Chapter 05: Realizations and Sensations

The next day was remarkably gray, with dull storm clouds hanging over the small city, blocking out most of the sunlight and making the air itself look bored. Abby made her way through the school hallways like she always did, looking back and forth at the other students as she passed. Now that she was paying attention, she did see several of the boys giving her strange looks, and some even clicked their tongue and gave her a creepy wink as she passed. It made her uncomfortable, but she did her best to ignore them.

Her heart jumped when she spotted Paige standing in front of her locker, digging through it in search of her books for the first class of the day. Abby wondered for a moment how she would act. Was she going to go back to giving Abby the cold shoulder, or had they really made progress this time? How could she go back after something like THAT? Oh well, there was only one way to find out… so Abby took a breath and approached.

"Hey Paige." Abby said with a smile.

Paige looked up from her locker with a math book in hand, flashing her a quarter of a smile. "Abby." She closed the locker and turned towards her, clutching her book to her chest. "Your mom give you the lash?"

Abby chuckled lightly. "Not really, she just sort of stammered at me for a while then sent me to bed. Oh!" She reached behind her back and pulled out a fluffy pink beret, holding it out to her with a smile. "You left this at my house last night."

"Ah, I thought so. Thanks." Paige snapped it out of her hands, brushing it off with one hand before whipping it back into place on her curly blonde head.

"So… do you wanna walk to class together?" Abby tested with a friendly smile.

For a moment Paige just looked at her, then with a shrug she turned to walk down the hall, waving for Abby to follow. Her smile spreading wider, Abby moved to walk beside her. Her smile faded a bit, however, when she noticed some of the boys in the hallway watching them with strange looks on their faces. Even some of the girls began to snicker into their hands as the two girls passed. Abby wasn't one to dwell on what others thought… but she was already so nervous about the play now that even these looks brought a blush to her cheeks.

"Hey, Paige… have you noticed any of the other kids acting different than usual?" Abby asked.

"Not really, I don't pay attention to most people." Paige shrugged.

"Me neither, but…" Abby blushed and glanced around. "Do you ever think it's weird that a guy like Charlie would make a play starring kids, and make the lead romance between two girls?" Paige stopped suddenly and turned to look at her with a curious expression. "It's just something my mom brought to my attention… but… this isn't exactly normal, is it? Why would he make it between two girls? The original Romeo and Juliet is about forbidden love in the first place, the change seems a little redundant."

Paige put a hand to her chin, narrowing her eyes at Abby. "What exactly are you getting at? Do you think he's a pervert?"

Abby hesitated for a moment before responding. "I don't think he is… I HOPE he isn't, but… it is pretty weird, you have to admit that. I mean, you may not care what others think, but you have to have noticed the um… strange looks the boys have been giving us."

"Boys do that to all cute girls, you get used to it." Paige shrugged off that concern. "Though now that you mention it, it does seem pretty weird that Charlie wrote the play this way. Not only wrote it this way, but asked us all not to tell anyone about it. It's like he's hiding it, ashamed of it." She narrowed her eyes, then looked up at Abby. "What if he IS some pervert who's getting his willies watching us, and marketing us to other perverts?" She clenched her fists. "I couldn't STAND letting him get away with that!"

"Relax, we won't." Abby put a hand on her shoulder. "But we can't start getting angry until we know the truth. We should at least ask him, and if we don't like the answer, we can leave the play together."

Paige gasped. "But my career…"

"Do you want a pervert to take advantage of you?" Abby asked.

"Hell no!" Paige answered immediately.

"Then let's find out the truth, and know what we're getting into here. I looked him up last night, I know where he's staying in town, we can pay him a visit right after school." Abby suggested.

"Right." Paige nodded with a solemn look on her face. "We'll get to the bottom of this." With that, she turned to continue down the hallway toward her class, with Abby walking right behind her. Abby couldn't help a small smile as she watched the girl walk. And to think, she'd always been so worried about appearing weak when she was so strong…

***

The school bell rang, sending its usual flood of kids spilling out onto the streets, eager to take up lives outside of the academic arena. Abby waited outside underneath one of the big trees planted to make the place seem more natural, waiting until Paige emerged from the school and moved to join her. With a friendly smile and a wave, they both turned to make their way down the sidewalk away from the school and the prying eyes of the other kids.

"Hey, Paige…" Abby spoke as they walked side-by-side.

"Hm?" Paige glanced in her direction.

"About last night… about what happened… y'know, between us." Abby blushed slightly.

"What about it?" Paige raised her eyebrow.

"You're very nonchalant about it." Abby's blush only deepened.

"Why should I be nervous?" Paige shrugged. "We obviously both felt like doing it. I never regret things I decide to do. If I do something, it's because I want to, end of story."

"Was it really that easy? You seemed so upset about kissing a few weeks ago." Abby reminded her.

"We've done plenty of kissing in the play… I guess I'm used to it by now." Paige shrugged, then glanced over at her out of the corner of her eye. "It was quite an… experience."

"Haha, yeah, I can't argue with that." Abby blushed and cleared her throat, exchanging the glance with a soft smile. "What… does it mean, exactly? Is this… y'know, is this something that's going to continue or… was it just that one night or… what?"

Paige shrugged. "Right now, I don't really care. I'm just trying to think of how to remove Charlie's penis from his sack if he HAS been planning to use our sex appeal to draw in crowds."

Abby blinked. "That was pretty graphic."

"The actual removal will be MORE graphic." Paige looked up as they approached a modestly sized apartment building in the middle of the town. It was one of the taller buildings in town, though by no means the tallest around. "Which apartment did you say he was in again?"

Abby glanced down at the small sheet in her hand. "Apartment 21C on the third floor." Abby looked up again. "Come on, he's probably still here, since there's no rehearsal today." Abby approached the intercom beside the locked glass door, looking for the appropriate apartment number and pressing the button.

"Can I help you?" Charlie's voice came back through the intercom.

"Charlie, it's Abby and Paige. We'd like to speak to you about the play." Abby replied.

"Come on up, I'll buzz you in." Charlie replied. A moment later they heard a loud click from the door, and they pushed it open to head inside before it could lock on them again.

They made their way up the elevator to the seventh floor, soon finding his door and knocking lightly. The door opened a moment later to reveal Charlie smiling out at them, though his hair was ragged and there were tiny hairs dotting his usually clean-shaven face. "Good afternoon ladies. What can I do for you today?" He pulled the door open to let them in, then closed the door behind them once they were inside.

"We'd like to ask you some questions." Paige told him with suspiciously narrowed eyes.

"So I gathered." Charlie smiled back nonchalantly. "What questions would you like to ask me?"

"Did you write the play?" Abby asked.

"Yes, I did." Charlie nodded.

"Why did you write it?" Abby asked with a serious look on her face.

Charlie shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Why do you ask? It's a bit personal."

"Because the play stars two lesbian girls, we're afraid you're using that to attract perverts to the audience, or to buy the DVD, or however you're going to market this thing." Paige said bluntly. "If that's the case, we want no part of it! Unless you have a good reason for writing this play, you can find yourself a new Mary and Rose right now." Abby stared at her in shock. She was so blunt and to-the-point. Normally that bluntness was what made Abby hate her, but now it seemed helpful. She'd just blurted out what Abby had been struggling to say.

Charlie nodded slowly, giving them an almost appreciative gaze. "You're very intelligent girls… yes, you're absolutely right." He sat down on the edge of the bed set against the wall. "I find myself at the mercy of your justified suspicion. Ask anything you want to know."

"Just tell us why you wrote the play this way. Why not just do a production of Romeo and Juliet? The message would be the same anyway." Abby pointed out.

Charlie nodded. "I suppose it would… but the truth is, ladies, I did not write this play as a variant of Romeo and Juliet, though clearly I used some influence from it." He took a deep breath and sat up straight, resting his hands in his knees. "The truth is, this play is not just Romeo and Juliet… it is my autobiography."

The girls' eyes widened in surprised silence for a few moments. Paige was the first to speak. "Including the ending…?" Charlie nodded.

"Wait… if it's an autobiography, why use two girls? Shouldn't it be two boys?" Abby pointed out.

Charlie nodded. "It should, but as I'm sure you girls know, this sort of thing isn't very well accepted at the best of times. However, homosexuality among girls is accepted much more readily than homosexuality among boys. If I had cast boys, people in general would have shunned the play even more than they're likely to now… and I feel the message is too important to sabotage in that manner."

"That's true…" Abby bit her lip guiltily. Charlie had been nothing but open with them through the entire process, she felt bad that she'd doubted his sincerity now. "Listen I'm sorry, we didn't mean to…"

"Don't apologize, given what you told me, you had every right to suspect something was amiss." Charlie smiled. "Though I would appreciate it if you girls would keep this to yourselves. Like the topic itself, those who are Gay tend to be swept under the carpet whenever possible, and I very much would like to see this play succeed."

"So would I." Abby and Paige spoke in unison, then exchanged a curious glance.

Charlie smiled. "Thank you." He stood up from the bed, reaching up to grab his thin brown trench coat from the rack beside the door. "So, I guess I owe you girls an apology for making you worry about this. Have you two eaten yet?" The two girls shook their heads. "Then why don't we find something nice to eat? My treat."

"Sure! That sounds great." Abby smiled.

"I have nothing better to do." Paige replied with a similar smile.

"Come then, to the streets where life begins." Charlie snatched his keys off of the nightstand by the bed, opened the apartment door and gestured grandly for them to go first. With twin giggles, the girls left first, and the man closed the door behind them.

They left the apartment building in good spirits. Despite their accusations, Charlie was as full of life and enthusiasm as he usually was. His good mood was almost infectious, Abby thought to herself as they made their way down the street in search of something to eat. After a short time, Charlie and Paige outvoted Abby and they made their way into a Chinese restaurant, where they were promptly seated with menus in their laps. Charlie was seated on one side, while the girls shared the other side.

"Hmm… I think I'll go with the Sweet & Sour and some Fried Rice." Paige closed her menu with a smile. "That's my usual."

"I didn't know you were a fan of Chinese food." Abby raised her eyebrow.

"You barely know anything about me, Archer." Paige retorted with a teasing smirk. Abby wanted to argue… but she actually was right, she realized. "How about you? Not such a big fan of Chinese food?"

"I like it alright, but there are plenty of foods I like better."

"Well, there's no accounting for taste. Just look at that sweater." Paige grinned.

"Hey!" Abby frowned.

Paige laughed and hit her shoulder lightly. "You need to lighten up, Archer."

"Abby!" Abby grumbled sharply.

"Charlie, don't you think she needs to lighten up?" Paige demanded.

As the girls whirled on him he held up his hands and leaned back in his seat. "Um, that's something I really can't help you girls with." He coughed and quickly buried his nose in his menu. Paige and Abby exchanged a glance and an amused giggle.

"I think we're making our host nervous." Paige rested her chin in her palm, looking at Abby with an idle smile.

"Well, we really shouldn't do that." Abby smirked back. "He's being so generous after all."

"Mmm." Paige flashed her a strange smirk, but the waiter arrived a moment later to interrupt whatever she was going to say.

Their food arrived promptly after ordering, and they settled in to eat their selections. Abby didn't eat very fast, but instead carried on a conversation with Paige, who ate with more vigor, but still with a proper, ladylike air about her actions. There was a lot about Paige she'd never known, beside the thing with Marco. She never knew Paige had taken ballet when she was a young girl. She never knew she was able to play the trumpet, or that she was aspiring to be a fashion-designer, and could draw a great picture when she had the inspiration. She even showed Abby some of her pencil sketches out of her purse.

"Wow, Paige." Abby gaped at the pictures, which were a bit rough around the edges, but definitely had a simple beauty to them. One of them even looked familiar. "Is this your mom?"

"Yep." Paige beamed with pride. "She even posed for me to draw that. I thought that was one of my better designs, too."

"So, wait, you actually made the clothes and sketched them?" Abby asked.

"Of course not, silly. That's just backwards. I draw the model, and then I draw the clothes on top of the sketch. These are just the ones that have designs on them, the bases are kept back in my room." Paige told her. "Of course I only do one design per sketch, so I'm always on the lookout for different models." She looked over Abby's both with a thoughtful expression on her face. "In fact, you wouldn't mind modeling for me, would you? I've been meaning to do some teen designs, but my mom is the only regular model I have."

"You want ME to model?" Abby's eyes widened. "What about your friends?"

"They used to, but their parents found out and put a stop to that." Paige rolled her eyes.

Abby blinked. "And what about this modeling would they be objecting to…?"

"Well, nothing important, their moms just didn't like them being drawn is all." Paige told her.

"Oh… I guess I could do that." Abby smiled. "Is it really true that artists have to draw naked people, though?"

Paige nodded. "In one of the artist books I have, they said it's important to have a strong grasp of anatomy, so that you know how the clothes would hang off of a human body. It's hard to draw a real person when you don't know what a person really looks like."

"That actually makes sense." Abby smiled. "That's pretty cool. Learn something new all the time. Sure, I'd love to model for you."

"Great, maybe we can do it tonight… at my place, since I think your mom would kill me on sight." She smirked.

Abby giggled back and smiled broadly, then suddenly realized that Charlie hadn't spoken a word since before the food arrived. She glanced up at him to find him eating politely, watching them with a strangely gentle smile on his face. "Sorry, Charlie, I didn't mean to keep you out of the conversation or anything…"

"Stop apologizing, Abby, I'm glad you two are getting along so well." He told her. "This is the kind of chemistry that really shows through on-stage."

Abby and Paige exchanged a broad smile. "We'll keep working on it." Paige told him.

"Now, I think we've spent enough time watching our food cool. If you're both done." Charlie stood and reached into his pocket for his wallet. The girls agreed, and soon they were back outside on the sidewalk, where the sun had moved towards the Western horizon, but still showed they had several hours before curfew.

"Would you girls like an escort home?" Charlie asked.

"No thanks, I think we can handle ourselves from here." Paige replied.

"I bid you goodnight, then. I'll see you at rehearsals this Friday, and if you feel like asking me any other questions, feel free to come see me again any time." He gave them a smile and a wave, then turned to head down the sidewalk toward his apartment building.

Paige turned toward Abby, then jerked her head down the opposite direction. "Come on, let's get back to my place. I'll let you stay for dinner if you want… and if your mom won't kill you for it." She turned to head towards her house.

"It'll be tough, but I think I can convince her to let me stay for a while." Abby smiled and turned to follow her towards the mansion she had first visited several weeks ago. Paige opened the large front door and stepped inside, inviting her in with a wave of her arm before closing it behind her. This time Abby found herself face-to-face with a woman sitting on the living room sofa, whose hair was the same shade as Paige's, but was dangling down to her shoulder blades rather than cut short around her neck.

"Good afternoon, Paige." Paige's mother looked up from her magazine with a smile on her lips. "How has your day been so far?"

"It's been fine, mom." Paige smiled. "I brought Abby back with me, was hoping she could stick around a while and join us for dinner."

"Really?" Her mother seemed surprised, but her face lit up with a bright smile. "I certainly have no problem with that. Dinner will be in a few hours, feel free to make yourself at home, Abby."

"Thank you very much." Abby smiled back. Paige turned to move past her, gesturing for her to follow back up the thickly carpeted stairs to the second story and inside of her bedroom.

The lock of Paige's door clicked shut behind them, and Paige looked at her with an almost mischievous smile. "No escaping now, Archer."

"You really think you could stop me from leaving if I wanted to?" Abby smirked.

"Kicked your butt once before." Paige winked. Abby grumbled under her breath, but Paige just chuckled and moved toward the nightstand beside her bed, pulling out a thick notepad full of blank, extra large sheets of paper. When she had her pad in hand, she turned on Abby again, holding the pad in front of her. "You can get ready any time. You ARE going to be a base. Don't worry, I won't say anything snide about your underwear, whether you deserve it or not."

"Er, right." Abby coughed, taking a moment to decide whether she wanted to do this or not. In a moment, however, she reached up to grab her sweater and white t-shirt underneath at the same time, pulling them both off with all of the casualness she could muster. Paige did seem completely unphased, so she reached down to undo her slacks as well.

"Well, that was fast." Paige said admirably. "My other friends argued for hours before doing that."

"I'm not ASHAMED of my body, I'm just not used to anyone seeing it outside of school showers." Abby told her with a slight blush. "So where do you want me? Do you want me to pose, or…?"

"Do whatever you want, have fun with it." Paige told her. After thinking about it for a moment, Abby turned slightly to the side and crossed her arms over her chest with her lower lip puffing out into a dramatic pout. When she saw it Paige burst into giggles, putting one hand over her lips. "Is that really the first thing that comes to mind?"

"You said anything." Abby chuckled.

"You might want to pick something easier to stay in until I finish." Paige warned her with a humorous smile.

"The girl makes a fair point." Abby adjusted herself again, this time facing Paige, standing normally with one hand resting on her hip while the other dangled from her side.

"Not bad." Paige told her appreciatively. "Now just hold it for a while." She turned on her sketchpad and started running her pencil over the paper with fast, short strokes. Abby watched her work with a curious gaze, watching the pencil slide over the paper. Occasionally her eyes flitted up from her work to look over Abby's body, examining it for a few seconds before turning back to her mission. It made Abby blush a little to have someone examine her like that, but she didn't say anything, instead staying focused on not moving.

Almost an hour had passed before Paige sighed and held back her notepad. "There, I'm done."

"Let me see!" Excitedly, Abby rushed across the floor to look over her shoulder at the sketch. She grinned when she saw herself standing there, as naked as a bluebird with a well-detailed body, but with an almost regal look about her as well. "Wow, that's so awesome."

"I always do my best at everything I do." Paige beamed with pride. "I just happen to be good at a lot of things."

"Right." Abby snickered slightly and turned to look at Paige's face, which was only inches away from her own as they looked over the pad of paper clutched in her hands. Paige looked back, a mischievously confident look shining from her bright blue eyes. Suddenly Abby was extremely aware of how naked she was. She cleared her throat and looked for something to say, but she couldn't think of anything except how different Paige seemed now. Paige almost seemed to be admiring her.

"Y'know, Paige… this hardly seems fair." Abby told her with a wry smirk. "I'm standing here in my underwear and you're sitting there staring at me. It's one-sided."

"Too bad, Archer." Paige smirked back. "Life isn't fair, deal with it."

"Oh, ouch." Abby grinned. "Well that doesn't mean we can't try to even things out. Commere!" Abby suddenly grabbed her from behind and shoved her to her back on the bed, her hands gripping at her clothing.

"Aiieee! Noooo!" Paige yelped and flailed her limbs, managing to force Abby back enough for her to spin around on the bed and crawl toward the other side. She leapt off the mattress to the floor, panting and backing away from the bed, though her face was flushed with excitement and humor rather than actual terror. "You stay away from me!"

"Make me!" Abby leapt for that side of the bed, but Paige whirled to run towards the feet of the bed, barely avoiding her grasping hands. Abby whirled to cut her off, leaping to the floor in front of her and wrapping both arms around her torso before she could come to a complete stop.

"Geeze you're fast!" Paige exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Got that right!" Abby yanked her to the side and shoved her down on the bed, where she fell with an 'oof' and a 'plop'. Her hands darted down to the bottom of Paige's sweater, her fingers grasping at the bottom, then pausing, unsure if this little play could really go so far. However, when she looked up at Paige's face, her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes were sparkling with an almost challenging smile on her lips.

Her hands lowered down on top of Abby's, gripping them along with her shirt and pulling them up her body. "This was what you were going for, wasn't it?"

"Y-yeah…" Abby replied breathily. "Something like that." She gulped. "So I guess… it wasn't a um… one time… thing?" She gasped when she felt Paige's arms circle her bare waist, pulling her down on top of her on the bed. Abby leaned against her, but she jolted in surprise when a voice shouted from downstairs.

"Paige! Abby! Dinner's ready!" Paige's mother shouted up to them.

"Ggrgh." Paige growled and bit her lip. "Darnit, mother…"

Abby had to laugh softly at that. "Guess we should get downstairs before she comes looking for us."

"Hmm… maybe you could stay the night here." Paige suggested with a slight smile.

"Ahaha, after last night I think my mom would kill me for suggesting that." Abby chuckled.

"Oh, well." Paige sat up, pushing Abby beside her so they could sit side-by-side. "Maybe it's for the best, anyway. No reason to rush into anything too heavy, right? So young, so soon…"

"Yeah, I can agree with that." Abby nodded. "Though there's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun, either."

"Is that right?" Paige raises her eyebrow.

"I'm not actually very hungry tonight, are you?" Abby asked

Paige shrugged. "Not really. Why? What do you wanna do?" She raised her eyebrow teasingly.

"Well, this room is huge… I bet it has all kinds of awesome stuff hidden in it." Abby grinned. "Like say… a massive TV?"

Paige grinned back. "You know me too well." She crawled up to the head of her bed and snatched a black remote off of her nightstand, pushing a button. Abby blinked in surprise as a hole in the floor near the wall began to open with a mechanical whirring noise, and soon a widescreen TV easily as wide as Abby was tall lifted out of the hole, sitting against the wall like a black monolith.

"Whoa… and I was just kidding…" Abby's jaw dropped.

"Or so you thought." Paige moved up beside her with a grin, hitting the power button on the remote. "Your curfew isn't for a little while yet… wanna watch some TV?"

"Yes please." Abby smiled.

So the two girls settled down on the bed together, still sitting in their underwear while they flipped from channel to channel giving dry commentary on the shows they found playing. More than a few giggles escaped their lips as they told jokes at the expense of the poor writers and actors they found on the massive television, but also from the sheer naughtiness of what they knew they were doing. It was exciting, and honestly really fun, Abby thought to herself. It was definitely the most fun she'd ever had with Paige, at least.

Still, she knew it had to end, and soon she was standing in Paige's room fully dressed and standing in front of the open window. She smiled and looked down at her new blonde friend, who was still lying on her bed. "Thanks, Paige… I had a really good time tonight. And if you ever need another base for your designs…"

"I'll keep you in mind." Paige smiled. "See you tomorrow, Archer."

Abby nodded and opened the window, since it was actually a bit past her curfew by now, and she didn't want any questions from Paige's parents. She leapt outside, landing easily in a crouch on the small grass and turning to race through the growing night towards home. Her heart was racing and she just couldn't stop herself from smiling broadly on her way home. She felt so… excited, though she wasn't even sure what she was excited about. Paige, the future in general, life as a whole. She just felt like she was walking on clouds… and she didn't want the feeling to end.

To Be Continued