Chapter 3: Anna Grace Whitmore

thanks to Ralitsa for letting me use her religion

and apologies to HobokenSweat for stealing her character

and huge thanks to Ommichron and HobokenSweat for beta reading

Chapter 3: Anna Grace Whitmore

Keisha couldn't help but smile back at Anna, "As long as it takes, I guess."

"I was working a few different jobs, doing a couple of different things." Anna paused for a moment. "One of them was supposed to be a little side gig. A little bit of acting. It started out as a side gig, but then it took over my whole identity. And then my character got written out of the story, put in a closet - so to speak. It was a huge shock." Anna speaks with a measured precision, each word individually enunciated, never rushed.

"In a closet,.... metaphorically?"

"Yes, and literally." At Keisha's confused expression, Anna continued, giving a very truncated version of Glitter Lube.

"That identity was very emotionally draining, and Flat Hat kept giving me more extreme scenarios. It seemed to me that Flat Hat was testing my limits, trying to find where I would break. But everyone else broke first. I thought about finding a new author to work for, but then I decided to be the author of my own story."

Keisha felt like there was an important piece of this story that Anna was glossing over. "I mean, it does sound rude to be put in a closet and all that, but like, why did they do something so extreme? Like what kind of character were you playing?"

Anna regarded her thoughtfully, her big green eyes staring out through huge glasses, "You know what, I'm just going to tell you. This is going to blow your mind."

Anna took a bite of jelly donut, a sip of coffee, and a deep breath. "I considered myself to be a Relationship Status Adviser, but that wasn't the official job title. What I did is, in the words of Carina Marie Delvecchio 'fuck the shit out of people until they couldn't think straight.'" Anna looked uncomfortable saying it, her tiny body shrunk even smaller at the thought of having done it. "And then I made them reevaluate every life choice they ever made. And when they finally understood the depths of their own depravity, I broke them to pieces and made them put themselves back together."

Keisha looked at her in shock, "Seriously? Do you mean figuratively, or...?"

"Literally. That is literally what I was doing." Anna's green eyes stared unflinchingly through the glasses that seemed bigger than her face.

"But... why? Did you like that?"

"No, but I was good at it. It was easy for me to do. I am really good at it, when I want to be. But no, that is not what I want. So I left to start a new life. There are only so many times that you can make someone else reevaluate all of their life choices before you start to reevaluate your own."

Keisha wanted to say something, she wanted to ask for clarification, she wanted to know if Anna was just fucking with her, or if all of that were really true. But she didn't know where to start.

"See?" Anna grinned at her. "It blew your mind."

"Yeah....... yeah it did." Keisha considered what Anna had told her, "So you've made love with like, dozens of people? That's so crazy. I've only done it one time, a couple weeks ago. I can't even imagine doing all that!"

"No, actually. Clarification, I have only ever made love to one woman, to Carrie. All the rest? No, love is not like that." Anna seemed to get melancholy at that thought. "That, is war. I suppose you think that I'm a terrible slut."

Keisha started giggling, even though she tried really hard not to. "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh, it's just.... that made me think of a story that I read a few months ago. It was about... well this group of friends were trying to decide what the definition of a good slut is, and they decided to have a taste test to see who was the better slut. Sorry. When you said that, it just reminded me of them having that contest."

Anna smirked at her, "What sort of stories do you read?"

Keisha started to feel a little embarrassed about telling someone how much time she spent on Literotica, but then realized it was way too late in the conversation for that concern. So with only a tiny bit of shame, she admitted "This website called Literotica has, well, erotic literature. So that's where that story is."

"I guess we have that in common too, then," Anna grinned. "I'm on Literotica too. Have you written any stories for it?"

"No, not yet. I'm working on one though. How about you? Have you written any stories about all the people you fucked the shit out of?"

"No, that story - or at least one example of that - was written by Flat Hat, my old author. It's called Reverence." Anna was silent for a moment, then a small shudder ran through her. "Yeah, it was intense. Guys, mostly guys but not always, they would think they were looking for something they couldn't get at home. That's why I called myself a Relationship Status Adviser; I was very effective at showing them that they really wanted to stay home and be happy with what they had. They really did not want what I made them want."

Anna shrugged and waved her hand dismissively. "But all of that is history. I quit all that and left."

"So what do you do now?" Keisha asked.

"I still do my real job," Anna grinned. "My real job is an industrial designer. I graduated from Drexel in 2018 and went to work for a company in Philly that made packaging equipment, mostly for pharmaceutical companies in Jersey. All of that other business I did on nights and weekends. So then when I left Philly, I just got a job out here doing basically the same thing, except that this company makes instruments for the automobile industry. Right now I'm designing a gas tank level transmitter for a new model of car that will be coming out three years from now. Terribly exciting stuff, I tell you." Anna's green eyes were laughing but that did not disguise the intelligence behind them.

"Are you fucking with me? By day you make gas tank gauges and by night you fuck the shit out of guys who are cheating on their wives?" Keisha was pretty sure she didn't believe Anna - at all.

"Used to, not anymore," Anna wrapped her arms around herself and pulled her shoulders in like she was trying to take up even less space. She was silent for a few moments. "It was not what I wanted. I never wanted that, but Carrie, she thought it would be funny I guess. But now that I'm out here, I've taken up dancing. Can we talk about that instead? What do you do when you're not dancing?"

"School," Keisha answered automatically. "Except now, during the summer. Normally I'd be working during the summer, but I just finished planning my cousin's wedding and I haven't found a job yet. Which is what I was planning to do today."

"I had better let you go do that then, Keisha. Maybe we will see each other at class next week? If you want to find me on Lit, my name on that site is Ralitsa." And with that, Anna Grace Whitmore stood up and walked out the door.

Well now that was strange. Keisha had been pretty sure there was something simmering between them. Anna had been eying her up, they had been getting quite nicely comfortable with each other, Keisha had a growing heat in her core and had been very sure that Anna was also feeling it. She was expecting Anna to ask for her phone number next. And then she just got up and walked the fuck out the fucking door!

----

Without a lot of trouble, Keisha was able to pick up a waitressing job. She had originally planned to get an internship this summer with a company that would provide work experience more relevant to her intended career, but planning and executing FnD's wedding had precluded any possibility of starting a job before now. And no company is willing to have an intern start in the middle of July, only to end in August. The nice thing about waitressing though, is that she had mornings free for dance classes. And even though it wasn't great pay, her Uncle Charles (Dawn's dad) had arranged to pay her last year of tuition for her.

That (the paying of her final year's tuition by Uncle Charles) was a great deal for everyone involved. It enabled Dawn's parents to assuage their guilt at being such jerks to FnD; Keisha's tuition was much less than a professional wedding planner would have been; and since Keisha had been very effective at, and perfectly eager to coerce any and all family members into compliance with the plan (by every means available), it happened quickly and smoothly. It's not likely that anyone else would have demonstrated such effectual organizing (some might say "manipulating" and others might say "coercion" while still others would say the author of this story should put down the damn Synonym Finder and just get on with the story) skills. It was thus due to her efforts that the wedding was accomplished a mere three months after its announced existence. Keisha could probably have pulled it off even sooner, but they had decided on mid June so that Fiona would be finished teaching for the summer.

All of which is to say, that Keisha really didn't have to work very hard if she didn't want to (or at least, not for this summer). But Keisha couldn't sit still for very long with nothing to do, so her week was filled with work, dancing, working out, more dance lessons, and a determined campaign to get onto the dance team.

So she didn't have much time to think about her new friend, Anna. But she did have time to at least sign in to Literotica and start following her. And that's when she saw that Anna had written a story; so she read it. She also read the stories that Anna had referred to about her earlier life and decided that Anna had been treated very unfairly. That bitch Carrie was clearly just using her; she decided to post a few comments and set the record straight.

----

The studio she signed up with had regular weekly classes, but they also had a time available every morning for dancers to practice on their own. So Keisha incorporated into her morning routine a visit every morning to the studio whence she could work on her dancing stuff.

At this point, you might be wondering what's the deal with Keisha's roommate(s). Does she have any? Where are they? Why have we not heard about them yet? And in truth, I'm wondering the same thing. It stands to reason that she would have one or more roommate(s), it's improbable that she can afford her own place. Which raises another question, is she living in the dorms or an apartment off campus? Indeed, all very good questions to which we do not yet have answers.

The one thing I can answer is your other question of: why the fuck are we suddenly talking about Keisha's roommate(s) when this was supposed to be the dance practice scene?

That one is easy, Dear and Gentle Readers. I changed the subject. Your 'umble author doesn't know the first thing about dance. The person I commissioned to help me write all the dance scenes went to Toronto to see a concert and got trapped in the airport parking lot. That happened to me once too (but not in Toronto), and I had to drive down the sidewalk to escape. So no dance scenes this time around. But I can assure you that you would really have enjoyed them.

............. dance practice

............. dance practice

............. more dance practice

And she continues to take the ballet class that Anna is in. After their class Anna and Keisha are walking out together.

"Hey do you want to go get a jelly donut again?" Keisha asked.

"Of course! I always want a jelly donut," Anna grinned back at her.

----

"Soooooo.... " Keisha started, hesitantly, after they were seated at the small corner table. Keisha really wanted to ask Anna why she had so precipitously walked out the week before, but didn't want to risk her doing it again. So she stuck to topics she thought would be safe.

"I looked you up on Literotica." She took a sip of her iced latte and looked over the top of it at Anna. "You're Ralitsa, right? And you wrote a story about lesbian pagan witches?"

Anna grinned and nodded at Keisha, "Yep, are you KN2005? I saw your comment."

"Yeah, KN for Keisha Nichols, and 2005 is the year I was born. Really creative, right?"

"Right, nobody else has ever used their initials and birthday for a username. So what do you think of it? You had better have given me five stars!"

"Yeah, I did, and I favorited it. It is kind of a weird story though, like I said. I liked it, I really liked the Vaclava, warrior princess character who went and avenged Ralitsa. She is totally hot! You're really imaginative, how did you even think of all that?"

"I cheated. That is an old legend from my religion, I just translated it, really. It was originally written a long time ago in Gaelic but almost nobody knows of it. Followers of our religion try not to bring attention to ourselves. Pagans and witches are still frowned on these days, though we worry less about being actually burned. So I also inserted a healthy dose of nonsense. You probably noticed that some people took exception to my version of history and geography - we like to obfuscate." The hint of a grin played around the corners of Anna's mouth.

"You're a witch too? Somehow that does not surprise me. So, are there, like other stories about your witchy religion that you're going to write?"

"There are plenty of stories, and I am translating all of them, but I have not yet decided how many of them to put on Literotica. I may write and post a slow burn romance next."

"Oh god, I hate those! Well if you write any of those then I'm going to stop following you!" Keisha laughed.

She took another slurp, "So this witch religion of yours, like what's that about? Is it like in Harry Potter?"

Anna laughed, "It could not possibly be more different! If you really want to know, you can just go to our website. The URL is on my Literotica profile. But no, we don't go around casting spells, and almost nobody is actually a witch. It's more of just a garden variety Paganism. It's pretty tame." She popped the rest of her jelly donut into her mouth and washed it down with a healthy chug of coffee. "The best part of it is our calendar. We have the most interesting holidays. Our Web Wench (and yes, that is her official title), she finds the coolest holidays, or sometimes invents them along with a whole back story for them. Like, today, it's Blueberry Day, so that's why I got a donut with blueberry filling."

"What? You can't just invent holidays!" Keisha objected.

"Of course you can," Anna countered. "All of the holidays are invented by someone, sometime. We make sure to have the best ones, that's why we have the funnest religion."

"You're crazy! I think maybe your hobby of fucking the shit out of people and melting their brains is like the least crazy thing about you." Keisha shook her head slowly as she gurgled up the last of her iced latte. "I'm going to miss coming here with you after practice."

Anna looked at her questioningly but didn't say anything.

"I'm going to stop ballet classes at the end of July," Keisha explained. "I'm going to concentrate on competing now. I like ballet, but I like modern dance more and I won't have time for both when school starts up again. I've started practicing and working out with the other girls on the team. It will be a while before I'm ready to start competing with them, though. I plan to talk to the coach about trying out in a few weeks, after I've had some more time to get in shape."

"Seriously? That's great! You certainly are good enough already." Anna encouraged.

"Oh, so you don't mind never seeing me ever again?" Keisha teased her.

"Don't be daft, of course we will see each other again. We need only to find an opportune time. What is your work schedule?"

After a bit of discussion, a refill on their beverages, and some comparison of work schedules, they were able to identify a mutually convenient time during which to convoke and continue this weekly ritual which to date had proven so rewarding to them both. (I don't really know that the word 'convoke' works in this context, but I came across it in my Synonym Finder, and as I had never used it before, I couldn't resist the temptation.)

And then Keisha's phone buzzed. She picked up her phone and looked at the message. It was from Kate.

"What the FUCK?" Keisha stared at her phone in shock. She looked up at Anna who was watching her, unperturbed.

"It's from Kate, this girl I met a couple of weeks ago who is Amelia's friend. We didn't hook up, but ever since then she sends me these random texts about 'coming back to her' or going out dancing again. And I know she's fucking with me because she wasn't at all interested when I was there. So now she just sent me a picture of this girl and says: hot freshman. she's alot of fun :) you can have her next."

Keisha showed Anna the picture.

"And..." Anna invited her to continue.

"It is SO offensive on so many levels. First, that she's using this girl like a piece of meat to just pass her around between her friends, and I'm not even really Kate's friend; then that she thinks that I need, or even want her help finding someone; and then not even caring that what I really want is a real relationship and not this.... this.... whatever the fuck this is. Fuck! Kate is just such a.... I don't even know."

"Yes, I know the type," Anna observed. "Borderline abusive player who doesn't know what she really wants. I've cured a few of those."

"Cured? What does that mean?"

"Most people like that have some kind of weird need to feel like they are better than everyone else. There are various root causes: sometimes it is genuine feelings of inferiority; sometimes they are spoiled brats; sometimes they are simply obnoxious assholes. The trick is to figure out which one it is and then just straighten that out."

"You make it sound easy," Keisha observed, skeptically.

"'Ain't no step for a stepper,' as Gerry Guffy used to say," Anna smirked.

{ now I know that some of You Dear and Gentle Readers will take exception to my depiction of the psychology behind this, and you'll be tempted to say 'you can't go around making a diagnosis' or 'I'm a licensed therapist and it's unethical to claim to be able to cure a problem like that by fucking the shit out of the person' or any number of other things, just like you'll object to my placing an uncomfortable run-on sentence right here without capitalizing the first word (oh and I'm going to leave the period off too) but I'm going to remind you that this is a Literotica story, and furthermore it's my story so I can and will do whatever the fuck I want (including using commas and semicolons incorrectly); and BTW you wouldn't have objected if I had invoked the little flashy light thing from "Men in Black" or devised a Magic Dildo for Anna so I don't want to hear any objections about Anna's methods, but since you're all dying to know, the Magic Dildo that toesucker1 asked for will be coming }

If Keisha had been reading her story on Literotica, she would have concluded that her story had by now, gone well and truly off the rails. She sighed to herself 'why can't I get a love at first sight story like What a Difference a Day Makes...' Keisha had read and commented on that story three days after it posted, and had made it one of her favorites.

-----

This is another Keisha at dance practice scene, and I still haven't heard back from my Dance Scene Consultant but I guess she will call when she needs more money. And I hesitate to write this without expert guidance, because she gets quite agitated over poorly written dance scenes. It's better to just gloss over it for now.

In this scene though, Keisha meets with the coach for the Dance Team, arranges for a try-out, and earns a provisional spot on the team, pending her subsequent performance in concert with the team as a whole. But we have full confidence in her ability. And of course she texted Anna with the good news.

Keisha is gregarious, fun and personable and soon becomes friends with all members of the Dance team. Maybe she will hook up with someone? But although she has read plenty of stories about people having a gaydar, she has little confidence in her own. And not wanting to make the situation uncomfortable with her team mates, she resolves that it will be advisable to get to know everyone better before deciding on any course of action.

-----

Thursday morning Keisha pulled into the parking lot, and saw the electric blue mustang pull in a minute later as she was getting out of her car, so she waited for Anna by the door of the coffee shop. They walked in together.

"So other than making the dance team, what else is new with you?" Anna asked when they reached their customary table.

"Mmmm, nothing much. Still no girlfriend."

"How hard have you been looking?"

"Between work and dance practice, not very? You know what, the real world sucks. It's so much easier in a Literotica story. Everyone is meeting someone and instantly falling in love."

"Everyone? Have you read Forty?"

"Oh my god, fuck no! That's 80 thousand words long and you know how much I hate slow burns. No I mean like the one Ommichron posted last week, about Charlotte. Second day of Freshers Week and already she has a cute girlfriend."

"Yes, but this is not a Literotica story, is it? Maybe you need to be more realistic. What sort of girl are you looking for, what is your type?"

"My type?" Keisha grinned slyly. "I don't like to think I'm so shallow as to have a 'type' but I definitely like cute blondes with an attitude. Like you, for example."

"No Keisha, I'm not going to date you. I consider you a good friend and I want to keep it that way. I like you, a lot. I do not have many friends and none except you that live anywhere near here. You may not understand how important that is to me, but I need a friend right now much more than I need a girlfriend."

"Don't you like girls? I thought, from what you said, you were bi. Or is it because I'm so much younger than you?"

"Not that, no, you are very attractive. But I really am not interested in sex at all, just now. If I were, then you would be my first choice. The problem is.... I... for the last," she waved her hands vaguely, "whatever number of years, I have used sex as a weapon. I have ceased to enjoy it. But more than that, I am worried that I would hurt you.... I am not sure I remember how.... how to be nice."

"Anna, that's so sad."

"I'm pretty messed up, that's for sure. But whatever," Anna shrugged and seemed to shrink a little. "Eventually I will get over it. But you should not wait around for that to happen. You want your Love At First Sight story, and I want you to have that. I would be the Slowest Of All Slow Burns, with no guarantee about that. What I want right now is a true and faithful friend who does not judge me, someone who I can be honest with. I feel that way with you."

Keisha thought it looked like Anna's eyes were glistening, like she was on the brink of tears. She put her hand gently on top of Anna's, "I understand, Anna. No, I guess I don't really understand, but I can sympathize with that. I'm glad you feel like you can trust me, I hope you always do. I'll try my hardest to be that for you."

"Thank you, Keisha. That means a lot."

----

For the next week everything was fine and dandy; and then Kate came to visit. After working her ass off over 4th of July weekend, and making a ton of money (by college kid standards), Amelia wanted to take a few days off and go visit her parents in her home town. Nobody is quite sure what Kate's work schedule is, she seems to do whatever she pleases, so she came with Amelia.

Kate and Amelia are from a small town south of Columbus OH, called Athens. It's almost a six hour drive for them to get home from South Bend, so it wasn't entirely implausible for them to break up the drive by stopping off to see Keisha on their way home. Keisha felt that the excuse did feel a little contrived though. Toledo wasn't exactly on their way, and coming this way would add some extra miles to their overall trip.

Within the first five minutes of Kate being in her apartment, Keisha knew the real reason they had stopped over. Amelia had left for a few minutes to go pick up the pizza.

"Hey Crybaby, I hear you had a nice time at Caroline's. Wanna find out what it's like to be with a real woman? You know, I don't have to go back to Athens this weekend with Amelia, I can stay here until she comes back this way."

But then the buzzer for the door rang, giving Keisha the excuse to ignore Kate. She opened the door and let Anna in.

"Hey girlfriend," Keisha threw her arms around Anna and planted a kiss on her lips. "Come on in. This is Kate, who I told you about, and Amelia went to get the pizza. She'll be back in a few. Need a wine cooler?"

"Sure, thanks," Anna replied smoothly and entirely unperturbed. She gave not the slightest hint of surprise at being suddenly identified as Keisha's girlfriend. "Hi Kate, nice to meet the woman of so many legends."

Keisha handed Anna a wine cooler from the fridge and then turned to Kate. "This is my girlfriend Anna, remember I told you and Amelia that she's coming over tonight? So no, I'm not the slightest bit interested in whatever it is that you're trying to do, Cruella."

Kate took a long guzzle from her Yuengling. "No worries, Crybaby, I don't mind sharing. We can even do a threesome if you think you're up to it."

"Go fuck yourself Kate! Don't even pretend that you like me, I'm not stupid. I don't know what the fuck you think you're trying to do but but you can just stop 'cause it ain't gonna happen!"

Kate turned to Anna, perhaps thinking that the tiny blonde could be intimidated. "What do you say, blondie, how about we share your girlfriend?"

Anna didn't blink; she didn't flinch; she didn't move. She stared impassively through her huge glasses at Kate, in the same way that the muzzle of a pistol stares impassively. "No."

Kate flinched. The finality of that single word stunned her. It wasn't cold as death; it wasn't hard as steel; it didn't carry the threat of a coiled viper. It was non-negotiable.

The still and eerie silence was broken by Amelia coming through the door with the pizza.

"Hey everyone, pizza's here. Start up the movie, what are we watching? And no Keisha, not 27 Dresses, you've seen that a million times."

Finally they all decided on Mr. Right, which only Anna had seen before.

"Hey before we start the movie, I want to put on something comfy," Keisha announced to no one in particular. "C'mon Anna." She grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bedroom.

"Anna, I'm so sorry about springing the girlfriend thing on you like that. Kate was hitting on me and was trying to weasel her way into staying here this weekend. I hoped it would get her to leave me alone if she thinks that we're together."

"I had guessed as much when you said her name. It won't though, that will not stop her. It will just make her try harder if she thinks that she can get you to cheat on me."

"Really? Why?"

"Didn't you tell me that she is still in love with, who was it?"

"Yeah. Caroline. Well that's what Caroline told me anyway."

"Right. So every time that Kate hooks up with anyone else, it feels to her like she is cheating on Caroline. So if the other person is cheating too, then that makes it OK."

"I don't get it, how does that make any sense at all?"

"How a person feels about a situation is not always logically connected to the facts. Kate can feel like she and Caroline are still together, or should be together, even if the facts are just the opposite."

"I guess. And I guess that would explain why Kate was so jealous when I...." Keisha hesitated, she had never told Anna about the whole getting drunk and passing out night.

"Slept with Caroline?" Anna guessed.

"I was going to say 'danced with Caroline', but then I guess that sleeping with her just made it even worse."

Anna sighed, "Very much worse. That explains a lot. So this is a revenge fuck then, and Kate will not quit trying until... " The look on Anna's face could best be described as sad resignation.

".... until?" Keisha whispered.

"I had promised myself that I would never do this again. But you mean too much to me Keisha, I cannot let Kate hurt you. She is trying to; she is trying to hurt you and she is trying to hurt Caroline because she is jealous." Anna's voice was soft and sad, she seemed to be on the brink of tears. "And she will not stop trying until I cure her of that. I would not do this for anyone else, but I will do this for you."