A Fox's Mate

by Brandon Varnell

  Another fact that made her different was her enjoyment of scalding hot showers. She always took her showers at the hottest setting, where steam rose all around her, and the fierce droplets raining down on her back scorched her skin. It was her biggest guilty pleasure.

  After turning off the water, Christine stepped out and walked over to the mirror, running a hand over the surface to defog it.

  She stared at her reflection. Her skin was so pale as to be nearly translucent. Long dark hair trailed all the way down to her butt, sticking to her skin because it was still soaking wet. Icy blue eyes stared back at her.

  She looked down, toward her chest. Christine could feel the frown twisting her face. Raising her hands to cup her breasts, she grimaced at how small they were. Even though she was 16 years old, she wasn’t even a B cup.

  “Is the reason Kevin chose Lilian over me because of her breasts?” she wondered out loud mere seconds before realizing what she’d said. She promptly blushed. “Why the hell am I even thinking about that idiot?! Damn it, Christine! Get a hold of yourself!”

  Nya… a yawn sounded out in her head. What are nyou nyelling about at this early hour, nya?

  Nothing. Go back to sleep.

  Marching into her room, she began getting dressed, trying to put thoughts of Kevin out of her mind. Yet the thoughts persisted, much to her annoyance. How pathetic was it that she still retained feelings for him several months after he shot her down? Why did she still feel this way?

  Christine cursed her race. She cursed the blood that made her feel this way. If she’d never been born a yuki-onna, if she’d been born a full-blooded nekomata, her love for Kevin would have evaporated by now… maybe.

  With a sigh, Christine finished getting dressed and made preparations to start her day.

  ***

  It was the beginning of April. The air was a bit too chilly for her taste, but Arizona was still the warmest state in the United States, though she really hoped the temperature would rise again. 96 to 106 degree weather would have been ideal.

  School had ended some time ago, and Christine had gone to work at her job. She worked at Cold Stone Creamery, an ice cream parlor. Why she ever thought that working at a place that sold something with the word “ice” in it was a good idea, she’d never know. Still, the pay was good. She made $94 for 15 hours of work a week, and she really did need the money.

  While her benefactor paid for her living expenses, he didn’t pay for anything else. If she wanted to have spending money, then she needed to earn it herself.

  She’d only had this job for a few months, having found employment two weeks before Christmas. Her original reason for getting this job was to buy gifts for her friends, something that she hadn’t needed to do since moving to Arizona due to a distinct lack of them. Now that she’d befriended Kevin, Lilian, and Lindsay—and Iris, too, she guessed—she had several friends who she wanted to buy presents for.

  After Christmas, she decided to continue working. With Lindsay and the others always inviting her to go places, Christine found herself in need of more spending money. She didn’t regret this need, as the reason for it was because she had friends who wanted to spend time with her, but it still meant she needed stable employment.

  The Cold Stone Creamery uniform consisted of a black collared shirt, a black apron, and a visor with the Cold Stone logo on it. She also wore black pants and tennis shoes.

  This particular style of dress was not something that she enjoyed wearing. She had a preference for lolita style clothing. For the sake of her job, she put up with the horrendous outfit.

  Because she went to high school, Christine had a fixed schedule. She worked Mondays and Wednesdays from three p.m. to eight p.m., and Saturdays from eight a.m. to one p.m.. They were good shifts that didn’t interfere with her daily life. Her manager was a nice person, even if the old codger enjoyed poking fun at her a little too much.

  The parlor wasn’t too full that day, but there were more people than she was used to. With it being halfway through spring, more people were beginning to enjoy the cool delights offered by ice cream parlors like this one. Her manager had said that when summer hit, there would be even more customers.

  She didn’t get it. Why would anyone want to have ice cream during the summer? That negated the whole point of enjoying Arizona’s heat.

  “Ha… the men’s restroom is all clean,” a voice said off to her left. “Man, that was not fun. You’d think parents would be more responsible and not let their kids take a dump all over the floor.”

  The person standing before her was a coworker, Alan Baker, a tall boy who towered over her like a giant. He had dark hair and dark eyes. His skin was lightly tanned from spending a lot of time in the sun. He was a soccer player for the men’s varsity team at their school, which she only knew thanks to Lindsay.

  “Most parents don’t really seem to care about their children these days,” Christine said with a shrug. Hers sure didn’t. Her mom had abandoned her after she’d been born, and she didn’t even know who her dad was. What kind of parents did that to their children?

  “Yeah, I guess.” Alan leaned against the display case and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You’d better not let the manager catch you like that. I doubt even being his grandson would save you from getting fired.”

  “Aw, it’ll be all right. We don’t have that many customers right now.”

  “Whatever.” Christine sighed and got back to work, wiping down the counter and making sure everything looked nice and sparkly. Even as she worked, however, she could feel Alan’s eyes on her.

  “Hey, Christine, I was wondering if you wanted to do something this Saturday? I promise it’ll be fun.”

  Christine resisted a groan. Alan was a nice enough guy, and he was handsome. She knew that a number of girls had a crush on him, but she wasn’t one of those girls.

  “Um, that’s really nice of you to offer, but I’ve already got plans this weekend.”

  Saturday after work she would be hanging out with Lindsay, Lilian, and Iris for a “girl’s night” kind of thing over at Kevin’s apartment. Kevin wouldn’t be there. He would be spending the night with Alex, Andrew, and Eric.

  “Okay, then what about this Sunday?”

  Alan was persistent, Christine would give him that. He’d been asking her out on dates ever since she started working there. Part of her thought she should just accept his offer. If she did, maybe it would help her get over Kevin, but another part of her, a much stronger part, was repulsed by the idea.

  Despite being rejected, Christine didn’t want to give up on Kevin.

  Curse my yuki-onna blood.

  Don’t blame nyour blood on this. Just admit it. Nyou love him.

  Shut up!

  Ignoring her “inner kitty,” she tried to give the much taller figure a smile. Seeing how she wasn’t one for smiling, it probably didn’t come out right, but hey, at least she tried.

  “I’m sorry, Alan. My entire weekend is pretty much booked.”

  All of her weekends were like this. Saturdays, she either spent time with Lindsay, or in the group that she, Lindsay, Lilian, and Iris had formed. Sometimes Lindsay’s soccer friends would join them. Christine had gotten to know Jessica and a few of the other girls, though she didn’t like any of them. Sundays were spent with the larger group, meaning Kevin and the other boys would join them. They would usually go to the mall, or travel to Dave and Busters, or watch a movie, or even head to Kevin’s place and hang out there. Christine would admit, if only to herself, that she greatly enjoyed the times she spent with everyone.

  Alan clicked his tongue and ran a hand through his hair. “You always say that.”

  “Sorry,” she apologized, even though she wasn’t all that sorry. She didn’t know why, but his pushy attitude grated on her.

  A jingle going off alerted them to more customers entering. Christine put on her best smile and greeted the group that walked up to the register.

  Or at l
east, she would have.

  If she hadn’t known the people standing before her.

  “Christine?” Blue eyes gawked at her.

  “K-K-Kevin?!” she squeaked, her face turning into an icy flame. “W-w-what are you doing here?”

  The trio that walked into the ice cream parlor was none other than Kevin, Lilian, and Iris. Christine felt mortified that some of her friends were seeing her while she was working. No one knew that she had a job. She wasn’t sure why she hid this information—Kevin had a job, after all—but she did, because for some reason, the thought of everyone finding out embarrassed her.

  That day, Kevin had chosen to don a dark shirt that stretched across his torso, revealing the muscles he’d gained through his intense training with Kiara. Christine would never admit it out loud, but Kevin had some of the sexiest arms she’d ever seen. They weren’t large, but they were sculpted and defined, like those Greek statues she’d seen in museums. Just thinking about his defined arms and pectorals made her cheeks feel cold.

  “Um, we’re here to get ice cream,” Kevin said, sounding as befuddled as he looked. “I thought it would be a nice treat since it’s getting warmer.” He tilted his head. “I didn’t know you worked here, though.”

  Christine could’ve cursed. This was just her luck. She should have known that this would happen eventually. It was like she was permanently unlucky.

  It looks like nyou’re in a pinch.

  Shut up, cat!

  Nya-ha-ha-ha!

  Christine withheld her grimace as her other half’s laughter faded into the background of her mind. “I, um, I’ve only been working here for a few months…”

  “Really? I had no idea.”

  That’s because you’ve never been here before now, Christine thought sarcastically. She didn’t say this, though, because she was still embarrassed.

  Out of the corner of her eyes, she caught Alan staring at Lilian and Iris, his cheeks aflame. And was that drool running down his mouth? And why the hell was his nose bleeding? She wrinkled her nose.

  Fucking pig.

  Nya, I agree. It’s a good thing nyou didn’t accept his offer for a date.

  Christine didn’t say anything, but she agreed with her counterpart.

  “So, wait,” Lilian started, also appearing bemused. “You’re working at an ice cream store, but you hate the cold? How does that work?”

  “Ah…” Christine felt like hiding in her shirt. By the gods, this was so mortifying. “I-it was the first place that offered to hire me, so…”

  “Oh, I see.” Lilian nodded her head in a sage-like manner, arms crossed under her chest. Christine felt a bit of breast envy when Lilian’s two mountainous mammaries were pushed together. Why couldn’t she have breasts like that? “It’s pretty cool that you have a job.”

  “R-really?”

  “Um!” Lilian smiled. “I actually thought about getting a job, too, but that would mean I have less time to spend with Kevin.”

  Unspoken was the “it would also mean letting Iris be alone with Kevin” that Christine knew they were both thinking.

  She didn’t really understand Lilian’s twin sister. The raven-haired wench was a prolific and self-proclaimed siscon, who wanted to do perverted things to Lilian. She had even hatched a plan to score with her own sister by seducing both Kevin and Lilian, all to convince them to join her in a twisted three-way relationship.

  Christine didn’t get it. Why would anyone want to get it on with their sibling? Then again, Iris was a kitsune. They were a strange breed.

  “That’s too bad.” Speak of the devil, Iris just had to open her mouth. “I’d love to see what you look like in a uniform. You’d be the sexiest employee ever.”

  Lilian and Christine scowled when Iris draped herself over Kevin, who seemed unsure of whether he should be annoyed or uncomfortable by the proximity.

  “What do you think, Stud? Would you like to see Lily-pad in a sexy worker’s outfit?”

  “I don’t think there are any work uniforms that could be considered sexy unless she worked at Hooters or a gentleman's club, and I wouldn’t want Lilian to work at a place where a bunch of dirty old men could ogle her.”

  “Hmm. Good point,” Iris conceded.

  “Still…” Christine shot ramrod straight when Kevin’s eyes landed on her. “... I have to admit, you look really cute in that uniform.”

  Christine’s eyes widened. Fuck, her cheeks were turning icy again. “Y-you think so?”

  “Yeah.” Showing his pearly whites with a grin, Kevin gave her a thumbs-up. Christine thought she saw light gleaming off his teeth. It even made an odd ping! sound. “It definitely suits you!”

  Tsundere protocols: activated.

  “D-d-d-d-don’t think that makes me happy, idiot! G-g-getting a compliment from you doesn’t make me happy at all!”

  Kevin scratched the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t.”

  Realizing that she was overreacting again, Christine coughed into her hand. “A-anyway, are you guys going to order something, or are you just going to stand there?”

  After her prompting, the trio ordered some ice cream. Iris got chocolate ice cream in a chocolate-covered cone, while Kevin and Lilian ordered a large cone-bowl of cheesecake-flavored ice cream with cookie dough. While Christine made their orders, she thought about the blond teen standing naught but five feet away.

  The problem with Kevin, she reflected, was that he was too honest for his own good and not smart enough to keep his mouth shut. If he thought something looked good on someone, he would tell them. That was just how he was. Oddly enough, this tendency only extended to people he knew and was mostly clothes related.

  She blamed this habit on his mom. He seemed to have inherited Ms. Swift’s sense of fashion and outspoken demeanor when it came to fashion.

  While she made the ice cream, Alan chose that moment to snap out of his stupor and start a confrontation.

  “So you’re Kevin Swift,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you, but this is the first time I’ve seen you in person. I’m surprised you’re so short.”

  Christine gritted her teeth as her coworker decided to get into a male pissing contest with her friend. Fortunately, Kevin didn’t seem to realize what Alan was doing, or if he did, he was choosing to play it cool.

  “I guess I am a little on the small side,” Kevin admitted, “At least compared to you. I always thought my height was pretty average.”

  Alan frowned at the smaller teen. “How do you know Christine?”

  “Uh… because we’re friends? Didn’t you know that? I mean, Christine and I sit together at lunch every day, we go out on weekends, and sometimes we hang out after school.”

  As Kevin began listing off all of the things they did together, conveniently neglecting to mention that all of these activities were done with a large group of people, Christine felt more and more like crawling into a hole somewhere. She wanted to die. The way he said it made it sound like they did all those things on their own, just the two of them, like they were dating or something!

  What is this idiot saying?

  Alan also seemed to take it this way rather than the way it was meant to be taken. The frown on his face grew into a scowl, and his right eye gained a violent twitch.

  “Oh, is that so?” Alan said through a spiteful smile. “You spend an awful lot of time around Christine. Aren’t you dating that girl over there?” He pointed to Lilian. “Don’t you think you should spend more time with her and less time with a girl you aren’t even dating?”

  Kevin appeared genuinely confused. Christine felt like facepalming. He clearly didn’t realize that his words had been completely misinterpreted. She knew that Kevin wasn’t dense or stupid, but he really should start thinking about the way he worded things.

  Knowing that she needed to resolve this confrontation before it became a conflict—she didn’t want Kevin beating the utter living crap out of Alan because her idiot of a coworker tried to
start a fight—Christine quickly made their ice cream.

  “Here you guys go. Enjoy.”

  Kevin, Lilian, and Iris grabbed their ice cream and left after some not-so-subtle prodding from Christine. However, they didn’t leave before Kevin said, “By the way, you’re going to Lindsay’s game this Friday, right?”

  “Um, yes,” Christine said. That was right. Lindsay had a soccer game this Friday. She’d almost forgotten.

  “In that case, we’ll see you there.”

  As her three friends left the parlor, Christine’s thoughts turned, once again, to Kevin. He’d gone through a lot of changes since they had been reunited in that arcade all those months ago. She would have said that he was growing into a more confident person, a better person, but the things she originally liked about him, like his kindness and ability to accept others regardless of whether they were yōkai or human, remained unchanged.

  Perhaps that was why it still hurt every time she saw him with Lilian, because she knew those changes had nothing to do with her, but with the redhead who’d stolen his heart.

  ***

  The sun had gone down by the time Christine returned home. While she normally didn’t mind work, her coworker had been insufferable after Kevin had arrived. Jealousy. Alan was jealous of her friend. It made sense. Kevin wasn’t oblivious to the fact that a lot of men were jealous of him; he just ignored it.

  Of course, given that Kevin and she weren’t dating, or, indeed, that Alan had a thing for her, he probably didn’t know why her coworker was jealous of him. That said, he likely didn’t care either.

  Making her way into her bedroom, Christine fell face-first onto the bed. She didn’t bother eating dinner that night. She wasn’t hungry. Instead, she drifted off into a fitful sleep filled with blue eyes and blond hair.

  Chapter 10

  A Seemingly Normal Day

  Despite having to deal with that bastard Seth, Cassy would admit that she’d been having a very good time these past three weeks. Her “superior” didn’t have any outstanding orders for her, so she’d been free to do what she wanted, and what she wanted to do was spend time with Master Kevin.