Shannon O'Reilly was bullied and everything his older sister wasn't. When his sister Sarah gives him a chance to change things through a single wish things don't go as planned.     I Wish: Book 4 Chapter 16 Rolling Along By Amethyst

The next day things were pretty normal, for my life anyway. School on that Friday passed without incident and then after volleyball practice, we dropped Ellie off at the mall so she could work the closing shift at Fantasy Jewelry with her mom. Then Beth dropped me off at home so we could both prepare for date night.

We were bringing our Hunting gear just in case we sensed any demonic activity while we were out, but we planned to make a fun night of it. The plan was to go to a location that we normally wouldn’t and scan for Demons along the way and while on our date. Sarah and Annie and Jennifer and Mason would be doing the same in other distant parts of the city and I think that we were all a bit torn about our hopes for the evening. As much as we all wanted to enjoy ourselves and have nice normal dates, it would be just as nice to find some way to track down Khinara and put an end to her for good.

Sarah and Annie had already left for their date, so I was alone in the house while I waited for Beth to come and pick me up and prepared for a night out. It felt a little strange being alone in the house, it seemed like it was always full of friends and family these days. Before my birthday a little over two months ago I had been used to being alone there, with Sarah often gone for days at a time on one modeling gig or another, and I sort of liked being independent. But with Talisha, Ellie, and Annie all moving in, they brought along a sense of family that I hadn’t really felt since Mom and Dad died. Now, with the house empty like this, I didn’t feel independent, just alone.

“It’s funny how things can change,” I thought to myself as I looked for something to wear. “I was independent then, but I was so lonely and miserable. My life may be kind of crazy now since I changed and got my magic, but everything is so much better too. Sarah and I are closer than ever, I have friends and all of my new Faery family, I’m doing things that I never thought possible, I feel better about myself, I’m starting a great career that I actually enjoy, and I have an amazing girlfriend that I’m going to marry one day. Is it weird that I want to have her babies? Who would have thought that I would be thinking something like that when this all started?”

I smiled and let a soft sigh slip from between my lips as I looked down at the promise ring I wore and my heart fluttered. Then I sternly reminded myself that I had a date to prepare for. Beth and I had both already showered after volleyball practice so all that either of us really needed to worry about was finding something to wear and putting on any makeup if we wanted to. I quickly set my attention back to the task at hand, finding something to wear.

Beth hadn’t told me what she had planned for our date but she had told me to dress comfortably, relaxed, and prepared for fun. I also wanted to be sexy for her though and it was a little difficult finding the right balance. After looking through several outfits that just didn’t feel right, I finally found something that I thought would work. It was one of the edgier outfits that I had recently modeled for Giselle Collette’s new clothing line. Most of the outfits for that line kind of skirted the line between wholesome girl-next-door and punk and this was one of the edgier ones, more solidly in the punk category, maybe even leaning a bit in the Goth direction.

First, there was the dress, a black crushed velvet number with spaghetti straps and a modest circular neckline that only showed off a little cleavage. It had a built-in bodice with cotton candy pink lacing that showed off my curves but wasn’t terribly uncomfortable, and the skirt was about mid-thigh length with braided pink and black ribbons with silver balls at the end of each spaced only millimeters apart hanging from the hem and forming a fringe around it, starting at about three inches long in the front and a foot long at the back. This made the skirt look almost knee length in the front gradually lengthening to around mid-calf in the back with the shifting curtain of weighted braids giving teasing glances of the skin of my legs underneath but still being somewhat modest.

With the dress on I added the cozy black and pink striped socks that came up to just above my knees with an inch wide trim of black lace at the top. Then I added the near shoulder-length black fingerless arm warmers which matched the dress, had the same pink lacing as the bodice from just below my elbows to my wrists, and bore three layers of ruffled black lace at the wrists that partially covered my hands. Last, but not least, was the choker; a simple pink satin ribbon trimmed with ruffled black lace and bearing a tiny silver bell on the front. I even had a nice pair of black leather ankle boots that would go with the outfit.

Once I was finished dressing I started on my makeup, going with an evening look that was a little darker than I usually went with, but I thought would go well with the outfit. I spritzed myself with a floral-scented perfume, decided to just leave my hair loose for a more dramatic look, and quickly painted my nails, trying something different by alternating the colors of my nails between black and pink. With Sarah’s help, I had gotten a lot better with makeup over the last few weeks and I was pretty happy as I looked in the mirror and waited for my nails to dry. It was a different look for me, not one I would go for often, but it was kind of hot, and changing things up a bit was nice.

Beth’s eyes almost popped out of her head when I answered the door. “You like?” I asked playfully, giving a twirl. Of course, I knew damn well from the feelings I got from our link during the Giselle Collette photoshoot that this had been her favorite outfit from that shoot.

“Umm… yeah. That’s a good look for you. It’s cute and badass at the same time,” Beth replied. I could feel the pleasure and desire through our link as her eyes lingered and I took my time reaching for my coat and putting it on.

We made our way outside and into the car in a hurry since it was a bit cold and I quickly put my bag of Hunting gear in the back seat alongside Beth’s. She still wouldn’t tell me where we were going so we just talked about everyday things as she drove and I kept my magick sense scanning for any sign of demonic auras. It took almost forty minutes to get to where we were going and we had passed from Toronto into Mississauga, but I hadn’t detected any Demons by the time we pulled into a parking lot attached to a large building with neon roller-skates on the roof and a bright yellow and black sign saying Scooter's Roller Palace.

For a moment I looked at Beth in confusion and she quickly grinned. “It’s a roller rink. They have roller skating, a snack bar, a video arcade, and pool tables. They even have inline skates if you prefer them. Dad took me and Jason here a few times just after we moved to Toronto and I thought it might be fun.”

I looked at the building warily. “I’ve never been roller skating before, I haven’t even been ice skating since I was ten.”

“I’ll be there to hold your hand, Sweetheart,” she offered with a smile as she took my hand in her own. “Don’t worry, this will be fun.”

Once Beth had paid our admission and we had rented the roller skates we took off our coats and shoes and put them in one of the lockers, which only cost a quarter to use. Beneath her heavy winter coat, Beth was wearing a tight pair of black low-rise jeans and a forest green crop top that showed off her trim tummy and awesome abs. She was actually wearing makeup too, or at least her glamour made it look like she was, and that was something Beth didn’t usually do. I appreciated that she had thought to add that to her glamour for our date, and I could feel my pulse quicken.

Once we had both put our skates on and had them tied I took a good look around. The inside of the place was like something from the seventies and though it looked like there should be disco playing over the sound system the music was surprisingly modern. It was pretty busy too with people of all ages and a surprisingly large amount of teenagers.

I could barely stand on the skates, though Ziralin had no trouble whatsoever. She had done this before after all, and she had the balance and heightened physical attributes of being a Faery going in her favor. She helped keep me steady, not to mention on my feet, as we made a few circles around the rink, she gave me a skating lesson, and I tried to get used to staying balanced on them. We were on our third lap and I was feeling a bit braver when I completely lost my balance and fell on my rear, bringing her down with me.

For a moment I just laid there with her on top of me looking into my eyes as she made sure that I was okay. She was so close and as she kissed me my breath quickened and my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. I responded, in more ways than one. As I kissed her back, cupping her face in my hands, I could feel the heat of desire building up between my legs and making its way to my belly. I was worried that my panties might be a little damp and my nipples were definitely hard, almost painfully so. I could feel myself flushing, but whether out of desire or embarrassment I couldn’t be sure.

My breath caught in my throat as we finally broke off the kiss. “You’re okay?” she asked with a smile that made me melt inside. She might not have been showing it on the outside, but I could feel from our link that she was definitely just as turned on as I was.

I nodded at first, and once I was able to speak again I replied breathily, “I’m fine. We should… umm… cool off… I mean, wow it’s hot in here… maybe we should...”

Words might have failed me, but our mental link did not. Beth got to her feet with an understanding smile and I could feel her adoration in my mind like a warm hug as she took my hand in her own, helped me get to my feet as I tried to do so without flashing my panties to anyone, and finished my thought as she suggested, “Maybe we should get a cold drink? We haven’t eaten since lunch either and it’s almost seven o’clock, so let’s break for dinner and we can continue this after.”

“Goddess, do I love you,” I whispered as she helped guide me around the rink to the snack bar, keeping her arm securely around my waist.

Soon we were sitting at one of the tables, watching each other across it and smiling as we ate. The pizza was actually pretty good and we each had a slice of that, a diet soda, and a shared order of nachos. We were about half finished our meal when a pair of guys approached our table. They were a bit geeky but kind of cute and extremely nervous-looking, and I sort of figured what was coming because they both has this look on their faces like they were about to talk to someone who they knew was way out of their league and were prepared to be epically shot down.

“Uhh… hey. I’ve never seen you girls here before, are you new in town? I’m… umm… Matt, and this is Joe.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I offered politely. These guys were pretty brave trying to talk to us with how nervous they looked and I wasn’t going to humiliate them when they were putting themselves out there and actually being polite about it. Besides, I knew what it felt like to be in their place. “I’m Shannon and this is Beth, we live in Toronto, but we came here for a date.”

When the two boys started to look around frantically, but not seeing any jocks approaching to do who-knows-what to them caused a dejected expression to cover both of their faces. “Yeah, sure. I got it.” Joe said, looking like someone had just killed his puppy.

“Look, guys, I know that you probably think that we’re trying to brush you off because we think we’re too good for you or something, but believe me when I say, it’s not you, it’s us. We came here on a date, together.” I reached over and took Beth’s hand so that they could see our matching rings as I stressed that last word.

Their eyes widened and Matt said in an uncertain tone, “Oh, I get it. You’re not into guys at all. I guess that’s cool, but… uhh… which one of you is the girl in the relationship? Or do you take turns or something?”

Joe face-palmed in embarrassment and I let out a sigh as I told Matt, “That’s actually kind of a rude question. It would be like me asking, ‘Which of you is the guy in your friendship.’ You’re both guys, just like Beth and I are both girls. We’re both girls, and attracted to girls, so that makes us both the girls in our relationship. Can’t we be in a relationship without people trying to apply gender roles or labels to us? Can’t we just love one another for the people we are inside? No offense, but it’s kinda shallow to think that love depends on perceived gender roles.”

“Shannon is right, she’s definitely the more classically feminine one of us, but we both identify as female,” Beth added. “Not all girls are into dresses and makeup, just like not all boys are into cars and sports. Interests and behavior don’t define one’s gender any more than birth sex does, only the person in question can do that. Defined gender roles are so last millennium and people should be free to be whatever kind of guy or girl that they want to be, or anything between.”

Both boys looked like they were actually thinking about what we said and a moment later Joe smiled uncertainly at us. “We’ll leave you to your date, sorry for interrupting, and thanks for being cool about it.” Then he turned around and walked off with Matt right on his heels.

I had just gone back to eating my meal, washing down a few bites of pizza with a sip of my soda when Beth grinned, leaned toward me, and whispered, “Though, if one of us had to be the girl, it would definitely be you.”

I nearly snorted diet cola through my nose as I started giggling since I had been thinking the same thing. When I could finally breathe again I grinned right back and agreed, “Absolutely. I mean, just look at me. Besides, you totally wear the pants in our relationship, both literally and figuratively.” I leaned over and peered at her tight jeans under the table and added with a wink, “And what very nice pants they are.”

Once we had finished our dinner we made our way back to the skating area and Beth held my hand as I tried to skate without relying on her too much. I did fall several more times but the only thing bruised was my pride, and maybe my bottom. She kept a slow pace while I got used to it and after a while I was able to skate without having to have her hold onto me, but that didn’t stop us from holding hands anyway. Soon she was able to pick up the pace and before I knew it I was actually enjoying myself.

I was having so much fun that I was a bit surprised when she pulled us off toward the side where the skate rentals and lockers were. She leaned in close and spoke in my ear, “It’s ten-thirty, and the place closes at midnight. I know that you like video games, and you haven’t been able to play any lately as busy as we’ve been, so I thought that you might want to try out the arcade before we go. You deserve it for putting up with skating for so long.”

I was a little stunned that three hours had passed so quickly, we hadn’t even talked much, just held hands, and enjoyed the feeling of being close to one another as we skated. The whole time I could feel how relaxed Beth was and how much fun she was having, how much she enjoyed just holding my hand as much as I did holding hers. I was getting a bit tired though since we had been at it for so long and I didn’t have her Faery stamina, and it was so sweet of her to set aside time to do something I enjoyed that she didn’t care much for. She was into RPGs, not video games. “That sounds awesome, my love. I was having fun there once I stopped falling so much but I’m getting kinda tired. Maybe we can do this again sometime.”

“I’d like that,” she agreed, her happiness flooding my mind. “Now let’s go turn in these skates and get some quarters for the arcade.”

Word became deed and after we had retrieved our boots and turned in our skates we made our way to the arcade, armed with a couple of rolls of quarters. Most of the games were pretty old but it was still fun and cool, in a retro kind of way. I even managed to get a few high scores.

I’m not going to lie, we got hit on a lot but it’s kind of to be expected when guys see a pretty girl playing video games. It’s like all their gamer girl fantasies are right at the tip of their fingers. If they were polite, and most of them were, we let them down gently. One guy was kind of a jerk and being really insistent with me but Beth had been playing a game beside me and stopped playing to come over and kiss me passionately before telling the guy in no uncertain terms, “Back off, she’s mine.”

I just giggled and let out a happy sigh before kissing her back just as passionately. I loved it when she took charge and claimed me like that. I knew that she didn’t mean that I was her property or anything like that, but that I was her love and her soul mate. In that way, I kind of do belong to her, just like she belongs to me. I don’t know if it’s a girl thing, if it just validates our relationship for me, or if maybe I’m a bit of a submissive and like her taking charge, but her saying that made me feel giddy and really turned me on.

Soon though, it was time to go, so we retrieved our coats and made our way back to my car to head home. We got back to my place at about half past midnight, but I didn’t get inside until one o’clock as we sat there in the driveway getting hot and heavy and fogging up the windows. Our make-out session was mostly just kissing and a little bit of groping since neither of us was really ready for more than that yet but we did thoroughly enjoy ourselves until we reluctantly broke apart to say our goodnights.

I felt like I was walking on a cloud as I stepped inside and removed my jacket and boots. Sarah and Annie weren’t home yet but Talisha and Elsaishe were watching The Lord of the Rings in the living room. Under any other circumstances I might have giggled at that but I just sighed contentedly as I curled up on the couch alongside Ellie and snuggled in to share their popcorn, watch the movie with them, and tell them all about my wonderful night.