Chapter #4Stay as Summer for now by: rugal b. You eye the door to the women's restroom for a moment unsure of what to do but eventually you shake it off and head out from behind the counter to go clean a table. You're curious to know what the conversation is between your girlfriend and the lieutenant is but at the same time you're still not quite sure on whether you could absorb Claire or not. Would you be able to? If so would you have to give up Summer? If you had to that might give Claire time to act before you can do anything. Even grabbing her might not be the best idea because as a soldier she's undoubtedly been trained in CQC and she might react in a manner that would put you in danger. Likewise say you try and grab her and it doesn't work? The last thing you need is a military officer pissed off and put on guard after being molested by a petite Vietnamese girl. That'd be real bad for the whole "laying low" thing.
So you continue to clean, continue to take orders and deliver drinks, continue to make drinks and ring up the register all while trying to eavesdrop. Your efforts are in vain however as after about another 20 minutes Claire and Jillian pay another barista, a girl named Courtney Hamilton, who had been waiting on them most of the lunch hour and leave. You pull her aside and try a desperate, direct approach. "Hey those two... any clue what they were talking about?" you ask her. She gives you a look and you press on, "Well I mean I always see those two with some other guy and now he's not there, you know? Kind of weird."
Courtney just shakes her head. "You're going on like you're still part of Alyssa's group." She replies referring to a group that Summer was part of back in high school. Courtney was another student at Eastman that was part of the same graduating class as Darcy and Summer so of course she knows all about the Rumoratti, although now the only ones still around are Tina and Mandy; the others went off to schools either in other parts of the state or out of state though they keep in touch regularly via Facebook and the like. She gives a smile though, "I really can't believe you were so quiet until close to the end of the year. You're, like, way different now." she adds before heading back behind the counter as you go back to bussing a few more tables.
Courtney is another friend that Summer's made since starting at Keyserling. As you continue Summer's shift you decide to lose yourself in her and her recent memories. Dating Chris Yves had been a good thing for Summer who had previously been very shy and withdrawn with plenty of confidence issues. Chris, however, had showed her that she was a pretty girl who needed to just show people the same confidence she had to other people that she had while the two of them talked. An attraction developed which allowed Summer to come to terms with her sexuality (something she had been struggling with throughout high school) and the two began dating. It wasn't to last, sadly, as Chris went off to school in Maryland. However the relationship had been a nice kick for Summer and by the time she started at Keyserling she had become a much more confident, much more outgoing and well-liked person around campus.
As your break comes you get a call, almost literally as you're walking out the door. "Summer, hey! You on break?" comes a voice on the other end.
"Oh, Rhonda. Um, yeah it just started." you answer. "You're out of class I'm guessing?"
"Ugh, yeah thank god." comes the reply accompanied by a gagging motion, "Professor Winston's such goddamn bore. Oh but hey enough about me, what time are you off at?" asks Rhonda. She takes your reply of 5 PM.happily. "Alright cool. Let's meet up at that Japanese place on 57th when you get off then. It's been a few days since we've been out to eat, you know?"
After an exchange of goodbyes you hang up. Summer has been dating Rhonda Turner, a 20-year-old sophomore, for about the last eight months when they met at a party that one of the sororities was throwing. Rhonda was a bit of a dork into stuff like comic books, video games and anime but she also had a large, outgoing personality and a generally adorable look that made people think of her as something akin to a cute little kitten... albeit a kitten with ear gauges and lip and eyebrow piercings. The two of them got along swimmingly and both being rather petite and cute had earned the nickname (coined by Courtney) of the Diabetes Duo and last month they both broke down, moved out of their respective dorms and got an apartment together. As Rhonda's father was the owner of one of the biggest car dealerships in the area affording rent wasn't a problem after all although Rhonda herself, not wanting to be one of those well-off kids who sponged off of their parents exclusively, did clerical work for her father's dealership.
It was a feeling that made you a little better about not choosing to go after Claire as it reminded you a lot of when you and Jillian had moved in together and were practically inseparable. It was a comforting feeling and on one hand you felt a pang of guilt about not letting Summer herself experience this little date but on the other after the stress you'd been through in the last two days it would be nice to settle into something comforting for at least a short time.
* * * * *
After arriving back home from dinner you had decided to hop into the shower. You clean yourself off and becoming extra familiar with your current form making sure to catch one last appearance of it wet and glistening before drying off and wrapping a towel around you. Summer's still a pretty sight, even with her hair wet you think as you look into the mirror and think back to how you acquired her in the restroom. You remember the weird occurence of your pitch-perfect imitation of Darcy's voice. You've always been terrible at impersonations so you're surprised you were able to pull it off. Curious if you could still do it you clear your throat before speaking. "Hello hello?" you ask nobody, "Testing." You're surprised, and a little delighted, when another perfect copy of Darcy's voice emerges from your mouth. "Whoa, this is kind of neat." you say, wondering if it's a side effect of the SX-3. "Hi, I'm Darcy Whitehead. I need to work on being a little less standoffish." you continue laughing.
And then something happens that surprises you: you begin feeling weird in your face and head and you catch your features bubbling, shifting, re-arranging and molding until quickly Darcy's head is resting on Summer's body. "Eep!" you squeal, this time in Summer's voice, "Wh-wh-what's going on!" you wonder aloud as you touch your Darcy face. What the hell happened? What's going on? So many questions run through your head before your thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door and Rhonda's voice calling from the other side.
"Summer? You alright in there?" she asks.
You close your eyes and concentrate on Summer's face and head wishing that you had it. You don't know how Rhonda would react suddenly seeing her girlfriend's head replaced after all. You hear the door open and your eyes shoot open relieved to see Summer's features once again. "I heard you squeal." she says as you look over at her, a mop of sandy, curly hair sitting on top of a cute face that's a mix of white and black features (as Rhonda herself is the product of a black father and white mother), a nice-sized chest and wide hips all in a package that couldn't have been more than 5'2".
"Yeah it's nothing." you say trying to play it off, "It's just this dumb towel started falling off and..."
"Oh is that it?" Rhonda replies, a sly smirk on her face, "Well how about we slip it off and I really make you squeal?"
You allow yourself to slip back down into Summer's personality and giggle as Rhonda drags you off to the bedroom. As the two of you begin kissing you notice a bit of a queasy feeling in your stomach that quickly passes and you don't acknowledge. You're too caught up in passion to really care about something minor like a bit of butterflies in your stomach after all. The thing with Darcy's face was weird but you needed to push it out of your mind as right now there was a girl far more in need of your attention. There's no harm in ignoring it you think... indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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