Just as Lucy was satisfied that neither Ryan nor Sammi would never think of saying Rebecca's name in Naomi's presence again, a certain redhead made her way into the bedroom, bounding towards the dollhouse-birdcage in anger.
"Lucy, you have five seconds to explain why Naomi was crying in my lap," Lorelei said in her feather-light, razor-edged tone of true fury.
"We'd been discussing Naomi's earlier relationships," Lucy said slowly, Sammi translating to make up for the squeak-speak language gap. "We just finished talking about Rebecca, ex number one. I was about to tell Sammi and Ryan about ex number two."
Lorelei was livid, but knelt beside the cage anyway. "Toy, I want you to keep translating. I want to hear this."
Sammi nodded in fear, unwilling to go against an angry Lorelei.
Lucy sighed. "Well, we have to go back 14 years . . ."
\14 Years Ago//////
16-year-old Naomi Cruz adjusted her glasses over her nose, still not used to the sensation of them being there. "Okay, Lucy, I want you to hide, okay? Make sure my tutor doesn't see or hear you- I'd kinda rather she doesn't know about you, or by extension me."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Lucy said, immediately rushing to the relative safety of the dollhouse, now seated firmly beside a lamp to better allow light inside.
Naomi left the room, the tremors accompanying her footfalls growing faint as she grew further away. Not too long afterward, she returned, accompanied by a somewhat short woman, with a very elegant look to her- high cheekbones, a large, sweeping forehead, eyes slanted in a very Asian way, and an olive skin tone betraying Mediterranean descent. What drew Lucy's attention, though, was the large chest in proportion to the body- essentially guaranteeing that her owned would have a crush on the tutor before the session was out.
"So, Ms. Thetonopolous," Naomi started, "thank you for agreeing to tutor me on such short notice . . . I kinda suck where European history is concerned," the girl said, being brutally honest about her own faults.
"History comes with memorization- your memory cannot be that poor, can it?" The tutor smirked, offering a compliment so backhanded the insult was plain as day. "And please, call me Pria- my last name is just so stuffy. Besides, you pronounced it improperly."
"R-right," Naomi said, facing the floor. "I'm- I'm sorry Ms.- er, I mean, uh, Pria," the younger girl said, blushing up to her ears.
Pria smiled widely. "Now, let us begin."
((((((Now))))))
"Wait a second," Lorelei said, her voice surprisingly hesitant. "You can't mean to tell me that Naomi dated this chick, can you?"
"Not for the reasons you might think," Lucy said sadly.
\14 Years Ago//////
Naomi had taken to frequently inviting Pria in by herself, given how frequently her parents were out- Gloria usually arrived before the tutoring sessions were over to see the woman out, though.
"So, you're telling me your sister won't be showing up and breathing down my neck partway through our session?" Pria asked, with a mild grin.
Naomi shook her head. "She left me by myself tonight, because she's pulling an all-nighter studying with some friends of hers from the college."
Pria nodded. "That's much better. Truth be told, I don't think she likes me very much."
Naomi blushed. "No, it's that she doesn't trust me. There's something you need to know-"
"You're a lesbian," Pria said, not allowing Naomi to finish. "I know. It's not exactly something you keep secret- I don't even think you're capable of keeping secrets."
From her hiding spot in the dollhouse, Lucy silently scoffed. The things Pria didn't know about Naomi could blow her mind.
Naomi, for her part, stammered and stuttered nonsensically, and rushed out of the room. "I have to use the bathroom!" The teenager called by way of poor excuse.
Meanwhile, the tutor grinned, before checking a few of Naomi's stuffed animals for a reason she didn't voice aloud. Then, once her check of the room was completed to her liking, she opened a small container from her pocket and dumped it in Naomi's glass of iced tea.
Lucy was confused, but didn't dare speak out.
((((((Now))))))
"No," Lorelei whispered softly. "She didn't . . ."
Lucy nodded gravely, and everyone present had their faces contort in anger.
"She was sixteen!" Ryan yelled, startling everyone with uncharacteristic rage.
Lorelei nodded, to indicate Lucy continue. "From now on, I need to know everything, Luce."
\14 Years Ago//////
When Naomi returned, she took a long, nervous drink of her newly-spiked iced tea, and looked at anything she could that wasn't Pria's face. She grimaced slightly at her drink's altered taste, but made no comment. "This won't . . . be a problem, though, right?"
"I've tutored you this long," Pria said with a dangerous smirk, "and we haven't had any issues. Should it be? Should I fear for my body, Naomi? Do you intend to force yourself on me?"
"N-never," Naomi stuttered, taking another quick drink of her iced tea. "I just want my girlfriend to love me . . . yeah, you're hot, but . . ."
"But?" Pria asked calmly, her eyebrow raised.
Naomi shook her head violently, as if to clear it. "You're my tutor . . . you wouldn't love me. You know how stupid I am sometimes."
Pria laughed, putting her hand on her teenage pupil's shoulder. "And anyone who dates you won't? I care about you, Naomi, and-"
Naomi suddenly shifted forward, practically pouncing on Pria, knocking the twenty-year-old against the dollhouse, soundly knocking Lucy out.
\The Next Morning//////
Naomi woke, groaning, waking Lucy at the same time. Lucy watched as Naomi's face quickly flushed with realization at what she had done the previous night- before immediately draining in horror.
Pria stirred awake beside Naomi, and the sixteen-year-old began to panic as her tutor's eyes began to open. The older female's face smiled lightly as she yawned, before contorting in anger so unbelievable Lucy thought it might have been fake.
"You . . . ugly bitch!" Pria said, throwing punches at Naomi that landed with a terrible lack of resistance. "I tell you I care about you, and you decide that's an okay to shove me down and fuck me?! No wonder I'm the only person who loves you!"
Naomi sat through the vicious assault, whimpering and sobbing lightly, accepting the punishment Pria felt right to dish out. However, you could practically see her ears perk up at Pria's words. "You . . . love me?" Naomi said in soft confusion, her gaze timidly shifting to Pria.
"Well, yeah," Pria replied quickly- Lucy was offended by how audacious the lie was, as anyone could see that Pria's anger and "love" towards Naomi were absolutely fake.
Anyone, that was, except Naomi herself. She bought the lie, and hugged Pria immediately, sobbing apologies into the woman's arm, begging forgiveness.
Lucy felt sick merely watching all this- how could her friend and owner be so easy to fool?
((((((Now))))))
"This bitch," Lorelei said, trembling with rage, "had the nerve- the fucking gall- to drug Naomi, take advantage of her, and then claim she loved her?!" The titanic redhead was barely containing the urge to rush out of the house, find wherever Pria lived now, and kill her a few dozen times.
"Lorelei," Lucy said quietly, and Sammi translated as she had been, "do everyone a favor and calm down."
"Calm down? Are you kidding? I just learned that my fiancee's first time was given to a rapist!" Lorelei's tone was caustic. "How would letting that bitch go about her normal life be doing Naomi a favor?"
"Lorelei, I want you to think about something," Lucy started by way of reply. "What do Ryan and I, and now Sammi, do as Naomi's pets? What would you say our job is, that justifies Naomi throwing her money around to care for us?"
Lorelei shrugged. "I didn't think you did anything."
Lucy sighed. "To try to repay all that Naomi does- she feeds me, she houses me, she takes care of me when I'm sick- my job is to keep her happy. She has a bad day, I'm right there to try to make it all better. She's feeling unattractive again, I'm here to tell her she's beautiful, she's sexy, and whatever someone else said wasn't something they meant. She's crying, I'm right there to be her tissue if need be. Sound familiar?"
Lorelei's eyes widened. "I do all that for her," she whispered.
Lucy nodded. "Naomi has a lot of money now, a lot of love to give, but her bubble of joy is really easy to pop if you seriously want to. So, she throws all that money and affection at people she hopes will never leave her. She's scared, Lorelei. Short of me, everyone she's ever loved left her or made her leave for years. The only reason Gloria came back into her life was because she was following you," the tiny brunette said, starting to cry. "I wish I could be enough for her. I really do, but . . . I can't date her. So I tried to help her find someone who could, and now . . . I think I've been replaced. You love her as much as I do, you're just about as dependent on her as I am, so she knows you'd never leave, and I just . . ." Lucy completely breaks down in sobs, giving up the ghost for the first time in far too long, exposing the fears and doubts she felt she had to hide for years.
Ryan and Sammi hug their "roommate", and Lorelei gives Lucy's words some thought. Eventually, Lucy regains her composure, and resumes telling the story.
"So it began," she continued, not bothering with imitating voices or acting anything out, just sitting there and telling the story she'd never wanted to witness. "Naomi would go out for hours on end, and come back home, always with new bruises, always apologizing to me for being such an ugly bitch- I kinda hadn't told her how I felt about her yet- and yet she never once complained. There were times I think Pria slept with her again, because those were the nights Naomi came back happy and loved, but even then there were new bruises- and never on Naomi's face or hands. Always easy ones to cover up. I never spoke up, though- I had no idea what to say. I knew something felt wrong, but I just kept feeling scared of what Naomi would do once I told her what I felt. So I bottled it up. I never said a word wrong about Pria to Naomi."
The girl took a breath and continued. "Eventually, that May, Pria got bored of Naomi and dumped her. I've never seen her so broken. I helped where I could, but . . . I started just being there to comfort her, and she eventually felt better."
Lucy excused herself, and rushed off to the small home's bathroom.
Sammi, glad to no longer be translating, looked up at Lorelei. "I know Lucy said you shouldn't hurt Pria, but . . . I think that's bullshit. If you ever find that bitch, I'll help kill her a few times. Nothing I ever did compares to the shit this bitch put her through."
Lorelei nodded in agreement. "I have a few ideas," she said, her eyes darkening in complete hatred.