I hear her mumble, “You’re back… You’re back… She stole you without a word…“ her grasp on my arm is still more similar to groping more than anything. I try to pry her off me with my other arm, but Ava pulls it back while she says, “Hey, that’s mine!” 

A sigh escapes my lips as I think to myself I don’t really want to be standing in their entrance area and the clinginess is getting to a ridiculous point. It kinda is my fault they both ended up this way, but is this really going to be how they act when I go out for an afternoon? It kinda puts a damper on my plans of trying to become independent anytime soon. 

While trying to shake both of them off, I sputter out, “I just want to sit down for at least a minute. We were walking for a while.”

Sarah instantly spits out, “Of course here, sweetie!” while dragging me to their couch with Ava still attached to my other arm. Again I try to get my arms free, but nothing comes of it. I can’t make Ava or Sarah budge, not even an inch. Though soon after I quit squirming, Ava speaks up and says, “Now that I think about it, we were out for a while. Do you want dinner, honey?”

For some reason the pet names are getting to me, and I can’t explain why, but since it at least gets one of them to let go of me, I quickly tell her, “Yes dinner would be great!“ then she quickly unlatches from my arm and makes her way to the kitchen that can be clearly seen from their couch since it’s in the same area the dining area is.

As soon as I stepped through their door, I thought to call this room a dining room, but in reality it has a couch, quite a few full bookshelves and the dinner table, so it probably would be safer to call it a multipurpose room. Suddenly Sarah, who I was trying to ignore because she’s been weirdly running her hands up and down my arm since I came through the door, lets go and stands up in front of where I’m sitting.

I hear her say, “I wonder what you two did without me?“ and without warning, she plops down and sits on my lap.

“We got registered at the Union?“ barely leaves my lips before Sarah quietly yells “Well, of course you did that even though I was the one who originally offered to help you get work. I mean, I wonder how you helped Ava cope with these new feelings! It feels like you were drilled into my head and now you are most of what I think of!”

A pit forms in my stomach. I didn’t mean to do this.

I didn’t mean it.

How was I supposed to know that the artifact was going to warp their minds like this?

How?

As soon as I lose focus, Sarah grabs my face and asks, “How did you help her cope?“ again, this time she sinks deeper into me, pressing her whole body into mine. Nervousness fills my mind, I didn’t help her, so I say, “She just hung onto my arm and lead the way, that’s all.“

A smile spreads across her face and she announces in a half mumble, “So you didn’t go any further than that? So that means I can do it first!“

Confused, I ask “Do what first?“

She says “This!“ then before I can react, a sweet flavor fills my mouth as I find her tongue making its way in while her lips are pressed against mine.

Author’s note: I hope you enjoyed! This is another short chapter, but I’m realizing now that this chapter and chapter 16 should have been one big one. I’m sorry!