A few days ago
"Via Sinclair? Is this right?" The guy from the counter shouted my name. "This order is for a woman named Via Sinclair. Miss Sinclair, your vibrator has arrived."
I knew that coming to a an actual shop for buying sex goods was not a good idea, but did he have to say that over the intercom?
Mortified, I hurried to the counter where the attendant had read my name. This was supposed to be a pick-up order so I could browse the littlest items in the store right after. The measurements online were sometimes wrong, so I had to see things in person. But dang it, the attendant was foul for mentioning my full name.
I smiled at the man nonetheless when I reached him. Yes, I know. I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it.
"E-Excuse me. . ."
"Are you Via?"
"Y-Yes."
He measured me with a look. Clicking his tongue at the hair over my face that occluded most of his view, he pushed the paper bag to me, mentioning, "This is your order."
I checked the package. It was wrong. "E-err, Sir?"
"Yes? Any problems?"
I pointed to the description. "I didn't want this kind of vibrator. I-I wanted the tube one?"
"This is the only one we have."
"But the internet description—"
"Just go to another shop."
My teeth were amply gritted by the time I left that place. Stupid shop. Stupid penis-looking vibrator. Stupid me for coming there.
I happened upon another shop's window pane and couldn't help but look at myself through the glass. My hair was red, supposed to be bouncy, but I managed to make it limp. My eyes were blue, yet they weren't the ocean. They were dead. And my lips that were supposed to be pouty were in a perfect foolish grimace. Why was I like this? Why was I such a loser? Why couldn't I stand up for myself?
My cellphone vibrated for the first time today. Hands shaking, I checked the message, but it was a spam.
Why isn't she messaging me?
I refreshed the screen. Still nothing. Maybe Eloise was busy.
I thought about her as I walked the streets. This woman, Eloise, was someone I met a year ago over a website. Strange, I know. I shouldn't have contacted first. It made me only sound like a serial killer. But Eloise gave her thoughts once in a group chat. Only once, mind you, and I was curious. She sounded familiar, even in chat. So I contacted her. She contacted me back.
I found myself liking her.
She was exactly the type that I was going for: submissive. It was funny when you think about it, in real life I came off like that, but I wanted to be something else.
There was a spring in my steps as I walked further, remembering my conversations with Eloise. She was always afraid in chat, hesitant, thought I knew that there was a spark there. Somewhere in Eloise's system was a lioness needing to be tamed, and I wanted, not to be the circus' lion tamer, but something more. Something I wasn't in real life. A real guide to her, sans the circus.
I entered the other shop that the guy from the one I left had recommended. This had a more low-key aura. Exactly my place. Quickly, I perused the shelves they had. Eloise had told me that she was a virgin. I was too, though I never told her that.
What would she think of her guide if I told her I was inexperienced in sex? She'd be horrified.
No, a Mistress like I wanted to be should be a shining light. An example. My thoughts were taken back to the shelves. What would fit Eloise? What would make her satisfied once I fucked her?
After getting the materials without the intervention of anyone with an intercom, I happily went back to the street. Eloise hadn't replied to my messages though.
Is she all right?
I chewed on my lips, a bad habit of mine. What if she got into an accident?
No, that was not the case. Still. . .
"Excuse me, Miss? Do you have the time?"
I checked my watch.
"No, no." The insistent-looking guy who asked touched my arm briefly. He had one of those convincing faces that would offer you something, may it be insurance, or perhaps a house.
"I—" Tell him. Tell him, Via. You're uncomfortable right now. Still, I smiled. "I just. . . W-what do you want?"
"I don't mean for you to give me the literal time, Ma'am." The guy winked at me. "I meant, give me your time."
"I'm not into casual hook-ups." I actually need a connection. Not that he needed to know that.
He chuckled at me. "Don't worry. I'm here on the job." He showed me a poster. "Do you know this woman?"
"Olana Holt?"
"Yes, exactly!" He gave me a massive smile. "She's fitted for Mayor, don't you think?"
"I—"
He pointed to Olana's face. "Her father is the real Mayor, not Calista. Calista Benning just replaced him last year. But due to Mayor Holt's sickness, he can't perform his duties anymore."
"He—"
"But," the man butted in. "His daughter, Olana, can. Olana's educated in London. She has all these degrees. She's also older than Miss Benning."
"S-sorry, but I have to go."
"Why?" He stepped in front of me, blocking my way. "Are you not interested in the future of our country? No, let me rephrase that. Are you not interested in the future of Willow?"
My hand gripped the paper bag I bought. "I just—"
"So vote for Olana for mayor."
"I won't."
"What do you mean you won't?"
I stared him dead in the eyes. "I'm voting for Calista."
"But—"
"Enough already."
The sudden shift in me made him uncomfortable. He stepped back as I stood straighter and flipped my hair back. It was few and far in between, but sometimes, I got into moods like that.
Especially when it came to this.
"M-Mind telling me why?" he asked. "Why are you voting for Calista Benning?"
I looked around the street but didn't see a poster of Calista. See, that was the difference between them. She didn't dirty the streets with silly things like posters.
Another difference?
I stared back at the man who was waiting for my answer. I sighed at him. How was I supposed to tell him in the simplest sentence?
"Because Calista Benning?" I shrugged. "I'm going to fuck her tonight."
Calista was my darling Eloise.
Calista didn't know that I knew about her yet, but the moment she sent me her picture on the chat, the one in the rain while she was overlooking a store glass, I instantly understood.
There were just glimpses in that picture. A jaw that could cut even a diamond. Shoulder-length hair. Brown eyes that could stop traffic. Her smile was veiled, though it came out confident and genuine.
Who would miss those qualities, even in a dark picture? Not me. Not someone who was keeping dirty thoughts too. So when I got that first picture, I was more than hooked. I knew it was Calista Benning, the mayor, all along.
Here was a powerful person in real life. A winner. A protector of our city at a younger age. But in our deepest, darkest moments, she was vulnerable only to me. And I was going to see her in person for the first time tonight. I couldn't wait.
The hotel that Calista and I would meet in was near the edge of the city. VIP only.
I was careful to keep this kind of transaction secret, even if it came at a high cost.
Thinking of the earlier encounter in the store, I couldn't help but wince. Imagine that man calling my name over the intercom. If anyone found out. . .
I entered the room I was going to use with Eloise—err, Calista. A few moments later, she stumbled in, looking like a mirage in a desert, unsure of herself.
My heart almost burst out of my chest. Calista was prettier in person. No TV or internet photo could give her justice. My stomach fumbled but I remained strong. I could remember taking the vibrator that I cleaned after buying, and her pleading with a small voice, "Veronica, please be gentle."
But that only heightened my senses more. She was here. She was mine.
My eyes met her conflicted ones. "I'm sorry, but I won't."
A day later, I woke up smiling. We finally did it.
I was not a virgin anymore, plus, Eloise? No, Calista was a dream.
She had gone on her knees whenever I told her, and accepted every lick, every smash, every rocking we did. I shivered in delight as I remembered her buckling, and then calling my name before she orgasmed. Not once but the whole night. She'd embraced me so tightly as if she didn't want to let go. I rolled in my bed. Maybe we should take this a step further? Maybe I should formally ask her to be my girlfriend. Or were we already that after what we shared?
My smile vanished as I saw a face staring at me like a ghost beside the door. "Via? Are you all right?"
"T-Theodore!"
I bunched up the blanket over me, knowing all too well that I had been sleeping in my undies. "W-what are you doing here? C-can you please leave for a second?"
Theodore noticed then what was going on and instantly turned around. "Oh crap! My bad!"
"J-just leave okay? Give me five minutes!"
I stumbled around after he left, grabbing my clothes. And then pushing the leather ones I used last night with Calista back into my duffel.
Five minutes had come and gone, and Theodore kept his promise, only returning by that time. "You gave me quite a scare," he said, his black bangs shoved away from his face.
I gave him a sheepish smile, which he returned.
"Stop calling me Theodore, by the way," he reminded. "It's too. . ."
"Manly?" I offered, thinking nothing of it. Yet I saw his wince. "I. . . I'm sorry. But you know what I mean. It's also your name."
Theodore was not that buff of a man, as opposed to his name. How would I put it? He was simply too beautiful for his own good.
His parents, according to him, was from Korea, but Theodore grew up in Willow. I met him a few years ago in a competition, and we got talking. Maybe the fact that I didn't call him bad things even though his peers did made him stick to me. But I couldn't see why he was worried.
Theodore was a good fighter, even if he was "too pretty." He was even a police.
Right now, he was being pesky, going to my store when it wasn't even opened. Maybe I left the back door ajar again. "What are you doing here?" I repeated.
"What are you doing here, Via?" He returned the question.
"This is my store."
"Yes, I know. But you practically live here."
"I don't have a house."
"You know that's not true." He motioned around. "You should go home."
"I am home, silly." I gestured around the store too. "Yes, it's a bit small, but my costume shop is the best in the city. Plus," I added, when I saw him opening his mouth to argue. "I told Dad I'd move."
"Did he agree though?"
"I had been telling him for a while now."
He sighed at me before looking around. "Yeah, but the back room of the store hardly qualifies for moving, is it, Via? Heh, no matter. You want coffee?"
"Yes, please. I'll tidy up while you go and get it."
He didn't complain as I pushed him out of the store a second time. I wasn't normally like this, but I needed to hide things.
I grabbed the vibrator that I left in the corner of the room.
That, for one, should be kept somewhere more private.
My breath hitched once again as I remembered Calista and her legs. It was like—oh!
It felt like something kicked me in the stomach. What the hell?
"Oh!" There it was again!
"Here's your coffee." Theodore had come back. "Hey, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm—ugh!"
"Via, what's the matter?"
"Maybe I'm constipated."
"Here." He took a chair from the corner. "Sit."
"Okay—ugh!" But something was wrong. Very wrong. Something was pushing in my stomach. It felt ready to explode."I need to go the hospital. P-Please take me."
Minutes later and the constipation was getting worse. It felt like something was wedged between my uterus and my freaking anus.
"Here's the doctor." Theodore pushed her to me.
"What—"
"Doctor." I clutched her hand. "I'm severely constipated."
The woman whose name tag was Doctor Sanders took one good look at me. And then called the nurses.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Theodore asked.
I was lifted to a bed, nurses and Doctor Sanders fawning over me. At the same time, Theodore seemed to get a call, to which he answered quickly.
"I can't right now," he said. "I don't care! Via's. . . Okay, Sir. I understand." I could see his face over the nurses' heads. He swiveled back to me. "A crime had just happened, Via."
"Go," I groaned, waving him with a hand.
"But—"
"I can manage this. It's just constipation."
"Are you going to be all right?"
"Sir," a nurse said to him. "Sir, you need to leave."
"I'll come back for you, Via."
"Just go."
I groaned as soon as I saw him slip away. Where was my phone? Should I call Dad? Calista's face came to mind.
Should I contact her? She'd be worried. I normally messaged every single day as Veronica.
The constipation intensified. "Oh my God!" I cried. Ow!
Doctor Sanders came back to me. "What's your name?"
"Via."
"Okay, Via, are you aware that you're in labor?"
"What labor?" I struggled to think. "You mean Labor day? I'm not like that laborer. I'm a costume—"
"Via, you're pregnant. Are you aware of even that?"
"P-pregnant? I'm not the Virgin Mary." I mean, I had sex just last night, but I was pretty sure Calista was a woman. She had lady parts and everything. The nurses were now doing something to my stomach and looking at a small screen.
I almost grabbed one of them before crying out. It felt like I was being split apart. "Is it cancer?"
"No, it's a baby. We don't have much time." Doctor Sanders turned to the others. "Prep immediately."
I clutched onto the doctor's hand. "Is it treatable?"
"You're in shock. Of course you are, Via. But it's not cancer."
"Oh God, do I have to do chemo?"
Someone spread my legs while others covered the space with a curtain. "Via, honey. This is an emergency. I need you to push."
"Doctor, am I dying?"
"You got to push, sweetheart. This is the only way to get it out."
"I-I can't," I said. "This is why I'm constipated. I'd been mentally pushing!"
"Push!"
I breathed between my mouth. "B-but I'll poop! In the bed!"
"Get your baby out."
"I can't have a baby. Oh my God!"
"Push, Via!"
I didn't push. I refused to. This was insane!
I had sex with a woman. Calista Benning! She was running for Mayor. I had to vote.
"Push, Via!"
I couldn't hold it anymore. "Argh!" I screamed. What the freaking hell!
And there it was, the wailing of a baby.
"Congratulations, Via." The Doctor brought the little one over to me. "What are you going to name her?"
"Calista Benning," I murmured, my eyes growing heavier. "Calista Benning is the mother. Calista, where are you. . . I need you. . ."