Succubi - Ch.13 - Embarrassed (Patreon)

"What the fuck was I thinking?" I asked as I stared at myself in the mirror. "What the fuck am I doing?!"

Melissa rolled her eyes, "You were thinking he was cute and sensitive and totally into you, and you're going to meet him at the cafe and make friends with him."

I shook my head, "Why did you tell me to meet him for coffee? I don't even drink coffee!"

"So have juice or something Mara," she replied with another eye-roll. "Now stop panicking and go, or you'll be late."

"That's another thing," I protested. "My horns are going to be frigid by the time I get there, it's like a fifteen or twenty minute walk! I'm going to be grumpy and uncomfortable and he'll think it's his fault!"

"Wear this," Sue stated as she held out a poofy knitted hat. "It should be floofy enough that nobody will realize there's horns under it."

I took the hat but pouted, "What if it messes up my hair?"

That got both of them to eye-roll at me, and Melissa stated "Enough stalling Mara! He's just a guy, you're just going for coffee. So go! Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and you never see him again. Big deal."

I sighed, then carefully fit the hat on over my horns. It looked ok in the mirror, and it didn't feel too bizarre, but it was much more colourful than the sort of stuff I normally wore. However, if it kept my horns from getting painfully cold it might even be worth it. 

I figured my tail would stay warm too, I was wearing leggings and a skirt, and I had my tail wrapped around my right leg under the skirt. I'd be wearing a long winter coat too, which would help as well.

"Ok," I sighed. "I'll be back in an hour or two I guess. See you both later."

Sue and Melissa both wished me luck, then I set out.

There was a stiff breeze and the air was cold, but the hat actually worked pretty good. When I got to the cafe my horns were cold, but not painfully so. I was a couple minutes late and Ethan was already there, and as soon as I saw him I knew the poor boy was worried I'd stood him up or something. The guy was probably as insecure as I got sometimes.

He looked relieved when he spotted me. We greeted each other, and he insisted on paying when we got our drinks. He got himself a cafe mocha which actually sounded pretty good. I went for a hot chocolate though which was basically the same thing except without any coffee blended in. Then the two of us got a little table and sat down across from each other.

At first we were both awkward and quiet, we just sort of looked at each other as we sipped our drinks. Or more accurately, I sort of looked at him and watched as he stole glances in my direction then looked at his drink, my drink, the table between us, a spot over my left shoulder, and so forth.

It took a few more minutes before I finally realized how silly we were both acting, and decided I needed to take charge of the situation. Otherwise we'd both just sit there in silence till we finished our drinks, then we'd just go back home or whatever and never accomplish anything.

"So Ethan," I said in a friendly tone, "What are you taking at college?"

He almost startled when I spoke, and had another anxious sip of his cafe mocha before he replied "Oh, I'm uh, in an arts program? Uh, doing drawing and painting. And I'm minoring in creative writing."

He sounded almost apologetic or embarrassed, and I was positive his 'friends' gave him a hard time about his choices.

I smiled, "That's really cool! So we're both in the arts program, just taking different classes. I'm taking photography, and my minor is drama. I'm just first-year, well still in my first semester basically."

Ethan gave me a hesitant smile, "Neat. I did some photography in high-school, I was on the yearbook committee and did pictures for the school's social media. For college though I wanted to focus on more direct creativity, no pun intended. Like rather than capturing what's already there, I want to create my own stuff from scratch."

He added after another sip of his drink, "Oh and I'm just in my second year."

We continued like that for a bit, whenever the conversation started to taper off I'd ask him something else then we'd have some more back and forth for a while. I learned he was a year and a month older than me, he was twenty and would turn twenty-one in April. And I found out he was a local guy, he actually grew up in the same neighbourhood as Susan. And he had a younger sister who was in her last year of high-school.

He sort of looked embarrassed as he admitted, "I'm actually still living with my folks. It's uh, not that far away and it didn't make sense to move out when I probably wouldn't get any closer. So I'm saving money not having to pay rent."

I figured some of his friends probably teased him about that too, or at least it was something else he was self-conscious about. I gave him a friendly smile and said "Don't feel bad. I'd still be living with my mom if she wasn't so far away. As it is, she's paying my rent for me, and my tuition."

That seemed to make him feel less self-conscious, Ethan smiled back "That's convenient. Where do you live?"

"My mom's out north-west of the city, it's like two hours away by car? But I'm in one of the apartment buildings near the campus. It's a nice place, but a bit cramped right now with me and my two girlfriends sharing it."

As soon as I said it I mentally kicked myself. I realized I should have said 'roommates' rather than 'girlfriends'.

Ethan sort of stared for a few seconds and I could almost imagine his brain was running back and forth over that statement trying to figure out if it meant what it sounded like.

Finally he asked, "You uh, have two girlfriends?"

That was it, I knew the date was finished. I couldn't lie, I couldn't come up with a story or explanation. Whatever came out of my mouth next was probably going to be the last thing I said to him apart from 'goodbye' so I figured I may as well just go with the truth and get it over with.

I sighed, "Yeah. Me and my girlfriends are in a poly relationship?"

He nodded slowly, but he didn't seem angry, or upset, or offended. Mostly he seemed as shy and uncertain as ever, and maybe a bit more curious. 

After another little pause he asked, "So are you bi? Or gay?"

I felt my cheeks going pink as I admitted, "I think I'm a lesbian, but uh, I've been kind of questioning that a little bit lately?"

There was another slow nodd from him, and I had another gulp of my drink. 

And right at that moment, while he was staring at me and I was watching him and had a mouthful of hot chocolate, I got the really strong impression that Ethan was currently trying to decide if he wished he could find a girlfriend like me, or if he wished he was a girl like me. Or if maybe what he really wanted was both.

Unfortunately choking on hot chocolate wasn't exactly the distraction I wanted, but it was the distraction I got. Ethan grabbed me some napkins and I further embarrassed myself as I cleaned up after coughing and sputtering my drink all over the place.

While I did that, I tried to figure out what to do or say next. My mind was sort of racing and I didn't dare say anything incase I accidentally said the inside stuff out loud. 

I remembered from all the reading and learning I did back in the summer, if he was an egg like I was then I definitely didn't want to pressure him or try and push him too hard or too fast. I needed to let him figure it out and hatch on his own. But I could sort of guide him and stuff, and hope he wasn't anywhere near as dense as me.

Or if he was already hatched but in the closet, then I just had to get him to come out to me. That would be easier, but I still had to be careful about it. And obviously our very first encounter in a coffee shop wasn't the right time or place to try.

It also crossed my mind that I could be completely wrong, maybe that impression I got meant something else entirely, and I was just setting myself up for another disaster of some kind if I tried to get involved or whatever. Like I'd try and coax Ethan to come out or hatch or something and discover he wasn't trans at all and I was just misinterpreting everything.

Then I remembered I could just ask Lily. She knew from a glance that both me and Melissa were trans. She would know what Ethan's soul looked like, if he was a guy or a girl or whatever. I couldn't ask right now of course, but I could maybe ask her later. 

For now I just finally said "Sorry for being so clumsy. Uh, I guess that's a thing you might have to get used about me, I can be a bit of a disaster now and then."

He sort of blinked and looked confused for a moment, "Get used to? Like...?"

I blushed, "I mean, if we're friends? I want to be friends. Are we friends?"

Ethan blinked again then nodded "Yeah. Yeah I want to be friends too."

I grinned and asked, "So what kind of food do you like? I know it's early but do you want to go get dinner together? If it's too early for you we can find something to do for a while first?"

He took a few moments to catch up to me again, and I realized I should probably try and slow down or something. Then again, maybe he needed a little chaos in his life, and I figured there was nothing like an unpredictable half-demon pest to spice things up.

"Uh, I kind of like sushi?" He sounded hesitant, and asked, "Are you ok with that? I know some people are turned off by the idea."

"I've literally never tried it," I replied. Then I admitted with a blush, "I'm sort of basic? Like honestly, I think pizza and nugs are my two favourite foods?"

I quickly added, "I'm willing to try it though! So if you know a good sushi place then I'm all in!"

Ethan slowly smiled, "Awesome. Ok yeah, I know a really good place. It's uh, we'll need to take a bus. It's about a half hour from here, is that ok?"

His smile faded again and he asked, "Or do you have a car?"

I realized he was probably self-conscious about not driving. Like it was another thing guys got uptight about, living with his folks, not having a car, all that stuff.

"Nah, bus is fine," I replied with a grin. "And we're lucky, we've got pretty good public transit here."

"Yeah," he agreed with a nodd. "If only they'd add more bike lanes though? I could ride to school in the warmer months, if I wasn't so worried about getting killed by some dick in his SUV."

I couldn't help it, I giggled. "I don't know, getting killed by an SUV can have some advantages."

It was obviously not the sort of response he was expecting, but he just sort of ignored it. We talked some more as we both finished our drinks, then we decided to head out for the restaurant even if it was a bit early.

Waiting for the bus in the winter weather sucked, but my borrowed hat helped a lot. And even better was having someone to talk to. We both complained about the cold, and that made the wind little less bitter.

At least the bus was heated. And when we got to our stop it was less than ten minutes on foot to the restaurant. 

Soon enough we were inside and seated at a table. I had my coat and hat on the chair next to me, along with my purse. Ethan's coat was hanging over the back of his chair, and he seemed excited about introducing me to a new cuisine.