Meteorologist

  I strolled out of our work’s main offices with Emily at my side, feeling good. Luna was back at work after our long weekend, Emily and I had received mostly praise from our boss; things were back to normal and were overall looking up.

  With a few exceptions.

  We hadn’t received all praise in our meeting. Mrs. Willow had pointed out that Emily had used my real name during the shoot, which wasn’t ideal. The editors managed to cut it out, but our boss still reminded us to protect ourselves from potential doxxing, a warning that I took seriously. As much as I fantasised thought about being recognised on the street sometimes, I knew that the situation would freak me out in reality. I preferred to keep my audience behind a screen.

  Then there were my interpersonal issues. I still didn’t fully understand all of my feelings for Melody and Emily, and while I had the vaguest conceptions of a pn of confessing my feelings to Luna, I still didn’t know if that was a good idea. Even beyond messing up our existing friendship, with how stressed she was at work, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to add more for her to think about. Maybe it would be better to support her as a friend until things settled down a bit.

  Thankfully, I was working on at least one of these problems immediately, following behind Emily as she directed us towards the nearest subway station so we could head out to meet up with Melody, who wasn’t working today.

  I sat down next to Em on the train, taking care to curl my tail around me rather than sitting on it, something I should’ve learned my lesson about after the first time but somehow hadn’t.

  Emily broke our comfortable silence with a tilt of her head and a slight smile. “So am I going to have to fight for your attention with my roommate?”

  I turned to her and gave her a bewildered look. Despite all of the physical chemistry we had, the two of us were often not on the same page.

  “I mean because you want to date her…?” She added a te inflection to her statement, as if only now considering that Mel and I weren’t going to be flirting the entire time we were together.

  I had no idea where she’d gotten the idea; the only time she’d seen us together was when they came over to my apartment, and I didn’t remember Mel and I flirting at all then.

  Is flirting the only thing on her mind?

  Deciding she’d had enough of my confused stare, Emily moved on without much ceremony. “So is there anything you wanted to do besides shopping? Maybe see a movie, get some food?” She gnced over at me, raising one eyebrow. “Maybe head back to my pce?”

  I nodded along with her words. “I’m down for whatever you two want to do, as long as I’m home around five-ish, so probably no movie,” I said, checking the time on my phone and thanking myself for deciding to wear pants today instead of having to put my phone in my backpack.

  I really need to get a purse…

  I continued, not really looking at Emily. “I’d be happy to spend some time at your apartment if that’s what you wanted to do.”

  She flinched in the corner of my vision, drawing my attention, and stared at me for a few seconds, blinking. She shook her head and muttered something under her breath, but unfortunately, I didn’t catch it.

  Why are we so awkward around each other…?

  —

  “What do you think?” Melody asked, doing a slow twirl outside of her dressing room while Emily and I studied her form.

  The dress she was trying on was…

  “You look like you’re cospying a church girl,” Emily remarked from my side, her tone making it clear how she felt about that if her disappointed frown already wasn’t.

  “It’s not that different from my usual style,” she protested, gncing down at the dress in question. “And no one compins when Sarah dresses like a church girl…” She slinked back behind the curtain anyways, the rustling of fabric following soon after.

  “Do I dress like a church girl?” I muttered, gncing down at my blue jeans and white blouse. I could see it if I was wearing cowboy boots, but that might’ve just been the case around where I grew up.

  “You are pretty conventionally femme…” Emily said, tilting her head in my direction.

  “I’m wearing pants,” I protested, my tail flicking behind me.

  “And a full face of makeup.”

  “What are you talking about, I don’t know anything about– Oh.” I’d gotten so used to using my shapeshifting to apply makeup, that I’d completely forgotten about it.

  I continued, yelling into the dressing room, “I thought it looked good Mel, Emily is just a hater.”

  Melody came back out, this time wearing a pair of bck skinny jeans and a tank top. I also noticed that her usual fmboyant makeup was much more subdued, though still present.

  She looked at me. “That’s nice of you to say, but you aren’t the one I need to look good for,” she said, sounding more tired and frustrated than combative. She posed again, asking both of us, “How about this?”

  Emily shook her head, eliciting a groan from Mel as she immediately turned around.

  “You and Mel?” I asked, surprised. As far as I’d known, they were just roommates.

  Emily snorted. “Absolutely not. We kissed once about two years ago and unanimously decided we were better off never going down that road. I’d say we were like sisters, but we’re fine getting a bit closer than that. We could be metamours, and I wouldn’t do that with a sister – not that I have one.”

  “You’re poly now?” I asked as my head turned to check if the store employee watching the dressing rooms was paying any attention to our strange conversation. She was on her phone.

  Emily shrugged. “Jealousy about sex got beat out of me at work, and I think I could make the rest work for the right people.” She gnced at me and her eyebrows did a little dance. I didn’t catch the meaning.

  “Huh.” It was weird to think about how much we’d changed since dating each other. Back then we were both strictly monogamous and now it was only me. Would our job change me too?

  I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “So wait, who’s Melody trying to impress then?”

  Emily made a confused face at the abrupt change of topic before shrugging again. “Probably Luna. I wasn’t sure until now, but I guess while we were occupied with each other on your couch, she was getting to know your roommate.”

  My face and ears twitched. I didn’t know how to feel about Melody and I having feelings for the same person, especially given I didn’t even know how I felt about Mel herself. I still had positive feelings about her, and she was attractive, but…

  My mind caught up to what Emily had said and I batted her leg with my tail, rolling my eyes. “Don’t phrase it like that…”

  Emily ughed, bumping her shoulder into mine. “It’s safe to come out now, Mel, we’re not talking about you anymore,” she called out.

  The curtain parted to reveal an embarrassed looking Melody in a sheer, cy negligee, the gentle pink fabric doing nothing to obscure the practical tan bra she was wearing. It was easy to imagine what the garment would look like on her without the bra or the pleated skirt from the outfit she wore today.

  “Damn,” I let out, shaking my head and turning away as I realised I probably shouldn’t be staring at her.

  “That’s the reaction I wanted,” Mel responded, losing some of her tension for a gentle smile.

  As Mel went back into the changing room one st time, Emily’s arm snaked around my shoulders and pulled me into her, leaving her mouth close to my ear. “C’mon, tell her how you really feel about that outfit…” she whispered suggestively.

  I wiggled out of her grip and gave her a side-eye. “You mean about how I don’t want her to seduce my roommate?”

  “What? No, I meant about how you have the hots for her – you do, right?”

  I shook my head, my tail drooping down. “How I feel about Melody is between me and her, and not between you and me while she’s literally five feet away, listening.”

  “I’m not listening,” came a soft voice from behind the curtain.

  Emily ignored her roommate and let out a fake-sounding gasp, putting her hand over her mouth. “If you’re not chasing her, does that mean you’re after little old me?”

  I rolled my eyes and my ears fttened against my head. “Mel, get out here and save me from this flirty disaster.” I shook my head, adding under my breath, “Worse than my sister…”

  Thankfully, she didn’t hear me, instead smirking and wiggling her eyebrows at me before turning her attention to Melody, who joined us with a pile of rejects over one arm and the nightgown she was purchasing on the other. “Are you done here, or did you want anything else?”

  Melody’s mouth twisted back and forth. “I like this,” she said, raising the arm carrying sheer pink fabric, “But it’s not like she’s going to see it, right?”

  “Do you mean Luna?” I asked, feeling a pit of dread in my stomach.

  Melody ignored me, walking off, dropping her rejects at the desk outside the changing rooms, and heading towards the registers. “Like what even is the point of trying? She’s clearly in love with her roommate. Even though her roommate’s a dense, lying, fox.” She scoffed, gncing at Emily exasperatedly. Somehow, with the way she said it, ‘fox’ was the most derogatory sounding out of the three words.

  “Are you mad at me? It kind of sounds like you’re mad at me.”

  Emily gnced between us, wincing. She either didn’t know how to handle a situation that didn’t involve flirting, or she’d been expecting us to get along better than this. Probably the tter if she had been worried about us flirting without her.

  Mel continued ignoring me as she waited in the short line at the register and eventually paid. The cashier kept giving me strange looks, making me wonder if he could feel the tension between me and Mel, but then I remembered that other people weren’t used to seeing a fox-girl and I was hit with a fresh dose of self-consciousness.

  Wonderful.

  We left the store, Mel leading the way, Emily close behind, and me trailing them like a stray cat – maybe one soaked by the rain, if the drooping of my ears was as obvious as it felt. I had not been expecting this outing to go so poorly.

  Mel stopped on the sidewalk in between the store we just left and the busy street. Her bag swung slightly in her hands as she pursed her lips, scanning slowly across the horizon hidden by buildings. “Food?” She asked us, looking at Emily but turning her body to face both of us.

  “There’s a pizza joint down that way,” Emily pointed, apparently content to let me deal with Mel’s attitude on my own.

  I shrugged and nodded, not sure if my input would make any difference. I wasn’t the pickiest eater anyways – although there were a few foods I didn’t like eating in public. I had no idea how to eat something like ribs without looking like a maniac.

  Mel gnced at me and mirrored my shrug. “Pizza sounds good to me,” she said before striding confidently in the direction Emily had pointed.

  At least she looked at me…? Now if only I could actually ask her what was wrong without feeling awkward about it…

  —

  I sat down across from Mel, tracing my eyes around the red and white pattern on the table cover – I’d hesitate to call it a cloth with how thick and heavy it was, the top surface feeling impermeable and not at all cloth-like.

  “So, uh…” I started, gncing at Emily standing in line to pce our order. I couldn’t tell how much she’d been trying to get away from our impending argument and how much she’d been trying to give us a chance to talk it out without her butting in and making jokes.

  “Why do you hate me?” I finished after a moment of silence, still staring at the table. A faded red splotch caught my eye – anything to keep me from making eye contact.

  Melody sighed, and in the corner of my vision I could see her defte slightly, losing momentum on her frustration. “I don’t hate you.”

  “But…?” I peeked upwards, just barely able to see her expression as it battled between emotions.

  She shook her head. “No ‘but’, I just…” She paused, staring off towards Emily with unfocused eyes. “You lied to me, and I get why, but it felt like– it feels like you were pying with me, like you didn’t have any intention of taking me seriously.”

  She held her hand up interrupting my excuses. “And I can get over that. We’ve talked about our little thing and I could get past that… Except for now you’re somehow a regur part of my life? You’re doing whatever it is that’s going on between you and Em, and I want to get closer to your roommate, but you’re just there.” She waved her hand, glossing over all of the complexities involved with me existing in Luna’s life. “And I just… It’s hard not to keep finding reasons to be frustrated with you, even if I don’t want to. I don’t want to be mad at you.”

  My hand instinctually sought comfort in my tail, brushing through the fluff curled around me on my chair. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, not really knowing what else to say. Like she’d said, we’d already talked about my lies, and the rest of her problems were with things I couldn’t help or didn’t want to change. It sucked that she felt jealous of my retionship with Luna, but I would never give that up.

  She didn’t respond, just as lost in thought as I was.

  “Is there something I can do for you? Do you want me to not be around you?”

  Her gaze refocused on me, and she ughed, straightening in her chair with a demeanour not unlike Emily.”No, I think you’re taking this a little too seriously. I’m just grumpy and I need to get over myself.” She shook her head. “Maybe you could tell me if Luna would be interested in dating both of us, so I know whether or not I should give up now.”

  “I– We–” I gave up on convincing her Luna and I weren’t necessarily going to date before I even started, knowing it wouldn’t help. “I don’t actually know for sure, but she’s only ever been in mono retionships, ignoring the girlfriend who didn’t tell her she was poly.” I let out a quick sigh, remembering that fiasco. Luna dating Melody instead of me would hurt, but it would be nothing compared to if she decided to go for someone more like her usual.

  “I can ask her if you want – not mentioning you of course,” I finished, shaking the thoughts of Luna’s previous retionships from my head. “Actually, I will ask regardless, since I’m pnning on asking her out myself and it’ll end up being relevant.” I hadn’t quite made a decision on confessing to Luna, but if Melody was going to, I wasn’t going to wait.

  “Yeah, I figured,” Mel ughed, “And even after everything, I have to admit that you two seem really good together.”

  “Thanks,” I blushed. “If it’s what Luna wants, I’d be happy to be metamours with you, and I hope we can be friends regardless.” My tail twitched below me, embarrassed at my saccharine words.

  She smiled. “Maybe it’s not that hard to not be mad at you, if you’re going to be so sweet…”

  I did my best not to react, blowing past my embarrassment. “So I’m curious, what’s got you so smitten with my roommate? I mean, I get it, but…”

  “Yeah, obviously I don’t know her like you do, but we hung out for a few hours, and…” Her eyes gzed over and her smile widened. “I mean she’s so dorky and cute, right? That look on her face when she’s staring at the cards in her hand, trying to figure out the most optimal way to screw you over… It’s hot.” Mel blushed with a sheepish grin. “And maybe I can finally have someone to py board games with. Emily is a great roommate and all, but god is she terrible at sitting still.”

  She shook her head, finishing, “So yeah, she’s basically my dream woman: tall, dorky trans girl who shares my interests and seems really sweet. I hope I can be friends with her, but if we could get closer…”

  I mimed raising a gss above the centre of the table – Emily still hadn’t returned from ordering – and spoke, just as much teasing in my voice as sincerity, “To friends, and maybe more.”

  Mel returned the gesture, repeating after me as her eyes drifted above my head in a confused stare.

  I twitched my ears, wondering if they were doing something odd, but that thought was quickly squashed by Emily’s hand nding on my head and ruffling up my hair. My head tilted back, staring incredulously up at her teasing smile. “Hey!” I batted her hand away and tried to fix my hair. The st thing I needed was to start purring in public.

  Emily took her seat and gnced between Mel and I, her smirk still dancing on her face. “So are you two an item now?” She leaned back and studied us with practised confidence.

  I let out a confused frown whereas Melody simply sighed and began shaking her head.

  “No, but we made up and we’re friends now…?” I didn’t understand why Emily was so fixated on me dating her roommate.

  “Oh,” she said, dropping her smile for a moment before immediately picking it back up, “Are you–”

  Melody interrupted her with a groan. “You know you can just–”

  Emily interrupted her back with the screech of her chair as she abruptly stood, gesturing towards the soda fountain. “I’m gonna grab some water, y'all want anything?”

  My eyes darted between them, searching for the missing context. “Water is fine…?” I hedged.

  Melody simply shook her head and stood and followed after Emily, grumbling under her breath along the way.

  Damn, why is socialising so hard?