the bathroom and getting herself off then and there.
The bookshelves at Winslow are thick, heavy things. Once, they’d had thinner bookcases, but after the second time replacing them after students had monkeyed around on them, the staff had forked out for ones made of stronger metal late last year. She’s glad of that, because she’s pretty sure that if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have metal backs supporting the lower spines of the books, and without that, Taylor and Madison would be able to see her kneeling down and gently pushing books aside so she can see the two of them.
Charlotte has to bite down on her lip when she gets her first glimpse at the two of them and finds that Madison’s shirt has been lifted up, revealing her small, pert breasts. She’s not at a very good angle, so she can’t see them very well—a sharp pang of disappointment runs through her at that—but she can see Taylor’s hand cupping it. Taylor’s other hand is wrapped possessively around Madison’s back, pulling Madison hard into her.
Madison whimpers, and Charlotte breathes in sharply as a hot flash runs down her, settling in her groin. She curls her hands around the shelf of the bookcase in front of her so she doesn’t start touching herself as she watches, enraptured.
Soon, Taylor releases Madison’s lips with a last sharp nip, letting out a soft growl Charlotte isn’t sure Taylor is even aware of. Madison takes the opportunity to bury her head in her girlfriend’s neck, giggling softly but happily.
“I wasn’t finished talking.” Madison says once her giggles have died, laying a soft kiss on Taylor’s neck before continuing and somehow managing to sound both reproving and pleading at the same time. “I’m not against it, Taylor. We already talked about it. I just don’t want anyone to see us together like that.”
And there’s the guilt again, rising in Charlotte’s gut and warring with the arousal pooling hot there. For a moment, she thinks that the guilt is going to win, but then Taylor speaks and she can’t help but relax, the tension bleeding out of her frame.
“I know,” Taylor insists calmly. “And if it bothers you, then it’s fine. I don’t need you to do it here and now, it was just an idea.”
Madison turns her neck to look up at Taylor’s face before poking her gently in the stomach, causing a quick grin to spread over Taylor’s face for a moment before it fades. A matching one spreads over Madison’s face at the sight, this one lingering. She seems to consider something for a moment. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in here, though,” she murmurs. For a moment, neither of them speaks. Then Madison seems to gather her courage. “It’s a little bit scary,” she admits. “How about we make a deal?”
Taylor perks up a little. “A deal?”
Grinning, Madison kisses Taylor’s neck again. “It still makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable, but if you want me to do it, I’ll do it.” Her hand goes down to Taylor’s stomach again, but instead of poking her, she lifts her shirt a little so she can place her hand against the taller girl’s stomach. “But if I do, then you should do something for me, okay?”
Taylor nods seriously. “Of course,” she says without hesitation. “What do you want to do?”
Charlotte is dying of curiosity by this point— what are the two talking about?
“Well,” Madison says slowly, “I’ve been reading up on some, um. Well, I’ve been looking at some stuff, and some of them were talking about, um, ice cubes and wax, and I thought it sounded interesting. I don’t know how it would feel, but maybe I could come over this weekend and we could try it? Or next weekend?”
“We can do that,” Taylor agrees. “You don’t have to make it into a bargain, though. If you want to try something, just tell me, okay? I’m not going to make you eat me out just so you can try something you’re interested in.”
Another happy smile flashes across Madison’s face, only half-visible from Charlotte’s hiding spot. Charlotte barely registers it, her thoughts still whirring around the whole “eat me out” thing. “I know,” Madison says happily, “but I like being rewarded for doing what you tell me to.”
Taylor grins again, this one larger than the last. “Well then,” she says huskily, massaging Madison’s scalp with the hand not still resting on her breast, “go earn your reward, Madison.”
“Yes, Taylor.” Madison kisses her one last time on the neck, then slowly slides off from where she’d been sitting on Taylor’s lap. Taylor seems reluctant to release Madison’s breast, but consoles herself by tangling her fingers in Madison’s hair. The shorter girl doesn’t seem to mind either way—she makes no move to tuck her shirt back down, allowing them to hang bare in the air as she maneuvers herself beneath the table.
Charlotte’s breath catches, and she has to quickly raise her hand to her mouth to cover it so neither of the two hear her. For a moment, she thinks Taylor’s eyes flicker over to where she’s kneeling, but—no, there’s no way she can know she’s there.
Still, she tries to quiet her breathing. It’s hard, though, when she’s kneeling here on the ground, watching as Madison gently hooks her fingers beneath the waistband of her girlfriend’s pants and begins pulling them down.
Taylor soon begins to fill the small alcove with the sound of stifled pants. She’s careful not to make sounds loud enough to alert anyone, but from Charlotte’s nearby position, she can hear them just fine.
Charlotte can’t look away. Guilt—shame—builds in her stomach, but it’s met and extinguished by the hot and heady feeling of lust building. She feels like a pervert, getting off on watching the two of them together, and the shame involved in that feeling only turns her on more.
She’s almost glad when the door to the library opens with a loud bang and Madison sits up with a loud squeak and a thunk as her head hits the table. Charlotte hesitates for a moment, as does Taylor, but when a loud voice issues forth— “Come on, Harry, we don’t have all day”—Taylor can’t scramble to pull her pants back up fast enough.
Charlotte doesn’t wait around any longer. Her face burning red, she turns around and walks back deeper into the library a little, then hurries past the small alcove, turning her head away so they can’t see her embarrassment.
She doesn’t know how she’s ever going to face either of the two of them again.
Canon Omake— Openness
So, all the talk about Victoria and cheating and whatnot, and there's that third option about Victoria and Taylor sitting down to talk things over with Dean, and it brought to mind that, before even talking with Dean, Victoria would try to have a discussion with Taylor about how she deals with her own open relationship. And the very amusing/confusing mess that would be.
So, with a bit of silliness...
Edit: Made a few tweaks. Victoria knows Madison's name, so adjusted that and tried to smooth out the rest of the dialogue some.
Taylor focused on the girl seated across from her, keeping hold of her hand while Victoria struggled to bring whatever was on her mind into words. Victoria seemed to be a mess of emotions today, and had been hesitant in their discussions ever since they arrived in the library.
