Lauren Lewis had been approximately fifteen years, two months, three days, and fourteen hours into her life when it happened. That fateful meeting. The meeting she had almost forgot about after thirty years, that the Icelandic blonde reminded her of just that day.
The day they first met.
Lauren was a good girl, a goody two shoes- if you will, about most everything. Boys, school work, her parents, her future. She was on top of her class and no one could ever come close to pushing her off. She went home when her parents said to, around eight o' clock, and went to sleep at a regular time. She ate home cooked meals, watched family TV, and walked to school every day.
Just an average, intellectual, high school student.
So when the girl that would change everything about her came casually strolling into her life for only two days, she didn't know how to handle it.
"Hi, I'm Lauren," a very dainty Lauren had said after coming into the last class of her day and seeing a new student. If Lauren was anything, it was nice. Not that her shyness kicked her in the pants sometimes.
Too bad this small interaction was in her head.
In actuality, that was what she wanted to say to the new student after seeing her sitting alone in the back as she walked into class. Lauren was entirely too shy to even dream of going up to someone so…
Not now, Lo.
Holding back her "inappropriate" thoughts she glanced at the new student all class period. She hid the interaction- of course- by bending down once in awhile after she "accidentally" flicked her pencil down onto the floor. She just hadto pick it up, and every time she did, she'd steal a glance back at the pretty blonde.
The girl was a little older than she was, maybe a senior which made perfect sense to Lauren, and her hair was a bit brighter than Lauren's own. It made sense a senior would be in the same class a lowly sophomore was in only because, with Lauren's IQ levels off the charts, she was placed in advanced classes all throughout her schooling. Seeing someone older than her in, if not all, of her classes wasn't extraordinary.
What wasn't ordinary, was the girl who sat in class, alone, without answering any questions put to her, was looking around the entire class period. Her almost transparent green eyes would zone in on someone, look at them for a few minutes, and then keep on going as if she didn't see what she was looking for in one of her classmates.
The class ended quickly, too quickly for Lauren's taste, and she walked out of the door with one last look at the pretty blonde. Walking down the halls, she came to her locker, but before she could get the third number to open the lock, a soft hand was on the small of her back and she jumped- screwing up her combination.
"Easy, chick," the blonde from class said, holding up her hands in a submissive gesture. A scowl was on her face when she said, "Damn, it's like tip-toeing around a Jewish bar with a ham sandwich."
Lauren's eyes widened at the joke, it was so crude, but she couldn't help her lips curl into a smile. She didn't know why it was there, but it was.
The new girl looked down at Lauren, she hadn't realized she was so tall, and said, "What's the hang-out joints around here?"
"Um, I-I'm not really the person to ask," Lauren stuttered out as she went back to opening her locker. This time, she actually got it open and she put her books and binders into it. Pulling out her small messenger bag, she looked up at the new girl. "I'm not really… a cool kid," Lauren explained. "I don't go to the cool hang out places, and drink cool soda, and watch cool sports. You'd be better off asking James Schnider," Lauren tried not to dip her voice down in disdain at the boy's name, but she did, "I'm sure he'll take you somewhere you'll like."
The new girl had watched Lauren speak the entire time with interest, and when she was done, the girl moved into Lauren's personal space. Pinning her a little ways onto the lockers. "I didn't ask some Schnider kid. I asked you."
"Oh, um, me…" Lauren Lewis couldn't fathom anyone, much less a pretty blonde, asking her anything. She smiled as the new girl let her have her space back and said, "I think I know just the place."
Taking the new girls hand in hers, Lauren led her out of the school and to a very special place indeed.
"I can't believe you've never had a juice box before!" Lauren cried, taking the apple juice box away from Tamsin's- the name the new girl gave Lauren after they had been walking for awhile- confused hands. "You poke the straw in here so you can drink it," Lauren said, giving it back to her after skewering the laminated plastic with the straw.
"So I've never had a juice box, sue me," Tamsin quipped after taking the drink and gulping a few sips down. "Hey, that's actually good."
Lauren smiled and said, "I told you so," before looking out to the very special place she brought the new girl.
The very special place she had never brought anyone else before.
The hill, that looked like just another tree infested hill, looked over the entire town. And, if the sun hit it just right, the person sitting in Lauren's special spot could see a straight ray of sunshine going through all of the buildings at once. It was beautiful, Lauren thought, and she was sharing it for the first time with a stranger she had just met.
It didn't bother her really. This had been the first, and only time, in her life someone had chosen to spend time with her after they found out she was a genius.
"It makes the other kids feel inadequate, sweety. That's why they don't like playing with you. But that's not your fault," as her mother always liked to tell her.
She watched as Tamsin lounged on a tree and said, "So, what are you doing here, Tamsin?"
The girl was almost caught off guard, she chocked a little on her apple juice, and she looked over at Lauren. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Lauren said, "a person only really comes to this town if they need or want something. And since the town has nothing special going for it, you must be here for another reason. So, what's that reason?"
"You're too smart for your own good."
"I know. But that's still not answering my question."
Tamsin's eyes bore into Lauren's for a few seconds until she looked back out into the town. "What if I told you the reason I've never had a juice box before was because I was a genetically superior being that lived for centuries?"
"I'd say you were crazy," Lauren said immediately.
"And what if I told you I was hunting down a very dangerous one of us- genetically superior being- that could literally blend into anyone, or anything, you could see with the naked eye."
"Again, I'd say you were crazy."
"What if it was possible?"
"It's not."
"But what if it was?"
"It's not, though."
"But. What. If?"
Lauren's eyes widened a fraction as she looked over to the blonde. She didn't realize the new girl had been staring at her the entire time they had begun the conversation, and her brilliant green eyes bore into her.
What if she was telling the truth?
Lauren's resolve almost broke, but then Tamsin began to laugh and whoop with holler, and Lauren knew the new girl was just pulling her leg.
"I almost got you there, blondie," Tamsin laughed, taking another drink from her juice.
Lauren playfully threw a stick, the only thing in the vicinity, at Tamsin and laughed along with her.
"It was a good trick," Lauren said.
A good trick indeed.
Lauren was almost asleep when she heard the faint tap,tap,tap at her window that night. Waking up groggily, she almost screamed bloody murder when she saw the new girl balancing expertly onto the steep ledge of the window.
"What are you doing here?" Lauren breathed as she flipped the latch and opened the window.
"Damn, it's cold out there," was Tamsin's only response.
"Tamsin- wha- you can't be here. It's late and…" Lauren saw the new girl wearing the exact same clothes from earlier that day. Her arms were around herself and she was shaking. "Do you have a place to stay? Where are your parents?"
"Can I just stay here tonight?" Tamsin wasn't in the mood to answer any questions and Lauren saw it. Thinking it over- but not really thinking it over- she nodded swiftly and moved to her closet. Pulling out a few extra blankets, she wrapped one around the taller girl without hesitation.
"There, that should keep you warm. I don't have anywhere else to sleep, so I guess you can take the bed and I'll take the floor." Lauren looked up and was surprised at the 'Are you really kidding me right now' face the new girl gave her.
"We'll both fit in the bed, come on." And that's how Lauren and Tamsin had shared a bed for the first time in their first meeting each other.
Lauren was trying not to look at Tamsin's lips as they lay in bed together. Tamsin had faced her in her sleep, and Lauren hadn't wanted to move for fear of waking the new girl up- at least that's what she told herself. So she just lay there, watching this pretty girl sleep next to her, as she tried not to think inappropriate thoughts of how she wanted to brush her own lips against hers.
She was supposed to like boys, that's how it went.
But the pretty girl next to her was really enticing.
"You shouldn't stare," Tamsin said suddenly, making Lauren jump a ways before she settled back down onto her pillow. Tamsin's eyes opened a little ways and she smirked, glad she had gotten a rise out of Lauren.
"I-I wasn't staring," Lauren blushed as she looked downward. Thankfully, the covers were covering Tamsin's exceptional bosom. She didn't need that image in her head either.
"Uh-huh, right." Tamsin kept looking until Lauren turned her gaze away.
Turning over in bed, Lauren faced the wall instead and said finally, "Good night, Tamsin." Before trying to feign sleep.
It happened too quickly for her to stop it or think anything about it. Tamsin had raised a little ways off the bed, brought her lips down onto Lauren's cheek, and swiftly turned over in her bed so that their backs were barely touching.
"Good night, smarty pants."
Lauren tried not to brush her cheek as she blushed.
Her first kiss.
Shared with another woman. Well sure, it wasn't on the lips, but it was the first kiss she'd ever gotten that wasn't from parents, or grandparents, or relatives. She liked it. She really liked it.
It was her first kiss.
Lauren awoke to an empty bed the next morning, and as she looked around, she saw her window ajar a ways. Shrugging her shoulders, she'd see Tamsin in school anyways, she quickly got in the shower, dressed, and out the door for her school.
She would have gotten there too as she walked down the nice, breezy, morning air-filled streets. That was, however, until she saw a quick trail of brightly blond hair running in between houses.
"Tamsin?" Lauren asked as she saw fully the new girl's body between the small spaces of the houses. Grabbing hold of her messenger bag tightly, Lauren looked both ways before running across the road. Getting to the back of the house she had just seen Tamsin running across, she looked around and saw nothing. Questioning herself, she turned around to walk back to her school, and froze.
Standing before her was a gigantic, monstrous creature. It's long, razor teeth were gnashing the air and saliva dripped down onto Lauren's shoes. It's body was that of a frail man of some kind, it's ribcage poking out grotesquely from it's misshapen body. It's tongue flicked out from it's mouth, much slimmer and longer than a normal tongue, and Lauren saw it swat the air with it.
Like a snake.
Lauren noticed, finally, that the creatures eyes had been gouged out, red hot blood ran down it's dried and cracked elongated face.
If it couldn't see her, it couldn't hurt her.
But that was preposterous! Things like this didn't live in the real world, they aren't real.
Tell that to this thing.
Lauren tried to take a tentative step back but froze as she accidentally stepped on a dried twig. Her breath immediately hitched as the creature stopped flicking the air with it's tongue, and looked dead at Lauren. It's long claw hands raised at it's sides, it's mouth etching into a wicked smile, it had found her.
It had found her and Lauren was about to be gobbled up. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried not to scream, tried not to move, tried not to breath.
"Get away from her!" A scream came from Lauren's left.
Opening her eyes and looking, she saw a very battle ready Tamsin- buckles and weapons lined her stomach and pants- coming into view. She saw as the new girl threw an assorted knife into the creatures already gouged out eye socket, and as the creature screamed in agony, Tamsin grabbed Lauren and pushed her behind herself.
"Stay behind me, and for god's sake, do not make a sound." Tamsin moved away from her and faced down the monster. Whistling Tamsin yelled, "Hey, I'm right here. Come and get me, ugly." Laughing as the monster was provoked, she drove another knife straight into it's shriveled belly. Taking out another from her belt she drove one home into the creature's back.
The creature made a cry of pain and anger and turned, smacking Tamsin in the face, sending her flying into a house.
Despite herself, Lauren screamed, "Tamsin!" and was caught off guard and afraid as the creature turned on her immediately.
It's mouth dipped open, ready to gobble Lauren right up, when Tamsin was there again. Jumping up onto the creature's back, she held on for dear life as the creature tried to buck her off. Using the momentum it gave her, Tamsin brought a dagger into the creature's throat, and then into it's chest.
There was a sound, a very small sound, the creature let out before falling over to the ground, Tamsin along with it. The new girl, as she fell, placed her feet on the ground swiftly as she stood over the creature's dead body.
Looking over at a disheveled and scared Lauren she almost screamed, "Didn't I tell you not to make a sound! What were you thinking?"
Lauren couldn't speak. She couldn't move. What she was seeing in front of her wasn't real. It wasn't possible. But somehow, it was. Somehow, it was staring her right in the face. Tamsin's voice echoed in her ear, 'Genetically superior beings' that's what she had said. Genetically superior. Was this one of those superior beings? Did that make Tamsin-
Lauren looked up at Tamsin immediately as she thought it. Was Tamsin one of them? One of the same with the creature? Why was she more human and it was… a monster.
"Hey, it's okay. Blondie, it's okay," Tamsin cooed as she stepped over the body, holding out a hand to Lauren gingerly. "It's okay."
But it wasn't okay. Everything about this was wrong.
Lauren looked into gorgeous green eyes again, and she couldn't take it. Holding onto her messenger bag, she ran away from the hand, ran away from the dead body of a creature that couldn't possibly be. Ran away from the new girl and her pretty blonde hair that was lighter than Lauren's own.
There was nothing else to do.
"They thought I was crazy," Lauren breathed after remembering her childhood. "The-they said that I had gone crazy from my superior knowledge that I made the only thing up. You lied to me!" Lauren was screaming by the end of her sentence.
"I did not lie," Tamsin said, trying to keep calm. "I did not lie. I told you because I knew, I knew right when I first met you that we were meant to be together. You and I. Blondie and me."
"I went back there, I went back and I tried to show everyone what I had seen. The dead creature- that wendigo, yes Tamsin I know what it was now- and it was gone. There was no trace. No one heard the screams that had happened, no one saw the terror in my eyes. You were gone and you left me there thinking I was some kind of basket case!"
"Doc, I didn't- it was supposed to happen like that. If it didn't, we wouldn't be here right now. We wouldn't be together. You wouldn't have been more excepting of the fae like you were to be put into this situation."
Lauren laughed bitterly. "Talk about turning your shit around, right Tamsin? That's what you like to say, right. You lied to me… You lied." Tears were welling up in her eyes and she dared them to come. No way was she crying in front of the valkyrie.
"No, no, don't cry. Don't cry, doc." Tamsin came over and tried to hug Lauren, but the darker blonde pushed her away.
"No, you don't get to do that. No," Lauren said again as Tamsin disobeyed her orders. She kept saying it, as Tamsin pushed her way into Lauren's fighting arms, into her flaying fists.
It didn't hurt, how could it? Tamsin was fae, she was stronger than Lauren ever could be, but it hurt so much deeper than physical.
She didn't know why she wanted to tell Lauren of their meeting as children. She wanted it to be magical, like they were soul mates or whatever the shit you're supposed to think when in a relationship. But it hadn't been. It obviously hadn't been.
Tamsin didn't know of her repercussions that she left in that small town that day. She had bagged the wendigo and she had left. That was the job. That had always been the job.
"I'm sorry," Tamsin said as she buried her lips into Lauren's hair. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. I didn't know, I didn't know I caused that."
Lauren fought with herself as she tried to gain control. Stay angry at Tamsin for something that couldn't be fixed now, that had led them to this moment. Or forgive her, forgive the woman she loved for doing something stupid when they both were children- granted, Lauren more of a child than Tamsin was at the time. Lauren chose the only option she could.
She chose forgiveness.
Looking up into Tamsin's green eyes with her own soft brown ones, she kissed the valkyrie softly. "You can't change what you did. What you did defined me as I lived. If that hadn't happened, who knows where I would be right now, Tamsin. It was traumatic and it made me want to help other people during traumatic events. You made me want to become a doctor, Tamsin. That was you. And I am so thankful to you for that."
Tamsin's eyes lit up, just a fraction, but the light was there. Kissing her doctor again, she said, "I'll make it up to you."
"And how will you do that, Tamsin?"
"I'm sure I can think of something. You know I can make a mean ham sandwich."
Lauren didn't think Tamsin was going there and laughed at how the valkyrie could remember something so far in the past. "I'd like that," Lauren whispered as she looked up into Tamsin's eyes again. "I'd really like that."
Whenever there is but two paths open to you, always take the path of forgiveness. It is both virtuous and brave.
fin
