‘At least I don’t look like a hairball I just spit up.’He hops off the counter with a grape and runs over to the sofa.Damn, he’s gonna make a mess, I just know it.
‘Heard that,’he says.
‘Good. What do you plan on doing today anyways?’I shoot back.
‘I’m gonna go explore! Just call me Johnny Appleseed.’Of course he will.
“Ugh! Moni, we got our uniforms set up, but we didn’t buy any normal clothes,” I tell her, peeking out between my fingers. “What the hell am I going to wear? I stink, and I don’t want this to be the only thing I wear for the duration of my prison sentence,” I whine, pulling at my tank top.
‘Nude is the answer you're looking for,’Lynx pipes in unhelpfully.
She perks up and waves off my concern. “Oh, that’s an easy one. Take your shower and stop worrying. Your clothes will be in your closet when you’re done. Promise!” Unconcerned with my worries, she hops off the stool and floats over to the sofa where she turns on the TV.
“You seem to be in a better mood,” I observe as I watch her flick through the channels.
“Yeah, you’d be amazed by what a steam bath in honey and some coffee will do,” she says, giving me a sly smile.
‘Oh, honey! Think of all of the stuff you can do with that? Licking it off my fur as I lick it off your body with my rough tongue.’Lynx’s tone takes on a dreamy tone. At a loss, I turn my gaze to Lynx and watch as he starts rubbing his belly.
‘Oh my God, Lynx. Really? I’m gonna steam you to give you something to use that tongue on, and it won’t be me.’He’s in a mood this morning as I roll my eyes and look back at Moni.
I open my mouth to ask how the steamed honey works, and she points to my room, “Go take a shower. I can smell you from here.” She wrinkles her nose.
Lynx laughs, and I consider flipping him off.
Picking up the closest thing on the island, I throw it at her head. Like a pro, she increases her size and plucks the muffin out of the air while laughing at me. Cheater. I give her a doubtful look but head off for my bathroom anyway. I mean, what else can I do? Starting up the water, I enjoy my hot steamy paradise with multiple showerheads and wash my hair. The ache in the back of my head is still sore from my tumble into purgatory apparently, but it’s tolerable.
Wrapping the towel securely around my body, I find the hair products JP picked out for me by the mirror. I’ve never been the type of girl to put a lot of effort into my hair, just throwing it back into a ponytail and calling it a day. I blame that on not having anyone to teach me how, or maybe just not caring. I’m willing to give this stuff a try though since it’s already here for me and everything. Picking up the bottle, I try to make out what it contains but can’t make out the words.Great! Oh well, I trust JP not to prank me right off the bat.Applying the green liquid to my wavy tresses, I run a brush through it and decide to leave it down. That’s enough hair experimenting today for a beginner.Please don’t let my hair end up an afro puff at the end of the day or fall out,I think while looking back at the bottle.
Being mixed has its advantages, but my hair wasn’t one of them. The permanent tan of my skin was the only asset I was willing to accept. The moles, or love spots my mother called them, were ever-present on my face. I catch the starburst shaped one close to my nose in the mirror, and a memory assaults me.
My mother sat on the side of the bed, tucking my wild hair behind my ear, while she leaned in to kiss my star. “This is the best of them that begins it all. Then it’s this one, and this one, and then the other side,” she said while kissing the moles on my face. I giggled with delight and then squirmed when she reached my ear where it tickled. Leaning closer, she rested on her elbow as she began to trace my moles, humming her melancholy tune like she did every night.
Giving a shake to my head, I try to chase the memories away. If I think too much about the sweet memory it will eventually turn into the nightmare of why she’s not with me anymore. I turn to walk out when something in my reflection makes me pause. Leaning over the counter to look closer at my eyes, I take stock of my appearance. I have long, thick, sooty eyelashes that make my gray eyes pop, but I swear I just saw them swirl or change color. “Get a grip, Rez,” I tell myself, shaking my head and walking out in my towel. “I hope you’re right, Moni. There better be an outfit similar to what I had on and not something sheer like those elves I saw yesterday, or else I’m gonna stick you in honey and let you eat yourself free.” I mumble under my breath.
Opening the closet, I stop dead in my tracks. Hanging in the middle of the rack is the exact same outfit I just took off. Under the outfit, laying on a bench, is a pair of matching black lace underwear and socks. What the hell?
Walking over cautiously, I’m just waiting for a trick to happen, looking around to see if Moni is hiding in here. Finding myself alone, I take a tentative sniff. Yeah, you read that right. Apparently, I’m the person that sniffs clothes. Was Moni playing a prank on me and just hung up my old clothes? But the clothes smell clean, even including a light peach scent that I’ve been told I smell like. Huh. Looking around, I notice a pair of black boots up against the wall. Other than that, the room is empty.
I dress quickly and head back to the living room to find Moni with a different cup from Sparks, but still parked in front of the TV. Lynx is on the kitchen island in his Marten form still, eating pieces of bacon now, and JP is leaning over the stove in only a pair of dark gray sweatpants. All thoughts about clothes leave me when the smell of food hits me along with the image of JP cooking.
Sitting at the breakfast island, I admire JP in silence. The muscles in his back flex and ripple as he works on cooking up a stack of hotcakes. Intricate tattoos with symbols, words, vines, and what looks like water droplets roll down his spine, branching off and tapering towards the front of his hips.I wonder if they follow down the front of his thighs. Do they follow along with the Adonis muscle and graze his cock, or just his inner thigh?My greedy pussy clenches at the thought and then weeps when I notice the butt dimples he was blessed with.
Down girl!
I feel someone staring at me and look up, finding JPs’ heated gaze. Desire and amusement flood his chocolate brown eyes. “See something you like? I’d much rather lick this syrup up from something other than my pancakes,” he flirts, quirking an eyebrow in question, and my panties go up in flames. Lost for words and losing the battle to smother the fire he set ablaze, I bite my lip and blush. Laughing at my silence, he gives me a break and turns back to his pancakes. “I’m surprised you’re still here. Didn’t you have that meeting with Levi at nine?”
What? His words effectively turn my mind away from his deliciousness and douses my arousal. Oh shit! Looking around, I can’t find a clock anywhere. “Yeah. How did you know that, and what time is it anyways?” I would usually use my phone for the time, but apparently I lost it.Would it even work here?JP turns, completely facing me, and points to the notebook I left open last night as a reminder of my appointment.A lot of good that did.Moni, joining our conversation, slides up next to JP, making a plate of hotcakes, and taps a panel above the stove. The panel opens up, revealing a clock reading 9:10 am.
“Shit, I’m late!” I shriek and jump out of my seat, rushing to my room to grab my boots. Moni and JP are both sitting at the counter eating when I run back out. “Do you know where you’re going?” Moni asks, her voice all muffled with her cheeks stuffed full like a chipmunk’s. Of course I don’t know where I’m going. It’s like she just met me.
Oh, wait. She did.
I grab my booklet off the counter and ramble off the address. “Oh, that’s close, at least. It’s in the Admin building right outside the cafeteria if you go out the back doors. It’s how we left yesterday,” Moni chokes out around her full mouth.
“Okay, thanks.” I wave goodbye and rush out into the hallway. Turning around after shutting the door, I freeze. There, standing in the hallway, is a witch.
“Are you fucking kidding me? It’s not bad enough that you had to ruin my night with Ry, which took me a month to plan, but now you’re here too, sniffing around?” The high-pitched shrieking assaults me from down the hall. You guessed it, the red heeled barbie from last night is standing down the hall next to my neighbors’ door. And coming out the door that she’s standing in front of? Emer. Well, it’s official, I’ve just been demoted from Purgatory, skimmed over the Underworld, and I’m now standing in the 7th level of Hell.
