Jane lay on her bed, staring up at her ceiling and clutching a much-worn piece of paper in her hand. She tried to will herself to move. It was 11 a.m. after all. She should do something, go somewhere. Her mind skirted the idea of going to the place printed on the paper and then shied away from the thought. She remained lying there, feeling drained, directionless, and useless. The last month had been a rollercoaster for her. That night babysitting Popi and Rachel, which had been as unforgettable as they’d promised. The breakup with Kailee. Her decision not just to stop babysitting but to “change” for the better. The news of Jill’s “death” and Jane’s subsequent denial and then acceptance of it. Seeing Melissa, the funeral, the call from Jill, that weird encounter in the bathroom. . .She felt so incredibly drained. The last few weeks of school were nothing more than a vague smear in her memory now. With the death of a close family member and her impeccable grades, she’d gotten out of exams completely.
        Now, the first Saturday of summer, she just lay there feeling like there was nothing left. She’d used every bit of herself up dealing with all those other things and now she couldn’t even summon up enough of herself to get up out of bed.
        She clenched her eyes shut, wishing she’d thought of a different analogy of how she felt, because her body insisted that if she was empty, getting ‘filled up’ would be any easy solution to the problem. Finding something physical to distract herself would be all too easy. She’d had almost two dozen offers to babysit since the funeral. She’d had the same conversation with a dozen hopeful parents, some of them twice. No, she wasn’t babysitting anymore. No, it wasn’t about the money. No, paying her more wouldn’t change her mind. No, she didn’t feel like explaining why. And in the back of her mind: No, I won’t let my dangerous vice seduce me all over again. She squeezed her eyes tighter and pushed her cell phone away a little, pretending like she didn’t want to look over those pictures of Popi again. 
        There was a tentative knock at her door.
        “Jane?”
        “Go away, mom.”
        “Jane, it’s nearly 11:30, do you want me to drive y--” Jane’s mom pushed open the door and stopped midsentence as she saw that Jane hadn’t even gotten out of bed, much less gotten herself ready for the audition she’d promised to go to.
        “Jane Amelia Doe,” her mother said scathingly, marching across the room. “I know you’re upset about your sister,” she continued, tearing the comforter away from Jane’s bed. Jane protested, pulling her t-shirt down over her thighs, blushing deeply at her sudden loss of modesty. Her mother didn’t even pause or notice. Instead, she grabbed Jane by the ear and Jane yelped in protest and pain. “But I will not have you moping around this house all summer and throwing away the perfectly good opportunities God has lined up for you just when you need them the most!”
        Her mother stomped a hoof to emphasize her point and still hadn’t let go of Jane’s ear. Jane tried to twist away, crying out in real pain, but her mother’s grip was iron. She hadn’t treated her this way since she’d been ten! Jane’s protests went unheard and before she knew it, she found herself dragged into the bathroom that joined her bedroom and Jill’s former one. Her mother didn’t even pause, forcing Jane to trip over the edge of the tub as she was dragged into it. She squealed in surprise as her mother turned the water on right away, drenching her in cold water and soaking through the shirt she’d slept in in seconds.
        “I expect you downstairs and ready to get in the car by noon, or so help me young lady, I’m calling the assembly line I worked at to pay my way through college and getting you a job instead, do you understand me?”
        Jane hung her head, thoroughly defeated. “Yes, ma’am.”
        Her mother nodded, satisfied. “Good. I’ll find your copy of Dido so you can refresh your memory in the car.”
        Jane pulled the shower curtain shut and peeled off her soaked shirt, draping it over the curtain rod with a wet slap. She let the cold water hit her face for a breath or two, not bothering to change the water to warm. A cold shower would be just the thing. She hoped.
        “It’s a musical, mom. I’m supposed to have a song, not a monologue.”
        “Hmm,” her mother said grimly, barely audible over the sound of the water. “I hope you like ‘Over the Rainbow,’ then. It’s all I’ve got sheet music for.” Then she shut the door and Jane sighed, forehead thumping against the wall of the shower as she both cursed and blessed her mother in the same breath.

        ***

        Jane sighed, head slumped against her knees as she sat with her back to the stucco wall, waiting for her mom to show up and end this miserable experience she could only loosely define as an ‘audition.’ As if being late hadn’t been bad enough, she was pretty sure she was at least the sixth teenage girl who had sung ‘Over the Rainbow’ that day. And at least a dozen others had shown up with better material, better prepared, better looking. The entire casting call had been lousy with girls who were basically better versions of herself, all competing for two measly roles. She tried to remember why she’d thought this was a good idea, why this had seemed, at some point, like something she actually wanted to do, and she couldn’t come up with anything.
        The door to the building opened nearby, the cool air of the interior brushing past her. She suppressed a groan. She really didn’t want to face anyone from the theater company, much less be forced to make small talk. And she hated that her mother wasn’t here to pick her up yet. They would be forced to conclude that being late was hereditary.
        “Hey,” said a light voice, confirming that she was indeed inside her worst nightmare. She should lift her head, smile like nothing was wrong, and greet the person back. Instead, she grunted.
        To her surprise, the voice just chuckled and the person dropped down beside her, sitting with their own back against the uncomfortable wall.
        “It doesn’t get better,” the voice said.
        Jane’s ears swiveled toward the other person. Now she wanted to lift her head up and look this person in the eye. Despite herself, she was growing curious. Only stubbornness kept her head pressed against her knees. “What?” she asked, despite herself.
        “Auditioning. You always hear shit like, oh just go out and do one, and it’ll get easier to do the next one. You’ll get better, you’ll feel better, you won’t be afraid. But it’s all bullshit. You feel like shit after each one. Every single one is scary and makes you feel utterly incompetent and worthless. It just doesn’t get better. I was just warning you, that’s all.”
        Jane lifted her head. The person who’d joined her was a young fennec she recognized from the table of people watching her audition. He--or she?--looked younger than Jane, maybe fourteen or so, and the false height granted by his/her oversized ears tried but didn’t succeed in making him/her look any older.
        The fennec had been one of three people at the judges’ table, but hadn’t spoken. Only the director had said anything at all during her audition, but the fennec had been the one to catch Jane’s eye, the riddle of trying to imagine his or her gender generating thoughts to distract her from her nerves and anxiety. The fennec was cute, disarmingly so, with sharp features that could easily be ‘handsome’ on a boy or ‘pretty’ on a girl, but neither dashing nor beautiful on either, more cute than any other descriptor Jane could come up with. 
        Jane felt a warmth that had nothing to do with the unrelenting sun radiating off the stucco wall behind her. She blushed faintly and looked away, looked down the street as if searching for her mother among the oncoming cars. She tried not to let herself imagine discovering the fennec’s actual gender. Vaguely, she wondered which one she was hoping for. She’d never really developed a preference for male or female, not really. Babysitting had given her plenty of experience with both, and of course, so had dating Kailee in a way. While the other girls in her grade whispered about who was gay and who was bi and who was secretly packing something extra under their skirt, Jane instead wondered what the point was of limiting the people you could be intimate with.
        “Leigh,” said the voice beside her, which she’d almost managed to forget about. Jane managed not to jump in surprise. Leigh? Lee? The name did very little to solve the riddle. Jane licked her lips and turned back toward the unexpected and no longer unwanted company.
        “Jane,” she said, just before remembering that the fennec already knew her name from the audition. She managed not groan or go back to hiding her face in her knees. The fennec just smiled and didn’t even say ‘Yeah, I know.’
        “Jane Doe, right? Your parents must think they’re real comedians, naming you that.”
        Jane laughed softly. She’d heard comments like that a million times, of course, but she wanted to be polite. She wanted this fennec to like her. She tried to ignore the fluttering in her belly as she gave the same reply she gave to everyone else. “You should hear my sister’s name. So, you’re part of the theater company, right?”
        “Sort of. I’m Peter Pan.”
        “Oh,” Jane said, genuinely surprised. But then, that made sense. The fennec had the right kind of svelte frame for the part. It was only his/her age that surprised her. The fennec seemed too young to land the lead in a company like this. The Roosevelt City Drama Company, or RCDC, wasn’t the biggest theater troupe in town, but they were a bigger deal than just your average community theater. 
        “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Peter,” Jane said jokingly. “I wish I could tell you I was Wendy, but I’m pretty sure I’m not.”
        Leigh smiled sadly. “You’re not,” the fennec agreed.
        Jane groaned in dismay and let her forehead thump against her knees again. She stiffened a little in surprise as Leigh gently laid a comforting hand on her back.
        “You’re. . .you’re not even TigerLily,” Leigh continued. Jane practically sobbed.
        “Why would you say that!? You’re supposed to be making me feel better!” she cried out, half sobbing, half laughing.
        “I am!” Leigh protested. “Look, would you rather know now, or spend a week waiting for a call-back that just never comes? RCDC is a real bitch about that. When you don’t get the part, they just never call you. No ‘thanks but no thanks’ or ‘better luck next time’ just a week of nothing but growing dismay. So I thought you should know.”
        Jane sniffed. She focused on the soft touch on her back. She wondered at the enigma of the fennec beside her. So young but so self-assured. And obviously a more-than-just-competent actor, too. Jane tried to imagine a scenario where she would’ve been confident enough to lay her hand on a girl’s back in this same situation, and she considered herself pretty mature and self-assured. She couldn’t imagine herself doing it. The fennec’s casual confidence without arrogance just made Jane more attracted. She leaned toward Leigh slightly and felt that fluttering sensation intensify as the soft hand moved until Leigh had her arm around her. Something in the back of her head angrily protested that getting involved with younger furs was exactly the sort of thing she’d just sworn off not but a few weeks ago. She ignored the voice.
        “Oh,” Jane said, sniffing again. “Well, thanks, I guess. I mean. . .can you tell me if Farrah got one of the parts?” Jane tried to keep the acid out of her voice as she thought of the freshman cheerleader landing a role when she didn’t. She could still hear the bitchy little trollop belting out ‘Paris Makes Me Horny’ in a ‘costume’ that basically amounted to a negligee, boa, and heels that Jane could scarcely believe her mother had let her out of the car in. 
        Leigh barked a laugh, and Jane let out tension in her shoulders she hadn’t realized had built up. “Oh, no. Oh god, no. I don’t know what she was thinking with that audition, but no. I mean, Dom’s gay, and Maria’s straight, so she was kinda barking up the wrong tree.”
        “What about you?” Jane couldn’t stop herself from asking. She managed to keep her tone light, trying to mask her curiosity in teasing.
        “Me? She’s a little young for me, even if I did have a real say in the casting decisions, which I don’t.”
        Jane blinked, cocking her head curiously. “Young for you?” she asked, confused. She had Leigh pegged at just about the same age as Farrah. Perhaps a little younger, if anything. Leigh looked equally confused, then laughed.
        “I’m nineteen,” the fennec said. “And because you’ve been wondering since you first laid eyes on me, but have been too polite to ask, I’m a herm. I prefer ‘she’ and ‘her’ but you can use ‘shi’ and ‘hir’ if it floats your boat.”
        “Oh,” Jane said stupidly. Then, with more emphasis, she whispered, “Oh!”
        A few thoughts flitted through her mind. Leigh was older than her, not younger. Almost old enough to be inappropriate, but not quite. Leigh was a herm. Fennecs have knots. Leigh looked very, very young. Leigh was very, very close to her right now. 
        “Hey,” Leigh said softly, and Jane jerked a little in surprise, looking up at her. Their noses were nearly touching. Jane barely breathed. Meanwhile, Leigh looked calm and confident as ever. She was grinning. Jane parted her lips unconsciously, hoping for a kiss, expecting a kiss, desperate to be kissed. 
        “I think that’s your ride,” Leigh whispered instead.
        “What?” Jane asked, confused as the moment shattered around her. She was having trouble interpreting what Leigh said, since it wasn’t a kiss. Then her ears swiveled at the sound of tires approaching, crunching over loose rocks on the parking lot. Jane jumped upright with a squeal of alarm. Leigh laughed beside her and stood up more slowly. The fennec strolled away casually and Jane heard the beep of a car being remotely unlocked. Of course. Leigh hadn’t been waiting for a ride with her. She was more than old enough to be driving herself. Jane warmed as she realized that meant Leigh had been there with her because she wanted to. Then the bottom dropped out of her gut as she realized she hadn’t gotten the fox’s number. She turned urgently to shout something, but the Leigh was already in the car, brake lights lit as she buckled her seatbelt. Jane’s mom rolled down the window.
        “Sorry I’m late. Coming?”
        “Huh? Oh,” Jane said stupidly. Everything seemed to be coming out of her mouth stupidly. She looked back and forth between Leigh’s car and her mother. Sighing, he got into her mom’s car and buckled.
        “So, how’d it go?” her mom asked cheerfully, and Jane blessed the fact that she didn’t mention how close she and Leigh had been sitting.
        “I didn’t get the part. I didn’t get any parts.”
        “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. They told you already?”
        “It sounded like they’d already made a decision. Usually they just let you wait and wait, but I guess I got special treatment.”
        “It looked like you were about to get some special treatment,” Jane’s mom said under her breath, but deliberately loud enough for Jane to hear.
        “Mom!” Jane squeaked, blushing hard. Jane’s mom laughed delightedly.
        “Oh come on! I’m allowed to tease! Give me this one thing in my life! You were practically panting for his tongue down your throat.”
        “MOM!”

        ***

        By Tuesday night, Jane was telling herself that she’d forgotten all about her terrible audition and the fennec who never quite kissed her. And besides, that audition, as terrible as it had been, had been just the thing to kick her butt into gear. Now, she was busy enough that she could pretend the audition--and Leigh--didn’t bother her. At some point, Jill was going to need more money even if she didn’t want to admit it, and Jane had decided to find a job to help her sister out however she could. She was also spending a lot of her free time trying to figure out how she’d explain this whole thing to her mother when the time came. She didn’t expect that time to be soon, but she knew it would come.
        Luckily, babysitting brats for Roosevelt City’s upper-middle class had been a better networking tool than she could have imagined. It seemed like the benefits of that job, no matter how guilty she felt about it, kept presenting themselves, tempting her to just go back to her old habits. It would certainly be a relief, and relief was something she definitely needed right now. Instead, a couple of phone calls to parents that felt like they owed her for taming their children had landed her a part-time job overnight. Filing papers and mailing snail-mail bills to therapy patients wasn’t glamorous, but it would give her a couple hundred bucks to send to Jill each month. She was trying to decide what combination of clothes would be the best mix of professional and comfortable for her first day tomorrow when her phone buzzed.
        [Unknown: Hey]
        Jane frowned and was in the middle of typing ‘Who is this?’ when the second text came through.
        [Unknown: Oh sorry. This is Leigh. From RCDC? I got your number off your application form.]
        [Jane: Isn’t that against some kind of privacy clause?] 
        Jane grinned as she typed it, then saved the number to her contacts. She hoped Leigh read it as teasing instead of accusatory. She tried to ignore the way that her body tensed excitedly at the thought of Leigh skulking around for her number. Some people might consider that sort of behavior stalker-ish. To her, it seemed romantic. But that probably had something to do with how much she still wanted the fennec to kiss her.
        [Leigh: Totally not. It says right there on the form we can use your info for whatever we want. So I signed you up for a newsletter and sold your info to China too.]
        [Leigh: Anyway I kinda felt like I owed you an explanation.]
        [Jane: Yeah? For what?]
        There was a long break. Jane’s belly clenched and she worried she’d been too confrontational. Frowning, she licked her lips, nervous. She was trying to type something to make herself sound less stupid or accusatory or whatever when her phone finally buzzed again.
        [Leigh: Not kissing you. I kinda felt like you wanted me to kiss you.]
        [Jane: ... Maybe.]
        There was another long break with no reply and Jane cried out in frustration. She threw her cellphone on the bed, then threw herself on the bed. Nervous and frustrated, and also angry at herself for letting her stomach get all tied up in knots, she kicked the clothes she had laid out off the bed with her hooves. Then she stood, grunted, and paced. From downstairs, her mother called her down to dinner, but she decided she wasn’t hungry and sent her mom a text telling her so. Instead of going down to eat, she peeled out of her jeans and took off her bra, pulling on a comfortable, oversized tee rendered impossibly soft by too many washings then flopped back onto her bed, staring defiantly at her unresponsive phone. Finally, it buzzed.
        [Leigh: I just got out of a relationship. And I feel like an asshole for the way I did it. She needed me to be there for her and I just couldn’t find a place where I was okay with who she was and so I just left when she needed me. And so there you were sending all the signs that you wanted me to kiss you but I didn’t know if you wanted ME to kiss you or you just wanted to be kissed because you were vulnerable and upset about the audition. We were sitting there and I just realized that maybe I was still being that same shitty selfish person who left her.]
        Jane read the text over twice, trying to decide how she felt about it. On the one hand, she was floored by the fennec’s honesty and self-awareness. On the other hand, that other relationship seemed like a trainwreck from what little Leigh had written about it. Was that the sort of person Jane wanted to get involved with? Jane chided herself. She didn’t exactly have a better track record than Leigh did. Was it fair to judge?
        [Jane: Wow. That’s really honest. And a little scary. And honestly I just got out of a shitty relationship too. One where we just used each other. It was physical. And I did want you to kiss me. You you. But I don’t want a physical thing. I want a real thing. With feelings and talking and being honest. If that’s something you can do then I still want you to kiss me.]
        Jane read her own text over twice as well, her cheeks flushing deeper each time she read it. She hit send. The reply back was almost immediate.
        [Leigh: That was so unfair you took forever to write that and I was dying over here.]
        [Jane: You did it to me first!]
        [Leigh: You wanna go on a date?]
        [Jane: Will you kiss me?]
        [Leigh: Try and stop me!]
        [Leigh: Oh god that sounded rapey I’m sorry. I meant to just say yes!]
        [Jane: Pick me up tomorrow at six. And if you could wear something that doesn’t make it look like I’m sucking face with a twelve year old, that would be cool.]
        [Leigh: There goes my plan for our first date to include a police interrogation and handcuffs.]
        [Jane: We could get arrested for other things if you want.]
        [Leigh: Public indecency?]
        [Jane: And to save the cops the trouble I could bring my own handcuffs!]
        When Jane finally checked the time much later, it was nearly three in the morning and there hadn’t been another long pause in the conversation since those first confessions. Fingers soaked and panties long since discarded, she still ached for the sort of release that masturbation just couldn’t quite achieve. The conversation hadn’t even gotten any more explicit than her comment about the handcuffs. It hadn’t been like talking to Kailee. There had been no dirty pictures sent, no sexting. Just talking, and innocent talking at that, and somehow it had been so damn arousing the whole time that Jane ached for more. She turned her head, eying the drawer that concealed all the toys she’d ended up buying during her babysitting career. But, she hadn’t felt truly satisfied since that night with Rachel and Popi, and she knew nothing she could do to herself would really scratch that itch. So instead of spending a half hour or more in futile masturbation, she slipped under her damp comforter and tried to salvage whatever sleep she could before her first day of work tomorrow.

        ***

        Jane had never imagined something she’d so been looking forward to could seem so much like torture. She swore she’d felt excited and energetic about the new job just the day before, but now the menial tasks seemed like some sort of punishment as the hours until her date with Leigh stretched longer and longer. Her belly and inner thighs felt like they were glowing with warmth and her nethers were rubbed raw from the hours she’d spent idly petting herself during her texting last night. Worse, she felt like the whole office could smell her even though no one so much as twitched a nose in her direction the entire day. Sealing envelopes was a good way to keep her hands busy, but it kept her mind idle, and she ended up daydreaming all too often about how thick Leigh’s knot might be, or how slutty she’d seem if she asked to skip the date and just fuck like bunnies in the backseat of Leigh’s car. She kept reminding herself that she wanted an emotional relationship with Leigh, a real connection with someone, and her body kept responding with the reminder that an emotional relationship and a physical relationship were far from mutually exclusive.
        Eventually, she made it to the end of the workday at five and she managed not to bolt out the door but rather leave with some semblance of decorum. She hoped she hadn’t come off as too scatterbrained or ditzy to her new boss. She was going to have to work extra hard to seem professional later in the week. But that was later, not now. What mattered now was her date. Finally.
        When she pedaled into the driveway on her bike, Leigh’s pale blue Honda was already parked by the curb, empty. She quietly cursed the fennec’s unexpected punctuality. She’d hoped she’d have time for a change of clothes and maybe even a shower. As she came to the door, the words excusing herself up to her room for a quick change were already poised on her lips, but they were forgotten as she entered her house to find Leigh and her mother talking in the front hall. Her mother wore a perplexed look, vexed even, and it wasn’t hard to tell why. Jane wasn’t sure whether to groan in dismay or collapse laughing. Leigh’s hair, which had been pinned up so she could pass as a boy when they’d met, came over her shoulders in two golden pigtail braids, and she wore a thin, summery sundress that would’ve been at home in any preteen’s Sunday wardrobe, complete with frilly lace at the shoulders and hem with a bow in the back. Rather than dressing so she looked old enough to be dating Jane, she’d done the exact opposite and emphasized every youthful feature she could exploit. Where Jane had guessed her age at maybe fourteen over the weekend, now she looked twelve, and could’ve passed for ten if her chest had just a little less curve to it. The only thing out of place in the costume was bright red lipstick, which gave her immature appearance a risqué slant that made Jane’s heart race.
        “Leigh!” Jane squeaked in dismay, cheeks flushing. 
        “Hi Jane!” Leigh piped, and Jane wondered in disbelief if she was deliberately pitching her voice higher to seem younger. “I was just explaining to your mom that I really do have a driver’s license.” 
        Jane’s mom looked up at her and quirked an eyebrow. There were a dozen or more questions in that simple little motion. Jane blushed even deeper.
        “C’mon,” Jane said, grabbing Leigh by the wrist. “We’llbelateforthemovie.”
        Jane all but dragged Leigh out of the house, the smaller girl laughing and waving cheerfully to her mother. “It was lovely to meet you Miss Doe!” she called out in her slightly-higher pitched voice. Jane realized they must look just like an older sister dragging her baby sister along and blushed deeply at the image, trying to stop herself from running even faster. Leigh was all but doubled over with laughter when they were inside the car.
        “Oh, fuck,” Leigh said, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry!”
        “Sorry?! I can’t even imagine what my mom must be thinking!” Jane cried out, putting her head in her hands as Leigh started the car.
        “It was supposed to be a joke. I wanted to tease you for what you said about how I should dress tonight. But I guess I got here early and your mom was waving me inside. She’s so sweet, she said she didn’t want me roasting in the car waiting on you and, oh god, the look on her face was just priceless.” They’d only gone a block or so, but Leigh pulled the car back to the curb. Jane assumed it was to recover from more laughter, but she looked up from her hands curiously, still trying to decide if she accepted Leigh’s apology.
        “What?” Jane asked. Leigh was biting her lower lip. The image was dangerously cute and sexy. For the space of a breath, Jane could imagine the young-looking girl as Popi. Her heart raced.
        “I almost forgot something,” Leigh said, and the teasing was out of her voice. She sounded almost timid, and Jane leaned over a little.
        “You did?” Jane asked, but even as she said it, Leigh’s hand was sliding up past her neck and into her hair. Leigh had to lean up with a knee on the seat to reach her comfortably. When they kissed it was a slow, inexorable joining of lips. It was tense, almost shy, both a little afraid of being too vulnerable with the other. Leigh’s fingers curled in her hair and Jane sighed through her nose. Their lips parted at the same time and Leigh’s tongue slid into her mouth. Jane marveled at the slow sweetness of every motion. The kisses she was accustomed to were frantic things, either impatient and charged with lust, like the ones from Kailee’s demanding tongue or sometimes from Karen or Nikki or Rachel, or else inexpert, nervous, and confused with needy physicality that wasn’t yet fully understood. 
        Neither the kids nor Kailee had ever understood the importance of a good kiss. They were an afterthought or a prelude or an overture. Jane had rarely been kissed for the kiss itself. Leigh was everything that had been missing from every kiss she’d had in the last year. Jane found her hands moving to Leigh’s sides, stroking her narrow body softly and then gripping her, pulling her close. It wasn’t a motion of need or lust, just the simple fact of bringing her close so that they could kiss more comfortably, and Leigh seemed to understand that, didn’t mistake the motion as an invitation for something. . .else. 
        In her lap in the passenger seat now, Leigh could kneel so that her face was above Jane’s and the older but smaller girl cupped her face in both hands, tongue exploring her mouth with an unhurried enthusiasm. Jane tilted her head up, feeling deliciously submissive in the pose, and tried to tell her body to cool down and enjoy the simple sweetness of being so thoroughly kissed. Her body rebelled though, and she was thankful that the bra she wore to work, more practical than what she might’ve chosen if she’d had time to change, wouldn’t reveal her stiff nipples pressing into her blouse.
        Leigh seemed to be having a similar mutiny in her own body though, for just as Jane was struggling to ignore the new pebbles in her bra cups, a bulge utterly incongruous with Leigh’s chosen innocent young girl image pressed against Jane’s belly through the sundress. The kiss came to something of a stumbling conclusion, their mouths fumbling away from each other, both of them panting. Leigh leaned back so that she was no longer pressing against Jane’s belly, looking away as a blush flooded her cheeks, easily visible through her sandy colored fur. It was the first time Jane had seen her anything less than utterly confident. 
        “S-sorry,” the fennec said softly, finally catching her breath and moving back into the driver’s seat. “I know we said this wasn’t going to be a physical thing. I’ve just been thinking about giving you that kiss you wanted ever since you got into your mom’s car that day.” 
        “Not just a physical thing,” Jane corrected her, giggling softly.
        “Huh?”
        “I don’t want it to be just a physical thing. That doesn’t mean it won’t be physical at all.” As she said it, she deliberately let her eyes drift down to where Leigh was making a tent in her sundress.
        “God,” Leigh said in a soft groan, thrusting her hands into her lap. “I did not factor in how sexy you are when I picked out this outfit. I can usually control myself, I swear.” 
        “Oh yeah?” Jane said. It was her turn to blush, flattered by the older girl’s loss of control. “And I’m not even trying. This is what I wore to work.”
        “Honestly, it’s your scent that’s driving me wild. Don’t get me wrong, you look amazing, but you smell so. . .It’s not like a season or a heat. It’s just primal. Musk and arousal and youth and. . .fuck.” 
        Jane blushed deeper, closing her eyes, embarrassed, aroused, and flattered all at the same time by Leigh’s words. She tried not to worry about whether or not everyone at work had smelled her, and mostly succeeded. “So, were you going to take me to a movie, or what?”
        “A movie?” Leigh asked, sounded offended. “It’s so cliché, so gauche! A movie on the first date? How pedestrian!”
        Jane quirked her head quizzically but laughed, uncertain and intrigued. “Alright. . .so where are we going?”
        “Oh, definitely a movie. Two hours in a dark room pressed up against you with my tongue down your throat? How am I supposed to pass that up? I just wanted to acknowledge how unoriginal it is before we got there.”
        “Like, going to a movie ironically?”
        “Pff, no. I’m not a hipster. Just being honest. I’m taking you to a movie for our first date in a terrible cliché, and I’m doing it so I can make out with you the whole damn time.”
        Jane laughed, Leigh’s sense of humor putting her a little off-guard, but she decided that being off-guard could be a good thing. “Isn’t making out for the whole movie getting a bit close to a strictly physical relationship?”
        “Mm. Maybe. I was thinking of it more like an extended introduction of our tongues to one another, but I can see how you’d think of it that way. Would it help if I promised you a night under the stars on a blanket cuddled up and talking about our feelings?”
        “Just talking?”
        “Well,” Leigh said, and Jane grinned to watch the older girl blush again. “That’s the plan. You know what they say about plans.”
        Jane giggled. “The one about how it never survives first contact with the enemy?”
        “I promise not to try to storm your hill until I see the whites of your eyes? No wait, did that sound rapey, too?”
        Jane giggled again and reached over to pat Leigh’s knee. “I don’t think rapists struggle so hard with wordplay, so you’re probably alright.”

        ***

        Driving away from the theater, toward the edge of the city, Jane honestly couldn’t remember which movie they’d just sat through. They could’ve stumbled into the wrong theater for all she knew, and neither one of them would’ve noticed the difference. Leigh had lived up to her promise to spend the entire movie making out, and now Jane’s body practically hummed with arousal. It had been an obvious struggle for both of them, but they had both managed to keep their hands sidelined for the movie’s whole duration. 
        She had to admit, Leigh’s outfit had been something of a thrill. They had generated an impressive number of double takes and whispered conversations through the night, and Jane was oddly excited at the thought that, even though their relationship looked utterly inappropriate, the most scandalous thing about it was Leigh’s gender, and even that was pretty normal in Roosevelt City. Though, for a bit there she had been worried that someone was calling the police. Next time Leigh took her on a date dressed like that, she would remember not to start making out until the lights were dimmed.
        Looking over at the fennec, watching the orange glow of the streetlights light up her face in a steady rhythm, Jane honestly wanted to do nothing so much as lean over and suck the fox off as they drove out to wherever Leigh had in mind. Her imagination was running away with the idea, going so far as to imagine the way the hot spunk would feel hitting the back of her throat and then sitting heavy and warm in her tummy, and the way the knot would swell against her lips right after that. She couldn’t help herself. Even now, she was staring at Leigh’s crotch, and she warmed inside as she watched the fabric of the sundress bulge as Leigh noticed her stare.
        “So. . .” Leigh said at length, obviously trying to draw attention away from her own crotch and flailing for something to talk about. “I know we’re only halfway through the first date but, would you--I mean. Er. Is this something you’d like to do again sometime? With me?”
        Jane giggled as she glimpsed past Leigh’s self-assurance again to the awkward and eager girl that hid behind it. It was utterly endearing. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” she asked, deliberately putting a little frost in her voice, playing coy. 
        “Uhm. I mean, if you want to. I’m not trying to. . .or, uh, we could still. . .”
        Jane laughed aloud, then covered her muzzle to stifle the laugh as she saw the humiliation flood Leigh’s face. She leaned over quickly, pecking Leigh’s lower lip, leaning far enough out of her seatbelt to intentionally let her breasts brush the girl’s arm.
        “I’d like that. Like, exclusive?”
        Leigh turned and kissed her softly, and she could feel the tension in the fennec’s body as she struggled to keep her focus on the road rather than launching another full makeout session. Jane practically glowed with pleasure, feeling that the fennec wanted her just as badly as she wanted her, and was struggling just as hard to keep things slow. Being wanted in that way was a heady, intoxicating feeling and her heart pounded frantically every time Leigh tipped her hand like that, which was often.
        “Definitely exclusive,” Leigh said without hesitation. Then she added, “I don’t operate any other way.”
        Jane’s mind flitted through the dozens of cubs she’d played with while she was dating Kailee. Cubs half her age and younger with whom she’d found a more meaningful connection than the zebra hybrid had ever given her. How it had never, not even once, felt anything like cheating because what she had with Kailee was just physical. Her bonds with Nikki and others bubbled up like little blossoms of guilt, and Popi featured prominently in that tableau, too. Popi, whom she had almost found herself falling in love with despite everything else. Her addictive girls, her energetic boys, her exotic hermaphrodites, and in some perverse but sweet way, each of them had meant more to her than the ‘relationship’ she’d supposedly been a part of.
        Jane reached over and took Leigh’s hand, squeezing it firmly. Leigh looked over at her with questioning eyes, but Jane just smiled. “Me either,” she agreed, letting the tense moment pass, letting those guilt-blossoms fade, and forcibly willing her stomach to unknot. “Where are you taking me, anyway?” she asked, peering out the car window. They were well past the outskirts of town, deep in the valley where the land was flat. They had escaped the suburbs and ventured into one of the rural farming communities surrounding the city. There was one on each minor highway leading outside of town, small communities as old as Roosevelt City itself but consisting primarily of farms, churches, and places to build large homes outside of the city’s property taxes. Jane knew Verdant by name, but had never done more than watch it pass by as her mother drove down the highway toward Nashville. Leigh had turned off the highway onto a smaller road a mile or two back, and Jane was in utterly unfamiliar territory.
        “We’re here, actually,” Leigh said. She turned off the small road onto dirt path, going a few hundred feet before coming to a stop in the middle of a field of trimmed grass. Lights blinked on the other side of a fence nearby. “I grew up around here. That’s Verdant Municipal Airport. This whole town practically shuts down around sundown, airfield included, so we shouldn’t be bothered. It’s the closest place I know of where you can actually see the stars.”
        Jane said a quiet ‘oh’ but otherwise kept her mouth shut as Leigh shut off the car and turned out the headlights. The both climbed out of the car, and when the interior lights went out, it seemed impossibly dark. The streetlights of the highway were just a distant orange glow over a line of trees, and Roosevelt City itself was just a lighter part of the sky toward the east. 
        Jane jumped at the sound of the trunk slamming and Leigh giggled. It was so dark that Jane could only see her as a paler spot in the darkness. She felt relief when the fennec stepped closer and took her gently by the arm. “Your eyes will adjust in a minute,” came the shorter girl’s reassuring voice. She led her away from the car to a flat stretch of grass and the darkness fluttered audibly nearby as Leigh shook out a blanket for them to lay on, just like she’d promised.
        When they’d first pulled up, Jane had wanted to make a teasing comment about this being the sort of place a rapist or a murderer would drag her to. Someplace no one would hear her scream or find her body. It had seemed like a good joke, and it had nearly slipped past her lips, but now the thought felt tawdry and unworthy of this place. She felt as if Leigh was sharing something intimate with her, and now she was keeping her mouth tightly shut, soaking in the simple sanctity of the place instead of ruining it with cheap words. 
        Her eyes had adjusted by the time Leigh had laid out the blanket, so Jane wasn’t startled when the girl came close again. Very close. Jane closed her eyes and sighed at the warmth of Leigh’s body as it slid comfortably against hers. She slipped her arm around Leigh’s back and bent her head to press her nose into the shorter girl’s hair. They both inhaled at the same time, both their muzzles pressed into each other, both eager to take in more of the other’s scent. She giggled and Leigh looked away shyly. It was too dark to see her blush, but by now Jane knew it was there. She was already starting to be able to read Leigh’s body, her motions and emotions. 
        Leigh pulled on her gently and she let herself be lowered to the blanket. To her surprise and relief, the fennec had a second blanket to hand and she pulled it over them so they had more than just each other’s body heat to stave away the light chill in the May evening. 
        They talked for what seemed like hours, Leigh’s smaller body fitting comfortably into the curve of Jane’s. It was a relief to her to be the big spoon, because she knew if she’d felt Leigh’s erection pressing up under her tail as they cuddled, her resolve would’ve lasted a half hour at the most. For the first time in her life, Jane was able to watch the progression of the stars across the sky, and she spent some time pointing out some of the sky’s features to her new girlfriend until they both ended up giggling when Leigh made a suggestive comment about the relationship between the ‘seven sisters.’
        Jane shifted her body slightly, slipping a little further down Leigh’s back so she could press her muzzle into the fennec’s neck, her tail fluttering excitedly as she listened to the herm’s soft sigh of appreciation as she did so. Distantly, Jane knew she should be worried about the time. It was after midnight, though probably not yet one a.m., but home was at least a half hour drive away. The night was drawing to a close. She should find her phone, check the time, call her mom, and ask Leigh to drive her home. And she knew if she did those things, Leigh would kiss her and do exactly what she asked and have no complaints. The night would end sweet and slow the same way that first kiss had started. 
        Instead, her lips parted and her tongue dragged slowly through the fur of Leigh’s neck. She felt the fennec tense against the curve of her body and knew instinctively she was holding in a moan. The thought made Jane tingle. Leigh was thinking the same thoughts about the night’s conclusion. She was worried about getting Jane home in time, and she was suppressing her needs to try to keep the night from getting out of control. The thought that Leigh was trying so hard to be good because she cared about her made Jane warm with affection and trust. But she had no intention of letting Leigh be good any longer. 
        “So, we’re being honest, right?” Jane asked, her tone light.
        “Mmm,” Leigh said. “Though that was your idea, not mine. We can switch to telling pretty lies to each other and go out in a blaze of glory instead, if you’ve changed your mind.”
        “Hmmm. . .” Jane said, as if considering it. “It’s hard, but I’m going to stick with honesty. I’ll let you know if I switch.”
        “That’s awfully honest of you. So what did you want to be honest about, in particular?”
        Jane closed her eyes and slipped her hands out of the innocent position they were in wrapped around Leigh’s slight body. She shifted her hand to Leigh’s hip, stroking her side slowly. The touch was still innocent, she managed to not even stray toward Leigh’s backside, but it was still more than they’d allowed themselves since that kiss in the car. Both of them sighed softly. Jane felt Leigh move forward a little, putting the slightest distance between their bodies. She was trying to will herself to get up, to be responsible, to take Jane home at a less than ungodly hour. Jane tried not to think of that as a challenge. 
        “Your outfit,” Jane said softly. “I hope you don’t think of me as a pervert, but it’s way more of a turn-on than I ever would’ve imagined.”
        Jane bit her lip, tense. She felt Leigh tense, too. The distance between them widened, and Jane cursed her uncontrollable mouth, her dedication to ‘honesty.’ They could’ve gone through their entire relationship without her having to admit that and everything could’ve been just fine.
        “I’ve heard that before,” Leigh said, her voice carefully neutral in a way that let Jane know that there was a story there and Leigh was not even close to ready to share it. “And honestly, I could tell. I felt the way your heart raced when that lady in the theater threatened to call the police. You were excited, not afraid or ashamed. Jane, I really need to know though. Me looking like this, is that the main reason you’re attracted to me? I’ve dated someone before where the combination of my age and my appearance made an all-too-appealing fiction for them. It’s happened more than once.”
        Jane cringed away from the slight edge in Leigh’s voice and the distance widened more, but Jane refused to pull her hand off Leigh’s hips, aching for even that little contact. She fell silent for a moment, taking Leigh’s question seriously rather than blurting out a denial. She probed her feelings and stuck to that honesty thing that had gotten her in this mess in the first place. She didn’t think Leigh breathed the whole time she was considering her answer.
        “No,” she said finally. “My heart was racing for you when I wasn’t even sure if you were a boy or a girl. And honestly, when I thought about you all day today, my thoughts were more about being in a relationship with a self-assured older woman--older herm--than your appearance. It’s exciting and taboo and a little thrilling to see other people’s reactions, and that’s the part I wanted to be honest about. But it’s not the main reason, not by a long shot.”
        She could feel the tension seep out of Leigh’s body in degrees as she spoke until, by the time she was done, the fennec was nestled back into the curve of her body again. More than before, perhaps. Was Jane imagining it, or was Leigh’s backside pushed much more firmly up against her crotch?
        “I don’t mind dressing up,” Leigh said softly, even timidly. “It’s exciting for me, too. But it’s only fun for me if you’re excited because it’s me looking like a little girl, not if you’re excited because you’re pretending I’m a little girl instead of me. Does. . .does that make sense?”
        Jane’s fingers tightened, squeezing Leigh’s hip, letting her fingers splay and press ever so slightly into the flesh of her backside. Jane shivered when the older girl squeaked softly in response. 
        “Believe me,” Jane whispered, her muzzle rising so that it was by Leigh’s large, radar-esque ear, her nose brushing its edge. “I will never be pretending it’s someone other than you.”
        Leigh bit her lip, the confident young woman glowing from Jane’s assurance and Jane felt a thrill at being able to evoke that sort of response. She curled her fingers and heard Leigh gasp as the simple movement drew the hem of the fennec’s sundress up an inch, maybe two, the fabric bunching at her hip under Jane’s fingers. 
        “Jane,” Leigh whispered and she moved as if to lean away from her again, but Jane kissed softly at the inside of her broad ear, and the touch stalled her. She kissed softly, again and again, peppering the thin, lightly fuzzed membrane with a dozen or so kisses before drawing back slightly. She was careful not to speak, even in a whisper, directly into Leigh’s ear, remembering a lecture from her favorite little bunny on the sensitivity of large ears.
        “Please,” Jane whispered in response. “We’ve been good. We talked, like I wanted. We made sure there’s a real connection here, and I think there really, really is. But if you don’t get me off, I’m not only going to explode, I’m going to chafe myself raw trying to get the sort of satisfaction you could get me to with just a few little touches. Please, I really need release, and I really, really want it to be with you.”
        As she was speaking, the needy words bubbling out of her, undammable once the flow had begun, Leigh was turning, and then, gently, she was pushing. Before she was done, Jane found herself on her back with her shoulders being pushed into the warm blanket by Leigh’s tiny hands with a strength she wouldn’t have begun to guess at. Leigh was grinning by the time she was done, her teeth glittering in the moonlight with a predatory gleam that sent a shiver down Jane’s spine. Jane arched her hips and was rewarded with the warm pressure of Leigh’s bulge pressing against her lower belly, right above her mons. They both shivered in appreciation of the contact, only separated by a few thin layers of fabric.
        “You don’t have to convince me,” Leigh said softly, her nipples visible as they pressed against the thin fabric of her dress, even in the dim moonlight. “I spent the first half of the movie convincing myself I shouldn’t just curl up between your legs and eat you out for the entire second half.”
        Leigh giggled shyly at her own confession and Jane smiled. “I spent the entire ride out here fantasizing about how nice your load would feel pulsing down my throat,” Jane admitted in kind. They both laughed at their out of control hormones and Leigh lowered herself, still pressing hard against Jane’s shoulders in a way that made her heart race. They kissed deeply and it was slow and sweet again, but this time it had that edge of frenzy, that tinge of desperation and lust that had been carefully absent that first time in the car. Leigh was hungry for her, and the gentle but urgent probing of her tongue broadcast that to Jane’s entire body.  Jane could feel the fennec’s pulse in the throb of her cock where it pressed against her belly. She was trembling when Leigh pulled away again.
        “What, uh. . .” Leigh started, faltering shyly. “What do you want to do?”
        Jane bit her lower lip, wondering how far she dared to go. It was their first date, after all. She knew she’d get what she needed from just a few laps of Leigh’s tongue. Hell, she’d probably be okay for another day or two if the girl would just tweak her nipples for half a minute. Instead, what she heard herself saying was:
        “I’m on the pill, if you’re. . .uh, you know. Clean.”
        The idea of being a slut, of being easy, of going all the way on the first date was just a brief protest in the back of her mind. She was more concerned with berating herself for not bringing a condom, then she remembered looking for one that morning, just to find out that the only ones she had access to were rather specific in size and shape for Kailee.
        Leigh’s eyes widened and Jane cringed for just a moment, worried she’d see condemnation or judgement there. But when she peeked she saw only delighted surprised. Leigh had hoped, but wouldn’t have dared ask. It was written plainly in the older girl’s face and Jane felt herself blushing with pleasure.
        “I am,” Leigh said softly, sincerely. “That’s not. . .that’s not just a line to get under your skirt. I had myself tested after that breakup. For reasons.” They both tensed for a moment, Jane not wanting to ask and Leigh not wanting her to ask. And so she didn’t ask and they both relaxed and Leigh’s fingers curled so that her blunt claws pressed into the flesh of Jane’s shoulders, making her gasp.
        Jane parted her legs so that Leigh’s slender frame settled between them, then drew up her knees, letting her skirt fall off them, bunching around her waist. Leigh shifted down slightly and the bulge in her dress moved down until the ridge of her cock was pressed against the exposed, wet crotch of Jane’s panties. Jane closed her eyes and softly groaned, quietly hoping she wouldn’t start cumming just from the feel of that warm throbbing against her nethers. She blushed, knowing that her panties were fragrant from her being horny the entire day, and that she was definitely leaving her mark on the thin fabric of Leigh’s dress. 
        Not wanting Leigh’s strong hands to leave her shoulders, she reached down. Her fingers fumbled--her hands were trembling with excitement and impatience, and above her, Leigh made a soft coo of reassurance that, somehow, worked to steady Jane’s fingers. She tugged impatiently at her panties, not pulling them far, just up her thighs far enough that she was fully exposed, her bare ass pressed against the blanket beneath them.
        It took a lot of willpower to keep from literally ripping the dress from Leigh’s body. She hiked the fabric up around the fennec’s narrow hips, fingers sliding up her thighs as she did so. Leigh made a soft sound of pleasure at Jane’s touch and they both blushed. Finally, Jane’s hands slipped between them. She cupped Leigh’s prick gently for a moment and Leigh groaned, which masked Jane’s surprised gasp somewhat. Leigh was no bigger than average, certainly no behemoth like Kailee or Bill, but she had a girth that made Jane quiver in anticipation. When she thought of a knot swelling out of something already so thick, she nearly came. Her pussy clenched around nothing, anticipating the sweet ache she’d feel on the ride home.
        The fennec’s panties did very little to contain her package, but Jane gingerly slipped her fingers down to free the velvety furred balls from the elastic so things would be more comfortable. Leigh sighed softly in appreciation and Jane felt a thick drop of warm precum dribble onto her mons. She shuddered, biting her lower lip, appreciating that Leigh was just as pent up as she was.
        She didn’t really realize that her chore of pushing all the layers of clothing out of the way was done until Leigh began to move. It was a simple movement, little more than a smooth roll of her hips, but it brought the pointed tip of her canine prick right up against Jane’s aching lips. They both gasped and Jane arched, pushing against Leigh’s firm, pinning hands as she felt precum spill out of that tapered tip and smear her lips. She had the sudden urge to grab her phone and start recording. The image of her lips sticky with precum getting speared by Leigh’s thick member was vivid in her mind and she wished desperately that she could capture that moment.
        Leigh’s mouth descended to hers and Jane turned her muzzle up to accept the kiss submissively, sucking the fennec’s tongue into her mouth. Then, just as she locked her lips around the probing tongue, the fox’s hips thrust forward. She cried out around Leigh’s tongue at the same time the older girl grunted in pleasure. Forgetting the awkward position of her panties stretched around her thighs, she lifted her legs up around the fennec’s svelte body and locked her ankles above her tail. She squeezed her forward with her legs and Leigh thrust obligingly. Jane’s panties tore free from one thigh from the strain and Leigh’s hips hit Jane’s upthrust nethers with a wet slap, and that was all it took. 
        Her abdomen clenched and her filled pussy squeezed around the thick thing inside her as stars exploded behind her eyes. She dropped away from Leigh’s kiss, a drawn out, trilling cry escaping her as her whole body seemed to tense, hips bucking up against the fox in a short, rapid-fire motion as she came. Pleasure and release sang through her body and then Leigh was pumping her hips forward a second time, harder and faster than the first, and the pleasure that erupted from the thrust hazed Jane’s vision.
        She reached up, grabbing the fennec’s childlike pigtails in both hands and squeezing her legs tighter around her narrow waist. Leigh rolled her head back and howled into the night, fingers gripping Jane’s shoulders painfully. Jane clenched her teeth as the pleasure washed over her unrelentingly. Leigh pulled back, but Jane’s legs didn’t let her go far, then slammed her hips forward so hard the two of them slid across the blanket an inch or two. Jane squealed in pleasure, jerking her head back as her whole body seemed to clench around Leigh’s thick shaft. The older girl grunted and jerked and Jane gasped as she felt the cum pouring inside of her in heavy spurts. Leigh gasped and Jane heard the urgent panic even through her haze of pleasure. Frantically, Leigh tried to pull her hips back, tried to pull away from Jane’s body even as her cock twitched and spurted inside of her, but Jane tightened her legs and pulled hard on her braids, thrusting her hips up to nestle against Leigh’s, refusing to let her pull away.
        Leigh’s knot swelled in the space of a breath and Jane cried out, the thing so thick it hurt, wedging just inside Jane’s slightly stretched entrance and filling her so much she knew her mons must be bulging with it. She fell back against the blanket, panting, whining softly at the pain. She licked her lips and squeezed her muscles experimentally around Leigh’s length, moaning at the way she felt the cock flex in response. She thought she could feel Leigh’s huge load flooding her womb, not a drop spilled thanks to that huge knot. She felt a shudder of pleasure and fear as some deep irrational part of her wished she wasn’t on the pill. She wasn’t in season, so the risk would’ve been low anyway, but some part of her thrilled at the thought anyway. She marveled at the somewhat alien urge. She’d never felt that tug with anyone before. 
        “Jane,” Leigh said softly, still panting. Jane smiled up at the fennec, biting her own lower lip. She released the older girl’s braids and slid her hands down her back slowly. Leigh was still arched like she was frozen mid thrust and Jane gasped as she flexed inside her again. She winced slightly. The knot still hurt. Leigh cooed down to her apologetically. 
        “I. . .I tried to keep that out of you,” Leigh said awkwardly.
        Jane licked her lips and blushed, turning her face away, watching the lights blink beyond the fence. “I wanted it,” she said in a tiny voice, trembling as that irrational part of her brain stirred again. She tried to keep that particular primal urge out of her voice. 
        Leigh released her iron grip on Jane’s shoulders and Jane gasped softly as a new ache tinged her cocoon of full-body pleasure there, too. Her shoulders would be bruised for days. Leigh lowered her body to Jane’s and then bent her head, softly kissing her on each shoulder. Jane wrapped the older girl in her arms. Joined as they were, their difference in size meant the fennec had to pillow her head against Jane’s breasts, and they were both pretty happy with the arrangement. Jane finally unlocked her ankles from around Leigh’s waist and moaned as that made Leigh’s hips shift, the knot straining for a moment against Jane’s entrance before Leigh shifted her weight so gravity wasn’t trying to uncouple them.
        “We’re going to be here awhile,” Leigh said sheepishly into her tits.
        “I know,” Jane said softly. She did know, though she’d never been properly tied like this before. All the knots she’d experienced before were on boys young enough that their knots slipped out with little effort. She wasn’t ready to share that with Leigh, though. She wondered if she ever would be. She hoped their relationship grew to the point where they could both be open with their pasts. It was pretty obvious that they both had things they were afraid to share. So instead of opening closets and dancing with the skeletons inside, she lazily reached up with one hand and unbuttoned the blouse she’d worn to work that morning, which was now redolent with her musk for the second time that day. Leigh made a soft, tired sound of appreciation and nuzzled into the fur of Jane’s cleavage, a comfortable valley that only existed because of the bra she’d picked out that morning. 
        “Does it hurt?” Leigh asked after a moment. She still sounded sheepish. Shy even. Jane wondered about how the normally self-assured fennec only seemed to grow timid when an issue rose about her body. She tried not to read too much into that for now.
        “Yes,” Jane said softly. “But it feels good, too. Like sore muscles after a workout. If we keep doing this sort of thing. . .don’t be afraid to tie me. I love it.” Leigh’s hips shifted as the girl blushed and Jane gasped in pleasure and pain, which only made Leigh more embarrassed. Jane wrapped her arms around the girl’s slender form and held her close, as much to keep her knot still as to reassure her. They both sighed contentedly at the same time. 
        “If?” Leigh asked in a tiny voice.
        “Hmm?”
        “You said “if” we keep doing this.”
        Jane blushed. “I. . .I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. This is still technically our first date.”
        Leigh nuzzled into the valley of her pushed-up breasts and then inhaled slowly. Jane blushed darker and shivered, aroused by the fennec greedily inhaling her musk. Her belly warmed and her tunnel instinctively squeezed around the shaft wedged inside of it. Leigh’s cock flexed in reply and Jane shuddered with pleasure. “I want to be with you,” Leigh said after they’d both calmed down a little from the exchange. “Didn’t we agree to that in the car?” She sounded hurt rather than accusatory and Jane hugged her tighter.
        “I know. I didn’t mean our relationship. I meant. . .I meant sex. We kinda rushed into that, didn’t we? I know I did. It’s kinda obvious we were both pent up. I mean, you lasted three thrusts, and I didn’t even get half that far.” Leigh tensed up at first and Jane hurriedly finished her sentence to include her own quickness to climax. She didn’t want Leigh to think she was accusing her of poor performance, and the herm relaxed a little.
        “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go slow after this. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel. Like, we rushed things, but also I’ve never felt so satisfied in my whole life.”
        Leigh looked up from her breasts and their eyes met. Jane watched the half full moon reflect in the pale blue eyes and a small part of her panicked, realizing it must be getting very, very late if the moon was that low. 
        “Really?”
        Jane bit her lower lip and just nodded quietly. Leigh looked so vulnerable at that moment, her heart broke a little. She’d meant what she said about being satisfied, but seeing the look on Leigh’s face, she would’ve said it even if it hadn’t been true, because it was painfully obvious that Leigh hadn’t been told something like that before, and needed to hear it.
        Jane leaned up, closing her eyes and stifling a moan as Leigh’s knot strained at her. She cupped the back of Leigh’s head and for the first time, she was the one doing the kissing rather than being kissed. She held Leigh to her body and with some awkward fumbling and straining, managed to sit up without the knot pulling too hard or even her tongue leaving Leigh’s mouth. She sat with her legs over Leigh’s, the fennec’s heels pressed against her butt, with Jane’s arms holding her tightly so she didn’t fall back. It was a precarious position, but one that worked well enough because of their size difference, Jane’s average frame giving Leigh’s petite one enough leverage to stay upright.
        Jane pulled her tongue out of Leigh’s mouth and giggled as the fennec nipped at her lips as if trying to catch her tongue for more.
        “I’m used to people falling asleep on me when I’m tied with them,” Leigh said softly, resting her head on Jane’s shoulders.
        “I kinda guessed that. I sat up so it’d be less tempting.”
        The fennec looked up at her quizzically. Jane slid her hand down Leigh’s back and tangled her fingers in the girl’s lush tail, brushing through the warm fur. “Why?” Leigh asked, finally.
        Jane looked at her. “Do you want to sleep?”
        Leigh shook her head immediately. “I’m drowsy right after, most of the time, but if I do nap, it’s only for about ten minutes.”
        “And then you lay there bored with someone sleeping literally on top of you for, what, an hour?”
        Leigh blushed so darkly it was visible in the pale moonlight. “It can be as much as two.”
        Jane’s eyes widened at that and Leigh bit her lip, looking guilty. Jane squeezed her reassuringly with her free arm, still stroking her tail with the other hand. “Even worse, then,” she said. She tried to imagine being tied to someone for two hours--and considering how pent up Leigh had been, she guessed it would be that long--and couldn’t manage it. Well, she was about to get firsthand experience with it. Privately, she thought the hardest part might be resisting the temptation to get off on Leigh’s knotted cock a dozen or so more times. Her body warmed at the thought, but she was still so sated that it was just a distant stirring, like a slumbering beast barely slitting an eye.
        They fumbled awkwardly, groping for something to talk about. It turned out that casual conversation was a bit more difficult when the person you were talking to could never be more than a couple inches from the end of your nose. But eventually they stumbled into a topic--their mutual anticipation for season two of Arrow--and Leigh curled her head into the curve of Jane’s neck, and they talked in quiet tones with only occasional shifting, gasping, and moaning, the topic meandering from Arrow to archery to ancient Korean weapons and on still.
        The growing distance of Leigh’s hips from hers was Jane’s first indication that Leigh’s knot had abated, and her first indication that her nethers were rather numb. Was her pussy actually asleep? She cringed in anticipation of the imminent pins and needles. She glanced down at where Leigh’s tip was just pulling free of her and was a little disappointed that there was no corresponding obscene spilling forth of seed to accompany it. Then she shivered, realizing that meant her body was greedily hoarding every drop. She closed her eyes, breath quivering a moment, as she talked herself out of mounting the fennec all over again to fill herself with even more of that spunk. She only convinced herself because tying again would strand them here until sunrise.
        She rebuttoned her blouse and tugged her skirt into a reasonable semblance of propriety, then slid the remains of her panties off her thigh and mourned them briefly. They had been just the right combination of respectable, reliable, and sexy. Leigh was about to toss the two blankets willy-nilly into the trunk but Jane stopped her and helped her shake the grass out of them and fold them neatly, which was a little tricky in the dark.
        Once they were buckled in and Leigh started the car, Jane was relieved to find out that it wasn’t even three am. It would be by the time Leigh got her home, but it could’ve been a lot worse. She closed her eyes, trying not to remember the night Kailee had kept her out past sunrise. She’d been too sore and raw to touch herself for days and Kailee had had to buy her a new outfit from a 24-hour Walmart because the clothes she’d left in had been both ripped and cum-soaked. She let the moment pass and probed her feelings as it did, like a persistent tongue prodding a sore tooth. Relief flooded her as she realized there was no longing there, no envy. It could just be a memory she had. Bittersweet and embarrassing, maybe tinged with a little resentment or shame. She didn’t miss those days, as wild as they’d been, and she felt more satisfied even now, two hours after the actual act, than Kailee had ever made her feel. 
        Leigh looked at her with a question in her eyebrows and Jane shook her head.
        “Just remembering the last time I was out this late,” she said. “And that goofy smile on my face was me realizing I’d much rather be here with you than there with her.”
        Leigh smiled and reached over, taking her hand. She squeezed and Jane squeezed back, trying to act like it was a simple gesture and that she could actually breathe        . The little sign of affection made her chest ache. It was the sort of thing Kailee had never done, had casually disengaged herself from if Jane ever did it to her. It was a gesture that left Jane feeling empty and used when it was absent. She thought she was probably reading too much into it, but she held Leigh’s hand and didn’t want to let go.
        “Leigh?”
        “Mmm?” the fennec said, looking over at her in the dark car. They weren’t yet back on the highway.
        “Your knot,” she started shyly, and smiled a little when she heard Leigh squeak in surprise at her choice of topics. “Does it persist like that if you’re. . .doing other things? Like, if you masturbate, are you just stuck with it for a couple of hours?”
        Jane had played with pups whose knots had stuck around after a quick handjob or something, but she’d never met anyone who tied for nearly as long as Leigh, and wondered if it worked the same way. The idea of Leigh having to bob around with a knotted prick for two hours after a quick jerk made her giggle. Leigh giggled, too, but it was a shy, nervous thing. Jane had ventured back into the topic of Leigh’s body, which made the fennec shy and uncertain.
        “N-no,” she said at length. “If there’s nothing to, uh. . .If there’s nothing to tie with it goes away after just a minute or two.”
        “Okay,” Jane said casually, her smile audible in her voice. “Good.”
        Leigh glanced over at her questioningly, then back at the road as they came to the intersection with the highway. “Good?” she asked.
        Jane just giggled and unbuckled her seatbelt, the Honda chiming at her in warning. She leaned over the center console and tugged Leigh’s wrinkled sundress up around her waist.
        “Jane!” Leigh squeaked in alarm, the car jolting as she hit the accelerator a little too hard as the light turned green. She pushed at Jane’s head with one hand as she steered with the other, but the nudge wasn’t very insistent. Jane grinned and was not deterred.
        “I spent the whole drive out here fantasizing about this,” she said to Leigh’s bulging panties as if it were a casual conversation. She freed the fennec’s prick impatiently and laughed when it slapped her in the face, already hard and thickening to its full size quickly. She slipped her lips over the tip and sighed through her nose as she tasted herself there. She swirled her tongue around the pointed tip, suckling on it, eager for a taste of Leigh’s pre. The fennec groaned as she did so and Jane heard the tires chirp as she jerked on the wheel to stay on the road. She was rewarded after just a second or two with a thick, slow spill of pre from the tip, which she slurped up greedily.
        Leigh’s hand was still on her head, but now her fingers tangled in her hair, tightening until her scalp ached in the best way. She gripped the thick shaft with one hand, pumping slowly as she opened her mouth wider and slid down Leigh’s length. Her jaw ached as the herm’s girth tested her limits. Leigh’s hips jerked and the pointed tip nudged Jane’s uvula as the tires chirped again. Jane struggled to control her gag reflex and managed, but drew her head back a little to be safe. She made a lewd slurping sound as she started bobbing her head up and down the shaft, sucking as hard as she could manage. Her hand pumped faster and Leigh groaned in appreciation. 
        After only a few seconds, Leigh suddenly shoved her head down, burying Jane’s nose in her pubic fur, pointed tip pushing Jane’s uvula rudely aside. Jane struggled to control her panic as Leigh’s hips jerked up, fucking her face for a couple of short, violent thrusts. Cum poured down Jane’s throat and she was forced to jerk her head back before she choked or vomited. Leigh cried out and thick sprays of her spunk jetted out on to the wheel, Leigh’s dress, and mostly Jane’s face and hair. Jane thrust her mouth back over the tip, letting the last two weaker spurts fill her mouth. Further down, where Jane’s lips had been a moment ago, Leigh’s knot looked as big as a clenched fist around the fennec’s base. That was probably mostly perspective, but it sure looked impressive from this angle. Jane shivered with appreciation and her pussy ached in protest. She swirled her tongue around Leigh’s tip and then pulled back, sitting back up in her seat and swallowing before coughing hoarsely. She glanced at the road and was thankful to see they were in the correct lane, and more thankful to see that there were no other cars they had endangered nearer than a half mile away. 
        “S-sorry,” Leigh said once she’d caught her breath.
        “Give a girl a little warning next time,” Jane said lightly, her voice rough.
        “Warning? You’re one to talk!”
        They both laughed. Jane fished her destroyed panties from off the floorboard and used them, fragrant as they already were, to clean up the spunk from her face and hair. Leigh looked grateful for something to clean the steering wheel with, but didn’t bother with her dress, which was going to need a thorough cleaning in any case. The panties were sodden by the time the cleanup was accomplished.
        “God,” Jane whispered. “That’s a big load.” She imagined how much the fennec must have pumped into her earlier and shivered with pleasure at the thought. Her belly felt heavy and warm with how much Leigh had managed to shoot down her throat and into her mouth.
        “Sorry?” Leigh said uncertainly, shy as ever about her own body.
        “Definitely not something to apologize for,” Jane cooed. She tried to pretend like she wasn’t tempted to suck some of the spunk from the cotton fabric while it was still warm. She glanced at Leigh from the corner of her eye and caught the fennec inhaling slowly and deeply through her nose. Jane blushed, aroused by how much the herm seemed to enjoy her scent, then tucked the wet fabric into her small clutch purse, apologizing silently to the other contents but having nowhere else to stash the thing.
        Jane rebuckled her seatbelt and sighed. She reached for Leigh’s hand again and took it. Licking her lips, she watched the fennec’s stiff prick for the next minute as it rested against the lower edge of the steering wheel until the knot finally abated and Leigh tucked herself back into her own panties. She didn’t tug her dress into place though, and Jane squeezed Leigh’s hand and enjoyed the view.
        It was a quarter past three when Leigh rolled to a stop in front of Jane’s house, and nearly three thirty by the time they’d finished kissing goodnight. Jane opened the door and Leigh reached over and caught the back of her head, pulling her down for another deep, needy kiss. She felt Leigh’s fingers tighten in her hair, felt her arm tremble a little and Jane knew the older girl didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to be let go. If she was honest with herself, what she wanted most at the moment was to be forcibly tossed into the Honda’s back seat and tied on the fennec’s cock until sunrise. She shivered and felt Leigh shiver also and wondered if they’d had the same thought.
        Reluctantly, their lips and tongues parted and Leigh let go of her hair. Their eyes met and then they both shyly looked away, a sudden awkwardness amidst all the deep intimacy they’d shared in just one night.
        “Good night,” Jane all but whispered.
        “Good night,” Leigh replied. Jane wondered if the smoldering look was actually in Leigh’s eyes or if she was just imagining it. She smiled girlishly and twirled toward her house. Her bike was still in the front lawn where she’d left it, but she couldn’t exactly stow it in the garage at this hour, and if no one had stolen it yet, she figured they weren’t likely to, so she could safely leave it until morning. Leigh waited still with the car idling as she bounced up her front steps in the pitch dark. She smiled to herself. Such a gentleman! Or. . .gentleherm? Waiting to be sure she was safely inside before driving off. Kailee had scarcely waited for her feet to hit the curb before putting the car in drive. She fished out her house key, which was a little sticky from its new neighbor of Jane’s thoroughly abused panties, and unlocked the door. Opening it, she turned to wave one last time and caught the kiss Leigh blew to her before driving off.

        ***

        [Leigh: You up?]
        [Jane: Texting the morning after the first date. Isn’t that supposed to be a no-no in the rules or something?]
        Jane grinned, texting with one hand, oversized sandwich in the other. She’d woken up famished an hour before noon. Apparently, Leigh’s load hadn’t been enough of a midnight snack for her body to forgive her for skipping breakfast. Since her mother was already at work, and would be for several more hours, Jane was lounging naked on the living room couch. Before Leigh’s text, her free hand had been tucked between her thighs, gingerly probing the soreness the fennec’s knot had caused. A quick glance in the mirror earlier had confirmed that her shoulders were bruised enough for the purple to show through her fur.
        [Leigh: I figured we broke enough rules last night, no sense stopping now.]
        [Jane: That’s not all you broke. I’m sore!]
        [Leigh: Oh! Are you okay?]
        [Jane: Good sore. Goooood sore.]
        [Leigh: You’re making me blush. And horny. And I actually had a reason to text you! Non-girlfriend stuff.]
        [Jane: ?]
        [Leigh: “Wendy” was in a car accident last night.]
        [Jane: Oh no! Is she okay?]
        [Leigh: Broken leg and collarbone. Could have been a lot worse. But Dom’s been on the phone all morning. With the other Wendys.]
        Jane’s eyebrows raised at that. Part of her started feeling excitement in her belly, but she quashed it soundly. She was not going to feel joy or even hope over someone’s horrific accident. She waited, not texting back because she figured more was coming. She wasn’t wrong.
        [Leigh: TigerLily doesn’t want the bigger role. Our second choice already has a part with another theater. Basically, all of our top five choices are unavailable now. Dom just called me and asked which of “the rest” I thought I had the best chemistry with. I managed not to laugh.]
        [Jane: I thought you said you never had any real say in the casting decisions.]
        [Leigh: I don’t. I mean I usually I don’t. Do you want the part? I told Dom you were my pick and he agreed. I also told him we were dating but he’s so desperate for a Wendy right now he doesn’t care. And also he threatened to castrate me if I broke the heart of the last decent Wendy in town.]
        Jane stared at the words “he agreed” and “last decent Wendy” for a long time, some faint shadow of depression or despair that she hadn’t realized still lingered lifting off her spirits, off her dreams. She was good enough to be remembered. Just not good enough to be the best. Not yet. She could work at being that good, given time. Now, suddenly, she had a chance to prove herself.
        [Jane: So you’re saying you’re literally putting your balls on the line to get me this part? How can I say no?]
        [Leigh: I was hoping you wouldn’t. Since you seemed to have a certain appreciation for my balls last night.]
        [Jane: Naughty fox!]
        [Leigh: Wanna get lunch and go over the rehearsal schedule?]
        Jane giggled around her second to last mouthful of sandwich, pushing the last bite into her mouth to text with both thumbs.
        [Jane: Give me an hour to get ready.]