The Roommates

"Well, no..." Taz admitted. "I don't spend very much on clothes, so I have a bit saved up for this kind of thing. I didn't reckon that I would need it for this kind of clothing... Are you sure this is a good idea? It doesn't really seem my 'style' at all... What should I try on first?"

Olive laughed and closed the door on Taz in the dressing room, holding the handle up so that the zedonk was effectively 'trapped'. Seeming to have regained some of her former good spirits, the llama giggled and refused to open the door again as Taz growled inside, realising that she had no choice in the matter.

"I'll let you out when you've tried on five outfits," Olive relented. "And shown them to me!"

Sighing, Olive took the safest outfit, a pair of slim fitting jeans with flares at the base and a turquoise halter top, dressing in the crisp, price-tagged clothes without glancing at her reflection in the mirror. Turning when fully dressed to see the full effect, she shook her head, instantly disliking the way that it clung to her curves - she looked ridiculous! And fat! Snorting, the zedonk hardly let the fabric settle into place upon her body before tearing the top off over her head and stepping out of the jeans again, clipping both garments neatly back on to their respective hangars.

"So what do you think of the jeans and the top?" Olive shouted into the changing room, unaware of Taz' decision.

"No, not this one..." Taz grimaced, glad to be out of the jeans especially. "It looks wrong. I'll try another."

"Oh, okay - oh! Try the skirt! I know that'll look good!"

Choosing a top to match the muted red skirt that Olive had been so enthusiastic about, Taz went to slip it over her head but paused halfway through the motion, wondering if she could find out a little more about the little mishap between Olive and her mysterious ex-boyfriend over the phone. Would it be prudent to ask? She wouldn't know unless she tried.

Social situations are so awkward, she thought, screwing up her muzzle and tugging the top into place - a light, floating garment, which did not cling as tightly as the last.

"So...do I have to be worried about what happened earlier?" Taz tried, stepping into the flowing skirt that Olive had picked out, finding it surprisingly comfortable and perhaps even attractive.

"Worried about what?"

"The thing with the phone," Taz went on awkwardly, checking out the skirt in the mirror. "Hey, this is nice!"

"Oh, that... And you like it? Come out here and show me."

Stepping out of the changing room, Taz lowered her head shyly as Olive gave a soft 'oh', clapping her paws together in seeming delight.

"Does it look okay?" Taz asked anxiously, thinking that she had drastically over-estimated her appearance in the clothes. They were very comfortable...they could not look right, really. But Olive had chosen them, so...maybe.

"Okay? They look great, hon!" Olive squealed. "Get that top in a different colour too! It fits perfectly!"

"Really?" Taz said, still unsure about the true fit of the fabric. "Well, okay, if you think so... It is nice. So, yeah, what I said - what about that phone call? Wasn't that weird?"

"Yeah, my ex..." Olive looked down, fiddling with the hem of her crimson blouse. "He won't leave me alone, you know how it is."

"Oh, it's nothing, really. He doesn't know where I am," Olive reassured Taz. "He just makes life difficult for me. I'll block his number later and, if he bugs me again, I'll call the police. Then it won't be my problem and it sure as hell won't be my problem when he gets his ass thrown in prison."

"That's not quite what I meant, Olive," Taz said carefully, admiring the way that the skirt fell from her hips in the long mirror outside the changing room. "I mean...are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Olive laughed, although there was a strained note in her voice. "I'm fine, don't worry. You hungry? Let's get these and grab something to eat. We can shop more afterwards."

Although she did want to try on some of the other clothes that Olive had selected for her, she accepted being towed gently from the changing room and to the till to pay, grateful that she did not have to worry about the implications of such a spending spree. She really should have bought some new clothes that were not for work before this point, she thought absently, swiping her card to complete her purchase. And Olive had made some lovely, flattering choices too.

They made some chit-chat as they walked leisurely to the nearest cafe, a small establishment that sold 'no-nonsense' meals - as advertised on the gaudy window display. Taz sighed as she looked up at the menu, her eyes immediately going to the cheeseburger, which she would never be able to order unless she lost a little weight. To her, it was not worth the guilt she would feel later, even if she really wanted it. Sighing and subconsciously licking her lips, she opted for a healthy, chicken salad while Olive fussed over the soup choices, eventually choosing something light with seasonal vegetables.

Their meals were prepared swiftly and brought to their table, though Taz looked in a dejected manner at her small salad, the lettuce leaves drooping and an unappetising shade of green.

"I wish I could eat what I wanted," she grumbled. "I'd love even a soup right now."

"Do you wanna swap?" Olive said, startled with her spoon poised halfway to her lips.

"No, no," Taz said hastily. "I'm not nicking your meal, jeez."

"Well, what did you want to eat then?" Olive asked, eating a couple of mouthfuls of soup, although she wrinkled her muzzle and put the spoon down again.

"Oh, I don't know, a burger or something," Taz mumbled, trying to ignore the ravenous growl of agreement her stomach gave.

"Hm, dieting then?"

"Yeah...I can't keep the weight off, as is glaringly obvious," she snorted, looking down at her body with an air of disgust.

"Oh, come on, you don't look bad," Olive said, waving her paw to dismiss the comment. "You're gorgeous, but if it would help you, we could work out together sometime, if you want," she offered, smiling a little. "I jog but I need motivation!"

"That would be great," Taz replied, despite not feeling very enthusiastic about the prospect of working out. It would be good for her, she was forced to admit, and perhaps Olive would be fun to exercise with? "I thought you were hungry?" Taz said with her mouth full of salad, gesturing towards Olive's barely touched soup, not very subtly changing the topic.

"Nah, not really... I don't like to eat too much, really, just don't feel very hungry most of the time. Ah, thank you," she smiled to the cute waiter, a husky who had just brought her another coffee with extra sugar and cream. "Thanks, this is just what I need."

This surprised a chuckle from Taz and she shook her head, marvelling at the llama's ability to ingest copious amounts of caffeine; it was surely a large contributor to her bubbly personality. She jumped from topic to topic so swiftly in general conversation that the laid-back zedonk had difficulty keeping up with her; the couple of hours of shopping had tired her out while Olive was raring to go again after the coffee. As Olive chattered on, Taz found herself drifting into her own thoughts and mostly listening though, if her mother had seen her spacing out like that, she would have claimed that her daughter was 'away with the fairies', as the expression went.

A group of femfurs entered the cafe, clustering in a tight huddle by the door. Taz did not pay much attention to them at first, but when they began casting dark, poisonous looks towards their table, she could not help but wonder what on earth their problem was. A giggle rose in the zedonk's throat: were they sitting in 'their' spot, or something equally ludicrous? Olive had fallen quiet and was eyeing up the waiter with an appreciative murr, so had not noticed the group behind her at all. Taz was about to point them out and ask if she knew any of them when one girl, a painfully thin lioness, broke away from the group, snatched up a glass of water from another table and up-ended the contents over Olive's head.

"Hah! That'll teach you!" The lioness screamed triumphantly as Olive spluttered. "You shouldn't have stolen my boyfriend then, should you, bitch!"

"What?" Olive growled, half-standing from her seat in indignation. "I didn't take anyone's boyfriend - how dare you! Who do you think you are?"

The lioness shook her head and smirked, crossing her arms over her ample chest, which was barely constrained by the low-cut, pink top that she was wearing - flashy and more suitable for clubbing than casual shopping. Olive stepped up to her angrily, forcing the cat to back off, her eyes wide and claws unsheathed as she hissed in an unladylike fashion.

"You deserved it," she hissed vehemently, eyes narrowed. "And you deserve everything that you get. I hope you die in a hole, whore."

Stuttering, Olive shook her head and struggled to get her words out, which only served to amuse the group of girls closing in like hyenas. The lioness stood up taller when backed by her cronies, looking down with an air of superiority. Taz touched Olive's arm lightly, hoping that this would not escalate into a cat-fight of the literal kind, and pulled her back a little. Taking the cue and realising that the whole cafe had fallen silent, Olive's paw twitched and she took on a cool, uncaring demeanour, acting as if she was not bothered by the cat's words or by the water marking her shirt.

"I did not take anyone's boyfriend and you would do well to remember that," Olive said frostily. "Get out of here - you've done enough."

Taz supposed that the lioness would have had some smart response to that, but an official looking terrier femfur with glasses stormed through the cafe, the crowd parting to allow her through. A gold name-tag on her mauve shirt indicated that she was the manager of the establishment, which prompted the group to beat a hasty retreat. Half-tripping over themselves, the group of femfurs hustled from cafe, muttering amongst themselves and gesturing rudely at Olive, who remained motionless throughout their departure, her paws trembling faintly with suppressed emotion.

"Miss? Miss? I'm so sorry for that disturbance," the manager tried to apologise, offering Olive a wad of napkins. "They have caused trouble here before. Would you like to come out back to change into something, ah...drier? Your meal, of course, will not be charged and I hope that you will accept our sincerest apologies."

"No, no, changing won't be necessary," Olive said primly, embarrassment making her tone short and clipped as her cheeks heated up. "I'm sorry that I was caught by them here and thank you for your help and compensation for the meal."

Glancing at the remains of her meal, which she had hardly eaten, the llama dropped her muzzle slowly, pulling her wet shirt away from her body, although it only clung damply to her.

"Come on," Olive went on, turning to Taz with a deep frown, worry behind her cool, blue eyes. "We'd better pay and go. I'm a mess."

*

When they returned to the flat, Olive was quick to jump in the shower with her new fur products; Taz could not fathom why she needed so many. Some had been pressed upon her, designed specifically for equines, but if they would have condition her fur and keep her skin healthy, who was she to complain? However, the zedonk had only flopped on to the sofa for a couple of minutes before there was a loud rap upon the door, demanding her attention. Groaning, Taz heaved herself to her hooves and clopped over, muttering under her breath as she expected that she would have to send off another puffed up fur preaching some religion or the other to a deaf ear.

Instead of a salesfur or preacher, Taz was shocked to see a white hare a couple of inches taller than her standing there, smiling widely. She used to work with him at the surgery, but he had only been part-time while he completed the final year of his university studies in Biomedicine and had been snapped up by a high-ranking company.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, surprised to see him. "Ben, what brings you here? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Hey, Taz," he grinned. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," she blushed and moved back to allow him entry, closing the door quietly after him, suddenly over-aware of every little movement she made. Briefly, she caught herself wishing that she had some of her news clothes on and not her grubby, old, grey sweatshirt. He could not have paid a visit at a worse time, Taz felt.

"Do you want to sit down?" She offered him a seat, hoping that he could not see the blush on her muzzle.

Ben gladly took her offer and plopped down into an armchair, stretching his legs out before him. Awkwardly, Taz considered where to sit - opposite him? Beside him? On the sofa? - and eventually settled on the armchair directly in his line of sight so that neither of them had to crane their necks in order to talk.

"So, how have you been? Is work going okay? Would you like anything to drink?" Taz asked, fumbling over her words and fidgeting nervously.

"I'm fine," he chuckled, "thanks. Work's great but demanding. And I've been good, just haven't had much time to catch up with people due to, well, work."

"Sounds very busy," Taz said, although she privately thought that he had not said very much at all about what he'd been doing.

"Yeah, it is pretty busy and I've got to get home soon too," he admitted, ducking his white muzzle shyly. "I did have plans but now my sister has asked me to babysit her cub this evening. Great night in for a single guy, hey?"

"Not too bad," Taz smiled, warming up to him. "I loved babysitting my little sister, but I doubt she would stand for it now!" Ben laughed.

"So, how have you been, Taz?" He asked earnestly, leaning forward. "I've missed seeing you around."

"Nothing much has been going on, I'm good," Taz said, though her mind was buzzing with what he had said about missing her. He had missed her! "Got a new roommate. So what really brought you round today? I can't imagine that this was planned in advance or anything like that...or was it?"

Ben shuffled his feet and looked down, the tips of his ears colouring a light pink, visible through the very pale fur, soft to the touch.

"I was going to see Fur in Black this afternoon, but my friend cancelled on me at the last minute," he admitted. "I didn't want to go to see it alone and I wondered if you still lived in the area, so I wanted to give you a call."

"That's nice, I'm glad you stopped by anyway," Taz said happily, her ears perked up attentively. "And I've been dying to see Fur in Black for ages! It's a shame that you missed it today."

"Really?" The hare's eyes lit up hopefully and he slid his gaze away as if trying to gather his thoughts together. "Well...um..."

"What?" Taz asked, perplexed. "What's wrong?"

"Um...would you like to come with me? To see Fur in Black?" He said at last, not able to meet her eyes.

"Sure, what time and when?" Taz nickered happily, not understanding the implications of what he was asking; Ben either did not notice this or did not mind, for he positively glowed with glee when she accepted his offer.

"How's tomorrow at eight sound?" He chirped, smoothing his ears back with a sense of relief.

"Hm...I'm working late tomorrow - not sure I'd have time to get home and change before it would start," Taz bit her lip.

"Well, isn't the cinema closer to the surgery? We could meet at the cinema?" Ben suggested brightly, unfazed by Taz' work schedule in the slightest.

"Sure, that would be fine, I can change at the surgery," Taz said, visibly pleased. "Great! I'm looking forward to this now - I didn't think that I'd have the chance to see it for weeks!"

"Awesome!" Ben smiled and rose fluidly from the chair, tugging his shirt back down where it had ridden up. "Well, I'm sorry to be abrupt, but I've got to head off now. I hope we can catch up more tomorrow after the film!"

"Sure, I look forward to it!" Taz got up too and darted to open the door for him. "It's going to be an amazing film!"

"It is," he agreed whole-heartedly, pausing at the threshold to the flat to lean in and give Taz a quick hug. "It was great seeing you again, however briefly, and I really hope that we can catch up more tomorrow."

"You just said that," Taz giggled.

"Right..." Ben chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry. See you tomorrow then, Taz. Stay well."

"See you, Ben."

And, with that, he was gone, bounding down the corridor like one of his feral kin. The zedonk shook her head and settled down on the couch again, thinking that the hare had been a little different than before, a bit more...nervous, yes, that was it. How strange, but perhaps it had solely been because he had not planned on visiting her beforehand. It was better than arrogance at any rate, Taz decided.

"What was all that about?" Olive shrieked, bursting out of her bedroom in fresh clothes and with her fur still damp from the shower.

"Jeezuz!" Taz yelped, shooting up. "What's the commotion over? What the heck's gotten into you?"

"You like him, don't you?" Olive squealed, clapping her paws together and bouncing like a child on their first day of school.

"What? No! I don't like him!" She denied, but the hot blush burning her muzzle said otherwise. Shyly, Taz ducked her muzzle and rolled the cuff of her sweatshirt between her fingers. Deliberately ignoring the hint that she would not like to discuss the issue, Olive perched on the side of the armchair and poked Taz' shoulder, grinning as her natural good mood returned.

"But...he likes you," she prodded gently. "Does he know that you like him?"

"No! There is no liking! No liking at all!" The zedonk groaned, hiding her muzzle in her paws. "I haven't seen him since he finished at the surgery, so how could I know if he's the same as before?"

"Aha, so you did like him before!" Olive latched on triumphantly, hugging Taz around the shoulders. "Eeek, that's awesome! And you're going on a date with him! He was cute!"

"A date?" Taz sat up and snorted derisively. "Oh, please, Olive. He could never like me, let alone ask me out."

"Nuh-uh, why would you say that? You've obviously made a great impression on him, sweetie," she said firmly. "You're going to have to tell him that you like him at some point though - males never take hints about these things."

"But...how can I say that? I don't do these things," Taz shook her head. "No, no, I can't tell him. I'll have to cancel." Olive chuckled and patted her head softly.

"Don't worry, honey, just chat and have fun," she advised. "If things go right, say that you like him at the end of the night and that you'd like to meet up again, that's all there is to it. No need for any silliness or drama."

Taz nodded, silently agreeing with the llama. She would never have said it aloud when her confidence was so low, but she was secretly glad that Olive was encouraging her to go out on what she had not even realised was a date. If left to her own devices, she might never have gone to the cinema at all and stood poor Ben up as a result of her own insecurities. One date could not hurt, she reasoned with herself, since he was such a good friend from before. If nothing else, they could at least catch up on one another's lives and see a great flick.

"What are you up to tomorrow night then?" Taz asked, slumping back in the chair as she accepted the addition to her social calendar.

"Hm...just going out to a house party, it is Saturday after all," Olive mused. "Tina invited me over and I don't know where else we'll go.

"Mm, sounds fun, but make sure you avoid the crazy girls, all right?" Taz teased, shooting the llama a sly look from under her eyelashes. Olive rolled her eyes and made a silly face with her tongue poking comically from her muzzle - Taz laughed.