The Mystery at Faldor Hotel Ch. 18

"So..." she ventured after some minutes of awkward silence had passed between she and her niece, "what all happened here after I left last evening?"

Nancy looked up from her efforts at neatening the contents of her suitcase, but only frowned and returned to the job at hand without comment.

"Nancy?" Eloise prodded.

The junior detective stopped her tidying and sighed, staring at the suitcase's contents as if her reply was written there before saying, "Things have changed, Aunt Eloise. Things... aren't what they used to be. And this place, this town, it... it's brought out those changes and now... nothing's the same, and I don't think things ever will be again."

"Okay..." Eloise responded, unsure at first of what else to say to such vague statements. "Well... what things exactly have changed?"

Nancy turned and gave her aunt a long, hard look before answering in a matter-of-fact tone with, "Well, let's see... I've graduated from high school and, even though I always knew that would happen, now there's this huge gap in my life that I don't know how to fill and it makes my life seem so... blank. Yes, I'm going on to university, but what courses will I take there? What kind of life am I going to have that I should prepare myself for? And what really doesn't help is the fact I've recently had sex with Ned- an experience that I didn't enjoy and now regret- and now he expects that we'll get married and have kids. What's that going to do to my future? Now I'm trying to put him off when he calls because I know what he's after and I don't want to hear it right now because I just can't... cope with that!"

Shaking her head with exasperation, Nancy continued on with, "Then there's Bess, whom George and I have always poked fun at for her appetite and her weight, but whose actually been hiding a knockout body beneath all those frumpy dresses she used to wear and, as I'm sure you've seen, she likes to show it off and makes no apologies about it. Well, as it turns out, she's had sex with Ned too! Yes, he cheated on me! Me! With Bess! On top of it all, now I've come to find out that my best friend, George, and my own aunt are lesbians!"

Eloise, quite at a loss for words, remained silent during the explanation she was in no way prepared for but, most of all, it was her niece's last comments that rocked her. Flushing again, her mouth opened to allow a surprised gasp as she fixed Nancy with an outraged expression that refuted her last statement. But, as Nancy stared back, it was clear to Eloise that the teen sleuth wouldn't be fooled by any denials, no matter how well acted out. Nancy was a bright girl and, in the course of investigating Susan Quinn's disappearance, she'd obviously discovered information which had led her to the truth.

On the other hand, having her strong suspicions about George's orientation once and for all confirmed was rewarding, but it was still necessary to keep her feelings for the girl below the radar. It wouldn't help to have Nancy know about that so, as her expression slowly turned to one of resignation, Eloise declined comment, only looking down at the floor as confirmation of Nancy's charge.

"Aunt Eloise, I... Your sexual preference is your business, and I don't mean to judge you on it. I'm just saying that it came as a surprise, and it's just one of many that have me kind of turned around right now. I still love you like I always have, it's just... I keep getting these mental images of you... with another woman... licking her cunt and..."

Nancy let it go at that, not having meant to go into such lurid detail, and now embarrassed that she did. Eloise, while surprised at Nancy using such descriptive and crass terminology, was aroused by it more than anything, her flush deepening as she looked up from the floor at her niece, again busily arranging the contents of her suitcase.

"Nancy... this is really none of my business, but ha- (ahem) - have you ever been with another woman?"

After a pause, Nancy answered indirectly with, "Aunt Eloise, this town... there's something going on here. People who come here are affected by it. I believe Susan Quinn was, I know that George, Bess and I have been and, now that you're here..."

" ... What? What are you trying to say?"

"Well... have you felt...? Have you noticed any...? (Sigh) This is so hard to ask you..."

"Nancy, just come out and ask. It can't be worse than what we've already been talking about, can it?"

Making hesitant eye contact with her aunt, Nancy paused before asking quietly, but firmly, "Aunt Eloise, have you noticed any heightened feelings of sexual arousal since you've been here?"

Another pause followed before Eloise could bring herself to nod affirmation. Nancy nodded back in knowing reply, looking back to her suitcase as she began bringing her aunt up to speed in regards to her investigation into Susan Quinn's disappearance. She began with their arrival in Cinder Bay, with Bess's shocking display in front of Manny, the bellhop, and everything else, ending with the previous day's discovery of just how much conductive crystal probably flowed through the hotel. Of course, Nancy's report didn't necessitate certain personal details which she left out, such as having had lesbian sex with George, allowing the Colonel and his friend to grope her, and certainly not any of the more lewd details of what she'd done in the basement column room beyond the unexplainable sexual attraction she'd felt towards the light pillars. These and other personal experiences aside, her aunt did seem to understand the nature of the strange effect Cinder Bay and the crystal columns in particular had on people, though she also seemed skeptical. Nancy couldn't blame her as she herself still found it so unbelievable, especially while explaining it all to her aunt.

As for Eloise, she certainly was skeptical. It wasn't that she didn't trust Nancy's judgement, but that Eloise wasn't one to believe in such silly 'paranormal' or 'supernatural' explanations to odd events any more than Nancy was, at least not normally. That Nancy was so convinced of what she was saying could be easily explained away by the recent personal turmoil that she herself had just attested to. In addition, she'd been drinking and this, along with the changes in her life and trouble she was having in coping with the fact that the world didn't actually revolve around Nancy Drew, was quite possibly responsible for some inaccurate appraisals of what was going on in Cinder Bay and with herself.

Regarding her own odd behaviour, Eloise could easily blame the alcohol that she herself had had the night before combined with travel fatigue. Like Nancy usually did, Eloise knew that there was always a rational explanation for everything, no matter how odd. Despite this, her intuitions told her that she should keep an open mind to Nancy's claims, this mostly being because of how drunk and personally messed up one would have to be in order to perceive such power from these crystal columns in the hotel lobby, to experience such pronounced effects from their presence in the basement. For that matter, why would they be so much more powerful in the basement than in the lobby? Weren't they the same columns? This piece of logic only added more doubt to Nancy's fantastical claims, however, she still decided to address the subject with an open mind, at least with Nancy.

"So, you're saying that, because of these columns, you're moved to dress more... like Bess, which is why you three were dressed the way you were when I arrived yesterday, but today..."

Eloise ended her question with an up and down look at Nancy's decent attire, to which Nancy explained, "I'm trying to combat the columns' influence on me. I'm afraid I have to admit that I'm not always successful with that, but..."

"I see, Eloise said, nodding before asking further, "And have you... done anything else that might be considered... naughty? With another person?"

Nancy looked stricken at this query and Eloise found herself more aroused, her curiosity wanting details to the unspoken, yet clearly affirmative answer to her question. Continuing to hold Nancy in her questioning gaze, she found satisfaction after a pause where her niece turned red with shame that was mixed with obvious excitement.

"Well, I... I let two men touch me... all over..."

"Oh. ... Have you ummm... had any naughty experiences with other women?"

"Well... George and I stuck our hands down each other's panties."

This information, along with the mental images it conjured in her mind, released a flood of hormones in Eloise's body while at the same time producing jealous alarm, but Nancy wasn't finished.

"We rubbed each other's cunts until we orgasmed."

"Oh..."

"George is in love with me," Nancy then blurted. "She told me."

" ... Uh... Okay... and how do you feel about this?"

As high as Eloise's hopes had soared with new possibilities where the young and desirable George Fayne were concerned, they were only dashed to pieces when they fell back to earth at Nancy's statement of George's feelings for her. Her pain and jealousy were almost overwhelming, and only her elevated hormonal response kept it from showing as she listened further while Nancy spoke glumly to the floor.

"I don't know. That's not what I am, but Ned... I felt nothing when I was with him but, with George, it seemed so right and it was so... good. She made me feel so wanted and important. But I'm not a lesbian, so how can that be? (Sigh!) This is what I mean, Aunt Eloise... Everything's changed now, and I'm so confused... It's all I can do to keep my mind on the case..."

"Forget the case for now," Eloise said, speaking softly while touching Nancy's arm to comfort her. "You said that Ned cheated on you with Bess- is it possible that this is why you didn't enjoy sex with him?"

Looking up, Nancy shook her head as she explained, "I didn't even know about that until last night. After you left the suite, we three got into an argument and that's when Bess told me. It happened after Ned and I had sex... and at Lookout Point! The same place he had sex with me! What kind of person does that to me?"

"Obviously, this is why you're not very happy with Bess," Eloise noted aloud, silently taking note of Nancy's sense of self-importance, one of the things about her niece that had always rubbed her the wrong way, though she'd never expressed it in such a way before. "I couldn't help noticing you glaring at her this morning. So, why is George upset with you?"

"Because... because she wants us to be together. But, that can't be! I'm not supposed to be a lesbian! I'm trying to keep my mind on the case and she and Bess aren't making this situation any easier! She just doesn't understand!"

She was becoming distraught. The unshakable girl who Eloise had always seen as cool and in control was, for the first time in her life, in a place where nothing made sense to her and logic wouldn't serve. Eloise felt bad for her but, in another shameful sense, she couldn't help enjoying this, her brother's perfect daughter in such a personal tizzy because the world wasn't currently revolving around her. The girl who knew everything, could have anything, now including even George, was being victimized by circumstances she had no control over. It was this shameful reaction and the sudden possibility of actually having the beautiful, young George Fayne after all that justified and motivated her next words and, though she berated herself even while saying them, she couldn't stop herself.

"Nancy," she said, now rubbing the girl's upper arm comfortingly as she softly spoke, "you said that that you allowed two men to touch you... Did you enjoy that?"

" ... Yes..." she hesitantly, shamefully admitted.

"Well, maybe Ned... Maybe he just doesn't do it for you."

Nancy looked up to her aunt's kindly face, wordlessly asking for clarification.

"What was it that you liked about what the two men did with your body?"

"I'm not sure. They were older and... and they seemed to be in control. I sort of- I definitely enjoyed that, the way I felt so helpless and wondering what they would do next."

"Okay... And what about when you were with George? Was there also some aspect of control that you enjoyed?"

"Yes, but... not so much during our sex. It wasn't like that. That was more afterward, and it wasn't really control, but more like... I don't know. Like I could relax."

"I see. Nancy, I personally think that you only enjoyed sex with George because you felt it was so... forbidden. The same as you must have felt when those two men were playing with your body. In addition, I think you really have to examine the fact that you have an obvious need for someone who can take the reins with you, and Ned... well, he doesn't strike me as the type who could... you know..."

"I think so," Nancy replied with an expression of light confusion before asking, "So... what are you saying?"

"Well, maybe you should explore other things... other men. Maybe that's what you need; to feel like a play toy. A lot of women do and it's perfectly normal."

" ... Really?" Nancy asked, hardly able to believe that she was hearing this advice coming from her Aunt Eloise, the same woman who was, only the day before, demanding an explanation as to why she was dressed like a prostitute.

"George is a nice girl, but I don't believe you're a lesbian any more than you do," Eloise assured with a motherly smile, adding with a wink, "And I think that I ought to know, right? So, what are you supposed to do? Lie to yourself and be with George only to make her happy, thinking that only she can allow you to feel taken care of? Only to eventually leave her for what you really want? All that will do is hurt both you and George even more, and you wouldn't want that. Would you?"

"Well, no, but..."

"You're an adult now and, as you've said, things have changed. You have to change too. You have to adapt and cope. You have to find who you are and what you want in life, especially in a sexual relationship, or you won't be happy. Again, you can believe me when I tell you this because, obviously, I've had some experience in having to come to grips with who and what I am and what kind of lifestyle I need in order to make myself happy. I moved to New York because of it. And if a person can't be happy, what kind of life awaits her every morning when she gets out of bed?"

Nancy nonetheless found herself nodding at this reasoning.

"So, maybe you should explore this attraction to being out of control. Why not change into something a little more... inviting. Try some midway point between how you're dressed now and how you were dressed yesterday. Try to attract the kind of man who would take control and see how it feels to be with him."

" ... Really?" Nancy asked doubtfully.

"Yes. Nancy, Cinder Bay is a long way from River Heights, and nobody there will ever find out. I'm not saying you should actually do anything you shouldn't, but this might well be a good chance to maybe relax a little and find yourself. Right?"

"Why... I guess so. But..."

"What?"

"Well, none of the clothes I brought, or the ones I bought at the boutique, really touch that midway point that you spoke of."

With a reassuring, motherly smile, Eloise gently squeezed Nancy's hand, surprising even herself by softly, warmly replying, "Then just dress yourself up like a little whore."