Chapter 2: Marley
Today was the day of the sleepover, and Nellie Young wanted to scream.
She stared at her calendar with her stomach in knots, brushing to the side the lock of bangs that usually covered her left eye. Seeing the paper better didn't change what she was looking at, however, and the date stubbornly refused to shift despite the intensity of her gaze. Nellie had marked several days on December's page: the last day of classes before Christmas break was decorated with green and red, while her big tests in those classes were given just perfunctory entries; her dad's birthday was circled, and she had drawn a logo on the square of the day that one of her favorite bands would be releasing their new album. But, despite all the assorted scribblings and artwork, no single square on the grid had received as much ink as today's. The date itself had been circled, again and again, and the notation underlined excessively. At some points, shapes that may have been hearts had been drawn, only to be squiggled out aggressively. It was clear, from the different inks, that she had come back to look at this date many times - but, while The Sleepover had drawn her pen back to itself several times, one part of the square had been filled out, then left unmolested. At the bottom, the words Ethan comes home had been written, with clearly deliberate neatness and flow, and then untouched further by her pen - but, least of anything on that page, that was not true for her eyes, which had come back to those words obsessively.
Today. He was coming today. Was probably already on his way - if he remembered. Maybe he had gotten distracted and forgotten. Maybe something had come up? Or… people in her class said that, for college underclassmen, Thursday night was party night because so many people went home on the weekends. Maybe he had gone out the night before, and…
A tattoo of her hoofsteps clattering off her floor reminded Nellie to try to calm herself - whatever good that would do with her nerves already on fire. She looked again, despairingly, at her closet, and then at the bag of clothes shoved unceremoniously into a corner. She had pulled out several outfits, different styles and levels of formality - only to throw them aside, finally yielding to despair and putting on her favorite hoodie, emblazoned with the name of a band she had loved a couple of years ago. Everything else had felt too transparently dressy, not 'her' enough, for Ethan's return - and the sleepover, of course. It would look really awkward to be dressed for a dance when all that was supposed to happen that evening was a group of her friends visiting - which is why she had shoved said dress into the bag with the other outfits, including one that Jason, who was Marley's husband and Ethan's dad, had forbidden her from wearing until she was at least 20. That one she had gone back to several times, going so far as to try it on and inspect herself in the mirror, savoring the amount of cleavage it proudly advertised, and imagined greeting Ethan at the door with it- aaand it had gone back into the pile, and then into the bag, condemned to be shoved into a corner until the evening was over. She definitely didn't have the attention bandwidth to bother with hanging all those outfits back up now, and it wouldn't do for her room to be dirty… not tonight.
Taking a deep breath, Nellie fought to calm herself. It was… just a normal night. Just a normal sleepover, a meeting of her closest friends. For reassurance, she glanced at the photos on one wall, next to her bed. As a centaur, she didn't have a normal raised human-style bed; instead, her bed was a much firmer mat on the ground, with a padded wall for her to lean against. Closer to the head of the bed, the mattress was raised and more plush, heaped with her pillows. Still, above the lean-wall where she could see it even in bed, she had placed a board festooned with photos of her and her friends, along with a few other favored knick-knacks: concert tickets, a dried-out corsage from a middle-school dance, a medal from an art competition she had entered on a whim. She stepped closer, letting her eyes roam the pictures on the board. Other girls made appearances - each of them had other friends, of course, but none so close - but the same four or five faces kept appearing. Nellie, of course, with her pale face and hair draped over one eye, though only in more recent pictures was this strand darkened black over its natural purple. Candy Coburn, the most outgoing of the group, always laughing, always immaculate, her soft blonde hair curled into ringlets that draped down her back. Melanie Thomas was the smallest of the group, the gleam of the small round glasses perched on her button nose serving to hide that she had drifted off during several of the photos. Taller and more fit than the other girls, Anne Singer was usually the one to throw her arms around her friends, her oversized plush claws squeezing them all together as she beamed a massive grin - she was never one for any kind of subtle emotion. Nellie had been friends with Candy since elementary school, and Melanie since eighth grade; Anne was the newest member of the group, joining as a sophomore. The sheer volume of photos, though, showed that the quartet was all but inseparable - as perversely insensible as that was, when you got down to it.
That thought drained away all the comfort Nellie drew from the pictures. Yes, they were all friends - but most of them had become friends for a very specific reason. Nellie's eyes flicked to a specific photo that had ended up near the center of the board: the four of them, all in their swimsuits, alongside Ethan, who was carrying a tube for a waterslide. The picture had been taken on a group outing last summer by Marley, when they had gone to a local waterpark and spent the day together. While Jason and his son had gone on a lot of the rides, the girls had mostly enjoyed the wave pool and lazy river - although each of them had snuck off at some point or other to join Ethan for a bit. Nellie's possession of the group shot - with its clear view of Ethan's swimming-trunk clad body - had caused a brief, surprisingly-bitter squabble among the friends, until Marley had intervened by having copies made for the other three. There were pictures of just Nellie and Ethan from over the past few years on the board, too - but each of the girls had their own photos with him at their own homes. At the heart of it, Ethan was the person that had brought the four friends together… and tonight, he might just be the thing to tear them apart.
Her anxiety returning in force, Nellie fought to restrain the urge to take off in a sprint, pacing side to side repeatedly. Her eyes raced across her room - window to bag of clothes to calendar to picture board to bed, and back over again. Finally, she resorted to an old habit she had fought to restrain, and let herself rub the cloth bracelet she wore on her left wrist. It was an old, raggedy thing - her habit of touching it had worn it even further than years of being on her at most times - and its lime green color matched very few things she wore, especially now that her attire tended towards darker hues. Still, she wouldn't be separated from it at any cost. It had been a birthday present from Ethan, the first he had chosen for her specifically himself, saving his allowance for a couple of weeks to surprise her with something she had liked when they went to the mall together. Truth be told, by the time he had given it to her, she had completely forgotten about it, but the eagerness in his eyes when she had unwrapped it was gift enough to make it precious to her. She had worn it nearly constantly since, and tried to keep from rubbing it to avoid wearing it through completely, but at this moment… She sighed deeply as she touched the familiar fabric, and let its reassurance seep into her. Yes, tonight was important, but… Ethan would be home.
The knock at her door caused Nellie's eyes to shoot open, and she turned her body perpendicular to the door, suddenly aware she was only half-dressed. "Umm…"
"It's me," came the warm, soft voice of Marley. "I wanted to see if you wanted help getting ready, before I help Jason carry out our bags."
"Come in," Nellie prompted, releasing the bracelet and walking towards her chest of drawers. She was grateful for Marley's presence, as it would simplify the process of getting dressed a great deal. Also, it was hard to be nervous around Marley - her nature as a unicorn was so preternaturally calm that it seemed to radiate from her, a peaceful aura that had helped Nellie more times than she could count.
The door opened, and Marley stepped inside. She was bigger than Nellie, both in height and stature - her horse half was still sleek, with a pale brown coat, matched by the gently-curling tresses that fell to her equine back and the flowing waves of her tail. In recent years, dark streaks had begun to appear in that hair - perhaps that was what had given Nellie the idea to dye her own purple hair with black streaks, though it may have just been because of the bands she liked; she couldn't be certain. Marley was dressed in a cream-colored jacket over a dark brown shirt that strained valiantly to confine her motherly features. She wore a hat to match her jacket, broad-brimmed and canted slightly to one side - it was rare for Marley to go without a hat or wrap, except when alone with Nellie and Jason. Marley was always elegant and soft-spoken, caring and resourceful; it was as if she had been born to be a mother, which was one big reason her more-rambunctious sister had decided to leave Nellie with her to raise. Even though Marley wasn't Nellie's biological mother, Nellie had always relied on her aunt as someone she could trust and rely on, and despite the awkwardness of explaining her situation to strangers had finally come to see herself as lucky to have had another adult who loved her enough to take care of her when her own mom couldn't.
"Ethan should be here soon," Marley pointed out, reminding, without chiding, that Nellie needed to dress her lower half also. Marley stepped forward to the dresser, and let Nellie hand her a pair of horse-sized panties. While Marley moved to her hindquarters, Nellie took up a smaller triangular slip and removed the paper strips that covered the adhesive sections, lifting her hoodie to expose where her torso met her equine body. As a quadrupedal monster girl, her options for clothing for her lower body were limited. There had been a time some decades ago that barding-style dresses were popular for monsters with her shape, covering the upper part of the horse body from human groin to the tail. Recent generations, however, had chafed at the restrictive nature that such clothes entailed, and had switched to preferring different styles - first step-ins that covered the front and back, and now half-dresses that would go around the human waist and horse back, held in place by a belt. That did leave the problem of panties, but it was a problem a lot of 'longbody' monster girls shared. Lamiae, for example, had come up with these triangular panties that could adhere to skin at the edges, to cover a girl's privates without needing a full connection front-to-back. They required fresh adhesive strips frequently, but it was a small sacrifice for fashion. Those functioned well for a centaur's front, but for their back end, specially-shaped panties were the usual solution, due to the hair of their lower half making adhesives problematic.
Marley stepped behind her, and Nellie flicked her tail out of the way, her modesty diminished by the years that she and Marley had done this for each other. It was easy to apply the panties to one's front, but less so their back half, without using something to extend their reach. "Are you excited to see him again?" Marley asked, lowering herself to help Nellie step into the underwear before lifting them up around her rear. Marley's tone made it clear she knew the answer, but that didn't keep Nellie from blushing and looking away, instead trying to find where she had left the skirt-halves that she was going to wear. "It's been a while, since-"
"Fall break," Nellie supplied automatically. "He's had weekend practices, and finals, and…"
"Mmm." Smiling gently, Marley ran her fingers through her adopted daughter's tail as she waited for Nellie to hand her the other half of the skirt. "He's been really good about calling us all, though." She reached over for a brush and a bottle of perfume, spraying the bristles before beginning to comb out Nellie's tail more thoroughly.
Nellie nodded wordlessly, passing the waistband of her skirt around herself and tightening it, then straightening the garment, keeping the shortened part at her back and the longest section in front of her. Marley was doing the same process with her back half, although that skirt had a section that descended under her belly to hold it in place. With that done, Marley resumed brushing Nellie's tail, humming to herself as she did so. The sound was soothing, almost as much so as rubbing the bracelet had been, and Nellie let herself breathe as her aunt tended to her tail.
"Do you think…" Nellie started, looking out the window. She let herself trail off, not quite certain what she had intended to ask Marley.
"I think he'll be very excited to see you, too," Marley replied, and when Nellie glanced to her, the older woman had a soft smile on her lips as she set down the brush and reached for a curry comb. She began to pass the hand-brush over Nellie's flanks, pulling free loose strands of purple hair with each stroke. "I know he's been homesick - and you're part of the reason for that."
Nellie nodded without being certain she agreed, glancing at herself in the mirror. She pulled back the hood of her shirt, and grabbed a nearby hairbrush. Her hair reached to her mid-back, so she pulled it forward, tugging the brush down its length. Even with her vividly-purple hair, streaked with black dye, she felt very plain compared to what she imagined college girls to be like - even to her friends, especially Candy. She had always been the quiet one of their group, and less charitable classmates had accused her of being gloomy at times. Unlike her, Ethan had always stood out: handsome, kind, outgoing, athletic…
"Good luck tonight, by the way," Marley continued, and Nellie glanced up to the mirror to see that her aunt's smile had a mischievous edge to it. A thrill ran up Nellie's spine as she realized how close they were coming to one of a pair of unspoken taboos that had existed for years between them: Marley never commented on Nellie's obvious feelings for Ethan, while at the same time, Nellie never asked questions about her aunt's unique horn. "I'm sure things will go fine for you. Just… have faith in yourself, and in him, okay?"
Her cheeks burning crimson, Nellie turned away from the mirror. "I don't know what you mean," she murmured sullenly. "We're just having a regular sleepover…"
"Mmm-hmm," Marley said, working her way towards Nellie's front, stopping occasionally to remove loose purple hair from the brush. Nellie's sides shivered at the feeling, which had always relaxed her, though she found herself a bit more on edge from Marley's knowing smile. "You know," Marley continued, and Nellie glanced back to see the older woman looking directly at her with a gentle expression, "you remind me a lot of who I was when I was your age."
"Really?" Nellie scoffed at that, despite herself. "That's…"
"Weird?" Marley prompted, and Nellie nodded despite herself. Her mom had told her a lot about growing up with Marley, who, despite being the younger of the two, had always been the model daughter: well-behaved and good-mannered, sweet and considerate, hard-working. Meredith, on the other hand, had always been a tomboy and trouble-maker - their parents had referred to her as "spirited," and she had carried that energy all the way to signing up for the military as soon as she graduated high school. While Nellie definitely didn't see much of her mom in herself, she couldn't see herself as the model child Marley had been either.
"Mom has always bragged about how good of a little sister you were. While the other girls in your class were trying to sneak off with boys, you were volunteering at the nurse's office. You were the Homecoming Queen, and always had straight A's." Nellie offered her aunt a little shrug as Marley knelt to work on her underside. "I'm… not like that at all."
"No, but you don't have to be," Marley reassured her. "I never wanted that for you, because that's not who you are. You are creative, and determined, and bold in ways I never managed." Nellie blinked, shocked and disbelieving of those sentiments, but Marley's tone suggested she felt what she said. "And trust me - for all Meredith teased me about being Little Miss Perfect, I have plenty that I regret about who I was back then." Marley paused, and her hat hid her expression from Nellie's gaze. "I spent all my time dreaming that I would meet this perfect guy and he would sweep me off to some dream mansion in the sky - I was ridiculous." Marley's laugh was so uncharacteristically sarcastic that Nellie shied slightly to the side. "I was so convinced that someday I would find The One that… I never really looked for what that would even be for me."
"Umm…" Nellie murmured, looking to her aunt as Marley straightened, cleaning out the brush once more. "I don't see how I would remind you of that."
Marley's bright blue eyes sparkled with mirth. "Oh, I know. Because you have already found your One." She laughed at Nellie's spluttered denials, savoring her niece's wide magenta eyes. "But… just like me, you are so caught up in your own fears of what might happen that you don't stop to think about what could. It wasn't until I thought I was safe from love that I let down my guard, and I know you are heading in that same direction. You lose yourself in your own illusions - but the possibilities are greater than anything you have imagined. Just… keep an open mind." She reached out, resting a hand on Nellie's shoulder. "I am happy - with you, with Jason, and with Ethan. I have absolutely no regrets there." Here, she let a bit of sadness tinge her smile, and she pulled Nellie closer to hold her in a tight hug, pressing Nellie's head to her impressive bosom. "But my fears kept me back too long from enjoying my greatest happiness, and I wish that I had opened my eyes sooner."
Her head resting against Marley, Nellie nodded. She still didn't quite understand what Marley meant, but she felt she got the heart of the message. She had to let herself try, to let go of her doubts for long enough to actually give herself a chance at happiness. Nellie looked up at Marley with new determination, and her unicorn aunt met her gaze with a soothing smile. "Now, let's keep that hood down so I can brush the rest of your hair, and get you ready for Ethan to get here, hmm?" Marley suggested, and Nellie nodded, stepping away with a new calmness in her stance.
Nellie had spent so long hoping - dreading - that today would change everything. Now it was time to see what that might look like. She glanced towards the window and, for at least this moment, let herself savor the possibilities to come.
And that was why, an hour later when the gravel crunched under the tires outside, Nellie headed towards the stairs leading to the first floor with hope blossoming in her heart.
As he stepped into the house, Ethan grinned as his dad threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly and then reaching up to muss his son's hair, even as Ethan leaned away from his dad's enthusiastic playfulness. Jason Yates, like his son, was tall and muscular, although Ethan had inherited some of his mother's leanness. Jason, instead, was even broader at the shoulders, and displayed a lifetime of physical labor in his muscular frame and scarred hands. Ethan's dad had the same angular face as his son, although he covered much of it with a neatly-trimmed beard that had only recently begun to show dignified streaks of grey. He wore one of his nicer plaid shirts tucked into his jeans, which was about as dressy as Ethan ever saw his dad get; even when he represented his construction company in meetings with new clients, Jason tended to prefer simple attire over formalwear.
"Well, looks like you survived easy enough," Jason remarked with a smile, looking over his son at arm's length. "That math class didn't kill you after all, despite all your worries during your last break."
The reminder of his classes made Ethan's smile slip for a heartbeat, but he nodded to his dad. "I made the Dean's List," he confirmed, a hesitant humility keeping the words quiet, "but next time-"
"You made the Dean's list!" Jason erupted boisterously, grinning as he waved Marley over. "Look at this kid. Spends all that time worrying, and he comes out with grades better than any I got in school!"
"Yeah, but I squeaked by, and next semester is-"
"You'll be fine!" Jason clapped Ethan on the back as Marley stepped closer, the older man nodding knowingly to his wife. "I knew he'd make us proud."
Ethan's smile was brittle at those words, but Marley stepped forward, spreading her arms to welcome him with a hug. He tensed, then relaxed, as he felt her hand gently stroke his hair, and he let her pull his head down to rest on her shoulder. "You did well, no matter how worried you were," she told him, her voice warm. "And I know you'll keep doing fine… even if you struggle, you'll be alright in the end."
Ethan nodded, letting himself relax, the soft, clean scent of Marley's perfume making him close his eyes and taking him back to when he was a kid, when Marley had helped comfort him when he was sick, or when he had fallen in the yard and sprained his wrist. After Marley and Nellie had moved into the nearby property, they had become part of his family almost immediately, spending more time at the Yates home than their own ramshackle house across the creek. That had been mostly at his mom's behest; Sabrina Yates had quickly taken to Marley, who had gotten hired on at the same hospital where Sabrina worked as a nurse. Between Ethan and Nellie's friendship, and the growing bond between Marley and Sabrina, it was inevitable that their families became intertwined. Sabrina had frequently joked that Marley made a fine extra mom for Ethan, since, contrasted to the unicorn's gentleness, Sabrina had always been a tomboy - she had a wicked sense of humor and loved playing rough with both Ethan and Nellie, but sometimes struggled with the more nurturing side of parenting. For a while, Ethan had been more likely to run to Marley with his scrapes or bruises, even though his mom was a nurse, but Sabrina had never seemed threatened by that. Instead, Sabrina had focused on pushing both kids to try their hardest, getting Ethan into sports and trying to help Nellie be more outgoing, signing her up for the summer camp where she had met her best friend Candy. And when Ethan's mom had died in the car crash, Marley had been there to support him and his father - it had been no surprise, nearly a year later, when Jason had pulled Ethan aside to say that he was going to start dating Marley, and Ethan had welcomed her as his step-mom without resentment.
Ethan straightened as Marley released him, and he could see that her smile had a bit of playfulness to it as she glanced behind her. "But, what am I doing, hogging you all to myself?" the unicorn asked, stepping out of the way. Behind her stood Nellie, her hands buried in the front pouch of her hoodie, her tail swishing behind her. She had left the hood down but, with her face tilted to favor her bang-covered left side, her eyes were mostly hidden in a shy nervousness that felt intrinsically Nellie to him. She looked just as he always thought of her: outwardly quiet and bashful, but inwardly eager and exciting - a chocolate-covered strawberry. Ethan couldn't keep the grin off his face as he stepped closer, reaching out to muss her hair as he stood in front of her, despite her squawked protest.
"We just brushed that!" Nellie wailed, but Ethan's challenging smile undermined her anger, and it evaporated as, a moment later, he pulled her into a hug. He felt her stiffen for a moment, but then she returned the embrace, even more enthusiastically. "...missed you, you…" he could almost hear her muffled voice say through his shoulder, along with a long, in-drawn breath, and he tightened his hug until he swore he could pick her up if he tried, horse-half and all.
When he finally released her, she stepped back, a sloppy, half-drunk smile on her face making him fear for a moment he may have squeezed even harder than he had intended. When she tossed her hair and reached up to straighten it, though, he chuckled, noticing the lime-green bracelet she wore as always. "I missed you too. Everything going okay?"
Nellie shrugged. "Things are fine. There's a little drama at school - the basketball team is struggling a bit this season, and have a big game coming up during the break that I wanted to see if you would like to go to. Oh, and they're trying to implement a new dress code - again - but it isn't going well. Let's see… some new home-schooled kid is trying to start a kayaking club. Oh, and there's a few new couples that might surprise you-"
"Sorry to interrupt the reunion," Jason burst in, glancing at his watch. "But if you wouldn't mind, Ethan, could I have you grab that briefcase on the couch and bring it out to the car? Marley and I need to head out soon if we're going to make it to the big dinner tonight."
"Sure, dad," Ethan agreed, and stepped past Nellie into the open space of their living room. In front of the door leading into the kitchen, the long span of the couch dominated much of the area; like the beds in Nellie's and the master bedroom, it featured a lean wall and an expansive mat for the centaur-shaped women, as well as raised seats for the men or humanoid guests. Those seats had a sloped side with a pillow, in case Nellie or Marley wanted to stretch out on the couch and rest their heads instead of sitting upright against the lean. On the nearest seat was a battered leather briefcase with tarnished brass clasps, and Ethan recognized it as the one that had belonged to his grandfather - his dad used it to carry building plans and other documents when he wanted to be especially lucky, since Ethan's grandfather had been the one to start the family-owned construction company. "I take it you won the bidding on the new athletic center?"
"Sure did." Jason had told Ethan about the project: apparently some bigwig with a lot of money had wanted to invest in the area, specifically in the young athletes that came out of it, after a few locals had made it to professional teams. He had offered to fund the construction of a large community athletic complex, with far more seats than any local school gymnasium could hold and a handful of other courts or fields for sports that most locals would have to drive to the nearest city to pursue. While the effort seemed pretty philanthropic, Jason had mentioned that the donor had given instructions for a statue of himself to be placed near the entrance, and that it be added to the list of buildings that bore his name. Either way, it would be a lucrative construction effort, and all the schools in the area would make good use of it and the increased revenue from ticket sales it would draw, so most people took the ego-fluffery as a small enough price to pay. "We're meeting with a bunch of bigwigs this weekend to show off the sketches and to get feedback from the community leaders: principals of a few local schools - for your high school, it'll be Mr. and Mrs. Collins, since Dr. Campbell is still out from her surgery - and coaches from a few co-op teams, plus some business owners interested in serving as vendors for larger events and the like."
Ethan nodded as he followed his dad out to the family's SUV. Already, the light outside was dimming as winter's early evening stole the sun. "Well, that makes sense for us. Mr. Collins coaches our girls' basketball team, so he's probably the best person to represent Shallow Creek, anyways." The vice-principal of the local high school was a well-known and mostly-liked figure, at least by the adults; a lot of the students called him 'Devil King Collins,' thanks to his quick temper and appearance. He was a lean man with an easily-reddening, narrow face and a thin mustache and goatee - and the fact he was married to the school secretary, a hellhound, hadn't helped matters.
"Yeah, Marley and I will be sitting with him and his wife at dinner tonight. It'll be a nice chance to find out if Nellie has been getting into any trouble," Jason teased, looking over to the nightmare trailing behind them, who rolled her eyes. "But, hey, if this goes the way it looks like it will… this project will be huge for Yates Construction. We could still be working on this years from now, when you're graduating from college. It could be the project you come into the business on." Jason clapped his son on the back, not noticing the pained, near-panicked look that flashed across Ethan's face at that suggestion. "But, just remember: we're stuck at this till Sunday night, so you are in charge till then."
As Ethan placed the briefcase in the seat behind the driver's, Marley opened the opposite door. That side of the vehicle was largely open with a padded floor, made for a centaur passenger to kneel on, with a safety harness in place of a shoulder-strap and seat belt. The unicorn was carrying a dress in a dry-cleaning bag, and she hung it from one of the hooks on the vehicle's ceiling. "We left some money for dinner on the sideboard, so feel free to run out and get whatever the girls want tonight. There should be enough to cover everyone for two nights and Sunday morning, if you need it…"
Ethan glanced across the vehicle at her, his earlier discomfort forgotten as he laughed in surprise. "A two-night sleepover? You're trusting me to keep them in line for that long?"
Marley's smile was bright, but cryptically impish. "Of course not! That's the fun of it." Giggling at his affronted gasp, she shook her head, her broad-brimmed hat swaying. "We, and their parents, know you're responsible enough. You'll be just fine, and I'm sure those girls will be thrilled to get to spend some more time with you, since they haven't gotten to see you while you've been at college."
That made Ethan's good humor waver. He wasn't so sure about Marley's faith in how the girls would feel about him being around. After all… Nellie's three friends were all of his ex-girlfriends, and they would be stuck with him for two and a half days.
"Speaking of," Jason chimed in, pointing towards the end of the driveway.
A battered old station wagon was trundling down the road, and soon swerved onto the gravel of their drive. Turning wide to make it easy to loop back around, the vehicle skidded to a stop right behind the Yates' SUV. Inside, the man driving waved enthusiastically to Jason and his family, while the passenger door screeched as it opened, revealing the slight girl sitting in the front seat, as well as providing a glimpse of the mass of younger mouse girls sitting further back in the vehicle. The babble of those high-pitched voices emerged as soon as the scream of metal on rusted metal ended with the door rocking back slightly, and the dormouse girl sitting in the front hopped out, grabbing a couple of plastic bags from the floorboard. Visible inside the containers - translucent bags from a local grocery store - were a collection of snacks in one, while the other displayed a collection of clothing, both sleep and daywear, along with a toothbrush and other necessities. With that done, the girl quickly leaned in to place a quick kiss on the cheek of the driver, and to say her goodbyes to the teeming siblings in the back, one of whom was already scrabbling to claim the free front seat. A faint cry of "Oooooh, Ethannnn~!" from a few childish voices, along with the responding vituperative scolding from the departing girl, made Jason chuckle beside Ethan.
The car door slammed with a mellower cry and a definitive 'ker-chunk,' and as the station wagon pulled away with one final wave from her father at the wheel, Melanie Thomas turned to face the Yates family. She was slim and short, with a long mane of light brown hair loosely dropping far down her back. Her head featured large, round ears furred with the same light brown hair, much like the furry tail that waved behind her, and she wore small, round glasses perched on her button nose, her emerald-green eyes glinting behind them. She wore a loose tee-shirt and jeans, but her nails gleamed with a coat of fresh polish and, to Ethan's surprise, he thought he could notice hints that she was wearing make-up. Her quiet, mousy nature always stood out among her more boisterous friends, though she had the most in common with Nellie.
When she saw them all standing by the station wagon, she brightened visibly, raising her free hand and waving it excitedly towards them. She rushed up to the group, her cheeks flushed as she glanced towards Ethan, but instead moved to hug Nellie, burying her face in the chest of the taller girl's hoodie. Only then did she turn to greet Ethan, approaching him with a hint of familiar awkwardness - a stance he matched - until he spread his arms, and she ran to hug him too. He returned her embrace, surprised at how tightly she gripped him despite her slender arms, and when he tightened his own hug she sighed in approval, relaxing in his grasp. "Good to see you, Mel," he said, softer than he had necessarily intended, but she didn't reply. After a moment, he glanced down at her to notice that her eyes were closed, and a soft whistling breath suggested she had fallen asleep in his arms, staying upright only by leaning on him.
"I swear…" Nellie grumped, stepping over to reclaim the narcoleptic dormouse from Ethan's grasp. "She does this every time." Nervelessly dragged away by Nellie, Melanie seemed to be reaching for Ethan even in her sleep, and didn't even stir as Nellie pulled her towards the house.
Alone with his parents, Ethan turned to see Jason loading another bag into the back of the SUV. "We'll be heading out in a minute," his dad confirmed, jerking a thumb towards the house. "I can get the rest of the bags, but it sounds like the rest of our company is on their way, if you don't mind staying to greet them and carry their stuff in." He nodded to the bags that Melanie had dropped on the gravel while Nellie had carted her towards the front door.
"Yeah, sure," Ethan agreed. As his dad had suggested, he could hear a familiar roar heading down their road. The pick-up truck was audible long before it was visible through the leafless trees lining the road that followed their property's edge; the bulky behemoth gleamed in the dying daylight, shining chrome and polished body serving as a testament to the owner's adoration of his possession. Despite that care, however, the truck leaned into the turn onto the Yates driveway without hardly slowing down, the oversized tires throwing up gravel as it slammed to a stop not far from where Ethan was standing, angled to present the passenger side towards the house. From the driver's window, a burly, heavily-tattooed arm rose to wave to Ethan and Jason. Through the windshield, Ethan could see Mr. Singer: a bearded, broad-shouldered man with a crest of red hair, and a face that spoke of easy laughter and bar fights. Ethan waved back - Mr. Singer left him a little nervous, but the man had always seemed to enthusiastically like him - and stepped forward to open the door for the passenger.
Before he could get there, it flew open, and Anne Singer stepped out onto the running board, holding to the top of the door as she hopped down. She was tall - at least a foot and more taller than Ethan himself - with a bright red curly mane that had definitely come from her father's side of the family. Though her loose shirt and sweatpants worked to hide it, she was fairly lean, though definitely busty; her figure would have drawn attention from all the boys of her grade, had she not been able to loom over most of them. Another thing that some shied away from were her paws: her arms ended in larger-than-normal hands tipped with long claws, though they, like the curled horns atop her head, were soft to the touch. As a bogey, Anne's skin - patchwork sections of pale and bluish flesh - was remarkably plush, and despite her impressive athleticism she was as firm as a mattress pad. She flashed Ethan an unreserved grin full of gleaming fangs as she reached into the back of the truck and fished out a sports duffel, throwing the strap over her shoulder. She paused to lean back into the truck and shout over the engine's idling grumble, "Love you, dad!" and then threw shut the daunting slab of metal that was the door. With a wink to his daughter, and a final wave to Ethan, Mr. Singer brought his truck roaring back to motion, and was back on the road within moments, the vehicle broadcasting its departure until it was long out of sight.
For just a second - brief enough to make Ethan think he had imagined it - Anne checked Ethan's face, looking for something. His smile seemed to answer whatever concern she had, because she strode closer, her arms wide, with a laughing "Come here, you!" He met her in the same posture, and with an unchecked rush they slammed into each other, arms wrapping around sides with crushing force. For Ethan, the hug was like being pressed into a nice, firm pillow; for Anne, the squeezing tightness around her made her hide her face from Ethan, not willing to let him see the immodest pleasure it brought her. He only caught a hint of her biting her lower lip as he pulled her back in front of him, offering her a broad grin. This familiar type of greeting had emerged in the last part of his senior year, after they had re-established their friendship after their brief stint at dating each other the previous spring, and it always reassured Ethan that they were back to normal - that she had maybe forgiven him for how things had worked out between them.
Another reassurance was her boisterous-as-usual slap on his back. "You look good, man! Your biceps are huge - do they have you working out that much?" She gave him a down-and-up-again lookover, her eyes not in any rush to complete their circuit.
"I have two homes: the gym, and the library," Ethan admitted, the joke brushing closer to the truth than he wanted to admit. "But what about you? You're looking trim. How did your soccer season go?" He paused, and before she could respond, a guilty expression flashed onto his face. "Sorry I couldn't make it for senior night."
"It's fine!" Anne's easy grin reassured him, and with her free claw she tugged him around to face where Nellie was emerging from the house alongside his dad. "Nel and your folks came out to cheer us on. You were getting ready for your big tests - I get it." She leaned against him as she watched the other two approaching. "And, hey, maybe you can make it up to me: come out for some of my softball games in the spring."
He chuckled at her toothy grin, but nodded. "Sure, I can do that." He nodded to Nellie as she approached, and Anne let go of him to greet her friend, dropping her duffel beside Melanie's bags and jogging towards the nightmare.
The sound of another vehicle crunching onto gravel drew Ethan's attention, and he turned to see a familiar BMW turning at the edge of the driveway. Like the vehicle before it, this car also gleamed under the illumination of the yard lights, but its windshield was darkly-tinted and its engine murmured softly, fruit of the regular efforts of dealership mechanics. It also pulled up to where Ethan was standing, but instead of turning to present the passenger door his way, instead the driver angled her vehicle so that she stopped just beside him. The window descended with a purring whisper, and Mrs. Coburg leaned towards Ethan, gifting him her most winning smile. "Well, hello, Ethan," her rich contralto slid from the confines of the car like a stretching cat, and as she brought her face close to his Ethan could smell a musky-sweet perfume that almost dizzied him. Behind her slightly-lowered glasses, her eyes were a deep blue, and Ethan was forced to glance away as he realized the angle of his vision drew his eyes dangerously close to the expanse of pale skin revealed by her low blouse. "It's been much too long since I've got to lay eyes on you. You really need to come by the house during this break and visit-" A hand, surmounted by a bracelet-like band of tawny wool, reached out to lightly rest on Ethan's chest, as if to keep him close to the window.
"Enough, mom," scolded the passenger, pushing her door open. Chrissie Coburg - or, as her friends called her, Candy - stood from the car, offering her own brilliant smile to Ethan before moving back to open the rear door. "You can flirt with him another night." Candy pulled her bag from the rear seat, closing the door as she settled it onto her shoulder - it was a leather designer bag crammed full of items Ethan couldn't make out, although a make-up palette jutted from one pocket and a curling iron from another. She moved back to the front passenger door and leaned in, whispering in a low voice something inside the vehicle that Ethan couldn't hear but was apparently funny, because Mrs. Coburg replied with a throaty chuckle and a proud smile. "Love you, mom," Candy continued, audible this time, and closed the door behind her. As Ethan gave her his own genial goodbye, Mrs. Coburg gave Ethan one last long stare, and a wink that felt distinctly slower than the one he had witnessed between Anne and her father, before the car slinked its way forward, and, turning around at the house, rolled past to head for the road beyond.
Without any obstruction between them, Candy walked towards Ethan, and for a heartbeat he was reminded of a panther's rolling step, a wolf's hungry grin - which was ridiculous, as Candy was a weresheep, perhaps one of the types of monster girl furthest from predators. Certainly, her rolling step did emphasize her hips underneath the skirt she wore, and her top seemed a bit brief for the chill of a December evening… and her eyes were locked on to him, shimmering blue in the dark, as the tip of her tongue traced her upper lipstick. Candy was a beauty, there was no denying that - she was cheer squad captain this year, and one of the more popular, socially-powerful girls at school. Despite that, she had been friends with Nellie since they had met at summer camp, and while there had been girls that had tried to use her friendship with the more-withdrawn nightmare against her, both Candy and Ethan had taken care of that matter swiftly. That had been the beginning of his own friendship with Candy, and while they moved in different circles, he had even asked her to his senior prom - a memory he couldn't recall without feeling the heat rise in his cheeks.
Much like now, as he watched Candy slide her bag off her shoulder, accidentally pulling the thin strap of her top with it. She extended the bag towards him, but her eyes locked his in place, keeping him from looking away. "Would you mind carrying this in for me, Ethan?" she asked sweetly, and he nodded, causing her smile to grow. As he took the bag from her, she took the opportunity to press her body flush with his, hugging him tightly while his arm was occupied with the surprisingly-heavy bag. His other arm curled reflexively around her, and she looked straight up at him with a grin, her chest pressed tightly against him beneath it. "Thank you," she said, sincerely, but as she started to loosen her grip she paused, as if a thought had just struck her. "Oh, I was wanting to tell you," she said, her voice still low and gentle, "a few times when I stayed over recently, I forgot my sleep clothes and had to borrow something to wear, so I slept in just one of your shirts… I hope you don't mind."
"Oh, no, that's fine," Ethan said, as for some reason his brain snagged on the placement of the word 'just.' "Whatever you need - you know this place is practically home, with how much time you spend over with Nellie."
"You're so sweet," Candy thanked him, the words oddly heavy, hugging him once more. Chuckling, he returned the gesture, noting her indrawn breath and hesitance to let go-
"Ahem. Candy," Nellie muttered at the weresheep's shoulder, magenta eyes gleaming in the darkness as the nightmare frowned at her friend. "Down, girl, you're still in public."
Sticking her tongue out innocently, Candy released Ethan, offering him a final smile before joining her friend. "Sorry, it's just been a while," Candy explained, spreading her hands in reply to the nightmare's even, suspicious stare. "But let's not keep the others waiting." Her hips still swaying as she walked away, Candy led Nellie towards the door leading into the Yates home, where Anne and Melanie stood, waiting.
His eyes wandering over all four of the girls, a certain trepidation took root within Ethan; a warning, a suspicion that tonight was going to be far more chaotic than what he had expected. The pieces fitting together - his parents' absence, the presence of all three of his exes, and their oddly eager greeting of him - made him frown in slight concern. Still… he didn't think any of them would do anything bad, and if it just rose to the level of little pranks or harmless teasing, well… he deserved that much from them. Shrugging, Ethan walked towards the house in their footsteps, taking up the remaining bags as he came. Everything would work out just fine, surely.
"They're going to eat him alive."
Inside their bedroom, Jason chuckled as he glanced at Marley, who was grabbing her last few forgotten items. The way the dissonant serenity of her smile contrasted against her words sent a faint shiver up his spine. "Ah, he'll be fine. This is just the excuse they needed to figure things out." Glancing at his watch, he nodded to himself. "We need to go - we're fifteen minutes late to leave."
"I'll be right there," Marley promised, walking instead towards their bed, a wide mat thickly covered in blankets and pillows."I just need to grab my book, and I'll be right with you." With a nod, Jason left her alone in the bedroom, headed outside.
As she took up the book, she adjusted the ill-fitting dust-cover, which revealed a centaur woman in a blouse that threatened to erupt open at any moment, standing beside a man suffering from a similar lack of appropriate chestwear, although he had instead muscles to spare. Her tome secured, Marley made her way through the bedroom, possessed of an odd nostalgia. Her conversation with Nellie had almost frustrated her - there was so much she wanted to tell her child, so much to guide her with… but youth most values wisdom that it discovers itself. Nellie and Ethan would find their own answers, but Marley suspected she knew how it would turn out.
With that on her mind, Marley stepped into the living room, her eyes passing over the photos that lined the walls. Pictures of her sister and her husband; Meredith in a wedding dress next to her husband in dress uniform, and the two of them on deployment in combat fatigues. Pictures of Jason and Sabrina; their wedding, and a picture of Sabrina holding an infant Ethan. Pictures of Marley and Jason, along with the kids; vacations, Ethan's graduation photo, and him alongside Nellie at her eighth-grade dance. And, finally… photos of Sabrina, Jason, and Marley together - their laughter, their smiles, Sabrina's arm draped over Marley's shoulders as the unicorn stared at the other woman with open wonder.
This picture made Marley pause, as it often did, and her smile was bittersweet. Those had been the brightest days of her life. Her eyes wandered those photos, her mind full of the memories they couldn't depict. She remembered her advice to Nellie - to keep an open mind, to not let herself regret what could have been - and she stared at Sabrina's smile, at Jason's arms draped over them both, thinking of how much more joy she could have had, had she understood that lesson even sooner. Perhaps Nellie would learn just as Marley had, or perhaps she would be luckier.
Marley caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror nearby, and she realized that, when she had hugged Ethan, her hair had been slightly flattened. With everyone still outside, she took the chance to lift her hat to tease the curls back into fullness, examining her reflection critically. As she did, her eyes fell upon her quietest secret: her horn, pale and curving cleanly at the base, rose past its midpoint, only to fork into two darkened tips. She stared at that sign of an interrupted metamorphosis - a transformation begun by her love for Jason and Sabrina together, and fueled slowly by Sabrina's thin human mana, only to be interrupted at the same time as their joy by catastrophe - and wished, for the millionth time, that she and Jason had savored more and more days with Sabrina. That they had all been able to understand their desires sooner, their perfection together.
For herself, Marley could only regret that she had spent so long looking for The One… that it had taken her so long to realize that just one wasn't right for her.
With a sad smile, Marley replaced her hat, and headed for the door. She could only hope the next generation learned their lessons sooner than she had. But she had faith in Ethan, and Nellie, and the others. They would find their own ways ahead - their loves burned so bright as to blind them, but they could feel their ways along, to reach happiness at the end. That made Marley smile, and she stepped out into the twilight, ready to leave the house to the games to come.
Minutes later, the SUV carrying Jason and Marley Yates pulled onto the road, leaving the five teenagers to themselves.
Author's Note: The setting is established, and with this chapter I have offered the characters and foreshadowing... now, we launch into the plot. I realize there wasn't much action in this chapter, and apologize for it, but I wanted to give the four, ah, 'contestants' their proper introductions. Next chapter, look forward to a discussion of their plans, and - should my outline hold - the first of the four to get her focus section.
I do have a few modifications that I had to make to the first chapter, since, unlike most of my works, this story was only in my skull for a brief while before I began writing it, so I've made a few minor gaffes in my progress. Consider such a price for me not waiting until the whole 'short' story is finished...
Title: I had to change the title of the first chapter, since I didn't get as far in either it or this one to justify this chapter's original title. 'Marley' fits this chapter better anyways, since she is given most of her characterization here…
Officer Linda: Since there are a ton of 'M' names in this story, as well as Nellie, I changed the name of the wasp officer from 'Mellie' to 'Nina,' and then to 'Linda.' The source of her name is Mellinidae, a family of wasps, and I wanted her name to be close to that - and misread the name as Mellininae during my first correction.
Ethan's car: As a senior in high school, he would have had to drive his sister around, and I wanted to allude earlier to the changes that vehicles could have to work with centauroid creatures, so I added a line that mentions his car is modified for that purpose. I had always intended to show that in this chapter better, but wanted it in the first chapter to show that Ethan has been taking care of Nellie in small ways.
And, as always: thanks for reading, and for your reviews and comments. They inspire me considerably, and give me guidance. In particular, thanks to AslanPasha on TFT, who gave me a nudge towards something I had been chewing on, but have decided to show a bit more clearly in this story itself - it won't pay off till the conclusion, but I'm already dropping hints at what it might be.
But... I've worn myself to the bone on this one. Basketball season is almost over, and then, finally, I will be able to get some sleep...
~Wynn Pendragon