Private School for Love

Danni followed her Father up the pathway to the front door and watched him jarringly open the door, beckoning for his eldest child to enter first. Danni slumped and earned a glare from Karim as he audibly †˜tsked’ at her about her posture. Danni straightened herself and walked in trying to keep her composure intact as best as possible, but that was somewhat difficult. Her stomach jumped and churned at the thought of seeing her aunt again. The last time they had talked she was given, by her aunt’s words, some †˜just criticism’ over her lack extra-curricular activities outside of school time. Something she hadn’t started in the 6 months since their last conversation (if one doesn’t consider being involved in a school production). Not to mention that her aunt had also perpetually spoken about how Danni should have found a boy to date already and start thinking about her future like time was already rapidly evaporating from her and that soon she would start regretting it. It was like unless the entire world decided to do exactly as she said without question or fault she couldn’t be satisfied, and Danni doubted she’d be happy even then.
The whole idea made her nauseous and the feeling of a migraine was already flooding her head. This wasn’t going to be an enjoyable occasion. Not that it ever was.


Danni headed into the dining room of her house and found her Mother sat on one side of the table with Gideon on her lap, gently playing with her child’s hair much to his amusement. It brought a smile to the young teenager’s face, seeing her brother so happy was always nice given how the child was usually sick for reasons no Doctor could ever figure out. However, quickly Danni’s smile faded for a moment and she scowled when she noticed who was sat across from her Mother: A woman in a black pant-suit with dark brown hair and skin tone much like her Father’s, she had piercing green eyes and a calculative stare behind them. She wrinkled her nose at Danni’s sudden appearance tilted her head back as if to try and take on a more dominating appearance, although Danni already felt like a mouse just from the women’s aura she gave off. She remind Danni so much of her Father, strong, domineering with an unbending personality and yet she lacked his kindness.

“Danielle dear, try not to pull such a face. It is most unbecoming of you” the woman said as she pinned her gaze on the naturally nervous brunette. Of course Danni wanted to disobey and say she could pull any expression she wanted, but she wasn’t that strong of a person. Not yet. So she melted away her anger and stood with a neutral countenance and tried her best to put on a fake smile. “Much better” she turned to Audrey “Is she always so dreary like that Audrey? I’d expect a little more happiness from the first born” She inquired to Danni’s mother, and immediately Danni’s face faltered back to a frown.

†˜Dreary? And then you go straight back to Mother and ignore me? I hate you.’ Danni grinded her teeth together but made sure to keep it as quiet and slow as possible so Cinder didn’t notice. She quickly took a seat by her Mother as they idly chatted about Danni’s behaviour, Audrey doing her best to try and defend her child but conceded defeat on several issues just so Cinder wouldn’t get infuriated. More so anyway.

“Child!” Cinder snapped and Danni came back to reality from her passive-aggressive thoughts and Danni trained her attention back on her aunt.

“Yes Auntie Cinder?” Danni winced at not paying attention and at the inevitable anger that was sure to follow her mistake.

“Go and retrieve your Cousin for me. She decided to see what your room was like” she said sternly and without room for argument. Danni nodded once and quickly walked out of the room, swearing under her breath at how she compared herself to nothing but a slave to the woman.


Danni ascended the stairs to her room and saw that the door was slightly opened, she pushed it further open to peer inside and saw a pale skinned girl with black hair sat on her bed with legs crossed, a light blue book in her hands that she studied intensely with increasing interest the more she paid attention to it. She looked nothing like her Mother, same chest size and wardrobe choice but she had her hair pulled back and her complexion was much fairer. But there was a sadistic and merciless look in her eyes, one that elicited fear out from everyone who looked at her. Danni gulped back her fear from just looking into the emerald eyes that shone evil intentions. She had always made it a habit to embarrass Danni or get her cousin in trouble when she had done nothing wrong, fair to say Danni liked her about as much as her aunt.

“Emily?” Danni pushed the door completely open and the raven haired girl tore her attention away from the book in her hands and offered a smile of deceptive kindness.

“Oh sweet cousin how lovely it is to see you!” her voice dripping with sarcasm as she slammed the book shut with both hands but held it tightly as she stood up. And then Danni noticed the golden fabric weaved into calligraphy across the front of the cover: Danielle Wakeland-Ulistani’s Dairy.

Danni took a sharp intake of breath out of fear. And covered her mouth at the mere sight of it and the fact she had seen her cousin reading it towards the most recent entry. Somehow Emily must have found the key that Danni had hidden towards the bottom of her underwear drawer for reasons Danni didn’t want to know. It contained her deepest secrets, her darkest fears; things that she wanted to hide from Emily the most given her track record of ruining her life. But most of all, the only thing she had written about for the last several months had been Chloe and their relationship, including the most intimate of details. Her heart beat like a drum-solo, sweat already forming along her brow and she momentarily forgot how to breathe.

“Whatever could be the problem baby cousin?” Emily slowly snaked her away around Danni like some kind of predator toying with its prey. Danni couldn’t keep her eyes on her cousin, fear freezing her body in place. “You know, there is some really interesting things you’ve got here Danielle. Something about how a certain…” she mockingly flicked through the pages “Ah yes, Chloe Jean, took your virginity? I hope that’s a unisex name” she smirked and continued to flick through the pages “Wow you have done some kinky things cousin. Handcuffs? Ooh LaLa!” she continued to tease, every word stinging hard into Danni’s chest. “So you’re gay then?” Danni nodded and Emily only barely held in a laugh “Really? I wonder what my Mother would think of this…I wonder what your Mother would think of this…”

“Please don’t tell them!” Danni said too quickly and desperately and that sadistic smile spread further along her cousin’s face.

“Oh don’t worry Danielle, don’t worry” she took Danni into an all too fake embrace and caressed the younger girl’s (by two years) back. She took Danni’s chin in her own hand and brushed their noses together, lips just a millimetres apart.

Danni’s heart thumped in her chest like some kind of jack-hammer, Emily was moving closer with every second and her entrancing eyes looked almost hypnotic. †˜No way! S-She wouldn’t do something like this…’ Danni tried to convince herself as the sweat that had been forming along her brow started to pain-achingly roll its way down her face.

“I’m going to have my fun before I out you” she was about to close the distance when someone’s footsteps came from behind them.

“What the Hell are you doing Em?” a demanding male voice came from behind and Danni relaxed at the sound of it. Her more reliable and kind cousin stood with arms crossed and a bewitched stare to his eyes. He had simple jeans and a buttoned up dress shirt on that covered his toned physique.

Emily took a step back and her face turned almost sour at the sight of her brother “Oh Stephen, how lovely of you to show up now. I was just comforting our baby cousin after a hard day at school, wasn’t I Danielle?” She asked with a soft glare of dominance and Danni wearily nodded for what would happen if she said otherwise. Emily smirked and made way through the door.

“Don’t treat me like an idiot Em, Danni doesn’t hold secrets from me” He growled at her and Emily just teasingly smirked back at him in over her knowledge of her cousin’s secret.

“For her secret’s sake, she better make an exception” Emily revelled in the secret she had uncovered as she quietly laughed to herself before descending down the stairs.

Danni collapsed onto her knees, warm tears trickling down her face as she clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her whimpers from escaping. Strong and secure arms wrapped around her and started to carefully caress her lovingly. “It’ll be okay Dan, what’s the matter?” He asked with concern and anger. It wasn’t the first time an experience with his sister left someone on the verge of mental collapse but he couldn’t stand it when it was Danni. He felt the sensation of tears well up at her whimpering, feeling completely useless. He’d always been a safety net of sorts, always trying to protect her and encourage her on, it wasn’t wholly inaccurate to say he was the only person Danni felt close to when she was young, sharing every little detail about herself to him and he repaid the honesty in kind.

“M-My phone…c-can I have it?” Danni stumbled out and patted the ground around her where she had dropped her bag upon entering her room. Stephen slowly released one of the arms he was using to hold Danni and slid the bag slowly as to not frighten the younger girl. Danni carefully took out her phone and fumbled about trying to unlock it and then brought up her contacts looking for Chloe’s name. She thought about calling her girlfriend at first but she could barely breathe so talking was out of the question. She tapped on the text icon and began typing out her message, deleting whole sentences as she tried to find the most coherent way to relay her message to both Chloe and her cousin as he stared at the screen. Eventually she gave up and tossed the phone away.

“Danni….are you gay?” Stephen guessed, although it wasn’t too difficult given what he read in Danni’s attempted message, moving his hands to stroke up and down her arms.

Danni clamped her hands over her eyes, letting out soft moans for it all to be a dream, begging various deities to say it was some sick joke and she would wake up resting her head on Chloe’s soft lap, her hair being daintily played with by the blonde’s delicate and skilled fingering. “What I am going to do Stephen…?” her voice was cold and lifeless, her usually upbeat demeanour had been shattered like a car through glass. Forgive the simplistic comparison, she was purely a wreck.

Stephen understood the pain she felt all too well. Despite her parents being kind and loving, they had already mapped out Danni’s life and had all too often expressed interests in their eldest child marrying a boy from a rival company to improve their standing in the business world. Perhaps if she was the second or third child her desire to be with women could be, whilst not forgiven, ignored. But no, she was the poster child. The child meant to inherit the family fortune and company, it would be considered almost sinful for her to be gay.

“We, silly girl, we are going to figure out what to do. Emily’s all talk, but just to be sure I’ll keep her in check I promise” he reached into his shirt pocket and brought out a handkerchief and started drying Danni’s eyes of tears while he continued to reassure the young girl with gentle rubs up her arms.

Despite Stephen’s attempts at trying to console the girl, Danni’s heart pounded in her chest with a stifling pain burning throughout her entire body. All she wanted to do was be swallowed up by a dark hole and ignore the world around her, she wanted it to drop her out of existence.

Y-Y-You know me a quite a bunch already, but I will clarify some things about myself as I think they are relevant to my point of view (and thus my opinion). My written English has a lot to improve, but my reading is strong aside colloquial terms. I can know when a phrase is poorly worded, but I can't help you with solid solutions or suggestions as I can't express them good enough yet.

My school life was really short lived as I only assisted to school when I was five to nine years old, and two thirds of that time missing for very poor health. Thus my experiences with schools are minimal, so for me, all that is like a (really) strange world that I'm still trying to understand, but I can't at all yet. I reacted to the system in my few years in a highly proactive way to improve it, rather adapting myself to it, so the adaptation that most people does is really something I know very little about.

Finally my IRL social life has been since always moving from minimal to reduced (including with family), so my experience interacting, specially with groups of people, is close to zero. I just don't know what is weird or not in that regard. With that said, even someone like me has lived her own lesbic romances and lewd experiences, so I can understand and enjoy those aspects more than just fine~~~

Irrelevant (?) but for fun~ Reading it while hearing Aoi Hana's, Flower's, Sakura Trick's and a few more similar original soundtracks~

Danni started to descend the stairs with Stephen directly behind her, urging her onwards with the softest touch from his large hand on her back until she spun around and quickly ran back into her room, much to his confusion and incredulous look.

“Umm…Danni? What’s wrong?” Stephen asked as he popped his head around the doorframe as Danni was frantically tapping away on her phone’s screen, messing up the formation and structure of her sentences about three or four times in a row before she let out a little whimper of defeat. Stephen looked at her hands to see them shaking from anxiety, her eyes still puffy and red from her tears.

“I’m freaking out! I cannot handle it Stephen! Emily loves to torment me! Oh God everything was perfect before and now I’m screwed! Father will…will…I have no clue! I mean he’s always said that he believes love is fine no matter who it’s between but to be fair he’s never had a freaking gay daughter before!” Danni’s words were spilling out quicker than she could annunciate them.

Stephen took a step closer and patted her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her “So why were you texting?”

“I need-I need- I need Chloe, I’ve decided that I’m not going to give Emily the chance! I won’t let her ruin my life, if anyone’s going to ruin my life it’s me!” If anyone could look both confident, certain, uncertain and anxiety ridden it was Danielle Wakeland-Ulistani right then. Her mouth wobbly with her lack of control over her muscles due to the weak emotional state she had been placed in.

“Damn straight! And I’m sure you’ll Dad will be fine with it. If not, you can stay with me at my apartment until something better is sorted out.” Stephen smiled, doing everything he could to expel the hysteria that had tightly gripped Danni’s body. “But how long will it take for her to get here?” as soon as Stephen had finished his question Danni hit the call icon on her phone before she pawed at the phone, failing to grip it once or twice and even dropping it after picking it up once. Eventually she managed to answer the phone with wild panting.

“Danni? Are you okay?” Chloe asked, concern evident in her tone as she proposed the question.

“No!” Danni almost yelled “Sorry! I’m really…I mean…I really need you! I was gonna tell my parents I’m gay so can you, you know, come over to help prove it?” Danni asked, rolling her hands together to help emphasise her apprehension over what Chloe’s answer would be.

“Sure, but it’ll take me 20 minutes or so. Want me to make a grand entrance?” Chloe’s tone changed to devilish and full of lecherous intent.

“No thanks! I’ll take the lead if you don’t mind?” It wasn’t meant to be a question, but Danni really had no control over her tone of speech, body language or even the pitch of her voice. Her entire countenance was full of fear and trepidation, making her double and triple guess every decision she was making. Danni was no idiot, she knew the only way to stop Emily from ruining her life was to pre-emptively strike and try to spin the situation in her favour. But that didn’t stop the uncertainty from stealing her breath or calm her down in any way. What she needed was Chloe’s love and support and to try and explain that the relationship was mature, thought-out and equal between both parties.

“Okay Danni. If it’s that much of a worry I’ll take a cab over. Will you be all-right until I get there?” Concern was now rooted back into Chloe’s question, her own pitch had changed signifying her own growing levels of fretfulness over what exactly was going on with her lover.

“Yeah, just…please tell the driver to floor it…? Is that the right term?” Danni managed a chuckle at her own ignorance to the specific informal idiom.

“Yeah you got it! That’s my girl!” Chloe sounded proud, her own hearty laughter and giggling echoing through the phone and it reminded Danni of all the testing and blissful times that she had heard that laugh. For a moment her chest stopped heaving and a small smile broke out, a sigh escaping at the same time.

“Do it again please…?” Danni asked softly as she traced her hand along the hem of her skirt idly.

“Do what again?” Chloe asked, her own tone was more casual and simple, making sure to not sound too happy or uncertain in case she brought about a resurgence in Danni’s extreme emotions that had only just died down.

“Laugh for me again…I love your laugh…” Danni asked distantly as the memories of Chloe’s smiling face replayed over and over in her head with Stephen’s presence growing ever the more non-existent to her, as if the connection of the two girls was the only thing that occupied the world.

Danni could just about make out the click of Chloe’s door through the other side of the phone along with a restrained laugh “You’re lucky I love you so much, I didn’t even get a chance to brush my hair!” Chloe giggled and Danni let out a long, loving exhale thanks to the warm feeling Chloe’s bubbly and lively giggle spread throughout her.

“I love you too…you really don’t know how much I love you…” Danni bit down on her lip, she felt as if this was some kind of final confession she was giving as if they wouldn’t ever have another chance to explore and admit the trust and adoration they both held so deeply for each-other. She brushed the tears away and sniffed to try and recompose herself.

“Go dry your eyes love, I’ll be there in a few.” Chloe’s final words were final, definitive and confident, like the decision had already been made and even divine intervention wouldn’t stop her from reaching her lover. With that, the line died and Danni hung up on her end and tossed the phone onto her bed before leaning back into Stephen’s embrace.

“Feeling a bit better now? More confident?” he asked, his tone upbeat in its natural infectious way that always seemed to make other people happy by nature.

“I don’t think †˜better’ or †˜confident’ are the right words to use but…at least I’m in charge of my destiny now…kinda…” Danni bobbed her head to the side as she dryly laughed at her own uncertainty about her decision and questioned if she had made the right choice at all, not that she had any real way of backing out now. It was time to stand up and face the music.


Danni and Stephen eventually reconvened with the rest of the family back at the dining table where Karim had joined Danni’s Mother and Aunt at the table, with Emily sat next to her mother, a devious grin and manipulative air about her eyes. Danni had to treat the situation carefully, otherwise she would oust Danni before she was ready. Cinder took notice of Danni and immediately broke off conversation with her brother to glare disapprovingly at the two cousins.

“Honestly, how long does it take to retrieve a single person Danielle? You make the most trivial tasks seem impossible at times.” She shook her head in disbelief as Danni balled her hands into fists and focused on her own breathing, giving in to the harmful pokes and jabs at her own person wouldn’t help her situation any. “And Stephen, where have you been my sweet?”

“I was just talking and catching up with Danni-” Stephen began to defend himself with a little more lax attitude than anyone else, Danni always looked up to him for that ability given how daunting her Aunt was and how easily even the most confident of people (namely her Father) despised spending time with the woman and would give in to her mere presence alone.

“Her name is Danielle, Stephen. Not anything else so there is no purpose in referring to her in any other way child.” She bit back and Stephen looked incredulous for a moment, looking away as he mouthed †˜wow’ at his own Mother. “Oh do not act that way my boy, we are given names to help people identify who we are. If we are to use alternatives or †˜nicknames’-” she almost spat the term and used air-quotes in the most offensive manner she could achieve “-then I may as well call you Alexander instead of Stephen. They are equally as inaccurate.” She lectured back to him and Stephen simply pocketed his hands before reconfirming eye contact.

“No, you’re wrong Mother. It’s a little wrong to say two plus two is five. It’s entirely wrong to say it’s a fish. The same applies to calling Danielle Danni or any other variation of her name.” Stephen bit back at Cinder and all she did was inspect her nails.

“Emily dear, let me take this moment to say how wonderfully well-behaved you are in comparison to your older brother.” For a moment rage began to bubble to the surface of Stephen’s face, though he took a few moments to let it dissipate. Danni was astounded how a women could so easily belittle her own child without even acknowledging their existence. It was demeaning ad unfair, she had no idea how much longer she could take Cinder’s offensive and crude behaviour. Though this was just another page in the †˜Big-Book-Of-Auntie-Cinder’s-Bitchy-Tendencies’.

“Thank-you Mother, but I have something really important to say as well about…” Emily began as she continued to face her Mother but narrowed her eyes at Danni, until the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted her and the sound of the door opening and closing perplexed everyone.

Before anyone could actually stand to answer the door, the clicking of footsteps echoed throughout the halls until a beaming and curious Chloe entered into the fray as she craned her head around the archway into the room and smiled at Danni’s mother on entrance.

“Oh Chloe! How nice of you to pop in!” Audrey smiled as she stood to great Danni’s friend and (unbeknownst to her) lover.

“The pleasure is all mine Misses Wakeland.” Chloe said respectfully and even managed a small courtesy with a bend of her knees and lifted the seam of her skirt with thumb and index finger, which earned her a blush from Audrey who fanned the rise in temperature from her face.

“My, my, aren’t we well mannered?” Cinder said with a greater level of enthusiasm than she had before, raising her chin slightly to emit an aura of superiority that Chloe all but ignored. “Danielle, I take it that you know this girl personally?” Cinder asked and Danni attached her eyes to the ground and fumbled her hands together in a nervous manifestation of anxiety.

Danni was so happy to have Chloe here, but at the same time she stood right on the precipice of admitting her homosexuality, and if she took that plunge there was no going back. The consequences loomed so large she felt threatened. As it turned out the plunge had already been made for her when Chloe moved to her side and squeezed her arm to gain Danni’s attention before leaning down and capturing Danni’s lips between her own, softly nibbling on Danni’s pink lips for a brief moment. The brunette moaned at the contact and shut herself off to the world, along with her eyes, as she waited patiently for Chloe’s tongue to poke past her lips and explore Danni’s mouth like she always did. However, after a few seconds she pulled away. Much to Danni’s disappointment.

“Oh, she knows me much more than personally.” Chloe admitted with a glare that could make any girl, boy or genderless weak in the knees. It was carnal, teasing and possessive. She moved her hands around to cup Danni’s cheeks before tilting the girl’s head to look into her emerald eyes that shone with pride and devotion. Smiling, she let go of Dani’s now crimson blazed cheeks and stood back to her full height with a hand on her hip, an unaccompanied flick of her eyebrows along with her smile was all she did next as if to goad Cinder into a response. Damn this girl knew how to play a situation and then some. Danni fixated her eyes onto the ground again, but this time there was a giddy smile plastered along her face from the kiss.

Cinder was far less composed than Chloe. Her mouth was hanging by its hinges with her eyes wide with disbelief. She quickly shook off incredulity at what just transpired between the two teenagers ahead of her and quickly reminded herself how to breathe. She herself was flushed from embarrassment and shock at the almost instantaneous display of passion. “Well that was…an experience.” Cinder said, for once at a loss for words that made Danni force back laughter.

“Danni…” The young girl gulped back her fear and slightly angled her head slightly towards where her Father was sitting, his own piercing gaze full of fury and intense rage. “What does this mean?” he kept the question simple and spoke slowly, struggling to control the potential outburst that was moments away.

“D-Dad…umm…” Danni looked at her hands that were in the midst of violent shaking from her nerves getting the better of her. She was entirely sure Chloe’s and hers kiss, while sending Cinder into temporary speechlessness, had created and even worse problem in her Father’s rage. “I-It means that…that…Chloe and I are…” Danni’s fell several octaves until it mimicked a mouse’s minor squeak “…dating.” Danni slammed her eyes shut, not knowing what to expect. “I’m gay.” She added quickly and brought her hands to her eyes as she quietly sobbed, Chloe crouched down to stroke her arm and offer sweet coos to her love in order to console her.

“I know that!” Her Dad said almost offended, his tone changing from anger to a calm variation of annoyance “I wanted to know if this was some casual hook-up or if you care for each-other!” Karim clarified and shook his head in amazement at his daughters long and drawn out confession.

Danni snapped her hands away from her eyes, tears still staining her face but her countenance was one of puzzlement at her Father’s words. “Wait…you knew?!” Danni spun to face her Father, with a judgemental stare and pout to her lips.

“Of course I knew! When you were five you would always position your Barbie dolls to look up each-other skirts!” Danni blushed all over again and the sound of both Stephen and Chloe laughing from behind her at the idea of a younger Danni committing such a perverted act. “And you would always give girls in your class Valentine’s Day cards instead of boys every year.” He added finally and sat back with crossed arms.

“Oh my God! My girlfriend was a player! Wait until Blake hears about this!” Chloe was bent over, clutching at her gut as her laughter travelled along her entire body and left her diaphragm with a constant work out because of her constant cackling.

Danni covered her eyes again and groaned in a deep tone for an extended period at being the vocal point for everyone’s joke “I hate you all.” She exclaimed in a light-hearted manner as she soon failed herself at suppressing a giggle at the situation.

“I’ll be the first to admit that this situation still needs a level of discussion before I’m satisfied, but that can wait until at least after dinner. Chloe, would you care to join us?” Karim asked and Chloe practically shone so bright it could blind somebody.

“I would be honoured Mister Ulistani!” She clasped her hands together in a thankful manner and hugged Danni tight in a motion of victory over Danni’s fears, which the brunette could only sigh in relief at since, as it turned out, she had nothing to worry about.

“Is that fine with you Cinder?” Audrey asked with a tilt of the head at the silent woman across the table with her lips upturned in contemplation.

“Go ahead. Not my house after all.” Cinder said nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders.

“You’re taking this…too well.” Karim responded and Cinder just shrugged again.

“I have no right to lecture your daughter on sexuality, it is a part of what makes her who she is. You’ll be surprised to know that I’m an advocate for LGBT rights, everyone deserves equality after all. I’d be a hypocrite if I said otherwise given our origins Karim.” Cinder explained as she went back to her nails “And how long until dinner? I’m quite famished.”

The only word that came to mind was surreal. It was absolutely and unequivocally bizarre for Danni to find herself so abruptly thrown into such an unexpected and tension laden position following the conclusion of Chloe’s arrival at her household. She sat, idle, face painted in a stoic expression of bland indifference to the buzz of conversation centred on Chloe. Her neutral demeanour hid the warring variety of thoughts that swirled around her head like any other topic that seemed to find herself fixating on ever since moving to her new home. In a manner of speaking it was curiously pleasant for her to no longer be dogged by the almost cliché (for those who knew Danni’s thought process before coming to the USA) train of thought she was used to. On the other hand, she discovered that the issues of romance provided their own level and quantity of fixations that proved to be bothering in an almost relentless fashion.

The most recent of these would be her families constant questioning of the details of both Danni and Chloe’s relationship, even extending to the more intimate details. Whilst Danni’s response, or lack of response, culminated with most of the family ultimately ignoring her silent presence and instead turned their attention to Chloe in the search for answers.

Chloe always had a cool demeanour, she’d have to be considering the daring acts she had committed herself to in the short few months that Danni had known her. Still, she sat there with a proud smile on her face as she composed herself with her hands on her lap while she crossed one leg over the other as the plethora of questions (mainly from Cinder, Audrey and Stephen. Karim and Danni’s two siblings weren’t overly interested in the topic, Danni imagined that if her father wanted to know anything he would ask her privately) were launched at her relentlessly.

Cinder took a long, elegant sip of her tea as Chloe finished off answering one of Audrey’s questions, the women was practically giddy over her daughter’s first relationship and wanted every single detail. Meanwhile the more composed, critical matriarch of the family held a far more critical and analytical method of enquiry.
“Miss Jean, are you originally from France or is it simply the foundation of your ancestry?” Cinder asked politely (if that was in fact possible for her) as she absent-mindedly traced her finger around the rim of her cup.

“I was born here, my Dad lived in France until he came here for College, then he met my Mother.” Chloe answered straight-forwardly as she laced and unlaced her fingers more out of boredom over the simplicity of questions rather than anything anxiety related.

“Oh I see. Danielle was born in Saudi Arabia, her Father and mine’s home. It’s a conservative place but practically a beacon of liberality and tolerance in comparison to some of our sibling nations.” Cinder’s eyebrows shot up as she mentioned the †˜sibling nations’ in a disrespectful manner that she seemed to use whenever she acted sarcastic and critical of others.

“Can we please not turn this into a debate on politics? God knows it’s far from perfect…” Karim rolled his eyes and refocused his attention on his youngest children making sure they were occupied. It didn’t look like a pleasant task to have given Samantha’s compulsive need to do something and when she wasn’t she was probably annoying Gideon in some way. Though Karim (usually) always had a smile on his face while doing so.

“I hated it there…” Danni muttered under her breath in passing reference, hoping to express herself so distanced from the actual topic of conversation that no-one would actually expect her to continue.

“Of course you wouldn’t dear…” Cinder grabbed the end of Danni’s skirt with her thumb and index finger before lifting it beyond what Danni was comfortable with in order to draw it to the centre of the group’s attention. To be perfectly accurate, Danni was in no way comfortable with Cinder touching or lifting her skirt at all for emphasis. “If you went about wearing something like this where your Father I and grew up...” Cinder began before Danni swatted her hand away and inched further along the sofa.

“I have lived there before. I know what happens.” Danni said dejectedly as she smoothed out her skirt while she refused to look at her Auntie’s face, frowning at the fabric she was busying herself with.

“No need to be so cold with me dear. I was the one who convinced your Father that accepting his current employment, and by extension moving around the world, would be beneficial for both your education of other cultures and for you personally.” Danni finally whipped her head up to actively acknowledge her Auntie’s presence for the first time in hours and Cinder merely reaffirmed the statement with a casual nod before gesturing an open palm at Karim.

“She likes to hold that one over me like it’s worthy of being used as blackmail…” Karim sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly “I wanted to stay in Riyadh, the capital, since the job was easy and paid quite a lot. The company I work for now contacted me and asked how much they would need to pay me to work oversees. Money wasn’t important really since we were already earning too much to know what to do with and I didn’t like the idea of pulling you out of school at a moment’s notice to take you to a country that spoke a language you didn’t know.” Karim explained in a droll way that sounded as if he was almost amused by his own previous opinions.

“Nothing to really worry about then since I speak six languages because of it.” Danni let out a giggle at her Father’s over-protectiveness and even Cinder smiled.

“Mmm,” Cinder hummed in agreement “He was always a sissy.” The whole room exploded with laughter and Cinder was so surprised at the sudden change in mood that her eyes shot open and she almost fumbled her tea out of her hands.

“I never expected you to say that Mother!” Stephen beat the arm of his chair in appreciation of the humour and a slight flush of pink descended over Cinder’s face. Chloe took notice of that part particularly, something that Danni did a lot herself. Perhaps it was a family trait?

Cinder took a moment to recompose herself and sip her drink before clearing her throat and waiting for the laughter to die down “Well, regardless of what I can only describe as my poor wording, Karim has always been a neurotic man.”

“Dad? Neurotic? You’re pulling our legs! He’s basically in charge of an entire company!” Danni was finally alive with emotion like Chloe thought she should be, bubbly and bursting with questions as she bounced on the edge of her seat. In the meantime Karim had shrunken back into his seat a little and was either offering a silent prayer or cursing his sister’s name. Probably both.

“Oh you mean he’s never told you?” A large, almost sadistic smirk crossed across Cinder’s mouth and she turned to face Karim.

“I swear I’m going to kill you Cinder…” he threatened as he sighed louder than ever before, knowing full well that the threat wasn’t going to do anything other than convince Cinder to continue her story.

“Maybe you’ll actually follow through with it for once.” Cinder winked and then turned towards Danni “Allow me to tell you the most wondrous and comedic tale to ever be born out of Karim Ulistani’s life to date…” Cinder spoke in a cheerful and teasing style even going so far as to gesture quite wildly with her hands, evoking a suppressed laugh from Danni. “When your Father was a young man, not too long after he and your Mother had graduated university, he went to apply to a moderately prominent position in a local company back in the home country. Anyway, he had always been able to find some way to ignore or cope with the pressure, but he had so little time to prepare himself for the interview and knowing that he only had one chance to succeed…well…let’s say that he had sweated his body weight and they had to call a whole team of janitors to clean it up.” Cinder chuckled to herself while Danni swung around, hand clenched over mouth to hide her smile and stared at her Father.

Karim could see very well the request that shone in Danni’s eyes and eventually he relented against his own determination to stay quiet and with a sigh he massaged his forehead in exasperation “That’s an exaggeration. It wasn’t a whole team…”

“More like two teams…” Audrey muttered in a sing-song fashion and Karim glared at her while she kept her focus entirely on the drink in her hands, only occasionally looking up to inspect her younger children, effectively ignoring Karim. Eventually Audrey looked at her wristwatch and theatrically gasped, which for everyone was all too obviously fake and yet she continued with the act, “I should go prepare dinner before it burns!” Audrey exclaimed and bolted out of the room as Karim simply rolled his eyes at his partner.

“Coward!” He called after her and the only response that came back at him was a brief cackle of laughter. Karim tilted his head towards his sister with a blasé look on his face “And you say I’m neurotic, she dashes off when I stare at her.” Cinder went back to inspecting her nails, gently blowing off some dirt on the end of one particular nail before regarding Karim with confusion as if she hadn’t entirely heard him when it was clear she had.

“Sorry Karim, were you talking to me?” A sadistic smile had formed across Cinder’s face as she regarded her younger brother resulting in him rolling his eyes and slumping into his chair.

“Wonderful to have you over as always Cinder.” Karim said almost despondently while staring up to the cream coloured ceiling with Cinder stifling her own chuckle, causing her brother even the slightest form of grief was always a pleasing experience for her.
Karim checked his watch and saw that the hours had been quickly slipping away from them over the course of the afternoon, culminating in the fact that the time had reached seven o’clock already. Astonished at the time already he looked over to Chloe with wonder as to what she would. He knew that her parents had passed on and her uncle was generally out of the country, he had no desire to send her home in the winter when it was already pitch-black dark at this time.

Driving Chloe was one option of course, but Karim was always safety conscious. Maybe it was partly because of Gideon’s weak health that had made him so cautious and wary, but he had no desire whatsoever to drive Chloe home when it was dark and on slippery roads. That left him with only one viable option of course.

“Chloe, I don’t imagine you have a way home tonight do you?” Karim asked after quickly dragging himself back up his seat. He regarded her with a weak smile making it quite obvious that even Cinder’s and his wife’s fragile attempt at annoying him that he had quickly become worn out.

Danni had always been an observant girl, she had always noticed how in the short months following her family’s moves between and within countries, that her Father’s work as well as his priorities of looking after and supporting his household drained him physically. Having Cinder over and learning of his daughter’s sexuality must have almost certainly been even more draining for him. Because of this Danni felt slightly guilty, she realised that perhaps she hadn’t chosen the best moment to admit her homosexuality to her father, but because of Emily’s sickeningly antagonistic attitude to her cousin, Danni was left with no choice but to make do with what she was provided with.

Meanwhile, in response to Karim’s inquisition, Chloe tilted her head at the question and gently smiled back at the man “No sir, it wasn’t on my mind when I rushed over here.” Chloe admitted in a manner that was all too shy for her colourful and exuberant personality, the faintest of blushes highlighting both her cheeks as well as her embarrassment over the lack of thought Chloe had applied to her own scheme. Obviously, this took precedence of Danni’s constantly shifting mental accolades and considerations. She considered how cute Chloe looked and despite its almost alien nature on Chloe’s countenance. She then realised that, even if by the most indirect of methods and logic, it was in fact Danni who had grafted Chloe’s beautifully artistic features with that softest of pinks. If it hadn’t of been Chloe’s worry and fear for her lover, she probably would have never made that expression ever. The realisation dawned on the young girl and she clasped her hands over her face, more out of embarrassment of having Chloe be so worried for her, and she let out a groan of resigned happiness and awkwardness over having such an important role to play with her girlfriend. Also keep in mind that this was merely caused over seeing her girlfriend blush at a lack of consideration. Truly a neurotic girl if there was ever one. “Are you all-right Danni?”

Danni ripped her hands away from her face, still crimson with her all too common affliction of blood rising to the surface of her skin, to see Chloe, lips slightly parted in her confident smirk that was mixed with amusement as she locked eyes with her lover. “Huh? Oh…yeah just…thinking is all…” Danni stumbled to an answer with a lack of cohesion and detail.

“The point of thinking darling is to not speak out loud. Perhaps we need some training in that matter?” Cinder chided in a means that obviously seemed to please herself.
Karim sighed “Anyway, I was going to ask you if you wished to spend the night or not? It seems like the easiest thing to do given the time of day. I can drive you back home in the morning. Is that okay?”

“Allow me to stay? That would…” Chloe seemed taken aback a bit by the offer, she had barely been able to process how Karim had let her stay in his home after kissing his daughter right in front of him and now he was allowing her to stay the night? The man was quickly forming the image of some kind of saint or equally altruistic being in her head. She cleared her throat and calmed the swirl of confusion in her head momentarily to answer serenely “I would be very grateful to you sir.”

And with that, Karim emphatically brought his hands down on his armchair “Good! You can stay in Danielle’s room with her, I trust you won’t get up to any funny business right? I was a kid too…” Karim trailed off at the end of his sentence with a look of reminiscence about him, after a moment or two he did however come back to reality.

As expected, Danni looked slightly frustrated by the all too appropriate expectation of what Danni and Chloe would have gotten up if they had been allowed, looking at her Father like he had suitably pushed her buttons by bringing the topic up. No teenager likes to discuss sex with their parents, even less like being told they can’t have sex.

“Don’t worry Mister Ulistani, I promise there won’t be anything going on today between me and Danielle, I assure you.” Chloe was acting all too respectful of Karim and Danni raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the blonde and tried to figure out what she was playing at. Sure, Chloe was usually quite an upstanding young woman when she wasn’t having the plethora of sex in places and means that were no doubt illegal, but she was acting like some Victorian suitor coming to try and earn Danni’s hand in marriage from her wealthy and socially esteemed father. Regardless, her thoughts were interrupted as Audrey called from the kitchen.

“Dinner’s ready everyone! Take your seats!” Everyone rose from their seats and headed towards the dining room, with Audrey’s wonderful and filling food that made Danni salivate at the mere mention of the food, and she finally got to share the food she had always boasted about with the love of her life.


The afternoon faded into night, shadows cast across the suburban tranquil slice of heaven that Danni lived in. The brunette herself, was in her PJ’s after the sizable meal that had managed to appease her appetite and thanks to her out of control metabolism, it wouldn’t add anything to her already petit frame. Her pyjamas consisted of pink shorts and a long sleeved, buttoned up pink shirt that only helped to accentuate her feminineness.

On the other side of the bed to her was Chloe, sat on the edge while she was busing herself with tying her hair back into a loose ponytail to sleep with. She had a simplistic grey tank top and black PJ trousers with her initials stitched into each leg. She was neither hurried nor sluggish about the way in which she applied herself about the task she had set herself on, a perfect way in order to describe the way she went about life. The girl who only spent an adequate amount of time on whatever she set her mind to, perfectly calm and considerate with no exception to ever toil in something unrelated whilst she always committed everything she physically could.

She stood up to stretch before something seemingly caught her eye, Danni watched her love as she fiddled with her own hair, brushing it behind her shoulders and removing the ribbons from her hair that was usually draped over her shoulders. With one methodical step after the other, Chloe moved about the room in the manner that only she seemed capable of. Moving with a form of graceful awkwardness that could only be best described as Chloe-esc. She focused on every minor detail of the room, never moving to mention what was on her mind as she no doubt went about analytically pondering the implications of the significance it would bear. Usually Danni would have been fairly patient of the blonde, waiting for her to come to her conclusion and discussing it with her, but the day had been equally draining for her as it had her father, so she simply decided to skip the foreplay and skip to the question and answer segment of this little game.

“What’s on your mind Chlo-Chlo?” She asked as nonchalantly as she could achieve, which for her was not at all, with clear nervousness and apprehension all about her with her shaky voice and nervous hands.

“Hmmm?” Chloe teased with her pink lips curving upwards in a rather seductively sadistic smile as she toyed with the brunette.

“It seems like there’s something on your mind is all…” Danni swung her legs of the edge of her bed, eyes firmly fixed on the hypnotising rhythm of her limbs as they swayed back and forth.

“Just thinking that…” Chloe began as she slowed her pace to the agonising, taking far too long on something as simple as Danni’s desk with her observation “…that your room is incredibly girly-girl my love.”

Initially all Danni responded with was a quizzical look at her partners almost sarcastic-ridden look. “Well, yeah. What else did you expect, death metal posters? Satanism alters?” Danni said in a condescending and ridiculous tone.

Chloe shrugged back, still smiling to herself “So like a really watered down version of Blake?” Danni barely managed to stifle a giggle at the comment about their friend “I don’t know in all honesty. Never judge a book by its cover and all that. At the same time don’t judge a book by the appearance of the contents.” Chloe petered off onto another topic, no doubt trying to start a thought provoking conversation.

“So…don’t judge a book…at all?” Danni tilted her head in confusion.

“No silly. A lot of authors tend to leave hidden messages within the story of a book itself, the plot is more of a tool designed to deliver entertainment while inside the structure and narrative lies contextual and personal reasoning and philosophy. Fair to say a lot of writers are more like walking talking propaganda machines, with their works as a literary means to spread their messages to those intelligent enough to decipher them. Though people often get it wrong.” Chloe explained, leaving Danni’s head spinning.

“So…let me ask you a question then…what if someone wrote a story about us? What would be the message in that narrative?” Danni quizzed and Chloe looked off into space for a few moments as she heavily considered what someone could be trying to explain with their tale.

“Probably that no matter what a minority might appear like, their relationships and experiences are as mundane and simple as anyone else’s? That something different isn’t…different? Something along those lines.”

“Seems rather…obvious.” Danni responded with.

“Maybe that’s the point?” Chloe said back and Danni bobbed her head to the side in silent agreement.

Chloe continued her mindful wandering around Danni’s room, with the brunette idly watching the blonde until she found her patience wearing thin again. “Okay, so what was the whole point of bringing up my room again?” Danni inquired and Chloe solely responded with the shrug of her shoulders before running her finger against the pink painted walls.

“I was just thinking it was rather cute. Though honestly, the only thing that could have possibly made it more feminine was if you had a whole drawer devoted to doilies or something.” Chloe rolled her eyes at her own attempt at humour until she heard the vocal clearing of Danni’s voice. She swivelled around to look at Danni to see the girl pointing at a particular drawer in her desk. Chloe raised her eyebrow in slight confusion, mixed with intrigued. She gradually pulled the drawer out from the desk only to discover that it was filled with a variety of doilies, numerous in both colour and styles.

At first, Chloe didn’t know how to react. Her face was of quiet contemplation alongside an expression which could only accurately be described as a form of disappointment to be so correct about predicting something like that.

“Holy shit I can predict the future! I’m omniscient!” Chloe called out sarcastically in an exaggerated tone before turning to do holding up one of the doilies “Seriously, I love you, but this is ridiculous!” Chloe laughed, doubling over in laughter at the almost ludicrous and absurd level of femininity her lover contained.

“Yeah okay. I’m a girl. The most feminine girl to have ever been born…and the only reason I have those is because they belonged to my Grandmother!” Danni said with a defensive tone as she blushed. Chloe held her hands out in an apologetic gesture as she moved over to sit on Danni’s side of the bed, staring into the brown eyes of the brunette for what seemed like an immeasurable length of time. Her movements and actions such as her breathing and the dip of her head whenever she looked down Danni’s body returned to the excruciating speed they had been when she was exploring the confines of Danni’s room.

Caught in the entrance of the methodically slow movements of her girlfriend, Danni was almost removed from the passage of time, keeping Chloe in her perfect image as she played with her hair or felt about the blankets of her bed, eventually Danni snapped back to reality as Chloe took hold of the brunette’s chin with their lips almost touching to the point where Chloe’s breath was brushing along all of her features.

“W-Wait…” Danni begged as Chloe feathered a kiss against her lips, resulting in Danni tilt her head into the kiss and moan in the desire for more.

“What was that?” Chloe teased as she bit down on her lips trying to use whatever willpower she had to stop herself from attacking the adorable mess of a lover that had been placed in front of her.

“We promised my Father…” Danni reminded Chloe of their promise not to get up to anything teenagers their age would no doubt get up to if they were unsupervised.

Chloe quickly waved her other hand in the space between them as if to dispel Danni’s argument “Not to worry, look at the time my love.” Chloe pointed to Danni’s clock, to see that the time read just after 12 AM the very next day. “I promised that nothing would happen between us today” Chloe accentuated †˜today’ rather emphatically “I am Chloe, mistress of all loopholes!” Chloe chuckled and Danni couldn’t help but smirk at her lover’s attempt at humour.

“You’re a dork.” Danni kissed Chloe lovingly, a level of passion without growing to intoxication alongside that love.

“But the dork you love” Chloe kissed her back, and Danni had come to realise just how much they loved each-other. She was willing to defy her own Father in his house for this girl. Even if they did get by on a technicality. She couldn’t care at all about the consequences of being found, she just cared about Chloe.