The Loudest Silence (Part One)

by Olivia Janae

  Kate couldn’t get enough. There was never enough.

  “Not that I’m complaining,” Vivian said into Kate’s mouth, “but what’s with you?”

  Kate groaned, hating that she had to pull away in order to speak to her. “I don’t think you’ve ever been so fucking hot.”

  “What?” Vivian flushed. “But I’m in… denim.”

  “I know.” Slowly, languidly, Kate murmured suggestive words, telling Vivian exactly what she wanted to do to her.

  Quickly, she dropped to her knees; pulling one leg over her shoulder she buried her face in Vivian’s clothed apex, biting softly. Vivian hiccupped and whimpered, grabbing her hair hard and pulling her back to her feet, sinking her tongue deeply into Kate’s mouth, her free hand fumbling with the button of her own jeans. Kate smiled as, with a slight wiggle, Vivian pulled the jeans down just far enough to free one leg.

  “Have I told you lately,” Kate asked with a wicked smirk, “how much I love doing this with you?”

  Vivian gave a breathy chuckle. “I think you’re making yourself abundantly clear right now, Kate.”

  “Hmmm, you know, I don’t think I am. Let me paint a better picture.”

  She slipped her fingers into Vivian’s mouth, clutching her bottom jaw as she dropped back down to her knees, pulling Vivian so her chin pressed hard against her chest. Cupping her hand over Vivian’s mouth in anticipation, she threw Vivian’s leg back over her shoulder.

  Vivian sprang against Kate, her outcry muffled by Kate’s purposely placed hand.

  They were still working on the whole silent thing.

  Watching Vivian’s face above her, Kate rolled again, and teeth sank into the skin of her palm. She yelped and grinned.

  She curled again, hard, doing her best to be quick.

  And again.

  And again, making small circles, enjoying Vivian coming apart so quickly.

  This was her favorite part of being with Vivian thus far; not the sex, which was outstanding, but this sense of playful peace, the knowledge that if she wanted to push her against the wall and ravish her, then Vivian was comfortable with that.

  Vivian began to shake, both hands clasped in her hair, but Kate didn’t want this to end, not yet. She slowed and Vivian whimpered, but that didn’t stop her. She suddenly stood, clutching Vivian’s jaw and kissing her roughly.

  Kate turned, checked her face and hair in the mirror, pretending not to notice Vivian gaping at her in shock. With a quick, almost impersonal smile, she left the bedroom.

  “You ready? Oh my god, you’re so cute!”

  Max groaned. “Mommy, I’m not cute! I’m uh-s’posed to be scary!”

  “Well, you don’t have your makeup on yet!”

  He had gotten himself out of the tub, a feat they had only fully conquered the year before, and was pulling his costume over his head. He was standing in front of his mirror, his face serious with concentration as he tried to comb his hair to the side. “Look at you! Good job, buddy! You’re so handsome! Got your sleepover bag?”

  He barely nodded, not to be interrupted as he tried to style his hair.

  Vivian stumbled into the bedroom, tripping over a stuffed animal and looking very much like a cartoon character after it’s been hit over the head with a frying pan.

  Kate caught her eye, her smirk growing as Vivian stared back, red-faced and disoriented.

  “I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before,” Vivian mumbled, stunned.

  “What’s happened?” Max tilted his head, confused.

  “Viv’n had too much Halloween candy!” Kate cried.

  “Viv’n!” Max stomped his foot, hands going to his hips. “You’re not uh-s’posed to eat that many!”

  Vivian just stared at him blankly.

  The trio took a quick drive to the outskirts of town, heading toward an area Vivian seemed to know well, if her lack of GPS was any indication. Kate frowned as they went, watching the houses grow in size as they crossed from Chicago into the tony suburb of Evanston.

  The streets were bustling with parents chasing after their children, yelling empty threats about looking both ways and not eating candy from their bags. Max had been gaping out the window the entire ride, ogling as the decorations covering the houses went from papier-mâché and stringed lights to full animatronic bodies and light displays.

  “Mommy, look! I don’t like it!” He pointed to a house, three stories with wide windows and painted in shades of blue. Now it was taken over by cobwebs as thick as ropes, spiders the size of dinner plates scattered here and there.

  “Woooooow!” he cried, as the characters walking down the streets went from easy, silly costumes to complex and sophisticated feats of engineering. “Mommy, look!” he screamed, pushing away from the window as an impressively chilling Freddy Krueger waved menacingly from a street corner. Finally they turned off of Sheridan Road, the main stretch of highway that would become Lake Shore Drive, and into a neighborhood a block from Lake Michigan.

  It was a beautiful area, and Kate couldn’t help but to think how much she would love to settle in an area like this. The streets widened slightly from the tight spaces of Chicago, the brick apartment blocks giving way to beautiful homes with lush green lawns and huge ash trees, their leaves in the process of turning.

  “Okay!” Vivian cheered, pulling her Bimmer with ease into a tiny spot along the curb. “We’re here!”

  “Mommy!” Max cried. “It’s Superman!”

  The man strolling down the street could have given Christopher Reeve a run for his money, with his chiseled chin and curl of chestnut hair against his forehead.

  “Jesus,” Kate breathed, impressed.

  He stopped, leaned over to peer into the car window, and waved at Max, who only stared back, his mouth hanging wide. “Happy Halloween,” Superman said with a nod and continued down the street.

  Max shrieked and flew from the car the moment he was released, like a horse waiting at the gate.

  “Hey!” Kate went around the car, planning to give Max yet another lecture on trick-or-treating safety, but Vivian grabbed her by the arm, pulling her ear so close to her lips that her breath tickled all the way down Kate’s spine. “Don’t think that I won’t get revenge for that earlier. I can barely sit down, Ms. Flynn.”

  Kate chuckled, taking a moment to enjoy the effect the words had on her. “Oh, please do, Ms. Kensington. Please do.”

  “Max!” Vivian called, as he ran to join the others at the grandest house on that block. It was a monster house, huge and brick red, nestled in the middle of a large lawn that flowed into the neighboring park. “Let’s skip that one. Look, that one over there has a big crowd in front of it. They must give out something really good!”

  After a while, Max began to grow tired. He fell in step between them, clutching their hands tightly and only running at half-speed up the walkways, lugging his filling pillowcase.

  It was nice that this area was still heavy with trick-or-treaters. In Pittsburgh they had been forced to go to a city event because none of the houses in their neighborhood had been giving out candy; it had been the same in the city before that, too. It had made Kate wonder if trick-or-treating was a dying tradition.

  “We need to go,” Vivian sighed, as the sun disappeared behind the large houses. “Our appointments are in an hour, and I assume you want to check his candy before giving him any.” Kate nodded. “And ration it out, of course.”

  Kate leered teasingly, glad that she had said that last part without her voice. If Max had heard that, he would have been halfway through already.

  When it came to dietary restrictions, Vivian was far stricter than Kate, and just a little bossy. She had a hard time not speaking up when she thought something should be one way or the other.

  Kate kind of liked that Vivian cared about what Max ate, and therefore let her step in. What was it going to hurt? They had both been eating a little better since Vivian had arrived.

  But nerves shot through her again at t
he mention of the appointments. When she moved past the financial aspects, she was somewhat excited. She had never had her makeup done professionally. She wasn’t sure what her costume was going to look like either. During the makeup consultation, they had discussed general ideas, but in the end Kate had decided to give the woman full artistic license… and hope that she could afford it. She was anxious to see what she came up with, as well as this hidden costume Vivian was refusing to share.

  “Okay, Max, are you ready to see our makeup?”

  He grinned and yawned. “Can I have a candy?”

  “I get to sleep here?” Max asked, in awe of the huge guest room. It had been weeks of dating and yet, somehow, they had never gotten around to a sleepover at Vivian’s; perhaps because sleeping in the black and white loft required forethought enough to break routine and settle Max and the sitter there before heading down the street to rehearsal. As a matter of fact, they had only been over when Vivian needed to stop at home for something before heading to the Flynn apartment. Vivian, to her credit, had stopped looking nervous each time they walked through her neighborhood, agreeing that, with Max, it was easier to be somewhere with the things he needed.

  “Sure do!” Kate swung him up in the air and tossed him, screaming with giggles, into the middle of the soft bed. Vivian joined in, blowing raspberries on his exposed tummy.

  “Does this mean that I get to sleep here, too?” Kate mouthed soundlessly to Vivian. Vivian smirked back, reminding Kate of the promise she had made earlier.

  “It’s so big!” Max stretched his arms and his legs, reaching for the edges and coming nowhere near them. “It’s as big as a house!”

  Kate gave his tummy one last tickle and left to dump the pillowcase of candy onto the silver kitchen island, shuffling through and ripping open a bite-sized Snickers for herself.

  Vivian tsk-ed as she passed behind her.

  “I’m checking it for poison!” Kate spluttered around the mouthful of chocolate and caramel, knowing full well that Vivian hadn’t heard.

  The yellow light flashed in the corner, and Kate searched her mind for what yellow meant. “Oh.” She trotted to the intercom. “Who is it?”

  “Kate? Hey, it’s Amy.”

  “Come on up!”

  “Makeup,” she signed to Vivian, and began to dish out a small bowl of candy for Max to snack on that evening, putting the rest into a large bowl hidden on top of the fridge that she, no doubt, would be dipping into just about as much as Max would.

  Amy kissed her cheek as they met in the kitchen with a warm hello.

  “This is my girlfriend, Vivian,” Kate said. Amy smiled and shook Vivian’s hand. Kate coughed, trying to cover a chuckle as she noticed the jealous scowl that had snuck onto Vivian’s face at her greeting of Amy.

  Vivian introduced Kate to Michael, the man who had been planning her outfit and makeup with a touch more warmth than she had just given Amy.

  “How do you want to do this?” Kate asked, smirking at Vivian over Amy’s shoulder.

  Vivian narrowed her eyes a bit. “Why don’t you two use the downstairs bathroom and we’ll use the upstairs?”

  “Right.”

  Putting The Little Vampire on the TV in the downstairs living room, Kate kissed Max’s head and reminded him that he was welcome to come in and watch her get ready if he wanted. “If you get into that candy before dinner, then that will mean that you can’t have any more, young man.”

  His mouth fell open, shocked that she had discovered his covert plan.

  “So,” Amy said, looking at Kate as though she were an intriguingly blank canvas, “you should get into your costume first. You’re going to need some help with that. Go ahead and take everything off and put this on.”

  Kate’s eyebrow popped at the very skimpy white underwear. “Um, what exactly did I sign myself up for?”

  Amy laughed, turning to give her privacy.

  Kate hurriedly stripped down, pulling on the garment, and then stood still, unashamed in her nakedness, allowing Amy to dress her.

  “How often do you go to the gym?” Amy asked.

  Kate chuckled. “Not as much as I would like to. I have a four-year-old, so I’m the queen of Jillian Michaels DVDs.”

  Amy nodded through the small talk, throwing a light, fluttering cloth over her torso. Kate’s breasts were small, so they fit without issue under the odd shirt – if you could call it that. The top was a light cream color with spots of lace around the bottom, and it hung barely past her hipbones. It gathered into ruching over a single shoulder.

  Amy adjusted it and laughed as a breast peeked from either side of the sash-like top. “See, this is what you needed my help with.”

  “I’m not going to give anyone a surprise show tonight, am I? That might be bad.”

  “Not if I can help it.” Amy first tied the large snow-white sash around her waist, cinching the billowing material, and then turned to her arsenal of makeup products. She pulled out a roll of dress tape and stuck the shirt to the far side of her breast on one side and then taped it up her shoulder and down her throat and chest. A slightly scandalous amount of her side breast was left exposed on the opposite rib. Amy then let the cloth trail purposefully down to her waist where she taped it so her right rib remained bare.

  Amy followed the same trail along her back so that the majority of Kate’s right side was naked.

  Next, Amy pulled a pair of opaque, bluish-white tights and white ballet slippers from her bag. She bent, pulling the tights into place without a struggle.

  Lastly, she reached for a pair of translucent, snow-white gloves that went from Kate’s fingertips all the way up to the hollow before her armpits. Amy quickly taped those as well to keep them from springing back on themselves.

  Kate gaped down at herself; she couldn’t even imagine what the hell this outfit was supposed to be.

  “Okay now, sit down and we’ll do your hair.”

  Amy teased Kate’s hair lightly, playing up her natural curl before pulling it back in a very loose chignon, leaving two tendrils of hair to frame her face. “This looks great.”

  Kate gave her a slightly awkward smile as Amy stepped back, studying her for a long while.

  “Anything I can do to help?” she fumbled nervously.

  Amy laughed, pulling her hair back before she dived in, getting to work on the makeup.

  Max, who had appeared mid-hair, sat transfixed as he watched Amy work. It was perhaps the longest Kate had ever seen him sit still, and she wondered if that was good or bad.

  “How do I look, kid?”

  Max was lost for words.

  Anticipation had been building, and just when Kate was going to ask to see, Amy stepped back, looking pleased with the finished product.

  “You’re done?”

  “Yup. Take a look.”

  Hesitantly, she stood to face the mirror and gasped.

  Her skin, which was pale at the best of times, had been gently doused in something white, giving her an opalescent glow. The makeup on her face at first hinted at shades of blue, reminding Kate of that first night with Vivian, but the warmth in her cheeks and lips made her seem healthy, vibrant, and beautiful.

  Her nose, cheeks, and jaw had been angled, giving her the look of a classic pixie, while her ears had been delicately pointed. Over her shoulders, cheeks, and eyebrows was a dusting of something that looked very much like snow that had caught and frozen in place on her skin. The line of flakes flowed into her hair and spread, tinting her usually golden tangles into a soft shimmering white.

  She couldn’t believe she was looking at herself. The woman she was seeing in the mirror pulled words like soft and quiet, shy and demure, wise and strong to mind, only one of which she would normally use for herself.

  “Amy!” Kate breathed. “I can’t believe it. Holy crap!”

  “I have to say, I’m quite proud of this work.” The makeup artist grinned and began to snap pictures with her phone.

  “And the tape will hold?”
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  “Within reason. I’ll send you with a roll just in case.”

  “So who am I?”

  Amy smirked. “Jack Frost. Gender bending is very in right now.”

  Kate’s grin grew. “Is Vivian ready yet?”

  Max rolled his eyes. “She’s been ready forev’r! She’s scary, Mommy!”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Taking a deep breath, she checked herself in the mirror one more time, hoping Vivian would like it. Kate stepped into her white slippers and with one more centering breath, left the bathroom.

  She was met instantly with a gasp, which could only be returned as she laid eyes on her girlfriend.

  “Whoa.” Kate started at the bottom and worked her way up, eyes running quickly over the elegantly sensual white dress, which seemed to have been sewn to Vivian’s body. It was simple, a small design on it like snow caught in the wind, yet it shone with the same opalescence of Kate’s tights. It was long and beautiful, covering Vivian’s arms all the way to her fingers.

  Her hair was pulled into a chignon that was reminiscent of Kate’s, only where Kate’s was soft Vivian’s was tight, off center and dusted with the same snow that whitened the top. On top of the chignon stood an icy crystal crown that was both beautiful and menacing.

  The most shocking part of Vivian’s transformation was her face. Beginning in her hairline, Vivian’s usually golden skin had been turned paper white. Glittering savagely in the white were silver shards of shining, mirror-like ice. Her irises, usually warm chocolate, were an alarming silver, while her eyes and lips were painted in a thick, beautifully chilling black matte.

  If Kate in her soft whites and creams was supposed to represent innocence and pale beauty, then Vivian was wickedness and sex. The impression was emphasized by the sudden hungry look in Vivian’s eyes.

  “Fuck, Vivian.”

  “Mama!” Max bellowed. “Bad word.”

  Vivian’s eyebrow quirked. “You look …” Vivian let the sentence fall, but the sudden tightness of her jaw made her point clear.