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When Marley’s cell rings she doesn’t recognise the number. The name is no help. She doesn’t program in a person’s real name when she gets a new number, she uses a lyric from a song that reminds her of them. It’s how she always used to title imaginary friends and monsters. In Da Gadda Da Vida was her childhood arch nemesis; a massive jungle bird with jewel toned feathers that wanted to eat her eyeballs. Marley blinks at the ringing and considers answering just to figure out who it is. Then it hits her. Simple In The Moonlight- that’s Bright Eyes’ Lua, which has the perfect Sam Evans lyrics. So she does answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi Marley. It’s me, Sam. I need a favour.”
“Sure, okay. What do you need help with?”
“I’m supposed to be babysitting my brother and sister but they’re driving me insane. Could you come over so I could ride my bike or something?”
Marley looks at Unique, who’s in the process of filing her heels, and gets a better idea. “Bring Stacey and Stevie here.”
“What?”
“Yeah. My mom will take care of them for a bit. She misses younger kids. And you’ll get the pleasure of our company.”
“Our?”
“Unique’s here.” Unique looks up at the use of her name, and Marley mouths Sam at her.
“Oh. Yeah, okay, that would be good. I know Ryder and Blaine are hanging out too.”
“Cool. See you soon.”
Half an hour later Unique puts her feet in Marley’s lap. “Tell me if they’re smooth. I can’t tell anymore. It’s like measuring cupcakes, one always seems off and you waste an hour on it.”
Sam stretches an arm behind himself and latches on to Unique’s ankle. “They’re smooth. But you know what you need? To glide a pair of stockings on.”
“Oh, you think?”
“You know how hairless I am, for myself and for the swim team. One time Brittany made me wear a pair of hers when we had sex. They feel cool on smooth legs.”
It doesn’t really surprise Marley that Brittany has crotchless pantyhose.
“I mean, I’m not saying wear them to fuck,” Sam adds earnestly. “I know you don’t do that. But just they feel really good.”
“Well, you’re not fucking me,” Unique says in an open way that shows she doesn’t care if Marley and Sam occupy themselves at some point tonight, “but I’ll give you a pair from my stash, if you want to follow me home.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean- Not for me. It was like a one off. It’s not a fetish if you only do it once, right?”
“All three of us could wear a pair, if it would make you feel more comfortable.”
Sam looks a lot intrigued than he’d probably admit to if they pressed. “Does Marley have a size that would fit you?”
Unique shakes her head. “You must not know a thing about women. They only come in small, medium, or large.”
“And you’re...” Sam trails off. Marley doesn’t think it’s malicious. He’s just different than her.
From the media Marley’s consumed on the topic which ranges from medical-factual to thinspiration-factual to made for TV movies, she’s pretty sure there are two kinds of eating disorders. Never mind the actual titles, because those are just various symptoms of disordered eating. There’s really only two kinds. There’s the horse blinder kind, and the reflective sunglasses kind.
The reflective sunglasses kind is knowing the truth all over you is all over everyone else too. Phrased differently, it’s the gymnast kind of disorder, where everyone brags about how many ounces of water weight they’ve lost while secretly thinking they’re still fat, and they’re comforted by finding the flaws in every other body. That’s Sam’s kind. Marley can still remember how nasty he got to the other guys about the calendar.
The horse blinder kind is essentially tunnel vision. A hose wearing those things can only see what’s directly in front of it. Those people -and Marley is one of them- only see the fat in themselves. Obviously her mom is fat. Coach Bieste is, Unique is, Mercedes from last year’s Glee is. But Marley’s mean brain has never latched on to any of them, telling her they need to be thinner. In fact, if anything it’s the opposite. Marley’s mom is the greatest hugger alive. And Unique is downright hot. Fat looks good on other people. It just doesn’t look good on her.
Unique doesn’t let the unsaid accusation of fatness bother her. “It doesn’t matter anyway. You’re more Marley’s size, and I have a pair in my backpack to go with tomorrow’s dress.”
“You’re sleeping over?”
“Marley’s mom knows it’s a girl’s night.”
“I’ve never asked about a guy sleeping over, but she knows I’m dating Jake, so I could see if she’s okay with it?”
“Siblings downstairs, remember?”
She could point out that he could come back after dropping them off at home. Surely Mr and Mrs Evans aren’t both gone all night. And then there’s the option of Stevie and Stacey sleeping over too. Marley doesn’t say either. They’ve only been trying this group thing a few weeks. Begging him to stay is probably a bit much.
Instead she gets up and goes to her small chest of drawers. They’re in the same drawer that her underwear and socks are. She’s not giving him one of the patterned pairs. His feet might be calloused, and the diamond spotted ones are even more delicate than the plain ones. Marley can wear them though. Unique did her feet before she started her own.
Marley’s expecting Sam to ask for a pair of shorts, or a skirt. Hell, he could even put his jeans back on, since for him it’s a sensation thing, not the way to complete a look. But he doesn’t. He stands perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt and white underwear and a pair of nude pantyhose. That leaves her and Unique still fully dressed. Sam won’t begrudge Unique her skirt. After all, she has things she’d rather stay hidden. They all get that. But Marley doesn’t have that shitty, completely unfair problem. Hers is a body image problem, and if Sam can handle it, she can too. Marley takes a deep breath to steady herself and unzips the side of her skirt, letting gravity take it to the floor. Then, before she freaks out too bad, she sits crosslegged on one of her throw pillows and grabs enough to hug in her lap. Sam and Unique both claim spots on her bed, knees happily touching.
“Great. Now that we’re all comfortable, what do you want to do?”
Sam shrugs. “I don’t know. What were you doing before me and them crashed? What were your plans?”
“Nail art and tv.”
“I could paint your fingers. Heck, I’ll even do my own, as long as you have remover to lend so I can get it off before school tomorrow.”
“No, honey,” Unique smiles, stroking the side of Sam’s face. “Nail art. Patterns drawn on with toothpicks and neatly applied slivers of tape. It’s half of what I follow on Tumblr. There’s no sense in taking the time it takes if it’s going to be stripped away right after.”
“Don’t you have to strip it off right after? You know, ‘cause your parents sometimes make you be Wade?” Marley glares at Sam. If she was closer she’d kick him. He picks up the expression and winces a little. “Sorry. I know it’s a bad topic. I just don’t know your parents. We’ve never been over.”
Unique shrugs. “Depends on how worried they feel. But even if I knew for sure I’d still do it. Spending my time on this keeps me sane. But you’re not me. You don’t need this.”
Sam reaches out and touches her thigh. “I could try it, if you want. To hell with swim team, I’ll even wear it at school.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Now I actually am sorry for crashing. I can’t really leave, I’m not ready to be big brother again yet, but I could go have a bath or something while you do your thing?”
“Massage my legs to make up for it,” Unique requests. Marley smiles a little smile to herself. One of her favourite things about Unique is how she’s never afraid to use situations to her advantage. “I don’t always get to wear heels, so I don’t get acclimatized, and I wore them all day today and my legs hurt.”
“On your stomach.”
“What?”
“It’s the best way.” Sam stands and gestures to the comfortably pilled blanket running the length of the bed.
Unique lays down and rolls over. As soon as she does Sam straddles the dip just above her ass. He starts at the hemline of her skirt, not willing to hike it up without permission. Marley’s surprised at that. Unlike Jake and Ryder -and Blaine, although he doesn’t really count in this gendered situation- Sam is more insistent on Unique claiming her sexuality. He backs off instantly when he’s told to, but he’s never the one that stays back. For all of them, really. Marley’s beginning to think Sam’s hyper sexualised, and that’s why things worked out so well with Brittany. She would have guessed his hand would be right up Unique’s skirt and on her ass.
“Do you have callouses that will catch? Or bitten nails? Maybe I should take these off.”
“No, leave them on. It feels so much better this way.” To prove his point Sam strokes his hand down Unique’s thigh.
Marley, curious, draws her own legs up and rubs her calf. It does feel different encased in the sheer material. Not necessarily sexy, but different. Unique likes it though, Marley can tell from the way she’s holding herself on the bed. Sam can too, that becomes clear when he starts to dirty talk.
“I knew you’d like this. Suspected for a while now. You never just wear normal girl’s clothes. It’s always fake fur with the super scratchy insides, or real fur with that oily hairy feeling, or silk dresses. And your heels, of course your heels. This is what you like. This is what gets you off. Even if you don’t get off, physically, this is what gets your soul off. Textures.”
When Unique doesn’t reply, Sam stops rubbing. Unique wiggles her ankle. “Keep going.”
“It’s true, isn’t it? That this wouldn’t be half as good if you weren’t wearing pantyhose?”
“Yes. Now keep going.”
Sam starts again, but this conversation isn’t over. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Yeah, that’s great. After you’re done sucking Blaine off come rub this frayed denim on my skin. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Blaine would get it,” Sam argues. “I get it, because I’ve tried almost everything. I bet Marley gets it. And it doesn’t matter if Jake does because he just wants everyone to feel sexy. And it doesn’t matter if Ryder’s head is in his ass, because it always comes out eventually.”
Speaking for herself, Marley doubts she does get it. Rubbing her legs with cloth over them is just rubbing her legs with cloth over them. But she doesn’t have to understand it to be glad Unique has something, and maybe that’s what Sam meant.