The only word that came to mind was surreal. It was absolutely and unequivocally bizarre for Danni to find herself so abruptly thrown into such an unexpected and tension laden position following the conclusion of Chloe’s arrival at her household. She sat, idle, face painted in a stoic expression of bland indifference to the buzz of conversation centred on Chloe. Her neutral demeanour hid the warring variety of thoughts that swirled around her head like any other topic that seemed to find herself fixating on ever since moving to her new home. In a manner of speaking it was curiously pleasant for her to no longer be dogged by the almost cliché (for those who knew Danni’s thought process before coming to the USA) train of thought she was used to. On the other hand, she discovered that the issues of romance provided their own level and quantity of fixations that proved to be bothering in an almost relentless fashion.
The most recent of these would be her families constant questioning of the details of both Danni and Chloe’s relationship, even extending to the more intimate details. Whilst Danni’s response, or lack of response, culminated with most of the family ultimately ignoring her silent presence and instead turned their attention to Chloe in the search for answers.
Chloe always had a cool demeanour, she’d have to be considering the daring acts she had committed herself to in the short few months that Danni had known her. Still, she sat there with a proud smile on her face as she composed herself with her hands on her lap while she crossed one leg over the other as the plethora of questions (mainly from Cinder, Audrey and Stephen. Karim and Danni’s two siblings weren’t overly interested in the topic, Danni imagined that if her father wanted to know anything he would ask her privately) were launched at her relentlessly.
Cinder took a long, elegant sip of her tea as Chloe finished off answering one of Audrey’s questions, the women was practically giddy over her daughter’s first relationship and wanted every single detail. Meanwhile the more composed, critical matriarch of the family held a far more critical and analytical method of enquiry.
“Miss Jean, are you originally from France or is it simply the foundation of your ancestry?” Cinder asked politely (if that was in fact possible for her) as she absent-mindedly traced her finger around the rim of her cup.
“I was born here, my Dad lived in France until he came here for College, then he met my Mother.” Chloe answered straight-forwardly as she laced and unlaced her fingers more out of boredom over the simplicity of questions rather than anything anxiety related.
“Oh I see. Danielle was born in Saudi Arabia, her Father and mine’s home. It’s a conservative place but practically a beacon of liberality and tolerance in comparison to some of our sibling nations.” Cinder’s eyebrows shot up as she mentioned the †˜sibling nations’ in a disrespectful manner that she seemed to use whenever she acted sarcastic and critical of others.
“Can we please not turn this into a debate on politics? God knows it’s far from perfect…” Karim rolled his eyes and refocused his attention on his youngest children making sure they were occupied. It didn’t look like a pleasant task to have given Samantha’s compulsive need to do something and when she wasn’t she was probably annoying Gideon in some way. Though Karim (usually) always had a smile on his face while doing so.
“I hated it there…” Danni muttered under her breath in passing reference, hoping to express herself so distanced from the actual topic of conversation that no-one would actually expect her to continue.
“Of course you wouldn’t dear…” Cinder grabbed the end of Danni’s skirt with her thumb and index finger before lifting it beyond what Danni was comfortable with in order to draw it to the centre of the group’s attention. To be perfectly accurate, Danni was in no way comfortable with Cinder touching or lifting her skirt at all for emphasis. “If you went about wearing something like this where your Father I and grew up...” Cinder began before Danni swatted her hand away and inched further along the sofa.
“I have lived there before. I know what happens.” Danni said dejectedly as she smoothed out her skirt while she refused to look at her Auntie’s face, frowning at the fabric she was busying herself with.
“No need to be so cold with me dear. I was the one who convinced your Father that accepting his current employment, and by extension moving around the world, would be beneficial for both your education of other cultures and for you personally.” Danni finally whipped her head up to actively acknowledge her Auntie’s presence for the first time in hours and Cinder merely reaffirmed the statement with a casual nod before gesturing an open palm at Karim.
“She likes to hold that one over me like it’s worthy of being used as blackmail…” Karim sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly “I wanted to stay in Riyadh, the capital, since the job was easy and paid quite a lot. The company I work for now contacted me and asked how much they would need to pay me to work oversees. Money wasn’t important really since we were already earning too much to know what to do with and I didn’t like the idea of pulling you out of school at a moment’s notice to take you to a country that spoke a language you didn’t know.” Karim explained in a droll way that sounded as if he was almost amused by his own previous opinions.
“Nothing to really worry about then since I speak six languages because of it.” Danni let out a giggle at her Father’s over-protectiveness and even Cinder smiled.
“Mmm,” Cinder hummed in agreement “He was always a sissy.” The whole room exploded with laughter and Cinder was so surprised at the sudden change in mood that her eyes shot open and she almost fumbled her tea out of her hands.
“I never expected you to say that Mother!” Stephen beat the arm of his chair in appreciation of the humour and a slight flush of pink descended over Cinder’s face. Chloe took notice of that part particularly, something that Danni did a lot herself. Perhaps it was a family trait?
Cinder took a moment to recompose herself and sip her drink before clearing her throat and waiting for the laughter to die down “Well, regardless of what I can only describe as my poor wording, Karim has always been a neurotic man.”
“Dad? Neurotic? You’re pulling our legs! He’s basically in charge of an entire company!” Danni was finally alive with emotion like Chloe thought she should be, bubbly and bursting with questions as she bounced on the edge of her seat. In the meantime Karim had shrunken back into his seat a little and was either offering a silent prayer or cursing his sister’s name. Probably both.
“Oh you mean he’s never told you?” A large, almost sadistic smirk crossed across Cinder’s mouth and she turned to face Karim.
“I swear I’m going to kill you Cinder…” he threatened as he sighed louder than ever before, knowing full well that the threat wasn’t going to do anything other than convince Cinder to continue her story.
“Maybe you’ll actually follow through with it for once.” Cinder winked and then turned towards Danni “Allow me to tell you the most wondrous and comedic tale to ever be born out of Karim Ulistani’s life to date…” Cinder spoke in a cheerful and teasing style even going so far as to gesture quite wildly with her hands, evoking a suppressed laugh from Danni. “When your Father was a young man, not too long after he and your Mother had graduated university, he went to apply to a moderately prominent position in a local company back in the home country. Anyway, he had always been able to find some way to ignore or cope with the pressure, but he had so little time to prepare himself for the interview and knowing that he only had one chance to succeed…well…let’s say that he had sweated his body weight and they had to call a whole team of janitors to clean it up.” Cinder chuckled to herself while Danni swung around, hand clenched over mouth to hide her smile and stared at her Father.
Karim could see very well the request that shone in Danni’s eyes and eventually he relented against his own determination to stay quiet and with a sigh he massaged his forehead in exasperation “That’s an exaggeration. It wasn’t a whole team…”
“More like two teams…” Audrey muttered in a sing-song fashion and Karim glared at her while she kept her focus entirely on the drink in her hands, only occasionally looking up to inspect her younger children, effectively ignoring Karim. Eventually Audrey looked at her wristwatch and theatrically gasped, which for everyone was all too obviously fake and yet she continued with the act, “I should go prepare dinner before it burns!” Audrey exclaimed and bolted out of the room as Karim simply rolled his eyes at his partner.
“Coward!” He called after her and the only response that came back at him was a brief cackle of laughter. Karim tilted his head towards his sister with a blasé look on his face “And you say I’m neurotic, she dashes off when I stare at her.” Cinder went back to inspecting her nails, gently blowing off some dirt on the end of one particular nail before regarding Karim with confusion as if she hadn’t entirely heard him when it was clear she had.
“Sorry Karim, were you talking to me?” A sadistic smile had formed across Cinder’s face as she regarded her younger brother resulting in him rolling his eyes and slumping into his chair.
“Wonderful to have you over as always Cinder.” Karim said almost despondently while staring up to the cream coloured ceiling with Cinder stifling her own chuckle, causing her brother even the slightest form of grief was always a pleasing experience for her.
Karim checked his watch and saw that the hours had been quickly slipping away from them over the course of the afternoon, culminating in the fact that the time had reached seven o’clock already. Astonished at the time already he looked over to Chloe with wonder as to what she would. He knew that her parents had passed on and her uncle was generally out of the country, he had no desire to send her home in the winter when it was already pitch-black dark at this time.
Driving Chloe was one option of course, but Karim was always safety conscious. Maybe it was partly because of Gideon’s weak health that had made him so cautious and wary, but he had no desire whatsoever to drive Chloe home when it was dark and on slippery roads. That left him with only one viable option of course.
“Chloe, I don’t imagine you have a way home tonight do you?” Karim asked after quickly dragging himself back up his seat. He regarded her with a weak smile making it quite obvious that even Cinder’s and his wife’s fragile attempt at annoying him that he had quickly become worn out.
Danni had always been an observant girl, she had always noticed how in the short months following her family’s moves between and within countries, that her Father’s work as well as his priorities of looking after and supporting his household drained him physically. Having Cinder over and learning of his daughter’s sexuality must have almost certainly been even more draining for him. Because of this Danni felt slightly guilty, she realised that perhaps she hadn’t chosen the best moment to admit her homosexuality to her father, but because of Emily’s sickeningly antagonistic attitude to her cousin, Danni was left with no choice but to make do with what she was provided with.
Meanwhile, in response to Karim’s inquisition, Chloe tilted her head at the question and gently smiled back at the man “No sir, it wasn’t on my mind when I rushed over here.” Chloe admitted in a manner that was all too shy for her colourful and exuberant personality, the faintest of blushes highlighting both her cheeks as well as her embarrassment over the lack of thought Chloe had applied to her own scheme. Obviously, this took precedence of Danni’s constantly shifting mental accolades and considerations. She considered how cute Chloe looked and despite its almost alien nature on Chloe’s countenance. She then realised that, even if by the most indirect of methods and logic, it was in fact Danni who had grafted Chloe’s beautifully artistic features with that softest of pinks. If it hadn’t of been Chloe’s worry and fear for her lover, she probably would have never made that expression ever. The realisation dawned on the young girl and she clasped her hands over her face, more out of embarrassment of having Chloe be so worried for her, and she let out a groan of resigned happiness and awkwardness over having such an important role to play with her girlfriend. Also keep in mind that this was merely caused over seeing her girlfriend blush at a lack of consideration. Truly a neurotic girl if there was ever one. “Are you all-right Danni?”
Danni ripped her hands away from her face, still crimson with her all too common affliction of blood rising to the surface of her skin, to see Chloe, lips slightly parted in her confident smirk that was mixed with amusement as she locked eyes with her lover. “Huh? Oh…yeah just…thinking is all…” Danni stumbled to an answer with a lack of cohesion and detail.
“The point of thinking darling is to not speak out loud. Perhaps we need some training in that matter?” Cinder chided in a means that obviously seemed to please herself.
Karim sighed “Anyway, I was going to ask you if you wished to spend the night or not? It seems like the easiest thing to do given the time of day. I can drive you back home in the morning. Is that okay?”
“Allow me to stay? That would…” Chloe seemed taken aback a bit by the offer, she had barely been able to process how Karim had let her stay in his home after kissing his daughter right in front of him and now he was allowing her to stay the night? The man was quickly forming the image of some kind of saint or equally altruistic being in her head. She cleared her throat and calmed the swirl of confusion in her head momentarily to answer serenely “I would be very grateful to you sir.”
And with that, Karim emphatically brought his hands down on his armchair “Good! You can stay in Danielle’s room with her, I trust you won’t get up to any funny business right? I was a kid too…” Karim trailed off at the end of his sentence with a look of reminiscence about him, after a moment or two he did however come back to reality.
As expected, Danni looked slightly frustrated by the all too appropriate expectation of what Danni and Chloe would have gotten up if they had been allowed, looking at her Father like he had suitably pushed her buttons by bringing the topic up. No teenager likes to discuss sex with their parents, even less like being told they can’t have sex.
“Don’t worry Mister Ulistani, I promise there won’t be anything going on today between me and Danielle, I assure you.” Chloe was acting all too respectful of Karim and Danni raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the blonde and tried to figure out what she was playing at. Sure, Chloe was usually quite an upstanding young woman when she wasn’t having the plethora of sex in places and means that were no doubt illegal, but she was acting like some Victorian suitor coming to try and earn Danni’s hand in marriage from her wealthy and socially esteemed father. Regardless, her thoughts were interrupted as Audrey called from the kitchen.
“Dinner’s ready everyone! Take your seats!” Everyone rose from their seats and headed towards the dining room, with Audrey’s wonderful and filling food that made Danni salivate at the mere mention of the food, and she finally got to share the food she had always boasted about with the love of her life.
The afternoon faded into night, shadows cast across the suburban tranquil slice of heaven that Danni lived in. The brunette herself, was in her PJ’s after the sizable meal that had managed to appease her appetite and thanks to her out of control metabolism, it wouldn’t add anything to her already petit frame. Her pyjamas consisted of pink shorts and a long sleeved, buttoned up pink shirt that only helped to accentuate her feminineness.
On the other side of the bed to her was Chloe, sat on the edge while she was busing herself with tying her hair back into a loose ponytail to sleep with. She had a simplistic grey tank top and black PJ trousers with her initials stitched into each leg. She was neither hurried nor sluggish about the way in which she applied herself about the task she had set herself on, a perfect way in order to describe the way she went about life. The girl who only spent an adequate amount of time on whatever she set her mind to, perfectly calm and considerate with no exception to ever toil in something unrelated whilst she always committed everything she physically could.
She stood up to stretch before something seemingly caught her eye, Danni watched her love as she fiddled with her own hair, brushing it behind her shoulders and removing the ribbons from her hair that was usually draped over her shoulders. With one methodical step after the other, Chloe moved about the room in the manner that only she seemed capable of. Moving with a form of graceful awkwardness that could only be best described as Chloe-esc. She focused on every minor detail of the room, never moving to mention what was on her mind as she no doubt went about analytically pondering the implications of the significance it would bear. Usually Danni would have been fairly patient of the blonde, waiting for her to come to her conclusion and discussing it with her, but the day had been equally draining for her as it had her father, so she simply decided to skip the foreplay and skip to the question and answer segment of this little game.
“What’s on your mind Chlo-Chlo?” She asked as nonchalantly as she could achieve, which for her was not at all, with clear nervousness and apprehension all about her with her shaky voice and nervous hands.
“Hmmm?” Chloe teased with her pink lips curving upwards in a rather seductively sadistic smile as she toyed with the brunette.
“It seems like there’s something on your mind is all…” Danni swung her legs of the edge of her bed, eyes firmly fixed on the hypnotising rhythm of her limbs as they swayed back and forth.
“Just thinking that…” Chloe began as she slowed her pace to the agonising, taking far too long on something as simple as Danni’s desk with her observation “…that your room is incredibly girly-girl my love.”
Initially all Danni responded with was a quizzical look at her partners almost sarcastic-ridden look. “Well, yeah. What else did you expect, death metal posters? Satanism alters?” Danni said in a condescending and ridiculous tone.
Chloe shrugged back, still smiling to herself “So like a really watered down version of Blake?” Danni barely managed to stifle a giggle at the comment about their friend “I don’t know in all honesty. Never judge a book by its cover and all that. At the same time don’t judge a book by the appearance of the contents.” Chloe petered off onto another topic, no doubt trying to start a thought provoking conversation.
“So…don’t judge a book…at all?” Danni tilted her head in confusion.
“No silly. A lot of authors tend to leave hidden messages within the story of a book itself, the plot is more of a tool designed to deliver entertainment while inside the structure and narrative lies contextual and personal reasoning and philosophy. Fair to say a lot of writers are more like walking talking propaganda machines, with their works as a literary means to spread their messages to those intelligent enough to decipher them. Though people often get it wrong.” Chloe explained, leaving Danni’s head spinning.
“So…let me ask you a question then…what if someone wrote a story about us? What would be the message in that narrative?” Danni quizzed and Chloe looked off into space for a few moments as she heavily considered what someone could be trying to explain with their tale.
“Probably that no matter what a minority might appear like, their relationships and experiences are as mundane and simple as anyone else’s? That something different isn’t…different? Something along those lines.”
“Seems rather…obvious.” Danni responded with.
“Maybe that’s the point?” Chloe said back and Danni bobbed her head to the side in silent agreement.
Chloe continued her mindful wandering around Danni’s room, with the brunette idly watching the blonde until she found her patience wearing thin again. “Okay, so what was the whole point of bringing up my room again?” Danni inquired and Chloe solely responded with the shrug of her shoulders before running her finger against the pink painted walls.
“I was just thinking it was rather cute. Though honestly, the only thing that could have possibly made it more feminine was if you had a whole drawer devoted to doilies or something.” Chloe rolled her eyes at her own attempt at humour until she heard the vocal clearing of Danni’s voice. She swivelled around to look at Danni to see the girl pointing at a particular drawer in her desk. Chloe raised her eyebrow in slight confusion, mixed with intrigued. She gradually pulled the drawer out from the desk only to discover that it was filled with a variety of doilies, numerous in both colour and styles.
At first, Chloe didn’t know how to react. Her face was of quiet contemplation alongside an expression which could only accurately be described as a form of disappointment to be so correct about predicting something like that.
“Holy shit I can predict the future! I’m omniscient!” Chloe called out sarcastically in an exaggerated tone before turning to do holding up one of the doilies “Seriously, I love you, but this is ridiculous!” Chloe laughed, doubling over in laughter at the almost ludicrous and absurd level of femininity her lover contained.
“Yeah okay. I’m a girl. The most feminine girl to have ever been born…and the only reason I have those is because they belonged to my Grandmother!” Danni said with a defensive tone as she blushed. Chloe held her hands out in an apologetic gesture as she moved over to sit on Danni’s side of the bed, staring into the brown eyes of the brunette for what seemed like an immeasurable length of time. Her movements and actions such as her breathing and the dip of her head whenever she looked down Danni’s body returned to the excruciating speed they had been when she was exploring the confines of Danni’s room.
Caught in the entrance of the methodically slow movements of her girlfriend, Danni was almost removed from the passage of time, keeping Chloe in her perfect image as she played with her hair or felt about the blankets of her bed, eventually Danni snapped back to reality as Chloe took hold of the brunette’s chin with their lips almost touching to the point where Chloe’s breath was brushing along all of her features.
“W-Wait…” Danni begged as Chloe feathered a kiss against her lips, resulting in Danni tilt her head into the kiss and moan in the desire for more.
“What was that?” Chloe teased as she bit down on her lips trying to use whatever willpower she had to stop herself from attacking the adorable mess of a lover that had been placed in front of her.
“We promised my Father…” Danni reminded Chloe of their promise not to get up to anything teenagers their age would no doubt get up to if they were unsupervised.
Chloe quickly waved her other hand in the space between them as if to dispel Danni’s argument “Not to worry, look at the time my love.” Chloe pointed to Danni’s clock, to see that the time read just after 12 AM the very next day. “I promised that nothing would happen between us today” Chloe accentuated †˜today’ rather emphatically “I am Chloe, mistress of all loopholes!” Chloe chuckled and Danni couldn’t help but smirk at her lover’s attempt at humour.
“You’re a dork.” Danni kissed Chloe lovingly, a level of passion without growing to intoxication alongside that love.
“But the dork you love” Chloe kissed her back, and Danni had come to realise just how much they loved each-other. She was willing to defy her own Father in his house for this girl. Even if they did get by on a technicality. She couldn’t care at all about the consequences of being found, she just cared about Chloe.