The hivemind is conquering for me?

I stroked Orchids lower back as the others also arrived at the door. ”That is alright, but I appreciate your defensiveness. No, the head teacher and I just had a chat. Turns out I’m quite strong for my age... Who knew?” I said, sarcastically.

I stood up after Orchid got off me and continued. ”I was also incredibly hungry afterwards so I stopped off for a bite to eat and a drink.”

I took off my jacket, kicked off my shoes and moved over to the couch where I was immediately flanked by Orchid and Janine, the later finally spoke up with a smile.

”Thank you by the way. For agreeing to Fergus’ idea. I don’t want to hold you back in a class you don’t need to take. This way I think is better.”

I looked at Janine for a moment before addressing the room. ”Can everyone leave? I need to speak to Janine alone.”

Orchid stood up and left the room with no hesitation. She felt Apollo was serious, now was not the time for jealousy, no matter how much she has missed him all day. Nerissa was curious about what was happening, but by the look on Apollo’s face, he clearly wanted privacy.

”Very well, I will do some training.” She then walked off to her room, but I wasn’t satisfied.

”Everyone in my Mindspace as well, if you don’t mind.” I added, prompting Onyx, Sol, Zircon and Sapphire with the stick in her mouth to eject from my mind. They all left instantly, with Onyx lingering a moment giving me a knowing look and a wink.

Once they were gone, the room turned silent, my attention returned to Janine, who was shaking like a leaf. ”Apollo? Is everything alright? Have I done something wrong?” She asked me, forcing me to take a deep breath and reply.

”I don’t know, that depends on your view point, but we seriously need to talk.”

Janine felt her heartbeat in her throat. Had she actually done something wrong? What has she done? How could she fix it? She told Apollo she never again wanted to be a reason for him being upset and now she has done it?

”A-About what?” Was all she could muster speaking without oversharing emotions.

I took a deep breath. This was an uncomfortable topic subject between two best friends, but after internalising my thoughts and considering what happened with Hailey the other day, I came to the conclusion that.

”Janine, I think I have fallen in love with you.”

Janine simply looked at me, completely dead faced. No emotion, nothing as I said that so I sighed and explained. ”I know we both ’love’ each other, we say it enough, but recently with how you have been acting. Us getting closer, more touchy, all the nice kisses, its made me realise my feelings for you have changed beyond just close friends. The other night when you told me you loved me after I picked you up from the party, I don’t know how you meant it, but when you said it to me, it made my heart flutter, like it was something I really want and now I know. Its true, I love you the same way I do my partners. Now, I don’t know how we go forward with this, I have never been in this position before. I know you are a lesbian and can’t change that and-”

”-I’m not a lesbian.” Janine interjected, catching me off guard. ”What?”

”Well, I mean I am.” Janine continued. ”But I’m not just attracted to women anymore, I like both genders now.”

I frowned hearing this. ”What? You just changed your mind? Janine, you don’t have to humour me because you feel sorry for me, we can still-”

”-I had Sophia do Gene science on me.”

”You WHAT!”

I stood up, enraged. ”I told her not to touch you... I didn’t want her changing who you were. You are my friend, its not fair...” I said clenching my fist tightly. ”How long did she wait until she approached you and changed you?”

I didn’t know how to take this information. I had never been as mad at a hive entity as I was now... I felt genuinely betrayed. However, what Janine said next squashed that rage slightly.

”Came to me? No, I went to Sophia to see if she could change my sexual preference. She was actually reluctant to do so and said it couldn’t be done. Plus she said she was only going to do tests on me for your sake before she found out the truth.”

”So she didn’t... What truth?” I asked.

...

Janine then went on to explain what happened after I left for home world. How she went to Sophia after some time. How she wanted to make sure she was lesbian because she loved me so much that she wanted to actually be my partner...

How she found out about a genetic lock from her parentage, how the two of them broke the lock and reached out to a collective mind. How Janine felt after the genetic lock, how she now feels for me. How painful it has been keeping this secret from me, but how she was going to be content keeping the love requited as long as she could stay by side. How she was going to confess before we left, but I decided to bring her, forcing her to keep her feeling in longer so she could reveal her feeling in a grander way more deserving than a hasty confession.

How ever since coming here and the constant close proximity how difficult it has been keeping her feeling held back, her plan constantly crumpling under the weight of our feelings. How she has been letting her feelings slip through the cracks, kisses, hugs, washing one another.

Her large eyes were teary due to the emotional burden she was finally shedding and I felt dreadful. Now that I knew she had a genetic lock removed from her being a hybrid, all of her behaviour was making more sense to me. She was telling me she loved me and kissing me not because she was sweet and my best friend, but because she felt the way I felt about her...

Despite the rawness of the situation, I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Janine sniffled and wiped her eyes upon hearing my laughter and asked. ”Apollo?”

I immediately reached out and took her hand into mine and smiled. ”Man, I am really fucking dense huh? No wonder the kisses started to feel better than the first time we kissed, we both have intimate feeling for one another now. No wonder you kept on acting sexy when I was telling you to stop or I’ll gobble you up. You wanted me to gobble you up... I feel like a complete idiot.”

I laughed again and leaned back on the couch. Janine too then let out a soft chuckle before manoeuvring herself onto my lap, straddling me as her hands began to caress my face. ”You are not an idiot. You are good. You assumed your now bisexual best friend was still just a lesbian and kept your emotions to the best of your ability in that range. Its not your fault I am 110% drop dead sexy is it? It was inevitable you would start crushing on me hard.”

The two of us then began laughing for a short moment before Janine lent forward and rested her forehead against mine, stroking a hand through my hair softly. I looked into her large eyes and listened as she said. ”In all seriousness though, it is because you are kind, caring and sensitive. That is what makes you an ’idiot’ and ’dense’ But ask any of the other girls around here and they will tell you the same thing, it is sexy. It shows just how pure of heart you are and it is the reason why I and the others love you so much.”

Feeling the tension in the air and the proximity, I leaned forward and greedily placed my lips against Janine’s. It was a simple kiss, packed filled with emotions that finally were allowed to soar freely above the surface.

My hands naturally went to her waist and hers explored my exposed chest. The feeling was magical. I was kissing my best friend and I felt so lucky. I could barely find it within me to pull away and only by some miracle I did.

I then stared at her face for a moment before something clicked and I began laughing again.

”What?” Janine said, her eyes barely able to keep themselves open at the experience.

” ’We should kiss in public to sell the façade’ It was so flat obvious, So flat. I can’t believe it...”

Janine giggled and continued to rub my chest with a hunger on her face she had not shown to me before.

”What can I say? I wanted kissies. Besides, we can start our relationship laughing about how dense you are and how cowardly I am. Quite a strong foundation if you ask me.”