"So Please, Hurry, Leave Me, I Can't Breathe, Please Don't Say You Love Me"
Dandy stood backstage, tapping his foot in annoyance at the lack of presence of Connie. She was supposed to show up 7 minutes ago, where the hell was she? They had to start practice for the show that was next week. She was a major part of it this time, so she couldn't afford to be late. He would definitely be telling Delilah and Connie's handler later about her tardiness. But then again, the punishments Connie's handler gave her were quite... weak... in his opinion.
The ghost toon eventually showed up, being approximately 15 minutes late. 15 minutes wasted. 15 minutes they couldn't spare. And Connie wonders why she rarely gets big roles. She's always late. Always wasting time. It angered him to no end.
"Connie Boolynski, where the hell were you? You wasted a good 15 minutes of practice time because you decided to be tardy." Dandy stated. Connie's eyes widened as she looked at the clock.
"D-Dandy! I swear I-I can explain...!" She quickly stammered out, as she didn't want him to lecture to her about how valuable time is and how being tardy not only causes there to be less practice time, but also wastes the time of others.
Dandy scoffed, "Let me guess, you're going to use some excuse like 'Oh me and my girlfriend got into another argument'. You know that if your late to the actual performance you can't use that excuse. You know how the public is. Hell, Delilah's already mad that parents are refusing to take their kids here now because of the whole 'Glisten is gay' scandal that happened last month or the whole 'Is Astro a girl or a boy? Is she confused?' newspaper article that was written about a performance just because he sounded to feminine. We don't need another situation where the public shames us for being... that... you know how bad it would be for our reputation, for Delilah's reputation, if news that 'Connie is a lesbian and is in a relationship with another girl toon' got out, especially since the public doesn't like you that much anyways. Hell, last Christmas Bobette and Ginger were almost found out. Our name is already being tarnished by the amount of outings of the sexual and gender orientations of our fellow toons, who knows what Delilah will do if more outings happen. Remember, she said she doesn't care if we are gay or whatever, but just to keep it undercover. Hell for Astro he was lucky that he figured out his whole gender thing at a younger age so he could be presented as male in the shows."
Connie rolled her eyes at Dandy's whole rant about keeping her sexuality a secret. She found the whole thing dumb. If she was already unliked, why would it matter if people knew she was a lesbian. She honestly never cared about the shows. It's not like she usually plays any major role. And even when she was major, the other star would outshine her. Even if it was Shrimpo. Which kind of stung a bit, but she tried to never let it show. She couldn't let anyone know that she was secretly hurting. She looked at who she was supposed to be performing with, expecting a main who would definitely outshine her. She saw the words "Starring Gigi & Connie" in the upper right corner. So she was performing with Gigi, that was a first. They were never usually paired together in shows due to being close friends outside of the show, which was believed to make it easier for distractions to happen.
After practice.
"Phew-!" Connie gasped. She decided to put in extra effort this time, instead of being "a lazy fat-ass who just sat in the corner doing nothing," as Dandy ever so nicely referred to her as. She went up to Dandy, shouting "Hey Dandy! I did good this time! Ri-" Dandy raised his hand and smacked her across the face. Connie flinched back, confused, shocked, and hurt at Dandy's response. "D-Dandy? What? Why did you do that?" she questioned.
Dandy shot a glare at her, his voice low, "you completely fucked up. First off your late to practice, second off you kept using you ability at the wrong times, third off you tripped Gigi, which, even if it was an accident, you still cracked the top of her capsule, fourth..." Connie started to feel herself tearing up, blocking out Dandy picking out all the flaws in her performance. Dandy realized that she started to block him out and slapped her again, harder this time. The tears started to spill out her eyes as he smacked her for the second time. She felt the glistening droplets slide down her cheek, easily visible to Dandy. Instead of apologizing for making her cry, he laughed. He was laughing at her. Her tears slipped faster, her body started to quiver a little bit too. She felt so embarrassed in that moment. Crying, really? In front of Dandy of all toons. "So fucking... useless..." He mumbled under his breath. Connie wanted to get out of this room, to get away from Dandy.
"D-Dandy please stop..." Connie whispered, her words were almost as quiet as a mouse. "Please stop berating me..." A couple of quiet sobs escaped her lips. Dandy looked at her with a look of hatred. He looked dangerous, almost as if he was about to hit her again. Or worse. She felt as if she should leave this room before he did something reckless. But she knows if she did, he would just tell the handlers and Delilah, which probably wasn't much better.
Dandy shook his head in disapproval. "You said your handler punishes you when you fuck up, right? Well she must be doing a shit ass job at it if you're STILL acting like this." Connie's eyes widened at him calling her handler's punishments to her weak. They definitely weren't. Dandy then smiled. "Don't worry Connie, I'll give you a good punishment. If the handlers can't punish you properly, I will." In response to his words, she gasped. In what world did he think that he had the right to hurt a fellow toon in such a way.
Dandy cracked his knuckles and stretched out a bit. Without warning, he pushed her to the ground. He raised his hand, ready to strike at her. As his hand got closer and closer to her face... everything went black...
---
Connie shot up, her breath ragged, sweat dripping down her skin. The ghost looked down at her hands, which were trembling. She had that nightmare again... the day that Dandy first punished her for messing up seemed to forever haunt her. Connie never forgot about it. She wishes she could forget though. She slid her tail over the edge of her bed, getting up, grabbing a pair of white elbow-length fingerless gloves that Gigi had given her. She had no idea where Gigi got them from, she probably stole them. The gloves were mainly used to cover her arms but she couldn't lie, they looked pretty good on her.
Exiting her room and going to grab breakfast, she noticed that Ginger and Cosmo were the only two in the dining room. She must be a bit early. She looked up at the newly installed digital clock, which Vee insisted was added to all of the rooms, noticing that she was indeed 3 hours early. Connie sighed, not knowing what to do. She could play with all the new technological gadgets Vee had brought in. Some new smartphones, a couple of newer gaming consoles, new "Bluetooth", as Vee called it, earbuds, etc. But she decided not to because it looked like those were gifts that Vee was planning to give out on Christmas and she didn't want to get scolded over tampering with the gifts again. So, she decided to stay in the kitchen.
Ginger was sitting at a bar table, slowly taking a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage was in her hands. Once she was done with the sip, she laid her head down on the table. From what Connie could tell, Ginger seemed to be... crying? She didn't know, nor did she really care, it wasn't any of her business. Cosmo tried his best to comfort Ginger, but it wasn't doing much. He could hear her mumble "go away" under her breath. Cosmo still stayed though, at least, until she smacked him on the arm. He got up from the bar and headed up to Sprout's room, probably to decide what they were making for breakfast.
Out of curiosity, Connie spied on Ginger.
"Oh why Bobette... why... what did I do to deserve this? I thought we were happy! I thought I was the love of your life! Why did you hurt me? Why? Did I fail in some way? Was I not loving enough? Was I just not good enough? Why must you break my heart. Bobette, please... I'm sorry... please just take me back... oh what is wrong with me... It's not like you'll ever talk to me again. I'm just sitting here crying, drinking my woes away. Gosh I'm so pathetic, aren't I?"
Ginger lifted her head up to get another sip of the alcohol. As she leaned her head back to let the liquid pour into her mouth, she felt her head touch what she assumed was another toon. "W-whos there?!?! Who's spying on me?" Ginger blurted out. She looked around the room for the toon. She felt embarrassed and annoyed that someone was seeing her in such a vulnerable state. She just wanted to cry and drink in peace, not deal with people watching her. "Connie is that you? It has to be! Anyone else I would've caught by now! Show yourself!"
Connie sighed, rolling her eyes. She undid her invisibility. "There, happy now?" Connie asked, a slightly snarky tone came out. Ginger glared at her. What the hell is this girl's issue, why is she spying on me? Ginger thought. She voiced her thoughts to Connie. "Oh, I was just bored, nothing much to do this early in the morning," Connie shrugged, "so your girlfriend broke up with you?" Ginger didn't say anything. She just nodded her head. Her and Bobette's breakup was a very sensitive topic to her. She didn't like talking about it at all. "Damn... sorry to hear that." Connie said. She wanted to sound sympathetic, but it came off kind of sarcastic. She struggled to show sympathy, even if it's what she felt.
"Connie, I don't need any smartass responses from you right now, go and annoy your little girlfriend or whatever she is." Ginger responded.
Connie looked down. She wasn't trying to be a smartass. And Gigi was not her girlfriend. They tried the whole girlfriends thing out, it didn't work out for them. They decided they would've been better off as just friends. "No, Ginger, I meant it, I'm sorry to hear that, I understand how bad a breakup can be. Look, I know because of how I usually am and because of how my tone always is you probably don't believe me, but I mean it." Ginger looked at her, not sure on whether to believe her or not. "Is there anything I could get you to help?" Connie asked.
Ginger thought for a second before responding, "mhm, can you get me another drink?" Connie nodded vehemently, rushing off to go and grab another drink for Ginger. She also grabbed one for herself. Ginger grabbed the drink and watched as Connie sat down across from her. She watched as Connie put the glass to her lips, letting the liquid seep in. Ginger was quite surprised on how elegantly Connie seemed to drink the beverage, she was expecting that Connie would drink like a 40 year old beer addict.
The two girls chatted for a while. Ginger found herself growing quite fond of Connie, despite her original distaste for the other toon. Connie wasn't half bad once you got to talk to her privately. Maybe this is why they always say, "don't judge a book by its cover." When Connie wasn't bothering, pranking, or spying on other toons, she was quite fun. They also talked a bit about sadder topics, where Connie dumped some information on how she's the way she is, about how strict her handler and Dandy were so she was forced to be... well... a bitch.
"Sometimes... I just wish I could show who I truly am..." Connie uttered, taking another shot from her glass. "Dandy said I gotta act the way I do 'cause the show and shit and whenever I disobeyed he would just... punish me. So it kinda turned me into the toon I am today. It's just easier being like this, I don't wanna be like this, it's just easier. I wish I could go back..." She ran her hand through her hair, letting go allowing her bangs to fall in her face. She didn't bother moving them. Ginger took that moment to examine Connie's features. Stunning long blue hair, slanted tired blue eyes, pale blue skin, her thin frame, her ghost tail. She was gorgeous, Ginger couldn't deny that. She caught herself staring at Connie's chest a bit too long. There wasn't much there, she was probably an AA cup, maybe just A. Yet, Ginger still found it beautiful. Gosh, what was wrong with her, why was she thinking about Connie in this way? She was still getting over Bobette. She didn't even realize she was blushing until Connie said something.
"Uhhh, Ginger are you okay? You're kinda... red. Do you need some water or something?"
Ginger shook her head. "Naw... I'm alright, I was just... thinking about something, still can't get over her, you know?" Ginger partially lied. Some of it was true, she was still struggling to get over Bobette, but she was actually thinking about Connie. It's only been 4 days and she's already falling for another toon. She looked down at Connie's arms. She wonders why Connie hides them under those gloves. Is it just a stylistic choice? Probably. The two of them continued talking until breakfast hit, for which the still actually continued talking.
---
A few days have past, and the two of them are closer than ever. They've been spending all their time together. Ginger wanted to confess how she felt, but was scared Connie would end up rejecting her or something. What Ginger didn't know was that Connie also had a crush on her, for quite some time actually. Connie was longing to get closer to Ginger, and now that's finally happening. But, even with how close she was to Ginger, she was scared that she wouldn't be good enough for Ginger. That either Ginger wouldn't like her back or that even if Ginger liked her back, she would fuck it up.
"Remember Connie, you are just a fuck up. No one actually likes you, we just tolerate you. Hell I don't even know why we bother to keep you around, you're just causing trouble. And you're not meant to do that unlike Shrimpo or even Gigi. You're just causing trouble for the sake of causing trouble."
Dandy's words still haunted her. She wanted to let them go but she couldn't. They stuck onto her. Ginger walked over to her, a red tint across her cheeks. She looked absolutely flawless today, her makeup was perfect, and she was wearing a gorgeous red sparkle dress. "Hello Connie, I need to talk to you for a second, if that's alright. Connie nodded. "Alright, so... what I wanted to say is... Connie, I love you, you're beautiful in every way, physically and mentally, just sometimes you aren't allowed to show your beauty, but that's alright. Every night and day I can't help but think about you. I know I just got out of a relationship with Bobette, but I can't deny the feelings I have for you. You're beautiful like the moon shining its reflection on the sea, beautiful like a field of daisies, beautiful like a freshly wrapped present under the Christmas tree, and beautiful like so much more. So with all that said... Connie, would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Connie gasped covering her mouth, she wanted to scream "YES YES YESSSSSSS! OF COURSE I DO!" but she was scared to accept. How could someone as sweet as Ginger like someone like her? How could Ginger find her so beautiful? Still, she pushed her doubts aside, "Of course I would! I would love to be your girlfriend!" Connie float-bounced up and down. She was so happy her crush liked her back! And now they were... together!?!?! This has got to be one of the best days of her life!