We made it back to Heather’s apartment. I felt a little dazed, so I collapsed on the couch. What just happened. When did we get here?

“… with all that commotion we forgot to eat lunch. I’ve got some deli meat if you want it,” Heather told me.

“What kind?” I asked.

“Ham, turkey, beef… anything you fancy?”

“You,” I said. I covered my mouth. What the fuck was I saying?!?! I quickly buried my face in my legs.

“What?” Heather asked. Thank goodness it looked like she didn’t hear me.

“T-Turkey… I said turkey,” I stammered.

“Alright… want anything else?”

“Nah… just turkey is fine,”

I got up and went over to the counter. What was happening to my mind? As I sat down, my gaze was drawn to Heather who was looking in the fridge. Wow… she looked…

“Something wrong?” Heather was now standing directly in front of me. I just realized I had been staring at her for the past two minutes or so.

“I-I-I-It’s nothing,” I said. God I was so flustered! I had never felt this way before in my life. After giving myself a little wake up slap, I started eating the meat in front of me. Eating was currently distracting me from the things that were happening around me.

“Hey! Don’t eat all of it! You’ve got an endless stomach so don’t go eating everything,” Heather snapped me out of my trance.

“Sorry!” I said immediately closing up the bag of turkey. Heather was looking at me concerned.

“Are you okay? You’re a little red right now and you’ve been out of it for the past hour or so,” she walked over, leaned close and put her hand on my forehead.

“Hm… no fever. Can slimes even get sick?” Heather said as she took out her phone and started searching. Oh… she was close… I think I was swooning. Realizing just how messed up my brain was, I ran to the bathroom and closed the door. My heart… or core, was pounding. I turned on the cold water and splashed it in my face, but nothing helped. It had only been two days since I came to this world. This was way too fast! The only thing on my mind right now was Heather.

“Celeste? You alright?” I heard Heather call from the other side of the door.

“I’m fine!” I accidentally shouted, “Sorry! Just… there’s a lot on my mind right now,”

Not true at all… there was literally one thing on my mind right now and I didn’t want her to know. I exited the bathroom and put on a straight face. I was used to hiding my feelings, but not these kinds of feelings.

“Is this about… the kiss?” Heather asked. My façade collapsed. It was definitely about the kiss.

“If it made you that uncomfortable… I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,” Heather told me in a worried tone.

“No! It’s not that I was uncomfortable,” I told her, “I just can’t get it out of my mind… or you out of my mind… That kiss was like nothing I’ve ever done in my entire life. It felt so… I don’t know… good? My mind keeps jumping from one thing to another and I can tell I’m rushing things a lot. I just… I guess I just need some space. I’m gonna go for a walk,”

I got out of the apartment and began walking down the street. Penning was a suburb so there wasn’t much of a sidewalk. It reminded me of my hometown. The houses were all small and there were a lot of people doing crazy stuff on the street. There was also the occasional asshole driver. It definitely did take everything off of my mind. I think I walked about a half-hour before I decided to head back.

“Hey there!” someone called from the other side of the street, “You in the blue hoodie!”

I looked up and saw a few dudes sitting in a car. Were they trying to hit on me? In a car on the opposite side of the street… Whatever, I ignored them and continued walking.

“Hey cutie! What’s your name?” One of them shouted. I didn’t have time to deal with their bullshit. I began walking faster back towards Heather’s house. The guys actually turned around and started driving next to me.

“That’s no way to treat a guy who’s complimenting ya. You want to make it up to us with a drink?”

Ugh… I was tired of this shit. I began thinking through my options as to what I could do. The only thing I could do with my slime powers right now was shapeshift and increase my strength. Was there anything else I could do? Thinking about movies gave me an idea. I stopped walking and just began staring at the douches.

“What do you want?” I snarled at them.

“A good time cutie. I must say you look very nice,” one of them said. I didn’t really care about these guys. I was just buying myself some time.

“And why on Earth would I want to spend it with you?” I sneered, “I could probably find guys twice your age who are better looking than you all,”

“Woah… easy there hot stuff! I promise we can make it worth your time,” another one said.

“Really now?” I said disbelieving.

“Sure… we got booze, a party, and a whole lot more guys who’d love to meet ya!”

I put my finger on my chin like I was thinking, “How about…” I flipped the bird, “You go fuck yourselves,”

The next second I was flying down the road. While talking, I had been sneaking my arm down the road. It was about twenty feet away by the time I decided to peace out. I stuck my hand to the ground and began retracting myself like a tape measure. Unfortunately, I had to turn back into a slime to save myself from falling face-first onto the ground. Miraculously, I managed to turn myself back into a human and keep my clothes on. How I did that… I don’t know.

Next thing I knew I began sprinting down the street. I ducked behind some houses and began working my way back through backyards Ferris Buellar style. There were a lot of complaints from residents, but I somehow managed to keep moving. I could see the douche’s in their car trying to follow me. After about ten minutes of running and parkour, I finally managed to lose them.

“Holy shit,” I said. That’s when I noticed, I wasn’t out of breath. In fact, I felt just fine. I guess since slimes don’t have muscles, they have infinite stamina. Probably not right, but I guess I’ll find out in the future. Damn… was I going to run into more douches like those now? ‘Most likely,’ I thought to myself, ‘At least I have slime powers to protect myself,’

When I got back, I noticed Heather was sitting on the couch with her laptop. She I couldn’t tell what she was working on so I thought it would be better to not disturb her.

“Oh! You’re back,” Heather said turning around.

“Yep,” I figured it was best not to mention to douches from before. I didn’t want to freak her out.

“So, I booked us an appointment over at the Department of Identity for tomorrow at ten. At first, they seemed a little slow until I told them that Officer Percus sent us,”

“Cool,” I said.

“Alright,” Heather said as she got up, “I’m gonna go to the gym in a few minutes. I’ve got an appointment today so I won’t be back till around six,”

“Then… I’ll wait for you to get back,” I told her. Heather grabbed a duffel bag and walked out the door. I was left alone in her apartment.

“What to do…” I muttered to myself. It was currently 4:30 and there was a lot of time by myself. The bags from earlier were next to the couch. I decided it would be a good time to try them out. Time passed rather quickly as I was absorbed in trying on clothes. When I looked back at the clock, it was already 5:15.

‘Heather will probably be hungry when she gets back,’ I thought to myself. Curious, I took a look in the refrigerator. I saw some raw chicken, tomato sauce, and a small pack of mozzarella. The ingredients reminded me of a recipe, so I decided I would make dinner for us. I searched the fridge further and found eggs and parmesan. After placing them out on the counter, I looked in the cabinets to see if the other ingredients were there. I managed to find flour, and there were a couple types of breadcrumbs in the cabinet. One of them was labeled, Pizan Breadcrumbs. After reading the ingredients, I determined it was probably the same as Italian breadcrumbs. After gathering everything together I started working on making chicken parmesan.

About forty-five minutes later, Heather walked through the door. Her nose sniffed the air.

“It smells good in here,” she said.

“I-uh… decided to make dinner. It’s chicken parmesan. I hope you don’t mind that I used your kitchen,”

“Thank you so much!” Heather had a big smile, “Honestly, I was not looking forward to cooking so I’m glad you did,”

I was glad she was okay with it, “Feel free to shower. The food won’t be done for another fifteen minutes,”

“Thanks! I look forward to it,” Heather said as she took off for the shower. When the timer went off, I took the chicken out of the oven and placed it on the stove. About ten minutes later, Heather came out of the shower. Her hair was very fluffy now and it made me want to rub my hands through it. I grabbed a couple plates from the cabinet and we began to eat.

“Mmm!!! This is so good! When did you learn how to make this?” Heather asked with wide eyes.

“It’s nothing special. I learned from my dad and it’s my go to meal,” I told her. I felt a little embarrassed. Compliments on my cooking were usually dished out by my family. Having Heather compliment, me made so much more of an impact than anything else. It was true that it was just an ordinary recipe, but Heather made it feel special. We ate and spent the rest of the evening playing video games. I found the counterparts to some of my favorite games in this world and recommended them to Heather.

When it was time to go to bed, I noticed Heather was going to sleep on the couch again. I didn’t want her to do that again, but it felt wrong since she was the owner of the house. Shaking my head, I forced down my feelings and spoke.

“Hey… if you want… you can sleep in the bed,” I told her.

“Are you sure?” she asked, “Because I’ll only do it if you’re okay with it,”

“It’s alright. I’ll be okay,”

Heather gathered her things, “Alright then,” we both went to the bedroom this time. Heather put some of her things away and got into the side opposite the nightstand. She looked at me like she was expecting something.

“Well… aren’t you going to get in?” she asked. Wait… did she think I meant I wanted to sleep together with her? Oh god… she did. My mind began searching for an answer for her. Eventually it all caved.

“O-O-Okay,” I slowly climbed into the bed. Heather rolled over to face the dresser. I grabbed the dream crystal from the nightstand. As I clutched it tight, I prayed that it also covered embarrassing dreams and wet dreams.

AshleyTanuki

Slowly but surely... Anyway, cheers for another chapter! Things are moving forward bit by bit and I plan to speed things up a little by moving a bit into the future. You can count on more development soon! Also, if you want the chicken parm recipe just let me know and I'll add it.

 

Update: I'm gonna add the recipe cause why not.

Ingredients: 1 egg, parmesan, fresh mozzerella, marinara sauce, olive oil, Italian breadcrumbs, flour, and boneless chicken breasts (also works with thin cut).

Preheat oven to 325°F (162°C).

Rinse the chicken breasts to wipe off any juice and gently pat with a paper towel. On a large cutting board, cut the boneless breasts to preferred size. Personally, I usually remove the tenderloin and cut them in half if they are large. Then, pound the chicken down to about centimeter and a half. (If the chicken is thin there is no need).

Grab two small plates, fill one with flour and one with breadcrumbs. In a bowl, scramble the egg. It also helps if you cut the mozzeralla by now into small slices. Rub a piece of chicken in the flour and pat until it is evenly floured. Dip the chicken in egg and wipe off any excess. Rub the chicken in breadcrumbs and get ready to fry.

Prepare a baking or casserole pan (not baking sheet) by spreading tomato sauce on it.

In a 12 inch pan, pour about a tablespoon of olive oil and make sure it's spread around. Heat on med-high until oil is shimmering. Gently place the chicken in one at a time. You can usually fit around 4-5 pieces at a time. Wait until chicken is brown or golden then flip. Once fully browned, place in pan with sauce. If you are doing multiple batches, you must clean the pan with paper towels and scrape off any bits leftover. Pour another tablespoon of olive oil and repeat the previous steps.

When finished browning, put a bit of sauce on each piece. Add slices of mozzerella on top of each. Sprinkle parmesan. Put in the oven for thirty minutes or until the lowest temperature of the chicken is 165°F (74°C).

And presto! There you have it! A nice batch of chicken parmesan. Bon Appetit!