Chapter 23: 22. Caffeinated

"Hush you!" Kelly gave me a mock-glare as she settled into her seat and had a sip of her coffee.

I tried and failed to suppress another giggle. It wasn't even all that funny, but for some reason it always gave me the giggles when she ordered an Irish coffee. I guess it just seemed too stereotypical or something?

Meanwhile I had a cafe-mocha, with whipped-cream and chocolate shavings. Kelly called it coffee for kids, with all the chocolate and sugar and stuff. I was still a complete wimp with alcohol though, so I wouldn't drink while we were out. Plus I was driving, so I had a legitimate excuse to avoid the 'grown-up drinks'.

We'd got here early so we grabbed a nice table with big cosy seats and got our drinks while we waited.

It was Wednesday afternoon, our classes were done for the day, and we'd arranged to meet Keira and Amy at a quiet little café a few blocks off campus. It had become a regular thing actually, the four of us would get together for coffee, or sometimes we'd meet up for dinner. We tried to do it every week, and it usually fell on Wednesdays, since that's when all four of us tended to be free in the afternoons or evenings.

The first time we all got together things started out super-awkward. Kelly reminded me that Amy didn't know who I was before. And I wasn't supposed to know she'd been 'Noah' for that first date, and that I didn't know her from when I met her before as my old self. So Amy and I both had to pretend that we didn't know each other.

The act lasted almost forty whole minutes, till Amy slipped up and mentioned something from that first double-date. I felt sorry for her as she desperately tried to cover-up the mistake, so I admitted that I knew she'd been Noah then told her who I used to be as well.

Keira and Kelly were both a little leery and uptight as that conversation unfolded, but it actually worked out ok. Me and Amy sort of bonded over the shared experience, though of course she got turned back to her original self at the end of the night while I stayed like this.

She'd been amazed how well I was adapting to my new life as a girl, she said she figured I'd need some massive therapy or something to get over the shock. I explained that it turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I was actually trans.

As for how I'd gotten stuck, we made up some hand-wavy excuse about the magic going awry for some reason. Obviously we couldn't tell her the truth about me being a fae changeling. I wasn't even sure if Amy knew Keira and Kelly were part-fae. That was the sort of thing we just didn't discuss in public, for obvious reasons.

All that happened four or five weeks ago. Now it was just a regular routine get-together for the four of us. Amy was Amy, I was Tegan, and we never really mentioned Noah or the guy I used to be.

I learned that the stuff about her being into acting was actually an act, Amy was really studying music at college. One thing that turned out to be true though was she and Keira really did attend poetry-slams at a place downtown. Amy didn't participate but Keira did, and Amy was there to cheer her on.

Meanwhile Keira and Kelly had lightened up a lot since their mother separated them. They could usually get through an entire hour without sniping at each other or coming up with silly new challenges or bets.

There was only one thing that remained kind of uncomfortable, and that was how Keira acted around and towards me.

Amy and I were friends, Kelly and Amy seemed friends with each other, and Kelly and Keira were much closer and less hostile around each other. But Keira always seemed to act a little cold towards me, or a little wary, and I had no idea why.

My guess was that she blamed me for her and Kelly being split up. I mean, we all knew that was their mother's decision. And it wasn't my fault, it was because the two of them used transformation spells on Amy and I. So if she did blame me for that, it was a bit unfair.

The only aspect of that which could be put on my shoulders was Kelly had to call her mom for help after I turned out to be a changeling and Kelly couldn't turn me back to my old self. And that still wasn't my fault, it's just Kelly needed to get help, which led their mother to finding out what the two of them had done.

Of course, it could have been something else, I had no idea. Maybe she thought I'd turned her sister gay? Or maybe she just never liked me and I hadn't noticed before. I also realized it might be that she just didn't like trans people, but I honestly hoped that wasn't the problem. Neither Kelly or Amy seemed to care about that.

Anyways, I tried to be nice to her, polite and everything. I hoped sooner or later she'd warm up to me, or at least tell me what it was I'd done to upset her.

Kelly and I only had to wait a few minutes before Keira and Amy came in through the cafe door. As usual, Amy was wearing her big black biker boots and black jeans. She had her favourite black leather jacket on, and despite only standing about five-foot-six she still managed to look tall and tough. She wore her black hair with a side-shave, shoulder-length on the right, buzz-cut on the left.

Keira was dressed similar to Kelly of course, today it was blue skinny-jeans and a green jacket, and sneakers on her feet. The two got their drinks then came and joined us at the table.

Amy nodded at us as she slumped into her chair, "Hey Kelly, Tegan. How you been?"

"Hi sis," Keira said, then added "Hello Tegan."

Me and Kelly greeted them both, and the four of us settled into our usual conversation patterns. The twins talked with each other, while Amy and I had our own separate conversation on the side.

Today Amy was excited about some plans she and Keira had made for their place. The two of them lived about a thirty-minute drive north-east of the campus. They were basically in a rural area, and they had a little cottage-style place on a decent-sized lot.

It was a trade-off. Me and Kelly were right downtown and while it was a big condo, it was still just an apartment. We had a few dozen delivery places in the area so we didn't hurt for choice there, and we had a nice view of the lake. But we didn't have a yard, there wasn't any nature around we could enjoy. We were in the heart of the concrete jungle, the best we had were some postage-stamp sized parkettes and potted trees.

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Keira and Amy were out in farm-country, their house was slightly larger than our condo but they sat on an acre or two of land. They had a yard, trees, there was even a river not far from them. It was the exact opposite of our place in almost every way. The downside of course was no food delivery, any shopping was a bit of a drive, and in the winter months they'd have to contend with more snow.

Anyways, Amy was excited because there was a big old stand-alone garage on their property and she was going to convert it. One half would be a little garage where she could store and work on her Harley, the other half would become a soundproofed studio where she could work on her music. She played the electric bass, keyboards, and she did some funky stuff with synthesizers. She specialized in some kind of electronic music genre she called 'Trance'. It wasn't my thing, but she was proud of it, and she had some fans. She had a Soundcloud and she DJed some raves or something.

She was already looking forward to next summer too, "We pretty much missed barbecue season this year, but you and Kelly have to come visiting next summer. The place is absolutely perfect for backyard barbecue parties. We've got a sweet patio, and the neighbours are far enough away that we won't bother them if we get a little rowdy."

"Sounds like fun," I smiled. "Too bad summer's another eight months away."

Amy frowned, "Yeah. Still, the four of us should do something sooner. Maybe during the winter break? You and Kelly can come crash at our place, or we'll crash at yours."

I thought back, and realized I couldn't remember doing anything with Kelly over winter break last year. I mean, we hung out and stuff, but we didn't do any holiday stuff. I'm sure she didn't go home to see her mom or anything like that. Maybe fae didn't celebrate the same holidays as humans?

I asked, "Did you and Keira do anything last winter?"

Amy shook her head, "I didn't really know her that well last December. We were friends but we only really hooked up around February."

We ended up not making any plans, but we did talk about planning to make plans, which was nearly the same thing. Eventually Keira and Amy had to get home, and me and Kelly did too.

As we set out in the car, I glanced at Kelly and asked "So I was wondering. Do you know if Keira doesn't like me or something? She always seems kind of cold and indifferent towards me, and I'm wondering if it's something I did?"

Kelly sighed, "I'm sorry babe. She's got some issues with you, but it's nothing you did. And I think she mostly knows it's all in her head, it's stuff she has to work through on her own."

"Oh," I frowned.

After a few moments, Kelly elaborated. "So she does kind of blame you for me and her getting separated... I mean she knows that was mom's decision and it was mostly because we screwed up, enspelling you and Amy? But if moving in with you wasn't an option for me, then mom probably wouldn't have split the two of us up after all."

She continued, "I think she's also a bit worried about you and Amy becoming friends? I'm not sure if she's worried you're going to try and steal her girlfriend or something, or what her issue is there to be honest. I just know she's not really keen on the four of us getting together. She mostly only comes because Amy wants to."

After a pause, Kelly added "And I have a feeling Keira might be jealous of you, though she'd probably die before admitting that."

I frowned, "What? Why in the world would she be jealous of me?"

Kelly sighed, "You're a full fae. Me and Keira are just a quarter. We've already seen how you're better at magic, right? Like granted you only know a couple spells, but what you do know you're already better at than me. Heck you're better than our mom. Then there's other stuff, like your folks being fae nobility and all."

She added, "I know it doesn't really make any difference to you if you're not planning on ever meeting them or anything, but it's like you have that whole rich-and-powerful family thing going on. We don't really talk about it but our grandfather isn't anything special. All he's got going for him is he's able to cross worlds, which is a somewhat rare skill. He's basically just a glorified courier, really. He moves letters and people and stuff back and forth for money."

"Huh," I frowned. Like Kelly said, it was all stuff Keira would have to work out on her own. There wasn't really anything I could do, or anything for me to apologize for.

I finally sighed, "Well, I hope she gets over it. I'd like to be friends with her, I don't want stuff to be awkward between us when the four of us are together."

Kelly nodded in agreement, then asked "What were you and Amy talking about?"

I told her about Amy's home-improvement plans, and mentioned the idea of the four of us doing something over the break. "Their place or our place, either way it might be nice for us all to hang out for a couple days?"

"We'll see," Kelly smiled. "Maybe we'll end up finding out how much time it takes for me and Keira to fall back into our old bad habits again."

I grinned, "If we have to, me and Amy will stage an intervention or something."

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