Author's Note: This has been edited to be placed in a more appropriate category. Thanks to all for the feedback!
Kitty
*
Katherine and Mike have been friends for almost ten years, having met when she was twelve and he was fourteen, and both were part of the same after school fantasy book club at the local library. They both proudly called themselves nerds at that time, and they established a happy friendship, talking about favorite books and fantasy television and movies. The club met weekly for an entire school year and several times a week over the subsequent summer, and Katherine and Mike were the only consistent attendees. They forged a strong friendship over their shared favorite stories and mutual respect for one another's hardships.
Mike was being raised by his mom and older sister, since his father had died in combat. He tended to be pretty serious and studious, taking very seriously the role of "man of the house" and living up to his hero father's legacy, but Katherine always managed to make him laugh and lighten up with her silly interpretations and "what if"s as they talked in the book club. When they first met, Mike was tall and lanky, all long limbs and shaggy hair. Katherine secretly thought of him as a puppy in the first weeks that she knew him.
For his part, Mike thought of the petite, strawberry blonde Katherine as a little kitten. She was a definite introvert, very shy and slow to warm to people. She was short with delicate features, including a pixie nose dusted with freckles across her peach complexion..She wore her straight hair in a bob cut that she was forever tucking behind her ears as she concentrated. Katherine had never seemed to lose her childhood habit of sucking on her pointer finger, much to the consternation of her very strict and domineering parents, who were never pleased with her about anything, from looks to grades to goals. Katherine used her fantasy novels and her art projects as a way to escape her parents' constant and sharp criticisms, though she wasn't always successful in blocking out the harsh words. Most days after school, she was berated for not putting more effort into her image, her schoolwork, her extracurricular activities. Her mother's favorite thing to say to her was, "Katherine, no one will ever want a silly, stupid, and juvenile little girl." And her father would tell her to "get your shit together already."
One day, into their high school years, as Mike and Katherine sat across from one another in the library, Mike happened to look up and see her move her finger from her mouth to smooth a flyaway piece of hair out of her face. He smirked and couldn't resist sharing his long-harbored image of her, "You know, you're just like a kitten with the way you lick your little paw and play with your hair."
She blushed deeply and tried to glower at him. "I am not a freaking kitten."
He laughed at her attempt a menacing and said, "You are! You're an adorable baby kitten."
She tried to shush him, "Mike, shut up."
He was not to be deterred from teasing his friend and said, "Nope. I'm going to call you Kitty!"
She groaned, "Ughh, you know I hate nicknames!"
She did and had always felt like being called Katie or Kathy or Kat would make people take her even less seriously than they already took her.
"Sorry, pal. I've decided. Kitty it is."
She tried to scowl. "Well. Could you at least keep it just between us? I don't want the whole school calling me stupid junk like 'Kitty Kat' or whatever." Her face showed him how important it was to her to be taken seriously.
He snorted but acquiesced, "yeah all right. It'll be our secret."
She gave him a grudging smile. "Good."
And it was. He'd find ways to tease her with the silly but fitting nickname when they were alone together, talking about their favorite books or movies, but always called her Katherine when there were other people around.
As they grew up and matured, they both eased up a little with the book club and the joyful nerdiness, both finding more mainstream outlets in high school and college. Mike found some success on the high school lacrosse team and bulked up, losing his gangly, lanky look and building muscle, and turning from nerdboy to jock. As Katherine made her way through school, a couple years behind him, she stayed quiet and tiny, but branched out from just loving to read and talk about fantasy worlds. She discovered a talent for drawing and painting, and became heavily involved in all of the school's artistic offerings, including yearbook and painting sets for the school plays. Her body never got any taller, but she filled out when it came to curves, which made her super self-conscious. She hid herself in baggy clothes and background activities, ever the shy little kitten, loathe to be the center of attention.
They stayed in touch when Mike went off to college an hour or so from the city they both grew up in, exchanging texts and emails regularly. When deciding on school for herself, Katherine was anxious about going somewhere she didn't know anyone, and ended up at the same college. Mike was an engineering major and played in an intramural lacrosse league and was starting his junior year when Kitty arrived as a freshman Literature major and Art minor. They found time to get lunch together weekly and kept up with each other's lives well, each going after their own interests and making new friends, but still carving out time for one another.
Katherine lived in a freshman dorm with a roommate, a big-haired beauty queen from Texas named Veronique. Veronique quickly fell in lust with a sophomore frat guy named Dean, and whenever she wasn't sucking Dean's face (or other parts) off, she was trying to get Katherine to "get out there and land a man!" Katherine good naturedly went on any date that Veronique set up, but hadn't really found too many guys she was interested in. She even kissed a few, but found herself routinely underwhelmed by all of them and things never progressed any further than kissing. She ended her year as the subject of Veronique's matchmaking efforts feeling frustrated. She felt like she wanted to be with someone who made her excited, who gave her a fluttery tummy and made her want more. She wanted romance and sex, but but figured that maybe she just needed to be patient and someone would come sweep her off her feet and make her feel the feelings she longed for.
And, if she were honest, she was maybe a little bit secretly in love with her long time friend, Mike...
Of course, she and Mike had always been close, but they had never pursued any kind of romantic relationship, both loudly proclaiming that they didn't want ruin what they had to anyone who ever asked about them. Each protest caused a little pang of heartache in Katherine, but she knew his friendship was important enough that she didn't want to mess with it. She'd keep him in her life, even if it meant that they could only ever be friends. Mike had never really thought about Katherine in any way but friendship, but would admit to himself in moments of quiet self-reflection that she had grown up to be a beautiful girl. When he caught himself fantasizing about his tiny pixie-like pal, he would shake his head and talk himself out of it, remembering that this was his best friend and not some chick he could just fuck around with. Mike had plenty of experience with the opposite sex, and dabbled with significant others here and there through high school and into college. His longest relationship was with another engineering major named Darla, who always made Katherine feel like she was stupid for being more interested in humanities than math or science. Darla was always subtle with her digs, but they were there, snarky little barbs aimed at Katherine and her intelligence, her height, her innocent look. Whatever Darla could do to make herself feel superior to Katherine.
When Mike was a senior and Katherine a sophomore, they became roommates in an off-campus apartment, and their friendship deepened. They shared meals and household chores, watching their favorite movies and tv shows together. They were always affectionate but still platonic. Mike and Darla were still together as the year began, and of course, she would often spent the night at the friends' apartment, always trying to maximize her time with Mike and minimize the time they'd spend with Katherine.
One lazy Sunday morning in October, Darla sat at their makeshift dining room table with a mug of coffee, doing a crossword puzzle on her tablet. Katherine was sitting in an overstuffed chair with a cup of chocolate milk and a drawing pad, where she was working on a sketch featuring a unicorn and fairies. Mike had done his usual morning push-ups and sit ups, then jumped in the shower.
As Mike soaped up in the steamy stall, he found himself thinking on the blowjob Darla had given him just that morning. She'd certainly been thorough, but it had taken him awhile to cum. After awhile, Darla started stroking his cock and tried to talk dirty to him, demanding that he give her that cum. He found himself put off by her bossy tone and her too-strong grip. He finally grabbed her head and held her in place as he fucked up into her throat, shutting her up as he unloaded his cum into her mouth. He was rinsing off and realizing that he really wasn't enjoying his time with Darla lately. She was definitely becoming more trouble than she was worth...
