"Please level with me Vikki," my boss asked. "Do you know if there's anything special or unusual about your friend Jenna?"

  My heart was racing as I took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. I finally nodded, "Yes Erin, there is. I thought about telling you, but I've been worried how you might react."

  She was quiet for another couple seconds, while I tried to guess at what she was thinking. Unfortunately apart from 'serious' her expression was all but unreadable.

  "How long have you known her?" Erin finally asked. "Is she really an old friend like she said on Friday?"

  I grimaced and shook my head, "No ma'am. When she showed up here Friday afternoon that was literally only the third time I'd met her. The first two times were less than three weeks ago."

  "But Jenna and I are friends," I added. "She spent the weekend at my pce, and we've got to know each other over the st few days. I like her, she's honest and friendly, and I know she means well."

  My boss sighed before asking the question I'd been dreading. "Did Jenna do something to Jason, when he turned up at your open house?"

  "Yes ma'am," I admitted quietly. "It's not her fault though. I said something I shouldn't have. Jason was causing a scene and I was positive he was either going to scare away some potential buyers or he'd try and take credit for all my hard work, and I was fed up with his petty entitled attitude. So I spoke without considering my words, and Jenna took what I said literally and acted on it."

  Erin stared at me for a few more seconds, then finally asked the st question. "What is she?"

  After a brief hesitation I answered, "Jenna's a genie. I found her imprisoned in that silver fsk I got from the Kovalenko property, when Jessie took me there the first time. That evening I wished for her freedom, so she wouldn't have to serve any more masters or mistresses."

  "She spent her entire life being little more than a sve," I added quickly, and I couldn't hide how much that upset me. "She's been around for over twelve-hundred years, but she's spent all that time either trapped in some sort of prison or forced to obey hundreds of masters and mistresses over the years. She's literally never even had a friend before now. That's why she showed up here on Friday? She felt like she owed me, for freeing her."

  I sighed and shook my head, "Anyways I've been trying very hard trying not to say the 'W' word, but it slipped out on Saturday when Jason was being Jason. I'm sorry Erin, I really didn't mean it."

  Apart from a raised eyebrow here and there, my boss's expression remained impassive through my confession. Then she asked, "So what exactly did you do to Jason?"

  "I wished that he'd see for himself how annoying and pathetic he really was," I responded in a half-whisper. "Then afterwards I asked Jenna exactly what she did to him? She said Jason was on a journey of introspection and self-discovery."

  Erin frowned, then sighed once more. Then she muttered to herself, "Well at least you didn't turn him into a newt."

  Before I had a chance to react to that she stated, "I suppose that's far from the worst thing that could have happened. And while I absolutely don't condone any of this, perhaps it's for the best. Maybe he'll even come out of this a better man."

  "I hope I don't need to say this Vikki," she added, "But I'll say it anyways so there's no misunderstandings. Do not let Jenna use her magic around me, or Jason, or anything to do with your work."

  "Of course ma'am," I nodded. "I'll try and make sure she knows not to drop in here at the office anymore, and that she's not to show up when I'm doing showings or open houses in the future."

  Then I asked, "You don't mind that I'm friends with her, do you? Jenna and I were talking about moving in together. We were actually going to start looking at pces this week..."

  Erin stared at me for another second or two, before her expression finally softened. She shook her head, "No Vikki, I'm not going to try and get in the way of your friendship. I won't lie, I'm not exactly comfortable with..."

  Her voice trailed off then she made a face, "Ah hell! I sound like my mother, when she found out I was gay."

  "Sorry Vikki," she added as her cheeks coloured. "Never mind that. This is really none of my business, but I've worried that you didn't seem to have any friends. What I'm trying to say is, I'm happy for you. I'm gd you've finally got someone special in your life."

  My own cheeks were suddenly bright red, "We're not dating..."

  Erin sounded almost exasperated as she asked, "Well why not?! The girl practically threw herself at you when she was here on Friday, and I don't imagine she's been very subtle since then."

  I stared at my boss wide-eyed, "She did? How do you mean?"

  My boss almost face-palmed, "Vikki she showed up with a huge bouquet of roses. And not just any roses either. As I recall the colours were inspired by the lesbian pride fg!"

  "I thought they were just some fun friendly colours," I mumbled.

  Then I found myself thinking about all the hugs, the cuddling, and the fact that I'd been waking up with Jenna in my arms for the st three mornings. I also realized that all those pillows in my bedroom were the same colours as the roses.

  Then I remembered it wasn't always roses, and she didn't always use those colours. Sometimes Jenna's magic was accompanied by another kind of flower. I ended up asking, "What about violets? Purple ones. That's not part of a pride thing, is it?"

  This time Erin really did face-palm. "Has she been giving you violets? That was a thing way back when, lesbians and bi women would give violets to a woman they were wooing."

  "Oh," I grimaced, while my cheeks felt like they were burning. "I may have missed a few clues."

  Erin slowly shook her head in disbelief. Then she became serious again as she said, "I'm not going to tell you what to do Vikki, but it seems to me like this genie might be a little smitten with you. I know you just told me you and she were friends, but you may want to have a talk with her and find out if she thinks so too. She might think the two of you are something more. Or if not, it certainly seems to me that she'd like to be more than friends with you."

  "You should probably also ask yourself if that's something you want," she added. "Maybe before you talk to her about it."

  I nodded slowly, "Yeah. I can't believe I've been so clueless..."

  My boss actually smiled, "Well don't beat yourself up about it. There's a reason internet's full of 'clueless lesbian' memes."

  "Yeah," I grimaced again. Then I asked, "So um, you're not angry with me are you? About the whole being friends with a genie thing? Or the fact that I didn't tell you sooner?"

  A thoughtful look settled on her face for a few seconds, then she shook her head. "If I understand correctly, you saw her briefly a few weeks ago then she vanished. And you didn't know she'd be back until she showed up here Friday after lunch. Considering today's only Monday, it's not like you've been keeping this from me for months or years. Right?"

  "Yeah," I nodded.

  Erin gave me a sympathetic smile, "So no Vikki, I'm not angry with you about that. I'm not sure yet what to do or how to handle the Jason situation, but it sounds like that was an accident. Like I said though, no more magic at work or directed at your coworkers. So don't let it happen again."

  "Of course," I agreed. "I promise, I'll be a lot more careful. And I'll make sure Jenna knows not to drop in when I'm working."

  My boss smiled, "All right then Vikki. I think that's all for now."

  "Actually it's nearly the end of the day anyways, so why don't you take the rest of the afternoon off?" she suggested. "You can go home and have that other conversation with your friend. Or take some time and think about your feelings on the matter."

  There was less than an hour left before we'd have closed up, and for that matter I was in earlier than usual this morning, but I was still tempted to argue the point and insist on staying. Before I could protest I found myself thinking about what Jenna told me yesterday, when she said I had a problem accepting favours from people.

  So instead of resisting, I smiled and accepted the suggestion. "Thanks Erin. I need to send an email first, but then I'll pack up and head out."

  "Good for you," she smiled back.

  The email was regarding Saturday's open house. I forwarded Mr. Abrams' offer to the seller, along with my professional opinion that it looked good to me. I also noted that despite the other interested parties we didn't receive any further offers today. Then I tidied up my desk and grabbed my purse, and after bidding Erin and Jason a good afternoon I set off on foot for home.

  Rather than take the most direct route home I decided to make it a longer walk today. I figured it would give me a little more time to think. I still had mixed feelings about what happened to Jason, and I was maybe still a little stressed after that meeting with Ms. Rhodes. Mostly though I needed to think about Jenna.

  I felt almost embarrassed at just how clueless I'd been over the past four days. Although to be fair, I was sure there were times Jenna could have been more clear about things herself. Then again she didn't exactly have a lot of experience at building healthy retionships. If the poor girl never had any friends before then she definitely wouldn't have had anyone in her life even closer. And she probably wouldn't have had much experience at learning to communicate clearly, especially about her own wants and needs.

  Unfortunately there was nothing either of us could do about the past, so I pushed those thoughts aside and tried to focus on the present. And the future.

  Now that I knew the genie was interested in me, I was suddenly seeing some of her strange and quirky behaviour in a brand new light. It also added another wrinkle to this whole roommates situation. Like if her pn was for the two of us to continue sharing a bedroom even in a rger pce... Well, as friends it would seem odd. If we became more than friends, then it might not be that strange. Like Erin said though, I needed to figure out if that's something I wanted.

  I remained lost in thought as I made my way south along First, then turned west on Main. Instead of a ten or fifteen minute walk back to the apartment I slowly made my way through the busy 'downtown', past all the little shops and cafes while I did my best to unravel my thoughts and feelings about Jenna. I tried to imagine what it would be like in a month or a year if we were just friends. And I thought about what it might be like if we were girlfriends.

  The past few days had shown her to be caring and insightful. I was positive she also carried some emotional baggage from the first twelve-hundred years of her existence. And just having dinner with her Friday evening proved she could be chaotic, spontaneous, and unpredictable. The question was...

  I lost my trail of thought momentarily as a short girl with a massive puffy tail emerged from a veterinary office in front of me. Between the fuzzy rounded ears and the enormous tail I realized she was had to be part squirrel. She was dressed in vender-coloured scrubs and white sneakers, and that left me with the unbelievable idea that a part-animal demi-human was working as a vet.

  The petite young woman walked past me across the sidewalk, then her tail twitched as she gnced left and right before she darted across the road. I lost sight of her when she turned south onto a side-street.

  After another second or two I slowly shook my head as I turned and started heading directly home.

  It felt kind of silly for me to be worrying about my new best friend causing some potential magical chaos when I lived in a town poputed by witches, werewolves, wizards, and fae. Not to mention catgirls and foxgirls and bunnykin and now squirrelgirls too.

  Instead I started thinking about those houses I found earlier, and by the time I reached the apartment building five minutes ter I was actually feeling really excited about showing them to Jenna. I was sure she'd like at least a few of them, and I was already making pns for the two of us to go and see a couple in person.

  There was a smile on my face and spring in my step when I unlocked the apartment door, and as I swung it open I called out "Hi Jenna, I'm home! And I -"

  "Oh no!" Jenna yelped from somewhere inside, as I was nearly bowled over by a very small stampede.

  Four cute little piglets came charging out of my apartment. They scampered past me and ran out into the hallway with a chorus of squeals and grunts. Each one had a small white bib on its back with a rge bck number written in, exactly like you'd see runners wearing for a race.

  I stared bemused at the little piggies as they continued on down the hallway and out of sight into the lobby. Then when I turned towards my apartment again I discovered my genie standing in my way, blocking the door.

  "Oh hello Vikki!" she greeted me with a wide smile on her face and an anxious look in her eyes. "I didn't expect you home so soon! How was your day?"

  PurpleCatGirl