Pandora's Box Ch. 02a

"I'm sorry," Jake chuckled, "you're Martine, right?" He held out a steady hand and Martine shook it; her look of irritation almost instantly dissolved, replaced with a small, flirty smile.

"I am," she replied, batting her eyelashes.

"Dani's talked about you. We both work together at Panda Carnival, the one downtown."

"I see." Martine looked searchingly at Dani, who was doing her utmost to avoid eye contact with everyone. "I didn't know Dani had a job at Panda Carnival."

"I think she's a bit embarrassed," Jake said matter-of-factly, a goading undertone to his voice. "It's not exactly the most prestigious job. Plus, of course, she had to sleep with the manager to get it."

"Jake!" Dani shrieked, a furious expression exploding onto her face. She rounded on him, her mouth hanging open disbelievingly.

"Dani!? Is that true?" Martine was giggling in her seat, and Ethan started to laugh as well.

"It is not true!" Dani gasped, her face now absolutely burning with humiliation.

"So she says. But that's the rumour going around," Jake replied with a snicker.

Dani just shook her head, lost for words, as Jake and Ethan set up the pool table. She stormed over to a seat several metres away, slamming her butt down and sulking as they began to play. Martine whipping her at pool had been irritating, but it hadn't ruined her evening. Now, however, she just wished that Jake and his friend had fucked off to some other bar tonight rather than coming here and crashing hers.

After a few minutes Martine approached, looking a little sheepish. She sidled up besides Dani, taking the seat next to her.

"So, Panda Carnival?" she asked quizzically. "How long have you been working there?"

Dani sighed deeply. "Three months or so."

"Uh huh. Why?"

"Oh, you know, earn some extra cash. Girl's gotta make a living, you know?"

"Yeah, sure. Why Panda Carnival though? Why not a bar or a better restaurant?"

"I just... really like Chinese food," Dani replied unconvincingly.

Martine raised an eyebrow. "Since when?"

Dani shrugged. "Everyone does."

"You hate noodles."

"Yeah, but... I like the rest of it. Y'know, rice and... stuff."

"I see."

Dani glanced up and saw Jake watching her with barely contained laughter. Flustered by what was happening, she angrily stuck her middle finger up at him.

"Steady there, girl," Martine laughed, rubbing a reassuring hand on Dani's shoulder, "do you two not get along or something?"

"No. He's an asshole."

"He's a real good-looking asshole. You could have some fun with him."

"I'll give it a miss," Dani said coldly.

"Well, he definitely likes you."

"Bullshit."

"The way he looks longingly at you proves otherwise I think."

Dani just huffed in response and silently watched the boys play. She remembered how flirty and bold Jake had been on her first shift at Pandora's Box, even going so far as to indicate his desire to sleep with her. She had been more than willing, until Pregnancy Craps had taken her attention instead. Ever since then their shifts had rarely lined up, and on the few shifts they had shared he had been a lot less fun with her and hadn't asked her out again.

As the guys finished their game, they beckoned for the girls to join them. Martine stood up, adjusting her tube top and tight denim shorts. "C'mon, let's go!"

"Pass," Dani said bluntly.

"Dani, I know you think he's hot. You're staring at him as well."

"I'm literally just watching him play."

"Yeah, with your tongue hanging out your mouth."

"Marti!"

"What's the big deal? Even if you guys don't get along, just go back to his and you can hate-fuck each other or something. At least get some enjoyment out of it."

"I'm good right here thanks."

Seemingly aware of what was happening, the boys started to walk over. Dani made to stand and move away, but Martine's hand shot out and grabbed her by the upper arm. "Dani! Don't go."

Dani could have easily twisted out of her friend's dainty grip, but she nevertheless stayed put as Jake and Ethan reached them.

"We were thinking a game of 2v2," Jake offered, trying to make eye contact with Dani, who looked away. "Either boys versus girls, or we mix it up a little."

"Mixing it up sounds fun," Martine grinned. "You and me vs Dani and Ethan?"

"Actually, I was hoping Dani and I could play together. Team Panda Carnival. What do you think?" Jake's question was posed to the four of them, but clearly directed at Dani. She turned to look at him; her arms were folded beneath her chest, making her robust cleavage jut out. He was smiling at her, and she couldn't help but feel a soft rush as they made eye contact.

"I think that's an awesome idea," Martine enthused, giving Dani a gentle, reassuring nudge.

"Ugh!" Dani rolled her eyes with exasperation. "Fine! One game. Then we're going home."

Martine clapped her hands joyously and the guys both grinned. "Thanks Dani," Jake said softly, out of earshot of the other two. Dani eyed him grumpily.

"We'd better win."

"I'm a pro at pool. Just watch."

The foursome moved over to the table and the boys began to set it up. "We'll take it in turns to play," Ethan said, as he organised the coloured balls within the billiard rack, "otherwise it's the regular rules."

"Maybe we should place some kind of wager?" Martine asked airily. "Just to spice things up a bit?"

"Sounds fun," Ethan nodded. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, since we're playing on boy-girl teams... I think the losing boy needs to take the losing girl on a date," Martine said, flashing a playfully naughty grin at Dani.

Dani frowned in response. "I don't think we need to do anything like that. Let's just play the game."

Martine shrugged. "All those in favour of a date bet, hands up." Her hand immediately went in the air. A second later, Ethan raised his too. Jake turned to look at Dani, a roguish smirk on his face.

"Don't you dare," she warned. His smirk growing wider, Jake slowly raised his hand.

"That's a majority! Losers go on a date!" Martine sang with delight, skipping over to the other end of the table.

"We'd better not lose," Dani hissed at Jake.

"I told you: I'm a pro."

"Then prove it."

Coin flips decided who took the first shot, and the girls won both. Martine played the break shot and then carried on her momentum to immediately knock a yellow ball into the hole. Her second shot narrowly missed, and she passed the cue to Dani.

Martine's early success got Dani flustered, especially with the new bet on the table; her first shot was far from the mark, and she swore under her breath as the ball bounced harmlessly away from the closest hole.

Ethan took up the cue next, and straight away emulated Martine's success, knocking a second yellow in and narrowly missing a third. Next up, it was Jake.

Dani watched with bated breath as he leant across the table, lining up his shot, before striking hard. The white slammed into a red, and the latter ball skimmed towards the closest hole... and ricocheted off the edge, flying back across the table.

"No!" Dani gasped audibly. But she had spoken too soon. The red shot back across, and landed with a soft thunk! in a hole on the opposite side.

"Very nice!" Martine congratulated, as Dani breathed a low sigh of relief.

Jake brushed passed Dani as he moved around the table. "Saw you sweating a bit there," he smirked, eyeing her up and down.

"Maybe you just got lucky."

"Keep thinking that." Jake lined up his second shot and, true to form, sunk another red into the same hole. They were now neck-and-neck with Ethan and Martine. One more potted red, and they would be in the lead. Jake knocked the white into a third red; it rebounded off the corner of the table and stopped right on the edge of a corner pocket.

"That's for you," he said to Dani, handing the cue across to Martine.

"Thanks, but I don't need your charity," Dani replied bluntly. Jake was still flashing that confident grin at her, and she felt her own hard expression soften somewhat as she turned away from him.

The rest of the game was short and sweet: Martine, Ethan, and Jake were all good players and potted balls like it was going out of style. Dani, however, was really starting to feel the pinch as she repeatedly failed to land a point, even missing Jake's "charity" shot from earlier, to the mirth of the rest of the group. She also noticed how comfortable Ethan and Martine were getting with each other -- flirty grins, suggestive remarks and innuendos, and plenty of touching.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, all the reds and yellows had been potted -- only the black remained. Dani took the cue from Martine, who leant into her with a teasing glint in her eye.

"So, where do you think Jake's gonna take you for your date?"

"There's not gonna be one, because I'm about to sink this black."

"Bold words from a girl who hasn't got a single ball in yet," Martine grinned as she walked over to Ethan. Dani gulped as she turned to the table -- despite her tough talk, the black was in an incredibly awkward spot, and she knew there was no way in hell she was going to get it in.

"What are you thinking?" Jake had moved up behind her, inspecting the board. He lightly placed a hand on Dani's hip as he manoeuvred around her, and she couldn't help but feel a tiny buzz in her stomach as he did so.

"It's impossible," she said, shaking her head. "I can't get that in."

"You kinda have to. Because if you don't, Ethan will."

"Well, I didn't expect this game to hinge on me when I agreed to play," Dani snapped.

"Hey, cool it," Jake said calmly, his voice low and soothing. "I know what you can do."

"Jake, I can't pull off one of your trick shots. I'm so bad at this."

"Dani, at the risk of you calling me sexist again, I've never seen any girls play as well as you and Martine. You're a lot better than you think."

"I... thank you. But you're all better."

"Well, it's a good thing I know how you can win this then."

"Hey!" Martine had shouted from across the table, eyeing Jake and Dani. "What are you two up to? Take the shot!" She placed her hands on the edge of the board and leant towards them impatiently.

"There!" Jake whispered urgently, leaning towards Dani and nodding at Martine. "See where her right hand is, holding the edge?"

"Yeah?"

"Aim for where her little finger is. Hit the ball hard, but not too hard."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not gonna try and hurt her. Besides, that would be a complete waste of a shot. She'll move it out the way."

Jake gave Dani a long, funny look. "Duh. I'm not suggesting you try and hit her finger deliberately. Of course she'll move it. And then..."

"...It'll rebound off the edge and into the corner hole!" Dani finished, her face lighting up as she realised what Jake was getting at. "Alright then. Here goes nothing." She breathed slowly to calm her nerves, leaned across the table, and took aim. Then she struck the black ball -- hard, but not too hard.

It streaked across the green velvet, straight towards Martine's fingers. Too late, and simultaneously, both Dani and Jake realised she wasn't going to move them in time.

"Marti! Hand!"

"Watch out!"

"Huh? Oh shit!" Martine yanked her hand away from the table, a split second too late. The tips off her fingers skimmed the top of the ball as it reached her, flicking it across the table away from the corner hole.

"Oh crap," Dani said with exasperation as the black ball spun lazily across the table -- straight towards one of the centre pockets.

"Oh crap!" Dani repeated with surprise, watching the ball with wide eyes. "No way." A small grin appeared across Jake's face.

The black ball crept slowly towards the hole, rapidly running out of steam as all four players watched with bated breath. It reached the receptacle, teetered teasingly on the edge... and then fell in with a muted thud.

"YES!" Dani screamed, literally leaping for joy. "I win!" Without even thinking she turned to Jake, grabbed him by his shirt and pulled herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips. It was little more than a brief smooch, but she felt a charge run through her as she did it nevertheless. Dani pulled back, looking up at Jake with her big doe eyes as he peered down at her with a slightly perplexed smile on his face.

"You really like pool, huh?"

"We won," she said simply, grinning and letting go of his shirt. She turned to Martine, who watched from the other side of the table with begrudging happiness. "I won!" she shouted.

"You really did," Martine replied with a soft smirk. "Well played."

Too Much Information

The foursome spent the next hour sat on their little table, chatting, laughing, and enjoying themselves. Already in a good mood from her surprise victory, Dani found herself getting helplessly charmed by Jake all over again -- he was an animated story teller and incredibly entertaining and funny to listen to.

Every so often, as he cracked a joke or finished a sentence, he would firmly lock eyes with her with that familiar cheeky grin on his face. Every time this happened, a small spark lit in her lower belly and her breath caught in her throat; she would smile back and look away, unable to hold his gaze without turning red. That grin, and those eyes, were her kryptonite.

All four barely noticed the time speeding by, and soon the bar called for last orders around 11:30PM.

"One for the road?" Jake asked Ethan, moving to stand.

"Go on then," Ethan replied, absent-mindedly playing with an empty beer bottle.

"I'll come too," Martine said, springing up and looking at Dani. "Another for the champion?"

"How could I refuse?" Dani giggled. Jake and Martine left for the bar, leaving her with Ethan.

"So, Martine's pretty cool," he said as soon as they were out of earshot, leaning towards her.

"She is. You gonna take her somewhere nice on your date then?" Dani grinned.

"Yeah! Well, I hope so. What does she like?"

"Honestly, she's easy to please. Just don't let her get bored, although even that's difficult to do. Keep it varied. Start with a bar or something, then go from there. Take her dancing, go for a walk in the park or along the beach. She loves stuff like that."

"Got it, thanks!"

"Don't mention it. Just treat her right."

After a brief pause, Ethan spoke again. "Can I ask you something else? While it's just us?"

"Sure. About what?"

"About Pandora's Box."

Dani swallowed and cast a wary eye over at Martine, who was in an animated and evidently one-sided conversation with Jake at the bar. "As long as it's quick."

"Cool. Thanks. Uh... well, Jake's told me stuff about it, obviously. But it's hard to tell how much of it is the truth. It sounds like such a crazy place."

"It is a little," Dani replied with a slight chuckle.

"He's told me about these... these sex games that are played there. The waitresses play them with customers. Is it true? I can't tell if he's pulling my leg or not."

"It's true," Dani said simply, glancing over at Martine again.

"Seriously? Are you fucking with me too?"

"Ethan, it's 100% true. I swear to you," Dani said. "Try to keep it to yourself though."

"I will," Ethan nodded eagerly. "How do you know? Have you played any?"

Dani laughed -- a little too hard and a little too nervously -- in response. "Ethan, c'mon. Do I seem like the kinda gal who would do a thing like that?"

"I guess not. But... can I ask..."

"Yes?" Dani responded uneasily, as she saw Martine and Jake receive their drinks out the corner of her eye.

"Is there really a game where the waitresses get hypnotised?"

"Yep. I don't know details, but it exists."

"Bloody hell. And apparently there's a game for girl-on-girl stuff only?"

"Uh-huh." Martine and Jake were walking over now.

"Alright last one. Is there really, really a game where the waitresses get purposely knocked up by the customers?"

Dani's heart flipped in her chest at the mention of Pregnancy Craps. "Oh. Uh. Sort of, yeah."

"Sort of?"

"There's more to it than that. It's a game of chance." Dani was getting distracted by how close Martine was getting.

"Chance?"

"Yeah, chance. If you're lucky, like I was, you get to use a condom. Can we drop it now, Marti's right-"

Ethan's eyes went wide. "Holy shit, have you played it?!"

"What?" Dani panicked, realising what she had said. "No! That's not what I meant, I-"

"Played what?" Martine asked cheerily, sinking into the seat next to Dani and handing a beer over.

"Nothing," Dani said hastily, looking at Ethan with a firm glare. "Just a misunderstanding." Ethan watched her intently, clearly bursting to push the matter but, to Dani's immense relief, he said nothing further.

"So, what were you guys talking about at the bar?" Dani asked, eager to change the subject but also genuinely curious.

"Oh, nothing as well," Martine replied, shooting a sly grin at Jake, who responded with a wink.

A Romantic Walk

Half an hour later the bar was closing, and the foursome were ushered out by the staff. It was a warm evening, but both girls had a lot of skin exposed and pressed closer to the boys in reaction to the soft breeze permeating the air. Dani leaned into Jake as he placed a hand affectionately across the small of her back, gently tracing the gap between the top of her skirt and the hem of her top. His masculine scent was addictive and she burrowed closer, feeling tiny by comparison.

"Where to now?" Jake asked.

Martine let out a small, girlish giggle -- she was cuddling very close to Ethan indeed, who had his arm around her bare shoulders. "Actually, Ethan and I were thinking of going back to yours."

"Fair enough." Jake nodded and looked down at Dani. "You coming too?"

Dani sucked air between her teeth. On the one hand, she was really digging Jake and the idea of going back to his and having some fun was incredibly tempting. On the other hand, she knew her fertile window had started -- she was due to ovulate in five days. Hell, four days now that it was past midnight and technically Tuesday. If Jake decided he didn't want to use a condom, she wasn't sure that she had the willpower to resist him. It was too risky.

"I have a lecture first thing. I can't sack it off, it's one of the last before exams. I'm gonna head home I think," she responded with clear reluctance.

"On your own?" The concern was evident in Jake's voice.

Dani shrugged. "I guess. If you're all going together."

Jake shook his head. "Ethan and Martine can go together. I'll walk you home."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Martine said enthusiastically, smiling suggestively at Dani, who playfully rolled her eyes in response. Deep inside her stomach, however, she felt a cloud of butterflies come alive in a fit of nervous excitement.

Dani looked up at Jake, her breathing slightly unsteady. "Are you sure? You don't have to," she gulped.

"I think I do," Jake replied dryly, and Dani smiled appreciatively in response, a sharp tingle running up her spine.

The two sides said goodnight to each other, and the girls moved forward to embrace. "Remember to use a condom you silly bitch," Dani whispered tenderly as they hugged tightly.

"Right back at ya," Martine responded cheerfully. "It's approaching a pretty risky time for us after all." The cycles of both girls were almost perfectly synchronised, which made keeping track of things fairly easy.

"I'm not having sex with him," Dani said pointedly as they pulled apart.

Martine just smirked, clearly not believing it. "Whatever you say babe. Go get that dick. Ciao for now."

Ethan slid his arm back around Martine and they pranced into the darkness, leaving Dani and Jake with only each other for company.

"Shall we? Which way is it?" Jake asked.

"Just up here," Dani said, shivering slightly as a particularly sharp breeze cut through her. She wrapped her arms around her torso beneath her protruding breasts, regretting not bringing a jacket.