Hollow Pleasure Ch. 02

*** Disclaimer ***

The following installment contains elements of hypnosis, mind control, non-consent, and voyeurism.

This is a work of fiction. All characters depicted are at least 18 years of age. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Hollow Pleasure chapter 02

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Tenant 1A

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A late summer wind blew across Willow Street, shaking the leaves and sending a few of the fallen ones scattering across the grass. They chased each other in bright shades of gold and brown. Despite the coming fall, it was a slow change. Things were still warm and pleasant. The sky didn't yet start to feel or smell like fall. But that could change abruptly. Literally overnight.

Danni Esposito stood on the front steps, admiring her new building. This was exciting! It was called the 'Connelly House', and there was a grand, almost Disney-esque quality to the building. It was a classic Victorian style mansion in shades of brown, mint green, and bright gray. It would be dynamite at Halloween, reminding her of something the Munsters might live in... but less rundown. A covered porch lined the front of the building and wrapped around the side. There was even a three story turret that tapered to a point in the low foreboding attic. The coolest part of this whole arrangement was that the wrap-around porch and the turret were features in her apartment unit!

Well... not just hers. She would be sharing it with two other girls this year. But she was no stranger to that. She had known Tina since grade school, and though she had just met Lucy, she seemed quiet and cool.

They had finished with the moving truck yesterday. Now family members were helping with the last of the items. Danni's older brother Bill— the cute one that Tina had secretly coveted for years— used his pickup truck to tote the larger furniture that the girls owned. He was polite and courteous as always, calling Tina 'ma'am' even though it wasn't necessary. She was swooning over his new military haircut and his way of carrying himself. The Marines had really whipped him into shape. Not that he wasn't already. He had always been a cutie with a kind approachable demeanor.

"So when do you ship out?" Tina was asking.

"Day after tomorrow, ma'am."

"When will you be back?"

Danni merely rolled her eyes. She knew what was happening. In fact, if Tina's parents weren't helping with this move, she was certain that Tina would be much more vulgar and personal with her line of questioning.

Danni helped Bill carry a few of the bulkier items inside as Tina trailed behind. The siblings traded a knowing look, and Danni had to hold back her smirk.

"Thank god you're on the first floor," Bill had said when he roamed further down the hall and poked his head into the narrow stairwell. It didn't look like the easiest to navigate with heavy items. He unloaded the last of his truck and departed (much to Tina's disappointment). He had other obligations.

"At least this one has air conditioning," Tina's father commented, finishing the assembly of some Ikea furniture that he and his wife had been working on (and fighting the entire time), in the cramped bedroom. The girls had their beds on either side of the room like Ward and June Cleaver, a night stand in the middle and a matching set of Ikea wardrobes along one wall. They hadn't yet unpacked their personal items to give the room character, and so far it looked sterile and hotel-like... aside from the old hardwood floor of the ancient house, of course. A throw rug would warm that up. Right now, however, the room resembled one of their old dorms- the hellish one from their first year that had seen record temperatures without AC. That had been the closest that long time friends Danni and Tina had ever come to wanting to kill each other.

"Oh stop, it's lovely," Tina's mother commented, being contrary.

"I don't see why the girls have to share a room. They found the place and jumped through all of the hoops to rent it. They should get a say in who gets what room."

"We did, dad," Tina said. "We chose to let the new girl have the back bedroom."

"That's very thoughtful," her mother said.

"Thoughtful people finish last," her dad added.

"We didn't do it to be thoughtful," Tina grinned teasingly. She laced her fingers through Danni's. "There's something we've been meaning to tell you..."

"Now's as good a time as any," Danni giggled, playing along.

Tina waited until the color drained from the faces of both parents before bursting out laughing.

"We're kidding," she said.

They sighed with relief before her mother immediately added, "Not that we wouldn't support you either way..."

"Oh for the love of god," Tina said and started ushering them to the door. "Thank you for all of the help, but we've still got a ton of unpacking. Love you!"

She breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut.

"That was something," Danni laughed.

Tina only shook her head. "They're getting worse. Sorry about that."

Danni waved her hand dismissively, not bothered. She gazed around the apartment. "It is pretty cool here," she allowed herself to fall backward onto the comfy hand-me-down couch and splayed her arms out across the cushions.

Tina agreed. "At least it isn't student housing. It's an actual real apartment, with actual real people." She wandered into the turret. The floor boards creaked beneath her feet. She gazed out the windows. The sun was starting to set, the sky growing a shade of navy blue.

"Should we start unpacking? It's been a long day," said Danni.

"We should at least get the blinds in the windows. And maybe set up a few lights so we're not falling over boxes in the dark."

"Good idea. But first, we should order food."

"If I eat, I'll never get anything done," Tina said.

Danni ignored her. "You want to ask the new girl what she's hungry for?"

"Is she even here?"

"I saw her come in and go straight to her room."

Tina rolled her eyes. "Figures. Hey new girl! Did you want some food?" She hollered down the hallway.

"Jesus, Tina. She has a name." Danni insisted.

Tina sighed. She had only met Lucy a couple of times, and didn't quite know what to make of her. The girl was timid and bookish. A natural redhead (fitting for a girl named Lucy) with fair skin and freckles (how unfortunate for her). She wore dark framed glasses that looked a size too large for her, and made Tina giggle at the way the girl goggled behind them— like an owl or something. It was hard to get a sense of her body type, because she wore baggy hand-me-down clothing... in addition to her perpetual nervous expression.

Lucy leaned out of her bedroom door a moment later. "Oh... umm... I was going to start my laundry in a minute." Her brow was pinched. She continued to look at them like she expected there to be more.

Danni and Tina waited. When nobody spoke, Danni nudged Tina with her elbow. Tina sighed inwardly. Why did she always have to be the pack leader? "Well if you want to hold off for a bit, I have to do some too. I'll join you."

"That'd be nice," Lucy smiled meekly. "It's kind of creepy down there."

The laundry room was in the basement of the building, in a room just off of the stairs and storage area. It was an old building; none of the girls would argue with Lucy's assessment.

"Sure thing."

Lucy smiled one last time, and ducked back into her bedroom.

Tina glared at Danni and shook her head in a 'Happy now?' gesture.

"At least we won't have to worry about her throwing ragers and doing drugs and stuff," Danni whispered.

Tina didn't feel as reassured by Danni's unbridled optimism. The truth was that quiet people sort of creeped her out. That was part of the reason that Tina and Danni didn't mind sharing a room and giving Lucy the only other bedroom in the apartment. They had known each other's habits for years, and they wanted to avoid the awkwardness of bunking with a new girl who might be... weird.

"Pizza?"

"Do you really think pizza is such a good idea?" Tina asked. She pinched her own belly over her shirt, and scowled at what she felt and saw.

"Oh please, we've been down this road," Danni waved her hand dismissively. "You're hot."

"Yeah, but looks, like fame and fortune, are fleeting. A little pinch here, and little pinch there. That's how it starts."

"Curvy, Miss Boobs and Butt," Danni commented, ignoring Tina's concerns and reaching for the menus from Tony's Pizza down the street. The paper menu didn't show anything too out of the ordinary for an Italian pizza place- subs, steak sandwiches, poppers, wings, cheese sticks, and (of course) pizza. It was comfort food, but nothing terribly healthy. "Honestly, I'd kill for what you've got."

She meant it. Tina was a knock out. Exotic, with caramel colored skin and wild wavy black hair— Tina had put a few adventurous streaks of blonde in it. Despite her complexion, she had bright green eyes, that almost appeared yellow in certain lighting. She had a tiny nose, and small pixie-like mouth. People often speculated on Tina's heritage (as did Danni). She could have been partially Italian... but not the kind of Italian that Danni was, with the light skin. The good Italian with the dark tan complexion and wild raven locks. Sometimes Danni thought that Tina also had Latin blood in her, possibly a touch of Pacific Islander, and some African American heritage. Whatever the blend was, it worked, because Tina looked worldly, wild, and free. A traveler from distant lands who'd seen and done it all. And she was curvy. Holy shit was she curvy! Danni hadn't been blowing smoke. Tina had a sexy hour-glass figure. Full perky D-cups that made any shirt look tight, and wide hips with a big apple-butt (that again pointed to a possible Hispanic heritage)... along with the fact that she was bold and confident enough to speak her mind.

"Thanks," Tina said, although she wasn't entirely sure she'd agree with that. Danni was very slim, built like a runner with a slender frame, narrow shoulders, and a naturally skinny body that made her jealous. She had perky B-cups that looked far easier to tote around than Tina's heavy chest. Her heart-shaped ass and fit legs added a perk to her step. Her dark Italian hair came almost to the small of her back, and her eyes were large and doe-like. And to round it out, Danni always seemed to be smiling. It was her sunny disposition, and the fact that she didn't have a mean bone in her body or a negative thing to say about anyone, that made people gravitate to her. In fact, in all of the years that Tina had known Danni, and seen friends and boys come and go, the only thing that people ever criticized was her voice. Despite her model-like looks, Danni's voice was very high pitched, almost to an irritating degree. Girls at school (who were jealous of her looks) often referred to her as 'Minnie Mouse' behind closed doors.

Not that the insult needed to be secret. Danni was very aware of her voice. But she didn't really dwell on it. She just sort of shrugged it off. 'There's nothing I can do about it, so I may as well not worry about it,' she'd once said after a lengthy discussion during their freshman year about the things they would want to change about themselves.

The girls had often joked that, for a day, they'd love to do a Freaky Friday body-swap, where Tina would get to try on Danni's slim athletic body, free of her heavy boobs and ass, and Danni would get to know what it was like to have eye-fetching curves.

Of course, the voice thing was an issue, but Tina had come to know that flaw as something that gave Danni character... even if it came with a few problems. "I'll buy if you order," Danni said, circling her choices on the menu. "I don't need another restaurant thinking I'm a little kid."

"Fine."

Danni made herself comfortable. In her yoga pants and fluffy socks, she folded her legs beneath her on the couch while Tina made the phone call. "One day you're going to have to do this for yourself," she remarked.

"Maybe I'll take up smoking so I can get a raspy voice by then," Danni fired back.

Lucy joined them a moment later, carrying her laundry basket. The sleeves of her baggy gray university hoodie came down past her hands. She headed for the door as quietly as she could, looking like she was hoping to sneak past them.

"I thought we were having dinner together?" Danni asked, slightly disappointed that Lucy seemed to have a change of heart. "Afterwards we can play a game. I think I have Sorry or Cards Against Humanity." She felt foolish. Trying to get an introvert to open up was like pulling teeth.

"Oh, I'll be right back," Lucy said. "I was just going to get a few things started, and then I'm coming right back."

"Oh. Okay," Danni offered an encouraging smile, and Lucy immediately bolted into the hallway.

Tina merely shook her head. "You tried. Let her go."

***

Alone in the hallway, Lucy breathed a small sigh of relief. It wasn't that she didn't like Tina and Danni, but she didn't know them that well. The thought of some get-to-know-you kick that they were on put a lot of pressure on her. And she didn't quite like it.

The alternative didn't seem so bad— being by herself to do a few chores... even if it was a strange old house. The main hallway was dark, lit by sconces and lined with dark wood wainscoting. The carpet was more of a runner, and did nothing to mute the creaks and thumps that her sneakers made.

The laundry room for the building was in the basement. The door stood open at the end of the hallway, beneath the main staircase that wound its way up and around.

As she neared the basement, she startled when a man emerged. He had light shaggy hair and a scruff of beard. He was skinny, with sharp cheekbones and restless blue eyes.

"Oh!" Lucy yelped out, from reflex. "Sorry, you startled me."

He offered her a shy nervous smile. There was definitely a bashfulness about him, that Lucy recognized... because she was much the same way. But the difference was, she was 19, and he looked about 35.

"These things happen," he shrugged. He looked her up and down for a moment, and Lucy felt slightly self-conscious. Was he checking her out? That didn't seem possible.

Lucy was not a girl who thrived with attention. Between her flaming red hair, and the glasses that she'd worn since she was in the fourth grade, she had never thought highly of her appearance. The prescription for her near-sightedness was tremendously bad— bordering on legally blind. That would have been fine, but Lucy hadn't come from money, and her parent's couldn't afford the stylish frames, or the advanced lenses that were thin. Really, her only option growing up was to endure the hardships of thick glasses that magnified her eyes, and the thick black frames that weren't even close to stylish— she thought they made her look like a cartoon mouse who hid all day in the library reading books. Apparently her classmates had thought so too. There'd been a lot of teasing and name calling. 'Six eyes' was probably the one that stung the most.

The best way to avoid the slings and arrows growing up had been to stay off the radar— to make herself as invisible as possible. She wore frumpy plain clothes with no logos— hard to make fun of someone who's outfits were completely innocuous. It worked... mostly. People didn't look twice at her, even as her body started to develop. That was the true challenge. Lucy was not a slender girl, like her new roommate Danni. Her breasts had taken shape, and by the time she reached high school, her boobs were enormous— a cup size that was deep in the alphabet. That was one of the reasons she didn't wait for Tina— her bra size made her self conscious and she didn't want Tina to see. Lucy also had wide hips on her frame, and though she would never be classified as a heavy girl, she had a little tummy to her that was always going to be there.

High school had been a nightmare to try to find clothing that hid it all, and once, during gym class, her classmates had seen enough of her figure to come up with a whole new slew of insults for her. They referred to her breasts as "udders" and called her "Bessie". Although those days were mercifully behind her, she could never quite shrug off the embarrassment.

Maybe that was why she was nervous around Danni and Tina. They were both so pretty, that next to them, she felt like a ghoul. It wouldn't surprise her if they were both popular girls in school. And them being so nice and inclusive with her was not something she was used to. It scared her, because she felt like it was the buildup to a cruel joke. They lure her in with kindness, and when her guard finally came down, they'd revert back to old habits. She knew it was unfair to assume that— that wasn't how the real world worked... but it was why she preferred to avoid people.

And now here was this man in the hallway, looking her over. She naturally inched the wash basket higher up to cover her chest.

He blinked, still looking shy, himself. "I'm Rob. I'm up on 3A." He didn't offer to shake hands. That was fine.

"Lucy... umm... 1A," she tilted her head back over her shoulder.

"I know," he started to say, then caught himself, "I mean, I saw you moving in yesterday." He blinked, then caught himself again. "Not that I was watching you. I just meant that I noticed the moving van."

She smiled, slightly amused by his fumblings. Okay, maybe she wasn't the only one here with a touch of social anxiety. "It's okay. I know what you meant."

Rob sighed with relief. "Good. I guess we'll probably see each other a lot then."

She laughed nervously. "Probably not. I like to keep to myself."

He blinked and glanced at his feet. "Oh, me too."

She thought for a second. Was that bitchy? It sounded bitchy. Oh god, does he think I'm a bitch?

"Well I won't hold you up. It was nice meeting you," he said. Rob stole one final glance at her and darted away.

Lucy hurried into the basement, replaying the conversation in her head, and mentally berating her own replies to his simple questions. Some of them had been kind of stupid, and the more she thought them over, the more she reddened.

She descended the basement stairs. They were old and rickety, and by the time she reached the bottom, she suddenly forgot about her awkward encounter with her new neighbor.

Taking in the extent of the basement, Lucy sort of regretted not waiting for Tina. The old basement was definitely eerie. It was split into several rooms, divided by ancient brick and stone mason walls— to support the full weight of the house above. They were crumbling in places. The main room was tenant storage- a long cavernous room lined with chain-link cages to keep out the sticky fingers of thieves. Not that there was anything worth stealing inside. Each apartment unit had a cage assigned to it. Most of them were filled with junk— holiday decorations, empty boxes of electronics still under warranty, mountain bikes and outdoor gear. 2B had some weights and gym equipment, including a tired looking punching bag. 2A contained some old toys in Rubbermaid containers, and orthopedic devices— crutches and a wheelchair, most likely outgrown now. Lucy was slightly curious about the man she just met, and couldn't resist taking a peek at the cage for 3A. Like everyone else, it was mostly old holiday decorations and junk. She spied some dusty old computer equipment, and a monstrous stack of pages and books. In fact, there were boxes of books, all the same covers, but she couldn't quite make out titles or author names.

But she didn't want to linger long. The cage for 3A was near the far wall. The floor was just dirt in this area, and nearby was an old wooden door set halfway into the floor at the bottom of a short set of stairs. It gave her a chill. Lucy hurried away.