Sacrifices Ch. 01

Sonia sighed, keeping her eyes on her magazine.

"No, really," Maya said from the floor. "What if magic were real?"

Sonia looked at her best friend, sitting at her feet, painting her toenails. Maya got it a lot worse in school than she did, but that wasn't enough of a reason to make things up.

"Quit being such a kid." Sonia tapped Maya's shoulder with one of her feet.

Maya blushed and looked down at Sonia's toes, barely avoiding a spill. "Don't startle me like that! It's hard enough to get this done without you moving around, too."

Sonia chuckled. For some reason, she liked how easy Maya was to tease. Almost anything she did could get her flustered. She felt a bit guilty about it now and then, but it was so much fun to get her to do things for her, knowing she couldn't really resist her. It was obvious to everyone that Maya had a crush on her, but she somehow thought it was a secret. It made Sonia laugh every time she thought about it.

"Alright," Sonia said. "Stop making up children's stories then. Magic isn't real. We just have to solve our own problems the boring old way."

Maya pouted, though she continued carefully working on Sonia's toenails. Sonia was very demanding, especially right before a date.

"Yeah?" she asked. "How's that been working out for us?"

Sonia glanced at her magazine again.

"Better for some than for others," she said, smirking.

She turned the pages over, letting Maya work, giving her a look now and then to make sure she wasn't getting distracted and was doing it right.

"Ok, all done." Maya smiled up at Sonia.

Sonia looked down at her with a frown. "They're not dry yet, and Dan is due in ten minutes."

Maya looked up at Sonia. That was the part she liked the least. It was ok to do something nice for her best friend, but this was just too much.

"Come on," Sonia said. "We don't have all day!"

Maya gave one last pleading look, but wilted under Sonia's stern gaze. She lowered her head, and began to blow Sonia's toenails dry.

"Good girl." Sonia chuckled. "You're a real sweetie. I don't know how I'd manage without such a wonderful... friend."

She was laughing inside, but the least she could do was give Maya the chance to pretend, at least to herself, that she wasn't a complete doormat. So she tried not to make it too hard on her. It wasn't her fault that Maya would let herself be used. She enjoyed placing her in slightly demeaning situations, but if she didn't like it, why didn't she do anything about it? Sonia even wondered now and then if Maya got something out of it too.

Maya blushed. She hated how meek she was with Sonia, but she really liked her. Sonia could be pretty mean when she refused her anything, probably because she was used to always getting her way. And anyway, they were best friends, and best friends did anything for each other, right? Even if it was awkward or embarrassing, it was just the two of them. She couldn't remember Sonia doing stuff like that for her, but then it was true she had never asked, either.

Maya kept blowing, hearing Sonia giggle as she felt the cool air on her toes. What she hated the most about it were the smells. It wasn't even Sonia's feet. They did get pretty smelly, and she could never manage to ask her friend to wash them before having her nails done, but that wasn't the worst. After lots of exposure, she had learned to put up with them. It was the harsh, chemical fumes from the nail polish and the remover. Just painting them made her a little dizzy sometimes, but drying them this way required her to get really close as she took air in.

"Do they look nice?" Sonia asked.

"They look really pretty," Maya said, interrupting her blowing for a moment to pay her a compliment.

She knew Sonia could get rather nervous before a date and needed all the support she could give her.

At last, the doorbell rang. Sonia propped her hand on Maya's head to jump off the sofa, rushing to put on her shoes, not bothering to spare her friend a glance.

"You can wait up for me if you want," Sonia said as she was about to leave. "If you get bored, you can clean my room while I'm out."

"Uh, yeah, ok," Maya said. "You'd like me to be here, right?"

"You know I like talking to you after my dates," she said, already distracted, thinking about the boy waiting outside. "Anyway, whatever. You may sleep here." She went out and closed the door, without looking back.

"Thanks," Maya said, quietly, and gave a sigh. "That's very kind of you," she added, daring sarcasm now that her friend wasn't there to hear it. "I'm such a pushover."

She cleared everything up, making sure Sonia's polish and remover were closed tight, and put them back where they belonged. Then she got rid of the used cotton toe separators, and went to her friend's room. It was a mess, as usual. She tried to fight the urge, but there wasn't much else for her to do anyway, and Sonia liked it so much when she came back and saw her room all tidy. She had such a lovely smile. She knew that, in spite of herself, she would be cleaning everything, putting things in order, and doing a wash or two while her friend had fun with another boy.

She took a couple of slow breaths.

"It's got to be real," she said. "Magic's real. My grandmother wouldn't have made it up."

She attempted one of the mental focusing exercises her grandmother had taught her. It felt like her mind was a bow ready to shoot, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get the last part to work.

She laughed at herself, on the edge of pouting. She got on the floor, and started crawling, picking up the discarded, crusty, worn socks scattered all over the place, almost as if Sonia had done it on purpose.

"I guess not."

*****

After Sonia's room was neat again, and her clothes had been put to wash and dry, Maya ran out of things to do. Now her grandmother was dead, she often stayed there anyway. What was there left at home for her? She put on a worn-out nightie Sonia let her use, and lay on the bed, on top of the covers, so as not to rumple them before her friend came back and got in herself.

She felt someone shaking her shoulder, and heard a soft giggle.

"Are we comfy?" Sonia asked, already in her night clothes.

At least, thought Maya, she could have woken me up when she arrived. That way I'd have gotten to see her change. Ugh, I'm such a creep.

Maya groaned, and got up from the bed, opening the covers for Sonia to get in.

"How was the date?" Maya asked, a bit too sleepy to feign the enthusiasm her friend expected and counted on.

"It was fun!"

Sonia was a bit loud for sleepy Maya, and her voice made her wince. Sonia lay down in bed, enjoying the fresh sheets.

"He's a good kisser, and didn't grope me or anything. The only thing is... we ended up dancing a lot, and my feet are sore now."

Oh, no. Not tonight. Couldn't Sonia do without, just this once?

The silence became oppressive.

"Well?" Sonia said.

"Uh, what?" Maya said, curling up in bed by her friend, taking up as little space as possible.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Um, he sure sounds great. I guess you'll go out with him again soon."

"No, not about that, silly. Aren't you going to offer me a foot rub?"

"Sonia, come on. I'm sleepy."

As she felt her friend turn her back on her, Maya wanted to take her words back. It was only, she wasn't sure if Sonia cared about her at all, or if she was simply using her. She wanted her friend to give in, for once. Why did it always have to be her?

Both girls were used to being quiet with each other when they did coursework, read, or sat outside looking at nature. However, this was a different kind of silence. It was uncomfortable, and awkward, and it called for one of them to say something just to break it.

"I'll do it," Maya said.

"I don't want it."

"Come on, Sonia. I said I'll do it."

"It's ok. I thought you didn't mind, that you liked doing something nice for me to help me relax, but I guess I was wrong. After being on my feet dancing for hours, I could really do with some pampering, and you've been here resting nice and comfy doing nothing, but that's fine. It's not like I need you anyway."

Maya felt on the edge of crying, but she kept quiet, covering her mouth with one fist and clenching her eyes closed. She felt that, now she got her way, it wasn't really what she wanted after all. She wanted Sonia to be kind to her, not to act like she wasn't there and didn't matter.

She took a few breaths, and the silence built up again, uncomfortable to her ears like a rash on her skin.

"Please?" Maya said with a soft, broken voice. "I was sleepy, that was all."

Sonia turned over towards Maya, stroked her cheek with her fingertips, and sighed.

"Alright then. Get under the covers and rub my feet."

So, it was going to be like that. Not even letting her sit at the foot of the bed, or kneel on the floor, as she often did. Maya gave her friend a fragile smile, nodded, and made her way towards Sonia's feet, lying across, under the sheets. Sonia placed herself right in the middle of the bed, and stretched her feet over Maya's chest, wiggling them.

The smell of Sonia's feet was much stronger now she had been dancing for hours in those shoes. It was always bad after a date, but today was really pungent, and she kept wafting her feet towards Maya's face.

"Get on it," Sonia said, chuckling. "You're so soft! Feels really nice."

Maya blushed, lying under her friend's feet, but immediately started rubbing them. At first, Sonia was quite playful, pressing her heels on Maya's breasts, or inching her foot slowly towards her chin, but later she began to relax. Maya enjoyed hearing her pleased sighs and groans, as she worked her fingers on her friend's sticky, sweaty soles. She couldn't deny she liked giving Sonia pleasure, though she wished there were a less demeaning, stinky way she would take it.

"Give them a good night kiss," Sonia said, with sleep in her voice.

"What? They're smelly."

"Don't be such a baby." Sonia forcefully planted her dirty sole over Maya's helpless mouth and nose. "Give them a kiss, and tell me they smell like roses." She giggled.

"Sonia! Come on, take them away!"

"Nope, not until you show me some appreciation. You made me feel bad today, like you didn't like my feet, and now you said they were smelly. The least you can do is make it up to me."

Maya sighed, but Sonia's feet weren't getting any lighter, or sweeter. She gave her foot a kiss, neither too long nor too short.

"Your feet smell like roses," she said, blushing, almost whispering.

Sonia laughed. "Come on, say it like you mean it."

Maya gave the foot another kiss, longer this time, not wanting to have to do it all over again.

"Your feet smell like roses," she said, more firmly.

"Good girl," Sonia said. "Now the other one."

Maya groaned. But as soon as Sonia placed her other foot on her face, she complied, kissing it and saying how good it smelled.

"Good night, Maya," Sonia said, keeping her feet on her chest. "I'm really tired now. Sleep well." She turned over on her side, and her toes now pointed towards Maya's face, who was obviously meant to remain there the entire night.

If only magic were real.