Chapter 29: Coming Clean

“You really are an awful liar, but this is all… really hard to believe, Claire…” Belinda frowned as she thumbed slowly through the many unread messages. “There’s no way you would have invited Michelle over without a call, or a message, and there’s nothing like that… Your only messages were to me…”

“You sound surprised…” Claire slumped down in her seat. The two were sat at a small breakfast café, tucked in the corner all by themselves. Dressing quickly, Claire hadn’t wanted to take too long to worry about what she threw on and ended up in a black-and-red plaid shirt open to expose a black t-shirt underneath, and a pair of tight black shorts.

The plaid shirt was at least a couple of sizes too large, making her look all the more appropriate slumped in the booth. Like a cat fresh from a filled bathtub, guilt and defeat clung to Claire as she rubbed a fingertip over the condensation over the many-faceted surface of her glass.

Belinda snorted.

“You want to be better, right? You wanted another chance?”

Claire looked away and nodded as she hid her hand in her own folded arms

“Nuh-uh.” Belinda reached out, grasping at the mess that was Claire’s messy head of brown curls. She grasped close to Claire’s scalp, and tugged until the woman’s eyes peeked out past her arms. “You wanna get better? Step one: no more wallowing in self-pity. You fucked up, and yes, I’m going to doubt that you were completely earnest even if you weren’t lying. There’s more you can do than just lie, you know…”

Claire whimpered.

“But… but…”

Belinda released her hair, and poked a finger against her lips.

“No.”

Grumbling, Claire sat herself up straight. After a deep breath, she forced away her grumpy expression and took on a look of apologetic discomfort instead.

“How’s this?”

Belinda pushed her lips towards one side of her face, narrowing her eyes as she looked over Claire as though scrutinizing her even harder than on her front stoop. Claire did her best to maintain the expression, and the relatively dignified posture.

“It’ll work for now. Could use improvement. Seventy five percent.”

Claire beamed until Belinda frowned.

Her contrite expression returned a moment later.

“Don’t push it. Anyway…” Belinda scrolled through Claire’s phone a little more, and then set it down on the table before pushing it across to Claire. “I should apologize too. Not as much as you, but I did do something just to make you jealous. It was petty and stupid.”

“Like… what…?” Claire looked down at the table. “Whatever it is, like, you can tell me and I’ll forgive you, or you can just say you’re sorry and I’ll forgive you that way, too?”

Belinda smirked. “Wow. You really are sorry. Okay. I’m going to need to stop digging it in, you just… really pissed me off…” Sighing, Belinda took a long swig of her complimentary water. “Those pancakes better get here soon. I need syrup in me before the next time I get upset with you for no good reason.”

Claire started to raise a hand, before she simply spoke instead.

“For what it’s worth?”

Belinda raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t think it’s no good reason. I was a really shitty friend.” Claire bit her lip. “I’m really super sorry. I mean it! So like… I’d rather if you were nicer, where you can be, but I was shitty to you, so like… let it out. I want you to feel like we can be friends again, and me taking a bit of your venting… if it can help…”

Belinda frowned, and stared at her with the most exasperated look she could possibly give.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck!

Claire’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat, and she tugged at the collar of her t-shirt. Unlike the plaid shirt, the black she wore underneath was at least a size too tight and squeezed a little too close to her neck even without concerns about her behavior coming into play.

Did I fuck up and say the thing that’s going to make her storm out and tell everyone that I fuck my parents?

She frowned a little more.

Which is true, but only one of them knows about it, and she’s responsible for it, and… No, no, nope! I’m just going to stop thinking and wait for her to speak! This is tragic!

“I’m really upset with you now, you know.” Belinda took another sip of her water with a roll of her eyes. “I drove over to your place hoping to catch you still… miserable. Whenever a girl dumps you, which is usually what happens, you fall into a depression for weeks at a time. This time, I came over and… saw you…” She motioned vaguely, and stirred the tip of her clear, shining nail in her drink to faintly disturb the ice. “Well. You know what I saw.

“And now, I want to be mad at you. You were happy, happy like I never really see you. Happy like I wished you were more often…” Belinda mumbled something under her breath, but Claire couldn’t hear her.

The last thing I need to do right now is piss her off by asking her to repeat herself… Claire sipped at her water. Just let it go.

“I felt shitty about wanting to find you a mess, but I would forgive you for blowing me off, a lot easier, I thought, if you were miserable… but now, you… really apologized.” Belinda snorted, and flicked a large cube. “So I want to forgive you—conditionally.”

“Conditionally?” Excitement rose up in Claire’s voice as she leaned over the table. “Conditional on wha—hey!”

Belinda smirked, shaking off the rest of the water from her nail that hadn’t just flicked across Claire’s face. “Conditional on you not doing that again, and telling me, sincerely everything. You can do it after food if it’s too… intimate…? Taboo…? Talk around it or something if you can… because… ooohh…!”

Her eyes lit up like they were filled with a thousand little stars.

“I smell syrup!”

That’s my Belinda.

Claire sighed.

The fastest way to make her happy is to buy her food. I’m glad I was saving up to take Elizabeth out on a fancy date…

A waitress approached, wearing a uniform that looked like a cross between a brown apron and a white dress with no visible split between them. She set down a plate of pancakes in front of Belinda, and a plate with scrambled eggs, hashed browns, and an English muffin in front of Claire. Once they were down, warm syrup joined the table between the two plates. “Here we go…! Oh! Did either of you change your minds on that coffee…?”

Belinda frowned, parted her lips to speak, and then looked to Claire.

Claire laughed and gestured to the waitress. Her eyes scanned for a nametag, and found one engraved in gold. “Patricia…? Coffee. Two of them.”

“I’ll be right back…!” Patricia smiled and minced away, Claire doing her best to not follow as she moved out of sight. It didn’t matter that she was taller than Claire, with gorgeous long curly blonde hair tied back with a scrunchy, or curvy in a way that was a little rounder everywhere while having more in all of the right places.

Gotta behave.

Gotta be a good friend!

Belinda whistled. “Covering breakfast, ordering coffee after I’m starting to forgive you, and you didn’t check out the cute waitress who is exactly your type… I guess even more your type than I thought since she has to be at least ten years older than—”

Claire moved her hand across her neck repeatedly until Belinda cleared her throat.

“And one coffee for you… and one for you!” Patricia set the large white mugs down in front of them both, along with a small tray holding sugar and cream. “If you need any refills, just wave me down!”

“Thank you, Patricia! I really appreciate it!” Claire smiled, waving at the waitress a she moved away. Once she was gone, Claire exhaled. “Okay, that was fair, I just… I didn’t want… I didn’t want her to need to be pulled into all of this nonsense. She’s a waitress… The last thing she needs is to be a part of…”

Claire gestured between herself and Belinda.

“This.”

Belinda rolled her eyes, sipping right at the black coffee with one hand as she poured syrup over her pancakes with the other. Claire stared at just how much syrup she was using, impressed that her friend was able to maintain such a slender figure if she made that kind of syrupy excess a regular thing.

“Yeah… I don’t wanna make anyone feel awkward or uncomfortable, either.” Belinda cut up her pancakes slowly and meticulously, watching as Claire nibbled on her eggs. “So, you didn’t see Michelle. You aren’t going to be upset at me that I spent a night with Elizabeth—”

“—You what?!”

Claire swallowed hard as she noticed the eyes of everyone in the diner turned towards her. Waving shyly around the room she sunk lower into the booth, and poured a healthy dose of cream and sugar into her coffee before taking a long swig.

“Right. I agreed to forgive you for something stupid and petty and—”

“—That doesn’t sound like forgiveness.” Belinda grabbed up a forkful of pancake, and waved it around almost menacingly. “Walk it back, mommy’s girl.”

Instantly, both of Claire’s cheeks turned a deep, dark red. “…Right! Forgiveness… Uhm… Uh… I’m… very… terribly…” She groaned, and filled her mouth with more eggs. Belinda didn’t say a word. She waited for Claire to swallow, and gestured for her to continue. “Okay, I’m sorry! I earned that! You didn’t… well…” She gestured with her own fork. “Did you…?”

“With Liz?” Belinda stared, and then rolled her eyes. “Ha! There’s no way that girl isn’t some kind of queer, but she’s really holding to her cover story. I didn’t even see any skin.”

Claire wasn’t sure if she should sigh in relief, or be disappointed.

Probably best to just not react to that.

“Anyway… What were you up to? Was it…” Belinda lifted up another bite, swirling it in her syrup. “That? The whole time…? Are they both just… into that…? Do you need… You seem… Do you need help? Abuse is no good—”

“—Mae taught me weird lesbian mind control techniques from the weird True Lesbian Conspiracy she was a part of before she felt like they were too evil, and not enough caring about the lesbians they converted and controlled.” Claire said it as quietly as she could, but there was no way she could have said it in any way to not have Belinda staring at her in disbelief. “She taught me how… showed me she’d been using it on Sophie, and… Then… I used it on them both.”

Great.

Claire tried not to sweat, not to squirm, but it was impossible. She’d just confessed everything. Her mother’s secret, her own actions—Belinda knew more than Sophia knew, and even more than Mae knew.

There is no fucking way she’s going to trust you. She’s going to eat her food, walk out the door, and you’ll never see her again.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, filling her mouth with sweetened coffee and then egg as Belinda balked. Wordless, she seemed to be straining, desperately, to process her friend’s words.

Good one.

“Show me.”

Claire gaped.

Belinda smirked.

“Why are you so shocked? You’ve got the look you have when something is so batshit you know I won’t believe you… which means I do this time.” She gestured to Claire as she took another bite, speaking more when she swallowed. “So, if you can show me this wonderful feat of lesbian power, then fine. I’ll want… more but… well… I’ll forgive you, and we can try being friends.

“If you’re lying on the other hand…” Belinda stabbed her fork threateningly towards Claire. “Then I finish my food, walk out calmly, and while I don’t ruin your mothers’ lives, because it doesn’t seem like they’re abusing you… I’ll still just say I can’t put up with your shit.”

Belinda let out a low sigh. “Okay, I can show you. I… I’m still learning, but…” She wiggled her fingers in the air. “Once you learn it’s… always there. SO… do you want me to show you on Patty? She’s pretty cute, but she is a waitress, and I’d feel pretty mean if I did something like—”

“Hell no.” Belinda frowned. “For all I know, you had her here already—called her on your moms’ phones or something.” Belinda set down her fork, and held out her arms. “Me. Right now. Here.”

“Belinda… It’s…” Claire flushed. “You… You don’t want me to do that!” Her voice remained quiet, but the tone grew louder and louder by the moment. “For some reason, Mae was very insistent that I not do anything to you, and I don’t know why, but doing it in public is majorly—”

Belinda pushed her fork, with a piece of pancake at the end, against Claire’s lips.

“Now.”

“But—”

Belinda pushed firmer.

“Now. Or I leave.”

Once the fork settled back on her plate, Claire sighed. She held up her hand, and gestured Belinda closer. She leaned over the table, and Claire took a deep breath.

Concentrate… on all of your longing… all of your desire… all of your love… all of your lust… all of what makes you want other women, need other women… put it all into your finger… Claire’s pointer finger felt warm, almost burning hot, but there was no visible sign of it—not to Belinda. It simply looked as though she were being melodramatic. Brocaded thrones… Nipples… Pussies… Lips… Hair… Eyes…

Claire stared at Belinda and shivered.

Has she always had such deep, dark eyes…?

Have her lips always been so… smooth…?

While all that Belinda saw was a finger, to Claire, it was crackling with pink, yellow, and white. Energies twisted and surged, dancing around the threads of her finger.

“This is your last chance to back out.” Claire whimpered. “If I poke you now—“

“Ugh…” Belinda rolled her eyes. “I’ll do it, then!”

“—Wait!”

Too fast for Claire to react, Belinda pressed the space between her eyes right against Claire’s empowered fingertip.

Claire watched as the energies flowed from her finger, into Belinda’s skin. She felt as the energies swirled inside of her eyes, looking like little constellations, then galaxies, then raging thunderstorms.

Longing.

Desire.

Love.

Lust.

So many raw feelings that Claire kept bottled up inside of her—feelings that Belinda had in even greater measure with even less fulfillment—flowed and catalyzed with the added touch of the raw external force pressing directly in to Belinda’s vulnerable, undefended psyche.

Her loud, orgasmic cry drew the eyes of everyone in the restaurant, and Claire couldn’t bring her finger back fast enough as Belinda slumped in the booth.

Patricia looked over from across the café, nearly spilling a woman’s coffee refill.

“Can I have what you gave them?”

Patricia laughed and shook her head.

“If I had something like that to give out…? I’d be keeping it all to myself and you know it!”

The two women giggled together as Claire watched Belinda’s lips twitch and her eyes flutter as she fell back against the padding behind her. Boneless, and seemingly mindless, all she could do was shudder and twitch.

I suppose… I could’ve… tried… something… a little… less than that…

Laughing shyly, Claire forked up another mouthful of eggs.

But I sort of… didn’t think of that… not until now…

Doing her best to act like the best friend she’d ever had, a girl who had been in her life back when they were both too young to know multiplication, wasn’t shuddering from a mind rending orgasm on the other side of their small booth, Claire tried to eat.

The eggs were fluffy enough, and the coffee—sweetened as it was—was nice. The hash browns were tasty and satisfying. The English muffins were buttery, sweet, and not too much or too little.

“You’re missing out on some really good food, Belinda…!” Claire laughed shyly as she tried to carry on an ordinary conversation once she noticed a fair few eyes looking right at her and her breakfast partner. “You should… pull yourself together… no need to rearrange anything in that head of yours just… you know… pull yourself all back together… and… eat…? We can just eat and… then… uhm… class…? Or… more explanations…? Hah…?”

Belinda slumped forward, and without a word, lifted her fork.

She stabbed it into a piece of pancake, then another, and finally shoved it into her mouth after swirling it around in syrup.

Claire stared in disbelief.

Considering what I could do to Mae, and she taught me this stuff I shouldn’t be shocked but… for some reason… I still am…

This happening to Belinda makes it feel more…

Real…

Swallowing hard, Claire ate her food and watched Belinda mindlessly eat hers. Even when she ran out of coffee, Claire didn’t flag down Patricia.

Something about that sounded like a very bad, very selfish idea.