LOVE AND MARRIAGE
Both Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield were smiling broadly as they uttered the words that to their daughter, Maxine Caulfield, felt like a punch to the gut.
"We've arranged for your marriage!"
Max, since she disliked her full name, stared wide-eyed and blushing at her progenitors. She was stiff from head to toe. After a second or two, she produced a squeal much like that of a rodent in distress without even opening her mouth.
Three hours later, while in the backseat of their car, Max's mother was still trying to comfort her. They were about to arrive at the Chase mansion.
Back in 2018, the nations of the world united as one and decided to create legislations that would actually help humanity instead of filling the pockets of huge corporations.
Since a vast majority of marriages were failing, unions of love were abolished and the contract returned to what it was in days of yore. An arrangement of convenience. Be it wealth or status, both parts involved were set to gain something, and both society and the government would benefit as well. A couple was obligated to raise a well-mannered and productive member of society. Failing to do so carried harsh and long lasting consequences.
Because of the new laws, pharmaceutical companies saw an enormous boost in business. In order to maintain human nature in check, pills were created in 2025 that were meant to simulate the reactions incited in the brain by the chemicals secreted due to romantic and sexual attraction. For those who would rather abstain, suppressants were also created.
It was obvious that Max's parents thought that their daughter was reluctant to meet the scion of the Chase family, as they had eloquently put it, because she was nervous. Yes, she had been timid and introverted her entire life, but that was just a part of it. Max was a lesbian and her parents did not have the faintest idea.
Although homosexuality was perfectly accepted by the world at large, it still carried one stigma. The children of same sex couples had to be artificially conceived, for obvious reasons. Thus, they were picked on by others due to being born differently. Even if humanity had advanced by leaps and bounds in the last three decades, not all of the brain's baser functions could be controlled as easily as the drive to reproduce. Banding together to form insular cliques was still very much a thing.
The inside of the Chase mansion was even more impressive than the outside, impossible as that may have seemed to Max at first. More intimidating, too. She was hugging herself as she followed her parents through the mass of people gathered in the gigantic foyer of the building. This was a house, where a single family lived, that had its own foyer. Awe was competing with shyness inside of Max's head, and while trying to avoid everyone else's eyes, her own were devouring every detail in sight.
This whole deal had come to be because the Chases, affluent owners of art galleries all over the world, wished to marry the sole recipient of their vast empire to someone with prominent artistic talent. They figured it was the perfect long term plan to create the ideal head of the family and ensure the continued growth of their legacy. An artistic genius with both money and power, not to mention connections in the world of art. Even if Max hated the idea of being part of it, she could see the appeal.
"There he is, Mr. Chase," her mother said, and Max froze in place.
Atop the main stairs was, even she had to admit it, a handsome fifty or so years old man. However, handsome or not, it was a man. And an old one at that. Max was only twenty! She clenched her jaw and her hands tightened around her biceps.
Although society now accepted marriages of people with huge age gaps between them, sexual intercourse was forbidden by law. The children of such a marriage would also have to be artificially conceived. On the bright side, such children did not suffer the ridicule of their peers, as it was understood that they owed the circumstances of their birth to the law.
As her parents dragged her toward Mr. Chase, Max took a deep breath that was intended to relax but instead came out as a shaky sigh. Quickly abandoning that idea, she bit her lower lip and tried to smile. The resignation in her expression was all too obvious despite her best efforts.
"And there she is, your bride!"
Max was so tense that her mother's excitement startled her into nearly falling face first on the beautiful polished marble floor. What a shame it would have been to soil the pretty stones with her blood. Once she recovered and managed to stand straight again, with minimal loss to her dignity, Max saw who her mother had pointed out.
With the shift in angle as they approached, a girl standing by Mr. Chase's side became visible. She was tall, thin and her golden blonde hair was cut very short. Her attire was immaculate, from the cashmere sweater to the black tights under that tiny skirt that somehow managed not to look indecent on her. On the contrary, she looked elegant and poised.
"Bride?" Max spluttered, turning to look at her parents with obvious panic.
Her mother ran a hand down the side of her face and smiled as she pinched her cheek.
"Oh, dear, we've always known."
"What?!"
"Anyway," her mother said with utmost nonchalance, "that's Victoria Chase, your betrothed." She then urged Max forward with a nudge between her shoulder blades. "Come on, go say hello while your dad and I greet her parents."
While her parents did move forward to exchange pleasantries with the Chases, Max stayed behind, her eyes fixated on Victoria.
Why had she not made the connection before? It was Victoria Chase, whose photographs had captivated her during vocational orientation. Victoria would never be an artist, her disposition for business practice too high to allow it, but she had submitted some of her photographic work to the school. Naturally, Max had too, and while browsing through her peers' work, her attention had been drawn to the portraits of a girl she now remembered being named Victoria Chase. This whole marriage thing was starting to look a bit brighter. At least she could talk about photography with this girl.
"So, you're Maxine, huh?"
The disdainful tone brought Max back to the present and she reacted instinctively.
"Max, never Maxine." Once the words were out, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with both hands. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be so rude!"
Victoria, for her part, seemed unfazed. She raised an eyebrow and smirked crookedly.
"You're an interesting one, Max."
Unseen to everyone else in the room, Max shuddered at the emphasis the taller girl put on her name, now correctly shortened. Even her voice was pretty.
All of a sudden, Max began feeling woefully inadequate. She grimaced slightly, and her arms, which had finally fallen to her sides, went immediately up and around her torso once again.
Victoria made a face. "What's up with you?"
Since opening up to a stranger was out of the question, Max went with the material her parents had already given her.
"I'm nervous."
The taller girl groaned and rolled her eyes. "About what?"
"All of this." Max gestured shyly with one hand at all the people around them.
A cruel smile appeared on Victoria's lips and Max recoiled minutely.
"These people wish they were you. Every single one of them has been drooling after the Chase money for years. You should revel in their jealousy."
"I couldn't," Max muttered.
"Why not?" Victoria took a step forward and Max took one back. "You get to live a life with every luxury imaginable and all you have to do is help me raise our kid and keep doing your artsy thing. It's why you're here, right? The money. Just like everyone else."
Max dropped her arms to her sides and closed her hands into tight fists. The muscles in her neck strained.
"I'm not here for anything. Our parents arranged this fiasco." Once the words were out, Max gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.
She turned around to leave but was stopped by a hand gripping her bicep.
"Yeah, sure," Victoria said, looking at Max down her nose. "But, are you saying the prospect of an easy life doesn't interest you?"
Without turning around fully, Max looked at Victoria over her shoulder, eyes glistening. "What interested me were your photos from vocational. I thought this whole deal could be nice after all, since we share a mutual passion."
"Right." Victoria snorted disdainfully. "You noticed my photos."
Max tugged forcefully at her captive arm, but Victoria's hold did not budge. Resigned, she turned around to face the taller girl.
"Your portraits were so intimate," Max said. She frowned and looked down, as if searching for something on the floor. After a beat, she met Victoria's gaze. "I could see the emotions you projected into them so clearly. Hell, it made me feel uncomfortable."
Victoria chuckled derisively. The muscles in Max's neck tensed and she worked her jaw. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath before speaking.
"The girl with hair falling down her face and reaching out to the camera with longing."
Victoria's eyes widened a fraction and Max puffed her chest a little.
"Up to the time you took that picture," she continued, "you hadn't told your parents you wanted to be with girls."
The look of mild surprise on Victoria's face morphed into wide eyed staring into nothingness. She let go of Max's hand, her whole arm falling limply at her side, but Max did not move away. Instead, she grabbed both of the taller girl's hands.
"Your photos showed me fear, pain, sadness and a few moments of happiness. Tell me I'm wrong and I'll never bring it up again."
Max gave Victoria's hands a tentative squeeze. The taller girl blinked and looked down at Max, her eyes brimming with tears.
"I have to go," she said, brusquely pulling her hands away and turning sharply on her heel. In a blink, she had already disappeared in the crowd.
Despite Max's best efforts to conceal and not feel, she spent the next couple hours in a rather despondent state. It was not until the soiree, as her parents had eloquently put it, was about to end that Victoria reemerged from wherever she had been hiding all this time. This was aiming to be exactly the miserable marriage Max had initially feared it would be if such was going to be Victoria's disposition through the years to come.
To Max's surprise, Victoria not only returned to sit right beside her, but she also held her hand under the table, placing it atop her soft, warm thigh.
"Thank you," the taller girl said, barely looking at Max, "I needed that."
The words sounded distant to Max, drowned as they were by the pounding of her racing heart. She was blushing bright red from neck to ears and smiling quite idiotically.
"N-No problem," she managed to say after half a minute or so.
FIN
Author's Notes: I don't know if you could tell, dear reader, but this was a rush job. It's what the muse brought, though, and I get so little inspiration nowadays that I'm entirely unwilling to refuse anything she throws my way. I hope you liked it anyway.