The Grande Futapest Hotel Ch. 07

"I guess."

"Well..." Layla inhaled deeply through her nose, smelling Selena's sweet scent, feeling her soft skin against hers, and seeing those deep blue eyes, even in the dim light of their bedroom. "I mean... the last few weeks have been so much fun. Even before we went on vacation, just hanging out, watching TV, and you somehow getting work done..."

Selena smiled. "Are you saying that working for me is your idea of a dream job?"

"It's been better than a dream come true so far." Layla said. "And that's even if I leave out the part where I got to fuck the most beautiful woman in the world several times."

Selena chortled. She pulled Layla closer into her chest. Layla's hand fell lightly on Selena's sternum, Selena's heart beating calmly beneath Layla's fingertips.

"Layla?" Selena said softly.

Layla pulled her head up from Selena's shoulders. "Yes?" She said, trying to hide the anticipation in her voice. Say it. Please say it.

"What's the Mendoza line?"

That was not what she was expecting Selena to say.

"Are you serious?"

"Is it a Dilbert thing?"

"It's baseball. There was shortstop named Mendoza who played for Seattle. His batting average was close to .200, which isn't great, but he was a good defensive player. If someone's hitting is below .200, they're below the Mendoza line, which even a strong defensive player should be above."

A long pause from Selena. "Oh."

"You've never heard that? You, the queen of game show trivia?"

"I don't watch any sports. That's why I could never win Trivial Pursuit against my dad. I could never get that orange wedge. As a team, though... we were unstoppable."

Selena put her arm around Layla's shoulder and pulled her closer.

"Sort of like you and me." She continued, pulling her in tighter.

Layla kissed Selena neck and shoulder a few times as the television flickered. Selena thought of something.

"How could they have misspelled your name on that certificate? Surely your name is spelled right in payroll..."

"That's what I said!" Layla shouted suddenly, and then suddenly felt silly. "Sorry. But I've told that story to a lot of people, and nobody else brought that up."

"See, you and I are a lot alike." Selena said. "Now... do you want to keep watching TV, or are you ready to fuck me again?"

Layla brought herself over Selena, looming like a panther. "I've been ready since seven o'clock this morning."

"You were not even close to awake at seven."

"I was still ready. Do you know how many boners I get in my sleep?"

"Know? I've felt most of them."

"Well, feel this one."

Layla grabbed her for a kiss, but Selena quickly got out of it.

"Let's get the things." She said softly, sliding out of bed and out of the room.

Of course. She had forgotten about the experiment.

Layla heard somewhere that most nineteen-year-olds did some sexual experimentation at that age. But this wasn't what she had envisioned.

Selena and Layla grabbed a condom apiece. Layla's was purple, but Selena's was still blue. The color varieties didn't seem as broad on the twelve-inch variant. This time, they wrapped themselves, carefully rolling the latex sheath down until they were nearly fully ensheathed.

"You ready to come back to bed?" Selena put her hand on Layla's shoulder.

Layla took that hand into hers. "No."

And thus, Selena was leaning on the table, one leg up on a chair, as Layla pounded her pussy from behind. Layla's hands groped and fondled Selena's breasts, the soft flesh kneading and spilling between her fingers. She felt Selena's nipples grow hard underneath her palms.

Selena turned head as far back as she could to kiss Layla over her shoulder. "Yeah... yeah... God, you're so sexy." She cooed, practically speaking directly into Layla's lips.

She'd never seen Selena like this before. Never in the entire library of videos starring Selena had she behaved like this. Selena was always cool, confident... in control.

That was it. Finally, Layla was really in control of this lovemaking. Selena really was getting fucked by her... and letting Layla control the pace, the position, everything. Layla could put her hands wherever she wanted.

So she put her hands around Selena's cock. She grabbed it with one hand, and then two, rubbing the hot, hard meat up and down. She had dreamed of being able to touch Selena Grande's legendary cock, and here it was, pulsing with so much desire.

Selena trembled and shuddered, the leg up on the chair shaking. She was now as passive as the dozens... hundreds of women she had serviced in this exact way. Her breath got deeper, her moans brighter and louder.

Until Selena came. Her condom stretched and bulged as the tip filled with each burst from Selena. Layla pushed the rim of Selena's condom further and further down, Selena's cock tensing with each blast, until Layla pinched the condom shut and tied it.

Selena staggered off and came to rest on the couch with a huge thump. Layla finished filling her own condom, tying it up, dropping it on the table... and resting atop Selena on the couch.

Their sweat-soaked bodies slid against each other until both were comfortable. Layla pulled down the decorative quilt off the back of the couch and onto them as they both fell asleep.

---

The next morning, Layla stirred as she heard Selena fuss with something on one of the nearby chairs. Layla leaned up from the bed on her arms and watched her fight to pack something into one of her suitcases. Layla had forgotten that they'd fallen asleep on the couch. She hoped that housekeeping wouldn't be unhappy about them messing up this quilt. It looked nice, but they probably had a warehouse full of them.

"You can keep sleeping." Selena said brightly, not turning around. "I'm just packing up a bit."

"Are we... leaving today?"

"Not for a while. Checkout is at noon." Selena continued to rustle something in her bags.

Layla squinted and sat up. "What are you trying to do?"

She turned around, holding the top hat she had purchased for the charity event. She looked at it a crinkled brow, as if she wasn't certain why the hat wasn't disgorging white rabbits.

"Isn't this thing supposed to collapse?" She placed it between her hands. "It feels really rigid."

"What are you talking about?" Layla said. "Isn't that just a magician thing?"

"No, I swear real top hats do that! Don't they?" She turned the thing around in her hands.

"Well, don't wreck that one trying to do it if it won't."

Evidently defeated, she dropped the top hat onto her folded and packed clothing. She disappeared briefly, returning to the couch with a pair of orbs, both of the tied blue condoms Selena had worn. Holding them from the knot on the top, the teardrop shape reminded Layla of those google-eyed grinning slime monsters from some Japanese video game that she frequently saw merchandised.

Selena dropped them into Layla's palms. She was startled by the weight of them, heavier than equivalently filled water balloons. She looked back and forth between them like they were a physical find-the-difference puzzle. Layla gave them a very light squeeze, unsure how tough the rubber of a condom really was. They would surely break if she crushed them like a stress ball.

"Can you tell the difference?" Selena asked.

Layla considered the two orbs again, one in each hand like the fussy woman considering which coconut to buy. Neither of the balloons were still... warm from last night's coitus. Layla shook her head.

"Neither can I." Selena's smile grew. "They're almost identical."

She sat on the couch next to Layla. "That means... you were right. All along, I didn't have to hold back for the whole week. I could shoot twice as often... or maybe I can have a little fun on a weeknight with a friend... and I can still perform."

Selena wrapped her arms around Layla. "Thank you, Layla. I feel like I've been freed. I feel like this will be the easiest year since I started. All because of you. Thank you so much. Anything you want, I'll do it for you."

Selena brought her nose to Layla's. "What do you want, Layla?"

She stared into her eyes. "I want to kiss you."

Selena burst out in breathless, incredulous laughter. She brought Layla in for a kiss.

Layla covered her mouth with her hand.

"I should brush my teeth first." She slipped away to her room.

"Hasn't stopped you before. Or me!" Selena called out, bringing a hand to her heart. She looked down to the two blue blobs resting on the coffee table.

Having now served their purpose, Selena picked up the balloons to get rid of them, popping them with a pen and draining them down the sink. Amusing as it might be to imagine biting them like a hand fruit and sucking all the jizz out of them... that's all it was. Amusing, rather than arousing. These things had sat out all night. If she'd left an egg out that long, she would throw it away.

After all... there was plenty more where these came from.

---

On the flight home, just before takeoff, Selena started in her first-class seat.

"What? What's wrong? Did you forget something?" Layla asked in a tight whisper.

It took a moment before her response. "I never got you a lei."

Layla stared at her, a smile creeping on her face as she put her head down. "Or a coconut bra."

The plane shifted forward, rocking everyone in their seats.

"I'm sure there's a 'getting laid' joke in here somewhere, but I can't see it."

"Yeah, the moment's passed."

The flight itself was pleasant enough, with no fan encounters in first class this time. Layla was able to sleep for part of the flight. Selena was always on guard, never quite being able to fall asleep in public. She pictured the cover of the National Enquirer featuring her with her eyes closed, mouth wide open with a strand of drool hanging from it. Somehow, this would be spun into a tale of her being in a prescription drug-fueled torpor.

When Layla woke up, Selena explained that she'd calculated the cost of taking Layla along on vacation. It was only a few thousand dollars, most of that the round-trip first-class plane ticket.

"I swear I'm really trying not to dazzle you with my money. I really just wanted to take you on vacation because I knew it'd be more fun than going alone. And it absolutely was."

Layla took Selena's hand. "Thank you so much, Selena."

"The pleasure is all mine."

Selena and Layla disembarked and recovered their baggage at the carousel. They walked out to the parking lot, where Selena's car had sat resolutely for several days. The cost to be parked here for so long made her think that maybe she should have gotten dropped off instead, but not waiting around to be picked up or to summon a taxi minimized awkward fan encounters.

Little did she know that there was one waiting for her in the empty parking garage.

As Selena loaded the bags into the trunk, Layla stood to one side, hands folded in front of her.

"Selena?" She said, quiet as a mouse.

She turned to her and closed the trunk. "Yes?"

"I think... it's time for me to go home."

The air was completely still in this parking garage. No sound but for some tires squealing a few floors below them. "You mean... back to your place?"

She nodded. "If I don't go back home... if you take me back to your place... then I might never leave. I need to get back to my normal life for a while."

Selena's expression was blank. She looked out into space a moment. "If that's what you want." She whispered.

The ride to Glendale was completely silent. Selena didn't even put on the radio.

Selena parked in Layla's assigned spot. She pulled out Layla's bags from the trunk. As much as Layla wanted her life to return to something resembling normal again... she wasn't quite ready to say good-bye yet.

"Walk me up?" She said suddenly.

"Of course." Selena grinned. "I wasn't going to make you carry these."

Hoisting the luggage up the stairs was much more effort than bringing it down. "Why doesn't your building have an elevator? Surely, that's a violation of the American Disabilities Act."

"It's on the other side of the building." She answered.

"Why aren't we using it?"

"Because it almost always reeks of pee."

Selena nodded sagely. "Alright. Once again, you make the right call."

They stood outside her door, Layla holding her keys. Why had she brought these useless things with her to Hawaii? God forbid she had lost her purse while she was there...

Selena opened her arms and pulled Layla in tightly, very tightly. "I miss you already." She said.

"You've got my number. We'll stay in touch." Layla said softly, dearly hoping that it would be true.

Holding Layla in place with her elbows, Selena took Layla's head and brought her in for a kiss, the longest they'd ever shared. Layla almost expected to open her eyes and it would be daylight out.

"Can I stay the night?" Selena whispered, lips still touching Layla's.

"Please!"

---

Layla woke to some very forceful knocking. She tumbled out of bed, pulling the sheets with her. She wrapped part of them around her waist and held the rest up to her chest, in a way she'd only seen done in movies. So disoriented by the awakening, she that she didn't even look through the peephole. She just threw the door open.

On the other side of the door were two men in matching navy blue T-shirts. Both could be described as 'strapping.' They were hoisting what looked to be a brand new mattress.

"Are you Layla Boyd?"

Layla blinked and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her knuckle. "Yes, that's what some people call me."

The men marched into the apartment with the new furniture. She turned around called out to them, "Kind of early to do this. I was still using that bad."

One of the men carrying the mattress turned back as he walked into the bedroom. "Honey, it's one o'clock."

She squinted at the clock on the microwave in her kitchenette, her phone nowhere in sight. Her microwave's clock was often off by a few minutes in a way that drove her crazy, but it confirmed what the mover had told her.

The events of last night slowly came back to her. To say that Selena 'slept over' would be a euphemism of the highest order, worthy of Victorian times. The moment they were in bed together, Selena grabbed her and never let go. If they'd been filming, they'd need a Blu-ray to fit everything they did. It was like Layla was going to be deployed and Selena wasn't sure she'd ever see her again. She held absolutely nothing back.

She felt dehydrated. She could really go for a coffee. There was some discomfort, most of her muscles sore. But unlike the discomfort after that massage, here there was something else mitigating it. She felt it rising from her like an aura, that intangible sensation that some called 'afterglow.' She wondered if these men could see it rising off her like the heat rippling the air on a long stretch of desert highway.

Selena had fucked her so good... this bed was now being retired. It had been asked to withstand as much as could be expected through an entire lifetime.

As Layla stood transfixed in the doorway, her next-door neighbor walked by. They noticed the open door, Layla standing within the door frame, and engaged her.

"Hey, what the hell happened last night? Were you shooting a porno in there or what?"

Layla let out a gentle moan. How little we know our neighbors, she thought. Then again, this was the neighbor with whom she shared her bedroom wall...

"I'm sorry." Layla apologized as she stared off into space. "I was having sex with Selena Grande."

"Ha ha ha." The neighbor spoke in a sarcastic monotone. "Very funny. Just... please keep it down."

They disappeared into their apartment.

A moment later, two men started walking the old mattress through the apartment. This one had been wrapped in a giant clear plastic bag, and the men had put on purple latex gloves.

"Don't worry. We were warned." Said the first mover, taking the adulterated mattress out of the apartment.

Maybe watching these men pull out the ruined mattress would have supported the claim to her neighbor. As it was, Layla just found this whole experience mortifying. Layla excused herself to take a quick shower.

In the bathroom mirror, Layla noticed a mark on her right shoulder: a pink lip imprint, evidently left by Selena before she left. Layla took a picture of it in the mirror before starting her shower. Selena had told her no hot showers. She'd make this one medium warm, then.

She came back out in her slightly ratty bathrobe, much more dignified than clinging to the bed sheets like she was posing for the cover of a romance novel. The four men had completely removed her old rickety twin bed and replaced it with a fashionable queen-sized dark wooden bed with a bookshelf for a header. Her vacuum had found its way to the corner of this room, suggesting one of the men had used it before they built the new bed.

Layla had heard that, to a straight woman, the sight of a well-muscled man pushing a vacuum cleaner was somehow a sight that inspired lust like none other. She was sad to have missed this one.

"I was also told to give you this." The mover in charge gave Layla a folded piece of paper. It was a brief letter.

"Layla,

As much fun as we had here last night, I thought you might appreciate an upgrade. After all, the bed is the desk of the streamer. If it's too firm or soft, call them and they'll switch it out.

I'll be watching when I can.

Text me,

--Selena"

Layla folded the letter and held it to her chest. What a nice soft bed it appeared to be...

The movers started to make their exit. Layla was struck with sudden inspiration.

"Can I get one of you to help me with something before you go?"

One of the movers looked to the others. "What kind of help?"

"Don't worry. It won't be long."

She handed her phone to the mover and asked if he would be so kind as to take some pictures of her on her brand new bed. He agreed. By the time he had worked out how to open the camera app on her unfamiliar phone, Layla was already on the bed.

The robe wasn't.

The mover seemed alright with this, and snapped many pictures of her into the phone as she writhed about on her new bed. She quickly grew aroused as the other movers slowly filtered in and watched with bemusement at the naked nymph sprawled out on the newly delivered bed.

Layla had lied. It was long... and hard.

Among the chatter and laughter, Layla heard the sound of a photo being snapped, a feature she'd turned off on her own phone. One of the other movers had taken his own phone out and snapped a few candid shots of his own.

Layla almost moved to object, but kept it to herself. As they say... it'll last longer. Maybe she'd just made a new fan. Feeling these eight eyes resting on her was so much more thrilling than seeing hundreds of indistinguishable names pass by in chat, the only visible eye the single black dot at the top of her laptop screen. Her breath deepened, her heart thumped as these strangers scanned her nude body.

This could be dangerous. Maybe one of these four would take it too far, or expect some recompense for the crime of arousing him in the middle of the work day. Any one of them could overpower her. But they didn't have power here. The world's sexiest woman, with all her means and her choice of any potential partner, had chosen her to bed last night. These men would just stand at a distance... and watch.

Layla had all the power in this room.

How she wished she could go back in time to her poor bullied and miserable self from years ago and give her some of this excess confidence, to tell her the secret that absolutely nothing that happened in those walls mattered, not even the grades. In that upside-down world, somehow being skinny, attractive AND hung was a combination nobody could appreciate, like accidentally pouring Coke into a bowl of Cheerios. No, maybe it was more like chocolate and cilantro. Unappreciated by her classmates, but in the mouth of someone sophisticated... a delicacy.