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Fresh Out of Tuck

Copyright 1997 by Ellen Hayes.

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given to the original author, me.  Any resemblance between the writings
in this work, and any actual persons or places, living or dead, are
purely coincidental, except when used for satirical purposes.

All rights reserved.

Furthermore,
This work contains adult situations, adult language, adult concepts, and
possibly sex.  If you are legally not allowed to read materials
containing such things, then you will be breaking the law by reading
this.  I am not responsible.
Continuing to read this document, or storing it or reproducing it
in any format means that you explicitly affirm that you are legally
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state, and country.

Fresh Out of Tuck

***
12:21 24 Nov

     "Hello?"
     "Hey, Debbie, you busy?"
     "Well, yeah, actually.  I got four more consults this afternoon,
and then I have to write a paper."  Damn.  "So how did yesterday go?"
     "Real, ah, interesting."
     "Damn.  I really got to get going.  Tell me about it at lunch
tomorrow?"
     "Um, okay...."
     Pause.
     "I really enjoyed Friday night," she said softly.
     I breathed a sigh of relief.  "I was beginning to wonder," I
admitted.
     "Don't worry.  I'm still smiling about it."
     "Me too!"  Now that I knew Debbie was smiling, I could be happier
too.
     "Anyway, I really gotta run, so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
     "Otay, bye."
     She mumbled something into the phone right before she hung up.
Could it have been "I love you"?

***
13:38 24 Nov

     No.  No way.

***
16:12 24 Nov

     Could have been.  Maybe.

***
21:49 24 Nov

     I sure hoped so, but I couldn't count on it.

***
07:04 25 Nov

     No way.

***
07:56 25 Nov

     "So tell me at lunch, okay?  I forgot some math homework, so I
gotta go find a desk."
     I was too scared to ask.  I just gave her a big, long hug, and a
kiss instead.
     She kissed me back, at least.  So there was _something_ there.

***
11:34 25 Nov

     "So do tell," begged Debbie.
     "Yeah, please!" said Jill excitedly.
     I groaned and tried to just up and die.
     Debbie pleaded, "Oh, come on, Tuck, they'd worm the story out of me
eventually anyway-"
     "We're good at that," interrupted Sabrina.
     "So," Debbie continued, "you might as well make sure the right
story gets out the first time."
     "Pleeeezzzzzz," they all begged in chorus.
     I thought running into Julia and her boyfriend was bad.

***
12:03 25 Nov

     "Hey, what's-" Mike started to say as he walked up.  He was drowned
out, and stunned, when the entire Pack pointed at him and started to
laugh.  He stood around, trying to figure out what was going on, then
glared at me.  I shrugged at him, like what could I do?
     Debbie gave me a casual hug, and smiled at me as she left her arm
around my shoulder.  I could live with this, I decided.

***
12:17 25 Nov

     "She gave you her phone number?" Debbie asked again.  I began to
get the idea that this was maybe one detail I should have left out.
     Jill muttered, "Uh oh."
     "Well, uh, she said, um, in case I got into trouble or something
ever again, that, uh..."
     Debbie grabbed my shirt front and pulled me up and close.  "If I
find out," she said quietly, "that you're cheating on me, you die.  Got
it?"
     "Got it!" I confirmed as loudly as I could with the collar twisted
around my neck.  I'd be lucky if I got off with just death, actually.
     "Besides," I said when I got my breath back, "she wants to meet you
again too."
     Debbie blinked a few times.  "She does?"
     "Would I lie?"

***
13:23 28 Nov

     Beep.
     "Hi Debbie, this is Tuck, I'm just calling to wish you a happy
Thanksgiving, and to say I was thinking of you."  I hung up, and
wandered back downstairs to see if the food was ready yet.
     At least I could skip the football.  Besides, my cousin from New
York, Amy, had gotten a lot cuter since I last saw her.  Worth resting
your eyes on, you might say.
     Better than anything around the television, that's for certain.

***
17:36 28 Nov

     I beckoned Amy up the stairs, and she followed me.
     "What's up?" she asked when we got away from the stairwell.
     "Thought you might like to get away from the housework for a
while."  We'd done our share, in my opinion, having loaded the
dishwasher twice.  And unloaded and dried and put away.  And washed the
stuff that couldn't go through the dishwasher, and dried and put that
stuff away.
     Amy replied, "Oh, yeah, thanks."  I opened the door to my room,
which had become much cleaner since I started dating Debbie.  "So what's
been up with you lately?" she asked.
     "Oh, you know, things.  I got a girlfriend..."

***
12:32 30 Nov

     "You'd better not be dorking me around, Tucker," Debbie warned as
we went inside.  The snow was nice, but a little cold for me.
     "I'm not!" I swore earnestly.  "She said twel-"
     "Hi!" called a voice from across the lobby.  We both looked up, and
it was Rachel.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

***
12:44 30 Nov

     "So, Debbie, right?"  Debbie nodded.  "Whatever gave you the idea
to, uh, try that with Va-, um, Tuck?"
     The corner of Debbie's mouth quirked up.  "A friend of mine gave me
the idea."
     "Lisa, right?" I interjected.
     They both looked at me, puzzled.
     "Lisa's about as evil-minded as Debbie, here."  Debbie opened her
mouth to protest, and I hastily explained, "Um, they both get seriously
into pranks, mind-fucks, pardon my French, reality bending, that sort of
thing."  Rachel looked at Debbie, who shrugged.  "That's what I meant."
     "It's just, I mean, I never thought of anything like that when I
was in high school," said Rachel, with a sort of admiring tone in her
voice.
     "It takes a very, um.  Well, Tuck just has the face for it, you
know?" explained Debbie, suddenly at sort of a loss.
     "So you never did this to any of your previous boyfriends?" I
asked.  I'd wondered, but I was afraid to find out.
     "Hell no!" she exclaimed, as if it should have been obvious.
     "So where did you learn all those tricks?" I pressed.
     "Tricks?" asked Rachel.
     "She did something with duct tape on Halloween, you wouldn't have
believed, I mean, _cleavage_."  I tried to demonstrate with my hands.
"It was scary."
     Debbie shrugged again.  "Same place I learned about makeup.  A
friend of an ex-boyfriend of mine."
     "Ex-friend or ex-boy?" asked Rachel, and giggled.  I was about to
ask the same question.

***
13:41 30 Nov

     Debbie checked her watch.  "Shit!  I gotta run to do some
consults."
     "If it'd be okay with you," Rachel asked Debbie, "I could give Tuck
a ride home."
     Debbie considered it for a while.  "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks a
lot, Rachel," she said slowly.  And smiled.
     I was glad they had hit it off.  It let me off the hook, that was
for sure.
     "You need some help carrying anything?" I asked unwisely.

***
13:53 30 Nov

     I huffed and puffed and almost had enough air in my lungs.  "How
much, of this, stuff, do you, need?"
     "Oh, lots.  Can't tell, what someone, is gonna buy.  And, it's
best, if you have it, right there.  Impulse, purchases."
     I was glad she was having as much trouble as I was.
     "Next thing, I buy, is a cart!" she got out.
     "Good, idea!"
     "Jeezus," moaned Rachel from behind us.

***
14:13 30 Nov

     "God, she's... dynamic," commented Rachel as she started her car.
     "Yeah, I know."  I shook my head.  "She's, she's just a trip.
Knows what she wants, and she's gonna get it one way or another."
     "So what does she want?"
     "College money right now, and then I think she's gonna go into
business.  She has a head for it."
     "No kidding!"
     "That's how I met her, actually.  She needed some accounting
software and a computer to run it on, and she asked me to set it up."
     "For this?  I would have thought the accounting would have been
pretty simple..."
     "No, not really.  And it was for her summer job."  I smiled,
knowing the next couple of questions.
     "So what was it?" Rachel finally asked.
     "Lemonade stand," I grinned.
     "She needed accounting for a lemonade stand?"
     "She did when she had twelve employees and eight hundred dollars in
sales a day."
     "What?!"  She looked over at me, startled.
     "Yeah, it was real clever.  She got permission from the city to run
a drink bar, sorta, on the medians of a busy intersection, during rush
hour.  Like flower sellers, you know?"  She nodded.  "Anyway, she had
signs out a quarter mile down the road, and when the traffic stopped,
there'd be people out there selling drinks to all those hot thirsty folk
who just got off work.  She ended up selling a couple of other things
too, light snacks and stuff.  Even payed more than minimum wage, and
people could get up late in the day and still have the evening to do
stuff.  But you had to hustle while you were there.  I filled in once
and almost got heatstroke.  But she was out there, running around as
much as everyone else."
     "Damn...."
     "Yeah.  She's just like that.  Keeps seeing these profit making
ideas and just goes for 'em, full afterburner.  And makes money at 'em."
     "Why did she stop?  The drinks thing, I mean."
     "She said she didn't have time and employees enough when school
started back up.  She's gonna do it again next summer, though.  She even
talked about franchising the operation."
     Rachel just shook her head.  "And I thought I was doing well
holding down a waitressing job last summer...."
     I laughed.  "Hey, I felt the same way.  Debbie's like one in a
million.  Almost nobody's like her.  You'd have to be on the go all the
time to do what she does.  I'm surprised she has time to date me,
actually."
     "I can see why..." Rachel mused.  "Does she sleep?"
     "As far as I know," I said eventually.  "It's just the rest of us
mortals need time to do other things.  I think she gets her down time
when she's making money, actually.  So while the rest of the world would
be off watching television or something..."
     Rachel just shook her head.

***
14:24 30 Nov

     "Hey, thanks a lot," I said gratefully as I got out of the car.  "I
wasn't looking forward to taking the bus home."
     "Oh, no problem.  Good seeing both of you again.  Give me a call
sometime, okay?"
     "Will do, seeya!"  I shut the door and stepped back.  We waved to
each other as she drove off.
     When I went into the house, my brother was at the window, while the
rest of the guys watched football or something.  "Who was that?" Brian
asked.
     "Oh, just some girl I met," I said casually.
     He considered this for a minute.  "Debbie'll kill you if she finds
out."
     "Oh, she knows," I said airily.  "The three of us had lunch today."
     Coming as it did during a five second black space on the TV, I got
everyone's attention.
     "Way to go!" exclaimed my cousin Derek, giving me a thumbs up.
     Derek was an asshole, though, so I wasn't sure this was a good
thing.  On the other hand, he wasn't shoving my head into a toilet,
either.  Yet.

***
08:02 2 Dec

     They played a parody song, "Walkin' 'Round in Women's Underwear."
I couldn't figure out if this was supposed to be a joke on me or not.

***
11:38 9 Dec

     "Um, you busy this afternoon?" asked Debbie.
     "Uh, no, not really, why?"
     "Lisa wants to ask you something.  I can drive you over there if
you want."
     "What does she want to ask?"  Not like I was paranoid or anything.
Ha.

***
15:28 9 Dec

     I was sort of impatient.  And scared.  "Well?"  Lisa and Debbie
looked at each other.  "What is it?"
     "Well," started Debbie, "Lisa and I go way back, you know?"  I
nodded.  The two were like twins, separated at birth, except they didn't
look anything like each other.  Debbie was about five-five, my height,
and about 135 pounds, about ten pounds heavier than me.  Which is why
we could wear the same clothes, almost.  She was a lot more, well,
shapely than me.  She had dark wavy hair, not quite shoulder length, and
eyes so dark they were almost black.
     Lisa, on the other hand, was taller than both of us, about five
eight, but skinnier than either of us.  She had dyed blonde hair, and
green eyes.  Lisa was supposed to be better looking, I guess, since she
looked more like a model than Debbie did, but I knew what _I_ liked.
Which was Debbie.
     On the other hand, which I guess would be the gripping hand if
anyone else reads the same kind of books I do, they had almost the same
personality.  Except Debbie was more into making money, and Lisa was
more into making mischief.  Lisa was also fairly rich; well, her parents
were, but a fair amount of it went to Lisa, whereas Debbie was almost
working for a living already.
     "So...."
     "Well, we do favors for each other all the time, right?" Lisa
spoke.
     "So," continued Debbie, "we help each other out with contacts for
stuff we want to do, you know?"
     "Mmmmm...."
     "So."  Lisa took a deep breath.  "So, when someone does one of us a
favor, a lot of times the other one helps to pay it back."
     "So what do you want me to do?"  I was beginning to get real
worried.  Why were they _both_ so nervous?
     "Um."  They looked at each other again.
     Debbie said cautiously, "Remember Travis?"
     "Tra- no.  No.  Whatever it is, no."
     "Tuck, wait!" they both protested.  "Let me explain," begged Lisa.
     "NOooo!  I'm not listening!"  I stuck my fingers in my ears.

***
15:45 9 Dec

     Travis had done Lisa a favor.  I'm not even supposed to _think_
what it is.  Ever.  Travis' price was a date with Valerie.
     That was me.
     Lisa supposed that every man had his price, and that mine would be
acceptable.  She was very very wrong.  Or I was gonna have something
truly fantastic.
     "A what?"
     "A keyboard.  Like a Yamaha or something."  Actually I had
something very specific in mind, but I wasn't sure how much I could
extract out of them.
     She looked puzzled.  "Well, how much-"
     "Your share would be about five hundred dollars.  We'll go
halfsies."
     "FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS?!" they both shrieked.
     "Hey, SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" I yelled back.  Amazingly, they both
shut up.  "I _know_ both of you!  And this isn't the last time you're
gonna do this to me, is it?"  They didn't answer.  "Well, is it?!"  They
looked at each other.  I think I could guess the answer by now.
"Furthermore," I continued, "you're asking me to directly risk my _life_
to pay off a favor that I didn't even get!  Do you have any _idea_ what
would happen if he found out?  I'd be lucky if _all_ he'd do would be to
beat me to death!  So you are going to _pay_ if you want me to do this,
because I want some serious fun in my life before I _die_ doing this!"
     They both started to gibber at me, but I thought I was going to win
this one.
     One way or another, anyway.

***
16:09 9 Dec

     "Okay, okay!" Lisa finally snapped.
     "What?!  Are you INSANE?"  Debbie shrieked at her.  "That's
ridiculous!"
     "No, dressing _me_ up in girl's clothes again so I can pay her back
a favor to someone else is ridiculous.  Me getting paid to risk my life
isn't ridiculous at all."
     Debbie roared, "Tucker, SHUT UP!"
     Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all.  She looked _really_
peeved with me.

***
16:16 9 Dec

     I got the agreement from Lisa, finally.  Now all I had to do was
make it up to Debbie.
     She glared at me when she wasn't actively watching the road.  I
tried not to stand out.  All of a sudden, I was sort of beginning to
regret pushing things.
     *But, damnit!* I seethed.  *They aren't going to be the ones to get
creamed if I get caught!*  They also weren't the ones having nightmares,
or heart palpitations...

***
08:01 10 Dec

     I slumped in my desk in homeroom.  Debbie was still seriously
annoyed with me this morning.  That kind of made everything look really
black.
     "Whatsup?" asked Mike.
     I would have told him, but it was too hard to explain.  Especially
here in homeroom.

***
11:38 10 Dec

     "I, I just can't believe you would do something like this!" she
hissed at me.  "I thought you cared about me!"
     Oooh, low blow, that.  It hurt a lot, too.  "Debbie, I do care!
And it's not you that has to pay it, it's Lisa.  I just figured that
she's gonna start doing this sort of stuff with my poor naked weak
defenseless body, and I'd better get something out of it now while I'm
alive.  You know," I remarked, pointing at her, "that this isn't going
to be the last time she does something like this, and wants to use me to
do something for her.  Is it?"
     No answer.  "Well, is it?" I pressed.
     "I just can't see why you had to be such an asshole about it," she
snapped.
     "Because I want her to understand that this is gonna cost, because
I'm risking a lot more than a detention or even a little jail time if I
get 'busted'.  I could _die_, Debbie.  People could beat me with sticks
until I was _dead_.  I've already had nightmares exactly like that.  I'm
not gonna do this kind of bullshit simply for her jollies with _me_
taking the big risks.  And if she pays like this for it, then she'll
understand that where it counts; in her wallet."
     "So what are you going to make _me_ pay, huh?" she said bitterly.
"What kind of price are you gonna ask of me?  Do I get some kind of
discount when we screw or what?  Or-"
     "Debbie, wait!"  I help up my hands.  "It's different if it's just
us, okay?  I just don't want to be rented out to anyone Lisa needs to
pay back, alright?"  I shook my head.  "I don't mind near as much if
it's just us, and if you're around to protect me and stuff.  It's
just... you know how dates go; what happens if he gets me alone?  He's
like _huge_, and Lisa's not gonna be around to knock him off me with a
stick, like you would."
     Her expression was changing.  Maybe I was getting through, finally.

***
13:19 10 Dec

     A sudden thought just hit me.  *Did I just tell Debbie that she
could dress me up whenever she wanted, if she was with me?*
     I had.  Oh, no.... I moaned, uncontrollably, and everyone looked at
me.

***
15:01 10 Dec

     "I talked to Lisa," she said tiredly, "and she said she'd agree to
it, if it was no more than four hundred dollars.  And this'll cover
anything she wants you for until spring break, right?"  I nodded.
"Well, here's her number, you need to call her to talk to her."  She
handed me a business card.
     "Okay."  I watched her get her books and put them in her bookbag.
"Debbie?"  She looked at me.  "Are you still mad at me for this?"
     "No," she said, then ran her fingers through her hair.  "I dunno.
Sort of.  It's just a lot of money, Tuck."
     "She's got it to spend, you know."
     "That's not the point.  It's kind of an asshole thing to do, asking
for money when a friend asks you to do something."  She stood up, and
started walking out to the parking lot.  I followed her.
     "If she wanted me to help her with homework or tow her car or
babysit or help her move or something like that, I would.  But this is
different.  It's like... it's like her making me go up to Nickerson,"
the principal of our high school, "and tell him I fucked his wife and
I've got the pictures and pay up.  In front of the school board.  Kinda
dangerous."
     She snickered unwillingly at that, for just a second.
     I thought I was in the home stretch, now.  Just a little more
finesse, and I'd be back in the high life again...

***
15:42 10 Dec

     "Hello?"
     "Lisa?"
     "Yes, who's this?"
     "It's Tucker, remember?"
     "Oh, yeah.  Did Debbie talk to you?"
     "Yeah... what time is it and everything?"
     "Friday night, show up at my house after school.  I'll arrange
things with Travis."  I just knew she would....
     "So what's gonna happen to me?"
     "Just dinner and a dance, Tuck.  Standard stuff.  You've done it
with Debbie before."
     Actually, I hadn't.  "And nothing else, right?"
     "Not unless you want to," she said.
     "Oh, God.  No way..."

***
07:54 11 Dec

     "So our dance is Saturday, right?  Wanna go with me?"  I'd put off
asking Debbie until I was sure that she'd be okay with me again.
Relatively sure.
     "Yeah, okay."  She stared off into the crowd as I got my books.
     Not the reaction I was expecting.  I sighed mentally, realizing I
was really gonna have to pull out the stops to make up with her.  And
that always cost money.  I hoped Christmas was going to be good this
year...
     Luckily, I'd prepared a little for this already.  "Cool.  Then, I
guess this is for you..."  She looked at me as I pulled the rose out of
my locker and handed it to her.
     "For me?" she questioned.
     "For you."
     She sniffed it, and smiled at me.  *Yesss!* I thought.  Even if it
was only a little one.

***
08:02 11 Dec

     "Back in the black with Debbie again, huh?" asked George.
     "Huh?  Yeah... how could you tell?"  He'd come in late, so he
couldn't have seen us.
     "You've got that stupid smile on your face again."
     I laughed.  "Yeah, guess I do...."
     "So what did you two get so upset about?" George asked.
     "Um."  I didn't quite know what to say.
     He spluttered.  "You, you, she, you're DOING it again, aren't
you?"
     He had me baffled.  "Doing what, George?"
     "IT, ah,..."  He waved his hands down his body like an hourglass.
Oh.  Yep, right on the money there.
     "Shut UP George!" I hissed.  "If I wanted everyone to know about
it, I would have told them."
     "You ARE!  You ARE!"  He pointed at me and started to laugh.
     "Mister Spaulding!" snapped Dobson from the front of the class.
"Would you care to tell the rest of us what's so amusing?"  My chest
hurt all of a sudden.
     "No," he snickered.
     I guess he was my friend, after all.

***
08:09 11 Dec

     "You're doing... _that_, with Debbie again, aren't you?" accused
Mike.
     "Jeez, what is this, the ethics committee?  Leave me alone!  I've
made my peace with the universe, and I'm ready."
     "So are you two gonna be-"
     "No, not this time.  Not right away, anyway."
     Mike and George stared at each other, then at me.  "So what-" began
Mike.
     "I can't say."
     Mike whistled.  "Must be bad, then."

***
11:31 11 Dec

     "Hey, Debbie, I've been looking for you!"  She turned around, and I
handed her another rose.  "I couldn't find you before school..."
     She tilted her head and gave me some sort of look.  "Thank you,
Tuck," she said, kind of subdued.
     I heard a whistle behind me, and when I turned to look, it was
Sabrina.  "Wow, Tuck, what'd you screw up this time?" she asked,
pointing at the rose.

***
08:03 12 Dec

     They played Bob and Doug MacKenzie's version of "The Twelve Days of
Christmas," which was always a favorite of mine.  George and Mike and I
sang right along through the whole thing.  Dobson just looked ill.

***
11:48 12 Dec

     Debbie had homework to do, so I just sat around and watched her do
it.  I figured out it was bugging her when her head snapped up and she
blurted, "Stop staring at me!"
     I shrugged, and looked down.  "Sorry," I mumbled.  "You just look
so beautiful, I just wanted to watch."
     After she didn't say anything for a few seconds, I looked back up.
She was staring at me.  "Tucker," she finally said, "what the hell am I
supposed to do with you?"
     I shrugged again, and said hopefully, "Keep me?"
     She rolled her eyes, and went back to her homework without saying
anything, but there was a subtle smile on her face.  And after a few
minutes, she picked up the rose and smelled it.

***
14:53 12 Dec

     "Oh, Tuck, don't forget to-"
     "I know, I already thought of that."  I made shaving motions, and
she nodded.  "You know, the hair's there to keep you warmer in
wintertime..."
     She shrugged.  "So what does it say about Western society that
dictates that women should remove it?"
     I hated when she got all philosophical on me.

***
21:24 12 Dec

     Truth be told, I was glad to shave the stubble off.  It itched, a
lot.  Especially under my arms.  But darned if my pits didn't smell
better.

***
08:02 13 Dec

     They started the music with the Fresh Aire version of the "Chorus
of the Bells" and just kept playing Mannheim Steamroller until class
started.
     Mike called me a dork for air-directing, but what did he know?

***
11:38 13 Dec

     "Thank you," she said, sniffing the rose.  Number four.
     "Tucker, what _did_ you do?" asked Amanda.
     "Um, nothing," I said, then, "why do I have to have done something
to give my girlfriend roses?  Can't I just do it to show I care?"
     Jill shook her head and commented, "Must be bad, then."

***
14:56 13 Dec

     I trotted up to Debbie, ready to go.  I figured, that after what I
had demanded, that I'd better be on my best behaviour around both of
them.  So, I'd spent most of the day reconciling myself to my fate.
     "Well, ready?" I asked as she shut her locker door.  She turned to
face me, and looked surprised.
     "What's got into you?" she asked bluntly.
     I shrugged.  "Just figured I'd be pleasant for a change."
     "About...." she asked suspiciously, and I nodded.  She frowned,
like she didn't believe me.
     "Come on, it's not gonna be that bad, right?  And I already got
what I asked for, so... so let's get to it, okay?"  I waved her on,
outside, towards her car.  I wanted to leave before my resolve failed
and I ran away from home.

***
15:24 13 Dec

     Neither of them really believed what I was saying, about me not
minding any more.  Neither was I, really, but I was determined to be
pleasant.  To give them their money's worth, as it were.  On account of,
it was so much money.
     "Well, go shower," commanded Debbie.
     "Again?" I asked.  "Not like I'm arguing, I just wondered why."
     "Big date, you want to be as clean and nice smelling as possible,"
explained Lisa.  "And wash your hair too.  Use the green bottles for
everything."

***
15:31 13 Dec

     There were a total of six green bottles that I could see with the
curtain closed.  I sighed, and looked for matching shampoo and
conditioner.

***
15:50 13 Dec

     I got out, and wrapped a towel around my waist, and started drying
my hair with another one.
     When I found them, they were in Lisa's room, and it looked like
they'd been having a pillow fight or something, 'cause they looked all
flushed and the bed was a total mess.
     "Well, now what?" I asked.  "Now that you're done wrestling..."
     Debbie got up, with a grin.  I steeled myself as she reached out
and turned me around, then loosened the towel from behind.  What I
wasn't expecting was her pulling it gently up and putting it around my
chest.  Just like a girl would.  She wrapped the other one around my
head too.
     "What the hell?" I asked.
     "Just to get you in the proper mood," Debbie explained.
     Lisa snickered.  "Nice butt, too!"
     This was gonna be a long night.

***
15:52 13 Dec

     "Not with her watching!"  I pointed at Lisa.
     "What's the big deal?" Debbie asked, while Lisa attempted to look
innocent.
     "Just call it a quirk, okay?  I'm not gonna have you put me in
girl's underwear with her watching."
     Debbie and Lisa looked at each other, and Lisa finally shrugged,
got up, and left the room, closing the door.
     Debbie asked, "Better?"  I nodded, and she got to work.
     I mean, I had my standards.

***
16:23 13 Dec

     "Dress first," Lisa decided, "then makeup and hair."  Debbie
nodded.  Well, now Lisa was in towels, which would have made it sort of
even, except now _I_ was sitting around in underwear.  Debbie's
underwear.  Debbie's nice going-out-to-a-party underwear.  She would
have looked much better in it than I did.  So would have Lisa.
     Oh, and let's not forget the duct tape and the corset.
     *Be cool, Tucker, be cool,* I told myself.  *Think of the music.*
     The dress they pulled out was fantastic.  It was a dark red, and
looked like real silk, I thought.  And-
     "Isn't that sort of low in the bust?" I asked.  They both turned
around and grinned at me.  *Oh, no,* I thought despondently.

***
16:27 13 Dec

     "We have to do something spectacular with the hair," commented
Debbie as she sat me down on a chair.
     "What about..."  Lisa suggested something which I had no idea what
it was.  It sounded ominous, though.
     I concentrated on breathing.  It was harder than usual, with the
corset and tape.  *Be cool, Tucker, be cool...*

***
17:03 13 Dec

     "Well?" asked Lisa, as she sat down on the bed in a nice dress,
fumbling with earrings and watching me like a hawk.  I hadn't been able
to watch her get dressed; every time I tried to look, Debbie would whack
me with the brush.
     Debbie replied, "I was gonna try something new with makeup tonight,
I saw it in this ad in Vogue, and I thought it would look perfect."
     *Be cool, Tucker, be cool...* I told myself frantically.

***
17:28 13 Dec

     "I think that's too much," commented Lisa critically.
     Debbie looked closer at my face, then pulled back a couple of feet.
Then she sighed, and agreed.
     "What time's he supposed to get here anyway?" I gasped.
     "Plenty of time," said Lisa, dodging the question.
     "Maybe this'd be a good time for..." mentioned Debbie, signalling
something to Lisa.  I had no idea what they were talking about.
     Lisa nodded, then went off to get something.
     "Well, let's get that face cleaned off so we can try something
else, eh?"

***
17:37 13 Dec

     "What's this?"
     "It's half a Valium, help calm you down."  Lisa handed me a glass
of Coke, and the half pill.  I looked at it suspiciously, then swallowed
it.
     Lisa said, "There's another half one in your purse, in a little
aspirin thing, the metal one.  Don't get caught with it.  Don't have any
alcohol tonight, and don't take the next one before, oh, nine thirty."
     "Ah.  So how long does it take to work?" I asked Lisa.  She was
standing in front of the mirror, working on her own makeup.
     "It'll be working before you know it."

***
17:56 13 Dec

     Maybe it was working.  I had less and less of an urge to run
screaming as time went on.
     "Anyway, come look," said Debbie, whipping the sheet off me.  She
helped me up, then put her hands over my eyes.  "Just for a minute," she
explained when I protested.  "So you can get the full effect."
     She walked me across the room, then positioned me, before she
dropped her hands.
     "Erk!" I said, pointing at the mirror.
     What was pointing back was someone that made Lisa look, well, not
pathetic, but it would be close, at least.  They had taken the wig hair
and swept it up on one side, putting a long bow in it that matched the
deep red of the dress.  The other side was loose, and went down past the
almost bare shoulders.  The sleeves looked like someone had taken a
hanky and artfully draped it over the shoulder joint, and it fluttered
whenever something moved, like me.  There were straps that went over and
down, under the sleeves, and as wide apart as they could possibly be
without falling off my shoulders entirely.  The neckline was this sort
of double curve, and went down to about the middle of my sternum. Debbie
had done her tape magic again, and I was showing the same B cup cleavage
I had for Halloween.  The dress was tight against the corset around
where a girl's waist would have been, and then flared out to end about
three inches below my kneecaps.  They'd glued on a couple of little
jeweled earrings, and put in an ear cuff that was now tight enough it
wasn't coming off without help, and added two rings, a few gold wire
bracelets, a gold watch, and a gold necklace.  With a heart on it.
Heels on my feet, and the matching purse Debbie placed into my hand,
completed everything.  So much for buying my own shoes...
     I was a fox again.  A _girl_ fox.
     "Gah!" I said, still pointing.  I couldn't believe it.
     "Good job, eh?" asked Lisa, an admiring tone in her voice.  "Wish I
could get my boyfriend to look like that."
     "Ah!"
     "Maybe you should sit down again," suggested Debbie gently.  "I
gotta show you how to keep the hair and makeup looking good."

***
18:07 13 Dec

     Debbie was showing me what to do if I smeared lipstick on my face
when the doorbell went off downstairs.
     I kept from screaming only because my entire body was paralyzed.
     "Relax, you'll do fine," coaxed Debbie, dropping things into the
red clutch purse.  "Just be nice and remember that you're really in
control of the situation."  She forced me up and out of Lisa's room and
down the stairs, while I tried to breathe again.

***

Stay Tuned, Gentle Readers, for the next Thrilling Installment!

"Yes, it's a cheap cliffhanger.  So bite me." - ehayes

"Tallyho!"      \   /     @>--,--'--  ehayes@nym.alias.net  + vicki .sig
Ellen Hayes --=(*)=(*)=-- Renaissance Woman    ==[--------  + virus 9.1a
            http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/5734/


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