The Frog & the Businesswoman (GirlxGirl WlW)

Chapter 2

"This is it," Louise says as we reach one of the last few ponds of the park, her luck — if I had to walk anymore to find that damned thing, I would just drop her off at any of them. I look around at the empty, lonely looking pond, feeling more and more like I've been conned. "That's my backpack on the shore."

I frown and look at the direction she's pointing, sure enough, there is a black backpack sitting on the edge of the pond. "Well, where are the keys?"

"They must be somewhere in the water with my jeans," she says, squinting her eyes to try to look around. "Can you bring me closer?"

I look around to check for any witnesses, there is no way I'll allow someone to watch me talking to a frog. "I'm not touching that water."

"Ugh, fine," she hops out of the trash bag and into the water, there are a few other frogs around, croaking as she wades deeper in. The pond isn't exactly big, and it doesn't take her long to reach the end — she stays there for a moment, looking around.

"Do you guys talk too?" I ask the other frogs, they look at me, croaking some more before hopping away. "Rude," I mumble, crossing my arms.

"Found it!" Louise mumbles with the keys in her mouth as she comes onto the surface.

"Took you long enough."

"Toads aren't great swimmers," she says, jumping onto the grass and then the trash bag. She throws the key towards me, and I catch it before it lands on the ground. "Can you at least get my backpack? I have my laptop on it."

"No," I say, picking up the trash bag. "Aren't you a millionaire? Does it matter?"

"My computer has everything on it, I don't have it saved anywhere else," she insists, poking her head out again.

I pick it up with the tips of my fingers, holding it as far from my body as possible before dropping it on top of her inside of the bag. "There, happy?"

"You're quite rude, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't care," I say, walking out of the park with the frog inside the bag. "Where do you live?"

Louise gives me the directions to her apartment. I've never been to this part of the city, but it isn't far. It takes us 5 minutes to arrive at her building. It isn't anything special, but not necessarily affordable housing either. I enter the building with the trash bag hidden under my arm, pressing the button for the elevator as soon as I'm inside.

The frog hops out of the bag as soon as the elevator door close behind us. "Ugh, finally!" she says, stretching. "I was starting to get claustrophobic."

I make a face. "You should go back in, I don't want to get caught with a toad in the elevator."

"It's fine, I'll stay on the corner over here," she says, jumping to the corner. "Just don't put me in that bag again."

I lean against the opposite side, watching the frog as the elevator moves up. She seems to be thinking hard about something, or well, as hard as a toad can think. I still haven't decided whether or not I should just drop her off and run, but there is this weird curiosity taking over me — I really want to see if she will turn into a human.

The elevator finally reaches the fifth floor and I make my way through the hall until we reach her apartment, opening it with the key. I look around as I step inside. The place looks clean and organized, there are no photos on the walls — it does look like someone moved in recently, but other than that, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

She hops to where I'm guessing is the bathroom. "You'll have to help me with the shower head and with the bottles."

"Oh great, I'll be helping a frog shower now," I grimace.