When Acting As a Wave

Nikolette furrowed her brow at Gwendolyn's recoil and response. "D-Don't ya start that with me!" She said. "Yer right. Everyone can gain advantages and disadvantages in the ring. that's what trainin's for. That's what experience is for. You're right about what you say, but yer wrong about how yer applyin it! All those advantages other people get, they get within the confines of the rules!"

Nikolette shook her head. "Gwennie, if you were usin all yer wealth and fame ta get the best equipment, the best trainers, the best everythin ta get the best advantage ya could, I ain't got a problem with that one bit! That's yer right an privilege. But... cheatin?! That ain't the same thing!"

Nikolette huffed and began to rub her temples. She'd never had a fight like this with a lover before. All the rest of her relationships fizzled away. None of them exploded. "I looked into yer company, Gwennie. I know yer family runs a cut throat business and I expect that in the world. I ain't blind ta the cruelty of this world!" She said, clutching her fists. "But... are ya tellin me yer goin as far as ta do something illegal ta get the upper hand!? I think even you aren't that foolish! jeopardizin everythin like that. But maybe it doesn't matter so much in the ring? Maybe that's why ya think it's ok?"

Nikolette leaned back and closed her eyes. The heat was getting to her. The sweat of the room and the intensity of their "discussion" She was panting softly. "I wanna believe that ya got some kinda scruples, Gwennie. Some kind somewhere. When I first approached ya, I just wanted ta see if I could get my foot in the door. I thought maybe if I got a word with ya, then you would see what an asset I could be and we could do wonderful things tagether. I wasn't thinkin about a relationship, honestly but then..."

Nikolette blushed and suddenly felt meek. "I never met a gal like you, Gwennie. Yyou were so forecul an charmin an... I couldn't help myself! I fell hard for ya!"

By now the heated exchange was echoing well outside the enclosed sauna and into the adjacent locker room, but just out of earshot of any of the numerous trainers and helping hands lingering in the hallways. Otherwise by now the fiercely arguing couple would have been swamped by attendants checking in on the well being of their beloved employer.

Gwendolyn herself would slump back in the wooden bench with her arms folded, her head turned away from Nikolette throughout the entirety of her impassioned monologue, hiding her anger and refusing to even acknowledge what her lover was saying. More than anything Gwendolyn had felt a cutting sense of betrayal from her engineer's words.

Since the outset of their relationship she was always under the assumption that Nikolette was understanding of the unyielding pressure she was under to emerge victorious in this venture. In every facet of her life, always. The painting of her childhood and upbringing would entail stringent taskmasters ensuring that Gwendolyn had never lost sight that, at all times, she represented more than just herself, but her corporation, the Primol name, and her parents...she thought Nikolette understood.

Gwendolyn remained incensed and nearly on the verge of asking Nikolete to leave until something she said towards the end of her speech caught her completely unawares, turning to face her with her furrowed brow...she knew what she heard...but she couldn't have heard it.

"Foot..Foot in the door?..." Gwen would turn towards Nikolette and lift her leg over to straddle her lover's thighs. The heiress would place her hands on Nik's shoulders to maintain direct eye contact with her partner, now face to face with her and needing exact confirmation. "...M-Ms. Engineer...what...what do you mean? When we first spoke before our match...and afterwards, in the hallway...you weren't...you weren't actually inquiring about a job offer...w-were you?" Gwen's voice was skipping in trepidation, now at a lower and weaker volume. The forced smile on her face was wavering, but she still held out hope that Nikolette may have misspoke or that Gwen may simply heard her wrong...

Nikolette turned her eyes when Gwendolyn suddenly straddled her and demanded for an explanation to her words. Her heart sank but her arms lifted up and slipped underneath her lover's towel to grip the sweaty, yet supple.

"Gwennie..." Nikolette said softly and then looked back at the blonde. "A-At first, yeah... BUT!" She paused and looked into Gwendolyn's eyes. "I thought ya knew! I thought that you were just real excited ta be workin with someone like me and then..."

Nikolette faltered a bit and lowered her head. She squeezed Gwendolyn tighter and looked up with pleading eyes. "The truth is, I fell for ya, Gwennie! I fell for ya hard! The truth is, if y'all had thought I was lookin fer work, or if I'da thought you were lookin fer love, then we probably wouldn't be together right now... but... is that a reason just ta throw everything away!?"

Nikolette, tried desperately to slip her hands further up Gwendolyn's body and hold onto her waist. She didn't care about the towel, she just wanted to hold Gwendolyn.

"I never lied to ya about how I felt! That's the only thing that should matter!"

The impassioned, loving words Nikolette spoke after her world shattering confession scarcely registered with Gwendolyn, as if she were underwater and only muffled and incomprehensible reverberations could be heard. The revelation had seemingly awoken her from a trance, an enchanting dream she wished she would never awake from...one she wanted to challenge Nikolette for in order to cling desperately to the illusion, praying she was lying...but why would she be?

All signs of color left her increasingly pale complexion, her vacant eyes looking straight ahead but no longer seeing Nikolette...instead a demented film reel with grainy footage replayed in her head retelling every interaction they ever had. From their fateful introduction during the Friction World Cup onward, though now with the bitter truth illuminating their encounters in an entirely new light. All the misinterpretations of phrasing would reinforce Nikolette's revelation...proposition...proposal.....partnership~...now all making sense to Gwendolyn.

Gradually her arms slowly slackened to her side, feeling their way down her trembling frame until they gripped Nikolette's wrists. Now slowly pushing them away until Nikolette was prevented from laying one finger on her. Short, scant breaths escaped her lips, her head tilted down with eyes darting wildly from side to side. Her glistening chest expanded from the intense and exaggerated breaths she was suddenly overcome with, except no matter how vigorous her attempts she felt she couldn't breathe. Her heart weighed her down like a boulder, beating rapidly and increasingly erratic. Now a swirling and nauseous sensation grew in the pit of her gut, the heiress exhibiting early signs of a panic attack...

Without a word uttered, Gwendolyn would scoot herself off of Nikolette and make an uncoordinated beeline for the exit, staggering on wobbly legs out of the intensely humid room until she found a locker to lean her shoulder against...exhaling and inhaling deeply....

Nikolette's eyes widened at Gwendolyn's reaction. She cold understand why Gwendolyn might be upset, but not why she seemed on the verge of collapsing through panic. Nikolette bit her lip as she felt her lover's tight grip on her wrists.

Nikolette gasped as Gwendolyn suddenly ran away. The Engineer stood, paused and watched nothing for the moment before she cast away her towel and ran into the locker room.

"Gwennie! Come back! Please! Gwennie, don't run away!" She said and searched the rows of lockers until she saw the blonde pressed up against one panting. Nikolette raced down and slipped in front of Gwendolyn. "Gwennie, please!" She said, pleading as she looked into the girl's eyes. "Please don't run! Please... talk ta me!"

Gwendolyn remained propped up against the locker as she gulped in prolonged breaths to steady her accelerated heartbeat. It was as if someone had removed the cornerstone of the foundation of their relationship, now crumbling all around her with Gwendolyn fruitlessly attempting to decipher what was a real or a fabrication.

Though the instant her pleading engineer came into her teary eyed view Gwendolyn recoiled several steps with her arms crossed over her chest and clutching her shoulders tightly. Whatever loving tenderness towards her girlfriend was now replaced with a feral indignation, her psychological walls meant to keep people at bay now fiercely elevated in her guarded stance.

"All this time...all this time you allowed me to make an unmitigated fool of myself...allowing you into my life under the false presumption that you ever cared for me...HOW COULD YOUR INCOMPETENT MIND OPERATE UNDER THE NOTION THAT ANYTHING TANGIBLE COULD BE BUILT ON SUCH A FALSITY!!!" Gwendolyn screeched before she flinched and looked away to wipe away at her eyes, unable to even look at Nikolette anymore as her head tilted down. Her voice warbled through choked breaths as she struggled to speak through the obstructing lump in her throat.

"...I...I lied as well, you know...during our match. When I spoke of the innumerable suitors vying for my hand. Not one soul...not one pursued my heart without an underlying motivation to take advantage of my wealth and stature. The near constant deception whittled at my very core until eventually I...I blocked them all out, resigned in my fate to perhaps someday be bound into a marriage of convenience, like some business transaction, like my parents...And then I found you...and..."

Gwendolyn would abruptly step over to a nearby bench where she laid out the dress she wore earlier. Frantically digging into her pockets, eventually the heiress would pull out a Primol business card with the phone number of R.& D., crumple it up in her fist, and toss it at Nikolette's chest. "THERE!!! YOU HAVE WHAT YOU WANTED, NOW LEAVE!!!"

Nikolette halted as Gwendolyn recoiled. She stood there, stark before her lover and listened as Gwendolyn screamed at her. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes, but they didn't trickle down. Her heart beat hard in her chest and when Gwendolyn's torrent of accusations finished, Nikolette stood there as the crumbled business card bounced off her bare breast.

Nikolette's eyes drooped and she looked down at the crumbled paper. Her fist clenched and shook and then she clenched it as hard as she could and jammed it loudly into the locker, hissing from the pain as the tears began to flow.

"Gwendolyn DuPont Bettencourt." She said said the words but didn't look up. "I ain't gonna let ya just end things like that." She said. "I ain't lettin one more person I care for just walk away from me. Certainly not cause of a misunderstandin."

Nikolette's lips quivered and her voice shook, but she didn't pull her fist from the locker nor did she look at Gwendolyn. "I don't care about that job if it means yer gonna leave me." She said. "You are what I care about. I didn't come to ya with bad intentions and I didn't fall fer ya because of yer... fuckin money!"

Nikolette lifted her head and her red eyes stared at Gwendolyn. "If you don't believe me, then I'm tellin ya now. I'd rather be poor and with ya than rich an without ya! Money, fame, that stuff is nice, but I don't care about it. If you're so concerned about it, then tell me what I gotta do ta make ya believe me. You want me ta sign some contract? Is that how you'd prefer ta have a relationship instead? Cause if you can't look at me and look into my eyes and see how much I really, truly care for ya. If all you can see is the misunderstandin that brought us all those happy moments as some kinda cruel betrayal well... you better get used ta handin every dang person you ever meet a contract!"

nikolette sighed and pulled her hand away. She looked at it. Her knuckles were red and cracked. She began to walk away. "I loved ya Gwennie an yer treatin me no different than that stupid business card." She said as she took one last look at Gwendolyn's form, expecting it to be the last time she'd see it.

Gwendolyn flinched from Nikolette's sudden striking of the locker, the impactful clash jostling Gwen's nerves and compelling the heiress to hear her engineer's heartfelt declaration with new found attentiveness. As if it had calmed the raging whirlpool of emotions swirling around inside of her for that one brief moment of clarity. Her grip on her shoulders gradually eased with her arms slackening to her sides as her engineer confessed her final loving plea of affection, words that for years she only dreamed would be spoken to her with such raw, genuine emotion.

However, Gwendolyn's heavy heart sank further at what was without a doubt the most gut-wrenching image she may ever see. Her hand cupped her mouth in absolute horror, as her dear engineer turned her back to her. The concept of life without Nikolette was now becoming an actual possibility, and yet Gwen for some reason was struggling to remember a time before they were together. Her engineer's first few steps were cementing this possible reality, though as their distance grew, deep down Gwen felt as if a part of her was leaving right along with Nikolette...

...the second Nikolette was within arm's reach of the exit door, a sudden constriction would be felt around her waist and bare chest. The heiress' arms clasped around her naked form so fervently that the engineer could feel not only her breasts mushroom against her back but even the subtle rhythmic pounding of her heart.

"...It truly scares me sometimes, how horribly obstinate I can be." Gwen would press her cheek against Nikolette's spine, the engineer feeling her warm breath cascade across her shoulder blade. "When you spend the entirety of your life with your guard up, wary of what others underlying motivations are...at some point that's all you see in people...even if it was never there in the first place. I...I just...what we had was something so unfathomably beautiful, perhaps the only thing that frightened me more than it all being some manner of deceit...was that it was all real...absolutely genuine...I'm afraid you're mistaken though. When I look into your eyes, what I see isn't just someone who cares for me..." Gwen's fingers would tenderly cup Nikolette's chin to gently guide her back towards Gwendolyn, now facing her lover with her arms extended around her lover's neck. Meeting Nik's emerald eyes with her own tear soaked gaze. "...they see the woman I love...*sob*...and someone whom I can only pray can forgive me..." Her voice would crack towards the end into distorted gasps and sobbing, lowering her head to hide her face with her eyes clenched tight.

nikolette really believed that she was walking out of Gwendolyn's life. That Gwendolyn was letting her walk out. She pressed a hand to her cheek, trying to keep her composure until she was out the door. She didn't even know where she was going to go. She was still naked and for as cloudy as her mind was, she never even thought to do something about that.

However, she gasped audibly when she felt Gwendolyn's bare chest against her back and the arms coil tightly around her waist. She listened to Gwendolyn's words, taking in shallow breaths. When she was finally turned around, her mouth hung open and she stared into Gwendolyn's eyes. "G-Gwennie..." She whispered. "I.. I love ya too..."

Nikolette wrapped her arms around Gwendolyn and pushed her lips firmly against her lover's. She hungrily began to kiss Gwendolyn's mouth as her fingers cling tightly against the soft, perfect flesh of Gwendolyn's nude form.

Embraced lovingly in her engineer's clutching arms, Gwendolyn became fully engrossed in the passionate kiss. Blissful moans sent small vibrations against her lover's lips as her own sopping wet towel collapsed to the floor. Their nude and sweat drenched forms rubbed up against each other with the previous sauna session causing them to fully welcome their partner's elevated body heat.

Having her partner back in her arms meant more than anything else in the world at the moment, overcome with relief from how unbelievably close she had come to losing her beloved. The heiress became increasingly limp in the affectionate cuddle against Nik's toned body, always becoming more enraptured with Nik when she became possessive of the heiress in any way. Eventually Gwendolyn leaned her jaw back to end the kiss with their foreheads pressed together, panting heavily against Nik's luscious lips.

"...*pant*...Perhaps...perhaps we should retire to the showers for now... To cool off and...collect our thoughts..." Gwen whispered before meekly looking into her engineer's emerald eyes with a somber expression. Finally confessing their love for each other should have been a joyous occasion, but the moment seemed tainted considering what they had to overcome and nearly lost to get there.