"Why do you like me?"

"Hmm?" Octavia looked at her girlfriend over her shoulder, her tiny rectangular spectacles sliding onto the tip of her nose, the book resting in her hands peacefully. "What did you say, dear?" She fluttered her eyelashes at the sexy spinner, placing the book cover up on the floor next to the bed Vinyl was lying on, between the bed and the simple wooden chair she'd brought from the kitchen to make room for some tranquil reading.

"Wow." Vinyl blushed, her eyes inspecting the cellist's face greedily. "You... You look very very, um, spectacular in glasses," she mumbled, her mind conjuring images of the cellist in latex, licking her lips with those mind-provoking glasses on her nose, that sultry grin of hers dominating that sexy face, those brows wiggling up and down... God, she's so hot...

Octavia really wanted to facepalm at the 'spectacular' pun that she seemed to have spotted in Vinyl's words, but the cute DJ was just too much to bear. Getting up from the chair slowly, making sure to wave her hips slightly as she approached the bed in a couple steps, leaning over the reddening form  of the spinner. "Oh, I bet you look spectacular without clothes~" she cooed, planting small kisses all over Vinyl's neck.

The DJ began to pant, swear forming on her brow, a sudden desire to take off her clothes overwhelming her. You need a glass of water, angel Vinyl suggested as the raven-haired cellist made her way to Vinyl's shoulder, nibbling at it as she set aside the T-shirt with her right hand, naking the skin up till Vinyl's left breast. You need to take off your clothes and enjoy the wonderful sex Octavia is going to gift you with, devil Vinyl observed. The woman felt a terrible urge to agree to both proposals, even though the very concept of having sex with Octavia scared her to no avail. Why? "I..." Oh my God she's kissing that spot there near my boob... "I just wondered... Why do you like me?" Vinyl reiterated finally, making Octavia stop her advances, much to her relief and also some upsetting feeling in her gut and chest.

The cellist shifted a little, lying next to her spinner with a sigh, laying her hand over Vinyl's soft breasts. "Why?" she asked aloud, shifting even closer to the flushed woman, her nose all but pressing into Vinyl's armpit. "Well, for one, you're quite a looker. Those eyes..." Octavia smiled, looking into the fiery pools of red. "That face..." She ran a finger about Vinyl's rosy-pink cheek, brushing it gently. "Those breasts..." Octavia squeezed Vinyl's right breast a little, eliciting a half-moan of pleasure, a half-squeak of surprise from the woman. "That voice..." The raven-haired woman brought her lips against Vinyl's neck, the source of that beautiful voice that she had. "That blush..." she observed as Vinyl blush only deepened, the magenta eyes still gazing into the lavender eyes of the cellist. "Do I need more?" Octavia took a deep breath. "You also smell really good." She smiled. Like strawberry and cinnamon.

"Uh." Vinyl tried to scratch the back of her head, but did not want to leave her cellist's loving embrace. So, instead, she only inched closer to Octavia, feeling her breast rise and fall and rise and fall, again and again, under the cellist's tender hand. "I... I dunno what to say," she admitted in embarrassment, finally breaking eye contact with her girlfriend. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Vinyl chided herself angrily as she clasped the fingers of her hands into firm fists for a moment.

"Well," Octavia smirked, planting one more peck on the rosy neck, "you could start by saying why you like me, for a change." Octavia ran her fingers through the DJ's spiky hair. I don't recall her using gel... Is it all natural? "What does a well-to-do, sexy disk spinner find in a simple hard-drinking, lazy cellist like me?" she mocked, much to Vinyl's disapproval.

"You are not like that," Vinyl immediately countered with a frown. "You are kind, and caring, and very beautiful." The DJ smiled. "Your fingers are so tender when they touch me. Your voice is beautiful when you whisper sweet things into my ear." The bashful smile turned into an equally bashful grin. "And I, um, I, eh, I really really like your ass," Vinyl ended in a whisper, averting her eyes to the wall shyly. Even the wallpaper is lavender, she observed with some surprise.

"Oh?" Octavia cooed in a sultry tone, running her lips across Vinyl's cheek in minute pecks. "So you really like my ass, don't you?" Vinyl felt it difficult to breathe as Octavia's hand grabbed her thigh fiercely, making its way straight to... Oh no. Oh my God. Oh my God. Vinyl's mind seemed to have stopped focusing on any parts of her body other than the one the cellist was approaching, slowly but steadily. "Maybe I should expose it enough?" Octavia whispered into Vinyl's ear, her words dripping onto the spinner's eardrums hotly. "You can't believe how horny you're making me feel~"

"Octavia, I-" Vinyl shifted away from the cellist, pushing her away gently. Damn, can't I gather my damn courage? "I'm really not ready for... um, for this. Yet," she added hastingly. You'd better be, or she'll leave you for someone who can cater to her desires, devil Vinyl hissed angrily into Vinyl's ear. Angel Vinyl had to nod in silent, and unwanted, agreement.

"Sorry, dear." Octavia kissed the spinner's forehead with aching softness. "I'm just teasing. I won't do anything to you unless you allow me to." Pretty sure you can't end a sentence with 'to', the cellist mused off-handedly.

Vinyl warmed up to the raven-haired woman immediately, running her hand along Octavia's back and even touching her perfect ass a little. "It's so nice. You call me 'dear'." A feeling of sheer warmth filled the spinner's chest at the thought.

"Well," Octavia smiled, "you wouldn't want me to call you 'Vincenza', would you?" Hehe. 'Vincenza'. That's rather... cute.

"No." Vinyl's smile wavered slightly. No. Anything but that. "My... My dad called me Vincenza," she said, staring at the wall, as if she were alone in the room, recalling shadows of the past. "When he wanted to shout at me for not practicing the piano. Or just because."

You... play the piano? Octavia wanted to ask, amused, but instead grabbed the spinner in a warm hug, nuzzling against her cheek. "Do you want to talk about it?" Even though I'm not sure I can help you... Octavia sighed mentally. But I can try.

"No." Vinyl shook her head, curling up in her cellist's embrace. "I want to discuss nicknames." She smiled, thinking of what she should call her girlfriend. Maybe 'darling'? 'Honey'? 'Sweetie'?

"Pet names," Octavia corrected with a smile, her hands running up and down Vinyl's spine, massaging the tension out of her muscles. "I could call you Vinny? Or Vina?" Good name, though. Octavia brushed the tip of her nose against Vinyl's cheek playfully, prompting the spinner to laugh in stitches.

Vinyl chuckled, the tickling from Octavia's nose travelling from her cheek to the inside of her mouth, proving inaccessible. "Like Vina Apsara? From The Ground Beneath Her Feet?" Seeing a look of surprise on Octavia's face, Vinyl merely smiled. "I've read the book too, you know. It's one of my favourites. And I really like 'dear'," she added, running her fingers across Octavia's ass boldly, surprising both the cellist and herself. Good job, Vinyl congratulated herself, noticing with guilt how good it felt to give that nice, tight ass a firm squeeze. Mmm, I should try to do it more often. If I don't faint from blushing. "What should I call you, though?"

Octavia hmphed, rubbing her chin with one hand, while the other tickled Vinyl's body all around, running across the fields of the spinner's back, exploring the hills of her ass, questing the valley of her neck with vigour and longing. "Well, how about something...  short? Like 'Tavi' - or, maybe, 'Octy'?" the cellist suggested, not entirely believing herself. Wow. Vinyl was the first one whom she'd ever allowed to call her anything other than her full name. Or you could call me Tavi all the time and call me Octy when we're being naughty~

"I like 'Tavi'," Vinyl replied slowly, rolling the word on her tongue. Tavi. Taaaavi. Taaaviiii. "Octy,  though..." She frowned. "It sounds like a small octopus. I don't like octopuses." Just pussies. Eh. Very very bad pun.

"Octopi," Octavia corrected immediately, by force of habit, as she rolled over, smiling at the decision. "Tavi.  That sounds very very nice. I like it." The woman gifted her girlfriend with a soft peck on the neck. Vinyl purred, luxuriating in the tender touch of her cellist, eager to bathe in the calmness as long as possible. Maybe take a break from the recording, the DJ mused, watching her girlfriend tug at her belly, tickling and pinching it in a peculiar form of massage. Or go on hiatus entirely. No gigs, no recordings. Take a honeymoon and spend it on a beach somewhere.

"Tavi," Vinyl said, savouring the new pet name delightfully, "how do you feel about going to the seaside for a few weeks?" The suggestion hung in the fresh-air-supported atmosphere of the room as the cellist mulled over her reply, gazing at the ceiling, her eyes fixed on the dusty white of the plaster.

"I'd love to..." Octavia began with a slight frown, laying her hand over Vinyl's belly peacefully. "But I don't think I can afford it." Aaand I've just admitted to my girlfriend that I'm poor. Good job, Tavi. Good job. "I mean, if I save up and sell some unnecessary-"

"Octavia!" Vinyl gasped, her hand clasping over the cellist's lips, closing Octavia's mouth before the raven-haired woman could finish her phrase. "Don't say that! I'll pay for everything, and don't you dare think about money!" If Vinyl could stomp her foot against the floor, she would do so; but, for now, she merely raised her leg and dropped it back onto the pristine sheets of the bed. Seeing a small, clever smile on the cellist's face, Vinyl exhaled and blushed a little at her tiny outburst. "Uh. I mean... I'd just really love to pay for... my girlfriend." The word tasted like sweet honey on her lips, soothing her mouth and tongue, which was aching to crawl into the cellist's mouth already.

Octavia giggled, crushing the DJ in a tight embrace, her spectacles falling off onto the edge of the rather narrow bed. "Vinyl, dear, of course I'd love to go with you. And you know what?" Vinyl blinked in lack of understanding, prompting the cellist to continue. "You're becoming bolder. More confident." Octavia leant over the spinner's ear. "I like it." But, if I'm going to go on holiday with Vinyl... "And I have to make a phone call," she added suddenly, rolling over and getting off the bed in a near-jump, leaving Vinyl to pout on the bed. "Don't be grumpy." The cellist smiled at her girlfriend, who had rolled over and was watching the cellist with begging eyes. "I'll be back in a moment. I just need to make an important call. And, before that..." Octavia wiggled her brow, a sly idea surfacing in her mind. "I'm going to take a shower~" she cooed, watching Vinyl turn pink in delight. "Would you like to join me?"

"I-I-I!" Vinyl worked her mouth, suddenly feeling very faint, her heart leaping to her throat, a haunting image of a sexy, naked Octavia washing her body floating before her eyes. Her face burned with heat, her lips felt dry, and her tongue ached to say yes.

Octavia chimed with soft, jingling laughter, swishing her sexy ass around as she turned round, her feet facing away from the bed. "Oh." She stopped, taking a sultry glance over her shoulder. "You know, I think I'll make a call first, and take a shower later." She winked. "You know, to give you some time to consider that."

With that, Octavia left the room, laughing softly, as a very blushing Vinyl watched her walk away.

"Octavia?"

The cellist paused at  Frederic's voice in the speaker, her eyes lingering on the now-cool oven before taking a swift glance about the empty kitchen. "Hi, Freddie," Octavia greeted her friend with a sigh, the weight of what she was going to say pressing her into the floor with the stool she was sitting on, swirling about nervously, thankful for the lack of a hard wooden back on the tiny piece of furniture, barely able to contain her posterior. "How're you?" A stupid, mundane question. And yet, she could not bring herself to bring up the issue at once.

"Fine, fine. How're you, though?" Octavia could make out hints of unhidden concern in Frederic's tone. "How's the whole recording thing going on?" Yes. Because that's the only thing you care about.

Octavia took the phone with her left hand, wiping off the nervous sweat off the right one with a rose-coloured napkin. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Kinda. The cellist stood up and went to get the kettle, shifting from foot to foot uneasily.

"What's the matter? Wait, don't tell me." Octavia poured herself a cup of tea quietly. "She's refusing to pay, is that it? Well, I'll just call Neon and tell him to suck-"

"That's not it," Octavia interrupted, taking a sip of her tea. With a sigh, she took her place on the stool once again. "It's just that... Well, on one hand, we haven't recorded the song yet." A grunt followed Frederic's heavy silence. "On the other hand, we're taking our time because... Well, now Vinyl and I are more than just co-workers." Co-musicians. Whatever.

"So... What you mean is that you're friends now?" There was a certain sad, pathetic hope in Frederic's voice that made Octavia frown before dropping the bomb on him.

"We're dating, Freddie." A thick silence followed the statement, prompting the woman to carry on: "I know it must be hard for you because you and I used to date-"

"No." Frederic's voice was surprisingly calm. "I'll manage." He hasn't fully realised it yet, Octavia thought. It hasn't sunk in yet. "So. What about the ensemble?"

What about it? "That's the second piece of news. I... I have to go on hiatus. I won't be able to be part of the ensemble for a while." Octavia winced, having taken an especially big gulp. "I... I have my reasons."

After a few seconds of silence, Frederic sighed loudly. "Listen, Octavia. Whatever the circumstances, you're always welcome back in the ensemble. But that doesn't mean I'll pay you for the concerts you do not attend. I'll also expect my share after you two lovebirds have recorded the song."

Octavia smiled, her heart fluttering at the idea that Frederic might not be heartbroken after all. "Of course, you capitalist shark. I understand."

With another pause, Frederic wrapped up the talk with a "Take care, Octavia. Keep in touch." The man chuckled. "You still have friends, you know. Don't forget that."

"I won't," Octavia promised, and hung up without a heavy heart that she'd expected to have after the talk. So far... The cellist stood up, guiding her feet out of the tiny kitchen, with some sober merriment, eager to cuddle with her girlfriend, with whom, she was sure, she was going to have a wonderful, beautiful, peaceful holiday. For now, though...

Octavia entered the bedroom, only to see Vinyl reading her book with a look of ill-concealed astonishment on her surprisingly not-reddening face. And here I was, hoping she'd be rubbing herself to this book so I can... "Enjoying the book, Vinyl?" the cellist wondered in a sweet tone, crawling up to the now pleasantly-reddening DJ,

"Uh." Vinyl sweated profusely, practically throwing the book away. "It's... interesting."

"It's a steamy romance novel," Octavia observed with a casual smile. "Kind of porn." Hehe, that's totally going to make her whimper.

"I... Um, I've watched a lot of porn," Vinyl admitted in barely a whisper, looking away, her whole face burning hot. But, after all, Octavia was her girlfriend, and girlfriends shared certain things. I also need to be more straightforward. Octavia likes it.

The cellist raised her brow. Wow. That's very... courageous of her to admit. "So have I." Octavia smiled, remembering the phone talk. "I also have news. I've left my ensemble. At least for a while."

"What?" Vinyl jerked up in bed. "Why?" Don't tell me-

"I want to devote to you as much time as I can." Octavia gifted her spinner with a loving smile and a breezy kiss on the cheek. "It's my choice entirely. Now," she said, having no desire to have an argument, "I'm going to get that shower." I only wish you'd come with me so I could ravage you like-

"Can I come with you?"

Octavia blinked, unable to believe her ears. The cellist turned round, only to observe the spinner's shying form, rosy cheeks and red, bold, determined eyes. If Vinyl had said something like "I'm coming with you," Octavia would have been sure she'd misheard, but... "Of course, Vinyl." Octavia smiled. Good choice. "I... I'm pleasantly surprised by your decision."

"Tavi," Vinyl said pointedly, looking at her cellist with some aching uncertainty in her eyes. "That... That doesn't mean I'm ready for sex. Just... Taking a shower with you. Maybe sleeping naked." A little butt-touching, too. "Not sex." The devil on Vinyl's shoulder facepalmed, shaking her head at such idiocy. The little angel gave Vinyl a small cheer of celibacy.

Octavia sighed. You do realise that's practically sex, right? "Okay, Vinyl. Of course." Jesus, that will be hard. So hard. "Shall we?"  The cellist motioned in the direction of the bathroom, with Vinyl getting up from the bed with a smile.

"Yes." Vinyl smiled. "We shall."

"Mmmhm, lower, Tavi, lower~"

Octavia obeyed eagerly, running her soapy hands all about the lower half of Vinyl's back, enjoying immensely the naked form of the spinner, still unable to believe that, for about fifteen minutes already, she had been in the shower cubicle with a very naked and by no means blushing Vinyl. Her skilful fingers were now caressing the DJ's ass, squeezing the buttcheeks roughly, a heated desire waking up inside the raven-haired woman. If I masturbate just a little, that won't be embarrassing, right?

Unable to restrain herself, Octavia slipped one finger right into Vinyl's pussy, feeling a passionate jolt of desire rush through her whole body, making her moan even without touching herself.

Vinyl moaned too, but reflexively turned around, freeing herself from the intruding finger. Her eyes were wide with both fear and desire. Did she just- What to do? "Tavi, I... Please, don't." The spinner felt herself on the verge of crying. Why can't I just- argh!

"Sorry." Octavia blushed. What was I thinking? God help me, I hope she's not thinking of dumping me because of my ridiculous- "I didn't mean to... That is, I..." Damn.

"Let's just get dried up, okay?" Vinyl suggested with a sour smile.

"Sure." Octavia nodded, cursing herself violently. "Sure." Next Chapter: 3. Getting Ready Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 15 Minutes