Haunted Mirror Ch. 04

"Maybe it's for the better that I can't take mine off," she joked. "I don't know if we need more of our skin touching at the moment. We might get even more stuck!"

"I know, right? Maybe we should be careful!" she agreed. But then why had Olivia's comment make her oddly horny?

Regardless, Vivian felt a little strange being topless in front of her friend, but Olivia really didn't seem bothered by it. She decided to put it out of mind and act normally.

The two of them sat down on her couch and started working on separating their thighs. They pulled their legs away from each other. There was a patch of skin maybe five or so inches long that was clinging together. Their skin could only stretch an inch or two, and that was as far apart as they could get their legs.

They tried scooting their butts apart and pulling that way, hoping to peel the skin apart from one side.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, stop!" Olivia complained. "Okay, it's not coming apart that way."

Olivia brought out a credit card and tried to use its edge to peel their skin apart. After a few seconds, Vivian gave it a shot, but even with two free hands it seemed to have no effect whatsoever, though she wasn't the least bit surprised. She was just playing along.

"Do you have a bathtub? Or is it just a shower?"

"A bathtub."

"Do you think soaking for a while could loosen... whatever the hell this is? I've had that get super glue off before."

But before Vivian could reply, Abigail whispered to her. "I think that's a wonderful idea! A good soak should be all you need to get yourselves apart!"

"Uhh... yeah! That should work! I mean, it's worth a shot."

They got up and hobbled over to her bathroom. As they were waiting for the tub to fill, they discussed how they were going to approach this.

"Well, the rest of our clothes aren't going to come off," Olivia stated. "Best I could do is hang my shirt and bra off my wrist, so why even bother? And as to our shorts... If this doesn't work, I'm seeing another problem. How are we going to... you know... go to the bathroom if we can't get these down?"

"If we really have to, I suppose we could cut them off. I mean, this isn't my FAVORITE pair of shorts, but..."

"Yeah, and how do we get pants back ON if we do that? We're going to be naked until we get ourselves unstuck!"

"Oh, yeah. That's another problem. Well, maybe the tub will work and we won't have to worry about that!"

The only articles they could remove were their socks, so they climbed in with their shorts and Olivia's shirt still on. It was a tight squeeze with the two of them side by side, but they managed to find a position that submerged both of their bonded areas, though it wasn't comfortable. Olivia found a bottle of body wash and dumped in a generous amount. They started to massage their adhered skin, but so far nothing happened.

"What the fuck to you think did this?" Olivia mused as she tried to work a fingernail in between.

"Hey, your guess is as good as mine," Vivian lied.

"Well, it's not coming apart yet, but I say we give it at least twenty minutes and see if it makes any difference."

"Good idea!"

Olivia continued massaging the seam with her thumb, but otherwise the two of them just waited. As she worked, Olivia's hand rested on Vivian's thigh. The movements of her thumb reminded her of a lover caressing her. She could feel Olivia's gentle breathing as her body expanded and contracted. It had been months since she had been close enough to another person to feel their breathing. In time, Vivian wrapped her arm around Olivia's back and leaned her head on her shoulder. Olivia didn't offer a single objection.

"Hey! I think it's coming loose!" Olivia cheered all of a sudden. They must have sat there for well over the suggested twenty minutes, but neither of them had felt the need to get up.

Olivia prodded her thumb in between their flesh. Vivian got both her hands in there as well, and she could actually feel the skin beginning to peel apart, though it was frustratingly slow. After a minute, they decided to stand up and try pulling. They braced their hands against opposite walls for stability and leaned apart, gradually pulling harder and harder. Bit by bit, their skin peeled apart. It took several minutes, but soon the bond had been reduced to less than a square inch. They eased up, as the tugging on such a small area of skin was far less comfortable. They maintained the tension until the bonded area gradually narrowed to a point, and finally popped free.

"THANK GOD!!!" Olivia cheered in relief.

And without wasting a moment, they turned their attention to getting Olivia's hand off Vivian's stomach. In order to have more room to work, and to reduce the risk of slipping, they stepped out of the tub, dripping water all over the shower mat and the floor. Vivian grabbed a corner while Olivia leaned back and pulled.

"Let me know if this starts to hurt," Olivia said as she gradually increased the strength of her pulling.

Vivian's skin was stretched out a few inches, which wasn't comfortable, but didn't hurt quite yet. Even the much tighter skin on Olivia's palm was stretched out just enough to be visible.

"I'm fine, keep pulling," Vivian grunted.

Olivia leaned back even more, and their flesh was pulled to its limits.

"It's peeling apart!" exclaimed Olivia. "I can feel it!"

Over several minutes, Vivian's skin slowly peeled away from Olivia's palm. Eventually, her thumb came loose, and she was stuck by her fingertips. One by one, they popped loose. For her last finger, Olivia knelt down beside Vivian, pinched a fold of her skin in her free hand, and pulled until they were finally free, at long last!

"What... the... FUCK did that to us?" Olivia screamed as she returned to her feet and started at her open palm. She prodded it with her other hand, and even inspected the spot on her thigh that had clung to Vivian. "There's nothing here! There's barely even a mark on me!"

The affected areas of skin were a little red and agitated from all the tugging, but otherwise unblemished.

"Yeah, pretty weird, huh? Hey, at least we're apart!"

They removed their wet clothes and toweled off. The two of them were now stark naked in front of each other, though Olivia didn't seem the least bit bothered. Vivian felt her face getting warm. If she was visibly blushing, maybe Olivia would assume it was the hot bath.

"I'll go run these through the dryer. Do you want to borrow some of my clothes in the mean time?"

"No, that's all right. I'm sure it won't be more than an hour."

Vivian finally gave in to the urge to give her naked friend a quick glance. She was just standing there, not the least bit ashamed. When she made eye contact with her the next moment, Olivia only smiled warmly back at her. She had to have noticed that glance. Had she actually liked it? Vivian's pulse quickened as a surge of pleasure hormones rushed through her body, and it was more than just arousal. Was she in love?

Olivia looked so comfortable in her skin, which only added to her allure! She walked nonchalantly out of the bathroom and admired Vivian's fancy furnishings. Her eyes caught the mirror on her wall, and she immediately seemed captivated with her own reflection.

"Here! Why don't you make yourself comfortable over here," Vivian said as she quickly threw on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, not bothering to put anything non underneath them. She tried to herd Olivia away from the accursed mirror before she found out too much, or maybe got herself in trouble as well.

Olivia seemed confused at Vivian's strange reaction, but happily followed her into the living room and had a seat on her leather couch. She kicked her feet up on the armrest and laid back, not bothering to cover a single part of her.

Vivian gathered up their wet clothes in a basket and promised Olivia she would be back shortly. The apartment complex had one shared laundry room for all the residents, but fortunately nobody else was using it at the time. As soon as the dryer was running, her thoughts returned to Olivia, and her heart began to pound once again! She could barely believe it! Olivia was laying on her couch buck naked at this very moment, waiting for her to return! Was this actually happening to her? Should she start thinking of things to say when she returned, or would it be better to go with the flow? She felt like a schoolgirl getting her first kiss all over again!

"Aww! If I didn't know better, I'd think somebody's in loooove!"

Abigail's sudden interruption made Vivian jump, and tore her thoughts away from her fantasy.

"God dammit, Abigail..."

"What? You've got a lovely engagement with a dear friend all lined up! I'll bet it gets absolutely torrid! Is there anything you want me to do to add to the fun? I could pull some wonderfully naughty tricks on her if you ask me nicely!"

"Look. Whatever you did to get her home with me, thanks, I guess. But right now, I'm feeling happier than I remember feeling since I was a kid! Can you just let me have this night without any bullshit going on? Can you just stay out of this this one time?"

"Stay out of it?" Abigail's false pleasantness was all but gone. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I've done a lot more than get her to come home with you today. That sudden attraction you feel for another woman, all those surging emotions making you swoon... that was my doing, too. By yourself, you have the libido of a rocking chair. So when you return to find her lying there naked and ready for you, I hope you're prepared to feel absolutely nothing. How do you think your dear friend Olivia will feel after such a disappointment? Oh, I know! Maybe the two of you could play checkers for the rest of the night instead of all that lovemaking I'm sure she's expecting!"

"You don't understand," Vivian protested. "It's not just the thought of sex that's making me feel so happy! I'm actually starting to feel a real, emotional connection to someone for once in my life! I hope you don't think my need for human contact is your doing!"

"Ah, yes, I'm sure it's pure Platonic admiration that had your heart going all pitter-patter! What do you say? Should I spend the rest of the night back in my mirror and leave you to nothing but your own devices, as dull as they are?"

"Well..." Vivian didn't know what to say. She didn't like the thought of her desires being manipulated, that Abigail could give her feelings for a same-sex partner that she would never have naturally felt. But those desires had felt so wonderful, like nothing she had ever felt before! Sometimes having desires and satisfying them was far better than never having had those needs at all. That was what she was starting to learn under Abigail's influence.

"I mean, I do want to love her!" she admitted, at last.

"Then you've made your choice?"

"Fine. Sure. You can help keep me interested in her, if that's what it takes. But, can we not have any more of your weird little pranks?"

Vivian waited for Abigail's reply, but she was silent.

"Abigail?"

There was still no answer.

"God damn it..."