A request by VixenValkrane in the forum: "This story takes place in the future. Two women: One, a high class Escort who can pretty much seduce anyone, is tall with blue eyes and long wavy blue hair. The other, her roommate, is short with red messy dreadlocks and hazel eyes; she is a shy, introverted artist, and a virgin - and asexual."
*
Jay was in the kitchen, nursing a hot chocolate, when Krystal dragged herself from her bed at last. It had been the soft, quiet-as-a-mouse movements of her flat mate that had seduced her out from the warmth and comfort to brave another day. The hope of prompting another shy smile to crack Jay's icy hostility.
But Jay barely acknowledged her this time. Krystal was used to women hating her, and had weathered weeks of frosty glares from Jay, and bitter arguments over nothing of importance, but to be ignored like this... as if Krystal no longer existed for Jay... as if she were a ghost in her own home...
It hurt. Especially after that glimpse of warmth the other day when Jay had accepted Krystal's offer to take her to the theatre. "A free gift," Krystal had said, brandishing the tickets like a trophy.
"From an admirer?" Jay asked, her expression closed.
Krystal shrugged. "A pity to waste. When was the last time you went to the theatre?"
"Never," Jay admitted, and Krystal could see the longing in her eyes. And she had loved it. The ice queen had melted as she watched the comedy with fascination. Krystal had been more interested in this transformation of her flat mate than the play, which she had seen before anyway.
Caught up in the joy of the performance, Jay had even smiled at her, briefly, before remembering that she hated Krystal.
How long was it since a woman had smiled at her with genuine warmth? Krystal couldn't remember. Her own life was one of artifice and deception, as much a performance as the theatre play, and she was anyway uninterested in the men who smiled so easily at her charms.
No, it was unfair to call Jay an ice queen when she was the one whose heart was ice, selling herself for the pleasure of men but never once letting the mask slip or the defences fall.
And yet Jay had cracked her like an egg, with just one smile.
Krystal poured milk into a tall glass and sat down opposite Jay. "If you despise me so much, why do you stay?" It took courage to say that. She was terrified that Jay would leave - which in itself was new. Krystal had never shared a house with someone that she cared if they stayed or not.
"Please don't look at me like that," Jay whispered, still not looking at her.
Krystal was baffled. "Like what?"
Jay didn't answer immediately, and Krystal didn't press. She studied the curve of Jay's cheek, framed by a mess of scarlet-red hair that was usually tamed and tied into dreadlocks. Jay wasn't conventionally beautiful, not in the way she herself was, a commodity she sold, but she was attractive, and had an air of fragility that stirred protective instincts that Krystal had never been aware of before. It took an effort to resist the impulse to reach out for Jay's delicate hands and hold them securely.
"It would be easier if I did," Jay said. "If I could hate you. I want to."
Krystal was silent for a moment. She was used to being hated. She was even used to being told that she wasn't hated - usually by women who had their claws out ready to draw blood. But this was different. "Why don't you want me to look at you? Why don't you want to look at me?"
"Because I'm falling in love with you." The words came out in a rush. "And I hate you for it," she added in a whisper.
Krystal tried to calm the turmoil of hope and desperation in her heart. "Why?"
"Because you don't love anyone. You just use them. And you're straight."
Krystal laughed. "Well, you're right that I don't love men, but if you think I'm straight... Why? Because I fuck them? Because I smile and dance and flirt with them? These things mean nothing. They're what I do, not who I am."
Jay dared to look up, her hazel eyes meeting Krystal's for an instant before flinching away. "Then who are you?"
"Just a woman. A woman who would love nothing more than to see you smile again. Except maybe to hear you laugh and to see your eyes bright with happiness."
"Is this how you seduce them?"
Krystal sighed. "Clients don't pay me to seduce them. They pay me to let them seduce me."
Jay finally looked at her properly, her eyes cold with anger. "Why?" she demanded. "Why do you do it?"
It wasn't the first time she'd asked, but this time Krystal decided to answer with more than a shrug of indifference. "Did you think I was born with this perfect body?" The look of shock in Jay's eyes was everything she'd hoped for, and feared.
"I had nothing growing up," Krystal continued. "No father. A mother who was permanently drunk, her lifestyle paid for by a string of semi-regular boyfriends. I was neglected, often hungry, most of my clothes too small and torn. I was that kid at school that everyone despises for being both ugly and poor. And in later years I was that girl who would do anything for cash. That's what hunger does to you."
"But that's awful!" Jay said. "I mean, no child should have to go through that."
Krystal shrugged. "No, but it happens. I did have one thing. A rich uncle - at least he said he was my uncle. He didn't give a damn about anyone. People were just business to him. After I left school, and started working the streets, he came to me and offered me this. A body to die for, is it not?"
Jay nodded. "You don't look like you've had anything done to you."
"No, indeed, but we're talking state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery, retroviral therapy and cutting-edge nanites. In other words, the sort of rejuvenation treatment that only the super rich can afford. My uncle had a deal with the clinic, though. They made me beautiful, but I'll be paying the debt for years. Forever, perhaps."
Jay's anger had dissipated, leaving only sadness. She stirred her chocolate before drinking the last of it. "So," she said eventually, "you're not attracted to men?"
"Well, not romantically. Sexually a little. But nothing like how I feel about women. That's why I only have male clients. The few times I accepted a female client... It was weird. With men I can just play a role. With women, I can't do that. I can kiss men, and feel absolutely nothing. I can't kiss a woman without my head getting completely messed up."
"Neither can I," Jay said, a smile illuminating her face like sunshine breaking through cloud.
*
Jay found it difficult to look at Krystal. She was such an overtly sexual woman, and although Jay firmly believed that what people did was their own business and none of hers, she avoided sexual contexts as much as possible. Krystal's sexualised nature and her frequent sex work spilled into Jay's personal space far too often.
That had been bad enough, though she endured it, but it was the awakening of romantic feelings that made it worse. As a demiromantic asexual, Jay seldom experienced attraction towards anyone, and she was by and large fine with that, so to find herself increasingly drawn towards Krystal, of all people, was frankly distressing.
She wished she could switch that part of herself off again. Every time she looked into Krystal's eyes, an intense blue that matched the long waves of her hair, Jay found herself drowning in them. Every time she felt Krystal watching her, it shattered her peace and made her heart race.
And now her heart hurt to think of all Krystal had gone through, and was still going through. She wasn't the cold-hearted seductress that Jay had thought her to be. She was just a woman doing what she had to to survive.
Krystal raised an eyebrow, and Jay could sense the mischief in her. "So, you're falling in love with me?" she said.
"No!" It was a lie, of course, and Krystal clearly wasn't fooled. Jay could feel her cheeks burning.
"Ah, I understand. It's only my body you desire."
"No!" Jay repeated. "No, I mean, I don't. I'm not attracted to you that way. Like you're not attracted to men. I'm ace - asexual."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"How cruel!" Krystal cried, though there was laughter in her eyes. "I spend my life fucking men I can't love, only to fall in love with a woman I can't fuck!"
Jay's annoyance with the first part of this outburst was swept away by marvel at the second. "You're falling in love with me?"
"Ever since the theatre, when you smiled at me for the very first time, I've been head over heels. And you've barely looked at me since!"
Jay was drowning again in Krystal's eyes. Was it really safe to let go? Could she trust Krystal to respect her boundaries? What if her feelings for Krystal vanished overnight? "I don't know what to do," she whispered. "What if tomorrow I hate you again? What if I don't, but my heart breaks with every man you smile at?"
"Then at least we have today, and maybe tomorrow and the day after. It's more than I have ever had before."
*
