The strong smell of acetone filled the air as the Thai lady who worked at the nail salon, quickly removed my nail polish. It was a Tuesday afternoon, which meant it was my day off and I'd decided to spend it with my friend Felicity by going into town and having our nails done. I was stressed over the situation I'd found myself in with Mr. Jackson, and found that any sort of beauty therapy always helped me relax.
In my mind, he was still Mr. Jackson... I felt as though calling him Michael, would imply that we were friends...when we were the furthest thing from it. I was still debating over whether or not to outright quit, but doing that would mean I would have to explain to my mother why I had done so and that was something I just couldn't bring myself to do. For one, my mother would probably take him to court and I didn't want that kind of attention, especially in a town as small as ours and two, it was downright embarrassing.
I had also entertained the thought of telling Felicity, but knowing her, she would probably just freak out and have the same reaction as my mother. So I decided that it was best to just keep quiet on the matter. I was going to ignore his crude gesture, and show up for work tomorrow as if nothing had happened. Hopefully, he would get the message and not harass me anymore. Ignorance really was bliss.
"Hey, Diana..." spoke Felicity, all of sudden from beside me, breaking me out of my reverie, "Can I ask you a question?"
I hated being asked questions, especially when people asked you if they could ask them beforehand, that always meant it was something uncomfortable.
I sighed, before answering, "I suppose so..."
Once the Thai lady had finished buffing my nails, she offered the plastic case of nail colours to me and I took it with both hands, my eyes drifting over the small bottles until I found one that I liked. It was a deep blue colour that held a slight metallic shine to it, and I found myself quickly falling in love with the polish.
"Well, I was just wondering...if maybe, you wanted to go on a date with my brother, James?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible and my heart leapt into my chest.
James was Felicity's older brother, he was around twenty years old and had just recently moved out of their family home, to a luxurious apartment only a few blocks away. James was an amazing football player, who had been travelling back and forth between here and Doncaster throughout the year to play for the Rovers. There was no denying that he was attractive as all hell, but I couldn't imagine myself going on a date with Felicity's brother.
She shot me a hopeful look and I blinked back at her, caught in a state of minor shock, "Uh...I don't know, Felicity, I mean, he's a nice guy and all but...he's your brother-" I stammered before I was cut off.
"Exactly!" she interjected, her tone excited, as she turned around in her seat to face me, "It would be perfect, because your my best friend, so I already know what you're like...and you and him have always gotten along whenever you've been at my house and I just think you'd be really cute together..." she gushed.
"Felicity..." I began, "This is a huge deal, because what if something goes wrong? What if it doesn't work out? What if he gets to know me better and realises he doesn't like me?"
"Oh my god, Diana, can you please, just for a second, stop overthinking it and just take a chance for once in your life?" she begged, pleadingly, her eyes observing my reaction to her words closely.
I've had a few flings with boys from school before, but I've never had a serious boyfriend. Pursing a relationship with James is a lot different to hooking up with someone in my class at a weekend party.
"I don't know, Fizz..." I said, my voice hesitant, "Can I at least have some time to think about it?"
She agreed to let me have two days to think about it, but she didn't look happy. I know James had had a lot of trouble with girls before. He was cocky, confident and just a tad arrogant and girls seemed to find that intimidating, but me? I'd known James my whole life, so I knew exactly how to act around him.
Once we'd finished getting our nails done, we'd walked over to the counter to pay. I handed over the fifty and I noticed Felicity, eyeing a store across the mall. I turned to look in the same direction and saw what she was looking at.
I turned back to her and cocked an eyebrow, "A lingerie store? Really?"
She shot me an amused grin before pulling me over to look in the window, "Oh wow, they have Victoria's Secret in here..." she said, disappearing inside the store.
I suddenly felt very light headed as I noticed the black lacy thong on the mannequin in the window. It was the same one that Michael had slipped inside my pay envelope. I found my legs moving on my own, taking me into the store. I searched the Victoria's Secret section and quickly found the lace thong. I turned the price tag over in my hand and almost fainted at the sight.
Five hundred and thirty dollars...for a damn pair of panties...
The shopkeeper must have noticed my shocked expression as she spoke from behind the counter, "Yeah, they're expensive huh? They've only just been made in the UK and so far I've only had one man purchase them...'said that they were for his special lady...so..." she smiled, her brown eyes bright against her porcelain features and Mr. Jackson immediately sprung to mind.
"That's sweet..." I managed, forcing a polite smile. I had physically will myself to walk away from the lace panties and go and find Felicity.
When I found her over in the naughty costumes section, holding up a naughty nurse's outfit, I rolled my eyes so hard, you could almost hear it. Felicity must have sensed me approaching, because she turned around just in time to see my expression.
"What?" she asked, her tone defensive, "I'm just thinking...you know, for Finn..."
Finn was Felicity's boyfriend of over two years. They were each other's first love and I thought their relationship was adorable, that is, until Felicity told me about their raunchy sex life. Apparently, Finn was a real freak in bed and was really into all that bondage type stuff. I'd even found a pair of handcuffs on Felicity's floor one time when I'd slept over and I'd forced her to tell me what it was all about. Looking at them when they were together, you wouldn't be able to tell what went on behind closed doors.
"Well how much is it?" I asked, reaching out to touch the silky fabric at the bottom of the outfit.
"It's on sale for a hundred..." she murmured, "Although, I think I should try it on first before I buy it..."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea..." I replied, as we moved off to the change rooms. It only took Felicity a minute to slip into the costume and when the door finally swung open, my jaw nearly dropped to the ground.
"Holy hell...Fizz, you look hot...you look like a pornstar!" I complimented her, my eyes rolling down the figure hugging outfit, that showed off her curves in all the right places, "Finn`s going to love this..."
"You think so?" she said, spinning around to admire herself in the mirror, "When are you going to lose your virginity, Diana? I mean, I know you've done things before, but like really...do you reckon it'll happen soon?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I don't really think about it all that often with it being senior year and what not...but I guess, I'll just lose it at college, I mean, everyone does, if they haven't already..."
"Yeah, that's true," she agreed, placing a hand on her hip, "But wouldn't you rather be good at sex by the time college rolls around? I mean, no offence to virgins...but I think guys in college prefer to have experienced girls..."
"Mm, I guess so, but I'm not really fazed by what the guys at college prefer...I mean, it'll happen some day, right?" I sighed as she walked back into the change room.
"Are you ready though? Like, if someone were to come up to you right now, who was super sexy...and asked you to have sex with them...would you?" she called, from over the top of the fitting room door.
"I don't know...I guess, it would depend if I really liked them or not..." I answered, throwing my handbag over my shoulder as she emerged from the change room, clutching the nurse's outfit.
"What about if you liked my brother?" she teased, wriggling her eyebrows at me and I flushed a deep pink.
"Fizzy! Oh my god, that's your brother! You can't talk about that kind of stuff!" I exclaimed, walking out of the room in embarrassment, my heart fluttering at the mere mention of such a crude scenario.
She laughed in amusement, following me out into the shop, "Oh come on, Di, you and I both know that my brother can be a bit of a player, if you were to grant me this favour of going on a date with him, he would probably expect sex at the end of it...I'm not even going to lie...it's just the way he is...sex isn't a big deal to him..."
"Well it is to me," I huffed, desperate to try and change the topic of the conversation. I abandoned Felicity inside the store to wait outside while she paid for the outfit.
"Di, come on! Please!" she begged, swinging the pink bag as soon as she exited the store.
"I thought you said I could have two days to think about it?" I crossed my arms over my chest as we began walking through the mall, in search of a nice cafe.
"Well yeah, but it'd be much easier if I could just convince you now..." she grumbled under her breath and I chuckled, shaking my head in amusement.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Night came and I stepped inside the warm house, sliding my keys out from the lock before closing it behind me.
"Hey, I'm home..." I yelled, so my mother could hear me from the kitchen. She shouted back an acknowledgment and I jogged up the stairs to my room.
I shut the door behind me and immediately began getting undressed so I could go and have a shower. I grabbed a pair of pyjamas and wrapped a towel around my mid-section, before opening the door, only to let out a loud shriek as I jumped, nearly ten feet in the air.
"Jesus! I wasn't expecting you to be right behind the door..." I breathed, my hand on my chest in an effort to calm my racing heart.
"Sorry, sweetie," said my mother, holding the phone so the speaker was pressed against her shoulder, "Mr. Jackson is on the phone...he wants to speak to you..."
My entire face dropped and my breath hitched in my throat, my arm feeling heavy as I reached out and took the phone from her grasp. I wordlessly shut the door, licking my lips nervously before raising the phone to my ear.
I hadn't even said anything yet, before he spoke, "Diana, I know you're there...and even though you may be too afraid to speak to me right now, I want you to listen carefully..." he rasped, his husky voice holding a sinister edge to it.
"I assume you received my gift in the envelope I gave you and I would just like to warn you, since you are not yet familiar with my punishment techniques, that if you do not wear it when you come here tomorrow night...I promise you, darling, you will regret it..." he growled, "Do you understand, Diana?"
I took a sharp breath, unable to speak, and he chuckled darkly at my silence.
"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night, Diana...don't be late..." he said, his voice turning stern as he uttered the last few words.
And with that, the phone went dead...
Bottom of Form