Cat Scratch Fever

"You're a girl?" Both Grace and Ellen followed me back into the kitchen.

"You didn't know?" I laughed and threw my apron back on and tried again to catch up.

"You are incorrigible." Vic handed me some pans he needed me to prioritize.

I finally caught up as Grace and Ellen were doing their checkouts with Vic. I squeegeed the dishwasher, grabbed a ginger ale from the soda cooler, tossed my apron in the laundry and went into Vic's office, collapsing on the couch.

"So, no explanation? You just show up one day and you're, well, this?" It was Ellen who confronted me.

"It's kind of your fault. I watched you guys get in your cars on Sunday night, and I was jealous. Vic and I talked and went shopping. I guess I just got tired of being invisible."

"Well, you need to tone it down a bit. When you wipe down tables, everything else stops. I don't even think the coffee maker works." Grace was taking it better than Ellen.

I grinned and took a sip of my drink. "I'll talk to the coffee maker about his work ethic." We all laughed.

"We're going to Marshall's Pier for drinks. You want to join?"

"Not old enough yet." I shrugged.

"You have been living in a box. Get your purse. They don't ID girls like us."

'Us' Grace said 'Us.' Upstairs as fast as I could run. I changed my shoes, threw on one of my crop tops, ran a brush through my hair, letting it fall over my shoulders, grabbed my purse and met them out back by their cars. It hit me I had a purse. I smiled and chuckled to myself.

Ellen called shotgun, so I climbed in the back. This was so cool. A few days ago, I would never have had the nerve to even talk with Ellen or Grace beyond the diner, and here I was, one of them, and we were going out.

"Why would a girl like you hide like that?" Ellen turned around to talk to me while Grace drove.

"Just shy, I guess, and my mom wasn't around to help me with things. I just didn't fit in." I could feel myself rambling a little, so I stopped. It was all true, but not in the context we were talking about.

"Mel!" We weren't ten feet inside the door when someone screamed my name. Zee was bouncing across the bar towards us.

"You know Zee?" Grace looked at me with a funny look on her face.

"We have a class together. She kind of nudged me, too." I answered as Zee grabbed my arm and started pulling me across the room. Grace and Ellen were both laughing as they followed.

"Everybody, this is Mel. She's the girl I told you about. Mike, grab three more stools. Greg, Eric, scoot over and make room." Zee somehow squeezed me and Grace and Ellen into the enormous table she had pulled together.

I ended up sitting between some guy named Mike and another guy named Rick. Grace was across from me, and Ellen was next to Zee. They seemed to know each other pretty well.

I didn't know who ordered it, but something fruity and a little sweet appeared in front of me. I looked at Grace. She had a drink, too. We just smiled at each other and took a sip. It wasn't just sweet and fruity. I coughed and tried to catch my breath.

"Zee said you were a bit of a wallflower when she met you. That's hard to believe." Mike was trying to get my attention.

"Sort of, I guess. I don't go out much."

"That is a shame. I'm glad you changed your mind tonight."

"Watch out for Mike. He's not as harmless as he looks." Rick chimed in.

Shit, I had two guys vying for my attention. I looked at Grace again and grimaced. She just laughed and raised her glass, taking another drink. I looked at Ellen and Zee. Zee had this massive smile on her face.

It went back and forth, Mike telling me a story about Rick, trying to embarrass him and Rick answering with an equally egregious one about Mike. I laughed and cried until my sides hurt. There always seemed to be a drink in front of me.

When I got up to go to the bathroom, if it hadn't been for Zee helping me, I might not have made it. I was a little tipsy.

"You look like you're having a good time."

"I am. They are so funny."

"Well, they are also fraternity brothers and best friends. Choose one. You can't have them both. The other girls will get jealous." She laughed. I pretended to pout, not wanting to admit I didn't have a clue what I would do with one of them, much less both.

We got back to the table and Rick was over talking to Ellen, so Zee and I sat down next to Mike. Zee nudged me. Mike was cute. Wait, did I just think a guy was cute? Oh, wait, I am a girl. The alcohol was making what I was going through worse.

Mike was just as funny without Rick as a straight man. We talked, and I drank a little more. He put his hand on my leg, and I didn't care. I told some stories about the diner, throwing Grace and Ellen under the bus a time or two, and my hand rested on his.

Why did his eyes have to be so blue? I bit my lip and looked for Grace. She was talking to Ellen. They were both looking at me and smiling. When I looked back at Mike, he just did it. I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't ready for it, but when his lips touched mine, I had to squeeze my legs together. Fuck, I was leaking something. Mmmm, it felt so nice.

"Ok, girl, your uncle said no later than one, and you have classes in the morning. Give lover boy another kiss and we have to get you home." Grace to the rescue?

Mike walked me out to the car, and I gave him my number. I got that second kiss and it put the first to shame. I don't know what was going on in my crotch, but whatever it was, felt nice, very nice.

When I got up to my room, I didn't even bother to shower. I stripped naked and fell into bed. My panties were soaked. They looked like I had wet my pants. On the way home, I realized what the truth was. I was so fucking horny I couldn't believe it. I guess this was the female version of a hard-on. My hands went straight to my crotch.

I had a girlfriend for a few weeks once. Alice was her name. She would let me feel her up, so I sort of knew what I was looking for. I found the little nib with one hand and drove two fingers of the other inside me with a vengeance, finger fucking my soaking wetness for all it was worth. My god, this was incredible. I clamped my legs around my hands and my finger pressed on something inside me. Whatever it was sent tremors ripping through me. I stopped fucking myself and focused on that spot while I beat my clit to death.

I was screaming, moaning, writhing. Finally, my whole body exploded. I laughed, thinking that familiar exhausted relief would flow through me, that I would find peace. Fuck no. I kept rubbing, and a second waved crashed to the shore. Fucking multiple orgasms. Damn, this was amazing.

I was sitting on the floor of the shower, giggling uncontrollably as the hot water rushed over my exhausted body, when Victor finally came in to check on me.

"Mel, are you ok in there?"

"Yeah, Uncle Vic, just taking a shower for tomorrow." I knew he knew I was lying, but I so didn't care.

Strangely, I felt amazing the next morning. No hangover at all. I bounced downstairs to have breakfast with Vic in a cute fit and flair skater dress, not even thinking about how that was going to work with my scooter. Everybody I passed on the way to school knew I had on pink panties with little red hearts all over them.

"So, Mike, huh?" Zee sidled up next to me on the way to class. "I thought you'd go for Rick." She bumped me with her elbow.

"I think they arm wrestled for me or something." I laughed. "But, yeah, I think I like Mike better, anyway." This was so strange. I had been a serious rebound for Alice, and she had been the only girl I had gone out with more than once. Last night, I had two guys hitting on me. This was all so new, so alien, and so wonderful.

There had to be a downside.

Nobody paid any attention to a scrawny 5'8" 135# guy. A girl with those same dimensions and tits, in a skater dress on a scooter. Well, it's a different world. I never cared where I stopped for gas. My scooter only took two gallons, and I was in and out before anyone knew I was there. This time, I needed to go to the bathroom. That was another thing. I needed to pee a lot more often as a girl.

It was no problem, just like the hundreds of times I had stopped at this same station, always choosing the last pump on the left. It was just easier to whip in and out.

When I came out of the bathroom, there were five or six guys standing at the register paying for whatever they bought. I got some looks and a few leers. I just smiled and went outside to leave.

My scooter was invisible behind the massive work truck and the two pickups that had taken the other side of my pump and the one in front of it and across from it. Ok, no big deal, right? Until I started digging my keys out of my purse and all of them surrounded me, making lewd comments and suggesting illicit things they wanted to do to me.

"I'll bet those pretty lips would look amazing on my cock." One of them fricking unzipped his pants right there. I fumbled with my keys, terrified of what was happening. Damn it, I dropped them, and one guy grabbed them before I could.

"Why don't you show me?" He pulled his cock out of his pants.

"Just let me go, please." I was crying. "I won't say anything."

They moved closer, making sure no one could see what was happening.

"Please."

The jerk was licking his lips and stroking his cock.

"Wooop." A police car hit its siren. The guys all backed off, and the jerk shoved his cock back in his pants. The guy with my keys tossed them to me. They all got in their trucks and just left like nothing had happened.

Too petrified to move, I just sat there on my scooter until a police officer came over to me. "Are you alright, miss?" I shook my head no and told them what had happened. "Why don't my partner and I follow you home? Would that be, ok?" I nodded. Fumbling the key into the ignition and starting my scooter.

Vic saw the police car, and the officers wanted to talk to someone. I got off my scooter and ran upstairs, locking the door and throwing myself onto my bed, burying my face in the pillow and crying my eyes out.

Vic came through the inside door between his apartment and mine and sat next to me, rubbing my back while I shuddered and cried.

"The officers said that's not the best place for a young woman to stop for gas, especially one as pretty as you. Maybe someplace closer to campus would be better. They're going to go back and check the cameras. They'll let us know if they find anything."

"K." I rolled over, sniffling and wiping my eyes.

"Did they touch you?" The concern in his eyes was so deep.

"No." I whimpered. "One of them took it out. He wanted me to... I was so scared." I wrapped my arms around him and let him hug me.

I was in the diner eating dinner when the officers came back. The two that had followed me home went to talk to Vic. A female officer that was with them came and talked to me. The camera, singular, didn't show anything. We talked about how I should always be careful where I park and should know where I was and who was around me. She also gave me a small book on Awareness for Women, an actual police whistle, and a can of pepper spray to keep in my purse, just in case.

"You were lucky my partners were close by." She patted my arm and got up. "Be careful, ok?"

"Thanks." I nodded. The two other officers had come over to my table. "For everything. I'll be more careful, I promise."

Taking my dishes to the back, I put on an apron. I didn't even care that I was in a dress and my new sneakers. I just had to do something, anything, to take my mind off what had almost happened.

It was a slow night. I got caught up fairly quickly. Terry, one of the waitresses, brought back a plate with a half-eaten order of fish and chips. I smiled and made sure Vic wasn't watching, crumbled it up and took it out back, running upstairs and setting it out for Cat. It hadn't even occurred to me I hadn't seen her since she scratched me.

"Mel, front." Dammit. Somebody spilled something. Grabbing the mop and bucket, I headed out to clean it up.

"Um, hey. I was in the neighborhood..." It was Mike. I'm sure I looked like crap. I had been crying, my apron soaked and filthy, probably my dress, too. My hair was a mess, and he just smiled at me.

"Um. Ten minutes, OK?" I didn't even wait for an answer. I dropped the mop and ran upstairs. Vic laughed at me as I ran through the kitchen.

I guess it was a good thing I used to be a guy. I probably set some kind of world record for changing clothes. My dress hit the floor. I kicked off my shoes and scrubbed under my pits and washed my face. Thanking all the gods I hadn't started wearing makeup yet, I pulled on a pair of shorts and a plain T-shirt, slipped into a pair of sandals, and took a deep breath. Oh, shit. I almost forgot. Back in the bathroom, I ran a brush through my hair and redid my ponytail.

"HI." I tried to quell the butterflies in my stomach as a massive smile took over my face.

"Just go. I think I'm closing early, anyway." Vic was still laughing when Mike followed me out the door.

"I understand you had a rough afternoon. Your uncle cares about you a lot." Mike reached for my hand. I let him take it.

"Just some creeps at the gas station. I'm ok." I interlaced my fingers with his and hugged his arm. That smile on my face wouldn't leave me alone. Maybe it remembered what I had done when I got home last night.

"You really wash dishes and bus tables. You're not a waitress?"

"Family perk. My uncle owns the diner." I laughed. "And I don't mind. It gives me space to think about things."

"Like what?" He squeezed my hand just a little.

"Thing things." I squeezed back.

We made it all the way to Marshall Pier and back before I thought to ask him, "Why did you stop by, anyway?"

"I was going to get something to eat and see if you were free Saturday afternoon, but I got a better offer."

I snuck Mike in through the back door and raided the walk-in to get stuff to make him a sandwich. We were sitting in the dark talking while he ate.

"I'll have to ask my uncle about Saturday. That's usually our busiest day."

"You can have Saturday off. Just clean up your mess before you go to bed." Vic's voice came out of the kitchen.

"Thank you, Vic., I love you."

"I love you too, and don't forget to clean up my kitchen."

I hadn't made that big of a mess, so it was quick work.

"Nice view." Mike and I finally stopped kissing on my little porch.

"I know. Who would have thought? Back door of a little diner and I can see all the way to Hawaii."

"That's not the view I was talking about." He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand and kissed me again.

"You know I have classes in the morning, right?"

"Me, too, but this is nice. I'm glad you came last night."

It took everything I had not to burst out laughing. If he only knew.

I took that as my cue. Putting my hand on his chest, I gave him one last peck and forced him down the stairs. It was going to be a long time until Saturday, and it was only two days.

The first time, it was an accident, the second a coincidence. The third time Derrick walked behind me, and his hand brushed my ass, it was a pattern. Four, I let go because we only had fifteen minutes left in class to finish our small project. But five... "Derrick, if you touch my ass one more time, I swear I will rip your fucking arm off." I turned to face him and screamed as loud as I could.

He looked clueless. The other three guys on our team pretended they hadn't seen a thing.

"I'm sure it was an innocent accident." Dr. Randall was going to let the asshole off.

"Not five times; it wasn't." I was glaring at my teacher.

"I saw it," Dr. Randall. One of the other girls in the class came to my defense. "He was grinning when he did it."

"Well, I guess we'll assign different teams for the next small group project." Dr. Randall just walked away. What the fuck?

"I know you liked it." Derrick came up behind me as I made my way through the parking lot, this time grabbing my ass as he turned to go between two large pickups.

"Hey, Derrick." He turned around to face me and I got him right in the eyes with the pepper spray. "Probably about as much as you like that, you jerk?" I just left him there. A quick scan showed no one saw what happened. Maybe Derrick should have been more aware of his surroundings.

I got called to the dean of students' office the next morning. Derrick had to go to the hospital.

"Sure, I have pepper spray in my purse. Don't all the girls on campus? Nope, no idea what happened to Derick. He and I had a disagreement in chemistry, but Dr. Randall took care of it. So, are we all good? Maybe it was one of the other girls Derick was molesting. I'm sure Dr. Randall sent you a report."

That got an interesting response. I hoped the way I said 'Dr. Randall' emphasized my disdain.

I saw Derrick in the hall. All I had to do was reach for my purse and he went the other way.

There wasn't an open table in the diner when I got there. I changed into my booty shorts and a cropped top and dove into the pile of dishes waiting for me. I caught the hypocrisy. Here I was fuming about some loser playing grab-ass and from appearances, I was doing everything I could to sexualize my body. At face value, it may not have made sense to people, but I don't care if you're naked. That does not give anyone the right to touch you, especially suggestively. If I modeled lingerie, that wouldn't count as an advertisement for escort services, would it?

We finally closed, and all I had done was work myself up into a near rage. This time, I grabbed a beer from the drink cooler and stormed upstairs, plopping down in my chair on my porch, and drained the whole thing. I don't even like beer.

"You were in a mood tonight. I don't think I've ever seen you like that. You want to talk?" Vic handed me another beer. He always watched everything that happened in his diner.

"It just pisses me off." I told him about Derrick and Dr. Randall and the dean. I went back over the jerks at the gas station. "Why does everybody think that just because a girl wants to be pretty, it's an invitation to have sex? I never had to deal with this shit when I was a boy."

Shit, I hoped Grace and Terry were already gone.

"We all have our crosses to bear. It sounds like you handled Derrick pretty well."

"But why did I have to? Why should I have to?"

"I don't know, baby. You never did stuff like that. Maybe guys like Derrick just weren't raised right."

"It's fucking not fair." I shouted and threw my empty beer bottle all the way to the dumpster, marveling that I made it. I started laughing. "It's fucking not fair." I laughed louder and louder, repeating those same words over and over. The irony made me feel better. "Not fair," was what got me into this.

"I love you, Uncle Vic. I'll see you tomorrow." When I got up to go inside, I realized Mike had never told me any details about tomorrow afternoon.

Yeah, well, if I hadn't been so pissed off, I might have had my phone with me instead of leaving it in the bathroom. There were seventeen texts and three calls from Mike. I didn't even bother to read them. I just clicked on his name in my contacts and woke him up. It might take some work, but I'd figure out how to make this his fault.

"Hey. Wake you up?"

"Yeah. I texted and called."

"We were slammed. Sorry. So, what about tomorrow?"

"Beach party. Wear your suit, and bring whatever else you think you might need, sunscreen, beach towel, that kind of stuff. I'll pick you up at the diner at nine-ish. Maybe I can get something to eat this time. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Ok, sleepy head. You know, if you hadn't waited until the last minute, I wouldn't have had to call and wake you up."

"What? I..." I started laughing. I could almost see his smile through the phone. "Ok, whatever." He laughed, and I smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow."