Part 2
Come on Alex, this is it! Get your head in the game, Alex thought, hyping herself up as if she was back playing soccer at university. Her uniform was definitely a bit more revealing this time. She wore the sexiest pair of lacy lingerie she had and her best pair of shiny black high heels, and that’s where the clothing ended. Well, of course except for the bondage gear. Her best leather collar around her neck, a chain lead that ended in a similarly well-made leather handle, draped down her toned stomach. Not quite the six pack she had in college years ago, but still damn good she whistled to herself. Her hands were in soft supple leather cuffs that matched the collar. A short length of chain was padlocked to each cuff and kept her wrists close together behind her back. Another chain around her waist was padlocked to the chain between her wrists, it meant she could only move her hands a couple inches in any direction. That was going to be a real challenge for what she had planned, but she’d cross that bridge shortly.
She had decided to add the matching ankle cuffs from the same gorgeous leather set, but had declined to chain them together. Her little expedition of contrition would be difficult enough as is, especially with the trap she had set for herself. Set inside her sex, beneath her lingerie, was a particularly powerful butterfly vibrator and two egg vibrators. They were synced together and had a random timer already counting down until they would turn on, at max strength of course.
Her eyes flashed back up to the mirror, to the last “key” details she thought, snickering at her own shitty pun. On a small golden necklace were a set of keys that unlocked her various restraints. She had scrawled on her chest in red lipstick “I’m sorry.” The final touch was the gag. Alex usually preferred a classic ball gag, but tonight she wore the one ring gag in her collection. After all, it would be a lot easier to “apologize” through the leather wrapped metal ring than try around a rubber ball, right? She smiled at her work, shimming a bit in her bonds in a small show to herself. Time to go!
Alex made her way confidently to her front door, her high heels clicking across the hardwood floor of the apartment’s hallway. Reaching the door, she turned around and backed slightly toward it, her bound hands expectantly reaching out for the doorknob. Feeling around, she found that in the heels, she actually had to bend down, her buttocks brushing the door, as her hands wrapped around the cold handle. Once she stepped out into the hallway it would be the point of no return she supposed. She had picked a late hour to minimize the number of people that might be about, and she only had one floor to descend to reach Eris’s apartment since it was directly under hers. Still, it was a daunting endeavor. She’d never been much of a voyeur or exhibitionist, but Eris was worth it.
As she took a calming breath to steady her nerves, her hands turned the knob, and she moved out into the hallway, if a bit awkwardly. Letting her door close, a sudden odd realization came over her, she hadn’t thought about how to lock her apartment door. She was usually more careful than that, and even more bizarrely she didn’t seem to care, shrugging. It was too late now to worry about that. Surveying the hallway, it was thankfully bereft of any signs of life. Not even a hint of sound from any of the apartments. Was it always this quiet? It was kind of unsettling if Alex was honest. She knew she needed to start moving to avoid being caught, and before the little stimulators under her undies decided to make themselves known. With as much confidence as she could muster, her head held high, she walked briskly to the nearest stairwell, the only sounds her breathy inhales and exhales through the ring gag and the clack of her heels on the tile.
Performing the same odd hunch as before, she opened the door to the stairs. As she began to roll around the partially opened door, she could swear that she heard another door back in the hall opening. Her confidence vanished in an instant. Shit, shit, shit! This was so stupid! is all she could think as she hurried into the stairs, pushing the door shut behind her. In her haste, she tittered in her heels nearly falling down the first of two flights of stairs. Come on Alex, keep it together. You probably just thought you heard something, she tried to reassure herself. No reason to wait and see though, and she started down the stairs with care.
Just as she got to the last two stairs, her small plastic helpers sprung to life. The sudden sensation caused the already anxious and excited Alex to squeal and stumble. She desperately tried to use her pinned arms to catch herself, but chained as they were, they were useless, and her arms flapped pointlessly. She must have looked like some hapless bondage chicken, her arms flailing about as she came crashing down on her butt with a hard thud. The impact stunned her for a moment, but besides what would likely be a bruise later, she was fine. With an embarrassed huff she struggled back to her feet. The buzzing between her legs was already working her well towards a climax.
She quickly opened the door to Eris’s floor, pausing a moment to inspect if there were any signs of people. Impossibly, her luck held. She strutted forward; the vibrators causing occasional stumbles and ever heavier pants out the ring gag. Half way down the unbearably long, at least in Alex’s distressed mind, hallway she had to take a moment to slump against a wall as her body fought through an orgasm built on excitement and fear. She did her best to remain silent, though she wasn’t sure how well she really did at that in her ecstasy. She recovered and fought forward down the hall to the door, the door to the awkward pixie of a woman she needed to see again, needed to apologize to, needed to serve. Another climax claimed her.
She fell to her knees in front of the door, just shy of being able to reach and knock on it. Her salvation was so close, she couldn’t help but let out a noise somewhere between frustrated and elated. With absolute shock, the door in front of her swung open, an unexpected and unbelievable sight before her. Eris stood there in a full body latex catsuit, the beanie still on her head oddly enough though, a playful sneer on her face, “Took you long enough.” The small woman seized the lead connected to Alex’s collar, pulling her up onto her feet with surprising strength. Without another word, the pink and blonde-haired woman led the still orgasming and bound Alex into her impossibly dark apartment. The door slamming shut seemingly of its own accord, as Alex’s world went black…
…Alex’s eyes shot open suddenly, her breathing heavy and labored as she took in her surroundings. She was back in her apartment, specifically back in her bed, which appeared to be soaked with sweat, sure just sweat she tried to lie to herself. The images of Eris as a dominatrix and her own self-imposed bondage flipping through her brain, she grabbed the spare pillow next to her head, and, wrapping it around her face, screamed, “AAAHHHHHHAHHHAH!” in complete and utter frustration. The same damn dream, she thought to herself.
For four straight nights her dreams had been some variation of her in self-bondage presenting herself to a domineering Eris. Moving the pillow off her perspiration soaked and ruddy face, Alex huffed and stared up at her ceiling. Four days since that adorkable woman downstairs had rescued her from a predicament of her own making. She really needed to go apologize.
Alex was still half shocked that Eris hadn’t called the landlord to complain or reveal her kinky secret. Actually, that wasn’t true, the little good Samaritan didn’t seem to be the type to do that. Of course, how would Alex actually know what “type,” whatever that meant, that Eris was? She’d barely spoken to the woman before she became her savior. She needed to go apologize, and stop putting it off.
The truth was, Alex was afraid somehow of doing it. Not because of the embarrassment and shame at what she had been doing, or how she had messed it up so royally that she needed rescuing. Well, at least that wasn’t the main issue. No, she was afraid of something else, but of what exactly? Eris didn’t seem the type to be angry at her or try to blackmail her or anything like that. She had, honestly, seemed a bit…interested perhaps? Alex shook her head, that was just the horny talking.
No, if she was being honest with herself Alex was afraid of just talking to the quiet and cute woman. She wanted Eris to like her romantically or otherwise. Alex’s tanned face darkened. What the hell? She was a grown ass woman, who had asked plenty of women out over the years. Why did the idea of talking to this one shy girl downstairs terrify her so much? It was like she was back to when she was young trying to work up the nerve to ask Sadie Collins to Homecoming. Fuck, this felt a lot like that actually. The whirlwind of yearning, wanting to ask a question she knew she probably didn’t want the answer to, and the fear of imminent rejection. This was different too though, Eris had seen her naked and bound already, orgasming no less, and she hadn’t run off hysterically, thank you for that wonderful memory Sadie, Alex thought absentmindedly. No, Eris seemed almost disappointed when she had departed Alex’s apartment that evening. Or had Alex just thought that?
After a moment of silent reflection, a realization came upon her. All of that didn’t really matter. Going and talking to Eris wasn’t about trying to ask a woman out, it was about apologizing and thanking someone for rescuing her from her own dumbass self. Finally, comprehending that, Alex began to relax, her mind quieting, if only a bit. She resolved she would go over after work tonight and just apologize, maybe offer to buy Eris dinner as a thank you. Simple, sweet, and to the point.
A few hours later Alex’s alarm went off with an ear-splitting annoyance. Her sleep had been restless to say the least, but she began to will her body to move through the torturous morning routine. She didn’t look forward to work. She just wanted it to come and go quickly, so she could go see Eris and apologize to her. At first the day seemed to be rather mundane, if a bit slow to tick by. She spent the time rehearsing what words she would use. She played the possibilities out in her mind. She considered how her introverted neighbor might react. How the woman might smile sheepishly or perhaps how she might yell at Alex in an unforeseen rage, or maybe even just staring at Alex in a silent disapproval.
Alex felt anxiety start to creep back into her. It began to cripple her, even simple tasks at work became impossible as she kept focusing back onto how tonight might play out. That all changed towards the end of the day, when a client decided to lose their mind making outrageous demands that required every brain-cell Alex could muster. Her thoughts about apologizing to Eris and the consequences of that contrition lessening, but never fully disappearing. Before she knew it, she had worked two hours past her usual quitting time. She was dead tired, but her determination remained to finally apologize, to finally see Eris again. She wasn’t going to let herself spend another night dreaming of the woman downstairs, she was actually going to speak to the enchantress that had stolen her dreams. The commute home was unbelievably bad adding to the stress, as Alex continued to rehearse her speech for the siren of a savior she would be seeing before long.
By the time she stumbled into her apartment, it was already late into the night. For a fleeting moment her body tried to convince her to just try again another day, but her mind knew there would be no rest until she spoke with Eris. She washed up a bit in the bathroom, touching up her worn makeup and adding a few small improvements. As she did, her eyes darted to something she had absentmindedly left there on the counter. A simple black choker with a single d-ring at the front. Alex paused. Tonight was about apologizing, not traumatizing the poor woman further…still, it kind of matched her smart black blouse and gray dress slacks. Would it really hurt to wear the collar? Most people, maybe even the naïve Eris, would just think of it as an eccentric accessory to her outfit. Besides, maybe it would boost Alex’s wavering confidence. Restraints always made her feel weirdly safe. Before she could second guess herself too much, Alex caved and applied the collar to her neck admiring it in the mirror. “Ok, game time Alex!” she shouted to the woman in the mirror.
With a brisk pace, set by a mixture of anticipation, determination, and fear, Alex strode out of her apartment, down the hall and stairs to the floor below. Eris’s floor. It took Alex a moment to work out which doorway on the hallway was Eris’s. Her terrible sense of direction getting the better of her. In fact, Alex nearly knocked on the wrong door, some three doors down from her actual destination, only stopping when the door started opening and an older man shuffled out. Eventually, Alex thought she had located Eris’s door, but she took her time double checking. As she stood there in the hallway counting doors and trying to think out where her own room was on the floor above, forgetting somehow in her tired mind that the doors had numbers on them, a familiar voice echoed out from the apartment she stood before.
Alex’s head snapped to attention as she heard Eris’s voice, but bewilderment caused her mind to freeze. The words and tone were incongruous with the soft gentle, unsure voice a few nights before. In its place, Eris’s voice was loud and hot with what was maybe rage, “Damn it! The bastard got me again!” Alex stood transfixed, the door seemed unable to contain the voice from within, a voice that sure sounded like Eris. “Daz! He’s headed to center! DAZ, CENTER, DAMN IT!” Alex wondered what was going on beyond the door that had dominated her dreams so often lately. It seemed Eris was busy with something, and that something had her worked up.
Alex began to doubt this was a good idea. She wanted to turn and leave Eris to whatever had her attention, but then she thought about the fateful night that Eris came to her rescue. The awkward woman could have just walked away then, but she hadn’t. Instead, she had plunged into the unknown and saved Alex. Thinking about that gave her enough courage to remain standing there, waiting for an opportunity to knock, after all it would be rude to interrupt whatever was going on with Eris, right?
“DAMN IT DAZ! I told you CENTER, DID I NOT?!” there was fire and fury in those words. It genuinely shocked Alex, and made her rethink the angelic image she had of her guardian neighbor, a new more devilish latex clad fantasy coming to mind. Alex could feel a heat between her legs suddenly. Then in the span of a breath the voice beyond the door softened as if a switch had been flipped, and in a gentle and sweet tone far more familiar to Alex, she heard Eris say, “GG everyone, even you Daz,” a soft lighthearted giggle escaping at the end of the sentence. “We’ll get them next match.” Alex could imagine the small mirthful smile on the cute face of her neighbor. A smile coming to Alex’s own lips at the image of a happy Eris. The banter on the other side of the wooden barrier took on a jovial tenor. As it continued, somewhere in the back of Alex’s mind she must have realized this would be the time to knock, as seemingly without conscious thought she watched as the knuckles of her clenched fist rapped on the door in front of her. Alex’s heart began beating faster than she could ever remember it doing. What was she doing? She should go. This was a bad idea, right?
From inside Eris’s voice shifted again, “Hey, guys sorry, can you maybe wait a minute in the lobby. I think someone is at my door.” Rustling noises could be heard, then after a short pause Eris’s voice returned briefly, sounding flustered, “Only in your dreams Daz…just give me a sec. Brb.” Alex could hear muffled footfalls from within the apartment approaching the door. The sliding of something near the door was soon followed to Alex’s anticipation, by the door slowly creaking open. Suddenly Alex’s dreams of the past few days became reality in a manner, Eris’s cute little face stared shocked out at her, the other woman’s pale blue eyes wide, her mouth set tight, her body frozen locked in the doorway’s opening.
Come on Alex! Say something, a part of her screamed to the rest of her brain. Finally, somewhere in her mind a synapse fired and the carefully rehearsed speech began to swell in her throat, “Hey, Eris, I uh, I wanted to…”
Before Alex could say a single word more, the wide-eyed Eris let out a surprising, “EEEEEEEPPP!” slamming the door closed in Alex’s face. A sound of retreating footsteps interspersed with the sound of things being knocked over as Alex stood dumbfounded her mouth agape. She had anticipated a lot of things, but somehow this was worse. So much worse. The woman of her dreams had slammed the door in her face without saying a word. Well, not exactly, she had let out whatever the hell that noise was. It had been somewhere between a scream and a mousey squeak. Alex’s head dropped, her chin against her chest, her hands nervously running through her dark hair. In her mind she began admonishing herself for being so fucking dumb, Alex, how could you not see this coming? Of course she’d react like this. You traumatized the poor woman, and now you show up at her door and make it worse. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She told herself she needed to leave. She had done enough to Eris, and the woman was probably calling the cops or something. Still, her body wouldn’t move. She was frozen in place.
In that moment as she began to ponder how to make her legs move again, she became faintly aware of the voice beyond the door. It was nervous and hurried, but the words themselves caught Alex’s attention. “Uh, um hey, uh g-guys, yeah, I-I’m uh, really sorry, but, um, I need to cut the stream early to-um well I, uh, just need to, um, go. So…uh, so sorry.” The sound of frantic typing and clicking accompanying the words, “W-what?! No! Daz, it’s n-not, um well, it’s not that…um yeah really, uh, sorry. Love you guys, get some, uh, rest. Yeah…um so, uh, thanks and, uh, good night!” More frenetic noises came from within as someone, ostensibly Eris, was clearly rushing around the apartment.
After what felt to be an eternity, the foot falls began to head toward the closed door again. Alex’s heart felt as if it would explode, she tried to yell at her legs to run, but they seemed unwilling to comply. The door once more opened. Again, pale blue eyes stared up at Alex. The shorter Eris seemed to be trembling as if cold, the movement betraying her uncertainty, “HeY!” the woman’s voice cracking and her shoulder’s wincing before she continued, her hands tightening on the open door in an effort to steady her wobbling body, “Um, uh hey…Alex, uh what…er, c-can I do for, uh, you?”
Alex was smiling. The display of complete awkwardness disarmed the moment completely for her. The doubt and self-loathing evaporating at the hunched little fairy of a woman in front of her. Eris was an adorable dork for sure. She wore a black and blue flannel shirt, its sleeves rolled down to the elbows, dark eyeliner framing bright but shy eyes. A black beanie pulled down to platinum blonde eyebrows, tufts of pink and blonde hair escaping its tight confines. “Eris, I came here tonight to apologize for the other night.”
The smaller woman began stammering before Alex could continue, her lips quivering with the words that rushed out, “Oh, uh, th-that’s, um, okay…you, uh, you don’t need to, um, apologize.” The pale blue eyes began to wander, trying their best to avoid looking directly at Alex. Eris’s cheeks were turning from pale to rosy. “I, um, was, uh, just worried, and uh, um I-I’m sorry for, uh, intruding on you, and, uh, for, um, interrupting, uh, your, uh, orgas…uh well that, um, thing you were, uh, doing.”
Alex held up her hand in an effort to stop the stumbling Eris. “No, it was not fair of me and my poor planning to get you involved. You were being a good and decent person, while I was just being selfish.” Alex paused to take a deep breath, “Look, thank you. Without you coming up to check on me, who knows how that night would have gone.” Alex could see the tension in Eris’s body, her averted gaze saying something that Alex couldn’t quite ascertain. “I want you to know that I promise that won’t happen again.” Alex’s eyebrow twitched, did Eris just slump a bit at that? What was that about? Was she disappointed it wouldn’t happen again? No, Alex, stop reading into things you horny bitch. “I’m sorry about what happened, and I came here to try to make it up to you. I’d like to take you out to dinner as a way to apologize and show my gratitude for the rescue and being so awesome about it.”
Eris looked up, her body language changing in an instant. Alex tried to explain that she wanted to take Eris out to somewhere nice one night this weekend, but Eris’s excited voice cut her short, “Oh! Yeah! I mean, uh you, um, don’t have to pay, but I would, um, love to, uh, go out to dinner…but uh, one um, uh one second.” Eris turned and vanished leaving a stunned Alex looking into the now open doorway.
A stack of packages and mail in the apartment’s hallway. Alex saw Eris’s back as she picked up a leather wallet and placed it in the front pocket of her dark jeans. Alex was trying to process that they were going out tonight. She wasn’t dressed for going out, and they didn’t have reservations anywhere, and oh god, she was still wearing the collar. Like a zombie, she stepped backwards into the main hallway as Eris exited the apartment locking the door. The other woman pulled out her phone checking something, “Oh! Great! It’s still early enough.” Her face turned from the screen to Alex, a gentle smile and excited eyes calling to the stunned woman, “There’s a great food truck a couple blocks from here.” The smaller woman’s gentle hands seizing Alex’s, the pink-haired woman making for the lobby.
Alex couldn’t quite understand what was happening. How had the situation escalated so quickly and spun out so far from her plans. She had hoped to make arrangements to take Eris somewhere nice in a few nights, but now the once seemingly introverted woman was practically dragging her to go eat street food tonight. She wanted to say something, but words failed her. Seeing the speechless look on Alex’s face must have called Eris back to reality a bit as her words seemed less sure as she spoke, “Uh, I mean if, uh, that would, um, be okay…I, uh, promise it’s really good, but, uh, they’ll only be there for um, a little bit longer.”
Alex nodded before somehow finding her voice long enough to say, “That sounds nice.”
Eris led the taller woman outside. The night air was slightly cool, but humid. The city never seemed to sleep, and Alex was glad for the many people still walking the streets, that is until she felt the collar around her neck reminding her of its presence and she blushed. She found herself practically chasing the flannel fairy down the street. The woman’s excitement infectious. “So, they do these really amazing Banh Mi tacos, you’ll have to try one, well, er, as long as that’s something you like I guess.” Alex just smiled and nodded. After a few brisk minutes of walking, they found themselves at a parking lot still crowded with people ordering and eating from a sleek looking green and red food truck.
The two women quickly found their way into line. As they stood there, Alex found her gaze drifting across the woman who had led her here through force of will. Her heart fluttered, she wanted to stand up against the dorky beauty. Wanted to hold her in her arms. Wanted to touch that delicate neck with her lips. She wanted to beg her to take her home and tie her down. Damn it, Alex, remember this is about making up for disrupting her life and thanking her for the rescue.
As Alex tried to push down her horny thoughts, Eris placed their order with someone named Sam that she seemed to know well. Shortly, the two found themselves sitting on a curb eating messy tacos. Alex wanted to laugh at the mental image of her sitting there in her business clothes, a collar around her neck that seemed to draw a snicker or leer from the occasional passersby, eating street food that she normally wouldn’t even think to try. In the span of thirty minutes Eris had shattered several preconceived notions Alex had about herself, and the truth was, she couldn’t be happier. Being near Eris was so intoxicating, and she was sure she would be happy to do anything this woman asked.
As they ate, Eris, her mouth half full like a little demented squirrel was the first to speak, “So um, thanks, for paying and uh, for, um, the apology.” She paused to swallow before continuing, “B-but you, uh, you know it was, um, wasn’t necessary, uh right?”
Alex threw her head back, “Come on, did you see your face the other night? And unless our apartment building has a lot more kinky people than I realize, that was not something most people would see and not just run away from. You really were my savior.” Alex smiled inside as the words seemed to make Eris blush again, her eyes shooting to the asphalt, a hand absentmindedly playing with an exposed tuft of pink hair.
“Uh, it…uh, it w-was, um, a bit shocking. I, uh, wasn’t sure what I, um, might find…but it certainly wasn’t, um, you know, uh that.”
Alex hung her head in a bit of embarrassment. “Yeah, not sure how you didn’t run screaming when you saw your creepy neighbor all trussed up and, uh especially after I kind of fell on you.”
Eris turned bright red, “Oh, yep, uh, that, um, was, uh…interesting, and, uh, n-not what uh….” She let her words trail off. Alex couldn’t help but fixate on that word, “interesting.” What did she mean by that?
Seemingly to fill the awkward silence that had settled in Eris started talking again, “I mean…uh I was really, uh y-you know, um unsure…yeah, unsure what to do.” Eris paused a moment looking for the first time in a while directly at Alex. A pensive look on her face as she started a new line of discussion, “Uh, I, um, hope you don’t mind, me, uh, asking, but how did you like, you know, uh figure out you like that?”
Alex froze mid-bite, and took her time chewing in the hopes that either Eris would suddenly change the topic, or that she would choke and die right here in front of the inquisitive little woman. Unfortunately, for Alex, neither transpired. Reluctantly she answered, “Well, uh, I didn’t just slip and fall into those restraints as you can guess.” A small chuckle from Eris calmed Alex a bit, she let out a deep sigh and responded with a legitimate answer, “Truth is, I’ve always enjoyed it as far back as I can remember. Must sound absurd, right? But yeah, it’s just been this part of me, that well, really just a couple of people have ever seen, and it sort of makes me feel safe or more confident somehow.” Why was she so willing to open up to what amounted to a stranger? Yet, she wanted to share whatever this woman beside her wanted to hear. She turned to see Eris was frantically twirling her hair. A small genuine smile etched on her face, “So, um I-uh and what, maybe a boyfriend or two have, uh, seen that, huh?”
Was this little gremlin proud of herself? She looked almost smug to Alex. “Uh, you and one or two girlfriends, but yeah more or less.”
“Oh, I, uh, see.”
Alex tried to read those last few words. Surprise was there, sure, but there were other emotions mixed in. Damn it, why did she have such a hard time reading this woman.
“Well, I’d, uh, say, um, that your uh, girlfriends, were, uh…um v-very lucky,” Realizing the implication she just made, Eris’s eyes went wide as she fumbled the next words worse, “Er I, uh, don’t want, um, you to think I was, uh, jealous…uh I mean that, y-you are pretty, especially tied, um, up, um, like that, not that you aren’t, uh, pretty without the chains, they just uh…and I mean you, uh, get th-that of course, but I-I, uh, didn’t want you to, uh, think, well…it was just, um, very, uh, intimate, and, um, I, uh, well, I didn’t think, uh, at the time you…um…” Eris finally just trailed off. Alex stared at her for a long time blankly trying to understand any of that gibberish, and make sense of it. In the end, she just decided to take it for a compliment and offer one up of her own, “You know you have some really beautiful tattoos, right? Why keep them hidden?”
Alex noticed an immediate change in body language. Eris seemed to withdraw a bit into herself. Realizing she must have hit a nerve, Alex tried to apologize, “Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something you don’t want to talk about.”
Eris sighed, “No, it’s fine…I, uh, well, see my ink is well very personal.” She looked up towards the street before turning back to Alex, “But I’m actually, um glad you, uh, saw it. Maybe I can share them with you again sometime.” A mix of introspection and something else on Eris’s face.
Trying to cut the tension Alex offered another simpler compliment, “You know you are adorable, right?”
Eris reddened even more than she had on the other night. “Yeah, I uh, I am not the smoothest with words if you, um, hadn’t noticed.”
Feigning disbelief, Alex retorted, “You, awkward? Never!”
They both smiled at each other. Maybe it was the need to avoid the awkward way they had actually met for real a few nights before, or maybe it was because of the intimate nature of that encounter, but somehow the two settled into a stilted, but relaxed conversation getting to know each other bit by bit there in an increasingly empty parking lot. Alex learned Eris had moved to the city just a few years earlier, and that she worked a variety of remote programming jobs that meant she rarely left her home office in the apartment. Eris also admitted that the food truck was a bit of selfish nostalgia for her. It apparently reminded her of one of her dads who had run a food truck when she was growing up.
Alex hung on every word. She had wanted to know everything about this woman. It was so easy to talk to her, and Eris seemed to find her voice the more the night dragged on. It remained quiet and gentle, but the filler sounds dropped more and more from her words. Alex found herself laughing and smiling more than she could ever remember. Somehow this little awkward introvert enraptured her, a stark contrast to the confident feminine beauties Alex had chased since college and that never made her feel this way. She felt so comfortable with Eris. As the night drew towards early morning, the two made their way back to their apartment building. Alex insisted on walking Eris back to her apartment, and before long they were back to where this evening had taken a surprising turn, in front of Eris’s door.
“Thank you for the evening and for being my savior the other night.” Alex offered as Eris opened her apartment’s door. Turning back, there was a surprisingly thoughtful look in Eris’s pale blue eyes, “Um, sorry to, uh, bring it back up, but, uh, I did want to ask, uh, something…y-you know, uh, about the other night?”
Alex tensed a bit, she was worried what Eris might ask, and worried at what she might reveal since she already knew she would simply give the beanie clad fairy whatever she asked for. She nodded ascent, and the other woman continued, “So, er, I really did, uh rescue you, and, um, you didn’t like, um, have a w-way, um, out?
Alex smiled and nodded, “No, I was pretty screwed. Without you, who knows how long that would have gone on.”
“Y-yeah, uh, I thought, um, so,” Eris paused for a moment thinking. Alex wondered what was going through the other woman’s mind. The answer certainly surprised her. “So, from, uh, what I erm have, um, uh read online it’s best to you know have a human failsafe when, uh, ty-tying yourself up.” Eris turned the darkest shade of red of the whole night as she spoke, “So, uh I was, um, thinking that since I-I uh, that I was so, um, close by…and I had, uh, already, um, seen you well, um you uhh…that way, and, uh, being a good neighbor and all, I thought maybe I should, uh, be your failsafe.”
Alex’s mind broke for a long moment. Was this dork actually asking to help her with her self-bondage escapades?
Getting no response, Eris pressed the issue offering up more support for her idea, “I, um, am just one floor down, and, uh, I am, uh, almost always…um in my apartment since I, uh work from home, so…I would almost always be, uh, there when…when y-you, uh, need help. It just r-really makes sense.”
Alex didn’t hesitate this time, “Sure, that sounds like a great idea.”
Eris’s eyes lit up, “Uh, let me see your phone and I’ll, uh, give you my info.” Alex pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and without hesitation handed it to Eris.
The other woman’s fingers glided across the phone; Alex focused on the chipped nails and the graceful delicate fingers. Within just a few seconds, she had her phone back. Eris had retreated across the threshold of her apartment, “So, yeah, uh, next time you, um, tie yourself, uh, up just drop me a message, so we both know you are, uh, safe. After all, what are friends for, right?”
“Yeah, what are friends for,” a stunned Alex responded.
Eris pressed her lips together in preparation for saying something, and Alex braced for what madness might come next. “By the way the collar is really cute, okay bbyyyeeee!” Eris said quickly shutting her door.
Alex stumbled back to her apartment on the floor above, her mind a blur of the night’s events and trying to decipher them. Reaching her place, she quickly found her way to her bed laying on it and gazing at the ceiling. Horny Alex was screaming that Eris was beautiful, smart, witty, cute, and kind, and most importantly had been interested in Alex and Alex’s little hobby. The pessimistic Alex had a cold bucket of water and was dousing horny Alex with said water to stop thinking that way. Her mind warred with itself over what was going on. Had Eris been interested in more, or were her platitudes aimed at being a friendly neighbor starved of platonic companionship? Alex wanted to know, she had to know. Then in an instant a thought, the kernel of a plan, swelled in Alex’s mind. She had a plan, a naughty plan to force the issue, and maybe in the process she could have some fun and properly thank Eris for everything that first night. She had to make some preparations, but she knew already what she would be doing the next night while everything was so fresh in her mind. She just prayed she was reading Eris right.