Of Love and Iron Ch. 06

Note: Another non-erotic chapter.

*****

Guilt

"How was your day?" Rachel quipped.

Ai met her gaze steadily, trying to gauge the blonde's mood and utterly failing.

"It was... alright, I guess. Yours?" she returned.

Rachel snorted at that, running a hand through her hair.

"Alright. Anything weird happen?"

"Yeah, okay, fuck this," Ai blurted. "Are you alright?"

Rachel raised a brow at that, not used to Ai cursing outside of the bedroom.

The thought almost derailed her for a moment, but a violent shake of her head stopped that.

"I'm fine. Just... going through some... unpleasant memories, I guess," she sighed.

Ai frowned at that, and put a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry. If I'd known anything like this would've happened, I wouldn't have brought the damn notebook, but I swear I didn't mean for anything like this to happen! It was just bad luck that I didn't think about getting out of class late, and that I forgot a damn lock, and I know I should've been more careful with it, but-"

Rachel's finger appeared on Ai's lips, sealing her rambling off.

"Ai, relax. It's not your fault. I mean, yeah, I'm not overly thrilled that half my classmates now have a pretty good idea of what I look like naked and decked out in fetish gear, but it's not like being outed to people I give zero damns about should bother me."

"Should?" Ai emphasized with a frown.

Rachel grimaced, and her gaze left her lover's.

"Yeah. It's not so much them, as it is that I had this shit happen before. Almost exactly the same way. That didn't end well, and it's bringing up some stuff I'd rather forget... but I don't blame you. You didn't decide to photograph all that and email it around the whole school."

Ai's expression darkened at that, her jaw pressing together.

She forced her mind to leave Annabelle in favor of comforting her possibly soon-to-be-ex-lover.

"Do you want to talk about it? I mean, you don't have to if you just want to work this out on your own, but I can listen. If you'd want."

Rachel's gaze went unfocused in thought, and she stayed that way for almost a full minute before returning it to meet Ai's own.

"Maybe talking about it would help me sort this out and figure out why it's bothering me."

She began to speak as memories rose in seemingly random waves through her mind...

Rachel headed into the Black Djed, and was immediately in love with the club.

Everything, from the music pumping through the walls to the various types of costumes and fashion styles strewn around the massive rooms told her she'd made the correct decision.

The setting was surprisingly mundane compared to what she'd been expecting.

While the color scheme was a mixture of blacks, silvers, and reds in varying combinations, the décor was the same as the other clubs she'd been to before.

Except for the stage, where a group dressed as bloody vampires were flooding the whole club with enough bass to vibrate the floor beneath her feet.

Behind the guitarist stood what she was positive to be a coffin, with a large, fanged skull etched with silver into the wood.

The band's name was written out in red velvet beneath the skull, doing a decent job of imitating blood.

Moving her eyes around the rest of the club, she found that what seemed to be a restaurant and bar was in an alcove on the next floor up, overlooking the dance floor.

Her stomach chose then to remind her that she hadn't eaten lunch that day, and she sighed in relief at having brought her wallet along.

She found the bar unexpectedly empty for a Friday night, and had the waiter's full attention when she sauntered up to the long stand of black wood.

"No drinks, kid," the man behind the bar sighed as he took in the sight of her.

"Fine by me. Any chance you can make a Virgin Mudslide?" she asked with a shrug.

The sweet drink was soon in her hand, and she headed over to the restaurant portion of the floor.

She felt eyes on her as soon as she took an empty booth.

She found a small group sitting across from her, with two of the trio eyeing her curiously.

Of them, she felt something strangely familiar about a brunette woman, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out what would cause the sensation.

She had white makeup caked on to cover whatever her normal complexion was, and in the dim lighting it made her look a bit sickly.

Fishnets wrapped from her wrists up her arm, disappearing when they reached under her dark grey T-shirt.

Staring from the shirt seemingly right at Rachel was a grinning grim reaper, garbed in a shredded purple cloak and wielding a long, curved scythe. All around the creature, black and red flames curled and danced along the fabric to draw more attention to it.

What was probably long, brown hair was worn in a horsetail that curled down over her left shoulder and continued to her stomach.

Yet more hair curled over the front, obscuring the left side of her face from view.

The eye that was visible through the hair was staring with a strange expression at Rachel, who locked onto the gaze with a brow raised in inquisition.

Noticing that her stare had been caught, the brunette woman blushed and snapped her eyes down to her own drink.

Rachel felt that she knew the woman, somehow, despite her not looking at all familiar.

Shrugging it off, she let her attention wander to the music and her menu.

That night had been an incredibly fun one, once she'd gotten full and worked up the nerve to join the throng of dancers.

Several times, she bumped into the brunette, and each time the woman had gawked at her for a few seconds before blushing through her makeup and vanishing back into the crowd.

She quickly made a habit of visiting the Djed every Friday night.

It was always a fun way of decompressing from her various classmates.

What's more, every time she found the brunette there.

When the woman had figured out she was going to be a recurring sight at the club, her avoidance became almost playful.

At least to Rachel, it seemed as though the brunette was enjoying keeping just out of her sight for as long as possible.

It was a strange game, but the blonde's attraction to the brunette itself was odd, so she didn't pay it much mind.

She'd figured out fairly early on that while her classmates had grown to gush over boys, she didn't have the same interests.

She'd spent months wondering on why she found women just as attractive as men, and she wouldn't dare bring the thought up anywhere near her often holier-than-thou parents.

It took one game of Truth or Dare at a party she'd basically been forced into attending to finally solve the puzzle for herself, and after her initial freak-out in her room, she'd gotten comfortable with the idea that she was bisexual.

What was odd to Rachel about the attraction was that usually intelligent conversation had been required to get her libido started over the years.

She'd yet to pin the brunette down long enough to even get a name, much less any kind of conversation.

After almost a full month of visits, she finally won their strange game of cat-and-mouse.

She was getting into the rhythm of the band on the last week of the month when she spotted the brunette with her usual group.

When the woman spotted the blonde, she'd said something to the others, given her a small smirk, and vanished into the crowd.

Rachel's feet carried her quickly after her, and she thanked her luck.

While most clothes on the dance floor reflected the dark colors of the club, or were bright neon, the brunette had decided to wear mute, earth-toned clothes that day.

While she could almost blend in as she weaved through the crowd, the color difference was enough for Rachel to keep her eyes on her.

She caught up to her quickly, and she smiled triumphantly as she finally met her.

A quick spin put her around the brunette's back and directly in front of her, the grin even larger at seeing her surprise-widened eyes.

Slowly, the brunette's lips curved into a smile, and she grabbed Rachel's hand.

They quickly fell into the pulsing beats around them, their eyes locked and both of them grinning.

"I was wondering when you'd catch me," the brunette giggled.

Rachel blushed as, to be heard, the woman practically had her lips on her ear.

Something about her voice struck her as incredibly familiar, and Rachel frowned in thought as she tried to place it.

Her heart sped up at the distracting feel of breath on the sensitive skin, and she quickly moved to put herself at the mystery woman's back.

"So it was a game," Rachel quipped with the same proximity.

Grinning, the brunette bent her head back and stared into Rachel's hazel eyes.

"Something like that... Want to head up where you can hear me?"

Rachel's expression turned more seductive at that, and she pressed closer to the brunette by two steps.

"You don't think it's more interesting like this?" she laughed.

The brunette blushed darkly, and she grabbed onto Rachel's wrist.

The blonde laughed as she was pulled away from the dance floor and up to the restaurant.

While the noise was still loud, something about the elevation dampened the noise enough that Rachel could hear the woman talking normally.

With the brunette sitting directly across from her, she found that, up close, there was something that was absolutely familiar to her mind.

She ordered a small dinner without giving her mind pause at working it out.

Suddenly, an image appeared in her mind of the classroom several weeks ago.

Annabelle Vaughn's brunette friend hadn't looked any more comfortable with the redhead mocking everyone going to the club than she herself had been.

Narrowing her eyes in scrutiny, she compared the features, and her heart skipped a beat.

If they weren't the same person under the cosmetics, she was the girl's doppelgänger.

"Um... this is going to sound weird, but, uh, your name wouldn't be Zoe, would it?" she awkwardly inquired.

The brunette paled, but she didn't seem confused or surprised in the least.

"And that's why I was pretty much avoiding you," she sighed.

Rachel blinked in confusion at the statement, trying to decipher what she was talking about.

"Because we're classmates?" she ventured.

"Because we're classmates. And you were talking to Annabelle right before you came here that first time. I dunno', I thought she'd put you up to coming here to give her gossip, or something," Zoe sighed.

While slightly insulted, Rachel found the idea rather amusing.

"Oh, yeah, because I have so many reasons to talk to Vaughn, right?"

Her eyes widened as she realized that Zoe was Annabelle's friend, even if she apparently wanted to keep her clubbing activities from the redhead.

"Well, I mean-"

She was stalled from giving her excuse by a raised hand, and she found Zoe's lips curved into a large smirk.

"I know. Annabelle's Annabelle. I don't exactly go around gushing to her about all the newest leather gear I got or how awesome the newest death metal band here is, either, so I get it. Sorry for making assumptions."

"They are awesome, right? Er, well, clearly you figured some of this out, or you would've put a bit more effort into just avoiding me, right?"

"Kind of figured it out when you showed up finally looking the part," Zoe quipped.

Rachel looked down at herself with a blush.

She'd decided that, after a month of curiosity, she'd wanted to try out some of the gear she'd seen worn around the Djed for weeks.

If she hadn't changed after leaving her house, she was sure at least one of her parents would've had a heart attack at the sight of the lacy, red and black corset and leather pants wrapping tightly around her figure.

"Thanks?"

"It's definitely a compliment," Zoe said with a hungry look to her gaze. "So, when I figured you'd be around for a while, I decided I may as well get it over with before you ended up figuring it out and asking me about it at school or something."

"Is that your way of saying I wasn't as good at following you as I thought?" Rachel huffed.

"Well... maybe? I was thinking you'd catch me up here, but you were pretty on the ball tonight," she admitted with a smirk.

"You're just not as smooth as you think," Rachel teased.

"I've got very good eyes," she added with a gesture to her face.

Zoe grinned at that, leaning closer to the blonde over the small table.

Rachel turned red at the proximity, making Zoe's lips curve even more.

"Well, since we've gotten the formalities out of the way, how about I show you how smooth I can be?" she challenged.

Rachel shivered at the tone in her voice.

While she didn't make it a habit of checking out every classmate she came across, she'd definitely noticed, and appreciated what she saw of, Zoe Agnes over the past years of classes together.

She wasn't the top of their class, but she was definitely as high up, if not higher, in the rankings as herself.

It had certainly helped her initial attraction, that, since intelligence always helped her libido act up.

While she was soft-spoken and small in stature, she'd long had a presence in class on top of being smart and for some unfathomable reason being friends with the school gossip.

Looking at her then, clothed to reveal well-toned muscles as she was, Rachel had no problem believing that she was every bit the athlete she'd heard claimed.

Having her practically on top of herself was causing interesting reactions throughout her body.

"Hmm... Well, I gotta' say that you're pretty up front. Careful, or people might think you're flirting," she quipped.

Zoe's smile took on a dangerous edge, and Rachel felt her entire body flush as she slowly dragged her eyes first down and then back up every bit of her that was visible above the table.

Granted that she hadn't had much interaction with the brunette in classes, but Rachel had never gotten any kind of impression that she wasn't as straight as an arrow.

As she practically drank in her outfit for the night, though, the blonde wondered if maybe she'd prejudged based on the woman being friends with Annabelle.

When their eyes met again, both of them had glazed expressions, and Zoe's blush would likely have matched the blonde's if not for her makeup.

"Some people might not be wrong, though evidently I wasn't being clear enough."

"Or maybe I'm playing hard to get," Rachel retorted with a smile that revealed none of her inner quivering.

Smirking, Zoe began to say something when she caught sight of the approaching waiter.

"You don't know how much I love a good challenge," she quipped before leaning back.

When the waiter arrived, both of them were flushed bright red, and he just gave a knowing smile when they sent him off to "give them a few more minutes to decide."

"If I'd known you were like this, I would've struck up a conversation years ago," Rachel mused.

"Don't blame me! I tried several times over the years to get you looking at me," the brunette retorted with a huff.

Rachel's eyes traveled outward as a series of memories flashed before her mind. She certainly had tried a few times, though she'd always more or less run at seeing her queen-among-gossips friend nearby.

"Fair enough," she sighed. "In my defense, I had a good reason to turn tail-"

"Annabelle?" Zoe guessed with an easy smirk.

"Annabelle," Rachel confirmed with a sheepish smile. "She and I, uh... Well, we don't get along, so I tend to avoid-"

"No need to explain. I get it," Zoe interrupted with a smile. "She isn't always like how she is in school, but I definitely don't ignore her flaws. But you want to know a secret?"

Rachel raised a brow in question at her.

"Annabelle's not here to scare you off. So what do you say we make up for lost time and get to know each other over dinner?"

"Are you always this quick with women or did I win a contest?" Rachel quipped.

"How many women around here do you think I could both find in a goth club and flirt with without getting preached at? This place is like sanity wrapped in moats of Alabama, so the pickings are slim and really hard to peg down safely," she retorted.

"I'd imagine at least a few dancing down there," Rachel responded with a blush.

Zoe's smile grew, and she leaned forward again.

"I guess you're right. But why pass up an opportunity to put the moves on someone I see five days a week? You're not exactly a gossip, and you seem like the kind of person who doesn't like those who are, so I figured what do I have to lose, right?" she finished.

Rachel could almost swear her face was on actual fire from how hot it felt, and she found her gaze gravitating to Zoe's darkly painted lips.

"I really wish I hadn't ran before now," she muttered.

Zoe simply grinned as she sat back once more.

"I've gotta' say, I really didn't peg you for my type, Zoe. Tonight's full of surprises."

"Oh? Well, I guess I was being too subtle, then," Zoe giggled.

Rachel hid her scarlet face in the menu as she saw the waiter approaching once more.

When he arrived, she blurted the first appetizing thing she saw out, causing both the waiter and Zoe to smile at her fluster.

Zoe just ordered "the usual" and sent him on his way, her eyes never leaving Rachel.

Dinner proved to be a very relaxing experience for Rachel, and the two quickly fell into chatting about any random topic that came up.

While there was mutual flirting throughout the entire conversation, they found themselves wondering how they hadn't become friends before with how many interests they had in common.

When their plates were taken, Zoe pulled Rachel by the hand back to the dance floor, where they passed almost an hour goofing around.

At the end of the night, Rachel changed back to her prude-approved clothes and headed for her car only to find Zoe leaning against the side.

She giggled at the blonde's surprised expression and quickly approached her.

"So, what do you think of our first date?" she quipped with a grin.

"Was this a date?" Rachel challenged even while her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, I guess it depends on perspective. I certainly want it to have been, because that implies there will be more. It felt like one, at least later on."