Jynx'd

Mathis hadn't even made it to the top of the stairs as his mind drifted to thoughts of Samantha. Damn, he really had given up on ever seeing her again. Her appearance at the door brought on a magnified realization of how much he had missed her. It was unnerving, an unusual feeling for his typically cool and unflappable demeanour. His senses and body had been kicked into autopilot a few minutes before, drawn to her.

His thoughts slowing his pace as he moved down the hallway, he looked up and saw something small and flat lying on the floor outside of the guest bedroom where they had been standing. He figured Samantha might have dropped it when she pulled her cell phone out of her luggage.

Yet, even as he approached it, he sensed something familiar about it. He frowned. When he bent down to pick it up he stopped, his arm hanging, his fingers inches away from the little object.

He suddenly realized what it was.

*********

*First Year University Hyde's Pub*

"It's your what?" Samantha asked, raising her voice to be heard over the din of conversation of their friends around the table and the music in the pub.

Mathis pulled his seat closer to hers, draping his hand around the back of her seat. "It's my shoe," he said, holding up his key chain. At the end of it dangled a crudely cut piece of leather, somewhat resembling the shape of a shoe and etched and tanned with stripes and symbols.

"You made that?" Samantha asked, impressed.

"Like when I was 12 or something," Mathis scoffed. "It ain't that great."

"I like it," she answered, smiling. "Didn't you say this is what you want to get into eventually? Design and marketing?"

He paused then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess. Market athletic goods --shoes, equipment, clothes."

His aspirations and goals seemed so faraway.

"That's really great," Samantha said, "I can totally see you doing that."

"Thanks," he replied. He held up the little bauble and gazed at it fondly saying, "For now, it's just my good luck charm for football."

Samantha winced then sighed, "I can really use some luck for school, right now."

"Yeah?" he said. Without another word, he separated the little shoe from his keys and offered it to her.

She blinked. "Really?" she said, sitting upright, her eyes brightening. "You don't need it?"

He shrugged. "Season's over and it's not doing me any good for school, that's for sure. Why don't you give it a shot."

Samantha took it from him looking like a kid who had just picked the ripest cherry from the tree. It made Mathis chuckle the way she handled it.

"That's great! I love it!" she declared. Then she held up her hand and gave him a serious look, adding, "Oh, but I swear I'll return it to you after exams."

"You better," he sniffed. "Or I know some dudes who'll bust your ass if you don't."

"Ha! Like they'd stand a chance against me," she exclaimed. Typically defiant and spirited Samantha. She added, "But I probably should show my gratitude, right? Hey how about you and I...-"

Mathis had ready leaned in closer to hear her suggestion when her cell phone rang, interrupting them.

"Oops. Excuse me," she apologized, then answered her phone.

While she talked, there was a call for another round of drinks from their friends around the table. As they rounded up their orders, Samantha ended her brief call.

"Sorry, I gotta run," she said, rising from her seat and gathering her belongings, "I'm meeting Joachim after his class this evening."

A few "oohs" and raunchy jokes were launched at her. She laughed rolling her eyes.

Before she turned to leave, she looked anxiously back towards Mathis holding up the small shoe. She mouthed the words "Thank you" then hurried away, leaving him seated, his arm still resting around the back of her chair.

After one more drink, he decided to call it an early night.

He had really wanted to hear what her suggestion was going to be.

*********

It turned out that meeting up with Samantha by design was proving to be more difficult than running into her again by coincidence. Mathis tried calling her over the next couple of weeks. No more than once a day, though -- he still had his manly pride to keep in mind. Still, it took a noticeable bit of concentration to maintain his cool, suave demeanour whenever she did answer, which was only a couple of times. He usually got her answering service.

Between her summer classes, her self-advertising stints on the city streets, and her gigs as Jynx, Samantha had very little time these days. He couldn't blame her, really. It was already mid-summer when they had run into each other. People would be fully immersed in their plans for the season. He had his own summer job that closed off a potential meet up time between them and commitments with friends and family closed off a few more.

Plus, there was the possibility she was spending time with Joachim, though he never came up in their brief conversations.

Though she was obviously tired after a long day when they spoke over the phone, he could still hear the chirpiness in her voice, envisioning her expressive eyes widening when she talked or narrowing into crescents when she laughed. He felt at ease talking with her and at the same time invigorated. She had that way about her, like the battery that recharged his systems.

Late on a Thursday night, they managed to connect over the phone again. Both he and Samantha had an early day ahead of them but they both seemed determined to squeeze in a short chat.

"You took clown school?" he asked her, sceptically.

"Not really clown school per se," she giggled, "They taught mime, acrobatics, stuff like that."

"Twisting balloons into animals?"

"Self-taught," she declared, "I'm very good with my hands."

"Mm-hmm," he hummed. "Do you say that to a lot of guys?"

"They're usually interested in hearing about it...along with other skills," she teased.

"Yeah, I hear that," Mathis said.

They both laughed.

"But why a clown?" he asked with disdain.

"Well you know, it's fun. It's about trying something different. Being something different," she explained.

"Like Green Eggs and Ham," he said, a little bulb illuminating in his mind.

"Like Green Eggs and Ham," she concurred. "And it really is liberating," she went on, "Dressed up like that, I feel like I can be as silly as I want to be."

"You mean to say you're not already silly?" he remarked flatly.

She giggled. "Okay, it accentuates my silliness."

"Yeah, I've had a face-full of your silliness twice now, girl," he said pointedly.

"You're a great foil," she said, reiterating her comment from the party.

It brought back to mind their encounter outside of the guest bedroom. Mathis didn't want to broach it for now, not over the phone.

"Hey, there's a pool party going on at one of my team mate's place this Saturday," he said, changing subjects, "Starts in the afternoon. Want to check it out with me?"

"Oh, sorry," Samantha apologized, "Can't do it. Jynx has a gig lined up for Saturday afternoon already. I'm really sorry."

Mathis lay on his bed looking up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I should have guessed you'd have a job on the weekend," he sighed, "It'll probably go late night, though. You can always stop by."

"I'd love that..." she exclaimed. Pausing briefly she continued, "But it's a four hour booking. Apparently it's a huge ass birthday party for some two year old kid. They want the works. I think I'm going to be pretty exhausted by the end of it and I've got another gig on Sunday."

"Ah, yeah," Mathis replied, deflated, "Good for you, though."

"Mm-hmm. Besides," she breathed, also sounding disappointed, "All my white make up will end up floating around in the pool. It'll look like the sewage water from the Liquid Paper company."

She laughed quietly. Mathis managed a chuckle, as well.

"But maybe we can do a coffee together when I'm done," she offered, "How about that?"

He hesitated, then said, "Nah. You'll need to recharge."

"Come on, it's me. The Energizer Bunny," she declared.

"Rest," he insisted with a chuckle.

"Alright," she sighed, "Rain-check?"

"Snow-check," he offered.

"That's a promise," she noted. He could sense her gentle smile through the phone. "I really want to get together with you, though. We'll make it happen."

"Sure."

"I should get to sleep," she said, "Good night."

"Night, Sammy."

Mathis didn't bother calling on Friday.

**********

On Saturday, Samantha arrived at the house where her afternoon gig was supposed to have been booked. It was hard to miss. It was huge and there were certainly enough cars parked around it. She had to park by the curb down the street a ways off which was a bit discouraging.

The request from the party planner was that she come in full costume already. Fortunately her sister lent her the car for the afternoon. Not that she really minded herself, but sometimes a clown on a bus was like the elephant in the room to the other riders. What does one say?

Once she was out of the car, she put on her big shoes and pulled out her luggage from the back seat, and then flip-flopped her way to the trunk. Having the car turned out to be a necessity for this particular party. As she carefully opened the trunk, she reached in and grabbed hold of the strings for two dozen pink and white balloons all adorned with images of Disney princesses or the words "Happy 2nd Birthday". She pulled off the cover netting and they instantly floated up into the air, reaching for the pale blue sky.

As she approached the house, she steeled herself to confront a gang of sugar-high pre-schoolers, getting into full-on Jynx mode. A thumping heavy techno R&B beat pulsated from the walls of the house as she made her way up the steps. There was also a lot of shouting and laughter to be heard. This was some kicking birthday party, she thought.

It took several knocks and long pushes of the doorbell for someone to come open the door.

She took a deep breath and shouted, "Happy Birthday!"

A very tan, bare-chested man built like a gorilla and wearing sunglasses and a pair of camouflage cabana shorts, belched back at her. Expressionless, he stood at the door as he took another swig of his beer.

Still maintaining her open-mouthed, red-lipped grin, Samantha blinked through her thick white make up. She leaned back and checked the number of the house. She was at the correct address. There was an awful lot of commotion inside of the house. None of it, however, seemed like anything that would be normally seen or heard at a children's party.

She leaned forward and raised her voice to be heard. "Where's the birthday girl? Is Chrissie around?"

The roadblock frowned. He leaned down closer, tilting his ear towards her.

"Chrissie Turlo?" she repeated.

He leaned upright. "'Chrissie'...?" he said, looking puzzled. He glared at her, then gazed up at the balloons. An invisible hook suddenly pulled a crooked grin onto his lips. He chuckled once and nodded, holding up a finger and telling her to wait a moment. Twisting his head back, he bellowed over the cacophony, "Chris! Oh, Chrissie! Come to the door! Got a present for ya!"

He continued to grin at her as she stood anxiously on the steps. She peered at him carefully, and finally recognized him. Before she could react, though, he was joined by someone who was decidedly at least two decades removed from his 2nd birthday and definitely not a girl. She doubted the short-cropped strawberry blonde hair of the 6 foot gentleman had ever been in pig tails or curls, as well.

Chrissie or Chris glared at her as if she were a dog covered in turd. Then, he slapped a backhand against the big man's chest. "Ernesto, what the fuck is this?" he demanded.

Samantha suddenly became the living version of a 'sad clown', her perpetual red painted smile hiding the downward pout on her lips and her shoulders slunk low.

The balloons slipped her grasp and quickly and quietly made their escape.

*********

Mathis was running late for the pool party. His job earlier in the day went late into the afternoon and there was already colour mingling in the early evening sky by the time he trotted over to the house. It didn't really matter to him. He knew the party would just be cranking it up the further the sun set.

The thrumming sound of heavy beats and loose, loud laughter greeted him as he went around the side and headed straight for the back. Just before made it to the gate though, Ernesto emerged.

"Hey, you made it!" he welcomed Mathis. He raised and crossed his arms and they exchanged forearm bumps.

"Yeah, sounds like you guys are kicking it," Mathis remarked. His attention, however, was quickly drawn downward. He stepped away from his friend. "What...the....hell....?"

Wrapped tightly around the lower trunk of the stocky Filipino man was a belt made out of what looked like long, thin, multicoloured balloons linked together at the ends. In the middle, just around his crotch stuck out one long neon pink balloon. The tip of it was shaped into the discernible head of a cobra.

It was an animal balloon strap-on.

Ernesto offered him a jovial crotch-chop. "What do you think of my cobra of love?" he declared proudly.

Mathis's eyebrows went in two different directions. He grinned, amused. "Wow. That's just...wow," he said stroking his chin and unable to peel his incredulous gaze from the wagging pink serpent. He looked up at his friend and said, "I guess dreams really do come true."

They laughed then Ernesto handed him his beer. Mathis took a sip, watched his big friend shake his crotch, and then said pointedly, "Man, will you DESIST from shaking your glowing love snake in my face?! Where in THE blue hell did you get this thing?"

Ernesto beckoned him toward the gate. "Heh, check it out!"

Stepping into the back area of the house, Mathis looked out amongst the throng of people scattered all over the expansive yard and around and in the pool. He scratched his forehead and squinted to be sure of what he was seeing.

"What the hell...?" he repeated for the third time.

It turned out Ernesto's makeshift strap-on wasn't an exclusive. Many of the guest, young college-aged males and females, were decorated with a variety of colourful strap-ons, peep-hole bras, garters and so on. There was a huge roar of laughter from a circle of people, sucking or licking long, squeaky lengths of red, pink, and green balloon dildos complete with tied up testicles. The patio lanterns and Christmas lights strewn over head just seemed to highlight the multi-coloured suggestive balloon shapes. Ernesto ran off and belly-flopped into the pool wearing all of his inflated accoutrements.

Mathis grinned crookedly. In his stupor, he didn't notice Janelle sidle up to him and give him a hug around his waist and a peck on his cheek. "'Bout time you showed!" she scolded him playfully, "Go get changed into your trunks. We'll go for a swim!"

"Heyyy!" he remarked, returning her hug. He checked her out. "Where's your blow up joy box and dildo?"

Janelle rolled her eyes and shook her head. She wore a ruby bikini that adhered to her shapely ebony form quite nicely but other than a pair of matching high-heels, she sported nothing else, notably any of the twisty and twisted party favours that others were wearing.

"Uh, no. Don't think so!' She blew off the question.

Mathis was distracted by the sharp honk of a horn followed by a cheer. Across the pool, standing on a patio table, with a small crowd of people around her was Jynx...or at least, it was sort of Jynx. Gone was the thick white and red make-up, though her round red, light-up nose remained. Also gone was the rainbow coloured afro and instead, her almond brunette hair fell lightly around her shoulders and pink-flushed face. Somehow, she managed to convert her full-body costume into a pair of very baggy trousers held up by large, orange suspenders hanging onto her shoulders, revealing a form-hugging black sports bra and nothing else above her slender waist and flat belly.

Like a crazed savant, Jynx was frantically blowing up and twisting lengths of balloon into all manners of shapes and forms, mostly sexually suggestive, to the delight of the crowd. In the middle of a very elaborate creation, the balloon popped and the people pointed at her, cheering, "Penalty!"

Jynx made a sad face. Someone handed her a beer and, pausing for a heavy sigh, she chugged it to the incessant chants of the group: "Jynx! Jynx! Jynx! Jynx!"

With lager dripping around her mouth and down her neck to her belly, Jynx wiped her lips with her forearm and then pulled out another balloon and started again. Her tongue stuck out as she focused.

Mathis tilted his head, frowning. "Sammy?"

Completely disengaged from Janelle's chatter, Mathis made his way around to the other side of the pool. At the back of the crowd, he called up to her, "Sammy, what are you doing here?"

"Ah-ah!" she replied, wagging a scolding finger, "The name is Jynx!"

The crowd chanted, "Jynx! Jynx! Jynx!"

She waved her hands over the group. "And I'm here because all of these fine looking gentleman and ladies paid for me to be here!" she announced with a slurred tongue, her face glowing a rosy red. She honked her horn. "Isn't that right?"

Another cheer erupted along with a few calls to drop her trousers and to show her tits.

"Alright. Alright," Mathis said with an uneasy grin. He waved her down with his hands. "Show's over for now, folks. C'mon down, Sammy."

"Who wants to see what I've got under my pants?!" Jynx suddenly shouted.

A singular "Yeah!" rang out.

"Nah! Nah! Nah!" Mathis insisted, "Not happening. Come on down to me, sweetie."

"You!" she said, pointing to Mathis, wobbling a bit on the table, "You want to see what I've got under these britches?"

The crowd parted a little between her and him. "Go for it man!" somebody urged him with a slap on the back.

"Nah, I don't want that," he repeated, "Just come down, already."

"You do, don't you? You want to see what's under my hot pants!" she slurred, slipping the suspenders off her shoulders.

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do!" She took hold of the side of her trousers.

"No...I don't," he said in a firm deep voice,. He pointed to the ground. "Now get down."

"Here goes!" she shouted, and gave her trousers a yank.

"Sammy..."

A stiff stream of seltzer water hit him square in the open mouth like some carnival shooting gallery target. He stood motionless with his hand still pointing downward as she emptied her hidden bottle onto his face. When it was done, he still stood there, dripping pathetically.

A brief hush seized the group as they held their collective breaths.

"Oh my," Jynx said, pulling up her pants and holding a couple of fingers to her lips, "Does anyone have a cigarette? That felt wonderful!"

Someone sniggered and they exploded into a mass of hilarity.

Mathis dropped his hands to his sides, not even bothering to wipe down his face.

"Okay everyone, time for a break," Jynx said clapping her hands together. She was nowhere near as tipsy as she had been pretending to be. "Go enjoy the pool or each other or something."

She was sent off with an enthusiastic applause as a couple of guys helped her down from the table.

She walked over to Mathis and said, "You're a wonderful foil, you know that?" She poked him in the arm with a honk of her horn.

"So you've said."

Giggling, she then offered him a towel.

Mathis eyed it for a second.

"It's safe," she assured him, grinning. She removed her round red nose. "See? Clown mode off. It's me, Sammy."

He nodded slowly and finally accepted it. "Yep. Okay," he droned as he wiped down his face, "I deserved it because I fell for it."

"That's what makes you so cute," she jested.