Chapter 7
This was a surprise.
When Chelsea had decided to take her homework session to the Undergrind Café, she had hoped to find a space away from her memories of Master; a venue where she could actually get some work done instead of playing last night's events over and over again in her head, fretting and plotting and masturbating over what to do next. Yet not only was Master here, but he was sitting with a girl Chelsea had never seen before: a short, curvaceous thing with a pair of headphones hanging from her neck like a pink LED collar.
Whoever she was, something Master said caused her to awkwardly adjust her hair and glance over her shoulder, her soft brown eyes barely missing Chelsea's. The startled blonde quickly stepped back into the waiting crowd of customers, hoping to observe Master undetected. It was impossible to make out what he was talking about, but he appeared to be deep conversation with the mystery girl, their posture and expressions indicating that whatever was being discussed required a great deal of care and focus.
Should she try to get closer and eavesdrop? If she was careful she could probably get away with it. And even though a part of her shivered at the thought of being so close to Master after last night, his companion was an unsettling blank in Chelsea's intel. If Chelsea was going to have any hope of winning Master over, she needed to gather more data. Ideally, without him knowing.
Then Master said something that made the other girl smile. And the adrenaline coursing through Chelsea curdled over. What was she doing, skulking in the shadows while this fat-titted cow tried to ingratiate herself to Master? Was Chelsea really so hurt by his rejection that she had lost all traces of her pride?
This was no time to retreat or hide: this was a time to attack.
Chelsea approached the table with her head held high, hiding her seething spite behind a friendly smile. "Hey Seb," she called, her expression static even as a part of her cringed from using Master's false name. "Who's your friend?"
To her satisfaction, she saw both Master and his "friend" were completely thrown, the atmosphere of intimacy dissipating in an instant.
"O-oh. Hey Chelsea," Master quickly recovered, though Chelsea could see how tense his shoulders were. "Uh, how's it going?"
"'It's going okay," Chelsea answered. "I just came down here to do some studying. What a coincidence that we both happened to..." She hesitated, as though just now realizing something. "Wait—I'm not interrupting a date am I?"
Master almost jolted out of his seat. "No. Uh, I mean, that is..." he exchanged a panicked look with the mystery girl.
"I-it's not a date," she finished for him.
A-ha. So that confirmed it. This wasn't a date, but there was no small amount of sexual tension at this table. And the way Master and the cow had looked at each other just then...there was history there.
Chelsea felt her stomach turn. So she forced out another laugh. "Phew. Thought for a second I ruined the moment. Not the kind of first impression I wanna make." She pulled up a chair up to the table and extended her hand to the mystery girl. "I'm Chelsea, by the way."
"S-Sophia," the other girl answered, accepting the handshake. Chelsea blinked, struck by the name for some reason. Did it sound...familiar? Had Master mentioned it before?
"It's great to meet you," Chelsea lied. "How do you know M—Seb?" she quickly corrected. That was close. She had to be more careful—if she didn't stay focused, there was no telling what might slip out.
"We, uh," Sophia's gaze flitted to Master's. Again that stupid, infuriating look.
"We met in high school," Master answered. "Sophia was going to a different college, but she recently transferred, so we decided to meet and catch up."
"Ah," Chelsea nodded. Was it just her imagination, or did the cow seem slightly deflated by Master's answer? Interesting.
"What about you?" Sophia asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. "How do you and Seb know each other?"
"We met here at Diepner," Chelsea answered. "We haven't known each other too long, but we've become pretty close. It's actually almost weird how fast it happened, right?" she added, shooting a loaded look Master's direction.
"Y-yeah," Master nodded.
Chelsea had to resist a smirk of satisfaction. Her theory was right: whoever Sophia was, Master clearly cared about her enough that he wanted this conversation to go smoothly, even if it meant giving concessions to Chelsea. He was afraid of losing face. Which meant Chelsea had the advantage.
"Did you meet at the hypnosis show?" Sophia asked.
Chelsea hesitated, caught off guard. "Well, we shared a few classes before that, so we knew each other. But I guess we hadn't really...connected until after the show." How did Sophia know about the hypnosis act? Was she in the audience? Had Master told her? If he had, there was no telling what else she knew right now. Chelsea would have to be more careful—if she openly contradicted something Master had said, it would break this delicate state of play she had been building up until now.
Sophia tilted her head slightly. "Did Seb really hypnotize you up there?" she asked.
Now it was Chelsea's turn to send an urgent look to Master. He gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head. So he had stuck to their original story about her faking it. That was a relief.
"I, uh, I'm embarrassed to admit it," she said, running a hand through her hair, "but I actually faked it. When the induction wasn't working, I felt really bad, so I pretended to be hypnotized to save the show. Afterwards, I met up with Seb to tell him the truth and apologize for deceiving him, and well...he was generous enough to forgive me." She threw a grateful smile his direction.
"Oh." Sophia's lips curved into a subtle frown. "I see." Something about her disappointed expression irked Chelsea. Just what was this girl's deal?
"Were you watching the show then?" Chelsea asked, eliciting a nod from her opponent. "And you really thought he had hypnotized me into acting like a puppy in front of everyone?" She chuckled.
Sophia looked down at her drink. "I just didn't think somebody who was faking it would go that far," she muttered.
Oh, this bitch. "What can I say? I guess I was just inspired by the moment. And," Chelsea bared a fanged smile, "given how grateful Master was afterwards, I'd say it was worth it."
Sophia stiffened. "What?"
Oh shit.
"Th-that's a joke," Master quickly interjected. "She sometimes teases me by calling me 'Master' since, you know..."
"Oh. Y-yeah, I get it," Sophia put on a faltering smile and stood. "W-well I should get going."
Master's eyes widened. "Wait, Sophia, I—"
"I'll text you later," she interrupted before turning to Chelsea. "It was uh, it was great meeting you."
Chelsea nodded absently. Her mind was still reeling, but not from her accidental slip up. It was the way Master had said the cow's name. Chelsea had heard it before. And now she remembered when.
"Uh, Chelsea? Are you okay?" Master asked. "What was all that about?"
Chelsea met his eyes with a cold stare. "Last week, the first time we...experimented. Did she call you while I was..?"
Master's jaw clamped shut, but his stricken expression was answer enough.
"You had me...right there...yet you answered a call from her?"
Master's eyes darted away from hers. "I-I panicked. Things ended weird for us in high school, and I didn't expect to see her again so..."
"I don't need an excuse," Chelsea said sharply. She was doing her best to keep her voice level, but couldn't stop her breath from quickening. "Just answer me this: is she the reason you didn't take me last night?"
Master flinched as though he had been struck. "I...I..." his voice died. And a roaring vacuum of silence filled Chelsea's ears.
"I should've known," she growled, standing and turning to leave. How could she have been so blind? She thought the battle was with Master, but all along the real opponent had been lurking in the shadows. Well no more—the front lines had been drawn, and now Chelsea knew what she was up against. With fire in her veins and poison on her tongue, she would make sure that stupid cow never...
"
