REND

I blinked in surprise. Not sure what answer I expected, but it wasn’t that. “Wha-what?”

Deen leaned forward. I thought she was going to kiss me, but she didn’t. Our lips half an inch away, she said, “I want to make you cum. Is it that hard to understand, Erind? Want me to spell it? C-U—?”

“I’m not a child, Deen. I know what you’re talking about,” I interjected, knowing that playing dumb would make me look pathetic. “Why do you want to do that to me? My bodily functions are my business, thank you very much.” Fucking lame reply. This was a bad situation.  

Deen giggled, knowing very well she had gained the upper hand. Her eyes sparkled with impishness. She stepped closer and pressed herself against the edge of the table. I tried to scootch back, but there was no space. She grabbed me by the waist and pulled me closer to her. Her hands ran down my sides, to my legs, gently scraping my skin with her nails.

“You made me cum.” She cradled my legs and tried to wrap them around her. “So, I wanted to return the favor.”

I dangled my legs limply from her hands, not accepting her invitation for more intimacy. “No need to return the favor. Consider it a gift.”

Deen bowed and pressed our lips together. “I want to repay you,” she mumbled while kissing me.

I tilted my head left, breaking our lips’ contact. Damn it, I shouldn’t have done that. It was tantamount to admitting defeat. But I also didn’t want to give her any more ideas. “Last time I checked,” I said, “gifts don’t need to be repaid. And you’re my best friend. Even more reason to not repay things.”

She leaned forward. Pressing our cheeks together, she cooed in my ear. “I don’t want to be unfair to my best friend.”

“Unfairness is ever present in our world,” I said with a snort. What the fuck am I supposed to reply? This was a trap. Worse, I was heading straight for it even though I was aware of it. It was like I suddenly gained prescience. I knew what this bitch wanted to do. And I wasn’t game for it at all.

“I can’t have all the fun, can I?” she asked.

“You can.” I cupped her hanging breasts. “I’m very much fine with you having all the fun.” I dug my fingers into her fleshy udders and massaged them. Deflect was all I could do for now. Defeat was on the horizon.

“No, no. I’m not selfish.” Deen lowered my hands. Then she pulled her shirt down to cover herself. “I want you to have fun too.” She swept my hair back to expose my neck and the side of my head. Her tongue traced the curve of my ear down to my earlobe. She took my earlobe between her teeth and gently nibbled on it.

Despite myself, I flinched.

She chuckled. “I’m not going to bite you, silly.” Then she sucked on my earlobe.

“I wasn’t thinking about that,” I said, though I really half-expected her to chomp me. This felt nice though.   

Deen placed her hands on my inner thighs and massaged them, parting my legs wider. She twirled her tongue around my ear, slobbering it like a hungry dog. Suddenly, her tongue dove into my ear.

“Wait a moment.” I leaned away from her. My back pressed against the wall. She tried to bend forward but I pushed her face away. “Stop, stop. There’s something you got wrong.”

“What now?” Deen looked at me with a brow raised. “I already promised I’m not going to bite your ear off. Or any part of your body. Is your issue…?” She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tell me that Erind Hartwell is afraid of cumming in front of me?”

“Can we first process how a sentence like that just came out of your mouth? You don’t want to take it back?”

Deen ignored me. “You have no reason to be embarrassed about it. Just the two of us here. I’m not going to judge you or anything.” She grabbed my clothes. One hand tried to pull my shirt up while the other tugged at the waistband of my shorts. “In fact, I want you to—”

“Don’t undress me, you weirdo.” Ironic given I had exposed her breasts moments ago, I know. I grabbed her wrists and slowly closed my grip with super strength. “If you continue, I’ll break your hands. I mean it. And it’s not about me getting embarrassed. You said I made you cum.”

“Yeah? I want to repay—”

“But I didn’t do that. Remember? You’re the one who played with yourself while I—I mean, while Blanchette, um, did her… thing.”

“Fucked my throat with your tongue,” Deen said in a deadpan tone.

“One,” I said. “Don’t phrase it that way. There’s something very off with you tonight. You’ve got your degenerate bully mode on. Two: that was Blanchette’s tongue. And, three: don’t say ‘fuck’. It’s so out of character for you that it’s making me cringe.”

“Bringing lawyering into this, huh? Technicalities and whatnot. If you didn’t fuck my throat—” she winked at me “—I wouldn’t have played with myself.”

“Don’t blame your actions on me.”

“Fine. I did it on my own. Now, I want to see you play with yourself.” Deen yanked her hands from my grasp and placed them on her hips. She cocked her head, as if to say, go on.

“Why would I do that?” In my head, I hoped that Mom would be done with her videoconference. “I’m not an exhibitionist, Deen.”

“You said you’re not embarrassed.”

I shook my head. “That’s not what—”

“So, you are embarrassed to do it in front of me?”

“I’m not.” Not sure what I was feeling. On its own, doing what she wanted wouldn’t affect me. But there was just something wrong with agreeing to it. Like, I’d be giving Deen too much power. Too much submissiveness for no gain.

“So, there’s no problem then? We’ve crossed a lot of lines. Just one step over this one too.”

“This must be the peer pressure Mom told me about a long time ago. I think she was thinking about drugs, not getting pressured to publicly masturbate.”

“Publicly? Does one person count as the public? Anyway, I already did it. Why can’t you?”

“Wha-? That’s not how it works.” This wasn’t Deen’s end goal, I could sense it. She had something more sinister planned. This night might be the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far in my life, even more difficult than surviving my Adumbrae-infested condo.

“Enough delaying tactics,” said Deen. “This isn’t a courtroom. Are you going to do it or not? You can say ‘no’…”

Possibilities raced in my head. Do it and not lose? Such a fucking wild idea. It didn’t even equate to winning. How about taking it a step further and letting her play with me to show it wouldn’t bother me? Even more insane. Insaner? Lastly, I could just take the massive ‘L’ and get back at Deen some other time. Somehow, my schemes against her, seemingly victories, ended up backfiring down the line.

“While you’re thinking about how to lose,” she said, winking at me to tell me she knew what was going through my mind, “I have something here to make it more fun.” She reached for a paper bag on top of the cabinet beside the study table. It had the logo of the store at the airport.

“What’s that? Are you going to make me wear that white blouse with my blood on it while you molest me or something?”

“No… I haven’t thought of that. Good suggestion though.”

“Deen!”

“Relax, Erind. I’m limiting my degeneracy for a bit.”

“Good to know that you know you’re going off the deep end,” I said, looking cautiously at the bag she opened. This weirdo bought something else from the store? Were they selling collars and—I groaned when she pulled it out. “A hundred percent no, Deen. I’m going to throw you out the window if you make me wear that.”

“Isn’t it cute?” Deen was holding a headband with dog ears. She flapped the floppy, furry ears. “Way cuter if they’re on you.” She tried to put it on my head.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said?” I fended her off. “You don’t have flying powers the last I checked.”

“Just do this for me, please,” said Deen. “I’ll do anything in return.”

“Do what exactly? Wear those dog ears while—”

“While playing with yourself. Yes.” Deen grinned at me. “Pretty please?”

“That’s it! You’re homeless tonight.”

Before Deen could respond, we heard a voice calling us. "Erind dear!" Mom's voice pierced through my room's door. "Dinner's ready."

“We’re going to continue this later.” Deen carried me off the table like a child.  

“There’s no later,” I hissed back. “You’re going out the window.”

“If you’re too embarrassed to do it alone, we’ll do it together.”

---

 

The three of us sat around the square, four-seater table. Mom and I were on one side. Deen sat across from me. We were talking about Mom’s hair—she told Deen that she did it to hide her graying in her twenties. Eventually, Mom and Dad got together, and she got past her self-esteem issues.

“So, that's a lesson for you, girls,” said Mom. “And as the gray strands multiplied, it turned out to be a fashionable accent of sorts.” She patted my hand. “That's what your father told me, anyway. But now, my hair is about eighty percent white, so I thought I’d revisit my old look with a new treatment that doesn’t involve bleaching. My husband’s not around anymore, so…” She looked down at her plate.

I struggled not to roll my eyes. I hated drama during dinner. Ruins my appetite.

“He sounds like a great guy, Mrs. Hartwell,” Deen said. “I hope I find someone who appreciates me for who I am someday.”

“Deen, you’re practically every guy’s dream,” I said. “What are you on about? Or do you mean getting past the physical aspect part, true-beauty-is-on-the-inside mumbo-jumbo?” I felt something stroke my leg. It was Deen trying to play footsie with me under the table. I glared at her.

“Mrs. Hartwell, can you tell me about Erind’s love life?” Deen asked.