Unrequited
Vee and Shelly were out for dinner, as Vee put it, a “gal pal dinner”. Yeah. Gal pals. Right. That’s what they were. Shelly was off mood, barely paying attention to anything the robot said, lost in her own world.
“Shelly?” Vee says, her monotone voice seeming to tinge with concern, with Shelly replying she was okay and she just zoned out. That was far from the truth, but oh well.
Breaking the tension a little, their food arrived and they began eating quietly, the bustle of the restaurant around them muffled from the blanket of tension settling over the two toons once more.
“Astro has been such a gentleman lately! God, I love him…” Vee mentions, trailing off with a flick of her tail. Shelly looks at the ground, eating a little. She couldn’t help but resent Astro, even if he did nothing wrong inherently. Vee /did/ mention she was bisexual, right…?
“That’s nice. I’m glad you’re happy with him.” Shelly manages to choke out, and this time Vee catches the look on her face, her expression on her screen faltering, being replaced with concern.
“Shelly, are you okay?” Vee says, but she can’t meet her eyes, virtual or not.
“Sorry, I’ve gotta go.” Shelly rises from her seat, scooting out of the booth that they were sitting in in the diner. Vee /always/ talked about Astro, and it never made her feel remotely good. No matter how much guilt she felt about it, she resented, maybe even /hated/ Astro. She couldn’t help it.
As she walks toward the door, tears gathering in her eyes and threatening to flow, Vee calls out, “Shelly, wait!-“ to no avail. Shelly ran onto the street, back to Gardenview, and to her room.
Alone, she let her tears fall, coating her hands as she sobbed hysterically. She weeped, for too many things to count. She weeped because the only girl she loved was just out of reach, because she had a boyfriend. Shelly could be her boyfriend. She didn’t need Astro.. right? She weeped because even if Vee liked her back, she’d never get to be public about it. Everyone would resent her if they knew. She was already hated enough, without being /gay/.
The door suddenly creaked open, and Shelly looked up, to see the cleaner toon, Tisha. She wiped away her tears, looking up at the maid toon. She didn’t want anyone seeing her like this, but sometimes Tisha was the only one who /cared/.
Tisha sits down beside her, wrapping her arms around Shelly, holding her while she wept. “What’s wrong, Shelly?” Tisha asks, concern in her eyes and voice.
“A lot of things. Mainly Vee.” Shelly replies.
“Really? What about her? I’ll listen.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.. Well, she always talks about Astro, her boyfriend. It’s every time we talk.. could she talk about /anything/ besides her boyfriend? She says she’s bisexual.. yeah.. I really really like her. I don’t wanna hear anything else about Astro. I wish she’d give me the time of day, at least in the way I see her. But I can’t. Not in this day and age. I hate it here. No one except you likes me anyways.” Shelly rants.
Tisha just sighs. There wasn’t exactly anything she could do, anyways. At least not yet. So, she just wraps her arms around Shelly and lets her cry, until her tear ducts went dry.
Tisha was certainly not going to tell Shelly about her. Not yet, not now, maybe not ever. Oh well.