A Study in Fragrance Pt. 20

Looking at her phone there were dozens of texts, two voice mails and Insta posts through the roof. Oh no! They wouldn't have posted last night would they? She navigated to see what was going on and breathed easier when she saw that most were silly shots of the different clothes her friends had landed on. Most had been taken last night, right in The Study, but all of them had kept the real nature of the party completely hidden.

Almost everyone had texted her, even Jamie. Most were quick thank-yous, but there were several from Steph. Em hoped she wasn't freaking out. And a ton from Caroline, the first of which made Em stop and catch her breath. Oh my god oh my god ohmygod. Caroline must have fallen head over heels in love with her. She couldn't wait to read the rest, but she wanted to save them, get through the others. The thought of her coming over tonight, to help her, started her up again. Stop! Focus!

Voice mail from Naomi, short and sweet. Call me.

Voice mail from Steph, I'm really okay. Sorry about all of the texts.

She needed to eat before she did anything else. She'd completely fucked up her discipline this week so far, and now, not running, not eating properly, she wasn't sure what she should do. Eat a balanced diet...Coach's voice in her head. She pulled out some fresh broccoli, grabbed the rice from the cupboard and took out a frozen chicken breast. 30 minutes later she was sitting at the table, responding to the texts before calling Naomi.

"Oh my god, Emily!" Naomi was whispering. "What the fuck happened last night?!"

Em could tell she was smiling, but she could hear concern. "I know, right? It's fucking over the top. You...you okay, Mi?" She could feel a buzz starting. Nooooo! Naomi!! She had to tell her. She had to tell her what Complicit had done. She had to stop her from doing what she was doing. "Naomi! You...you...have to stop..."

"What? Stop...what?"

But the buzzing had stopped.

"Stop Jamie? You're one to talk..."

"No! Naomi! God no! I'd never tell you who you should be sleeping with! Shit! NO! Shussh...hold on!" Em couldn't get a word in over Naomi's protests. "Seriously. You have to stop playing with yourself until I talk to you!"

Dead silence. The buzz hadn't returned. "Whaaaa...? The fuck? Emily?"

She exhaled hard into the phone, dropping the tension from her shoulders. "It's gotten totally whacked, Mi. Complicit. Totally out of control. I...yesterday. I mean this morning. When you...fuck...used your rabbit, after brunch?" She couldn't say any more, over Naomi's stream of questions and shouted whispers.

"No fucking way Emily, what the fuck, what tHE FUCK?!"

"Shhhh, Naomi...please, I know, fuck, I know, right? It's fucking out of control. I can't explain it, but sometimes, I don't know why or when, sometimes...I can just feel you getting turned on...yesterday with Jamie..." she exhaled again, trying to not start shouting herself, "and now, just now. We're connected, Mi. Complicit has somehow done something to us."

"NO FUCKING WAY. EMILY!?"

But now Em could hear a different tone, a sense of wonder? Naomi's relationship to sex, to Complicit, to what it asked of her, it was so different from Emily's. She couldn't predict how her friend would react. "Shhhh...are you...it sounds like...you're okay with it?"

Naomi started laughing. Laughing so hard, she'd dropped the phone.

Em could imagine her flopping on the bed, in her room, maybe dressed, probably barely, her giggling muffled and garbled. She just waited, putting her phone down on speaker and focused on eating until Naomi came back.

"Oh fuck, Emily. No fucking way." She laughed again, the sound bright and clear. "What does it feel like? Do you cum when I do? Is it the same? You felt Jamie eating me out last night? Hooooly shit! I have to hear what that was like. You think we're all going to end up that way?"

Emily started laughing, unable to answer any of Naomi's questions, mostly because she literally had no answers, and also because her friend wouldn't stop. "Naomi! Stop!" She laughed some more. "Seriously girl. Chill! There's no way for me to explain what it's like. If it happens to you, you'll know it. You're 'slippery.' That's the best way I can describe it. It tastes like ginger-lemon, while mine is more licoricey. There's no words for it Mi! Your..." she hesitated at getting more graphic, but Naomi would push until she would have to eventually. "Your clit is in a different spot from mine. Your g-spot is off-center from mine. When you climax, it hits a different part of me from my own. Fuck, Naomi, it's just too fucking weird..."

Naomi gasped and laughed again, excited and bubbling. She started in again with a stream of questions.

"Shit, Mi. I don't know! I don't even know how to find out!" She flashed on Steph again, as if her scientist-friend would have any better way of figuring this out. But she knew that was hopeless. Steph would just look at her like she was a freak. And exactly how would you propose we design an experiment to test this? Steph's mocking tone in her head momentarily obscuring Naomi's reaction. "It just happens. It might happen to you. Maybe with Jamie. And maybe Al and Sarah will get it. Who knows????!"

Naomi quieted, the sound of her breathing letting Em know she was still there. "Fuck. Em. This is so huge." She said it quietly, the enormity of what this meant finally dawning on her. "Who can we tell?"

And in that moment, in spite of having known about it for a full day, in spite of Caroline's own reaction the night before, Emily finally realized how insanely important this was. She would have to tell someone. Suddenly, she saw her whole life being turned upside down as the news spread of this weird and wonderful capability. Complicit would be taken away, studied, tested, reproduced, synthesized. A new image flashed into her head, something far further in the future than a few days, when she seemed older, a woman with her, speaking in front of a crowd. It was definitely a future memory, but so sheer, so out of focus, she struggled to understand it. "We have to be careful, Naomi. Really really careful. This could get really good...or really bad." She paused. "Right?"

Naomi agreed. "Yeah. Shit Em. What are you going to do?"

The buzz started again. "Naomi! Stop it! Really?"

"It turns me on, Em! It turns me on to think you could be famous. The discoverer of Complicit! Another Madame Curie!"

Em laughed, but grew concerned. "Okay. Maybe. Shhhh. That didn't turn out so well for her, did it? Seriously, Mi. Let's keep this quiet until I have a chance to think about it. I've been so..." she stopped before she got into details she wasn't prepared to share, "...distracted...I need to take some time and chill. Maybe we can all get together? Tomorrow?"

"Distracted. Is that what you call what you and Caroline were doing? Or is your Ironman distracting you?" Naomi laughed as she teased. "Okay. Okay. I'll keep my mouth shut. But don't be surprised if you feel me...a lot...until then."

She sat back and breathed, the seriousness of what she'd slipped into threatening to overwhelm her. She turned to Caroline's texts and read through them, her heart leaping with each, adding to the sense of everything changing. I'm going to call it off with Bobby. I'm thinking of how we can stay together this year. I'm ready to get married.

It was too much. Complicit, Caroline, Cos. And then Naomi's buzzing starting again. She couldn't deal with it all. She needed to clear her head. She needed to run, but it would be super stupid this soon after eating. You can do it. Just keep it easy. You need to keep it easy no matter what. It was true. She'd be back in training...fuck! Practice! Not Training!...tomorrow and couldn't afford to break that rhythm again. An easy run right now, and get home, study "study" as if! the training videos Cos had upstairs Caroline? She had to reach back out to her. She had to acknowledge those texts, even if she couldn't respond with as much passion. Do you love her? She ran the idea over in her head, every time she thought of her her heart leapt a little. Is that what love is?

Hey -- can you come over after work? I can't believe how I'm feeling, how you're feeling. We need to talk about what's going on. I think I'm falling in love with you too. And I need your help. K?

As she was putting her dishes in the sink, she heard her phone chime. A response from Caroline.

💖

Her heart racing, she ran upstairs to the bathroom, pulled out the plug, peed, washed her hands and then grabbed her workout clothes. Tying her shoes and flying down the stairs she had to remind herself to take it easy.