"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said as I hurried to my bedroom. I fumbled around my dresser before I found the brush. I quickly headed back and handed it to Vanessa, keeping my eyes averted from her half naked body.
"Thanks," she said as she headed back to her room, hips swaying as I got a good peek at the curves of her ass.
Once she was out of sight and I heard the water running, I took a massive sigh and flopped down on the couch. I groaned and felt my heart rate return to normal. "Well, she's hot. Surprised you didn't fuck her." Regina had such an oddly calm and nonchalant tone about her, as if talking about having sex was like talking about the weather.
"I just couldn't," I said, looking at the ring. Sure that ring made me more attracted to her, but, I was still the same Maria. Helplessly romantically Maria. I could have fucked her. I could have made her drop that towel and spread her legs. I could have made Vanessa play with her tits for me without even knowing it. But, I cared about her too much to just force her to do that. "If I'm going to do anything with Vanessa, I want it to be because she actually wants it. Not because I made her want it."
"You certainly are a unique Ringmaster. Never seen anyone with quite as much restraint as you," Regina said, taking a seat next to me, her chains rattling. "It's charming. Most of the Ringmasters who put on the ring immediately go to fulfill their dark carnal fantasies. Just instantly into a power trip. This is a nice pace you got here."
I closed my eyes and groaned again at myself. What the hell was I talking about? IF I'm going to do anything with Vanessa? Why the hell was I thinking about her so casually like that. She's my roommate who I've lived with for awhile now with, first of all. And second, she has a boyfriend. Third, I haven't once seen any kind of indication that she likes girls or anything. Why was I thinking about her and her beautiful tan body?
"Doing some mental gymnastics, Ringmaster?" Regina asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. "I get it. This is a lot to take in. Again, you're the one in control. All the ring did was make a tiny change in your preferences."
I turned over to Regina, still hearing Vanessa in the shower thankfully. "I want to confirm something." I balled my fist tightly as I felt my heart begin to race again.
"Yeah? What did you need, Ringmaster?" Her eyes were kind of half-opened, like she didn't have a care in the world, but not in a malicious way. More like she's been bored for centuries and hoping for something exciting to come along. Something about that was exciting.
I bit my lower lip as I began to move. I was actually going to do this. I just needed to know. I put my hands on both sides of Regina's face and pulled her in for a kiss on the lips. Her eyes widened in surprise, then slowly closed as she leaned into the kiss. I felt my heart scream with excitement like it never had before. There was something electric about her lips. About the soft tender lips of a girl. I couldn't believe that I was not only kissing a girl, but that I was the one who initiated it. But, something about it felt so right, so freeing, so natural. It was only for a minute before I broke away for air.
That confirmed it for me. I definitely did like girls now.
Regina looked at me with her half-opened eyes and cracked a faint smile at me. "Well, now that was exciting."
My heart was racing a mile a minute and I could feel this electric sensation throughout my body. A part of me desperately wanted more. To see what it was like to go further and experience things I never had before. A different part of me heard Vanessa finishing up her shower and would likely come out soon to the living room. Regina looked at me calmly, without any sort of judgement about what just happened.
"So, Ringmaster, what now?"
I fix up my outfit as I get off of Regina. Sure, that kiss was electric and my heart was pounding a mile a minute, but it just felt different. It felt off. Maybe because it was my first kiss after however many years it's been since I kissed my previous boyfriend, or maybe that it was my first time kissing a girl. Whatever it was, I wasn't quite ready for it. It was all too overwhelming right now. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself.
"It's not you, Regina," I said to her, too red in the face to look at her directly. "I promise. I just am not ready for something with a girl yet."
Regina blinked a bit then nodded. "I understand." She wasn't hurt or upset by my sudden shift in attitude. In fact, she seemed like she expected it. She turned in the direction of Vanessa's room. "You going to try anything with her?"
"What? Yes. Wait, no! I don't... UGH!" I groaned again and looking at the magical ring. I didn't want to do anything to Vanessa, but there was also something deep within me that really wanted to do something to her. Something with her. I mean, fuck, it would be incredibly hot, but I just couldn't bring myself anything like that.
"You could always use her as a test subject," Regina casually said. I stared at Regina dumbfounded that she would suggest something like that. "Look, using the ring is like using a muscle or a language. You might be able to do some small stuff here and there, but if you try anything too big without having trained, you could do some irreversible damage."
I looked down at the ring and stared, feeling the full weight of what the ring could do. "I just have to think about the changes and they're done?" My mind began to think about all the horrible situations that just a passing thought could cause. I quickly shook them out of my head of fear that the ring might actually make some of them happen. "It's okay, I just have to learn to control this power, right?"
"Yeah, it'll take time, but you'll figure it out," Regina said. "Look Ringmaster, it's your first night with the ring. Just don't think any kind of changes too massive or complicated. You're clearly restraining yourself to be more in control." She gently patted me on the back. "You'll be fine."
I smiled back at her. "Thanks Regina. So, what exactly are you? Like, are you a spirit trapped in the ring? Are you a mystical being just bound to the ring so that you only came into existence when I put the ring on?"
"Oh," Regina said, "Well, I'm-"
"WELL FUCK YOU TOO THEN!"
Regina and I immediately turned our heads towards Vanessa's room. She came out of her room, disheveled with a cotton-tee casually thrown on, tears streaming down her face. She ran into the kitchen, where we heard her sobbing. I looked back to Regina, who gestured for me to go to her.
Nervously, I gulped and headed into the kitchen. I heard Regina's chains behind me, so I knew she was watching me. "Vanessa? You alright?" She had her head between her knees, sitting down on the floor, sobbing. "What happened?"
"K-Keith broke up with me," she cried. I nervously looked at the ring, then to Regina. However, she shook her head no, that I hadn't caused this. "I don't understand what I did wrong. I thought I was good enough, that I was doing everything I should have."
Sure, it was probably the ring, but something within me just clicked. Vanessa was now available, and needing someone. I could absolutely be that someone. I could be hers and she could be mine.
"Look, he didn't deserve you," I said to her, placing my hand on her shoulder. "You deserve someone who treats your right, and not just for your gorgeous body." Vanessa continued to cry and sniffle. "You absolutely did your best, but he just couldn't see that." I slowly stood up and held my hand out to her. "Come on, let's binge watching something and chow down on some snacks. It'll help cheer you up." As I said that, I felt the ring warm up before cooling down.
Vanessa wiped the tears from her face. "Okay Maria." Slowly, she stood up, allowing me to get a gorgeous view of her in just a huge white cotton tee and some nice pink panties. I wasn't even sure if she was wearing a bra underneath or not. Calmly, she wrapped her arms around my neck and held me close in an embrace. "Thanks for this. How can I repay you?"
"Oh, don't worry about it for now," I said, getting hot under the collar from the hug. "Let's enjoy the TV."
"Okay," Vanessa said, grabbing a bowl from one of the top shelves, which hiked up her shirt and showed off her well-rounded ass. Fuck would I love a handful of that. She grabbed a few bags of chips and headed into the living room. "Oh, Regina, Maria and I were going to watch some TV. Wanna join us?"
"Yeah, sure," Regina said. Vanessa smiled at her and headed into the living room to finish setting things up. Regina, after taking a nice view of Vanessa's curves, walked over to me, chains rattling the whole time. "Just trying to cheer her up?"
I bit my lower lip and then looked at her. "I'm not going to rush into this. I don't want to frighten her. She did just go through a break-up after all, and I don't want to seem insensitive." Regina gave me a thumbs-up and headed back into the living room. I took a deep sigh and stared down at the ring. Well fuck, the influence of liking girls definitely changed me, but, I was oddly okay with it now. It was absolutely the ring that made that happen, but what's done is done. Now, I was going to make Vanessa mine, but, respectfully. I still cared about her, and I was still a romantic at heart. Grabbing myself a drink from the refrigerator, I headed into the living room.
Sitting on the couch was Vanessa at one end and Regina at the other. Regina gave me a knowing wink that she set me up in the center near Vanessa. I took my spot between the two of them as Vanessa put on the show.