Tease to Please Ch. 10

The cellular connection stuttered between the two women as Sylvia paced through the small kitchen of her home in Arizona. She raked long fingernails across the hip of her sheath dress, stalling for time. She blinked rapidly, sensing the onset of tears that might ruin her mascara. She took a deep breath and fanned herself with an open hand.

Elise could hear the faint jangling of her mother's costume-quality wrist bangles through the phone. She pictured her standing there; all dressed up with nowhere to go, jet-black hair perfectly coiffed, a million bits of cheap jewelry hanging from every socially acceptable location and, of course, perfume. The god-awful rose perfume that kept even the family cat a safe distance away.

"Well," Sylvia began, her patience broken. "If you must know... Darling... I'm leaving your father."

Elise flinched. If a bullwhip had cracked the air above her head it would have shocked her less. "What?!"

"It's time, Darling. That's all."

"Mom! What are you saying? You can't do that to dad!"

"Oh, he'll be fine."

"No, you're crazy! And what does that even mean, 'It's time?' Time for what?"

"I know... I know this is a bit of a shock, Elise. We can discuss it when I see you Saturday, I promise. You'll under—"

"No. You're not seriously doing this. No way!"

"I'm afraid it's true, dear. It's already happening."

"No, Mom, you cannot be serious. Please tell me you're kidding!"

"Elise..."

"But... but," Elise stumbled, suddenly on the verge of tears as the gravitas in her mother's voice sank in. "But why?"

"It's just time, honey."

"Gah... Nuhoh!!!" Elise sobbed, momentarily losing her capacity for speech.

"I'm sorry, Darling. You'll—"

"Did you tell Stephanie?"

"Yes. Yesterday."

"'Becca?"

"No, not yet. And don't tell her, okay Darling? I've got to find time to call her when she's not in the middle of finals. She's my baby... the one I worry about."

"Jesus do you even...? Uhhh! What about Dad? Does he know yet?"

"Of course he knows, Sweetheart. He's known for years."

"For years?!? How long have you been planning this?!"

"Oh 'Leesie, I wish you wouldn't take this so hard. When you're older you'll understand. There are times... entire decades when you just want to keep everyone else happy. Raise a family. So that's what I did. And then, at last, now that everyone's all grown up, it's time. Time to go back to being... to being a real woman again. Not just some mom... in a 'Seventies ranch house, in this ancient kitchen. It's just my time, Darling."

Elise felt nauseous. Spittle flew from her mouth as she shouted into the phone: "Do you even hear yourself? The stupid kitchen? You don't even cook! You... you're not just some mom, you're MY mom! You have three daughters. You can't pull this kind of shit on us after everything we've— God! It's fucking abnormal!!"

Elise yanked the phone off her humid cheek and smashed her fingertip on the red 'end call' icon.

She threw the phone down, buried eight fingers into her hairline and yelled "Fuck!" while sinking to the floor. She began to sob into the soft carpet.

Out in the lab, Arthur could only hear the gentle hum of equipment functioning normally. He had successfully set aside his worries about Elise and Doctor Yamamoto, instead focusing on his more quantifiable concerns and aspirations.

The workday hours slid by, unfolding along two entirely separate pathways for Elise and Doctor Peters.

Arthur threw himself into the revisions that his presentations so desperately needed. He felt confident and focused. His mind had been liberated by the sating of his libido's appetite, leaving him free to pour every ounce of his substantial intellect into the work at hand. By noon, he was ready to rehearse the final draft in front of the entire staff.

Elise, quite outside the sphere of Doctor Peters' awareness, had a good long cry on the carpet before mustering the strength to rise. With a concerted effort she suppressed her emotions, masked her face and entered the lab. She was no longer a centerpiece of the coming presentation, so there was not much work for her. She loitered all morning in Doctor Peters' office, halfheartedly trying to make him notice her lovely legs, or at least grant her some outward sign of his affection, but it was a lost cause. He was too focused on work to even see her, which was, she realized, probably for the best considering what was at stake for him on Thursday.

When all the men tucked themselves into the kitchen to eat lunch, Elise slinked off to a remote corner of the laboratory's first floor in search of solitude.

After wandering awhile, she placed a call to her older sister Stephanie.

The two consoled each other adeptly, trying to make sense of their mother's announcement. They had each, out of necessity, grown up learning how to deal with Sylvia's eccentric outbursts. But divorce was several orders of magnitude more severe than anything she had done before. They compared notes, trying to figure out her motivations, but it seemed hopeless. They debated calling Rebecca, their youngest sister, but eventually agreed not to. Not yet anyway.

"I'll try and talk some sense into her when she's out here on Saturday," Elise offered.

"Yeah. At least find out why. That B.S. about her wanting to become her own woman or whatever... that seems totally fake. Maybe she read it in a book. There's gotta something else, but I dunno what... "

"Do you think Dad could've cheated on her?"

"Nah! No way. Too gross to even think about. Anyway I don't think he would, even if he could, you know?"

"Yeah. Pro'ly not."

Elise looked down at her pearl-colored stilettos. It felt nice to be talking with her big sister. They did not do it often enough. Having grown up in a household of four females, the eldest and youngest of whom chattered ceaselessly without much meaning, the two quiet girls in the middle never learned to appreciate the full value of their own conversations. Elise felt it now though. Having someone with so many shared experiences to speak with was an elixir for her sadness.

After an hour, she started to feel normal again.

"Hey Elise!" a male voice called from behind her.

Elise spun around and saw Alex approaching down the hallway. She waved him off, pointing at the handset pressed to her ear and mouthing the words, "I'm on the phone."

Alex kept approaching, not stopping until he was directly in front of Elise. He was talking, not at all concerned that he was interrupting her conversation with Stephanie.

"Hey, Steph?" Elise said in frustration, "I gotta go. One of the guys I work with needs something. I'll call you back later, okay? Uh-huh... Yeah, okay... Okay. You too. Bye!"

"What, Alex?" Elise spat after terminating the call. "Can't you see I was on the phone?"

"Gosh, Elise, I didn't realize you're supposed to be making personal calls all day. Is that your new job description? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it's not. You've been AWOL since lunch. Is there a legitimate work reason for you to be hiding all the way down here?"

"No, I just... had to talk to my sister."

"Oh, I see. Well, that sounds important. Doctor Peters doesn't know where you are, does he?"

"Alex, stop. It was just a quick phone call."

"It's two in the afternoon, Elise. He sent me to look for you. You missed the entire meeting."

"What meeting?"

"Exactly," Alex said, taking a step closer. "You don't even know. You probably don't remember anything we talk about, do you?"

Elise flinched as Alex's hand came up to the side of her face. His body blocked her way back toward the center of the lab. Behind her was a doorway marked 'Do Not Enter. Alarm Will Sound.' She glanced sideways, seeing only concrete walls.

"Stop," she whined, pleading up into Alex's stare.

"Stop what?" Alex said. "I was instructed to find you. Now I have found you. I'm not the one doing anything wrong."

His other hand was suddenly at her stomach, pushing her toward the wall.

"Come on, let me go!" Elise begged as she stumbled backwards in her high heels.

"Such a pretty dress today," Alex intoned, rotating his right hand downward across the soft cashmere. "Why don't we pick up where we left off in the limo yesterday? That was fun, wasn't it?"

Elise felt her shoulder-blades hit the concrete wall.

"No..."

"Sure it was. Especially for you. All that attention made you feel good about yourself, didn't it?"

Elise was beyond speech. The fingers of Alex's left hand gripped the back of her neck while his thumb pushed her jaw and lips askew. His other hand pinned her against the wall.

Alex's eyes stopped blinking. Elise's began to flutter uncontrollably.

"Such a dirty little tease," Alex continued. "Getting off like that in front of everyone."

Elise tried to say no, but Alex's thumb pushed its way into her mouth just as she formed the 'O' with her lips. The sound that came out of her sounded more like a quiet moan than anything else.

"Yes," Alex hissed, pressing his thumb into her mouth while tightening his fingers' grip behind her neck. The web of his hand peeled her cheek aside like a fishhook. His other hand rubbed her pubic mound through her dress, pressing her firmly to the wall.

"NNN!" Elise said in garbled panic. Alex's thumb was squashing her tongue. The concrete behind her skull was unyielding. Eyes wide, she grabbed Alex's left wrist with both hands and tried to push it away from her face, but he was too strong.

"You like that don't you?" Alex grinned, flexing his thumb toward the back of her mouth. "Yeah you do. A skinny girl who likes her mouth penetrated... I bet you'll go far!"

Elise tried to twist away, anything to clear herself of that vile thumb.

"You know what though?" Alex hissed. "Just 'cause you're skinny doesn't mean you're hot, you little skank. Nah-uh. You gotta pay the piper sooner or later, and I vote for sooner."

At that moment his right hand went under her dress and cupped her panties directly.

Elise yelled in protest, but again it sounded like a muffled cry of pleasure rather than panic.

Alex laughed. His face approached hers, mouth agape and tongue lewdly protruding.

Every muscle in Elise's body revolted at once. Her hands attacked his face, her right knee kicked at his crotch, her teeth chomped his thumb and she sprang off the wall with the same strength that had propelled her through four years of varsity gymnastics.

Alex fell back like a ninepin. Elise's momentum was so strong it carried her forward and she fell onto him. She landed with one knee in his solar plexus and her hands still latched to his face. Their collective impact on the concrete floor blew all the air out of Alex's lungs. Still, he managed to bat Elise's hands away from his face. His knees came up reflexively, tipping her off balance from behind. She tumbled onto the floor beside his head, but was so quickly back on her feet that Alex didn't see what was coming next.

Neither of them did.

Elise raised one stiletto-clad foot high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could across the middle of Alex's face. Her sandal's four-inch heel only just missed his eye.

There was a loud crack as the heel snapped off against Alex's cheekbone. The sandal's narrow sole struck his nose and mouth. He jerked sideways, away from the source of the blow. Elise lost her balance and fell back down.

Alex's hands immediately covered his face. He tried to scream, but there was still no air in his lungs. When his breath returned with a sudden gasp, he cried out like a wounded animal.

Elise clambered back onto her feet, one shoe now dramatically shorter than the other.

"Asshole!" she screamed. "Never touch me!"

Alex only groaned. A wide swath of pain bloomed across his face. He was prone, cowering near the threshold of the armed door. Salty blood assailed his tongue.

Elise stooped to retrieve her sheered-off heel. Then she spun and limped down the hallway as quickly as possible.

Alex rolled onto his side, clutching the injured half of his face with both hands. His eyes opened and saw a bleary image of Elise hobbling away.

"Crazy bitch!" he yelled after her.

Elise made it to the bathroom without being seen. She stripped off what remained of her shoes and checked her look in the mirror. She washed her face, swished water around in her mouth and spat. Then she cleaned up her hairstyle.

By the time she walked back into Doctor Peters' office, she looked relatively normal. She headed straight for the closet and traded her broken sandals for the pale pink pair. Then she smoothed down her dress, exited the closet, shut the door behind herself and strode to Doctor Peters' desk.

Arthur looked up from his computer with a smile.

"Everything all right?" he asked casually, "You missed my rehearsal."

"Yeah," Elise said as calmly as she could manage, "Sorry about that. I had to call my sister. 'Lil bit of drama today, family-wise. How did it go?"

"Uh... great, actually. Yeah. We're ready. It's gonna be good."

Doctor Peters stared at her from behind his desk for a long moment, then continued, "Are you sure everything's okay? You look really... angry."

"Oh, it's nothing," Elise dodged, shifting her weight and glancing away. "Just, my mom is... freaking out and umm... Oh, and I broke a heel," she added, trying to sound nonchalant.

"The heel of your shoe?"

"Yeah, uh-huh. The white ones."

"And what's going on with your mom?"

Elise let out a quick sigh. She felt unready for this conversation, but it was better than telling him about the face-stomping she had just unleashed on Alex.

"She claims she's leaving my dad."

"Seriously?" Arthur replied, sitting up straighter.

Elise's eyes narrowed slightly at his reaction. One advantage of having her bloodstream thoroughly laced with adrenaline was that she noticed every detail of body language. Doctor Peters' perky response irked her, but she could not put her finger on why.

"Apparently it's in the works already," she continued. "My sister says they've already sent some papers to a lawyer or something. Not sure what all that means, but I'll know more on Saturday."

"Why Saturday?"

"Well... that's the other news. She says she's stopping by."

Arthur's posture straightened another notch. "What... you mean here?"

"Yeah. She's coming here. She said she wants to take you to dinner or something crazy. I don't know... It could just all be in her head. You can never tell. Actually, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that. It's just... this whole thing is kind of a big surprise. None of us saw it coming."

"So, uh..." Arthur fumbled, suddenly aware that his head was swimming and that he did not want Elise, under the circumstances, to notice the visceral reaction he was having. "So you... Wow... So. You must be upset. I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Do you need some time... to be on the phone or something? You're welcome to use the apartment if you want some privacy."

Elise felt her nerves quiet. She even smiled. "Thanks Doctor P. That's nice. I, um... I might take you up on that, actually. It's been a really weird day."

"Sure, sure," Arthur said. He clambered from his seat and strode toward the connecting door, walking right past Elise without touching her. The idea of a wall between them sounded great to Arthur at that moment. If nothing else, it would give him time to wrap his brain around the idea that Sylvia was coming. And that she was getting divorced.

Elise followed him to the doorway. He unlocked it and held it aside for her. She stopped right next to him and put a hand on his forearm.

"You sure you don't need me out here?" she asked.

"No, no. It's fine. I'm pretty much all done anyway. You rest. I'll, um... I'll just finish up out here."

Elise hesitated briefly, caught between two impulses. She took a half step forward, then abruptly rose onto tip-toe and tried to give Arthur a quick peck. Her kiss landed awkwardly on his chin. He did not stoop to return it either. Elise dropped back to her heels and skittered through the doorway feeling foolish.

The door shut firmly between them, leaving Elise alone in the apartment.

Her brain swirled, trying to figure out what was going on. It seemed like Doctor Peters was rejecting her, but that made no sense. They had just had sex for the first time less than twenty-four hours before, and it had been awesome. Nobody could get cold feet that fast.

'It must be the pressure of the meeting tomorrow,' Elise rationalized silently. 'That must be it.'

She unstrapped her high heels and flopped down onto the sofa.

No sooner had she lain down than a deep flood of terror overcame her as the trauma of Alex's attack rushed to the forefront of her mind. The multitude of nasty ramifications potentially still to come from that episode blotted out all her other thoughts. Her skin went clammy and she felt a sudden need to vomit. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

By six o'clock Arthur still had not come back to the apartment. Elise was feeling much better. She stuck her head out through the office door and gently called for him, but there was no answer. He was out of earshot.

Starving, she plucked a menu off the refrigerator and called in a dinner order to be delivered. She fished her credit card out of her purse to pay for it in advance. She hoped a hot meal on the table would beat back whatever demons were haunting Doctor Peters.

She wanted his company tonight, and not just sexually.

When the food arrived, Elise arranged it on the small dinette table along with two beers from the fridge. Then she dug out her phone and dialed Arthur's mobile number. It rang and rang until it eventually went to voicemail.

"What the hell?" Elise said aloud. She hung up without leaving a message, walked to the connecting door and called his name again. She considered wedging something under the door and searching the entire laboratory for him, but quickly talked herself out of it. Not only was she afraid of running into Alex, she did not want to bother Doctor Peters if he really was that busy getting ready for the big meeting. It would seem totally needy and selfish.

Besides, Elise considered as she walked back to the table to eat alone, going back to the lab that would require getting dressed again. She had changed into some barely-there cotton shorts and a spaghetti-strapped tank top that was definitely for Arthur's eyes only. They were both sleepwear, ostensibly, but she knew herself better than that. The instinct that had drawn her to both garments, out of all the others in her drawers, was not an innocent one.

When Doctor Peters walked through that door and saw her, she wanted him to know exactly what was on the menu.

Unfortunately for Elise, the evening did not go the way she planned. Arthur frittered away the working hours upstairs on the second floor with the Japanese team. Partly he was trying to repair his relationship with Doctor Yamamoto.

When he mentioned that Elise's mom might be stopping by the laboratory on Saturday, his Japanese partner's eyes went a little wide.

"No visitors on my floor," he said in Japanese. "And you too, should be careful."

Arthur was unsure why, but he sensed more than the usual concern for secrecy in Doctor Yamamoto's response. He stayed there, chatting with him, until he dismissed his team and departed for home.

Thereafter Arthur rehearsed his presentation alone in an upstairs alcove. Throughout the evening his mind was doubly preoccupied. A life-changing business deal on the one hand and a potential rekindling of a first-love on the other, have a way, when both occur at once, of distracting a man from that which is right in front of his face.

At eleven-thirty Arthur snuck, ever so quietly, back into his apartment downstairs. Elise was in the living room, asleep atop the sofa bed. Her laptop lay crookedly beside her, also asleep. The kitchen area was clean and half the lights were still on. It was obvious she had tried to wait up for him.