Cosplayed: A Sweet Lesbian Romance Page 2

  Jake paused at the door and looked the costume over once more. “You’re going to be a hit at the convention tomorrow. I just know it!”

  “Yeah, well I can’t wait to see what you put together!” I replied.

  Jake smiled and put a finger to his lips. “You’ll get to see it tomorrow. Promise.”

  I rolled my eyes. Whatever he was working on had to be pretty damn impressive if he was being this secretive. We’d been going to this con for the past three years, but this was the first time we’d both gone in costume.

  I couldn’t wait! A weekend in a kickass costume with my best friend. It was going to be awesome.

  2: Suspicions

  Zoey:

  I looked at the bank account and then back to the spreadsheet I was using to track all the charitable donations we got at our last big event. No matter how many times I tried to reconcile what we should’ve had and the number that was actually in there I couldn’t get it to match.

  I let out a frustrated growl. This was not my night. I knew I was forgetting something somewhere. I’d forgotten to add something in, and that meant I was going to have to go through the whole damn thing again.

  We really needed to just bite the bullet and hire an accountant to do all this stuff. It was getting to be more than I could handle on my own.

  “Something wrong honey?” Natalie asked.

  “Nothing too huge,” I said. “I just know that we got more money than this at the last event we were at. I can’t figure out where a few hundred dollars went.”

  Natalie came over to where I was hunched over my laptop trying to get the numbers to match. She wrapped her arms around me and I closed my eyes and indulged in a moment of enjoyment. I liked it when she got up close to me like that. I could feel her breasts pressing into my back which was always a distraction, and then there was the captivating mix of scents that was Natalie.

  I loved it. I loved her.

  “Come on Zoey,” she said. “Don’t worry about that stuff right now. You probably forgot to add something in somewhere. I’ll go over it in the morning and it’ll all be fixed, you know how forgetful you get sometimes.”

  I sighed. She was right. It seemed like whenever I did this the numbers were always off and then Natalie had a look at it and magically everything was figure out and balanced. Which was about what I should’ve expected considering she was the math major and now she worked with this kind of stuff all day at her job, but I liked to try and help out.

  I reached up and took her hand. “I guess you have a better feel for this stuff than I do. I’m used to corporate crap and this charity stuff is definitely more small business.”

  “That’s okay,” Natalie said. “You know I’m doing this business stuff all the time to keep the old photography business afloat.”

  “I guess,” I muttered.

  I still thought it was ridiculous that the numbers always came out wrong there. If I didn’t know any better I’d almost think someone was cooking the books, but that wasn’t possible here. Natalie and I were the only ones who touched this and she wouldn’t do something like that.

  “Come on,” Natalie said. “There’s no point trying to balance the books until after the convention this weekend anyways. Just think about all the fun we’re going to have and all the money we’re going to make for the Children’s Foundation. Don’t worry about spreadsheets. That’s what you do at work.”

  I smiled and leaned back into Natalie. Once more she did have a point. A very good point. I spent my entire day at work moving numbers around in spreadsheets and it was always a pain in the ass to come home and have to do the same thing in my free time. Still, it was worth it to use our costumes for some good. And thinking like that only made me want to figure out what was wrong with the books, damn it. I pulled up the spreadsheet again.

  “I know I’ll find it if I just keep looking…”

  I felt a hand on my own. I looked up and blinked. Natalie was right there staring down at me.

  “I said you didn’t need to worry about it. I’ll take care of it later. You know you suck at math stuff Zoey,” she said.

  I didn’t like her tone, but I also didn’t want to start a fight right now. So I sighed and closed out the spreadsheet. She was right that I was never good at math stuff. I should listen to her more often and stop worrying about handling all this stuff.

  Thinking about that reminded me of arrangements for the weekend.

  “So did you ever hear back from the hotel about whether or not we get a comped room?” I asked. I’d already reserved a room for myself, but I could still cancel at the last minute if they decided to give us one.

  “About that,” Natalie said, pulling her arms away from me.

  Uh-oh. I didn’t like the sound of that. I didn’t like the sound of it one bit. That was the tone of voice Natalie used when she was about to say something I didn’t like. It felt like she did that sort of thing a lot these days. Especially right before a convention. I spun my chair around and stared.

  “What now, Natalie?” I asked. I held up a hand before she could say anything. “No, let me guess. They were willing to comp a hotel room, but only for one person, right?”

  Natalie smiled. “How did you know?”

  I rolled my eyes and suppressed the urge to let out a growl. That would only lead to an argument, and the last thing I wanted was to go into another convention with an argument hanging over us.

  “Because it’s the same thing that happens every time we go to one of these conventions?” I asked.

  Natalie moved across the room and threw herself down on the couch. She fixed me with an accusing stare that I’d come to know oh so well. I could feel the winds of the argument whipping around me as it approached. It was as sure as the thunderstorms that rolled through here announcing themselves with gusts and dark clouds gathering above.

  Only here the dark clouds were Natalie looking pissed off.

  “We’ve been over this before,” she said. “I’m the one who runs Cosplay Angels and that means my name is the one people see when we’re organizing these things. Besides, it’s only fair. You can totally afford three nights in the hotel with your job and I can barely make ends meet with the photography business!”

  “Yeah, and I bet all the contacts and sessions you’re going to have this weekend won’t help you at all with the cost of a room,” I muttered.

  “Come on Zoey,” she said. “That’s not fair and you know it. It’s not my fault you can’t do actuary work or whatever it is when you’re at a convention. I’m a photographer, that’s what I do. Besides, you know people are going to be coming and going at all hours for pictures and charity stuff.”

  All of her arguments certainly made sense from a certain point of view. There was just one problem. A deep and lingering suspicion that had been growing inside me ever since the last convention. A notion I had that not all was right with the way Natalie was using her position as the head of the organization and her comped rooms. I shouldn’t have said anything, this was a conversation to have after the convention was over, but I couldn’t help but open my mouth and blab.

  “And I suppose the fact that you always seem to get the prettiest girls up to your room for those private photography sessions has nothing to do with it,” I growled.

  Damn. If I could take the words back I would’ve. I didn’t like getting confrontational. It wasn’t my style. If everyone in the world could be friends I’d be perfectly happy. But the words were out there, and from the way Natalie was staring it was obvious she thought they were a huge betrayal.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked. “Because I know you’re not giving me shit for running my business. Are you seriously going to pull the jealousy card?”

  I figured that was a rhetorical question. I’d already pulled the jealousy card and laid it out on the table. I figured now that I’d said something, now that my frustration was out in the open, there was nothing for it but to forge ahead.

  “So what if
I am?” I asked. “Is it really all that crazy? I see the way you flirt with other girls at these conventions when you think I’m not looking. I see who goes up to your room with you for your private photo sessions, and isn’t it funny how you never seem to get paid for those sessions?”

  “What are you insinuating, Zoey?” she asked, her voice suddenly quiet and angry.

  Oh boy. This was really getting into the sort of territory I liked to avoid. My hands were clammy and my mouth was dry. I really wanted to avoid getting into a fight before this convention. Why did I have to open my big mouth and rock the boat?

  But again, the boat was already rocked, and anger was starting to take over where good sense and my desire to avoid conflict usually stepped in. So I opened my mouth to say even more stupid shit. Besides, this is something that had been festering for awhile now. It actually felt kind of good to get it out there.

  “I’m saying that maybe you’re not charging for what you’re doing in your room because charging for that sort of thing could get you arrested,” I said.

  There. It was out. I thought she was cheating on me. I’d tried to ignore the signs. I’d tried to be nice about it. To give her the benefit of the doubt. Only this was the third convention in a row where she’d mysteriously figured out a way to get a room all to herself even though we’d been dating for a couple of years. Fool me once and all that.

  It only took a moment for the explosion to hit.

  “I can’t believe you would accuse me of something like that!” Natalie shrieked. “I’m busting my butt trying to run my business and keep this charity running and now you’re accusing me of cheating on you? Of whoring myself out? You bitch!”

  I started to shake all over. I fucking hated confrontations like this. It was part of the reason why I’d waited so long to have this conversation even if I was pretty sure she’d been doing this sort of thing for awhile now.

  I also hated myself for being a coward about it, because that’s what this felt like. If Natalie thought I was cheating on her she’d let me hear all about it. I knew that for a fact because there’d been a couple of times when she said as much.

  I tried to measure my voice. I needed to sound calm here. I needed to avoid getting too heated, because that was only going to make her more angry. I held out my hands and imagined I was a lion tamer or something trying to soothe a vicious beast.

  Because let me tell you, Natalie could be one hell of a vicious beast when she got like this.

  “Look Natalie, I didn’t want to turn this into an argument or anything,” I said.

  “Well you sure as hell fucking sucked at that!” she shouted back. Tears were starting to come to her eyes. Damn it. I hated it when tears came to her eyes. I hated thinking that I’d caused someone to get that upset. Why did these arguments always have to spiral out of control like this and leave me feeling like the asshole?

  “Look, all I’m trying to say is that from my point of view it seems a little suspicious that you’re always getting a room to yourself. Why can’t we share a room?”

  “You think it’s suspicious?” she asked. “You’re accusing me of this stuff when you flirt with anything with a pretty smile and a cute ass that comes by our booth at these conventions?”

  Now that brought me up short for a moment. Flirting with other girls? What the hell was she talking about?

  “Natalie, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  Her nose and chin went up. The tears were still threatening, but she didn’t sound so sad or upset now. No, she sounded aloof. Like she was the queen of the room and she knew she was winning the argument. Hell, she might even be right. She had a crazy scary way of turning these arguments around on me, which was another reason why I’d never liked getting into them in the first place.

  “What about that cute redhead at the last convention? The one with the Battle Gear Angel Squad T-shirt you were gushing about? Don’t think I didn’t notice the way you were looking at her!”

  I shook my head. I remembered the girl. It would be difficult not to remember a girl like that. As evidenced by the fact that Natalie had no trouble remembering her either. Especially considering she’d spent the entire time that girl was at the booth trying to push me aside and get in a few words.

  “I’m sorry Natalie, but that’s just not how I remember that at all,” I said. “You were the one pushing me aside and trying to flirt with that girl.”

  Anger flared behind her eyes for a moment. “Well that’s not how I remember it. I remember you being all over her and I had to try to get in between the two of you just to get your attention!”

  “I was talking to her about the charity,” I said. My voice cracked. I was having a harder time keeping it together. She was trying to keep me from that girl? Ha. That was a likely story. I saw the way she stared at the girl’s chest the entire time. She hadn’t spared a second look for me that night.

  “Besides. I don’t know if you remember, but that girl was there with her boyfriend. I didn’t have a chance with her,” I said.

  Natalie raised a triumphant finger. “Aha! So you admit that if she didn’t have her boyfriend there then you’d be all about trying to get some special time alone with her!”

  My mouth fell open. I couldn’t think of any other response to that. Was she really still trying to turn this around on me?

  “That’s not what I said at all Natalie, and you know it. I was just talking to people who were interested in donating to our charity. You’re having girls up to your room behind closed doors!”

  “I don’t see what the difference is,” she said. “Both are business transactions. It’s not my fault that I have to do mine in a hotel room in private. If you’re going to overreact like this then maybe we should think about sleeping in separate rooms permanently.”

  I mean technically Natalie had a separate room that she was supposed to be sleeping in over at her parents’ house. She claimed she was living there while she tried to get enough money to really build up her business, though I didn’t see her moving to get out of there any time soon which probably had a lot to do with her practically moving into my place but not paying any rent.

  That just made me even more angry.

  “Yeah, well if that’s the way you feel then maybe you should just go back to your place for tonight and we can both sleep in separate rooms.”

  Natalie blinked at that. Looked around at my small apartment as though she was being boxed in or something. She looked back at me and she tried to say something but I held up a hand.

  “We can talk about the rest of this at the convention tomorrow. Remember we’ll be sleeping in separate rooms, so you’ll have plenty of time to think about whether or not you want that to become a permanent arrangement.”

  Suddenly Natalie smiled. It was like flipping a switch. She moved across the room, slinked across the room is more like it, and she was on me in an instant. Pressing against me. Getting up close and personal and distracting me in a major way. I noticed the tears were gone too. Almost like she was flipping a switch.

  “Come on Zoey,” she said. “You don’t have to be like that. We don’t have to be like that. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”

  I closed my eyes and shivered. With her this close to me I really wanted to believe that this was all a big misunderstanding, but I had a difficult time really and truly believing it. There was too much circumstantial evidence, and there was the fact that she’d been ready to throw our relationship away right up to the moment I showed a bit of backbone and told her to get the hell out of my apartment.

  Well this routine wasn’t going to work on me tonight. I put my hands on Natalie’s waist and she let out a purr that went right between my legs, but I resisted the urge to give in. Not tonight. Not like this.

  I gave her a firm push away. I opened my eyes and saw the surprised look on her face. A surprised look that turned to anger in a flash.

  “Fine. If you want to be a bitch then be a bitch,” she
said. She turned and stormed for the door. Right before she slammed it shut I decided to twist the knife just a little.

  “See you tomorrow at the convention,” I called after her.

  The door slammed shut in answer. I let out a long breath that I didn’t even realize I’d been holding. One thing was for sure. This was going to be one hell of a weekend off at the convention.

  I just hoped I could find a way to prove once and for all that Natalie really was doing everything I’d just accused her of, because otherwise I was going to feel like a first rate ass.

  3: At the Con

  Hailey:

  “Oh my God, would you look at that girl?”

  I turned in time to see a couple of guys who looked like they were maybe old enough to be in high school looking at me. All of them blushed and turned away when they realized I was looking at them and I couldn’t help but grin. It was really weird. I figured I’d be super self-conscious walking around in this thing. It was way less than I ever wore out in public. Yet here I was and I felt confident more than anything.

  It was like putting on the costume was putting on more than plastic armor. I was putting on social armor that had my anxiety melting away. I’d heard other cosplayers talking about this sort of thing happening when they put their costume on, but I never thought it would happen to me.

  It was a good feeling though. A really good feeling. I just hoped the crash wasn’t too bad when I was out of costume later. For now, though, I was fucking invincible and no one could touch me.

  I smiled and waved at the guys as they went past. I hadn’t gotten that kind of attention from guys when I was in high school. Sometimes it was nice getting the validation of being a late bloomer even if none of those guys had a chance in hell.

  I turned and continued through the mall food court. I’d parked under the mall because all the parking garages near the convention center were full up and I wasn’t going to pay some of the ridiculous prices they were charging anyways. Luckily I could park and walk to the convention center through the convenient tunnels they’d set up between all the places downtown so that commerce could continue even in the cold winter months.