Chương 189: Interlude 41 – Join The Party

=::= Kaylee's PoV =::=

I sat curled up on one of the big comfy recliners in the living-room hugging my favourite tail to my chest as I quietly wished I could get rid of my own stress by petting my tails. Unfortunately it didn't work that way. I couldn't even help Cass with her stress, I could only do that for humans. Or human-adjacent supernaturals, like werewolves.

At least hugging and petting my tails still felt good, and even if I couldn't magically suck the stress out of myself it still helped me relax a little.

Two days had passed since Cass's big announcement after dinner at her moms' house. Now it was Sunday afternoon, and very soon we'd all be celebrating my girlfriend's nineteenth birthday. I should have been feeling excited, I should have been rushing around making last-minute preparations like I did for Nina's birthday in July, or Cerys's birthday a few weeks earlier.

Instead I was stuck in a funk, still thinking about the whole Cass Cassandra situation. Still trying to make sense of it all. And kicking myself for being so slow and stubborn about the whole thing too.

Cass told the rest of Club Luna yesterday, but Melanie and Cerys already knew about Cassandra. So did Sasha, she recognized that Cass and Cassandra were different even before she was returned to Earth. According to the fallen goddess, Cass shared some memories with her during that first meeting. That was enough for Sasha to recognize Cassandra was a separate entity.

She even made the comment that evening when we first met her, that Cass wasn't half-demon and half-god, she was both the demon and the goddess together. Willow was the only one who'd been as surprised as me, but she seemed to get over it almost immediately.

It felt like out of the whole club, I was the only one having trouble accepting this news. And it made me feel like a bad girlfriend, and a bad friend.

I couldn't help thinking back to last year, when I was so bigoted about Cass and Nina being demons. My ignorance meant I missed Cass's eighteenth birthday party, and now it felt like her nineteenth was falling apart as well. Except I wasn't hateful or angry about things this time, I was just worried and a little freaked out.

And I couldn't stop thinking about it and second-guessing all sorts of things, big and small. Like the cake, it had Cassandra's name on it along with her eight-pointed chaos-star. I wasn't sure if we should add Cass's name to it as well? Would she feel left out if the cake didn't have her name on it? And what about the symbol, if that was for the goddess of chaos then did Cass have some sort of demonic symbol or sigil for herself?

For that matter, who gave me the necklace? Which of them was I dating? Or was it both? And was that weird or ok? Was it safe to ask her, or them, some of those questions? Or would that be rude or insensitive? I didn't want to offend or upset my girlfriend, but I felt like I wasn't even sure who that was anymore.

My first reaction was to reach out to Paige and see if we could meet up for coffee or something. She was still my best friend and confidante after all. Except both she and Brooke were more than a little freaked out when we got together after my transformation. And she wasn't available anyways. When I texted her yesterday I found out she was just getting ready to hit the road. She was going to her new university a week early, so she had plenty of time to get settled into residence and familiarize herself with the layout and the town and everything.

So I wouldn't be able to hang out with her until she came back home for a visit, which probably wouldn't happen until Thanksgiving weekend in October. Or theoretically I could teleport out there to see her whenever I wanted, but it was a lot harder jumping somewhere you've never been before and I was still way too new at it to risk doing that.

Then again, maybe I could borrow the Lunamobile and drive out one weekend to see Paige and find a place to teleport to.

"Kaylee?"

The small quiet voice startled me a bit, my ears folded back and I hugged my favourite tail tighter while my other two tails twitched around. Then I grimaced, "Hey Nina. Sorry, I didn't notice you there."

The other demon had come into the living-room and was standing next to me, with a concerned look on her face.

"Are you ok? Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked softly.

I shrugged, then sighed, and finally asked "How are you handling the Cass stuff? I mean, what she told us at your moms' place on Friday?"

Nina got a thoughtful look on her face as she moved to sit in the other recliner next to me.

After a couple seconds she replied, "Some of it's confusing, and I guess there's some stuff that worries me a little? But Cass is still Cass. She's the same girl who saved me from an angry angel, who made friends with me, and who welcomed me into her family. And when she says that she and Cassandra are learning to work together and they're a team, I trust and believe her."

I frowned as I thought that over, then nodded slowly. "That's a good way of looking at it. It's like when I was trying to come to terms with finding out she was part demon. She was the same Cass we all knew, the only thing that changed was we learned more about her."

"Yeah," the brunette demon agreed. "Cassandra's been there all along, we just didn't know it until now."

She added, "And looking back it's kind of obvious, right? Like she acts differently, it's not hard to tell when Cassandra was doing stuff compared to when it was Cass. Plus she basically told us all that stuff at my birthday party, after she got rid of the council thugs."

"I thought she was exaggerating," I admitted with a grimace. "I thought... I guess I assumed it was a figure of speech or something? It made sense to me that when she was acting like a goddess she'd be more confident and everything. How could you not be, when you're immortal and omnipotent?"

"I don't think she's omnipotent," Nina replied as she shook her head. "I don't think any god is. But they certainly seem that way compared to mortals."

Then she suggested, "Cass is in your bedroom cuddling with her big plushie buns. Why don't you go and talk to her? Then maybe the two of you could come out back and join the rest of us? Everyone's here and we're ready to start the party, but it's awkward without the birthday girl and her girlfriend."

"Ok Nina," I grimaced again. "You're right. I'll talk to her, and hopefully we won't spoil the fun."

We both got up from the chairs, then she surprised me with a brief hug before the two of us started heading for the back of the house. Nina continued on out the back door, while I turned and went into the master bedroom.

Sure enough my girlfriend was laying ontop of the bed, curled up on her side with her back to the door. She had one of her big plush bunnies tucked under her arm, and I could just see the other one cradled against her chest.

For a few seconds I forgot about my mixed-up emotions and just smiled at how cute she was, while my tails quietly wagged back and forth behind me. Except a moment later my smile faded and my tails drooped down, along with my ears. I spotted some tear streaks just visible on her face, and that changed the whole mood around.

"Hey Cass," I said quietly as I moved to the side of the bed. Then I climbed up next to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

She sniffed and turned slightly to hide her face, like she was embarrassed to be caught crying.

"It's nothing," she lied. "Sorry. I'll be ok in a sec."

I shifted so I was laying down behind her, although I was way too small to be effective as the big spoon. I tried though, as I wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged myself against her back.

Then I whispered, "I know it's not nothing cutie. I'm here for you, ok? So's your sister, and your moms, and all our friends. I know you're going through a lot... Actually you've been going through a lot for more than a year now Cass. I want to help though, ok? Is there anything I can do?"

She finally let go of her buns and turned around so we were both facing each other. Then she sighed, "I'm worried that things are too weird again for everyone. People are treating me differently, acting different around me. Now that everyone knows what's going on with me, you all probably think I'm crazy or something."

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"That's not true," I said as I cuddled up close against her. "I don't think you're crazy. And I know your moms don't either. Or your sister. Like I said, we all know you've got a lot going on, and we all want to help."

She didn't respond so after a few seconds I asked again, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

My girlfriend took a deep breath then let out another sigh. Then she finally answered, "I guess... Maybe you could tell me what you really think of all this? Like honestly, if you don't think I'm crazy then what do you think? Because I know there's something on your mind, you've been almost as quiet as me the last couple days."

"Yeah," I grimaced. "I'm sorry Cass. You're right, I've had a lot on my mind. I've been doing my best to adjust and accept things, but..."

My voice drifted off as I hugged her a little closer. In fact I ended up curling up against her chest, with her chin resting ontop of my head in between my tall fuzzy ears. Then I quietly admitted, "I guess I'm confused about what this means for our relationship? Like, am I your girlfriend? Or both hers and yours? I've been thinking back over the past eight or nine months, since we got back together again, and there's a few times that I thought I was with you but now I think maybe you were her. And yeah, it confuses me."

"Same with your symbol," I added. "I love the necklace you gave me, but I can't help wondering if that's your symbol or hers? Did you give it to me, or did she?"

Cass frowned for a few seconds, then slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry Kaylee. I don't have answers to most of those questions. Maybe I will later, but not right now."

"I'm pretty sure I came up with the symbol," she added after another little pause. "She probably created the necklace, but I was the one who gave it to you."

There was another brief hesitation before she continued, "She and I both think of you as our girlfriend, but Cassandra knows that she's..."

She paused again, and this time I realized it was almost like she was listening to someone else in those little gaps in the conversation.

"Cassandra says she doesn't have the same emotional connections that I do," Cass said after the latest little pause. "She'd like to get to know you better, and if you're ok with that she could spend time with you so you can get to know her too? But if not, that's ok as well. She promised she'd never try and come between us."

I continued to hug her close as I asked, "Is she talking to you now?"

My girlfriend sounded embarrassed as she admitted, "Yeah... She's trying to be helpful I guess? That's something she's said a few times. She looks out for me, and you, and all our friends. She wants to be helpful and keep us all safe."

I couldn't help smiling, "I'm sure not going to complain about that. It's kind of nice knowing there's an actual goddess watching over me."

"Just don't forget she's a goddess of chaos," Cass responded with another grimace.

Her tone actually sounded better though, like maybe her mood was starting to improve. And for that matter so was mine. We were both feeling down, but we talked things out and it seemed to have helped. I asked some of those questions that had been bothering me, Cass answered them, and the two of us could move forward together. Or maybe the three of us, depending on how that worked out.

I gave her a gentle squeeze then asked, "Are you feeling up to joining the others now? Or do you want to stay here and cuddle a while more?"

"Um," she hesitated as she gave me a little squeeze back. "I guess we should go out and see everyone. They're probably getting impatient, or mad at me for hiding from my own party."

I shook my head, "Nope. They're worried about you, but nobody's angry or upset. They'll be happy if we join them, but they'll understand if we don't."

Cass was quiet for another couple seconds before she finally decided, "Ok. I'm doing better now Kaylee, thank you. Let's go join the party."

"Sounds good," I smiled as we both got up out of bed, leaving the two large plush bunnies behind so they could keep an eye on things for us. "I'm feeling better too."

I had my arm around her waist while she had hers around my shoulders as the two of us finally headed out into the backyard together. And for good measure my favourite tail was wrapped around her leg, while the other two swished back and forth behind me.

The rest of Club Luna were all out there waiting, along with Tanya and Julie. Our backyard neighbours were there as well, we'd invited Violet Jade and Sage. Cass and Sasha wanted to get to know them better since they'd all be going to college together soon.

And like I expected, nobody made a big deal about Cass being late to her own party. Instead there were lots of smiles and birthday wishes and stuff. There was also the mouth-watering smell and sound of meat sizzling on the grill, Melanie was taking care of that as usual while Cerys stood by to help out.

Someone handed us both drinks, my girlfriend had a bottle of spring water while I had a can of orange soda, and we ended up sitting down on a couple plastic chairs in the middle of the yard, surrounded by our friends.

It actually wasn't much longer before the food was ready, and both Cass and I were almost as excited about that as the wolfgirls. We were having BBQ beef ribs, courtesy of the Tate Wolfpack. Melanie and Cerys made sure they were seasoned and cooked to perfection, and they'd been glazed in a tangy maple chipotle sauce that Sasha prepared after finding the recipe online. The former goddess also made up a batch of potato salad, and there were all the usual snacks and stuff too.

The food was delicious, especially the ribs which were a special treat. About the only disappointment was they were so big I could only eat one of them. And most of the other girls couldn't manage more than two.

Everything was good though, and there was lots of it. And just when everyone thought they'd had enough to eat Nina and Sasha brought out the cake. It was decorated with a half dozen fondant bunnies, as if they were frolicking ontop of and around the sides of the cake. In the middle Cass's chaos-star was piped in gold icing, and the name Cassandra was set above that.

My girlfriend blushed but smiled as we all sang the birthday song, then she blew out the candles so we could all enjoy some dessert. There was also coffee and hot chocolate for folks who wanted a warm drink, and more soda and snacks for anyone who wanted that instead.

Cass opened her cards and gifts and stuff while we were all enjoying the cake, and a little while after that Julie and Tanya left. Just like with Nina's party, they said something about letting us young people have our fun. Which we did.

The party didn't wind down until around midnight. Willow, Cerys, Melanie, and our neighbours all had work in the morning so they disappeared first. Then Nina teleported home and Sasha decided to turn in as well. That just left my girlfriend and I, so the two of us quietly went back to our bedroom and sat down on the bed together.

I pulled her into a hug and give her a big kiss then asked quietly, "What do you think? Was it a good party?"

"Yeah," she whispered back, before returning the kiss. "It was. Thanks Kaylee."

I smiled, "I'm glad you liked it. I love you Cass."

"I love you too," she responded, followed by another kiss.