Secret Pleasure

"No we're not," I chuckled. "You're working and I'm on my phone."

"That's hanging out," she said. "And it's..." she looked at her laptop's clock. "8pm...It's 8pm for heaven's sake, who goes to the bar at 8pm?"

"Half the population."

She shook her head, probably thinking of anything else to say as I looked at her with a dull expression, waiting.

"...You're welcome to come." I pursed my lips.

"Puftt..." She slapped the air. "An hour of her was enough thank you."

I looked away with a frown on my face. I never criticized her friends, as repulsive as I found them, as repulsive as they were. I couldn't see a way in which I would walk out the door without leaving her mad, so it was probably better for me to just end the discussion here and leave. "Fine, I'm going."

"No." She said, crossing her arms.

"...No?" I rose an eyebrow. "What does that mea--why?"

"I don't feel comfortable with you going."

"And why is that?"

"Cause I don't, alright." She spat. "So just...stay here. We'll watch a movie...after I finish working." She leaned in, returning her attention to her laptop.

I froze for a bit, before I opened my mouth to talk, only to get interrupted.

"Enough Lina." She rose a hand, gesturing for me to shut it.

The gesture, with the coldness of her answer, was enough to make me sit still. I crossed my arms, watching Nora cough and push her brown hair behind her year, then return her focus to her work, as if the discussion was over. It wasn't over, for me at least. But it was difficult to talk when the other person had made it that clear they had no intention of listening. What did that mean? Was I forbidden from leaving, was that the conclusion of this little, finished discussion?

My eyes started growing slightly wet, so I got up, shoving my feet in my slippers before walking to our bedroom. I felt a bit choked. She can't forbid me from leaving.

I exhaled an excited breath as I sniffled and strode to my closet with determined teary blue eyes. I got out of my pajamas and into a pink-knee skirt and white tank top, and a pair of flip-flops. Three items of clothing that Nora would never approve off, and which I generally never wore so she wouldn't get mad, but that didn't really matter at the moment.

I stood at the living room's door, eyeing Nora from around the corner, who sat still on her couch, focused on her work. This was simple. I'd just...walk to the door and get out, I'd spend some time in the bar, then get back, probably get an earful, but it would be okay, I'd have gotten what I wanted. I shouldn't say anything while moving to the door, just...a breezy good bye, suggesting normality. I shuffled on my feet for a bit, mustering up the courage, taking quick breaths. Here I go.

I wanted to walk but I found myself skipping towards the door as I whooped, "See you later suckerrrr." I whooped as I twisted the door knob and pulled, then pulled again, then a third time that, just like the previous two, failed to open it. My arms slumped at my sides and my shoulders slouched. I examined the stupid door. "What the hell!" I whispered as I looked back at Nora who sat silently on her couch with her eyes on her screen. "Nora." I said firmly.

"Humm." She kept her eyes to her screen.

"Why's the door locked?"

"Cause I locked it." she said with a duh.

"Yeah, dipshit, why?"

"Don't know..." She shrugged. "Robbers."

"Where are the keys?"

"Don't know."

"Nora!"

"With me."

"Can I have them please?"

"No."

"Why."

"Don't know."

"Nora." I whined.

"Shushhh already..." she said, keeping her eyes on her screen, avoiding to look at me. "I'm working here."

"Are you seriously locking me in right now?"

"Of course not."

"Then give me the keys."

"But I don't know where they are."

"You just told me you have them--" I said, taking a deep breath before I'd have a stroke or something. I stood there for a second, weighing my options. There was an extra pair of keys in the house somewhere. They used to be mine, until I left the door unlocked a couple of times and one day caused the TV and Nora's Mac to be stolen.

I could start looking for them. They were probably in the bedroom. Or...I could wrestle the keys off Nora, which would be hard. There wasn't that much difference between our strengths. We were both around 5 feet of height, and Nora was only a bit chunkier than me. But I always felt like Nora was a bit rougher around the edges, for some reason. God...I took a deep breath as I thought about how ridiculous my thoughts were. Was I really thinking about solving this by such childish means? I didn't need Nora to see me as more of a child than she already did. I wasn't a child.

That only left one option for me if I wanted to go out tonight: Annoy the shit out of Nora until she'd give me the keys.

With slow sneaky steps, I made my way to the corner of the dim-lighten living room. Nora kept her eyes on her screen. I put my hand on the Wi-Fi cable, then before my cowardness would take over me, unplugged it.

I stood there with my hands behind my back, waiting for her to notice. I didn't know why Nora needed internet for her work, but I knew she needed it.

After a couple of minutes, I saw Nora's eyes start squinting at her screen for a bit, before she started clicking around aggressively with a grimacing face. "The heck--" She looked up, and her face fell to a dull frown as I looked at her, trying to keep my face serious.

"Keys..." I said, extending my hand forward. "Please."

"Put it back," she said, her tone the least bit kind.

"No."

"Lina you're really getting on my nerves now." She said, as she took a deep breath and wiped her palms down her face.

I wasn't excited about evoking Nora too much; Nora wasn't cute angry, but neither was I. This was a matter of principle, so I'd hold my ground.

"Put it back."

"Nnnnno--" I said sternly, confidently, my chest out. Nora lunged to her feet and rushed towards me and I scampered to the kitchen like a little mouse. From the kitchen, I watched Nora walk to the corner of the room, plug the cable, then go back to her couch and slam her laptop on her thighs. That aggressive moment, along with Nora's tomato face, probably doing her best not to give me an earful, told me I had better stop here. But I couldn't give up now. I was in the right. I mustered my courage, before I walked towards the corner again with slow steps, avoiding to look in her direction. I got closer to the cable again.

The following twenty minutes went like that, with me reducing myself to an annoying child. I'd probably unplugged the cable three more times, running with my feet swinging every time so that Nora wouldn't catch me. When Nora moved her little working station and sat beside the wi-fi, I switched off the apartment's power break. I did that like three times too, imitating monster voices every time the lights went out. Being 24, I did feel like a ten-year-old; but I wasn't the one who started it, was I.

When she sat at the dinner table near the door, closer to the power panel, probably afraid that I would end up burning the fridge or something, I started creeping to the wi-fi again.

"Don't you dare..." she said, looking at her screen but pointing a finger at me. "You'll be sorry."

The vague threat forced me to gulp. What was that supposed to mean? I took a deep breath, mustering up my courage. Nora's eyes looked up from her screen, and both of us held a long star. With my lips pursed, moving slowly, I grabbed the cable with the tips of my fingers, all the while holding Nora's stare, then pulled, then prepared myself to run.

But to my surprise, Nora didn't lunge forward like before, but calmly rose to her feet, leaving her laptop at the dinner table, then made her way to her room.

For a while, I was afraid that I'd gone too much and upset her. Even though that was the point, the guilt felt a bit sour. I hated when she got mad because of me. But luckily, I saw Nora reemerge from her room, holding a brown scarf.

"That my scarf?" I said, my eyes darting between Nora and the scarf.

"Yep."

"Why you have it?"

"It's a bit windy outside..." She smiled warmly. "Don't want you to catch cold?"

My eyes narrowed suspiciously as I examined Nora's calm, smiling face. I grew more suspicious when Nora showed me the keys in her other hand and dangled them at the top of her finger.

"Those the keys?"

"Yep."

"You wanna give'em to me?"

"Yep."

"..." I took a slow careful step forward, my eyes still locked on Nora's. Had she caved? Had she realized how ridiculous she was acting? It was so unlike her. I proceeded with caution, my eyes darting between Nora's hands and her still comforting face, until there were less than two feet between us. Nora extended her hand, offering me the keys. For some reason, going out didn't feel that great anymore. But I still wanted to. And as the victor, it would be nice of me to show some empathy. "Look..." I said, my face a bit more relaxed and warm. "I'm sorry I had to...resort to such means...but you pushed me."

"I understand."

"You not mad?"

"No..."

"Good good..." I nodded. "We'll talk about it when I come back then...okay."

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled.

"..." My eyes narrowed, but the comforting face Nora showed assured me that there was nothing to worry about. We'd put a pin in it for later...after I would finish exercising my human rights. I nodded and reached out to take the keys. The keys dropped to the floor, as she swiftly grabbed my arm with her free hand and swung me around so that she was behind me. I winced in confusion as she wrapped her firm arms around mine, locking them in place. "Nora!" I whined. "What are you doing?" I yelped as she literally lifted me off the ground and started walking me to the couch.

"You got it coming," she said with a heavy breath through gritted teeth.

"Nor--" I gushed in frustration and started wiggling around with all my might, but felt no progress in escaping her powerful arm-lock. "Let go of me this is ridiculous."

She did let go of me, by throwing me on the couch. I took the impact of the fall on my breasts and face then tried quickly to get up. But Nora was quicker in grabbing my arm and dragging me off the couch and onto the ground. Thank god I hadn't tried to wrestle the keys off of her. She'd have kicked my ass. I didn't remember Nora to be this strong, but she evidently was. I rested my stomach on the ground for a second, trying to catch my breath, and before I even thought about getting up, I felt something hard press against my back and pin me down. With the side of my face on the ground, I looked up out of the corner of my eye; Nora was stepping on my back, pinning me to the floor. "NORA."

"You need an attitude adjustment, girl," she said between heavy breaths, while she grabbed my wrists and held them behind my back. I felt the gentle fabric wrap around and between my wrists.

"Don't you dare you--" I shouted back and wiggled my shoulders and kicked my feet restlessly, realizing what she was trying to do. But even with all my squirming and wiggling, Nora ended up tying my hands behind my back with ease while holding me down with her foot. I looked up from the corner of my eye, and saw Nora rise then stand beside me, catching her breath, with a tired but satisfied look on her face.

"There," she said. "Any more pranks up your sleeve." She kicked my shoulder lightly.

My white face grew red as hell as I tried restlessly to wriggle my wrists free of the fabric that held them tightly together. I gave it my best, but the tie wasn't giving any signs of loosening, rendering me hopeless. After two more minutes of wiggling, my body caved and my shoulders and face fell to the ground.

"No?" She chuckled above me. "Good."

I saw her slippered feet make their way to the table, grab her laptop, then walk back to the couch. My fuming eyes looked up and met hers as she stood above me. She returned a giggle, her face wincing only slightly, showing only a bit of guilt about what she'd done. "Sorry I had to resort to such means." She sighed as she threw her butt on the couch. I felt what I supposed was Nora's slippered feet rest on my upper back, before they crossed at the ankles. "Now sit tight, I'm on a dame dead line."

I laid there, uncaring to respond or move a muscle. When had I ever felt this defeated? Never. She had physically restrained me, which was...ridiculously over the line. I always believed there was no dignity and pride between true lovers, but still, Nora taking the liberty to actually tie me up, shove me to the ground then casually lounge on the couch with her feet up on my back...was simply too much to ignore. If it was the other way around, with Nora on the ground, with me using her like a damn footstool, the egotistical freak would've gone ballistic.

I waited until my throat unclenched, then forced myself to turn my head to the side, so that I was looking in Nora's direction. I still couldn't see her though. I took a deep breath, making sure I had enough air to push the words as firmly as the situation required. "Nora..." I said through gritted teeth. "Let me up...right...now."

I waited for a response, but all I heard were the strokes of Nora's keyboard as she continued her work. I took another breath, "Nora." Again, no response. If the bitch thought that just cause she'd gotten me restrained that I would be powerless to annoy her, bitch was wrong. "Nora...Nora...Nora...Nora...Nora--"

"What?" She finally replied, her tone annoyed.

"Let me up." I whined. "Now."

"No."

"This is unacceptable."

"You're the one who acted like a child. I treated you accordingly. Be thankful I aint spanking your ass with a paddle right now."

"Let me--"

Something vibrated on the couch interrupting me. I heard Nora move around a bit before I heard her chuckle. "Would you look at that...Your little friend is wondering where you are," Nora said.

A short moment of silence came, during which I knew Nora was probably scrolling up and down my conversation with Anny. Something she shouldn't do, but compared to what she'd recently done, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Mistress of the house..." Nora chuckled, although a bit reluctantly. "Cunt trying to be funny." She said as she shook her foot on top of my back while resting it on the ankle. "What do you say we send her a picture, to tell here what's holding you up?"

"No," I muffled in irritation.

Nora's face came into my view as she leaned forward to take a look at me. She gave me a faint smirk as she bent down to brush off strands of my blonde hair from my red face. As if having me lay there tied up on the ground wouldn't demonstrate her point clearly enough, Nora kept one foot on my back, then rested the other slippered foot gently on my neck. She smirked down at me as she pointed the camera, probably trying to hide her delight at how ridiculous I looked. "Say cheese."

"Fuck you." I mumbled as the flash forced my eyes to shut.

She giggled as she looked at the phone, before she leaned back satisfied.

The unfairness of the situation chocked my throat, and the embarrassing aspect of it all made me blush with shame. I was always a pushover when it came to Nora, when I didn't feel like fighting at least, but this was beyond being a pushover. Anny would know that now. The damn girl worked with me. It would be an awkward 8-4 tomorrow.

I mustered my strength and turned on the ground so that I laid on my back, and luckily, Nora didn't stop me but simply lifted her feet up allowing me to turn then rested them back on my stomach crossed.

"Okay...Nora" I took a deep breath, trying to reason with the unreasonable shrew. "You proved your point. Can you let me up now?"

"No." She said as she typed on my phone.

"What you're planning to use me like a damn footstool for the rest of the night--"

"Sushh." She said dismissively.

Something thumped on the ground, and I realized Nora had kicked off one of her slippers, and before I could react, had the ball of her foot pushing against my mouth. I narrowed my eyes at nothing, as I couldn't see Nora's face. Was that supposed to shut me up or something? Nora's toes wiggled under me nose. THIS aint right. I wanted to shout, but I doubted it would change anything.

After a couple of minutes, I wasn't fighting, wasn't talking, and still Nora left her foot right on my face with the ball of her foot on my mouth. I didn't know if she just...forgot, or didn't care enough to move it.

With the sudden silence that fell upon the room, I just stared up at the ceiling, as I became conscious of every breath that entered through my nose, accompanied by a feminine, surprisingly pleasant, scent.

I could tell Nora to move her dame foot away, or I could just as easily turn my head around a bit and have her foot slip to the ground where it belonged.

But even though I didn't even know what that strange feeling was about, I wasn't ready for it to end just yet. I didn't have a word to describe it. It was weird. I felt weird. Every now and then the toes would curl or wiggle a bit under my nose, emitting out a strange scent, combined with a light smell of sweat. It wasn't bad, nor good, just strange. My girlfriend always smelled good; I just didn't expect that her feet would smell good too. The intoxicating smell wafted through my nose freely, smoothly, unopposed.

As Nora typed away on her laptop, I was left to wonder about that strange feeling. My stomach fluttered. My pulse raced. I almost wished it could last forever. When was the last time I felt like that. Not often, not for a long time. Not since Highschool, when me and Nora started officially dating, and started indulging in our little secret pleasures. That's it, I thought as my eyes wavered, then closed shut. Secret pleasures.

That aspect had long abandoned our relationship. It was no surprise to me that being with Nora had felt more exciting 6 years ago than it did now. First year felt like a romance movie. That rush I felt every time we'd meet. That shivering in my skin while we waited in anticipation for my mom to go to sleep, so that we could turn off the lights, make out under the covers. Or the first time I felt the warmth of Nora's thighs and wet crotch on my eager face. Or the first time I looked up into Nora's brown eyes as they looked down into mine, while Nora rubbed her thigh up and down my naked petals.

Although not as frequently, we still did a lot of those things now. But nothing could compare to that first year, the year we'd spent exploring our sexuality together, with all our friends and her homophobic parents oblivious to what we were doing.

But now, sexuality explored, parents knew--and gone--friends knew, fun over.

It had proceeded as most relationships usually proceed, with the spark fading away with every year as we burned through our firsts, until the spark wavered completely, and we became roommates who occasionally fuck.

A very faint, very small fracture of that spark crept up and down my spine now. I needed to know where it came from. Was it the restraints, the fact that I was tied up and laid helpless under Nora, the shame of it all, or the soft skin of her foot pushing lightly on my tinder lips. I had no idea, maybe a mixture of all three, maybe none of them and I was just horny as shit for some reason.

I steeled myself, felling my heartbeat quicken, as the silence allowed me to hear every thud against my chest, before I took an extra-long breath through my nose. Nora's foot wasn't completely clean, especially having been concealed in that fluffy slipper of hers. My nose wrinkled as I sensed a light musty smell waft through my nose. It surprised me how little discomfort the musty smell gave me. I took another breath, hard and deep, but not enough for Nora to notice.