DISCLAIMER: These characters are my own and all the events that happen are completely fictional.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
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Infractions of Time
By Eleni Vyne
Alex sighed and sipped at her drink, taking in the sun's rays as the July weather beat down on her in all of its summer glory. It should have been considered a gorgeous day considering that this was the first day in almost a week where it finally wasn't storming. Alex loved storms. She loved the power of Mother Nature and she made it point during every major storm to bask in the beauty that it was. Many times she would jog in the rain, just to feel the wind and the rain strike her as furiously as the lightening did to the sky. Alas, after six days of nothing but rain and dark skies, Alex was happy to change pace and basked like a cat in the sun. Sitting up from her lawn chair, she observed her surroundings and searched for Delilah who was supposed to be joining her. Her curiosity was sated as soon as she heard a string of obscenities come from inside the house.
Delilah appeared not two minutes later fumbling to put on another shirt as she plopped herself down on to the lawn chair next to Alex. "The blender decided to give me the finger before exploding and crapping out on me." The raven head glowered petulantly and Alex merely smirked in satisfaction as she sipped on her drink.
"Well maybe if you were nicer to your appliances they wouldn't conspire against you."
Delilah perked her familiar eyebrow before deftly snatching Alex's drink to polish it off. "And maybe if you weren't a smart ass, I wouldn't have to steal your absolutely delicious fruit smoothie. What did you put in this? Mango?"
"Pineapple, you ass. And you owe me a new drink."
Delilah shrugged and took the last few sips of the drink before placing it down on the lawn. Today, the world was conspiring against her. Her cat, Sponge, had taken the liberty of waking her up by clawing at the underside of her foot and if waking up to that wasn't good enough, she had accidentally walked herself into her bathroom door which resulted in a small but noticeable marking on her forehead and nose.
Alex glanced over at the green eyed beauty and noticed that her attention was diverted to the inner workings of her mind. Delilah's face was caught in a scowl; the small scars that were once her piercings were deep and dimpled with the complexion of her extremely fair skin. "Speak, woman."
"It's not a good day today."
"Well, talk to me… Let me help."
"It's not just something I can talk about and then feel better. It's just one of those days where you know it's going to suck no matter how much fun you try to have. It's just always going to be at the back of my mind. "
Alex opened her mouth to say something and then shut it. It was well known that there were certain days of the year where you left Delilah alone. Prying would only instigate a fight and the only way to figure out what was bothering her, was to snoop into her life and connect the dots. Having known Delilah for nearly a decade gave her the skill to know exactly how to go about getting her answers for the most part.
She thought back, trying to remember what had happened around this point in time perhaps a few years ago. Alex's eyes widened as a thought struck her; it was a long shot but due to the act of silence that resounded from this particular incident but it made sense. "Is this because of Jacklyn?"
She was answered quickly as Delilah abruptly got up from her chair and walked into the house, slamming the sliding glass door as she left. Alex sighed and closed her eyes, God knows that she loved Delilah and would do anything for her, but she made trying to be helpful frustrating. She groaned in frustrations softly and dropped her head back, remembering the incident that occurred five years ago; it was going to be a long day.
Inside, Delilah flopped down on the couch in the living room. The maroon room was a light by the sun and the usually intimate room looked casual. Sighing, she threw an arm over her eyes and exhaled deeply. 'Today sucks…' She mused and then looked down to the tug at her shirt to see Sponge looking up at her with big orange eyes. "What do you want? Come back to torture me some more?" The marmalade and ginger cat made no noise but jumped up onto her stomach and laid there, purring loudly as Delilah ran her blunt nails behind his ears. Sighing once more, she thought back to five years ago. She hated today and she hated that Alex was so astute. Delilah closed her eyes and allowed herself to think back on what happened.
Five Years Ago:
17 year old Delilah looked over at the blonde woman lying casually across from her and ran her fingers up and down the young woman's back. Her girlfriend of now six months was napping next to her after had spending the afternoon at the beach. Leaning over to kiss the top of the blonde's head, an arm possessively wrapped around her waist and held her. "I thought you were asleep."
"I was, until about ten minutes ago." The blonde leaned up on her elbows before pulling Delilah down by her shirt into a kiss. "But then I decided I could do better things with my time. Like you." The blonde smirk and kissed her again, allowing the atmosphere in the room to become thick with sexual tension as she slipped a hand up Delilah's side to cup her chest. Delilah bit her lip as her back arched unconsciously to the act and pulled Jacklyn back down into another deep kiss.
As the two lovers explored each other, Alex opened the door to the household, she had just returned from a two month trip to France dealing with family business as well as a minor vacation after the end of the school year. "Hello! Anyone home?" She called out only to be met with silence; groaning softly, she lugged the rest of her luggage into the doorway and shit the front door. Looking at her baggage in dismay she shrugged and proceeded to climb up the stairs in hopes of grabbing a small nap until someone got home to help her move the rest of her stuff up to her room.
Opening the door to what she usually considered her room she was struck silent at the sight before her. On the bed was a blonde woman, curvy in body type but beautiful none the less, she was on her back, watching the sight before her as Delilah rode her fingers roughly. Delilah's head was thrown back in pleasure as small sounds escaped her lips, both women were bare as the day they were born and Alex was stuck stunned at the visual. It wasn't until the blonde looked over her way did she realize what exactly was happening.
"Oh my God! Who the fuck are you!?" The blonde screamed at Alex as she pulled Delilah down and away from Alex's line of vision, covering them both up with the sheet.
"I'm so sorry… I thought no one was- I didn't mean to walk in." Alex searched to find the words before just turning around the shutting the door, running to the bathroom at the end of the hall.
Inside the room Jacklyn was fuming as Delilah laid there shell shocked at what just happened. Before she knew it, she was laughing hysterically, clutching her stomach. "That was brilliant! Poor Alex… I forgot she was supposed to come back today."
"Who is Alex and why the hell haven't I heard about her?"
"She lives with me along with everyone else. You've met all of them except for her."
"Why the fuck do you all live together? Don't you have family that you stay with like normal people?" Jacklyn scathed, annoyed that she had not only been walked in on having sex but the fact that her girlfriend didn't see it as such a problem made her annoyance that much worse.
Delilah got quiet suddenly. While it was a mystery to the public as to why her friends and her all lived together rather than a typical household with their family members, the reasoning was for the best for the loving group of six. Delilah and her twin brother Halcyon (Alexander) had no living family members but for a younger cousin who was currently in foster care until the two sibling turned 18 and could take custody of her. When they lost their mother to cancer, they were put into a boarding school where they met the people who would soon become the family they always wanted. The oldest of the 'family' was an older man by the name of Kale at the age of 28. Kale lost his parents in a car accident and was the first person to join the boarding school and took it upon himself to treat the other kids like his siblings. It was no secret that Kale and Delilah were exceptionally close. The second oldest was Kale's girlfriend Desiree. She took on the mother role of the group. The rest of the crew, Delilah, Halcyon, Alex and Electra came in all together and were of the same age. Though each had a different story, they all came to love and rely on each other. It was Kale's decision to buy a house and move everyone into it as soon as he could afford it so that the crew could have some freedom and independence once the school season was out.
"Hello! Are you still there?" Delilah snapped out of her train of thought watching the hand wave across her face. "Yeah, I'm here."
"Why haven't I met Alex?"
"She left for France a little before I introduced you to the crew. Family business and a chance to visit her roots." Delilah answered quietly before getting off the bed and finding her discarded clothing. Jacklyn's outburst had killed the mood for Delilah and at the moment all she wanted to do was find Alex and see if she was okay.
"Where are you going?" Jacklyn got up, following Delilah in the direction of the door.
"I was going to see if Alex was okay… That really wasn't the best welcome home experience for her and I'm sure she's really tired."
Just as she reached the door she was forcefully pushed against it as lips pressed against her and Jacklyn's body pinned her. Hands roamed her skin and Delilah's mind was distracted from her intended goal as Jacklyn's lips found behind her ear. "I'm not done with you yet…" Jacklyn nipped her lobe sharply before drawing it into her mouth and sucking firmly. Delilah could feel the smirk of satisfaction against her skin as she moaned softly.
Alex sighed and buried her face in her hands as she sat on the toilet in the bathroom, trying to ignore the image of her best friend and the woman she secretly loved grinding against the fingers of that woman she called her girlfriend. 'Welcome home to me.' She thought ruefully and sighed once more. "I just pray that will never get to the ears of everyone else… "She said aloud to herself and ran her fingers through her cropped blonde hair; she didn't look half as bad as she thought she did once finally getting a look of herself in the mirror.
"THAT'S IT! WE'RE OVER!" Alex's head shot up as she heard the scream and opened the bathroom door just to see Jacklyn storming out of the room and running down the stairs before slamming the door. Striding over to the room she found Delilah standing stunned at the doorway, eyes wide and body tense.
"Dela… Dela, honey. What happened? Are you okay?" Alex touched the arm of the raven haired woman and was surprised to see her flinch away from her touch.
"Nothing. Nothing happened."
"That's bullshit. Is this because of me?"
"No. It's because of me." With that, Delilah turned around and shut the door.
Back to Present:
Delilah was jolted out of the memory by the feel of something cold on her shoulder; looking up she saw Alex holding another fruit smoothie for her. "It just needed to be sweet talked… The blender is working again."
Delilah smiled and took the smoothie from Alex, taking a healthy sip before sitting up and resting against the back of the couch. "I'm sorry for walking out on you and snapping." Averting her eyes the raven head took another sip of the drink before opening her mouth to speak again. "What happened between Jacklyn and I was something that I considered beautiful. I loved being with her and the way she made me feel."
Alex bit her lip gently, remaining silent and understanding. She watched as Delilah's expression contort into a frown, the dimpled scars once again becoming noticeable on her skin. Verbalization was never her strong point and patience was the only way to get the true story. "But I made a grave mistake and because of that, I ruined what I had."
Gently, Alex reached out and grasped Delilah's free hand, giving it a reaffirming squeeze before letting it hand loosely in her grasp. "The sad part is making that mistake gave way to clarity that was needed. It allowed me to see what I was doing and why I was doing it. I am gay. And I'm proud and happy of who I am. But the fact of the matter was I wasn't in love with her. I just loved being with someone. I realized, that afternoon when she left, that I was using her. That is why this day is so hard for me."
"Why were you using her?"
"I didn't mean to… It just hit both of us at once."
"What were you using her as?"
"A substitute…"
"For what?"
Delilah lifted her head and looked Alex in the eyes. All Alex could see was the pure, raw emotions that were trying so hard to be expressed. "Someone I can't have." The green eyed beauty got up slowly and pressed a ghost-like kiss on Alex's cheek before retreating swiftly.
Alex grasped Delilah's hand before she got away and got up quickly, still holding her hand tightly. "What did you do to make her run and leave like that?"
"I said something I shouldn't have." Delilah looked away. "I need to go."
"No. Tell me what you said."
"I called… I said… I said the wrong name…"
"Whose?"
Letting out a shaky breathe, Delilah looked Alex square in the eye once more, taking her hand away and whispering softly in her ear before retreating, leaving Alex alone to take in the single word.
"Yours."
The End