Forfeit · Part 1

Forfeit · Part 1 (1/2)
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Charlotte watched her roommate bounce around the flat, as always jealous of her instinctive and uninhibited expression of femininity. Polly was short for a woman, just the right amount of curvy, and just exuded this irrepressible sense of “this is who I am – if you don’t like it, you can fuck off”. Of course, Polly appeared to be entirely unaware of this embodiment, and given their past conversations, she also did not seem to understand why other women were intermittently envious of her. She had waist-length silver hair, completely natural bosom somewhere between “large” and “huge”, and a smile built to stop traffic, yet somehow she was unaware of the effect that any of these had.

Charlotte wondered for the thousandth time why Polly was single. She could probably have any man – or woman – that she wanted, but seemed content to simply exist instead. She occasionally had encounters where she’d bring someone home, or stay at someone else’s place for the night, but these were few and far between. On the other side of the coin, Charlotte was tall, quiet, bookish, and shy. She never sought out any encounters, and very rarely had anybody else ever expressed interest. She felt lanky and awkward next to Polly’s natural grace’ and tried to steer her mind away from the more self-critical areas that it was heading towards.

“How’s my favorite hobbit today?” asked Charlotte, trying to interject some levity into the room. She was at least a head taller than Polly, and this was a frequent line of banter between them.

“Careful, Skyscraper,” retorted Polly, “if you get too feisty, I’ll cut you down to size.” Her threats were empty, as she did not have an aggressive bone in her body.

“Oh yeah? Well, if you try, I’ll put you on the counter and you’ll need the fire department to get you down!” bandied Charlotte.

“Oooo, the fire department? Maybe there’ll be enough cute guys for both of us this time!” Polly seemed to be fairly constantly teasing Charlotte about her lack of love life, despite Charlotte having never engaged on the topic. It was a curiosity that nagged at Polly’s mind sometimes, but she could tell that Charlotte was not comfortable with the topic, and therefore didn’t push it.

“Yeah, sure, this time,” responded Charlotte. “Maybe they’ll spray you with their hoses and you’ll finally grow to adult size?”

“I’ve heard that firemen all have nice… big… thick… hoses,” she smirked at Charlotte. “Think maybe they’ll let you play with them? Or would you rather have them play with you?”

Charlotte, flustered, frantically tried to change the conversation. “Did you see that there’s a new pizza place downtown? I looked at the menu, and it looks good to me.”

Polly narrowed her eyes at her roommate, and tapped one finger against her chin. You’re not getting away that easy. Instead, she twisted the topic shift to suit her thoughts. “You’d rather get your mouth around some greasy Italian goodness, eh? I might be able to arrange that as well.”

“Greasy? Ew. Italian? Maybe? I’ve never given it much thought.” Charlotte appeared genuinely befuddled by this line of questioning, seemingly without noticing that they weren’t talking about pizza any longer. Then, backpedaling quickly, “If you don’t want pizza, we can get something else.”

Just you wait, girl. Just you wait… “Pizza sounds fine. Want to make a challenge out of it? Get a phone number tonight and I’ll buy.”

Charlotte tried unsuccessfully to recall when she’d ever gotten somebody’s number intentionally. Nothing came to mind. Still, she’d try, so she agreed.

At the pizza place, both girls were dressed to impress. Charlotte was wearing a form-fitting leather jacket that contrasted with her mid-back-length blonde hair, a pair of high-waisted ripped jeans that highlighted her long legs, and tasteful flats. Polly had on a deceptively simple green dress that showed off her impressive bosom and hips, and some tall leather boots. When the server came to their table, he visibly stumbled over his words at the sight of the two of them, then screwed up his courage and fell back into his normal spiel.

“Hello, ladies. What can I get started for you tonight?”

Polly answered, “Large everything pizza, extra sausage for my friend?” while gesturing at Charlotte, who promptly turned bright red. The server looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to ascertain whether he was the butt of the joke or not. As Polly was looking only at Charlotte, and not at him, he assumed it was directed more at her, though he couldn’t have guessed why. At a glance, he could tell that she was one of those girls who hid her face from the world because she expected to be hurt by it.

He pretended to not understand. “Extra sausage on half the pizza, sure. Do you want sausage on your half too?”

Polly glared at him like a small animal trying to be intimidating, more cute than not. “Of course I want sausage, I love sausage. It’s just been a long time since she's had any good sausage, and I thought you might be able to help her with that.”

Message received, he thought, but is the quiet one actually interested? “Alright, one large garbage, half extra sausage. Anything else?” A shaking of two heads confirmed, and he left the table.

“Polly, that was mean to the poor server,” said Charlotte. “You’ve probably confused him terribly.”

“We’ll see,” said Polly cryptically.

The pizza came without much delay, and most of it went away without much fuss. Their habitual banter continued throughout, and the server was temporarily forgotten. When the meal was done, and they got up to leave, Charlotte habitually cleaned up the table to make it easier for the staff to handle. While doing this, she noticed that the napkin on the bottom of the stack she had been given had some writing on it.

Hi cutie – I didn’t catch your name, so if you’d like to share it, text me at (###) ###-####

Oh no, what do I do now? Charlotte wondered.

Polly noticed Charlotte had frozen, and asked what was wrong. Charlotte showed her the note, and Polly watched a myriad of emotions roll across her face. She couldn’t read most of them, but it was clear that Charlotte was not simply happy about this turn of events. “So, are you going to text him?” she cautiously asked. Charlotte looked dangerously close to crying, which was not what Polly had expected, so she quickly took charge, getting coats and bags situated and hurrying them out the door. The trip home was undertaken in silence, which was unusual for them, but Polly was content to not push Charlotte’s buttons just yet.

Once they got back to their flat, Polly broke the silence. “Ok, Legs, talk to me. What’s the deal?”

Charlotte looked somewhat crestfallen. “Part of me wants to text him,” she stammered, “but I just can’t!” And she burst into tears.

“Come here, you. Why can’t you? Is it something I did?” She held the taller girl in her arms until she’d settled down.

“No… It’s me. It’s always me. He won’t like me. Once he knows me.”

“What in the high-heeled hell are you talking about, Bigfoot?”

“You couldn’t understand. You’re beautiful and everybody likes you and you’re not weird like me and…” she was babbling a bit while continuing to cry.

“Ok, Char, I think you should go take a shower, center yourself a bit, and then we’ll talk. I’m not going anywhere, so take as much time as you need and I’ll be here when you’re ready. Ok?”

Charlotte sniffled but allowed herself to be talked into it. A shower would probably do me good right now.

After the shower, Charlotte did indeed feel better. There was still an underlying tension to the evening, but she was back in control of her emotions. She dressed, and walked out into their living room. “Hey, munchkin… thanks.”

Polly opened her eyes from where she’d been meditating, cross-legged, and made a throwing-away motion with a hand. “Think nothing of it, Eiffel Tower. I’m just worried about you.”

“Just because I can reach the upper shelves doesn’t mean I’m structurally unstable.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Charlotte was thrown a bit by the unexpectedly serious tone, but managed to rally with some humor. “So how was communion with your ancestors? Did you find out you’re descended from a capybara or something?”

Polly smiled gently. “The only thing I’m short on right now is answers from you, girl. Do you want to talk, or do you want to make jokes?”

Charlotte’s lip quivered briefly, before she exerted control over it. “I don’t think that talking will help. It’s just not in the cards for me to date anybody. It’s just the way it is.”

“You’re still not explaining anything. Am I going to have to start implementing forfeits?” Forfeits was a system they’d implemented a while ago, as a way to encourage each other to be open and honest with each other. It was usually more fun than anything serious.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea this time. You might learn things that you’d rather not have.” Charlotte waggled her fingers ominously, “Spooky, scary things!”

But Polly was not put off by her feeble attempts at diversion. “Alright, forfeits it is. Forfeit is clothes, one rule each. Or would you prefer more?” Clothes forfeits was their most serious option, as each was limited to the number of times they’d be able to do so, if they wanted to keep their decency. As the more audacious of the two, Polly had a minor advantage in this game.

Charlotte worried that she was going to have a difficult time getting out of this with her dignity intact, but pushed ahead with a facsimile of confidence. “Making a joke or using a nickname.”

Polly nodded in agreement, willing to accept this. “And mine is refusing to answer a question.” This was a particularly effective threat against the shy girl.

Both rules applied to both girls, and the conversation quickly became serious.

Charlotte went first. “Why are you so interested in my love life?”

“Because you’re my best friend and I want you to be happy,” replied Polly. “I don’t understand why you avoid it so habitually when you could be swimming in affection if you wanted to. Why don’t you want to text the pizza server?”

“Because I know he won’t like me once he gets to know me.”

“Yeah, you said that already,” Polly retorted, but appeared amenable to let it slide this time. “That’s not really an answer.”

“Why don’t you text him back? He was probably more interested in you anyways. They always are.”

“He didn’t give his number to me, obviously. I’m not one to steal somebody else’s chances. Besides, did you see the way he looked at you? Like one of those planes, circling Queen Kong, waiting for the right moment to strike.”

“Ha! First forfeit for you.”

Polly nodded in acquiescence, aware that she’d slipped in the nickname by rote habit. She looked at her clothes, which consisted of a green dress and leather knee-high boots. She made her choice, and shed the dress, revealing a purple bra and panties. “Why do you think that he wouldn’t like you? Everybody likes you.”

Charlotte paused, internally disagreeing with the latter statement. “I just know. It’s not in my future to have a love life.”

“Again, not an answer. Lose some clothes.”

Charlotte leaned over and peeled off her socks with a sigh. “What do I need to do to get you to drop this line of questions?”

“That’s easy. You just answer them,” Polly answered. “Do you like boys or girls?” Somehow, this had never come up in their conversations.

Charlotte looked like she was about to vibrate out of her skin. Then she exhaled forcefully, muttered “fine” under her breath, and started removing her shorts. It was clear she didn’t want to answer that one. She briefly considered returning the question to Polly, but decided it might not be ‘fair’ to do so if she had refused to answer it. “Why did your last relationship end?”

“Ooh, getting serious, I see. Well, Brad was nice enough, had a decent butt and dick, but just not much going on upstairs. I need somebody that I can intellectually spar with, ya know? What’s the longest relationship you’ve had?”

“Umm… Zero days…” Charlotte answered quietly. “I guess. He… he didn’t like me.”

“Oh Char,” Polly hugged her tightly. “Poor girl. Why’d you never tell me?”

“Nothing to be done about it,” she sniffled. “It’s a pattern.”

“Did he give a reason? What’d he say when left?”

Charlotte looked down. “I’ll take a forfeit over talking about that.” She slid her shirt over her head, revealing a plain white cotton bra. She looked somewhat embarrassed, as if she’d hardly ever been in her underwear in front of another person, while Polly seemed completely at ease in her very similar outfit. After a moment, Charlotte tried to change the direction of the conversation. “Do you have any particular kinks or fantasies?”

Polly smiled wistfully. “I am quite fond of 69.”

“Nope, that doesn’t count and you know it. Try again?”

“I’m not sure this is the conversation to bring up that topic, sorry.” She shrugged, unhooked her bra, and freed her voluminous breasts from their casual confinement. Despite that they’d lived together for a couple years, Charlotte had never seen this much of Polly before, and found it hard to maintain eye contact. Polly seemed to expect this, and didn’t react much beyond a small smirk. “Are you getting the intimacy you need outside of sex? It’s still important.”

“Yes, I’ve been getting what I need for the most part. Could always use more friends, of course, but I’m also kind of strange… How do you make friends as an adult?”

“I just try to be myself. It surrounds me with people who like me for who I am. If you don’t like what you see, you’re not going to like me for very long, I think.” She paused to think of a good question. “What is something weird that turns you on?”

Charlotte wavered at this question. Polly knew that this question could be answered in many neutral or innocent-sounding ways, but it looked like Charlotte knew what she wanted to say, but was having trouble with the courage to do so. Eventually, she caved and said “I don’t want to share that right now.”

“Very well. You’re down to two items, which one is it gonna be?” Polly asked.

Charlotte looked somewhat embarrassed, then screwed up her courage and removed her bra. It had helped that Polly was already topless. “Ok, now you’ve seen my boobs too. Happy now? No, that’s not my question. How many people have you dated?”

“Hmm, I’ve never been asked that question, and I don’t think I care to answer it. It’s not ever relevant in my opinion, but I’ll forfeit anyways.” With that, she removed her panties. Charlotte was surprised, since Polly was still wearing her boots, and surely those would have been removed first in a normal game. Still, Polly appeared to be entirely at ease with her current situation, and as ever, Charlotte was somewhat jealous of her friend’s stunning figure.

Polly sprang her ace-in-the-hole question: “Do you have a crush on anyone right now?”

Charlotte immediately turned bright red and floundered. She didn’t seem to be able to make herself say anything, whether answer or not. Polly waited a minute for something to come out, and when nothing did, said “I guess that’s a forfeit. Do you want to take off your panties, or do you need my help?”

“Oh no,” Charlotte found her voice. “Please not that. Can I have some other forfeit instead?”

Forfeit · Part 1 (1/2)
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