Positive Discrimination
#40 of Hockey Hunk Season 2
Under all circumstances, it helps to stay positive.
Hehhey, welcome to Hockey Hunk!
We've go three more season 2 chapters to go before the super-exciting season 3, but even with that looming in the distance, that doesn't mean that we're done here yet! Rory's got some way to go, and that means more Hockey Hunk fun for everyone! Yay!
Your comments are welcome as always, and the feedback is greatly appreciated. Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories as well. Every little helps.
Without further ramblings, I present to you the latest chapter in Rory's saga, and hope that you have a fun read!
Cheers!
*
The phone clattered down to the floor.
"Marge?" I hissed.
"I'm positive," she rumbled.
I blinked.
"Marge?"
My tail made its customary somersault of surprise behind me, smacking against one of the steel tubes of the counter. The little twinge of unpleasantness wasn't enough to distract me from staring at the cougar in front of me, the limp angle of her arms and the phone lying on the floor, the screen still lit in post-call glory. My co-worker's whiskers shook and her eyes remained wide, and I could see the tip of her tongue between her teeth, as if her whole face was about to go slack with whatever emotion she held constrained within herself.
I took a step forward, entering her personal space, while my face furrowed with concern.
"Marge?" I leaned closer so that I would not have to raise my voice and attract further suspicion.
Her painted lips tugged upwards to reveal her white teeth. It looked like a smile, though an involuntary one, somehow. I tilted my head a little, curiosity and worry all over my expression.
"Marge, please speak to me or I'll be feeling very unpleasant very soon," I warned, speaking in as calm voice as I could muster in this unnerving silence.
Her ears perked and jumped, and I could see her bosom rise in a deep breath that soon flowed out of her nostrils, brushing over my face in a cool, intimate spray. She was rumbling a little, throatily, much unlike the purr that usually accompanied her more cheeky statements.
"I don't have a urinary tract infection," she snuffled.
I frowned, and mentally winced, too, at the odd statement, but decided to press on, unable to let her stop it there. That didn't make any sense yet.
"What?" I hissed.
Marge's tail tapped deftly against my calves. She was still leaning heavily to the counter, perhaps for support, perhaps for balance, perhaps out of habit, but it still made me wonder whether her legs might give out and send her sprawling on the floor. It certainly wasn't fun for me to be standing there, prepared to catch her in case of that happening. My own heart was doings its own natural hard leap against my chest, driving nervous energy through my body at a quick pace. I was ready to act, whatever it was that was expected of me.
The cougar gave me a quick look and shook her head.
"I went there because I thought that it was a urinary tract infection, that can happen...they took blood for the tests and I..."
She paused.
"Yes?" I breathed.
Marge's furs bristled.
"I...told them that I didn't think so but...they did it anyway, standard procedure..."
"They did what?" I hissed, puzzled.
Marge's eyes turned towards me, but she did not try to meet my eyes. She was looking past me, in a way, perhaps to check whether any customers were within earshot, before she spoke again in a soft, small voice.
"A pregnancy test," she breathed.
My eyes must have widened to a new record size for that statement. My tail flopped down to the floor and its tip began to softly bounce off the floor. The odd tension in my belly exploded into a wave of strange sensations coursing through me, while the pressure itself relieved itself in a moment's notice. I felt breathless and for that I breathed out deeply and then drew a deep breath in, my skin itched and my shoulders flexed, much, much acting like I had done last night, in my moment of alarm, but now in reverse, letting the tension draw away from me. A strange sense of relief came over me, after those harrowing moments of considering the possibility that Marge had just received the worst news of her life...and now that all the pieces had been put together, I knew that it was big news...big, yes, but whether they were good news or bad news...that categorization eluded me yet. Her reaction I could not decipher, she might have been thinking and feeling either way as far as I was concerned, but I knew, and I saw, I experienced that the news she had heard were big news indeed.
Big news.
"Oh," was my wonderfully brilliant and empathic initial reaction.
Marge rubbed her paw over her face in a jerky motion, still rumbling softly. Her tail wouldn't stop either.
"Oh shit," Marge grunted, teeth bared.
That was my limit. I reached out and put my paw on her arm and gave it a little squeeze, while I let a soft, genuine smile rise over my lips. I looked at her, with my big, concerned eyes.
"Are you alright, sweetie?" I rumbled gently, intimately.
She felt tense and high strung but did not swat my paw away, which was a good start, I decided, as I held her, low on her arm so as not to attract too much attention to us. I kept gazing at her, and she blinked a couple of times, still avoiding my direct line of sight. For a brief moment I had to wonder whether she had a tendency to burst into tears at moments of emotional turmoil...knowing Marge, I couldn't be so sure about that.
Marge's free paw performed another swipe over her face and muzzle and then down the front of her uniform shirt, tugging on the hem to make the cloth taut over her assets. Her tail still swished rapidly, even going as far as to tap against my calves.
"Why do I get the idea that this is surprise news for you, Marge?" I spoke, not knowing what else to say, really, what else to suggest as a possible explanation to this reaction, or her sudden muteness.
Her eyes diverted at mine, for a brief moment, and her teeth flashed between her lips before she spoke, finally, and to my relief, in a relatively steady voice, too.
"I didn't even think about it..."
I tried to keep my smile steady, despite my lingering worry and, let's be frank here, despite the fact that I wasn't extremely familiar with the intricacies of the female psyche when it came to the act of reproduction. Of course I understood its significance and the fact that it must've been earth-shattering news under any circumstances, but just how Marge was reacting now puzzled me to no end. I didn't know too much about her relationship with Goggy, expect that it had not been going for more than about four months or so, as far as I knew, and even that I knew because of Marge's lovey dovey praise of the leopard's romantic prowess...but whether that also included the potential for fathering miniature Marges and Goggys... I wasn't sure of her opinion on that.
I gave her arm another gentle squeeze of mine.
"Do you want to...take a little break, Marge?" the practical took over, as it ought to, I supposed, as I spoke again. "Maybe sit down, have some coffee...call Goggy...?"
Marge huffed and shrugged, causing me to frown mildly.
"You don't really think that's something you can tell on the phone, Rory?" she rumbled, giving me pointed eyes.
My ears flicked down guiltily.
"Uh...yeah, I suppose...sorry," I rumbled.
Well, she was right. You weren't supposed to speak about things of that magnitude on the phone, unless you didn't have choice. I knew too well how it felt to receive weighty phone calls, and make them, too, and now that I thought about it for more than a second, reporting on one's pregnancy to the presumed father of the baby wasn't really one of the things you should blurt out on the phone.
"Never mind," Marge snuffled in a tone that suggested to me that she might have omitted the "...you stupid male" from her statement, for my masculine pride's benefit.
"Well, if you still want to have a break and think about it..."
Someone cleared his throat.
"Excuse me?"
We both jumped guiltily to face the speaker, revealed to be a youngish brown bear clutching a couple of books against his chest and looking at the two of us curiously. I extracted my paw from Marge's arm and took a quick side-step, to stand behind my cash register, and I made sure to flash my best happyhappy smile up, too.
"Why don't I check those for you?" I forced my voice to rise to the correct register and extended my paws invitingly.
The bear dude gave me a suspicious look before his eyes jumped over to Marge, briefly, before he put the glossy-covered books down onto the counter.
"Well, sure, "he grunted, still sounding unconvinced.
My tail flailed behind me, displeased with the odd situation, while I picked the topmost of the pile and ran it through the barcode reader and the alarm.
"Richard Dawkins, eh?" I spoke in a desperate attempt at small talk after catching a quick glimpse on the cover, "pretty heavy reading, isn't it?"
The bear gave me a blunt look.
"He's God for the godless," the bear stated. "Of course he's heavy, man!"
"Oh," I mused, putting the book to the side, swiftly and with professional flair, the way I had trained myself to do.
The bear looked on impatiently, adding to the pressure, not to mention the knowledge of Marge standing by me still. I daren't look at her in case that the bear would get even more strange ideas about what had been going on between us before, and thus I held my eyes resolutely on my paws, going through the motions.
"You will get our special discount if you have the Taylor membership card," I noted, deciding that commenting on the books had already been a wrong move on my part, "and if the purchase goes past 50 dollars, you have the option of taking part in our Spring Special Offer, where you will get 5 dollars off from the purchase from the part going past 50 dollars."
The bear didn't seem so impressed with my ramble, because he simply shrugged again.
"I don't believe in preferential treatment."
My ears flicked.
"Alright," I spoke, the cash register beeping as I added the total sum, checked the tax, and hit the key for the grand total. "And that'll be 45.99, please."
The bear began to dig into his pants pocket, and I leaned down to grab a red carrier bag of suitable size from under the counter.
"Don't need one," the bear grunted. "Don't believe in plastic bags."
My eyes snapped up to the bear, and I saw that instead of a wallet, he had pulled out a worn-looking cloth bag from his pocket and was now busily unrolling that into usable form.
"Okay," I spoke, feeling my happyhappiness become reduced to about 70% intensity, out of sheer WTF-ness. My dose for today was about done, anyway, though deep in my mind I also knew that a few hours spent in the presence of COBB Holden would give me enough to last a month. At least.
The bear did manage to find some crumpled bills from his pocket as well, after which I did my best to thrust the books into the brownish bag without doing any damage to the edges of the paperbacks. The bear kept looking at me impatiently throughout my fidgeting struggle.
"Don't forget that we are starting our big June sale soon, and we'll be having very good offers on many categories of books," Marge chimed in at the moment, sounding mostly normal, though I wondered whether she did speak up to simply heckle me further, or in need of a distraction for herself.
"I don't usually go to bookshops," the bear grunted in reply, "but someone stole my God Delusion and my new boyfriend wanted to read it and I didn't want to wait for Amazon."
I dared a quick glimpse at Marge and saw from her tail everything that wasn't showing on her face, and I suspected deeply that she was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
"Here you go!" I let my voice rise to maximum happyhappy tone as I handled the book over the counter. "I put your receipt and your special July Sale vouches in there as well."
The bear grabbed the bag from me in a move that was almost violent, and caused my own tail to jump behind me quickly.
"Thank you for visiting, and remember that we also serve you at the Stepford Center," I smiled from ear to ear, finding solace in the idea that next time the bear might be served by a certain Alex instead of yours truly.
"Thanks," the bear replied, and he was gone.
I zeroed the till to wait for the next customer and turned my full attention back to Marge, standing behind her own cash register. Her quirky brow told me that she had been amused by my encounter with the bear, something that was a relief for me as well, considering how high strung she had only been two minutes before.
"Are you okay, sweets?" I smiled, flicking my ears in a friendly manner.
Marge swatted my legs with her thick tail and gave me sharp ear flick. I returned it with a quick swipe of my own tail and a little smile, reacting just in the way I always did to her tail-bashing on my own body.
"I'm 35 years old and first time pregnant - and don't you dare to tell anyone that first part, you muffin" she hissed sharply, "and I heard about it 5 minutes ago, I think I deserve a bit more time to decide what I think about it, don't you agree?"
I felt a hint of color on my cheeks, not for any particular reason, except perhaps for the fact that Marge managed to have such an effect on me.
"Of course," I smiled, "You should take all the time you need, Marge...you know we all will be here to support you."
Marge's head tilted and she bared her teeth in a huff.
"Why do you have to make it sound like a crisis?" she snorted. "It's not going to affect my working life in any way for at least...seven months! It's not like I'm about to stop working all sudden simply because I happen to be in a delicate condition. This isn't a Victorian novel where the heroine dies of childbirth, mind you."
My cheeks felt even more red for the sudden tirade, and I couldn't do anything but nod.
"Sorry for being such a man," I slumped my shoulders a little for extra emphasis.
Marge swapped my hip with her tail and chuckled.
"Oh but that's why we like you so much," she smirked. "And also hate you guts for that reason, but that's just inevitable."
"I know," I replied, stretching the truth about the depth of my knowledge just a little bit, harmlessly.
Marge crouched down to pick up her phone and I decided to take the occasion to glimpse at the clock, briefly, and check how many customers were mingling inside the store and whether anyone looked like they needed some help from the resident studmuffin of a lion. To my relief, they seemed alright for the time.
"Rory?" she sounded softer now.
"Yeah?" I turned to face the cougar with a curious cat expression.
"Could you...could we keep this between us until I decide to tell the others?" Marge inquired.
I reached with my paw and patted her arm gently while I smiled in assurance of my good will and intentions.
"Of course, "I spoke, "your secret is safe with me."
Marge tapped her paw over my arm and gave it a little squeeze, much like the one I had given to her earlier, while she smiled, softly.
"Knew I could count on you, muffin," she smiled.
"You can," I replied. "For as long as you need."
It might have sounded casual, the way I told her that she could trust me, but for me, it wasn't much different from the usual state of affairs. In my kind of life, you learned about secrets early on. You knew that many furs counted on your silence, or your shared understanding on the sensitivity of the topic. You were counted upon, and needed. You had to be there, and understand the importance of silence, and of selective sharing, when that was needed of you. Marge's pregnancy was just another secret for me, in the long string of secrets I had been bestowed to carry in my little heart, and I would treat it like any other. I held many dangerous secrets, of course I did, but this one...this one I carried happily, in my private mind, and with a soft hint of pride, for being there. What else was I to do?
It was Marge who broke our "moment" with a clearing of her throat and the taking of respectful distance between us. She tugged on her hems and stroked a paw through her head furs, too, flexed her fingers with all the necessary cracks, and generally seemed to work herself up to status normal, I supposed.
"Right!" she declared. "Time to quit being damsels in distress and doing some heavy duty book retail, shall we?"
I tapped my paw against my forehead.
"Aye, aye, Captain!" I grinned.
Marge grinned back.
"You can start by fetching that final box of tantra manuals from the back room, I didn't have the time to do that before we opened," she continued.
My ears flopped appropriately.
"I'm at your service, ma'am," I tilted my head down in a small bow.
"Good job, Rory."
*
Thank you for reading my story. If you have any comments, now is the time to drop a line or two. All feedback is greatly appreciated.
Don't forget to stay tuned for the next chapter, I have heard rumors that a certain very much anticipated dinner date might be happening...but you didn't hear that from me, okay?
Cheerio!