Solitude and The Long Road Evelyn's Path part 04

I got the chance to study with Sarah a couple more times that first quarter. One of the times Ellen was there, too, studying her own work, which she seemed to enjoy. The other times she was off babysitting again. Sarah explained to me Ellen babysat for a friend of the family who also paid pretty well. She was their chosen sitter.

Surprisingly next quarter Sarah dropped Geology and I was mildly surprised to not see Sarah on the first day of Winter Quarter. Despite acing her Geo 101 final, she wasn't taking Geo 102. But, the next day I saw her in General Forensic Science, an intro course I needed for working with fossilized bones.

Sarah smiled and was friendly, not avoiding as I first suspected, but I could see right away she'd found something more interesting than old bones and rocks. Geo for her really was just to get a science credit, but in Forensics she became more engaged. I also spotted her accounting book, and a criminal science text in her bag.

It was an evening in March. Nearing finals, when things once again changed in my life. Sarah invited me over to study for finals together. She'd been more engaged and was doing a lot better, but the difference between a 98 and 100 on the final was a huge deal to her. So we'd been studying for hours, just me and Sarah, Ellen had a date of some sort.

'That's it!' Sarah shouted, as she slammed her forensic book closed, making it thump off the living room hardwood floor, the echo rebounding off the walls and ceiling. 'My eyes are bleeding. I need a break.'

I jumped at the sudden outburst, leaping back and nearly shifting in surprise, an automatic reflex I'd struggled to overcome since my expression 2 and 1/2 years ago, one that had ruined more then a few sets of my favorite clothes until I learned to keep it under control.

'Careful Sarah, you nearly scared the life out of me, then you'd have a subject for the forensics final.' I quipped, giggling and poking my friend in the arm. 'We could take a road trip and grab something at the store if you want, or maybe unwind at the college gym?'

Sarah managed to look a little sheepish. 'Sorry. Maybe you need a break, too?' She looked around. 'How about a movie? Something where I don't have to think. Maybe some explosions and fighting. There's a video place a couple blocks away, and a little corner market where we can grabs snacks. Whaddya say?'

'Sounds great!' I exclaimed, hesitating a moment as it occurred to me Sarah likely wouldn't enjoy a late night run through the streets in winter weather. 'Um do you have a car? I usually shift and run anywhere I need to go that's local.'

I looked down at the floor in embarrassment, still a bit hesitant to mention my Delta ability in front of Sarah given how awkward it must be for her to be without her own.

Sarah jumped up and grabbed her Columbia hoodie. 'A car in New York? Cost more to park it than my rent. It's only a couple blocks and it's almost spring. Cowboy up.' She snatched her wallet, sticking it in the front pocket of the hoodie.

'C'mon. We have popcorn, but we need ice cream, and more root beer. And a movie with both a hot guy AND a hot girl. Gee, I hope hollywood hasn't run out of those.' She snagged her keys off the hook by the door as she headed out.

I smiled, standing up and smoothing out my dress, 'Can I borrow a jacket? Huskies don't usually need winter clothing.' I added sheepishly, pressing forward so as not to dwell on my shortcoming, 'Rocky Road or Cherry Garcia, with some crushed nuts for a topper!'

Sarah passed me a coat. It was serviceable, but unfancy. 'It's Ellen's, but she won't mind.' She added as she headed out. Walking down the stairs, she continued, 'You decide, but I'm getting some vanilla for floats. And you don't have to tread lightly. You're Delta and I'm not anymore. It's not a big deal.' She moved with purpose.

Our trip out in Greenwich was uneventful, the brisk night air and her familiarity with everyone making me rather self conscious I was an outsider here, that her community wasn't my own. Even that early in my life I'd began to associate the animal kingdom with home, it was a disconnection that would grow over time, but that wasn't a problem for me at that stage of my life. Well, not a huge one anyway.

Back at her place, Snacks ready and Sarah comfy, (which she did without a by your leave to me) she popped the movie in and sat on the couch, pulling a little blanket up as she settled in to watch.

Twenty minutes later she was sound asleep.

I smiled over at her, briefly pondering whether or not to let the movie finish, or to turn it off and slip out the door, noticing how attractive Sarah looked curled up on the couch. 'If only you weren't so straight and narrow.' I whispered to myself, carefully picking up the remote and dialing down the volume to a more timid level.

Before long I too felt the desire for sleep creeping upon me, the thought of a lengthy run or flight back to the dorm less than appealing as the night had began to turn decidedly chilly on our walk back.

The movie was entertaining and Sarah didn't snore or anything. She did however kick off the blanket and stretch her legs. As the credits rolled, I heard the key in the lock. With a flick of the remote I quickly muted the volume, suddenly feeling very self conscious as I realized Ellen may have her date in tow.

I leaned back, feeling ill at ease and resisting the urge to shift and hide, reminding myself I was an invited guest, not some interloper rummaging through their pantry. Those fears proved unfounded however, as a moment later Ellen slipped in quietly, alone. She looked over at me and smiled in the dim light of credits rolling. 'Hey.'

'Hi, have a good time?' I asked softly, carefully getting up and moving closer to her so she wouldn't have to raise her voice and risk waking Sarah.

Ellen nodded as I approached, removing her long coat and revealing a beautiful deep blue thigh length dress on under it. 'It was... nice. She's really... nice.'

I smiled inwardly at Ellen's hesitation, the pregnant pause spoke volumes. 'You look enchanting in that dress.' I added, reaching out to take Ellen's coat, quietly hanging it on the pegs next to the door. I glanced over my shoulder back at her and gave another warm smile as I did so.

Ellen*blushed, and looked past me again. 'Come on. Let's let her sleep.' She detoured around the counter to grab a root beer from the kitchen and then down the hall to her room. (I dunno what it was with them and root beer, but it's all they seemed to drink back then, go figure.)

I smiled, quietly re-locking the exterior door and treading quietly behind Ellen. a bit surprised at the number of locks on their place for such a quiet community, I counted six in all.

Ellen's room was the smaller of the two bedrooms. It had a single bed, dresser, closet, desk. It all impressed me as very neat. Ellen moved to sit on the nicely made bed, patting the place by her. 'So... studying looks like it's going great,' She began with a grin.

I took a seat, nodding in amusement. 'She said she needed a break, turns out she needed a nap instead, she's putting everything she has into the exam.,' I replied, looking around the room, more than a little surprised at the tidiness compared to the usual post tornado appearance of the dorms back at the college. 'I like what you've done with the place it's very cozy.'

Ellen nodded. 'That's Sarah. She puts everything she has into whatever she decides is worth the time. Ever since she got the internship, it's been her studies.'

Internship? First I'd heard of it. 'Really? She didn't mention she'd landed an internship, I hope she's enjoying it.' I said quietly, surprised at how little I really knew her.

Ellen hesitated a moment. 'I'm surprised she didn't mention it. She's interning at the FBI, and wants to join when she graduates. Someone... she knows the woman in charge of one of the units.' She paused and looked around her room. 'It's home, for now. Sarah's room is bigger, but mine is neater.'

I smiled seductively and reached out to gently lay my hand on top of Ellen's. 'It's lovely, too much space just lends itself to clutter.' Ellen looked at the hand, and smiled, patting it. She rose, sipping her root beer as if pondering something, 'It's late. You should spend the night instead of going home. Sarah won't mind if you take her bed. Do you need to call anyone to check in?'

I rolled my eyes at the brush off, leaning back slightly and stretching out my legs. 'I wouldn't feel right about spending the night in someone else's bed, without them in it,' I paused to glance meaningfully at Ellen's neatly folded sheets. 'Besides, yours looks big enough for two.' I gave her another sly seductive wink, leaning back to give her a discrete view up my dress and the cleanly shaved nether regions beneath its folds.

Ellen smiled, then paused a moment, clearly taken aback. 'You're pretty forward. Especially for someone who's only... have you had your seventeenth birthday yet?'

I sighed, debating for a brief second whether or not to lie, deciding it wouldn't be right to deceive someone I considered a friend. 'I had my seventeenth birthday a couple months ago actually, January 27th.' I parted my legs a little more, and smiled more playfully. 'I wasn't raised in a nunnery, and even the dean at college said I was more mature then half the students under his roof.'

I debated mentioning to her I'd been sexually active as an animal (and not longer after, as a human,) since I was around fifteen, knowing it would offend her delicate sensibilities and most certainly kill the mood.

Ellen stepped forward and tugged the hem of my dress demurely into place. She didn't seem as surprised as that first time, and she smiled. 'Evie... I'm sure you've been told you're very beautiful many times. But... I'm not the sort who gets casual about these things. I don't have sex just to have sex. And... well... to be honest, I'm just now starting to get over a bad breakup. My first real broken heart.'

I nodded in understanding, reaching out to gently slip an arm around her, struggling to articulate I understood the difference between making love and satisfying desires, but I knew any attempt to explain such would make me sound promiscuous at the very least and offend Ellen's sense of morality.

'I'm here to listen if you'd like to talk about it, and just because we share a bed doesn't mean we need to share anything more... Intimate.' I lowered my voice more at the end, sliding my hands up to gently massage Ellen's shoulders.

'Being alone after a breakup just makes it worse, I may be only seventeen, but I've had things end badly a time or two as well.' And I've usually used casual sex to help get over it, but I know you're not that kind of girl. I added mentally to myself, hoping the silence was comforting rather than unnatural.

Ellen smiled, accepting the touch for the moment, but not relaxing into it. 'Well, it's been... well, it might sound stupid, but it was three years ago. I loved her more than anything and she... loved someone else. It took me a while to get over that.' She looked back at me. 'I'm sorry, maybe I've made assumptions. If you want, we can sleep in Sarah's bed. It's bigger, more comfortable for sleeping.'

I sighed inwardly at the mention of 3 years, I knew widowed friends of my mothers that had moved on sooner than that. Outwardly I nodded and hummed softly in understanding.

'We all move at our own speed in matters of the heart.' It was an old phrase my grandmother used to tell me, when she talked about romance, and I hoped it would be as soothing now as it was to me back then.

'What happened between you to end it?' I phrased the question delicately, continuing the massage at a slow and relaxed pace until Ellen turned, pulling away from me and stepped across the room, opening her dresser. 'You want the Josie and the Pussycats night shirt, or the flannel PJs?' She put them both down. 'You decide and get changed. I'll bring Sarah a pillow and blanket.' Ellen grabbed her pillow and blanket and headed towards the main room.

I paused as Ellen walked off, realizing the moment had passed for now, 'Um the night shirt would probably be best, but um.. This is kinda embarrassing.' I let my voice trail off and searched for a stain on the floor to focus upon.

Ellen paused, and smiled reassuringly. 'I don't want you to be uncomfortable. If you're fine that way, it's not a problem. But if it's a problem for you, I have a clean pair I just bought. Haven't even worn them yet.' She finished, seeming to draw some awkward conclusion.

'It's not that,' I began, giving her a sheepish look, 'If I sleep in human form... Sometimes I shift into other shapes when I'm asleep if the dreams are vibrant..' I paused and looked up embarrassed, 'So I tend to rip out clothes once in a while so I usually sleep in the nude, or as an animal, I don't shift as often that way.'

'Ah.' She said, as it dawned on her she'd made a wrong assumption. 'It'll be fine. Get changed.' She moved to take Sarah her blanket and pillow. I felt myself blush a deep red, inwardly terrified Ellen would draw the wrong conclusion I was fishing for an opportunity to sleep naked next to her.

'If you want I could be a cat or a dog and sleep at the foot of the bed, it wouldn't be as awkward me not having clothes on then?' I eyed the night shirt longingly, it appeared just my size and quite comfortable, but the idea of the collar wrapping around my neck to strangle me if I shifted made me hesitate. 'This is what cost me my last girlfriend.' I said quietly as Ellen's shape disappeared around the corner.

Ellen paused again, leaning back thorough the doorway to look at me. 'Evie, you're letting this be way too much of a thing. Just put on my night shirt and I'll be there in a sec. If it rips, it rips.'

'Easy for you to say.' I whispered quietly, standing up to strip my dress off in a single fluid motion, the idea of a quiet mind clearing flight back to my dorm as an owl making me pause briefly as I weighed the option against a night in a strangers bed.

I shook my head, knowing if I left now it would end any possibility of a relationship with Ellen, and possibly hurt our friendship as well, pulling on the night shirt and straightening it awkwardly in Ellen's mirror.

I sat on the edge of Ellen's bed waiting for her to return, spreading my legs a little more than needed. Three years without intimacy was a long time, and I was pretty sure Ellen had the same libido of most other teenage girls I knew, so it couldn't hurt to stoke the furnace a little as they said.

Ellen returned a few moments later. She paused a moment to look at me in her favorite nightshirt, and the look was approving at first, but then she raised a brow at the display. 'Evie...' She shook her head, but didn't seem offended. Just not ready. 'Now... there's something I should tell you, but first undo the first part of this zipper for me so I can change. Sarah usually helps but she's in a coma.'

'The Rocky Road soozles strike again.' I quipped, privately surprised at Ellen's self control. Then again she didn't have the memories of desires as a dozen different animals to cloud her thoughts. 'You can tell me anything.' I said softly as I stood up and gently helped with the zipper. It sounded cliché' but it felt like the only thing I could say that was truthful.

I wondered briefly if Ellen was deliberately baiting me, and acting uninterested to see how far I'd go at seducing her, but realized quickly I didn't know her well enough to tell one way or another, and the situation was too delicate to take any risks just yet.

Ellen smiled, a mischievous secret smile. 'I can hear you.' She turned. 'I heard what you said just now as I left, and I hear your heartbeat. I could hear you trying to decide if you should duck out the window, turning towards it, hesitating, turning back. I could hear your zipper, and the dress hitting the floor. I could hear you slipping my nightshirt on, and sitting in my bed. Evie, I can hear everything.'

I paused, realizing Ellen most likely could hear how my heart beat had quickened with desire when she had removed her coat, or just barely when I'd helped her with her dress, the realization that Ellen was a Delta, and thus more like me than I first realized washing over me like a heady rush of freedom.

'Then you can tell when I'm-' I broke off and gently turned Ellen around to stare into her eyes, feeling a strange mixture of relief and connection at war with desire and genuine attraction. 'Only another Delta can understand what it's like.' I breathed softly, fighting a losing battle with my desire not to lean and tenderly kiss Ellen.

Ellen nodded. ''Everything.' She gave it a moment, then said, 'Now... go to Sarah's room. Bigger bed. Get in bed, and I'll be right there. You asked if I'd sing once. I'll sing you to sleep.'

I bit back the crass comment that sprung to my lips, realizing what I was being offered held more intimacy to Ellen that simple sexual union. 'I would love that.' I whispered, leaning in for a brief and hopefully not too intimate kiss on Ellens lips.

Ellen intercepted my lips with her finger, still gentle. 'You're adorable, but this isn't the moment. Now, go on.'

I felt a brief second of regret at the attempted kiss, but hoped Ellen would understand it was an act of affection rather than lust, a way of symbolizing I understood what was being offered, and welcomed it readily. Tilting my head to the side I winked, before spinning about to softly patter into Sarah's room.

I laid down on Sarah's bed quietly, grinning at the brief idea of giving Ellen yet another eye raising view, but decided against it, too much revealing diminishes the mystery, I recalled reading once not long ago.

With a sigh of lingering desires I carefully slid under the sheets, fluffing the pillow and laying on my back comfortably, unsure what to expect, and both hoping, and oddly fearing it would lead to something more then a simple lullaby.

Sarah's bed was a full size, not huge, but larger then Ellen's single. Quite comfortable, and had just the right amount of blanket for this time of year. Ellen followed in a minute later, now changed into PJs. The very look of her in them told me not flashing her again was the right choice. She closed the door and flipped off the light. 'Now close your eyes, and relax.'

I nodded in the darkness and closed my eyes, feeling hyper naturally aware of my unfamiliar surroundings, wondering how Ellen expected me to relax after becoming so... aroused. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, picturing a calm lake of placid water at sunset, with dragon flies darting near the edges and the sound of birds chirping as they settled in for the night, briefly recalling how wonderful dragon flies tasted as bat.

The silenced deepened, and I realized after a moment it had gone completely quiet. But it only lasted a moment before the voice of Bing Cosby singing an Irish Lullaby, complete with symphonic accompaniment filled the room. It started soft and low, music, then the deep soothing voice. As I moved in surprise, a cool hand rested on my brow.

I opened my eyes in shock at hearing the mans voice, my state of relaxation vanishing as I scanned the room for a new arrival, relaxing once more as I realized Ellen was doing the perfect impersonation.

It was at once both disconcerting and relaxing hearing my friend sing such soothing notes in the voice of a renowned man of music history. She sung softly, backed by a band I couldn't see. And more... there was a soothing quality that reached into me invited me to close my eyes again, to go to sleep.

I sighed in contentment as I felt my desires dimming, the soothing tones in a masculine inflection removing all thoughts of pleasure for the time being, and carried me off to sleep almost without my noticing,