As per usual, if you are under the age of majority, offended by sapphic bliss, offended by The letter “S” or anything else commonly found in my stories, I hope you find something more to your liking. This is a piece that ended up more romantic than pathic, but I think theres a little in it for everyone to enjoy. Writers on here live of fof fedback, even negative feedback, so feel free to email me! Happy reading.
Rose Petals
“I promise, you won’t regret agreeing to come. You’ll enjoy yourself. You’ll have a blast! You’ll want to come next week! I promise!” Desiree twirled as she walked, and it made a little burst of air around her toss around her short pixie cut strawberry blonde hair in a way that highlighted the similarity between her creamy skin and those short strands. She was dressed how she always seemed to be dressed these days, in a white and rose pink dress that was just tight enough to show she had a body to show off but flowed enough at the same time in a way that made some people wonder if the haircut matched the DNA. Her carefree nature likely did a lot to help that curiosity just enough to make it almost seem reasonable.
“Don’t hold your breath, Desiree!“ Responded Faith, who followed not too far behind. Her friend had been telling her for weeks about this group named the Rose Petals that met each week in a building down town. That in itself wasn’t especially worrying. After all, Portland, Oregon was the Rose City. Naming some group after that let the group instantly be a part of the city and therefore let it sound far more inviting. There was nothing wrong with a group meeting up if for no other reason than to celebrate life and all of it’s bliss. Faith would never have a problem with that.
All of a sudden, Desiree stopped spinning and stayed still as a mannequin and just stared into Faith’s eyes with a smile that Faith could only think of it being described as “haunting.” The way that Desiree’s eyes seemed as if they’d grown three sizes, the way they seemed so bright and vibrant, and the way that her hazel irises almost seemed to shine with the faintest rose color quite resembling her dress all felt infinitely more noticeable than they should.
Faith stared for what felt like an eternity. Desiree wasn’t moving, didn’t look like she was breathing, and seemed perfectly content to stay frozen smiling like some pixie statue made to frighten away superstitious folk. “Desiree… Desiree! Snap out of it!” Faith snapped her fingernails in front of her friends face twice in rapid succession and the clear fingernails shined brightly in the winter sun the way that snow could shine bright. “Come on!”
Desiree didn’t move. She didn’t blink. She didn’t react. She didn’t even seem to notice that Faith had moved. In fact her friend swore that if she knew any better her friend had even stopped her own heartbeat through some miracle of willing herself into suspended animation.
Just when Faith was about to grab her friend and shake her like the rag doll she was worried she might in all actuality be, Desiree laughed and nearly doubled over. Her arms wrapped around her pixie dress as she laughed and shook her head as if she was in on the funniest joke she’d ever heard. Faith’s crystal blue eyes just stared, confused, truly perplexed as she just let her friend laugh. At first she had been perfectly willing to just let Desiree laugh herself out. There was no harm in a little laughter. Supposedly, laugher was even good for you.
Yet when it felt like it had been hours later, Faith’s patience ran out and she frowned. “What the hell is so damned funny Des?”
“You have no sense of humor! None! You told me not to hold my breath, but that was very silly as obviously I am very good at holding my breath! I’ve always been a good swimmer, you know that! Silly, silly Faithy!” Desiree half twirled and kept clicking her way along again in her Mary-Janes that perfectly matched her dress. “You need to lighten up. This is just why you need to come with me to meet with the Rose Petals! I’ve had so much more fun ever since I became a Petal!”
“I’m very aware of that…” Faith muttered as she followed along after smoothing out her dirty blonde hair from the breeze caused by Desiree’s twirling. “It seems you’ve been a lot more fun since you became a Petal. Maybe you’ve been having just a little bit too much fun. I’m worried about you…”
Why Faith was worried about the Rose Petals was because a month ago Desiree had hated any color that even resembled pink. Desiree had hated roses. She had hated any stupid thoughts of “city-spirit” and all through high school, middle school, and even in preschool Faith could not remember a single time that Desiree had shown absolutely any religious or school spirit for anything. Desiree had always contested that the individual moment, the individual person, and all other individual things were what mattered. Even in her early thirties Desiree still resembled what she had in high school—a goth too lazy for makeup who didn’t like screechy music.
Then suddenly, she’d joined up with the Rose Petals. She’d thrown out nearly every black garment she owned and claimed that they were causing her spirit to “wilt.” Desiree before she’d been a petal might have been a touch more morose, or rather a cemetery more serious than the newer Desiree, but she had never seemed wilted to Faith. She had simply seemed different. She had simply been, well, more logical and sensible in a way that her friend had actually, to be perfectly honest, found quite attractive when she’d allowed herself to think such things.
After joining the Rose Petals, Desiree stopped walking everywhere. She skipped, or twirled, or at least had an extra kick to her step for absolutely no reason that Faith could admit wasn’t drug or cult related. Desiree hadn’t lost any weight or been particularly suggestible to begin with, but Faith couldn’t believe that the Rose Petals were innocent for the changes she’d seen take place in her best (and if she wanted to be honest, only) friend.
Faith was mostly going with Desiree just to find out what they were doing to her friend and make it stop so she could get the old Desiree back. If the Rose Petals really had just let her friend stop repressing her inner self and ‘bloom’ as Desiree had called it, Faith was perfectly willing to drop her worries. She was perfectly ready to have her paranoia amount to nothing. She would love for her paranoia to amount to nothing and maybe even to get to bloom herself. Even if Desiree’s happiness seemed over the top and ridiculous it didn’t seem insincere. If it was a natural high, Faith wouldn’t have minded to get in on the action.
But being cynical was at the core of Faith’s nature, as was being protective. She was only acting according to her character and it wasn’t as if Desiree wasn’t willing to put her money where her mouth was. She would talk about how the women—as this group was exclusively X chromosome only—would have fancy coffee or tea and discuss their lives, visit rose gardens or galleries of rose art, or even just go out and see a movie together. It seemed their activities were only limited in that they somehow had to involve roses. Desiree would go into detail about what happened each time she’d visited, what they had planned, and kept inviting Faith.
It hadn’t surprised either of them when Faith had finally accepted the offer on the condition of Desiree ditching the Petals if they were really dangerous.
“You don’t need to worry! I’m having fun! Fun is a good thing! Fun is harmless! Fun is why the sun and the moon don’t fight anymore. They realized they had to put their differences aside to have the most fun they could! Life is all about sensory delights, and what else to feel when you’re delighted but that you’re having fun? I haven’t ditched my job—I even got a promotion after my boss saw how motivated I am!” Desiree paused again, and though Faith could only see the back of her head this time she could practically feel the grin that her friend must have been wearing. “Plus, I get a lot of nice looks…”
Walking around like you should be singing in some Broadway musical will get you a lot of looks… Faith had thought, but she didn’t even think of actually saying it. “I know, I know, I know. I need to see the Petals myself. I need to just believe you for now. Fine…”
Desiree started moving again with a giggle that sounded far too mischievous for Faith’s enjoyment. It just sounded almost… Possessed. So often since Desiree had joined the Petals Faith had been sure that they had some sort of unnatural influence over her, and the strange ways that she would suddenly act for no apparent reason only redoubled that fear each and every time that it occurred. “But you’re not just believing me! You’re worrying! You’re fretting! You don’t need to fret. Trust me, you’ll want to bloom. Rose is even going to be there today, the group’s coordinator. I’ve never actually met her before but if anyone can sell you on the idea it’s her. The other women say she’s just a delight.”
“All right! I’ll have a little blind faith! It’s just not like either of us to just go off of faith alone and you of all people ought to know that. When I tried to be religious it was you who kept me that was a silly idea and I ended up believing you. You know I trust your judgment, there’s just something unnatural going on here! But okay. For now, no more active doubt. No more active worrying. Just hope that everything will turn out okay in the end.” Faith smiled just a faint little bit and kept on walking with her friend even if she couldn’t hope to walk along side her before her friend would just pick up speed just long enough to make her feel half a mile behind her.
“I told you religion was silly because there’s nothing solid in it. The Rose Petals are solid. Rose is solid. I’m solid!” Desiree giggled again, but it just sounded happy in a youthful way. “Hell, my happiness is almost solid! Solid happiness! I swear, you’ll be sold after today. No more doubts. You’ll be coming with us to the rose gardens and drinking rose hip tea and feeling happy in no time. I’d bet money on it if that wasn’t just a way to make you try not to be happy.”
Faith grinned just a little. Desiree did still know her even if she didn’t seem like the same woman. Telling Faith she couldn’t or shouldn’t do something was a way almost always to make her not do it. The only exception was likely pursuing her former attraction of her friend, the one aspect of her life where social stigma had truly played an important role. She had worked for years to convince herself she was just worried it would ruin their friendship but when her fingers were between her thighs and Desiree’s face would pop up into her mind and she instantly felt ashamed she would know it was more than that.
“If anything, the Rose Petals are super-natural, not un-natural! You’ll see sweetie. We’ll switch out those nonprescription cracked twilight zone lenses for rose colored in just two hours tops if you let yourself follow your heart. Follow your heart, follow a rose! Roses do stand for love, don’t they?” Desiree’s voice sounded so dreamy in her newly regained youthful voice as she slowly turned again and without warning grasped both of Faith’s hands to gently hold them in hers. “Who would be silly and resist something wonderful like love?”
For a moment, Faith was sure that Desiree had caught on to her and noticed that she was one of the people in her life who was enjoying her change in wardrobe from black and left to the imagine to rosey and welcoming. It felt for a moment like years of fighting against a desire to pin her best friend down against her bed sheets and ruin them in a night of carnal pleasures had been years fought in vain and for no good reason. Something about that rosey pink way that her eyes shined now, something about the way that Desiree’s whole body seemed to feel warm and fragrant as a rose made Faith’s heart stop in the most pleasant of ways.
If the moment had lasted any longer Faith would have lost her composure and just spit it all out. She could just imagine Desiree resisting only long enough to pretend she hadn’t been prepared and then, well, they’d find some secluded alley or… But the moment ended in a flash when Desiree giggled and sighed, twirling back around and heading towards a rose-red colored building. “No one would resist love. That’s just unheard of! So come on, I don’t want our tea to get cold!”
As Desiree disappeared into the building Faith knew in her heart that Desiree hadn’t known. She knew that the secret was hers and would likely always be hers to keep. Even if she wasn’t worried about the reaction she was still in her heart shy and so much of her cynical front was built up to keep herself safe from intimacy. After so long of walling herself off the very thought of truly dropping her shields was frightening. That one look had cut all of those defenses nearly away. Just a moment longer and she would have had Desiree in her arms for better or for worse. The truth would be known. She would be following her heart.
Faith imagined in her chest that her quick beating heart was a tightly wrapped rose, petals shaking with each pump of blood through it and that any of the next pumps might have made the petals break off from the base and melt away, bursting and leaving her with nothing and surely no secrets left before her final moments. Yet Faith’s heart did not burst, and was not a rose, though she did find herself surprised by how quickly she had accepted Desiree’s imagery. She had been resisting it since her friend had first come to her. Was she losing the battle for her own decisions just like her friend, or was that just her paranoia flaring up again? She wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t sure if she ever could be sure.
Through that door was the only place she would find the answer though if there was one for her to find, so she took a deep breath and approached. The worst thing that could happen was that she would end up as a Petal just like Desiree, bloomed, and maybe, maybe then… But she couldn’t let herself hope. As she hesitated at the door that had fallen shut after Desiree stepped through, she let herself sigh and mutter faintly to herself. “Who would be silly and resist something wonderful like love? Even if you know it’s not just lust… Well, I guess someone silly like me.”
With another deep breath Faith pulled open the door to destiny and Desiree, trying to make herself stop hoping that destiny and Desiree were entwined with her more than it would already seem. Already though she knew that if Desiree did love her, and they shared a lover’s embrace, she wouldn’t resist. She wasn’t that silly. She was just afraid. In a passing moment she wondered if a rose was afraid of blooming wrong and losing all of it’s petals in it’s first and only try. No one would cry for that rose, but there would be such lost potential, such lost beauty…
Closing her eyes Faith took that leap of her namesake and stepped in, hoping for the best even if she was afraid for the worst. As her foot stretched in and pressed down on the carpeted floor she knew instantly she wanted to be proven wrong. She wasn’t sure whether that was a good or a bad thing, but she knew she was soon to find out.
Even before Faith’s eyes opened the strong smell of roses hit her nose in ways she’d never experienced before. It smelled somehow like one of those new age mystic stores, a church, and a fancy romantic restaurant all at once. Somehow just some way that the smell felt, some way that it made her cheeks feel flushed, her spirit feel tranquil, and her curiosity be peak all felt so perfect. It was like walking through the gates of heaven and smelling pure love upon her arrival as if it had all been arranged that way just for her. If Desiree had not reached out and gently tugged her hand causing her eyes to lazily slide open, Faith might have even let her mind wander further on just how wonderful and perfect it felt.
“Come on Faithy, I want you to meet the girls! They’ve all just been dying to meet you.” Desiree tugged her forward like an impatient child and Faith could not find it in herself to struggle or put up any resistance whatsoever. She might be silly enough to not confess her feelings for her friend, she wasn’t silly enough to stay standing pointlessly in a doorway.
It took a moment or two for Faith’s mind to catch up to the reality of the situation and when it did it immediately felt that worry grow just the slightest little bit. “They’ve been dying to meet me? You told them about me? Of course you told them about me, you tell them about everything…” Faith’s voice came out in a daze and it sounded tired and listless when she wanted it to sound curious and just the slightest little bit worried. Why did she suddenly feel so tired, so calm, so much like worrying just didn’t matter? It must have been the encounter with Desiree holding her hands, Faith rationalized. That was the only logical thing. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.
“Oh don’t be silly Faithy. I didn’t tell them anything too personal. I just told them that I have a pretty, smart, and lovely friend Faith that’s always been there for me and always makes me feel special even if I don’t always go through all the trouble of letting her know. That’s all. I didn’t tell them any of the personal things we talk about—at last not in any great detail. That wouldn’t be fair to you.” Desiree’s voice seemed to shift from almost ditzy to almost reverent the longer that she was inside of the building and Faith noticed but couldn’t bring herself to wonder why enough for it to matter. “I’d never want to be unfair to you.”
“Thanks Desiree… So come on, I wanna meet the girls too…” Faith found herself yawning, and wasn’t surprised for some reason when her eyelids felt heavy just enough to slightly close in a comfortable way. Maybe her eyes just needed a little break, she rationalized. Maybe she wasn’t blinking enough and she needed to give her eyelids a rest. So many silly explanations filled her mind but none of them were likely. They just let her ride the oddly distracted oddly melted feeling that seemed to melt into her from that fragrance.
As Faith followed Desiree deeper into the building she let her eyes wander slowly over her surroundings. The walls were covered with wallpaper, or some sort of wall treatment that made them look like thousands of beautiful, impossibly soft flower petals. Pedestals filled the entrance’s long hallway and on each one was a beautifully ornate vase with a single long stemmed pink, red, or white rose peaking out in the most beautiful way. Everything was so beautiful, so fragrant, so perfect. Faith could hardly believe her luck. Everything was so perfect, everything was so relaxing, everything was so… Rosey.
Further in the sound of chatter could be heard. Happy voices were talking about something, but Faith couldn’t find herself caring. For some reason just being dragged along and glancing over her surroundings was far more fulfilling than listening to hear what those voices had to say. They sounded beautiful, but focusing on them sounded silly. It was like listening to ambient music instead of intently looking at raw beauty. It was deliciously impossible. Somehow the futility of struggling against the sweetly lethargic feeling filled Faith with a serenity she’d never felt before.
In her chest she could feel, see that rose again. It was still a bud, but it… It was slowly stretching. Very faintly she could feel it loosen up. Very faintly she could feel it relax, relent, melt itself open. In one perfect moment before the thought faded from her mind, Faith knew that a rose didn’t fear failure in blooming. Blooming was what a rose was meant to do. Not blossoming perfectly was like the sun failing to rise.
It just didn’t happen.
Pillars filled what felt like it must be the inner sanctum, pillars that had roses crawling up them and draped over them like lovers scantily clad and leaning against a doorway to entice a lover. The thorns were there, but for some reason the thought of thorns hurting felt silly to the blonde. Roses had thorns for protection. If you didn’t mean to hurt a rose you weren’t at any risk.
That thought made her pause, and for a moment she turned into a lead weight. Roses had thorns. Thorns pierced you whether you held a rosebush tight or whether you stroked it delicately. Roses didn’t have intent. Roses just were, and Faith knew she knew this. Yet somehow, somehow the thought seemed silly and in what felt like another burst of that sweet scent she just kept moving. She could feel Desiree’s reassuring smile though she didn’t look to confirm it’s presence. One doesn’t need to look to know the sun is shining on them.
Faith could feel it.
“Good Faithy… Just breathe… Let yourself breathe so deeply, let yourself feel that sweet scent as it washes everything else away. Let it surround you, let it fill you…” Desiree’s voice was like auditory silk. It stroked and felt its way inside of Faith’s ears in such a sensual way that she almost didn’t hear herself moan. Desiree sounded like a rose smelled. Perfect, like love, as if Desiree was somehow really a rose, or really a rose petal. It made Faith want to be a rose petal too, more than anything, and yet at the same time it reignited the flame of her worry.
“Desiree… Washes away…? That doesn’t sound good, doesn’t…” Even her own voice felt and sounded so soothing, as if Faith too had been infected by whatever sweetness Desiree was filled with to her very core. Faith struggled against the urge to moan and melt at the sound of her own voice and struggled, gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, standing still and shaking her head firmly, quickly, to try and clear out the scent. “No… no! Washing things away isn’t good, it isn’t right!”
Faith’s eyes closed tightly as she felt tears well in her eyes. Who would be silly enough to resist love? Those words screamed as she felt the rose of her heart stop blooming, and felt it slowly turn back to a budded state, but then freeze yet again amidst its transformation. It didn’t want to go back to being sealed. It wanted to be open, and yet…
The petals shook as she could feel Desiree’s sad look. It was like a cloud moving in front of the sun and Faith instantly felt cold. She wanted to run, she wanted to hide, and yet more than anything she wanted to cling and tell her friend the truth then more than she ever had before. She hadn’t just glanced at her so often because she thought Desiree beautiful, though she did. She’d admired her spirit. She’d admired the way Desiree made herself look beautiful even when her hair looked like hell or her face had been covered with blemishes. Every small little thing about her screamed beautiful, but…
The clouds parted, just faintly as Desiree spoke. It was as if the sun was peering through the nearly closed windows of Faith’s soul and tempting her to play outside. Just to open herself up to the sun, skin cancer or sun burns be damned. “Washing bad things away is good… It’s right… It’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s what we’re meant to do. If we weren’t supposed to, we wouldn’t be able to… Let me help you… Open your eyes and inhale, inhale so deep and lose yourself in the feeling. Let yourself bloom, let yourself be free… I can feel the pulse in your hand, your heart beating like a wounded bird trapped in a cage it’s built around itself… Open up the cage. Open up the cage and let the bird fly free, let yourself bask in the sun and be redeemed, reborn, refreshed… For you, Faith… Because you deserve it… Because it was what you were born to do…”
Every little truth made Faith’s lips quiver as she fought back gasps and moans only to fail. It felt like perfection. It felt like bliss. She knew it was true. Faith knew that her friend would never lie to her even if something was dreadfully wrong. It was all true, even if some part of her kept screaming. Why would she scream? Why would she be resisting love? Why would she be that silly, who would be that…
“Desiree… Please, please help me… This isn’t right, this isn’t you, and this isn’t me… I want to believe you, on god I want to believe you Desiree! Every little word keeps wiggling its way into my heart and I just… I want to bloom… But not like this! Not like this, god not like this!” Inhale? Faith tried to struggle past the tiredness. Why did Desiree want her to inhale? Why did Desiree want her to just inhale and be filled, cleansed… It was the scent! Finally, she could think just clearly enough to see, and it was clear as a rose against a white plane just what was happening!
As soon as she’d smelt the scent her head had felt so melted, so dizzy, and so warm. There was something drugged about it. It was some sort of bad incense, some bad drugs. Sure, they felt so good, but that was the point. It was supposed to feel bad, Faith thought, and then this crazy cult would reel her in like it had Desiree, and it would have them both. They would have both of them, and they’d never get out, never… “I won’t let them do this to you…!”
Surprising even herself Faith wrenched her hand away and covering her nose and mouth with her hands she ran back towards the door. She had to get out! She could get help, get the police, get someone to save and deprogram her friend and then everyone could be happy again! It would be quick, it would be easy, and it would be the right thing to do! There wasn’t any other choice, and she knew it. She couldn’t resist love. Love told her to flee. Love told her to stop thinking, and act. Her legs moved faster than they had ever moved before and even though they had always felt so short they felt twice as long in that perfect moment as she tried to fight off the sleepiness, tried to just get to the door.
She nearly did before her legs gave out underneath her. At first she hadn’t even noticed that they’d already fallen asleep. It was as if Faith’s mind had already relinquished control of her body even if Faith herself hadn’t been consciously aware. She ran fast and far in the short time she did, but it wasn’t enough.
Faith’s body shuddered as it collapsed half way to the door and her lips fell open in a loud cry. She couldn’t let this happen! Her body moved and struggled as her hands grasped at the carpet and she tried to find some way to pull herself along. She’d just get to the door. Then she could scream. They wouldn’t be able to stop someone from hearing. This was a city! Someone would see, someone would act. It might be a city, but it wasn’t New York, it was more… She had to try!
When her body had finally shifted enough to let her start crawling towards the exit Desiree’s footfalls moved slowly beside her, and then in front of her. Slowly she kneeled and looked down into Faith’s eyes with a sad, worried expression before reaching her hands down to grasp under her arms. Faith tried to flail, tried to struggle, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her heart was lost in those nearly rose pink eyes. It wasn’t just a faint gleam anymore. Those eyes were definitely a rose pink. They were shining, with candle light, with moon light, and with every other romantic light Faith had ever seen. Before she could register what or why she was moving, she was being cradled in Desiree’s lap and their eyes were locked so tenderly, so perfectly, so sweetly. Faith could feel Desiree’s warmth melt it’s way into her, and she could feel her heart slowly begin blossoming anew.
“Faithy… Faithy… Faithy… Let me help you… Let me free you… Let me show you the way to freedom, to bliss, to love… I’m not blind, Faith… I saw how you would look at me. You didn’t look at my chest, like the other boys and girls would. You didn’t stare at my ass or my curves or my legs with a look that screamed I was just food… You stared at my eyes. You stared at my cheeks. You stared at my hands and your hands would move, like you wanted to hold them but didn’t want to risk them not holding you back. I saw how you looked at my chest to see my heartbeat when you thought my eyes were closed… I saw how you reacted when I held your hands… and I can see your heart through your eyes right now. I can see it glow, I can see it blossoming, I can… I can feel it… Can’t you feel it…? Can’t you feel I feel it too…? Couldn’t you always feel it…? Inhale… Inhale, and it can be yours, I can be yours, and you can be mine… It can be everything we’ve both always wanted… And more…”
It took all of what was left of her soul not to scream. Faith’s hands shook from their place limply at her sides, her lips quaked and yearned to be kissed, her eyes were lost, and her nose itched to inhale. It was all she wanted, to inhale… “But it’s not… It’s not love… The scent… The Roses… The Petals… Something is wrong… This is wrong… If you love me you’ll… Let me… Help me go…”
“Oh, but it’s because I love you that I can’t let you go… It’s because I love you that I have to help you stay… The air is just filled with the scent of roses, the smell of love, the smell of romance… The petals aren’t controlling me, and they won’t control you. I would never do that to you… This isn’t about control, this isn’t a cult… This is about setting you free. This is about letting us be us, and letting us be together, letting us be like two roses entwined with their thorns piercing each other and keeping each other fed… This is about true love… This is about pure love… Please, let me share this with you… Become a Petal… Be a petal in my heart and let me be a petal in yours… For me, Faithy… For me… And for you most of all… You tried so hard to protect me, but it was to protect me from nothing… Let me protect you… Let me love you…”
Faith’s eyes were torn. Full of love, confusion, and fear she didn’t know what to believe. Desiree’s lips shined like perfect rose petals, so soft, so perfect, so…and her eyes… She couldn’t resist, and she didn’t want to. Wether it was true or not, Faith wanted to believe the scent was just roses. She wanted to believe the Petals were innocent. The truth of it didn’t matter, not anymore… She just wanted her Desiree…
Instead of answering it with words, Faith closed her eyes and let herself lean forward. Inhaling deep as she could, Faith melted her lips tenderly into Desiree’s and her body followed suit. It felt like there was no clothing between the two of them, just flesh, just tenderness, just perfection. The scent swirling in Faith’s head was half roses and half Desiree’s. A part of the scent was the growing, mingling scent of their mutual desire that had been trapped for so long inside those budded roses.
Desiree’s arms held Faith tight and Faith’s hands slowly moved to clutch at Desiree’s hips. The scent felt like hands over her as her eyes stayed closed in the kiss and the inhalation of pure love into her mind, into her body, into her soul. It was beyond rapture, it was beyond bliss. It was everything.
Slowly the strength returned to Faith’s hands and they found their way to Desiree’s shoulders, caressing, stroking and kneading before melting slowly down her body. Along their way they only gently touched, only slightly felt, and the kiss grew more heated and tender with each passing moment. Fingers brushed over thinly encased nipples, and Desiree’s arms just pulled Faith closer as moans melted into Faith’s slowly parting lips.
The taste of their swirling tongues to both of them was like two wet, warm roses growing together and becoming one. Faith’s petal soft touches over her friend, who she could no longer think of as any less of than as her lover, slowly melted as her hands again reached her hips. Faith pressed her chest into Desiree’s and felt as her own body tightened against Desiree’s, felt as her body grew flush and warm and wet as the shared kiss and she felt euphoria like she never had before.
Both moaned as the feeling swirled around them, as the scent, and the feeling, and the sound of each other became overwhelming and in one satisfying moment Faith finally felt her heart bloom and her body burst in one perfect moment. She didn’t need to hear Desiree’s screams to know that she had followed suit, she could feel it through the kiss, through the smell, and through the spiritual bond that had sealed them together.
Slowly melting down into the floor the lovers entwined their legs and stayed close as the scent rocked them off to sleep and rocked Faith away from the last of her worries and the last of her woes.
Who would be silly enough to resist something perfect like love? Not Desiree, and definitely not Faith. As the two fell into sweet slumber, so perfectly wrapped up in each other’s love and the feeling of each other’s warm bodies Faith could have sworn she felt a kiss of lips not Desiree’s, rose red lips against her forehead though her eyes were still melted closed. It was as if the very goddess of love had kissed her forehead, as if to tell her she had done the right thing, as if to congratulate her…
In the last perfect moment before sleep overtook she knew that kiss had been from Rose… She knew that she had done the perfect thing, taken the best choice of any she had ever taken… She was a Petal. She was a petal of the very flower of love…
Faith had bloomed, and she never wanted to go back. The world melted away to sleep, and Faith couldn’t have been happier, nor could Desiree.
It had been a month since Desiree had finally been able to convince Faith to come along with her to see the Petals. They hadn’t stayed long after they’d awoken, though none of the other petals had minded. Each of them was holding onto another of them when Faith and Desiree had awoken in the hallway. The smell of musk lightly flowed off of all of them and none of them minded, nor did any of them care. It was the perfect smell and the perfect feeling that was love, and love was a rose.
Of the many aspects of the rose that Faith now knew she was, Faith felt herself most intimately drawn to the red that had been her heart that last moment when she had felt that final pump of bliss flow so sweetly. All of her wardrobe had quickly changed to that perfect color of red, and maybe it was just her, but sometimes when she saw her eyes in the mirror she could have sworn they were the red of that rose she had seen inside of her.
Faith and Desiree had thrown apart their worries and cares and had moved in to a new apartment together down town, one much closer to the Rose Petal’s shrine so that they could participate more intimately in the goings of their organization that meant so much to them both. It had given them each other, it had them bliss and all of their wildest dreams. Neither of them had ever needed to ask the other if they felt the same way. It was clear in the way they smelled, the way they tasted, the way they felt, the way they sounded, and the way they looked.
They were both two petals of the same rose, and yet two roses whole and complete. It was not mindless bliss, but it was enough, and neither of them doubted that for a moment. Each day was a new adventure. Each time they helped another girl find love they could feel their own redouble and grow like the roses they were.
The Rose Petals had been the best thing to happen to either of them, and neither of them could imagine that ever changing. It was happily ever after, and yet it was a new beginning. With faith in each other nothing felt impossible, and nothing was worrying or depressing for long. Every morning the sun still rose with them together, and set the same. One didn’t ask why or how or when, and it didn’t matter.
It just was.