The hell weekend earned its name several times over by the time Sarita’s last double-shift had finished. Sarita was convinced that someone in marketing at GrrlPower had sent targeted adds to Ardenthill’s entire population of Karens. No customer wanted to leave the store without causing a fuss and harassing the manager. The only upside was that Betty ended the weekend just as frazzled as Sarita. They even bonded over the shared trauma a little.
Her new friendship and the memories of Astra’s kisses kept Sarita out of despair all the way to the end. That earned her points with Betty too. Sarita got a rare compliment about keeping up a good attitude. It seemed unlikely that Betty would remember that compliment the next time she had energy to find fault with Sarita, but it was worth enjoying in the moment.
With a couple days off and a crisp twenty dollar bill from the weekend’s one kindly customer, Sarita was looking to put the weekend behind her. Astra hadn’t messaged her all weekend. Rather than deal with her nerves about that, Sarita hit Nohemi up.
The twenty bucks was just enough to treat her friend to a fancy burger. Sarita’s burger consumed her eating out budget for the current paycheck, but the delicious lamb patty was worth it. Sweet potato fries with ranch were the icing on the treat-food cake.
“You two seriously went on a date the next day?” Nohemi asked, leaning back in the restaurant booth with an amused smirk on her face.
Nohemi had her regular clothes on, which turned out to be the lesbian uniform, though she wore heavy athletic leggings below her t-shirt and flannel instead of jeans. It was a good fit for the retro-nostalgia style of the restaurant. Better than Sarita’s dressy button up blouse and pleated skirt. Formal wear was the only clean clothing Sarita had left.
“She texted me and directly asked!”
“That’s wild. Are you sure she’s a lesbian?”
“Pretty sure.” Sarita said, with a giggle and a blush.
“Okay, basta. I don’t need details.”
“Sorry! It’s all shiny and new.”
“I’m happy for you, chica.” Nohemi said. “I really am. When’s the next time you two do stuff that I don’t need to know about?”
“I don’t know.” Sarita said, pensively pushing a fry around in a puddle of ranch. “She didn’t text me at all over the weekend.”
“You told her you were working doubles though, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you text her at all?”
“No.”
“Tonta. I’m sure she’s just letting you rest.”
“You think so?”
“Oh my god Sarita, do not be a useless lesbian. Text Astra. Tell her you survived the weekend and you want smoochies.”
“Smoochies?” Sarita asked scornfully.
“Smoochie-woochies from your cuddle bear.” Nohemi snarked.
“Shut up! You’re the worst.” Sarita giggled.
“Did I get you over your self-inflicted drama at least?”
“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Nohemi.”
“I live to serve. Thanks again for the burger by the way. This place is really good.”
“I’m glad I could treat you.”
“If you do it too much I might think you want smoochies from me.”
“Stop it with the smoochies, you’re such a nerd!” Sarita threw a napkin at Nohemi.
Nohemi deftly blocked the napkin with a backhand, flashing her black fingernails dramatically. She grabbed an extra straw and blew the paper wrapper off it at Sarita. Giggling, Sarita tried to duck but the wrapper bounced off her cheek.
“I’m so glad you fell on top of me that night.”
Nohemi laughed. “Me too chica, me too.”
“I want to hang out more, but if you have stuff to do, I can go do my own thing.”
“I do have to get to work soon.” Nohemi said reluctantly.
“I don’t even know what you do yet.”
“I install IT systems in buildings. Usually at night so we don’t interrupt the business during their day.”
“Oh wow, that’s really cool.”
“I guess? I’m still a grunt. I mostly pull cables through drop ceilings.”
“Is that why you can’t always go to the Green Fairy when it’s open?”
“Yeah, I try to schedule days off around its open days, but sometimes a big job comes through and everyone’s days off get shuffled.”
“That sucks. I hate it when Betty does that to me with no notice.”
“I’m not a fan of it, but at least we usually get some kind of overtime.”
“I’d like to get my regular time paid correctly.” Sarita sighed. “I don’t think my commission pay ever comes out right.”
“You gotta take that up with your boss.”
“Betty? No way. She’s always on me about stuff. That’d just make her mad and I’d get fired.”
“This doesn’t seem like a problem to you? Your pay is the most important thing about your job.”
“I don’t have a lot of experience or special skills. I need this job.”
“Is there at last a payroll department or HR that you can ask to verify your commissions?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I never got set up on the company email. I asked Betty about it once, and she snapped at me about how I was folding clothes.”
“Sarita, mija, you are being taken advantage of.”
“I know.” Sarita said sadly. “There’s not much I can do about it.”
“Besides look for another job.”
“That’s a big hassle. The new one would probably be just as bad.”
“Okay, I’ll stop trying to solve your problem. I’m here for you though, if you want help applying to places or confronting your boss or whatever.”
“Thanks Mimi.”
“I’m Mimi now?”
“Is that not okay?”
Nohemi shrugged, grinning. “Yeah I don’t mind. You got me at a disadvantage there, your name is already like a nickname.”
“Yeah I know, I’m so cute and girly and stuff ‘cause of my name.”
“You could go by Sarah, or your middle name.”
“My middle name is Angeles.”
“Yeah okay, not that one. Sarah sounds grown-up though. Or you could go by Maria. Your whole middle name is Maria de los Angeles, right?”
“I don’t want to be one of the billion Marias.” Sarita shrugged. “I just like to complain about it, I think. Sarita suits me.”
“It really does.”
“Then why were you trying to get me to change it?”
“Just trying to be helpful.”
“I appreciate it.” Sarita eyed her pile of fries. The soggy ones were all that were left. She pushed the tray away. “When do you have to go to work?”
“I’ve got to be at the job site in about an hour.”
“Oh, so you have to go soon.”
“Yeah, probably should already be getting ready.”
“Thanks for coming out with me.”
“Any time.”
Nohemi gave Sarita a comforting hug after they dumped their trays. They stood awkwardly outside the restaurant. Sarita wasn’t about to suggest that Nohemi leave, but she couldn’t think of anything to talk about that wouldn’t be an obvious stall.
“Hey Hemi, how’s it going?”
Sarita turned to see one of the two girls Nohemi had been with the night they’d met. That evening in the Plush Pony was way too blurry to remember who was who. Luckily, Nohemi solved the identity problem for her.
“Hey Oriana, I’m good. About to head to work. You remember Sarita?”
“Oh yeah, we fell on you. Sorry mija.”
“It’s okay. Nothing broke.” Sarita smiled.
“I really do have to run.” Nohemi said. “If I leave you two alone, you won’t gossip about me will you?”
“That is the very FIRST thing we are going to do.” Oriana said with a wink.
Sarita giggled. “I’m excited to hear some Mimi gossip!”
“Mimi already, huh?” Oriana asked curiously.
“Do not test me, puta.” Nohemi waggled a finger at Oriana. “Fine, go ahead and gossip. I want a full report later though. See ya!”
“Bye Mimi!” Sarita waved.
“Later chica.”
“We don’t actually have to hang out if you don’t want to.” Sarita said shyly.
“No way, I want to dish on Hemi. Plus, I hear she’s not the only one you met that night. You’re Astra’s new girl?”
“Uh, I don’t know if I’m – her girl.” Sarita said, blushing. “We went on one date.”
“Let’s walk somewhere. You want coffee?”
“I just ate.” Sarita said, wincing at a mental image of her bank balance.
“Fair. Let’s walk down to the skate park then. Nieves is down there.”
“Are you and her…” Sarita asked, taking a couple of quick steps to catch up to Oriana.
“Yeah, three years now.”
“Wow, that’s really cool.”
“You haven’t had a lot of relationships?”
“That’s not true. I mean uh – I had a girlfriend in high school and one when I moved to Ardenthill.”
“Uh huh. Look, I’m not trying to flex on you. I just want to warn you about Astra.”
“Warn me?”
“Yeah, she’s into some weird stuff.”
“I – think I know already.”
“After one date? Damn, she’s moving fast these days. Are you sure you actually know the weird thing?”
“I mean – it was really weird.”
“I’m just going to say it. Diapers. She’s going to want to put you in diapers.”
She already did. Sarita thought, blushing. They stopped at a crosswalk, pausing their conversation at the most dramatic moment possible while they waited next to a few strangers. Thankfully, no one matched pace with them after they crossed the street.
“Yeah, that’s the thing. I already know.”
“You’re not freaked out?”
“It doesn’t seem like it hurts anybody.”
“Oh, I’m not judging. Nieves and I do that stuff. That’s just the intro to the Astra warning.”
“You do?” Sarita blinked. “But then – she does something even more weird?”
“No. She goes too fast. It’s not like she means to push people too far, but she’s done it a lot. If you’re going to be with her, you’ve got to have firm boundaries.”
“She’s got a reputation at the Green Fairy? H-how do you know this?”
Oriana sighed. “I’m not trying to rain on your fun new relationship. It’s not just gossip either. I’ve experienced it from Astra first hand.”
Oh no. She’s the ex. Now I have no idea what to believe.
“No you don’t.” Oriana said. “I can see in your eyes what you just did. Invalidated everything I just said, because I’m the ex.”
“N-no I didn’t.”
“I’m seriously not saying you should stop seeing her. I just want you to be careful. Look, there’s a group of us that meet up more often than the Fairy is open. You could come by, talk to some people. Get some perspective on what’s normal in our very weird scene.”
“Oh. Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad. But like, I wouldn’t have to wear…”
“No, of course not. It’d just be people hanging out. Holy shit Sarita, has she already put you in a diaper?”
“I told her I wanted to try it.”
“You are making it so hard not to grab you and mommy you. Will you come to the group?”
“I’d like to. When is it?”
“There’s one tomorrow night. We meet once a week.”
The skate park was right across the next street. Exchanging numbers got them through the crosswalk wait. As soon as they crossed, Oriana had a very excited Nieves in her arms. The two of them were stupid cute, kissing and nuzzling noses and gazing into each other’s eyes.
Sarita didn’t know how they could still be like that after three years, but she longed for it. She was a little jealous of Nieves’ skater girl drip too. Nieves had a whole denim on denim thing going on, balanced by a cute pink hat.
“Hey Nieves, you remember Sarita? She’s coming to the munch tomorrow.”
“Holy shit, did Astra already…”
“It’s a whole thing, we’ll talk about it at home.”
“I’m standing right here, bitches.” Sarita said grumpily.
“Sorry, sorry. There’s all kinds of drama and history.” Nieves said.
“Yeah, I’m getting that.” Sarita sighed.
“If you’re hanging out with Mimi you’ve got to be pretty cool.” Nieves said. “Didn’t mean to dump our baggage on you.”
“Thanks. It’s okay.” Sarita shrugged.
“You’re coming to the thing for sure tomorrow, right?” Oriana asked.
“I will. I really want to see what it’s all about.”
“Cool.” The couple said in unison. Sarita had to work hard not to roll her eyes at the cuteness.
“Do you need us to walk home with you?” Nieves said. “It’ll be dark soon.”
Sarita shook her head. “No, thanks though. I’ll let you two get to your evening. See you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow chica!” Nieves said.
“You better be there or the chancla will come out of nowhere and smack you.”
“Yeah I’m real scared.” Sarita stuck her tongue out at Oriana and waved.
To Sarita’s relief, they were spared the awkwardness of walking together after saying goodbye. Oriana and Nieves were headed West, Sarita North. As she walked, Sarita pulled out her phone in case she needed to get a ‘sudden call’ around a sketchy person.
To her delight, there was a text from Astra, finally. With slightly more complicated feelings than she wanted to have, Sarita checked out the text.
[Astra Green Fairy] Hey hot stuff. I missed you on the weekend. You make it through okay?”
[Sarita] Yeah, barely. I missed you too.
Technically that wasn’t true. She hadn’t had time to miss anybody on the weekend. She’d missed Astra after the weekend though, so it still counted.
[Astra Green Fairy] I’m slammed at work for the next couple of days, but can I see you on Thursday?
[Sarita] I usually work that day, but I can try to get it off. I don’t have my schedule for that far out anyway.
[Astra Green Fairy] That’s only in three days. Your boss is a barbarian. Want to have a little fun tonight?
[Sarita] I thought you couldn’t meet.
[Astra Green Fairy] Over text. Sexy text.
Sarita giggled and blushed. She looked around, but nobody had noticed. She shot off a yes to Astra before ascending the steps to her apartment. Nero was, for once, not begging for food. He wanted pets instead. Carrying a very squirmy kitty, Sarita checked her plants and turned on the TV.
[Astra Green Fairy] Great. First, tell me what you’re wearing.
[Sarita] White button up blouse, pleated skirt.
[Astra Green Fairy] Panties?
Sarita squirmed. She hesitated before sending her next text.
[Sarita] Yes. Pink with lace.
[Astra Green Fairy] Super hot. What’re you doing right now?
[Sarita] Just got home.
[Astra Green Fairy] You were out? Make sure you’re hydrated. Drink a full glass of water.
Sarita frowned, then shrugged. It’d been fun after their last date, when Astra had ‘made’ her put on the pullup. She poured herself a glass and pounded it down.
[Sarita] Done.
[Astra Green Fairy] Good girl. I have to finish cooking my dinner. Hold that thought. Don’t change clothes.
Sarita rolled her eyes. She was of half a mind to tell Astra to just drop the game and go back to chatting. Nero hopped up on the couch and headbutted her hand. She laughed and scratched his head. Sarita flopped on the couch and put on a movie for background noise. She petted Nero idly while she waited for Astra to get back to her.
[Astra Green Fairy] I’m back. Still dressed like a fancy little girl?
[Sarita] I guess. I didn’t change.
[Astra Green Fairy] Good girl. You have a shower or tub?
[Sarita] Shower.
[Astra Green Fairy] Get in the shower. With your phone. Don’t turn shower on.
Curiously, Sarita went to the bathroom, ignoring Nero’s petulant meow. She stepped into the shower and closed the glass door to prevent any cat-interference.
[Sarita] Okay, what now?
[Astra Green Fairy] Sit down in the shower. Now.
[Astra Green Fairy] Wet yourself.
Sarita was already on her butt when the second message came through. She stared at it in shock.
[Sarita] What?
[Astra Green Fairy] I’m sure you have to go after that big glass of water. Go ahead. In your skirt and panties.
[Sarita] I can’t!
[Astra Green Fairy] Yes you can. It’ll be hot.
[Sarita] I can’t send a pic of that… like I did of the pullup.
[Astra Green Fairy] You don’t have to. I’ll believe you if you say you did it.
Sarita stared at the phone. Was this what Oriana had been talking about? What Astra was asking seemed kind of gross and pushy. At the same time, she’d already worn a pullup. She’d known what people did in those. Pee being involved in stuff with Astra wasn’t a total surprise.
Gingerly, Sarita tried releasing her bladder. Nothing happened. She tried again. The third time she even pushed a little. Still nothing. Her body just wouldn’t do it.
[Sarita] I tried, I can’t.
[Astra Green Fairy] Happens to a lot of little girls. Sit up in a squat. Feet apart, squatting all the way down. Try again.
Sarita stared at the message. She wanted to tell Astra no. At the same time, she wanted to see where Astra was going with this. She could get out of the clothes right away, and it wasn’t like she’d never peed in the shower before. Maybe this would tell her if she wanted to play Astra’s game – or not.
Licking her lips, Sarita assumed the position Astra had asked for. Relaxing this time brought a sense of dangerous urgency. Pushing put a trickle of liquid in her panties. As soon as she’d started, it was easier to get another splash of pee. Sarita fell back on her butt, copiously wetting her skirt and panties.
“Oh god, oh god.”
It was humiliating, even with nobody to see. She felt gross, embarrassed, upset – and dominated. Sarita curled onto her knees and scrunched up her face. The conflict between the discomfort and the arousal had her thoughts spinning.
[Sarita] There’s so much. It’s gross. I did it.
[Astra Green Fairy] I can’t believe you did it. You know you’re going to get spanked next time I see you.
[Sarita] But I did what you said!
[Astra Green Fairy] You still get a spanking for being a dirty girl. A long one. Bent over my couch.
[Sarita] hot
[Astra Green Fairy] I’ll put you in a pullup afterwards.
[Sarita] Then what?
[Astra Green Fairy] Then you get kisses, and I make you a really dirty girl.
Sarita bit her lip and pressed her hand between her legs. It was so hot. So gross. So – much. She almost took care of herself right there in the shower. Instead, she tossed her phone on the bathroom rug and stripped down. The water came on for a rinse-off and Sarita went straight to her bed. Twenty minutes later, she was feeling a lot more relaxed.
Retrieving her phone, she discovered a lot of messages from Astra. They were continuing the game at first, then asking if she was okay. The last one even seemed like Astra was worried that she’d upset Sarita.
[Sarita] I’m okay, was just away from phone. Sorry I didn’t respond. I was cleaning up.
[Astra Green Fairy] That took a while. Was cleaning up all you did?
[Sarita] No. I – needed to finish off.
[Astra Green Fairy] Dirty girl. That’s another spanking. Who said you could get off?
[Sarita] Nobody
[Astra Green Fairy] Don’t worry, I take good care of naughty girls like you. I know what you need.
[Sarita] I wish you were here. Texts feel lonely.
[Astra Green Fairy] I could call you.
[Sarita] You don’t have to.
[Astra Green Fairy] I know. Can I call anyway?
[Sarita] Yes.
Sarita didn’t know if she wanted Astra to chat, or if she wanted another round of sexy. When Astra opened the call warm and conversational, it felt good. They talked a little about Sarita’s weekend. Astra had some trouble going on at her sales job. It was really nice to bitch about bosses and co-workers.
The only dominant thing Astra did was give Sarita a bedtime. Cuddled up in bed, with Nero wedged in the crook of her knees, Sarita didn’t complain. She’d been yawning through the call anyway.
“Goodnight Astra.”
“Goodnight Little Girl.”
It was an odd note to end on. Sarita decided to feel comforted by it. With another huge yawn, she drifted off to sleep.
The next day was not so relaxing. It started off early, with a text from Britt, followed by a call when Sarita didn’t respond fast enough for her manager’s taste. The work schedule was finally up. Sarita had to come in that day for a two hour break shift, then work the next five days, split shifts.
“Can I at least have Thursday evening off, since I’m coming in today on short notice?”
Britt actually laughed. “Nice try, no. You know the employee handbook says your schedule can be changed at any time. See you in two hours.”
Sarita groaned helplessly at her phone. It was a race to get a single outfit washed in the sink and dried with a hairdryer. Her outfit from the day before was still sitting at the bottom of the shower, soaked. Even high-sugar mocha espresso couldn’t save the day. Sarita managed to get yelled at twice during her short shift. Back home, lunch was tuna directly out of the can. She shared with Nero, of course.
After taking a sack of laundry to the laundromat and dragging it home, Sarita collapsed on the couch. She grabbed her phone to send a text to Oriana to let her know she wasn’t going to make it to the munch. She had the first word of the message typed out when she realized she really wanted to go.
Sitting up she grabbed Nero from his lounging spot on the coffee table. He meowed indignantly, still meowing through his purrs as she scratched his ears.
“I think it’ll be nice to have friends to hang out with again. What do you think, Nero?”
Nero thought he needed his chin scratched. Sarita agreed.