Phylicia's Arch Rival

Author’s note: Warning! This story contains a mild drug reference. If this offends you, you’ve been warned. We join the story again with Audrey Porter on the previous day. Unlike the previous two parts, this one will be in third person. This is my attempt at actual character development… sex included, some assembly required. :D

Phylicia was gone. She had apparently woken up first and left in a hurry from the house. Audrey sat up in her bed, struggling with this concept for a while. She also struggled with the fact that she had just had sex on that bed. Not only sex, but lesbian sex. Both, in fact, were a new experience for her. And now, for whatever trained expression she had on her face, inside she was a tornado of thoughts and questions.

The first and most obvious question was why. Why in the world would she want to be with a woman? She had liked men all her life. She had always expected to have a traditional wedding with all her family at a nice church in her home town. Doves would fly alongside their car after the ceremony. Family and friends would hurl rice into the air as she and her newlywed husband would laugh together and dream about their future. They would both enjoy a beautiful sunset for their honeymoon, in some tropical paradise, far, far away. Suddenly, all of that was impossible. Her father wouldn’t pay for a gay wedding. She stopped thinking about that.

The second question, perhaps even more eluding, was how. How in the hell did she manage to seduce, or be seduced by, another woman? She couldn’t even really remember how it all happened. One minute she was doing homework with a girl from the field hockey team. The next, she was in some lustful trance giving oral sex to this same girl. It didn’t fit. It didn’t fit at all. And now she had to make sense of it. She had no idea Phylicia swung that way. It was hard to tell just by looking at her. Perhaps, she thought, it was that way with all dykes.

Audrey shook her head. This was irrelevant. She was frustrated thinking about the situation, trying to rationalize it. With every problem laid a reasonable answer and explanation. Every situation you could dream up, you could also analyze it. That was how she thought. Or, at least, how she tried to think. Sometimes though, she thought, it was tougher. She didn’t feel like thinking about it. But, she knew what she did feel like doing.

She stood up from her bed and stretched. No problem was so bad it couldn’t be dealt with one way or another. She thought of how Phylicia might be handling it right now. How she might react if she was told that this whole mess was a big mistake. She would probably be very upset, Audrey thought. For a second, she imagined that Phylicia wasn’t a lesbian, and that perhaps something similar was going on in her mind. The thought passed.

Outside, her butane lighter made its usual sound. Its blaze lit up the inside of the marble bowl; then followed with the usual sound of her breath, inhaling almost violently. It really was a beautiful pipe, she thought. Her cousin had bought it for her in Mexico. Its rigid tube was made to be the stem of a flower; the bowl portion was fashioned like the bloom. The workmanship on it almost made you forget what it was intended for. She was becoming more relaxed already.

Marijuana hadn’t been part of her vocabulary for very long. Stuart had introduced her just last summer during a family camping excursion. Her cousin lived in Windsor and only visited one or twice a year with the family. During his stay, she’d caught him several times in the little gully behind their house. At first he denied it, then tried to get Audrey to smoke after he’d admitted what he was doing. Of course she was reluctant at first. But eventually self-discipline gave way to curiosity.

Besides, it was fun to have a secret from everybody, as long as it wasn’t being gay. She chuckled at that, and, for a second or two, pondered what her father might be angrier about if he ever found out. Suddenly the situation didn’t seem so bad, and then, the familiar relief came flooding back to her mind all at once. She was lifted above her problems for now, except for ridding this awful smell. Concentrating hard, she stowed the pipe and remains into a plastic bag, then into a thermos.

Later that night, after dinner, and homework, she sat watching T.V. and remembered her mother for the first time that day. Clenching her teeth, she tried to concentrate on the commercial. To no avail however, this was tougher. Gently, she wept, thinking about what her mother might have said about her beautiful flower pipe.

The next day was gorgeous. The sun rose beautifully, cloudlessly. The morning was chilly and March still brought frost to the car windows and ran down the gutters of the house. The ground was frozen, and Audrey sat on her roof, watching. The sun rise was early, 6:22 AM. She wouldn’t miss it. For some reason, the sun rise was important today. Her father was still off on business, and she figured she’d be back inside before kids started to pass the house on their way to school. Some things were tougher.

She decided not to go to school, for better or worse. She still needed some time to think. This wasn’t like her at all. She hated sitting around, and she hated being stuck even more. Usually the problem would’ve unraveled itself in her mind already. Instead, her brain stammered. Now, she envied herself from yesterday, with her biggest problem being from chapter seven, somewhere in the mess of textbooks downstairs.

And, whatever it was worth, she thought after a time, Phylicia Spelman had given her an unclear lesson of EMF.

The sunrise came and went, and Audrey Porter descended her roof. Inside, she put on the kettle. For some reason she’d be having cravings for tea. It seemed to fit now, she thought. And as she dipped into the living room to turn on the fireplace, she was startled by a familiar voice.

“You’re up early,” her father’s heavy Norwegian accent filled the room. He sat on the wicker rocking-chair in the corner. Looking up from his newspaper, unrocking and silent, his eyes pierced into his daughter.

“Father,” she hid surprise, “I thought you weren’t back until tomorrow.”

“I cancelled the last conference,” the important man turned his gaze to the fireplace, “I was able to catch a connecting flight last night. I was in early this morning.” He looked back to the paper and shuffled in his chair.

“Why’d you do that?” Audrey usually didn’t ask about the work.

“Aren’t you happy to have me home early?” His eyes remained locked on the politics section of the paper.

“Yes, of course,” she replied lightly, smiling.

“How did your test go the other day?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good Audrey,” his voice trailed off as he became suddenly more interested in whatever article he was reading. Audrey returned to the kitchen to attend to the water. Malachi Porter, who had married young, had his wife taken from him eight years after Audrey was born. His past and present life was practically a mystery to his daughter. He never told, and she never asked.

“I’m not feeling very well at all today,” she returned with her tea and sat down on the white loveseat.

“Ah, you’re not sick,” he reassured her, turning a page.

“No Dad. I think I really am. I was throwing up last night,” she lied. Audrey cuddled her tea against herself, reached for a blanket.

“Well if you say so,” he looked above his glasses at her, folded the newspaper, “I’m going to get ready. If I’m lucky, I can get in a full day at the office.” He left the room with his paper, and headed upstairs to the shower.

Audrey finished her tea. She went to her room feeling inadequate. She half-slept the rest of the day. Early in the afternoon, she dreamt about Phylicia and her mother playing field hockey against her in the state tournament. She lost. Phylicia and her mother won. And her father laughed at her from the stands, smoking a flower pipe.

A 15-minute walk away, at roughly the same time, another girl was dreaming about Audrey. She held a vegetable and a hose-style shower head, and was very much awake. She was enjoying herself. And just as Audrey saw her father laughing in the stands of the state finals; Phylicia was climaxing, accepting, after a short ordeal, being gay…

Another night passed. Before this though, Phylicia had spoken with her parents, Malachi had gotten in a full day of work, and Audrey had smoked another quarter bag. Just after dawn, clouds settled into the valley. The forecast was a rainy Friday. Phylicia woke a lot happier than she had the day before. Her parents would be distressed, she knew.

“It’s just, I don’t know what it means,” she had said the night before, tearfully.

“That’s fine honey,” her mother had taken her usual ‘concerned’ tone; “we don’t expect you to. But we’re very happy you told us this.” Her mother’s brown wavy hair was the closest thing to looking like her daughter. And really, Phylicia had gotten her hair from her father anyway. Her mother was tall, and her body easily revealed the repercussions of childbirth.

“Yes we appreciate it very much. We want you to know we’re always here for you, whatever problems you might be having. And, if you ever don’t feel like talking to us, you can always spend a weekend at your dad’s house if you want, and talk to him.” This was Phylicia’s mother’s boyfriend talking. Her parents had split two years ago. It had been relatively painless, and she actually like them better apart as it happened.

“Yeah I know. Like I said, I just don’t know what this means. I’m not a total lesbian or anything, you know?” the words came awkwardly to her. She was no longer crying, “I just need to see where this is going with Audrey.”

She had felt much better after talking with Vince and her mother. They were understanding and supportive enough. And the more she thought about the situation lately, the more it made sense. Her attraction to Audrey was real. And as she remembered the fantasies she had as a younger girl, she realized that many of them involved envy of other girls.

A small complication was that she couldn’t really place what turned her on about people in general. She still liked men. That was certain. She would always like men. But of the girls she liked and envied, she found herself strongly attracted to them. More thought about this had to be done later, she decided.

Phylicia was a little nervous as she left the house that morning. She wore contacts, and left her long, curly, light brown hair down. She decided to wear a light rose colored tank-top with white jeans and her very sleek black belt. Today was going to be a good day. Or, at least, it would be if she saw Audrey. Socks though, she would wear socks anyways.

A little ways away in her own house, Audrey Porter was ready. She’d made excellent time on her morning routine. And somehow, sometime during the night, her homework had been finished with painstaking effort. Efficient and deadly, today she’d wear a dark grey long sleeve shirt and one of her typical black skirts. She packed her grey trench coat for the grey skies, couldn’t be too careful. Black hair, brown eyes and grey clothing. No chopsticks today though, perhaps, just hairpins.

She strode out the door stoic and confident. The march to school was short, and hopefully the day would be too. With any luck she’d be able to hand in her physics homework late with no trouble, and get this Phylicia business out of the way.

The day passed quickly in the beginning for both girls. They didn’t see each other until the early afternoon, lunch time, when the girl in black happened to notice Phylicia standing further down the hall. Audrey moved up on her quickly. Standing behind her, she said, “Phylicia.”

“Audrey,” she said turning around, a little panicked, “I’m glad I got to see you today actu…” she was cut off.

“I’m sorry,” Audrey said abruptly, “if you got the wrong idea from the other day.” Her face hid a deep pain. Phylicia could feel her heart sink. It felt like the muscle of happiness that had been gripping her brain so hard this past day, had suddenly completely let go, leaving her totally alone, and exposed to this new anguish.

“Umm, yeah. It was a bizarre night. I’m sorry for leav…” cut off again.

“Don’t apologize. I just wanted to make sure we are okay.”

Phylicia hesitated for a second, and then objected. “Well Audrey,” she said with some difficulty, “I really think we need to talk about this some more.”

The thought struck her like a baseball bat. “Uh, I don’t see why,” she said this nicely.

“For god sakes Audrey.”

The black-haired one hesitated, then spoke, “Alright. Fine.” She took a deep breath, “I’m free after school.”

“Good. Meet me by the front doors. I’ll talk to you later.” She was learning how to deal with this girl. It felt good to be able to talk about this sort of thing at least half maturely.

The last class was longer. After making some plans with her friends, Phylicia met Audrey at the front door. They both agreed to walk to Phylicia’s house; it was on the way to Audrey’s anyhow. Phylicia Spelman was used to getting a ride home from one of her friends.

“So what exactly did you want to talk about?” she wanted this over. They both sauntered down the road. The sky was still grey, and the lazy pace of the two girls walking down the quiet street went unnoticed.

“I think you know,” Phylicia said very matter-of-factly.

“Look, I don’t know why it happened. I don’t have an answer, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“I don’t want an answer,” Phylicia stopped walking a moment, “I just want to know how you feel.”

Audrey paused, and stopped a few paces up. Without turning around she said, “Fine then. I feel annoyed. I feel that this is too complicated and that we should forget about everything that happened that day.”

“Wow,” Phylicia looked up for a moment, “I couldn’t imagine what it would be like. To be able to push something like that down. That’s amazing,” she said sourly.

“What do you suggest Phylicia? I’m not a lesbian.”

“Then what are you?” she looked back down at the other girl in front.

Audrey hesitated, then began walking again. After a short time, Phylicia Spelman followed.

“Well what are you then huh?” she repeated. She continued her pursuit, “Audr…”

“Fuck you.” Audrey wheeled and turned around. She had her father’s eyes at that moment, piercing into the other girl, “I don’t know. What the hell are you?” She was clearly getting upset. Her hard, trained manner was wavering, but she was still composed.

“Hey,” Phylicia retaliated, “until two days ago, I was straight. But some things have happened since then that can’t just be ignored,” unflustered. She surprised herself with this. “I can’t ignore what happened.”

“Well I don’t know what to say to you.” She turned around again, facing away.

“You could say that it meant something to you, at least.” Her eyes darted around looking for an answer somewhere on the quiet suburban street. “I mean, god. At least say you had fun.”

“No.”

This was extremely frustrating. Phylicia clenched a fist. “That’s impossible Audrey. I was there too. We were both having fun. We were both really into each other. I know I was in love with you for those few moments. We were both in love with each other. We both…” now this would be the most difficult thing she’d ever have to say in her whole teenage life. She took her time, preparing herself for her own word. Taking a deep breath, she said, “…came.”

Audrey Porter closed her eyes at that, and sighed deeply. This was definitely not how she thought the conversation would go. Some things were tougher.

“Yes I know,” she said, almost sadly. She began walking again, and things were silent for a long time. Phylicia let go of the fist and jogged to catch up. The mood turned suddenly, from hostile to a kind of mourning. They passed seven or eight more houses before anything was said again.

“I know,” she repeated. “I loved it,” she was admitting this to herself as much as to Phylicia. She spoke slowly, and softly, “It was fantastic. No one had paid that much attention to me in such a long time.” She looked at the ground as she spoke, “I know it looks like I have lots of friends. But I don’t really. They’re mostly acquaintances. I only talk to them at school.”

Phylicia paid close attention, forgetting that they were passing her house.

“I know what they all think of me though. They hate me. They think I’m a bitch.”

“I don’t think you’re a bitch,” Phylicia said this as nicely as she could. Despite this, the other girl stopped again, and gave her an unmistakable look of disbelief.

“No, really. You’re not,” she half lied. Things were a lot more complicated now than they had been, and there was a lot left to learn still about this girl. There had to be reasons.

Audrey smiled. One unicorn down… and hot-damn, it didn’t even ruin the sweater.

“Thanks Phylicia. You know, you’re not so bad yourself,” she said, more emotionally.

The two girls reconciled on their way to Audrey’s house. They didn’t really talk about how Phylicia hadn’t gone home. They were both hoping it wouldn’t come up. Besides, they wanted to talk some more, and Malachi wouldn’t be home for a couple hours yet.

They took a very long route to Audrey’s house. The detour added another fifteen minutes roughly. As they walked and talked, the mood lightened. They talked about the field hockey team, and the season they were having. They talked about their houses they lived in, and a little about their families. Phylicia learned that the girl’s mother had passed away roughly ten years ago. She was the first one her age to console Audrey about that.

It started raining as the girls approached Audrey’s street. In a minute, a light rain had turned heavy, and now both girls ran to relieve themselves of the downpour. Phylicia’s light tank top became drenched and even a little translucent as they ran together under Audrey’s coat. After the half hour talk, they were both ready for some more brilliant tea. They approached the newly built house laughing.

“Oh gawd, Audrey, I’m soaked!” Phylicia managed. She felt her shirt clinging to herself. She was aware of how she looked, but honestly, she was unhurried to do anything about it.

Audrey had taken the pins out of her hair. She let it fall down the whole way, drenched. Phylicia noticed for the first time just how long it was. Her straight black hair had never looked better than now, in the pouring rain. And then, at that moment, Phylicia decided that Audrey had never looked better, her black hair running soaked all the way down her back.

“Oh so am I.” she said laughing, taking a look at herself for the first time in a while. She fumbled for her keys in her bag. Hardly even able to see, she pulled them free, and let them both into the house.

Breathing hard, they burst into the house, both sopping wet. They stood in the entrance for a few minutes, ringing off clothing and still laughing. Audrey took in the other girl standing in front of her. Slowly, the giggling receded, and suddenly she felt the urge to say something she’d been meaning to for the past half hour.

“Phylicia.” The other girl recognized the serious tone; she stopped and looked up at Audrey. They both looked beautiful. “I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.” Before Phylicia could say anything, she continued, “I’m sorry for making you do… anything you didn’t want to.”

“No, no Audrey. Don’t be sorry, please. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“No really. It’s just that…” her words trailed off. She looked at the other girl for some sign that she knew what she was talking about.

“I know,” Phylicia said simply.

For the first time in two days, the girls touched each other. Audrey fell into Phylicia’s arms and they hugged in the foyer for a time. Phylicia could feel the girl’s nipples through the soaked clothing. She must be freezing, she thought, then wondered if hers might feel the same.