Megumi By The Firelight - Part 6 Revelation
The previous parts:
Part 6: Revelation
“What’s good, Cassy?” Marla said turning and facing me, tall and imposing. Holy crap, she was tall. I looked up at her. I slowly sat on a corner of the neatly made bed. I tried to be as slow, deliberate and casual as I could be. I was wearing my tennis shorts and my favourite stripey shirt. I noticed she was sneaking glances at my legs and shorts.
“I was going to try some tennis later on...” I offered lamely. She just stood there looking at me.
“Marla, I just wanted to chat for a mo’.” I said trying to be casual, and forcing myself to smile, as I looked around the small bedroom. It was a small, cramped narrow room with one wide bed in it and a large wardrobe that protruded out into the room, kind of ruining the “chi” or flow of the room. Unlike the other rooms, this room didn’t get much light in it’s north facing window, and it was darker, and the walls were a weird green blue colour I didn’t like much.
“Do you like this room, Marla?” I suddenly asked. This room seriously depressed the sh*t out of me and I was only in it thirty seconds. “Never mind that...” I continued, composing myself again. She was looking at me and never ever blinked once.
“Marla, you probably think I’m going to ask you about the letters and notes and stuff. But I’m not here for that, I want to ask you something else...” I said casually. She stood silent waiting. She was about as easy to read as wallpaper.
“Marla, I just wanted to ask you...ask ask you....” I found my confidence waning suddenly and I was hopelessly fumbling for words. I squirmed on the edge of the bed uneasily.
“....What’s it like, Cassy?” she asked suddenly, piercing the horrible awkwardness with this sudden sentence. I blinked at her. “Huh?” I asked.
“What’s it like to kiss two other girls? And have them kiss you like that...and snog you like that..? She asked again, and this time her voice was surprisingly softer. I looked hard at her, trying to figure out where the hell she was coming from.
“Wow, Marla....” I tried to think of something to say. “Haven’t you kissed a girl before? I mean you and Ronda are...”
“Yeah, that...whatever.” she said flatly. H’mm. This was certainly news to my ears.
“Well Ronda is a good kisser...she and I have snogged a fair bit...I mean...I know we have our arguments and all, but she does have a more tender side...and a more...er...needy side to her. All girls do.” I said. It was now that she looked at me and something clicked in my brain.
“Marla, we never really ever had a chat properly before, did we?” I asked, trying to be upbeat and positive. She looked at me blankly. “Yes we did,” she answered. “A year ago.”
“Oh really... remind me again, will you?” I tried a lame attempt at a chuckle – racking my brains to figure when the hell I ever spoke to Marla at school.
“You asked me about my family and parents and stuff...” she offered, looking at me.
“Oh. Right. Tell me again what it was...” I said hesitatingly.
“You asked me what my Dad did for a living, and I said he was in prison for GBH...” She said.
Oh Triple Holy....I thought. Grievous Bodily Harm? My heart sunk. She then said I asked about what her brothers did (there were no sisters whatsoever, just her.) She had a brother in prison too. And had a brother in the Police Force.
“Wow, how cool is that, Marla. Pretty cool...” I said with a smile. She just looked at me.
“He was the one who put my Dad and other brother in Prison...” she said flatly.
“He ...he was...he did that? Really?...Geez, Marla...that’s too bad....” I cringed. What the hell was I getting myself into with this girl? Her family were a bunch of criminals. She also explained how she had to change schools a few times because of her problems with school teachers, and her not liking how they spoke to her....
“Marla, is everything okay with you? I don’t mean you and Ronda. I just mean you.” I asked, trying desperately to change the subject.
“Me?” She said slowly. Silence. “Me.....” she said again. “Why? Why d’ya ask?”
“I was just wondering, that’s all. You are pretty quiet, and some of the girls wonder about you a bit...you don’t ...well, you don’t talk that much. Although we love you doing hair and make-up...that’s hard to do....” Shit. Bad move there. “I mean you make an effort.” I added smoothly. The massive girl sat there like a solid wall, just silence filling the room.
“Did you see Ronda the other night...?” She suddenly asked, and I recalled the night Ronda threw up outside my bedroom door, and she had looked like a painted clown. Marla’s handy work, God help us, I thought to myself.
“Yeah, she looked ...uh ...interesting...” I said slowly. Marla looked at me.
“She looked Poxy, you mean.” She said without emotion. Hearing her say it that way, made me want to smile, but I kept a straight face and said slowly...”well, she was a bit tipsy and slurring her speech...”
“And she was painted like the Scream by Edward Munch.” She said flatly. And here, I laughed. She gave me a brief smile. Wow. Marla smiled at me. Holy crap! I didn’t think she even knew who the hell Edward Munch even was!
“I made her up like that on purpose...” she said slowly. “She’s always telling me what to do...so I did it for revenge...the silly cow...” she said in her strange taciturn voice. I could feel myself beginning to relax a bit now.
“Well, Marla, it doesn’t always pay to do everything you’re told...” I said, not sure if this was the right response or not.
She looked at me. “Well, you don’t...” she said. “I noticed...you’re kind of ...random...” she added.
“Well, sometimes maybe....” I said. “I can be a bit cheeky when I feel like it. I’m spontaneous...that way. But Marla, sometimes there has to be times when you do the things that you want to do....”
“Like what...? Watcha mean, Cassy...?” she said, her voice taking a sudden softer tone. It was amazing to see her going from this tall heavy set girl who looked like one of the Kray Brothers, to suddenly becoming this altogether different, gentler, more tender girl.
“Well, I don’t know. I mean here in this house. All the girls...”I offered gently.
“Is there a girl in this house that you haven’t snogged but would like to - or maybe one you’d fancy...someone you’d like to snog....” I looked at her. She looked at her feet, then slowly she looked at me. She scrunched up her face into a frown and looked positively deep in thought.
“S’funny, no one’s asked me that...” she answered. She let out a long breath of air. “But there is someone - but...I don’t know if I’m...” She paused. “If I’m gay.” And she looked at me now, more fully.
“But I don’t know what she’d say if I wanted to....Cassy...” she continued.
Suddenly it was there, clear as a damn bell. It was me. And here I was, in her damn bedroom. In the Lion’s Den.
“How many girls have you kissed, Marla?” I asked the huge imposing girl. The bed sagged under her weight, she was that big. “Just a small few....” she replied slowly. “Just kissing a bit. Nothing big or anything...” Silence.
“Why?...” I asked
“Sometimes it’s not what I want. Like with Ronda. It’s all one kind of thing, and I don’t like that shit. I don’t even know if I’m...” she stopped and stared at her feet I put my hand on her arm.
“Marla, it’s okay...don’t do things you don’t like. That’s not good. Just do the stuff that you want.”
“Like you kissing Debra and Megumi...” She said suddenly, looking at me. “How’d you do that? Get those two to do that....? That’s what I wanna know....”
“That’s ....that’s hard to explain, Marla...Megumi is very ....uh...gentle and playful, and Debra is....” I tried to find the right words here...
“ She’s bleedin’ ravishing...she’s gorgeous....really !” chimed in Marla, her voice going up a note.
“How many girls in the house do you like, Marla - I mean really like?” I asked in a whisper.
She thought for a moment. She said she wasn’t sure. She liked Wendy because she and Wendy chatted a lot, which they did. (I remembered the first night Marla wanted to share rooms with Wendy.) And she liked Debra, and Penny....then Marla turned to me.
“You’re like Ronda...” she said slowly. “Ronda is smart. But you are too...but ....different smart. Nice smart...” She looked at me straight in the eye and I could see emotion there for the first time ever. Somewhere in this hulk of a girl, there was an actual human girl and she was trying to reach out to me now.
I heard a noise from beyond the door. Suddenly I blurted out...”Marla, is Ronda down stairs?” Marla nodded and seemed to go back into her girl self again. I asked her would she mind locking the door just to be safe. She didn’t question why, but she turned the key and the bedroom door was locked. I was still not sure about Marla, and if she was an okay person.
She seemed more relaxed and I felt myself relax a bit more. I could see her looking at my legs again. I think she fancied me.
“There’s some things I do like and one girl I like too, more than others but...” She looked at me, then looked slightly pained, and looked away again.
“Marla...is it me?” I asked. She looked at me. And her eyes were brimming with emotions now. I asked her would she mind taking off her jacket. She pulled it off, and sat there, in her shirt with it’s buttons looking like they were about to explode like bullets across the room, the shirt was so tight on her massive frame. She was looking at me. I faced her, sitting beside her on the bed. I looked at her hard. If she’d had a good hairdo and a rinse and shampoo, and some styling, she’d be much more appealing. She looked at me...and I wondered did she think she was some kind of ugly duckling or something. “Marla, you are not that bad looking, really...” I told her. “If you did more and did yourself up nice and wore your hair different, you’d be great...”
“So I’m not great then...” she said in a low halting voice.
I took her arm. “Marla, you are nice. You’re okay. I get a good vibe with you. You are someone who should be more active with the girls here. They can give tips. That’s what these girls do all the time. Later on, let’s go out, and have the dinner out side in the garden, all of us, like a picnic. It’s picking up outside...it’s Megumi’s birthday today. It will be great fun.”
She looked at me. “You mean that...?” I smiled and nodded. Marla frowned. “I think Ronda wanted to have dinner in the kitchen...” she said ruefully. I asked Marla what did she want?
She looked at me in amazement. Her expression caught me by surprise.
“No one EVER asks me what I want, Cassy.....” She looked away and sighed.
“Marla, is there anything you want to ask me...I mean anything at all...?” I asked her. She looked at me and smiled a nice smile and shook her head.
“Oh Marla, we all have to learn and being around people you fancy or whatever is just like riding a bike...with prac...”
Suddenly she threw herself on me and threw me flat down on the bed. I heard an almighty bending metal sound, and I felt the bed groan and creak loudly. Marla weighed a ton. For a moment I thought the bed frame was going to crack, but it held. The wind was completely knocked out of me, and she was kissing and smooching the face off me, her hands groping me everywhere, like a giant octopus. I felt myself suffocating under her huge body. We did this weird kissing on the bed for a moment, then she seemed to run out of steam and calmed down and then sat back up again. I sat up on the mattress, feeling like I had just been run over by a road-roller, trying to straighten my shirt, and glanced down at the mattress which was now bent in the middle. Holy crap. She was huge. She looked at her feet in silence. I looked at her, trying to let my breathing come back to normal.
“Marla, what weight are you? I asked.
“Just short of eighteen stone.” She replied in a sonorous tone.
“Come over here...” I grabbed her hand and stood her up and we went over to the mirror. I made her pull her hair back and behind her ears in a ponytail. She looked at her reflection, then shook her head. I pulled it back in a bun. No again. I pulled it back and up in a nice clump with two bits hanging down the sides, giving her an interesting “Dusty Springfield” look. She looked at this, then smiled the most amazing smile, and nodded. I inwardly heaved an enormous sigh of relief.
“That’s it, Marla. Tonight we have to give you a makeover.” I said. She turned and looked at me. “Really?” she asked, like a little kid about to head to Mac Donalds. I asked who she wanted to do her hair? Wendy, she answered. Cool, I replied. This would be a piece of cake...
Suddenly we were interrupted by a quiet knock at the door. Marla and I froze!
“Marla, you in there?” It was Ronda’s voice. It sounded low and furtive.
“Uh...Ronda, is that you?...” whispered Marla, in a low urgent voice. Marla looked at me, and I began to look for somewhere to hide in the small room. Oh Shit on a stick, it was the world’s smallest bedroom. I was dead!
“Marla, why the f**k did you lock the f**king door. Open this now....you f**king bint...” I could hear the nastiness in her voice. Marla looked at me in despair. I looked back at her helplessly. Then I heard Ronda’s voice again...
“Open up, I need your markers and paper from the wardrobe. I need to do another f**king poster for that Jap Bitch and that f**king American slaphead...Marlaaaaaaa!!!”
I had one foot in the wardrobe which was stuffed with art supplies, when I heard these words, and I stopped. Poster? Markers...paper? Jap bitch? Slaphead? I looked at Marla. Marla went white. She shrank back away from the door.
I couldn’t believe it. All the time, it was Ronda who was the Mystery Letter and Note Writer. Ronda...RONDA....! BLOODY RONDA!!!
My blood boiling now, I went to the door and unlocked it, and stood back and crouched into a springing position, ready to charge. Ronda flung the door open and saw Marla, then me. She froze. Her face had a look of pure horror pasted onto it. I was the last person she ever expected to open that damn door.
Her whites of her eyes shone in the shadow of the door and her mouth was wide with amazement - she screamed like a dying man as I leapt on her right through the doorway. I landed on her like a cat and we careered across the landing into the wall where a painting fell and smashed on the floor. Ronda tried pushing me back, but I kept low and began punching her in the stomach and kicking with everything I had.
“You evil COW!” I roared!
She took some blows to her midriff and she was bouncing off the wall and another painting of a neat prim bespectacled man fell and shattered on the floor. I pulled my punches, just like my Grandad taught me. I heard the air getting knocked out of her. Then I swung a hard punch up with the full force of my body and it made an awful noise as it connected to her jaw and mouth. She levitated into the air at a crazy angle, and flew across the floor and landed on her back with a loud crash.
Just yards away, doors flew open and out from the room tumbled Avril and Wendy and Penny in a heap. They stared in horror at the sight of Ronda curled up on the floor and blood coming from her mouth as Marla stood outside her door, holding something, and I stood looking at Ronda as though I wanted to ....well, I don’t know what I looked like. I just knew what I felt like. I felt like kicking the sh*t out of her for all the lies and the deceit and hiding and denials, and ...and
“You sick .....BITCH!!!!!!” I roared.
“... You freeeaaaaakkkkk!” I yelled and I jumped into the air - feet in front of me and Ronda’s head right in my sights. Ronda screamed.
Avril caught me in mid air, not without some difficulty, and pulled me away. I would have missed Ronda’s head deliberately I think...at least I think I would have. Down the landing, my bedroom door opened and Debra and Megumi peered out and they came running down to us.
“What happened? Holy Cow...what did we miss...”
Marla stood over Ronda and dropped a pile of markers and paper on top of the bleeding and groaning Ronda. “Here’s those markers and paper sheets you asked for ...just like all those other times you asked....I’m not your friend any more...and I’m not having f**king sex with you any more, you psycho BITCH!"
Everyone stared at Ronda. Wendy walked up to Ronda and said in a wavering voice:-
“Damn Ronda, you are so busted!”
Epilogue
The sun’s absence didn’t stop our Birthday Picnic for Megumi going ahead, and we had our meal in the garden. We laid the large table that we carried out, and the eight chairs. I was cooking chips I had found and piles of chicken that we threw in the oven. Penny, Avril and I were overcooking, burning, and blackening everything but we didn’t care. We were all starving. Penny found Ice cream for dessert. We found it was vanilla flavour. It would do. Someone else found some blueberry muffins. Sweet.
I found a moment to steal away long enough to rummage through my baggage for a CD of music I completely cherished. I looked through some CDs I had. I picked out my favorite one. I loved the Pet Shop Boys and decided I would give Megumi my fave CD. I wrapped it in some paper I found in Marla's closet. I grinned widely as I looked at all the art materials hidden in the wardrobe, markers, paper, and paints. What a crazy house. What a crazy weekend it was.
I suddenly felt a tear dribble down my cheek. I had no idea why I did that. Sometimes facing the truth in my life just seemed to catch up on me. Sometimes things happened so fast and became crazy. I crept downstairs and took a long look around the room, at the utter mess in the kitchen and the TV room. I decided my friends and I were the laziest and untidiest women in England. I laughed out loud. I needed to get back to the birthday party in the garden.
Apparently, someone had sauntered off to the local shop and returned with a nice Birthday cake for Megumi. It was going to be a great birthday at that, given the weird events from days previous. We somehow survived it all. I loved my girls for all pitching in, doing our bit. All except Ronda.
She was upstairs in the toilet, with Wendy, who was checking Ronda’s injuries. It was a strangely cheerful group as we all chatted, and Ronda just was not on our minds. Just food. I only cared about Megumi. Avril brought out the cake, and it had candles on it, and Megumi was smiling like crazy. Marla scared the hell out of poor Megumi by producing a large poster – “Oh hell no, not again....oh wait –“ Avril’s yell turned into a laugh and we all laughed as Megumi thanked Marla for a slightly wonky but very colourful Birthday poster that said Happy Birthday Megumi! It turned out Megumi was 17! She was the eldest among us. And the smallest. And she was the happiest. She sat beside me, and she looked at me and suddenly gave me a kiss, and the girls all cheered and whooped. I looked at her with a smile. She really was a sweet kid, and I was stuck on her. I gave her the present and wished her a happy Birthday.
She opened it and asked me who were the Pet Shop Boys. I told her they were the best music group in the world and she would love the album. She looked at the title Behaviour. I told her later to put the first song "Being Boring" on repeat until she knew every word. She smiled at said she would.
When we were all starting to tuck into our food, Ronda appeared with amazing timing. Wendy sat opposite me and said Ronda was gonna be sore but she’d survive. She still had all her teeth, despite the haymaker I gave her. We toasted Megumi and friendship and gradually the day wore on and we ate and drank and yapped and Ronda was the least of my worries. Penny asked Megumi what she wanted for her birthday – and we fell silent. She looked at me and said it was okay. She had already received it. And we all laughed. I gave her a wink, and pointed at Ronda.
“Now there’s a sight for sore eyes....” I said. Megumi said “yes, her eyes look very sore, but she has had her punishment...” So we eased up on Ronda and she managed some food, chewing her food slowly. She avoided eye contact with anyone.
“To us...girly girls! The Eight Wonders of the World!” Debra laughed loudly, remembering her T—shirt. And we all raised our lemonade and we drank down and laughed. Debra raised a glass of lemonade to Ronda and called for another toast –
“To Ronda’s House...and Ronda’s Rules!”
“Hip hip-hooray!” We all cheered, laughing.
“F**k her and her rules...skanky bitch...!”yelled Avril.
Ronda just sat there quietly, and looked at us, then said quietly to Avril ...
“I hate you with every fibre of my body...”
Avril raised a middle finger and pointed it at Ronda, smiling a crazy smile. Ronda looked at her food and kept eating, and gradually she even managed to join in the fun a bit. But we were going to milk this for as much as we could, while the last bit of the weekend remained.
The afternoon wore on and we cleared up and enjoyed the garden and ran around and explored. And yes, we even caught Wendy and Penny having a snog together behind a well concealed bush, and we just let them get on with it. Love is love is love.
When we brought everything in it was getting cold and we locked up the kitchen. We cleaned and tidied up. That evening in the sitting room, Marla got a nice hairstyle, courtesy of Wendy, and it was really amazing. She looked much better, and she had a sparkle in her eye, despite the fact that she spoke the least. The simple fact was, as Debra pointed out - that she listened the most.
“Marla, are you even gay or lesbian at all?” asked Wendy.
Marla smiled round the room. “You know what, “she said slowly. “...I don’t know, but I’m having a great time. I don’t care any more...”
As the evening came and it was time to go to bed, I went with Megumi up the stairs and we showered and made ready for bed. I turned out the light, but Megumi motioned me over to the lit fire and we spread blankets in front of it, and then sat down. Megumi stared at the fire, in her dressing gown, squat in front of the warm fire. She was smiling and content, and happy. I sat beside her in my T-shirt and panties. The fire was toasty hot and we snuggled in front of the bright warmth. Her fingers found mine and mixed and intertwined with each other. I kissed her tenderly, and she closed her eyes and let me kiss her lips.
“I’ve had an amazing weekend, Cassy...” Said Megumi finally, and she looked at me adoringly. I said the weekend was a smash. We laughed. I kissed her on her mouth again. I told her she was magical. And I meant it. She told me she loved me. I told her I loved her too. She said “thank you for fighting for my honor.”
I smiled at her. I had never had a girl ever say that to me before. We looked at the fire together. I looked at Megumi. She was pretty and sexy and cute sitting there, her black hair hanging over her eyes. Are you ready, Megumi, I asked. She nodded.
We climbed into the bed. I tore off my T-shirt, and threw it aside. And we sat there and held hands and waited. A knock soon came on the door. I said it was open. In came Penny, Wendy and Debra. They were doing funny walks like catwalk models. Megumi smiled like a Cheshire cat. We looked at the three girls in their dressing gowns. They looked back at us, smiling shyly. Wendy winked at me. I winked back, then Penny blew me a kiss. I blew her one back.
“Did you save any for us, Gypsy Rose?” asked Debra with a teasing voice. Telling them we hadn’t started yet, I chuckled, as - in the darkness of the room, lit by nothing but the warm firelight, the three girls disrobed and giggled and climbed into the bed with us. We all - five girls snuggled into a big group in the middle of the big massive bed and watched the flames lick around the chimney space. The light from the window shone between the Venetian blinds and played on Megumi’s form, and she looked a picture sitting in the middle of us. Penny lay beside me and she smiled, as her hands roamed under the sheet across my flesh, and sent thrills up my spine.
"I see why you like her..." Penny's voice was low and soft. She looked at Megumi. We all paused and looked at Megumi. Megumi brushed her hair and smiled back, with that warm impassive glow she always had. Her gaze fell on me and her eyes sparkled with unspeakable meanings that only my senses could decipher.
“Well, Miss Enthusiasm...” I whispered in a low gentle voice. “Are you ready for this...?” Penny inched closer to me till we were almost touching noses and lips. I could tell she wanted me. Then a dark smooth hand followed by the rest of an arm snaked around my arm and up onto my breast and it was sweet Wendy Darling. Her lips nibbled my ear very gently. “Oh Cassy,” she whispered.
Then we all sank down into the blankets and lay together holding hands, and flesh to flesh...we did what girls like us did...and we went on doing it on and on into the evening as the flames licked their way up the warm chimney, so warm and inviting. The hotness filled us all and we were like otters as though in water for the first time, and we swam...and moved in a shoal of girls in the blankets, moaning and sighing and kissing together with every pair of lips or bits of flesh we could find in the bed. Sometimes it was Debra, and we locked lips, or a hand from Wendy would reach down somewhere and touch something, or a finger from Penny would touch a place and a sigh or moan would sound out. Or Megumi would touch me a certain way and I would explode in ecstasy. At some point I remember three mouths feeding on Megumi’s lip and neck and chest, and her eyes were staring at the ceiling and mouth open in a silent scream of sheer joy...
I remembered back to when Megumi told me on our first night together – how she used to be afraid of the fire – of getting burned by the flames of desire. As I kissed her and we all kissed each other, I remember thinking that Megumi would never be afraid of the flames or the firelight ever again.
The end.
Have you enjoyed "Megumi by the Firelight"? Want to join in the comments? Leave a comment and let me know.
"Megumi by the Firelight" is a chapter extract from a forthcoming book by Cassy Mantis. All text copyright (c) 2010 - 2016 Cassy Mantis. All rights reserved.
