Lost in Thought

"I have to thank you." she said, "You really helped make this an incredible performance."

"Um..." Cherry nodded, locking her gaze on the floor. That was still about as much word as she could manage under the circumstances.

"Oh my god, Cherry, that was amazing!"Blueberry said. With her resolute avoidance of looking at the audience, Cherry wasn't sure if she'd been next to her all along, or if she'd rushed the stage.

"That was amazing." she said again. "Really, I'm so jealous! I have to go next."

"You know that's going to be a pretty tough act to follow." Citrus said. She turned to Olive. "Have you ever gotten results this dramatic from someone else before?"

"That's hard to say. Umm..." Olive paused, for the first time seeming uncertain about her delivery in front of her audience.

"People express their pleasure in different ways, and it's hard to compare one person's experience to another. I don't think you can judge a how much a woman enjoys herself by how loud she is, or, um, if she squirts... but it was definitely the most theatrical result I've gotten up to this point."

Oh god. That really had happened. She'd been clinging by her fingernails to the possibility that everything had been confined to her own head, that she'd remained placid and silent until Citrus suddenly woke her up, but clearly that couldn't be further from the case. On top of everything else, she hadn't even noticed her seat was completely soaked, the bottom of her jeans clinging tight, still warm against her skin. If anyone in the audience had thought as she had that Olive might call up a cooperative assistant to help sell her act... by now, at least, they'd be deeply impressed with her commitment.

"Anyway," said Citrus, "If you want to put an encore for us, I know BB at least will be happy to volunteer. In the meantime, I'm gonna help Cherry freshen up after her show. Don't burn the place down without me, okay guys?"

"No promises!" Blueberry, for her part, was already heading down to fetch her chair up from the audience.

"You okay to head up?" Citrus asked.

"Mmm... yeah." Cherry answered.

It took some actual thought to be sure. Even now, her legs were still shivering, and it took a bit of help from Citrus to get her properly standing, but at least now she was firmly settled on the same planet as everyone else.

"I should have something for you to change into upstairs." Citrus whispered to her as she lent Cherry her arm. "Don't worry, I can wash your stuff here."

"That's... that's great, thanks. Um, I'll pick it up again next time I'm here, I guess?" Cherry said.

"Oh no you don't." Citrus said. "You're staying here overnight. Fair trade. Pair of pants for your thoughts. I want to know exactly what you went through on that stage."

Cherry sighed. "That's not a fair trade, that's a hostage situation."

She gave her friend's arm a squeeze as she took her first shuddering step up the stairs.

"Your ears and BB's only, okay?" she said. "I'm going to want to hear hers too."