#cherry o'reilly

As Baen-shee finished their latest take, Abigail got a buzz from her work cell. “Take five, girls, I gotta take this,” she said, putting the phone to her ear. “Hi, what’s going on?”

“Ms. Remeltindtdrinc,” came the voice of her assistant, “Devon is at your office.” There was noise from the other end. “With lunch, it seems.”

“Oh, send him to the recording studio.”

“You’re not scheduled for lunch for another fourteen minutes.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”

“I’ll move some things around.”

“It’s not necessary. Just send him in.”

“He’s already headed over. I’ll send you notifications of your updated schedule.”

Abigail sighed to herself. “Okay. Fine, thanks.” She hung up as there was a knock on the door. She stood up, opening the door. Devon beamed at her upon entry, not even hesitating to pull her into a hug and kiss. Abigail blushed at the embrace but didn’t fight against it. Despite her staunch professionalism, she’d found herself easily swayed by Devon’s casual PDA. She had little choice but to comply. Upon being released, Abigail took hold of the to-go bags in Devon’s hands, noticing quite the abundance of Thai food they brought in.

“I knew, uh,” they said a bit sheepishly, setting the bags down on the table in the center of the room, “that you would be working with Baen-Shee today. Thought I’d offer some to everyone.”

Perking up at that, Sparkles ran over from inside the recording booth to grab Devon’s shoulders. She stared at them wide-eyed, mouth slightly open, before Devon nodded awkwardly. With the approval, Sparkles took off to grab open the nearest container of spring rolls and eat ravenously.

“You really bought food for us?” Eden asked. “That’s so sweet. We’ll pay you back!”

“It’s not necessary.” Devon’s cheeks reddened a bit. “Honestly, the pleasure is mine.”

Cherry grinned slyly. “I know that look. Someone’s a fan.”

“Ah. A bit.”

“So you’re saying you had ulterior motives to visiting me at work?” Abigail asked, feigning disappointment.

“Can’t I have two reasons?” Protesting, Devon gave her another kiss on the cheek, which Abigail accepted, half-begrudgingly.

Nita looked over the spread excitedly. “You know your way to a girl’s heart, Dev. No wonder you were able to lock Abigail down!” She opened up a box of drunken noodles, sitting on the table. “You’re such a romantic. Huh, Caj?”

Caj smirked a little, glancing between Nita, Devon, and Abigail. “I t’ink so.”

“Oh, I know that look,” Cherry said. She leaned over to Abigail and Devon. “Run.”

“What’s going on?” Eden asked Cherry.

“Caj and Nita doing what they do best. Being absolute pests.”

Caj rolled her eyes. “I take offense to that.”

“Devon, Abigail,” Nita said, crossing her legs, “I just imagine married life can get a little dull. I fear lesbian bed death as much as the next girl.”

“It’ll never happen to us, my Nita.”

“No, of course not. Especially when we have measures put in place. Such as…” She gestured outward towards Devon and Abigail. “Doing a little…switch…every now and then.”

Devon laughed, a bit of an uncertain laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. “Ah, that’s crazy, huh?”

“What makes it so crazy?” Caj asked coolly. “You and Abigail are both attractive.”

“It’s not like this is just a spur of the moment thing, either!” Nita said. “Caj said it was my turn to pick the couple.”

“I’m flattered,” Abigail said, quickly raising her hands to dismiss the conversation, “but I won’t sleep with anyone I work with. That’s a hard rule for me, especially since after the few times I let myself make an exception, it ended in disaster. No.”

“T’at’s an admiral pursuit.” Caj’s eyes glazed over to look at Devon, but it seemed Nita had already read her mind.

“Devon doesn’t work with us though…,” she purred, rubbing her arm down Devon’s bicep. Abigail could see Devon stammering to get out of the situation. And she did trust her—logically, she trusted her. But it didn’t stop the fire that ran through her veins and the sickly green monster from grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight.

Upon feeling Abigail’s hand around his, Devon seemed to find the words, sliding away from Nita and allowing Abigail to put her hand on his chest. “Ah, same thing, right? Maybe I don’t work with ya, but I’d feel uncomfortable.”

Nita smiled, seemingly satisfied, and she leaned her head against Caj’s shoulder, who’s pulled her in close. “Well, you have our number when the album’s done!”

At that, Abigail got the notification of her revised day schedule. The only noticeable change was that lunch had started when Devon had arrived, and would now ended in twenty-four minutes, followed by a resuming of the studio session with Baen-shee. But somehow, Abigail had lost her appetite.

As the band picked over the food, Abigail dragged Devon out of the recording studio. She heard him awkwardly try to explain what had happened, but she cut him off with a fevered kiss. “You’re mine. I’m not sharing you,” she said.

Devon gasped, kissing her back in earnest. “C’mon, they were jokin’ right?”

Abigail shook her head. “No. They weren’t.”

“Really?” Devon turned redder. “Fuck, ya don’t wanna break your rule again?”

“Devon.”

“Well, if you’re there too, I mean—”

She cut them off again, catching them off guard with her kiss to slam them against the wall. She panted. “No one’s touching you.”