Aubrey woke and rubbed her eyes, yawning. She sat up, the sheet pooling around her waist and reminding her of her current lack of clothing. She looked over to her girlfriend's side of the bed and saw nothing but empty sheets. She stood, pulling on her dressing gown and running a hand through her mussed up hair. She glanced in the mirror and grimaced. Her eye makeup was mostly intact but her lipstick was smeared all around her mouth. She cleaned her face before leaving the bedroom.
"Stacie?" She called. "Stace? You here?" She looked around her small one bedroom apartment in search of her girlfriend of three months. Great, she thought as she got no response. I had sex with her and she left the next morning. Classy. She continued looking around her spotless kitchen, not seeing so much as a post it out of place. She knocked on the bathroom door and listened silently for a few seconds to make sure Stacie wasn't in the shower or bath. Nope.
Then she walked into the living room. She saw a metal suitcase like they use to transport delicate or top secret stuff in cliché spy movies. There was a note on top.
Morning, Sweetheart. Choose your weapon. XOX.
At the bottom of the page was a red lip print and the paper had the scent of perfume, both of which she automatically knew were Stacie's. Although the remnants of Stacie comforted her, she couldn't deny the warning signs that went off in her head or the caution she had when she sat down and opened the briefcase.
She laughed. "Nerf guns? Seriously?" She called to the apparently empty apartment. "What did you do, raid the store?" She asked when she saw just how many there were. All different shapes, sizes and colours, all with refill cartridges. This is ridiculous. She laughed but picked up two small eight dart guns and three refill cartridges just in case.
She was right to do so.
The second she stood up, she felt a dart hit her in the butt and heard Stacie yell "Nerf gun war!". She turned on her heel. No one was there. She quickly loaded both weapons with a fourth refill pack and locked the case. Newly loaded weapons raised, she crept round the corner "Aha!" She yelled, firing at Stacie, who winced as it hit her in the nose. She took advantage of the other woman's momentary distraction, running for the bedroom. Just as she approached the threshold another bullet bounced off the wall. "Missed me!" She teased, closing the door behind her and locking it.
She got dressed at breakneck speed and stood by the door silently, somehow knowing that Stacie was on the other side. She took one very loud, very deliberate step closer and heard Stacie step back in case the door hit her. She opened the door quickly, gun in one hand and heels in the other. "Come on! We've got to get to rehearsals!" She called, firing a shot over her shoulder. She felt one graze the side of her head.
"You're dead, Posen!" He girlfriend yelled playfully.
"Catch me first, Conrad!" She yelled back, barrelling for the elevator and punching the button repeatedly, looking over her shoulder. She saw Stacie emerge from the apartment and fired. Stacie flinched. The elevator arrived. She got in, tossing the door keys to Stacie. "Lock up!" Stacie fired and she dodged to one side, the foam bullet hitting the wall behind her. Fortunately she was the only one in the lift at the time. Once she was out of the lift she opened the door to the stairwell. Sure enough, she could hear Stacie clomping down the stairs as gracefully as she could in heels. "You really need to keep up with your cardio, honey!"
"I thought last night was workout enough!" The woman panted back, smirking slightly as she knew Aubrey would be blushing down to her roots. She was.
"Beat me to rehearsals and then we'll see."