A/N: Gah! Sorry for the errors. Re-uploading this now. :P
"He did not," Victoria gasped, a white paw raised to the perfect 'o' of her mouth. Her tail flicked behind her, which Jemima had learned to read as annoyance. For a moment she was uncomprehending. Vicky should be happy for her -not annoyed- and all that tail flick did was make Jemima a bit annoyed herself. But Victoria had always had trouble accepting a friend's triumph without jealousy, which Jemima had also learned. And so she elected to ignore it.
"He did," she said instead, keeping her tone bubbly. Was it bad that she hated this? Sharing the low-down on your crushes should be the juiciest, most exciting part of two queens' discussions, but right now Jemima wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
Victoria lowered her perfectly manicured paw from her perfectly 'o' shaped mouth and let out a breathy giggle. "Everlasting Cat, you have a tomfriend!" She dived at Jemima with perfectly white arms outstretched and enveloped her in a hug. "Jemi has a tomfriend!"
Jemima frowned into her friend's white fur, reluctantly hugging her back. She hadn't thought of it that way. Was Tumble her tomfriend now? All they'd done was kiss. Did that mean…they weren't friends anymore? How weird, she mused, face buried in white fur. One little thing can change our whole relationship. Can I be his friend and his queenfriend at the same time? She supposed yes, her mom had constantly told her that being friends was the basis of a good relationship, but suddenly doing the things she had used to do with Tumble seemed weird. Good they tickle each other without it being awkward? Could they take walks without some strange romantic tension?
Jemima considered asking Vicky, but she knew the white queen probably couldn't help. She'd never had a tomfriend, so she wouldn't know. But also, a snarky voice in her head whispered, she's never had just a friend that's a tom. How would she know the difference between romantic tension and a tom just being nice?
Victoria had drawn away, a placid smile on her face. To Jemima, it looked a touch too strained. "I need to get us snacks," the queen announced, and got to her perfectly groomed feet. "And then we can girl-chat about this whole thing. Best friends kiss and tell, am I right?" She let out a tinkly perfect laugh, twirling out of the room before Jemima could answer. Seriously. She twirled out of the room.
Jemima felt agitation beginning to ebb from somewhere inside. No, she wasn't right. Why should she need to describe her first kiss to her? So that she can imagine someone has already kissed her, that snarky voice answered. Jemima swished her tail as if to swish away the voice. Shut up, she thought back. Vicky and I are best friends.
"Congrats."
Jemima's head snapped up. The voice was dry and unreadable. "Quaxo," she said in surprise. The small black tom was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and one foot behind the other. "I didn't see you there," she managed, cheeks turning slightly pink.
He smiled wryly. "Nobody generally does." There was a pause in which Jemima had to look away. There was something about Victoria's brother that had always made it hard to have a proper conversation with him. He was so unreadable and distant. She was never sure how he was feeling. "So…heard you got a tomfriend."
Jemima felt her cheeks colour further. "Well, I don't know about that, he hasn't asked me yet or anything so-"
"Do you think he will?" Quaxo cut her flustered talk off.
Jemima shrugged noncommittally, giving no response even though they both knew the answer was yes. She kept her paws in her lap, fingers twisting about each other.
Quaxo pushed himself off the doorframe with a sigh. "Well, Vic's going to be insanely jealous. She probably already is." He grinned boyishly.
At this Jemima forced herself to meet his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
He shrugged, that grin still on his face. It had softened slightly, and suddenly he looked indescribably vulnerable. "It's Vicky. What do you think I mean?"
Jemima bit her lip. He was probably right. Not probably right, just right. She'd been friends with Victoria long enough to know.
"She really shouldn't be, we both saw this coming," came Quaxo's voice. The phrase should've sounded disapproving, but the way he said it Jemima had no idea what he was really feeling. She studied him from where she sat, his black frame unmoving.
"Now you're just confusing me," she told him carefully.
Quaxo shook his head, his mouth turned up in a gentle smile. "I'll see you round, Jemima." With that he turned and left the room. Jemima shook her head in stark confusion. A few moments passed in the silent room, and for some reason she felt utterly alone.
"Here we go!" came a high voice. She turned to see her perfectly perfect friend enter the room, a bag of chips in each hand. The sight of her only made Jemima lonelier. "I bet we'll be done both these bags by the time I'm done with you." Victoria giggled and sat herself down, fluffing her perfect fur before reaching for a bag.
Jemima felt a part of her die inside.
A/N: Alrighty. As usual, please review and thanks for reading! :)