“Oh, it’s Sarah from work – that makes a lot of sense…” Emily let out, staring at my ears.

  Everyone had their own reaction to that. Mel’s was probably the tamest, given that she’d already known the two of us worked in the same industry, so she just widened her eyes a bit and pursed her lips.

  I, on the other hand, had been desperately trying to keep my pce of work a secret from Luna, so having Emily be here, especially if she was going to be so open about it, made my stomach sink. But it wasn’t like Luna knew where Emily worked, right?

  Luna’s mouth dropped open and she turned to me, much to my surprise. “You work with Emily? She must have a second job, right… like at the steakhouse?”

  “Steakhouse?” Emily muttered to herself before turning to Luna and I. “Y'all mind if we come inside? I think we’d all prefer to have this mess of a conversation in private.” As Luna and I waved them past us, she gnced at Luna and winked, “So you know where I work, huh?”

  Luna flushed deeply and looked away.

  Oh fuck.

  I dashed into the kitchen to turn the stove off, and when I turned around, the three of them were sitting on the couch, Melody on one side and Luna on the other, with Emily in the middle. There wasn’t room for me anywhere. Emily patted the tops of her thighs and smirked at me, but I just shook my head and sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table, crossing my legs under me and bringing my tail into my p to pet.

  After a moment of silence, Melody spoke up. “So can someone expin to me what the hell is going on? How do you all know each other?” she asked, gring at each one of us in turn.

  Emily started. “Well I met Sarah at work, and I know Luna because she was best friends with one of my exes,” she shrugged, as if neither of those things were a big deal.

  She froze, narrowing her eyes at me, “Wait, you said you were a shapeshifter with a gender crisis and you live with…” she trailed off, looking at Luna. “Are you Campbell?” she asked, taking a page out of Luna’s book. At my nod she muttered, “Shit…” under her breath, finally understanding the severity of the situation and slouching back into the couch.

  “Okay, what’s your story?” Melody asked Luna, irritation still all over her voice.

  Luna blushed again, scooting away slightly from Emily. “Well Emily already said how I know her…”

  Melody raised an eyebrow, not buying it.

  “Fine… I’m aware of her online presence. Happy?”

  Emily chimed in, smirking, “Makes me happy.”

  Melody scowled, “Not helpful.” She turned back to me, “So I guess this expins some of what was going on with you… You’re a shapeshifter?”

  I nodded, but didn’t show off my powers, needing the fluff in my p to keep me calm.

  She softened her expression, sighing, “I’m sorry Sarah, this is such a mess. Why don’t you expin it from the start?”

  I gnced at Luna. She already knew I worked with Emily, and while I could lie, all she would have to do was look us up and soon we’d be there for the world to see. But admitting it all, telling all three of them what I’d been doing and why?

  It was going to require some food at least. “Why don’t we have this conversation over dinner? It’s going to be a while.”

  —

  Silence stretched out after I finished my story. During the tale, there had been constant muttered comments, little crackles of taco shells being devoured and even the knowing gnces added to the atmosphere. Now, once it finally came time to talk about it, everyone was silent.

  And I had no idea why. I’d tried to keep my emotions out of the way I told the story, describing my gender questioning in vague, broad terms, and saying things like ‘I asked Melody out’, rather than ‘I thought she was unbelievably beautiful as soon as I saw her’.

  I really, really, did not want the three women I was talking with to know how I felt about any of them, given how precarious all of our retionships were and how I wanted them to get along with each other.

  Melody was the first to respond, speaking hesitantly, “So I guess I can see why you were reluctant to share…”

  Emily wasn’t as convinced. “But why were you so scared of Melody? It’s not like she would’ve been upset with you for being trans?”

  I stared back. “How was I supposed to know that?!”

  Emily gnced at her roommate, both of them baffled for some reason.

  Melody shook her head, “I’m trans, like obviously so. I didn’t think I had to even mention it after you crified you weren’t straight when you first talked to me.”

  "We're both fine with being kinda clocky," Emily crified, adding under her breath, "Chasers are a bitch though."

  “Wait, so I’m the only cis one here?” I blinked, “Sorry Luna,” I added, apologising for accidentally outing her.

  “It’s fine, I don’t mind them knowing.” She stared at me, eyebrow raised, “And you’re sure you’re cis?”

  “Well, not really…” I mumbled. “But doesn't that make me a chaser?”

  Emily immediately adopted a predatory smirk, “I think it’s a bit presumptuous to assume you’re doing the chasing here, pet.” At my pleasant shiver, she continued, “And don’t think I missed the implication there,” she gnced at Mel, “Once is an incident,” her gaze turned to Luna, “twice is a coincidence,” and she finally looked back at me, “but three? Three is a pattern.”

  Uh oh.

  “No no no, it’s not like that,” I insisted, shaking my head, “I was just talking about going on dates with Mel.”

  She didn’t buy it, her smirk only disrupted by a stifled ugh. “C’mon don’t be shy, I know you’re looking forward to work tomorrow. And I’ve seen how you look at your roommate – or should I say your owner?”

  “That’s enough,” Melody scolded, bonking her friend on the back of the head, “Being a horny gremlin isn’t going to help, Em.”

  I almost spoke up, saying, ‘No actually it’s fine, I like it’, before remembering where I was and covering my mouth with my gss of water.

  “So what is it we’re actually talking about anymore?” Luna pointed out, looking around the table with a confused expression. “Sarah brought you here to expin herself, but we got a bit sidetracked…”

  Melody answered, “Well I forgive her, at least mostly.” She turned to me, “I don’t like that you lied to me, but I understand why you did it.”

  I nodded, “I just want us all to be friends,” a goofy smile escaped onto my face, “I’d like it if we could all hang out like this sometime – I’m going to be seeing Emily at work anyways, so…” I trailed off, having forgotten where I was going.

  Luna jumped in, “Oh! If we’re done talking, I was teaching Sarah this new card game, wanna try it out?”

  Melody and Emily stared at Luna’s massive grin before gncing at each other and nodding.

  “Okay,” Emily said, “But first, can I talk to you for a moment, Sarah? Alone?”

  “That’s fine with me,” I responded. The two of us stood, and as I began leading her into the bedroom, I saw Luna watching me with a concerned expression, so, on my way past her, I brushed my tail over her arm and gave her a reassuring smile.

  Once Emily and I were alone, I stopped in the middle of the room, wondering if this was some ploy to come onto me or if she actually had something to talk about.

  “So, uh…” Contrary to my expectations, Emily was hesitant and unsure.

  “Huh?” I let out, too surprised to form a coherent question.

  “Sorry…” she ughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck. “I was just wondering if our previous retionship bothers you – if we needed to cancel the shoot tomorrow.”

  In the mix of other revetions, I’d forgotten that she was my ex-girlfriend, but the reminder didn’t change much. “What’re you talking about? You know I’m looking forward to Thursday, you even said so. Are you having second thoughts?”

  She sighed, leaning back against the door, slouching down until her eyes were nearly level with mine. “I was just bluffing, mostly. I–” She cut herself off, wincing, “Look, Sarah, I’m sorry for what happened when we were dating, I wasn’t a very good partner.”

  “Emily, it’s fine, I don’t even know what you’re talking about – I was the one that was absent in our retionship and drove you away.”

  “But I always thought…” She shook her head and straightened, her smile bouncing back onto her face. “It sounds to me like you want to give it another go,” she flirted, snapping and giving me double finger-guns.

  I raised my eyebrows staring at her.

  She held her pose, maintaining her grin when it started to look strained.

  “Emily you don’t have to—”

  She cut me off, spinning and opening the door behind her. “Let’s go back out there – don’t want them to think we’re necking, huh?” She strode out of the room before I could respond, leaving me behind to sigh and follow her.

  —

  I gnced at Emily in the chair next to me before returning my focus to the game. She shared my gnce but the other two remained steadfast in their focus.

  Emily leaned over to whisper, “So, is this how it usually goes?”

  I nodded silently, matching the atmosphere of the two women still pying. Emily and I had been knocked out of the game without much ceremony a dozen minutes ago, but they were still going strong, flinging spells, sharking deals, and chipping at their win conditions.

  “Do you actually know what’s going on?” She continued, after Melody pyed a particurly impressive combo on her turn – at least it seemed impressive.

  I shook my head this time, and, as if she’d been waiting for that answer, Emily stood, grabbing my hand to pull me out of my seat and over to the couch.

  “Let’s talk over here and give those two some time to nerd out,” she said, grinning.

  I followed along, getting pulled onto the couch, until I was ying down with my head in her p. Thankfully, I was on my back, so I could still see her and talk to her, but on the other hand, it was embarrassing to see her, and I had my doubts as to how much talking Emily wanted to do.

  True to my expectations, she wasted no time in bringing her hand up to my ears and brushing them softly with a question in her eyes. After I nodded and closed my eyes, she began her assault, beginning with a slow caress ofer the tips of my fur.

  I let my mind wander as her movements grew more assured, each touch sending me further into mind-melting bliss.

  I liked all three of the women in the room right now, in their own ways. Emily was easy to be around – she was fun and I liked it when she teased me. Melody was cute and endearing, and I couldn’t help but want to dote on her – at least that was the case when we’d been on our date together. And st was Luna. There were a million things I could say about her, but none of it would be enough to describe how close I felt to her. We were best friends and I liked spending time around her, sure, but that was only half of it; she was fascinating, and I craved the moments where it felt like she was letting me in more or where she took comfort in our intimacy.

  Of course, all of that sounded like I wanted to date all of them – I was certainly attracted to them – but was that really the case? Dating already hadn’t gone well with Melody and Emily once, so what reason did I have to think it would be different if we tried again? And as for Luna, maybe it would be nice to date her, but I already loved the retionship we had and I didn’t think it would be wise to rock the boat any more than I already had.

  Not to mention the fact that my identity was still up in the air. Sure, I hadn’t shapeshifted out of my Sarah body since I’d confided in Luna, but there was still so much I hadn’t done as Sarah, so much that I didn’t know how I’d feel about.

  Sarah was fun to be when she could flirt and have sex without consequences, but would she still be fun when I had to pay the bills? Grocery shopping? Meeting my family?!

  No, it was much too early to decre my perverted fantasy my definitive identity, and I didn’t know when that line would finally be crossed.

  In the meantime, however, I would have to keep my friends at an arm’s length – in some cases literally, although Emily and I would be getting to know each other tomorrow.

  Luna’s voice from above startled me out of my thoughts, “Wow, she’s really purring.”

  Emily chuckled, continuing her hands’ movements on my tail and ears. “You mean you haven’t seen this yet? Shame on you for not giving your pet enough attention,” she chastised mockingly.

  “She’s not–”

  I interrupted Luna, pulling myself out of the euphoric fugue to stop the conversation from going anywhere embarrassing, “So who won?”

  “We tied,” Mel sighed from across the room.

  I ughed, although it came out strained. I chose to believe the hitch in my ugh was from ying on my back and not from the two women staring down at me, Emily’s hands still on my head and in my tail. “So…”

  Emily grinned down at me. “What’s on your mind, pet?”

  “Movie?” I suggested.

  “Don’t answer to pet, it’ll just encourage her,” Luna grumbled above before storming off towards the kitchen.

  “Don’t worry, I know you like it…” Emily whispered, staring into my eyes. “And a movie sounds nice, as long as I get to keep petting you.”

  I nodded, not willing to admit which of her assertions I was agreeing to.

  —

  Luna heaved a sigh as soon as the front door closed behind Melody and Emily.

  I winced, gncing at the clock to see that I didn’t have much time if I wanted to talk to Luna before bed. Before she could escape off to the bedroom, I stepped in front of her, looking into her tired eyes with concern. “Is everything okay Luna? Did I let them stay too long?”

  “No that’s not– I’m just tired,” she said, her eyes averting to the side of me and crossing her arms.

  “You’re sure?” I pced a light touch on her elbow. “Is there something I can do? Was Emily making you uncomfortable?” In order for the four of us to fit on the couch, Emily had pced me in her p for the entire movie, and although she’d never strayed anywhere inappropriate, she certainly hadn’t been hesitant in touching me. That wasn’t a problem at all to me – I liked Emily quite a bit – but Luna had been sitting next to us and had been gncing at us repeatedly with slightly irritated looks on her face.

  “Sarah, I’m fine,” she insisted, not at all sounding fine. She shook off my touch and tried to walk around me.

  “Wait,” I said, stopping her. “Please talk to me? I feel like I did something wrong and I really don’t know what.” When she remained frozen, still not looking at me, I continued, “Please, Luna? I’m trying to communicate better with you but that goes both ways…”

  She sighed, finally turning around, but still not meeting my gaze, her eyes fixed on the floor between us. “You didn’t do anything wrong really… But Emily was kind of annoying me. You’re still really unsure about yourself and I think it’s really irresponsible for her to push you around like that.”

  Before I could form a response, she continued, “And when I think about what you’re going to do tomorrow…” She winced, “I’m worried about you, Sarah. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  I hesitated, unsure of what to say. On one hand, I wanted Luna to be as happy as possible, but on the other, it was impractical for me to cancel work because she was worried. “What if you met me after I finished work? We could hang out and you could check up on me. Lunch, shopping, whatever you want.”

  She flinched, her expression twitching before she settled into a more thoughtful pose. “I guess that might help…” She looked up finally, narrowing her eyes at me. “But if you’re uncomfortable at all with what she’s doing you’ll tell someone, right?”

  I nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, the bosses are really good about that…” I trailed off. We hadn’t had time to discuss my work yet, and as much as I didn’t want to at all, I’d promised to try harder. “And, uh, sorry for lying about where I worked…”

  She sighed, turning away again. “It’s fine, I understand why you’d be a bit private about that, especially if you thought Sarah was a temporary thing at first. You don’t have to be ashamed or anything; I’d never get on your case about that kind of thing,” she gestured vaguely. “In fact, I’d prefer you keep me more in the loop so I could look after you – I mean are you getting tested regurly? What about birth control?”

  A giggle escaped me as my tension finally let up. “Luna, I’m fine – I promise. If you really want to talk about that stuff we can – ter. Right now, I’m tired.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bedroom, menting that we had to spend time getting ready for bed, and that by the time we ended up in bed together, my giddy mood would have dissipated enough to make me think twice about cuddling into her.