As You Were by Kelli Jae Baeli

darted into the kitchen, as if startled by Brittany’s voice. Tru bit back the retort which leapt to her tongue like the flames of the fire she had been watching. Instead she pushed herself up with a grunt and headed for the kitchen mumbling, “Yes, My Queen...”
    “What?”
    Tru threw back over her shoulder, “I said, ‘those logs are green’—it may take them a while to catch.”
    Brittany looked over at the fire and back toward the kitchen doorway, through which Tru had disappeared. Rubbing her neck, Brittany returned to her spot on the sofa and stared into the flames. As the fire crackled, she considered her predicament. It would not be long, she guessed, before this Tru-person began to make a move on her. Brittany almost hoped she would, so that she could put her in her place. If she thinks she can bring me to this cozy little retreat, build a nice fire, provide a warm supper, and then get a little repayment for her trouble, she had another think coming. It wasn’t my idea to come all the way out to this God-forsaken mountain; I resisted strongly enough. Well, let her accept the situation on my terms, then, she decided emphatically.
    Brittany heard a beeping of the microwave, and a few minutes later, Tru appeared with two steaming bowls. “Here ya go.” Tru placed the dish of roast on the coffee table in front of Brittany.
    Brittany looked up at her with a pithy smirk. “Thanks.”
    Tru turned around with her own bowl quickly, so that Brittany’s expression would not make her feel like a serf at the foot of a master. She sat at the opposite end of the sofa and began to eat; glancing every so often at Brittany, who ate her own meal in abstract silence.
    They finished at precisely the same time, and Tru rose to retrieve the bowl from Brittany. “Feel better, now?”
    “Does it matter?” Brittany responded caustically.
    Tru stood over her, holding both empty bowls, and after a brief, pregnant silence, she turned and took the dishes back into the kitchen. When she returned, Brittany stood in front of the fireplace, her arms folded. Tru came to the fire and held her palms out to its warmth. “I’ll sleep in the guest room.”
    Brittany snorted. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
    Tru could feel the hair on the back of her neck rise up, and had to concentrate all her energy on maintaining control of the raw temper that this new version of Brittany seemed to incite in her. The frustration she had felt when they first met sprang from sexual tension, and Brit’s aloofness, but she had never been mean. Tru bit her bottom lip hard and exhaled slowly.
    “Oh,” Brittany turned to face her, sarcastically. “Did you expect me to bed down with you?”
    Tru felt the restraints she had placed carefully around her temper stretch and break. “Hey!”— came the angry shout.
    Brittany gawked at Tru, her eyebrows high on her forehead.
    “Do I have green teeth?”
    Brittany cleared her throat, mumbled something which Tru cut off.
    “—am I seven feet tall, hairy like an ape, with swamp slime oozing off me?! Am I?!” she demanded.
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “It’s simple enough.” Tru counted off each item on her fingers, “Do I have green teeth? Am I seven feet tall? Am I hairy like an ape? Do I have swamp slime oozing off me? Well?”
    Brittany stared at her, transfixed by the redness of Tru’s face, the way her dolphin-gray eyes turned to pewter. “I never said—”
    “No! You never said it! But you sure as hell treat me that way! I’m not a monster! Get over yourself!” —and she stomped from the room, down the hall, and slammed the guest room door behind her.
    Brittany stared at the doorway for a long moment, her eyes moving as if reading some invisible words in the air.
    Slowly, she smiled.
    A half hour later, as Brittany watched CNN, Tru appeared in the doorway. “I’m sorry for—losing my temper...”
    Brittany smiled demurely. “No problem.”
    Tru hesitated, then