Cosplayed: A Sweet Lesbian Romance Read online

  I glanced across the garage to where Hailey was talking with Heather about the vacuum forming machine. Not that Heather knew all that much about it beyond it was a magic thing that made plastic parts out of the wood carvings we’d custom made for our group, but Hailey was hanging on her every word regardless.

  “I was thinking maybe we could do a newbie special today?” I said, trying to make my voice sound casual.

  I wasn’t sure if I did a very good job of it. Especially with the way Cassie immediately looked over to Hailey then back to me. She put her arms on her hips.

  “Really? Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” I asked.

  To be honest I felt a little out of my element here. Sure I’d been to plenty of these build days before, but this was one area where Natalie usually did all the planning. Sure she annoyed everyone because that planning always involved her getting the latest and greatest of whatever we were building, but it was still one of the only areas where she was mostly in charge instead of sharing duties.

  At least Cassie was the one who actually knew the ins and outs of running the table. At least she’d sided with me and not Natalie. If I lost her then that would’ve been the end of it for me with this group because I would’ve been stuck without a way to repair my costume other than spending way too much money paying people who sold the stuff online.

  Only now it was Cassie who was raining on my parade.

  “You don’t think that’s maybe a little too close to what Natalie used to do? Promise some girl the world to get in her pants?”

  “But it’s just a costume. I thought it would be a nice surprise for her. I didn’t mean it like that at all,” I said.

  “I know you didn’t mean it like that,” Cassie said. “But I know you and I know you’re not Natalie. Does your new friend over there know that?”

  I shook my head. “You’re being ridiculous Cass. We’re going to fire up the machine and do a run for a new costume for her and then she can show us how to do those wings. It’s a fair trade and a nice thing for us to do.”

  “If you say so,” Cassie said in a tone that was dripping with warning. A tone that I ignored. She was being ridiculous. I really was just trying to be nice.

  Wasn’t I?

  “You okay?” Cassie asked. “You look a little off.”

  “I’m a little frazzled from actually running one of these things,” I said.

  Cassie snorted. “What are you talking about? You were always the one running this stuff. Natalie just swished around and acted like she owned the place while you did the real work. Don’t let it freak you out because you’re being in charge out in the open now.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out. She had a point. Natalie never really contributed much other than telling us what costume we were going to do next, and I could totally do that. On top of everything else I already did for this group. It was a little daunting thinking of everything that went into organizing something like this, but I’d been doing it for awhile now so what was the big deal?

  It wasn’t a big deal at all. At least I kept telling myself that.

  “Right. If I’m making the decisions then I’m deciding we’re going to fit Hailey for a costume and surprise her.”

  “How are you going to surprise her? It’s pretty hard to get one of those sized just right without the person knowing we’re sizing them, you know.”

  “Leave that to me,” I said.

  I walked across the garage to where Hailey and Heather were still deep in conversation.

  “So once we have the plastic pulled down around the style of top we want it’s a matter of getting in and cutting off all the excess stuff that we don’t want around the edges,” Heather said. “At least I think that’s what they do. I’ve only ever watched them. I was never all that good doing stuff with my hands.”

  I patted Heather on the back and she jumped. Just a little. “Are you sure about that? Because it seems like you come up with an excuse every time it comes time to do some actual work.”

  I winked at her to let her know I wasn’t serious. Not entirely. It was true that whenever it came time to do actual work it felt like Heather wasn’t around or she had an excuse. Still, she looked good in a uniform and she was great working with crowds, so it’s not like I minded if her skill set went to something other than building costumes.

  “Shut up Zoey,” she said, sticking her tongue out to let me know she wasn’t serious. Not entirely, at least.

  I slapped my hands together and rubbed them back and forth a couple of times. “So I was thinking since Hailey is here maybe we could give her the full build day experience? Walk her through the process we use to put together a costume and let her see what we’re all about?”

  I turned to her and grinned. “After all, it’s something you’ll have to learn how to do if you’re going to start hanging out with us!”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Heather said. “But I’m not cutting anything out. You know I don’t like doing that.”

  “I know Heather,” I said. I turned to Hailey. “So I’m going to need your bra size and we’ll have to take some measurements.”

  “What?” Hailey asked, a blush coming to her face. She looked at Cassie and then to Heather. I could imagine what she was thinking of. I’d gotten some of her measurements in a very different way on Friday night when we were exploring one another, but I needed something that was a little more precise than fumbling around under one another’s clothes in the dusky back room of a campus bar.

  Even if fumbling around in that back room had been a lot more fun.

  “If it would make you feel more comfortable we could have Cassie or someone else take your measurements for you,” I said.

  “Oh no,” Cassie said from the other side of the room. “If you’re doing something like that then that’s all you. I’m not going anywhere near your flirting games.”

  I shot her an irritated glare. I didn’t actually expect Hailey to let Cassie take her measurements. I just figured that would make her more comfortable with the whole process. It didn’t help that Cassie was leaning against the wall on the other side of the garage nursing a beer and grinning at me like an idiot.

  She was enjoying this.

  “No, that’s okay,” Hailey said. “You can do that.”

  I went over to a toolbox that didn’t hold any tools in the traditional sense of the word. The thing was massive, but I went right for the top drawer and pulled out tailor tape. At least that’s what we called it. I’m sure there was probably some technical name for the stuff but I had no idea what the fuck it was. I turned and smiled at Hailey, trying to put her at ease.

  It felt weird as I took her measurements, but then again everything about today felt weird. I tried to be quick and businesslike, but the entire time I couldn’t help but be hyper aware of how close we were. How good it felt to be up close to her again.

  Of course the entire time I was also hyper aware of how close the other girls were. They were watching and it’s not like I needed an audience for the kind of things I’d like to do with Hailey. That more than anything else was a big part of why I was so quick to get everything we needed and pass it off to Cassie.

  “Let’s see,” she said. She took a look and then hefted a couple of wood carvings we’d put together as molds for that size. “These should do nicely, but of course we’ll need a quick try on to make sure we’ve got the right one. I think we can use some of the junk plastic for that, right?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “What’s she talking about? Junk plastic?” Hailey asked.

  “We got a shipment of plastic sheets a year ago that had some weird bubbling on all the plastic when it arrived. We got a refund but the company that sent it out to us told us to keep the original because they didn’t want to pay shipping to throw it away, so now we have junk plastic that we use when we’re doing test runs and don’t want to waste the good stuff.”

  “Oh, I guess tha
t makes sense,” Hailey said.

  “So this is how the magic happens,” Cassie said as she pulled out a sheet of white junk plastic and clamped it into the frame over the heating element. “I clamp everything in on our custom made frame right here, then I flip a switch and turn on the heater.”

  She did just that.

  “I don’t feel anything,” Hailey said. “How hot is that supposed to get?”

  “Want me to lift this up and you can stick your hand down there?” Cassie asked.

  “Cassie, don’t be an idiot,” Heather said.

  “That gets pretty hot,” I said. “The only reason you’re not feeling anything is because the plastic is in the way. See how it’s starting to droop down just a little? That means it’s ready to go.”

  “So what happens now?” Hailey asked.

  “Now I do this,” Cassie said.

  She gave a heave on a handle sticking out from the frame and the frame moved up and around in a half circle, coming down on the other end to settle on the carved molds we’d set down on the other end. The plastic formed around it and, removed from the heating element, it solidified pretty darn quick. The room was filled with the acrid smell of burnt plastic as it cooled down.

  “That’s it?” Hailey asked.

  “That’s it,” I said. I went over and put a hand on the plastic. “See? It even cools down pretty quick. The whole thing is pretty cool, right?”

  “That is pretty cool,” Hailey said. “So what do you do with the pieces?”

  “Normally we’d take the time to cut them out properly so they look all nice and pretty when we get ready to put them on a costume, but considering we’re doing a quick and dirty draw right now with the junk plastic we can do a quick and dirty cut out job.”

  I went back to the toolbox and pulled out a box cutter. Went back to the plastic and after a minute of cutting both of the pieces that would eventually become part of a Battle Gear bikini top if we were doing this for real were ready to be fitted. I held them up and then tossed one to Hailey. She caught it and then threw it in the air and barely caught it a second time with her other hand.

  Hailey blushed. “Sorry. I guess I thought it would be hot or something.”

  “It’s okay,” Heather said. “I did that the first time they tossed one of those things to me too. It seems ridiculous that it would cool off that fast.”

  “So what am I supposed to do with these?” Hailey asked.

  “Hold’em up to your tits and see if they’re the right size,” Cassie said. “If they are then we’ll do a run for real so we can get started on your new costume.”

  Hailey looked over to Cassie and then back to me. There was something off about her expression. Like she wasn’t exactly happy to hear that we were putting together a costume just for her.

  “What is this all about?” she asked. “I thought you just wanted me here so I could see how you did all this stuff.”

  “That is why I wanted you here,” I said. “I thought you’d like seeing all this.”

  I sent a murderous glance across the room to Cassie. At least she had the good grace to not look quite as self-satisfied as she had a moment ago. The whole feel of the room had changed and I could feel everything going south. I felt a touch of anxiety taking hold. I knew something like this was going to happen. After everything that went wrong with Natalie for so long I’m not sure why I thought something good would finally happen.

  “Is this like some sort of payment or something?” Hailey asked, holding up the bit of white plastic that sort of looked like a Battle Gear chest piece. Hailey was looking more and more upset with every passing moment. “So like I make out with you in the back of a bar and then you bribe me with a costume? Is that what this is all about?”

  “Hailey, that’s not…”

  “You’re no better than Natalie. You know that?”

  Then she was gone. She turned and walked double time out the garage door and down towards her car. I stood there for a moment completely stunned and not quite sure how to react to what just happened.

  “Wow,” Cassie said. “Someone still has some issues she needs to work out.”

  “I was just trying to be nice,” I said. “I thought she’d like that. She was going on at the convention about how much she wanted a costume like ours.”

  “Did you ever ask her if that’s what she wanted?” Heather asked.

  “I mean I didn’t bring it up with her. I thought it would be a nice surprise or something. Was that wrong?”

  Heather shrugged. “I don’t deal with girls. Too much drama in my experience. Tried it once in college and didn’t look back.”

  “Same here,” Cassie said.

  Heather and I both turned to stare, our mouths hanging open.

  “You never told me you went for a walk on the wild side in college,” I said.

  “It was a one time thing and it’s not ever happening again,” Cassie said. “And I’d appreciate it if neither one of you blabbed about that either. If my husband got wind of that he’d be hounding me constantly for a threesome and that is so not happening.”

  “Right, we’ve got more important things to worry about right now anyways. Like what the hell just happened there with Hailey,” I said.

  “The only person who really knows why Hailey is upset is Hailey,” Cassie said. “You should probably go talk to her and figure it out, because otherwise you’re having a short date night.”

  “Yeah, and we don’t have someone to replace Natalie,” Heather said. “Then we have to deal with all the weirdos who want to join up and I am not going through those applications again.”

  “Remember the guy that sent us a dick pic? Like he was so ready for a bunch of girls dressed like anime characters to see his dick that he had to fake being a girl and send that in as his example picture?”

  “I mean at least he dressed it up in a Battle Gear outfit. It was sort of funny,” Heather said.

  I ignored the conversation. The infamous dick pic where the dick was dressed as a Battle Gear Angel had been equal parts creepy and funny, but I didn’t have time to think about that right now. So while Cassie and Heather lost themselves in a conversation about why men felt it necessary to send unsolicited pictures of their junk out into the world I turned to follow Hailey.

  I wasn’t sure what the hell I did to make her so upset, but I wanted to fix it. I just hoped I could get to her before she got to her car and peeled out of here.

  23: One More Chance

  Hailey:

  I heard someone running up behind me on the sidewalk and I knew the bill was coming due for how ridiculous I’d acted back there in the garage. I was having trouble breathing and I was pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with how quickly I’d gotten the hell out of Dodge back there.

  No, I was getting close to having a full on panic attack over the way I acted back there, and it was shaping up to be a bad one. I felt my body tingling all over and my chest was tight even as I was having a hell of a time breathing.

  “Why do you have to be such an idiot about these things Hailey,” I muttered.

  The footsteps behind me picked up. I looked down at the hunk of plastic in my hand. The concave inside of a chest piece for a Battle Gear Angel Squad costume. Why didn’t I drop this thing back there in the garage? The last thing I wanted was a souvenir of the day I acted like a first class idiot in front of a bunch of total strangers and a girl I thought I might have a chance at something special with.

  I was going to have to take a pause. I wasn’t going to make it to my car before the panic attack set in full force. This was too much for me. I couldn’t take it. I stopped and tried to calm myself down. Tried to force myself to take deep breaths because otherwise I was going to be in deep trouble.

  “Hailey, wait up!” Zoey’s voice came from behind me.

  I tried to stay in my calm place. I was off on a nice beach somewhere warm where the evening air wasn’t touched by the slightest hint of the cool weather that would be
coming soon enough as fall hit. I wasn’t standing on a sidewalk in some strange cul-de-sac where I’d just made an ass out of myself. I wasn’t being chased down by a beautiful girl who had every right to be pissed off at me after the way I acted just now.

  Thinking of all those things wasn’t helping me get out of panic attack mode. Not at all. Damn it.

  “Hailey, could you wait up?”

  I turned to face Zoey. What was she talking about? It’s not like I was moving away from her or anything.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I want to know what the heck happened back there,” Zoey shot back. “I thought things were going pretty good and then you blew up at me. What’s wrong? The girls were worried about you.”

  The girls. Cassie and Heather. They’d been nothing but nice to me and I’d turned around and thrown that in their faces. I felt the beginnings of tears coming to my eyes. I finally had a chance to hang out with people who were just as geeky as I was and then like an idiot I took that chance and threw it away.

  Idiot!

  “It was nothing,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I’m going to worry about it and obviously there’s something going on here,” Zoey said. “So why don’t you tell me about it? What’s got you so upset?”

  I reached up to wipe a tear from my eyes. The more I felt the tears coming the harder it got for me to hold onto sanity. I felt like I was a single breath away from totally losing it and I didn’t like having that feeling. I especially didn’t like that feeling when I was standing right in front of Zoey looking like a blubbering idiot.

  Some impression I was making on what was supposed to be another date night. I guess this one wasn’t going to end with a hot makeout session or anything. Knowing my luck it wouldn’t end with another date at all.

  I needed to be honest. I needed to lay it all out there and let her know how I felt. Even if it was sort of fucked up.

  “I know what you were doing back there was probably you trying to be nice, but it felt like you were doing the same thing Natalie did when she invited me back to that room. She made it clear that if I wanted to be in your group there was going to have to be some quid pro quo going on in the hotel room, and I didn’t appreciate that,” I said.