REDUCED TO THIS

By Angel Sentier and Lady Parsley

Chapter Four

Danny looked around at the restaurant as Teri put their names in at the pedestal. When she had told him they would be eating Italian that night, he hadn't expected... this. She'd driven up to Mick's Pizza D'Oro; a tiny parlor that looked like it might have been built in the 50s and was still under the same management. The walls inside were fake brick on corkboard, wooden latticework separated the booths at the center of the room, the tables were covered in red and white checked cloths, and decorating the place were fake poinsettias, framed pictures of carrots and garlic, and other works featuring Italy or food done in oil paint.

"Okay," said Teri, returning to the bench on which Danny had taken up residence. "It's going to be about forty-five minutes."

"What?" Danny asked, his eyes widening. "For this place?"

She rolled her eyes. "Snob. Look at all these people," she said, gesturing to the packed interior. "Do you think they come here for the ambiance? They come here for the food. Trust me, once you taste the buffet, you'll understand. Now, scoot over."

He took a hastily stifled intake of breath as Teri's thigh was very suddenly pressed against his own when she sat on the bench next to him.

"Working for Premiere, I've come into the acquaintance of many a restaurant," she said, once settled. "I've gone to restaurants where you have to place a reservation three months in advance of the actual date you want to eat on, you have to come by an hour early and you still have to wait three hours for a table, then you spend five thousand dollars on a meal that was probably prepared by third world children who get paid fifty cents per night, and you wonder why you took all that effort to go there anyway."

He laughed. "Ginger likes to go to those kinds of places. The pain of third world children is amusing to her, I guess."

"Speaking of the she-beast," said Teri, with a grin. "Why are you not with her tonight, boy-toy?"

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "She doesn't require me to be with her every night."

"Require?"

He nodded. "It's the word she uses."

"Wow," she said. "You must be good." She shook her head, rubbing her forehead with one hand. "All right, my focus is rapidly dwindling. We've got five minutes before all I'm going to be thinking about is Daniel Peer naked. So, hurry... Tell me about your childhood and... stuff."

He blinked. "Right, uh, okay... I'm the youngest of five, all sisters. Our mother divorced our father soon after I was born. I only saw him occasionally growing up and I don't fault her for the decision. They weren't suited to each other and that man was just not meant to be married. We were all raised by her and her... friend."

Teri tilted her head. "Friend?" she asked, making air quotations.

"Right. Her girl friend."

"Oh, reeeeeeally? Wow."

"Yeah," he said. "Every single one of them: powerful, domineering feminists."

"No wonder you work for Ginger so well."

"I was discovered for modeling while I was in my senior year of high school," he said, quickly changing the subject. "The modeling gigs paid for my college."

"So you didn't want to be a model?" she asked.

"No, I wanted to be in business."

"Which is what you went to college for."

"Right."

"So, how'd you end up working for Premiere?"

He shrugged. "They were the ones who accepted my resume? I suspected at first that I got hired because I was 'pretty.'"

She nodded. "Junior execs have been hired for less. How'd you end up working for Ginger, then? And what do you mean 'was?'"

He sighed. "This is mostly speculation on my part, but I'm guessing that Ginger saw how useful I could be to her, she orchestrated my demotion, and one condom wrapper in her office trashcan later, there I was, her assistant. No one would offer to promote me ever again, they're all too afraid of her, so I'm stuck there until the day I die." He hoped she wouldn't notice that he neglected to answer her second question.

"You make it sound like she owns your soul."

"I never did read the contract fully," he said with a little smile.

"What exactly do you do for Ginger? I know you proof-read and all that, but what do you really do?"

"Whatever she says," he answered in a flat tone. "Mostly... I'm her informant. She wants to find something out, I go pal around with the execs, play golf with them, laugh hysterically at their very, very bad jokes, and they let slip a few secrets, which I am then to report directly to Ginger. I'm kind of like her... magic mirror."

"How appropriate. And the rest of the time?"

"I guess I'm... kind of like a pet."

"Wow," she said, blinking in surprise. "Harsh. What's the attraction? I mean, there has to be some attraction for you, you're out with me, after all."

He glanced at her. "Um... No. There isn't any."

"Then why would you sleep with her?"

"It's not like I'm given much of a choice," he muttered, then clapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. "I mean, um..."

"Teri, party of two," called the hostess.

Danny gratefully stood up from the bench and waited for Teri to follow the hostess into the dining area before walking after her.

As Teri sat down, she realized something was beginning to bug her about the way Danny behaved... but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. She reached for her water glass and took a long sip as she pondered what it could be, noting that Danny did the same. She set the glass down and narrowed her eyes at him slightly, trying to figure him out. He also replaced his glass and smiled at her.

"Okay, how much does she pay you?" she asked.

"Enough to do her bidding with no arguments," he said in the same flat tone.

"Wow... I don't have that much in my bucket." She thought about it for a minute. "I could pay you out of pocket. I could live off of ramen and tap water, I did it in college, and I could do it again!" He laughed and shook his head in response, probably knowing as well as she did that it wouldn't work. She shrugged. "Well, it was a thought."

She reached for her water glass and again, noticed that he did so as well; picking up his own glass and drinking as she did. She set it back down, he set it back down. Okay, this is weird, she thought. Furrowing her brow just slightly, she picked up her glass and raised it to her lips... then set it back down again quickly without drinking from it. It would have been funny to watch as Danny did the same, if it wasn't bugging her so much as to why he was doing it!

"Are you copying me?" she asked.

"What? Um... No? I mean... I'm sorry?" he stammered.

She was about to say something more, when their waiter came up to the table to take their order. Teri hadn't even looked at the menu, but she came here often enough to know what she wanted.

"I'll have the chicken parmegiana," she said.

"That sounds good," said Danny. "I'll have the same."

Teri narrowed her eyes a bit. "Actually," she said before the waiter could leave. "I'd like to change that to the dinner buffet."

"No problem," said the waiter.

"Oh, that sounds even better," said Danny. "Please change my order to that, as well."

Once the waiter had left, Teri planted her hands on her hips. "You are copying me! Mom! Danny's copying me!" she said, in a high, young voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said, looking a bit red. "I've just never been here before and I figured you would know what was best to eat; I didn't mean to offend you..."

"Offend me?" she repeated. "Danny, I'm not offended! Just a little... weirded out."

"Oh... I'm sorry," he said.

"Stop apologizing," she said. "And if you say 'I'm sorry' for being sorry, I'm going to smack you! God, what does Ginger do to you?"

He bit down on his lips. Suddenly, it hit her... The attitude, the 'copying,' the waiting for her to do everything first, and the way he did whatever Ginger said... She sat back in her seat, regarding him with a serene air and a little smile on her face. "Oh, I get it..." she said. "You're a submissive!"

"Oh, God," Danny muttered, putting his head in one hand.

"No, no, no, no!" she said. "It's cool!"

He looked up at her, shocked. "It's... cool?"

"Yeah!" she said, excitedly. "It's--" Hot. But she stopped herself in time, looking down at the tabletop as she blushed bright red. "It's... you know."

"No," he said, looking seriously confused. "I don't."

"You know," she said. "It's... exciting, and... different, and..."

His eyes bugged slightly. "You think it's sexy?"

"Yes. I think it's sexy," she declared. "Yeah, I said it. What?"

"Nothing," he said, still looking stunned. "It's just... That's not what I expected to hear. At least, not from you."

"Great, Danny," Teri said, trying to struggle through her growing arousal and diminishing witty comebacks. "Less than five minutes pass and now all I can think of is you, naked, strapped to a table. All my conversation for the evening is now shot to hell. Again, thanks."

"I'm sorr-- Quick, tell me about your childhood," said Danny.

"Fine, it was fine."

"You really can't think of anything else?" He shifted in his seat as if his pants were too tight all of a sudden.

"Multi-tasking under these conditions is a bitch." She sighed and shook her head, forcing some semblance of focus back into her brain. She rose from the table to head to the buffet, hoping the movement would turn her thoughts to something more mundane. "Okay, I am the oldest of six kids; I have two brothers and three sisters. Our upbringing was... not normal."

"How so?" he asked, getting up to follow her.

"I grew up in a cult." Danny laughed, however Teri remained very serious as she began heaping pasta on a warm plate. "No. Really. I was raised in a cult. An-honest-to-God, white robed, holy hosanna, praise-Jesus-and-pass-the-Kool-aid cult. My mother and father had gotten into it on the ground floor when it was just a bunch of people studying the bible in some guy's basement. Before they knew it, they were wrapped up in this whole twisted way of life thing."

"How was it?"

Plates full, they headed back to the table and sat down. "Great... If you were a man," she said, beginning to talk between bites. "See, they taught that women were put on this earth for the purpose of service to men and breeding. They had us scared shitless about what a woman should be like so she could be pleasing to her husband. I was absolutely certain that the instant my stylist cut my hair for the first time, lightning would strike me dead. When I was nine, I had nightmares about Jesus coming back, pissed off beyond all belief, burning and killing everything and everyone who had ever made him angry in any way." She shuddered and was still for a very long moment. She wasn't sure when Danny took her hand, but she squeezed it lightly as soon as she realized. "Sorry... Kind of went off there."

"No, it's okay," he said, a look of concern on his face. He showed no intention of taking his hand back anytime soon. "How long were you trapped in that?"

"I got out when I was in high school. Just after they blamed the car accident that killed my dad on the fact that my mother had stopped coming to services."

"Bastards."

"Yeah," she agreed, nodding. "But even after I'd gotten out, you can probably imagine the hell of a time I had trying to pry my brain out of the ditch they'd put it in. After sixteen years of believing that all a woman was good for is popping out kids, I was a twenty-five year old virgin and couldn't stop thinking I was worthless."

The horrified look on Danny's face was remarkably comforting. "How could you possibly think that?"

"Imagine someone telling you that you've been wearing color contacts your whole life without realizing it and the sky is really fuchsia. Yeah, it's kind of like that."

"Well, what did you do? Or are you still--?"

"NO!" said Teri. "God, no!" She smiled, remembering. "Tessa helped me. I was talking to her on the phone one day and she said, 'Your mission this weekend, Teri, is to go out and get laid. You can do it! Take one for the team! And I want you to call me the second you get done!'"

"And?"

"I went out; I got laid."

"And did you call her right after?"

"Hell, no! I waited until the next morning."

"And what did she say?"

"She yelled at me for not calling her the second we were done."

Danny threw back his head and laughed. It was the first time she'd heard him laugh like that... The sound kind of left an aching feeling below her stomach, but a pleasant one. How can an ache be pleasant? she wondered.

"And how did that make you feel? Not the yelling, I mean... The getting laid."

"Empowered."

Danny took a sharp intake of breath and his eyes closed for a moment. The hand on hers tightened just slightly and she tilted her head at him curiously.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said. "I'm just... happy for you. That's all."

"Happy?" she repeated, confused.

"Yeah," he said, again shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "You know... happy. For you."

"Hap-- OHHHH!" she exclaimed, suddenly realizing what he meant. She blushed. "Happy... For me... Niiiiiiiiiiice." She sat up in the booth and smiled at him. "I want to try something."

"Try something?"

"Yeah. Do you mind?"

He shook his head. "No... What are you going to do?"

Rather than answer, Teri slipped her foot out of her shoe and ran it gently along the inside of his leg. Danny sucked in a sharp breath and started almost violently out of his seat.

"No, no, no," said Teri, playfully. "Don't move." She snickered as he went completely motionless. "You can eat your food... Just don't let on what's happening."

"Oh," he said. "Right. Got it." He picked up his fork and looked at her before digging in again. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"No," she said, still running her toes up and down his thigh. "I'm full."

"Oh." He set his utensil back down and put his hands in his lap.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"Then why aren't you eating?"

"Because you're not?"

She rolled her eyes. "Danny, if you are hungry, then for Christ's sake, eat!" And Teri watched as Danny finished off not only his plate, but the rest of hers. She shook her head at him. "I hate you."

He blinked. "What?"

"HOW can you eat that much and stay so thin and muscular?"

His eyes went wide. "Huh? You have got to be kidding. I have moobs."

"Moobs?"

"Man-boobs. I'm not nearly as cut as I used to be."

"Shut up before I smack you." She giggled as he once again took a sharp inhale. "Well... Do you want dessert?" She reached for the dessert menu at the head of the table, but stopped as his hand came down on top of hers. She looked at him, askance.

He shook his head. "Not here."

"Okay, there's an ice cream par--" She halted, stared at him, then laughed. "Is that really the only thing you can think about?"

He reddened slightly. "You're not the only one with a five minute problem."

She grinned at him. "Let's stop by the store first," she said.

"All right. What for?"

"I want a hot fudge sundae."

To be continued...