Absently, Alice traced the outline of one belladonna blossom with her index finger, and decided that it wasn’t important who the person dominating and spanking her would be, unless he didn’t do his job as she requested.
It was the anonymity of Dark Alley that Alice cherished most, and she was sure that every member of the club actually thought the same. Maybe she didn’t want to find out at all who had invited her, who was also a member of the club, or who of them she actually had met face to face.
In the end, all she had to do was to wait for 10 pm.
The vibration of her cell phone against the table top buzzed like an angry hornet in the quiet space, and scared Alice stiff for a moment. Realizing that she had been lost in thought, she picked up her phone to see that it was Bianca calling. They had been texting several times the last week, trying to find a date to meet, but her best friend was now busy with all the prep for her unborn child. Matt was especially anxious, hovering around his soon to be wife and mother of his child.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Alice brought up her cell to her ear and felt herself smiling.
“I need a break, can I come over?” Bianca wheezed.
Her best friend wasn’t beating around the bush – she was close to code yellow. With a small smile, Alice pushed her thoughts about Dark Alley away and focused on the present.
“Of course, Bee,” she answered without hesitation. “Come on over.”
“Did you already eat?”
Alice had to think about that question. Her mind had been occupied with her plans for the night, so that she had totally forgotten about dinner.
“Ah, no,” she replied.
“Awesome, I’ll bring some takeout. I need some fast food! Matt’s killing me with his sudden ‘healthy-food’ trip,” Bianca laughed into the phone. “Be there in twenty.”
“Sure,” Alice answered and the line went dead.
With a sigh she got up and gently placed the mask back into its box, carrying the container into her bedroom.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Bianca had a second agenda, stopping by, bringing food, and lovingly holding forth about her fiancée.
During the week, Alice had tried to make up for her childish behavior when she had been moping about Bianca’s sudden pregnancy. It still stung, but that was Alice’s own problem, and not her best friend’s issue.
Alice mused she should probably take the chance and explain to her friend the reasons for her behavior before Bianca began to think that she had done something wrong. Between the lines of her texts, Bianca had already sounded as if she was having a guilty conscience about abandoning her best friend. But it had been Alice’s choice to be single and to not start a family of her own. Transferring her sudden shock about being the last one unmarried in their clique to reproaching Bianca for abandoning her wasn’t one of her brightest moments. Yet it still hurt, because her plans for the near future of just the two of them enjoying the last few weeks of her freedom were now gone. Dark Alley was a literal godsend; and probably the reason why Alice was able to overcome her childishness so quickly. She had to be honest about that fact.
While analyzing herself, Alice was busy finding a good hiding place for the mask and her Dark Alley contract. Eventually she ended up placing everything below her loose closet floor board. She kept staring at the hardwood, trying to decide whether or not putting some stuff on it would look more suspicious than if she didn’t.
Suddenly the doorbell rang. Alice opted to leave the space uncovered by anything extra as she quickly closed the double doors of her bedroom closet. It only took her a few steps to get to the door. Since it only could be Bianca, she only glanced at the screen of the main door’s surveillance camera, before she hit the button to let Bianca inside the building. Knowing that it would take her best friend about three minutes to get up to her floor with the elevator gave Alice enough time to get the small kitchen table ready for the takeout food. Plates and cutlery with some proper napkins – just because it was fast food didn’t mean one couldn’t eat it with style.
Alice stopped dead as she realized that she just had gotten the wine glasses from the upper cupboard, just as she was used to. She held off the sigh that wanted to escape her and shrugged instead. Bianca surely wouldn’t mind drinking her sparkling water with apple juice instead of white wine.
It still stung knowing that things wouldn’t be the same again, but then she wasn’t the same anymore, either.
Alice returned to her apartment door at the very moment Bianca was about to knock.
As Alice yanked the door open Bianca raised her arms to pull her into a tight hug, breathing out a relieved “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me,” Alice emphasized the last word. “You’re coming to visit me, the old, lonely spinster and bringing treats. I should thank you.”
“Ha-ha,” Bianca responded when she stepped back, but smiled softly.
“Gimme that,” Alice took the plastic bag Bianca was carrying and sniffed the odor that was steaming from it. “Indonesian?” she asked, lifting both her eyebrows and placed one hand on her chest, exaggerating her response. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.”
“Stop that, I’m hungry, you old hag,” Bianca couldn’t help but laugh out loud and joined Alice deriding herself.
When Alice turned around to free the food from its confinement, Bianca obviously caught a glimpse of the table, seeing the wine glasses.
“You do know that…,” she started to say, caution resonating heavy in her voice.
“Calm down, the wine is all mine,” Alice cut her off as she continued to place the food on the table, like the topic wasn’t the one that had been gnawing at her now and then. “Unless pregnancy demands that you drink from tumbler glasses from now on.”
Bianca just looked at her best friend with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
“You’re really trying –” she started before Alice cut her off.
“I’m trying to make up for behaving like I did,” Alice said without turning around. “You didn’t get pregnant on purpose. Well, you didn’t plan on it to work that fast.”
“Yeah,” Bianca agreed, “it was like the first try, and boom, pregnant.”
Alice adjusted the plates and cutlery on the table as she watched her friend sit down. She placed the larger portion in front of Bianca and sat in the chair beside her.
“I’d say you’re trying too hard,” Bianca laughed out loud again after looking at her pile of food.
“Hey, you’re pregnant, aren’t you hungry all the time? Don’t you need to eat more now?” Alice asked carefully.
“Oh my God, you’re just like Matt!” Bianca shouted out and started laughing, while her best friend looked crestfallen.
“Hey, I’m just trying to make up and help out,” Alice said softly. “I’m not applying for the best friend of the year or super godmother, because I’d suck at both things.”
“Oh, Alice,” Bianca chuckled and patted her hand. “As happy as I am about being pregnant, and you trying to go with it, all I need from you right now is to be my crazy, self-confident best friend. I’m actually terrified. I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Matt and I aren’t even married! I don’t want to look like an elephant walking down the aisle. And I get that you were upset, because you knew all of this. I know you weren’t pissed at me.”
Alice blinked at her best friend, taking it all in and turning her hand to enfold Bianca’s fingers with hers.
“The reason why you were so angry was because you didn’t recognize me in this. I didn’t myself,” she continued. “But I am still your best friend. Nothing has changed; I’m just as overwhelmed as you, happy and terrified, just as you.”
“I can do that,” Alice answered. “I can be your crazy, self-confident best friend.”
She tried to smile just as she always did, but her face felt like a mask since she wasn’t telling Bianca about the Alley. In this moment, all she wanted to do was gush about last week’s adventure. But Alice could
hear Big Guy’s voice resonating in her head, when he had handed her the envelope. That you are receiving this is already a huge sign of trust. You aren’t allowed to share the information with anyone, nor should you mention the receipt of this envelope to anyone.
“Are you okay?” Bianca shook Alice’s hand. “You looked like you were miles away just now.”
“Yeah,” Alice responded, still slightly distracted. “It was a very long week.”
That wasn’t a lie. After all she had worked the whole week, doing overtime. The reason for her working late was something different though, she wouldn’t lie about that if her best friend asked why.
Could she tell Bianca?
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her best friend, especially after her confession. She rather wondered if something hidden in that envelope was able to record it if she told Bianca about the Dark Alley. Alice shook her head lightly. She was being paranoid.
“Come on, shoot,” her best friend demanded softly, as her face began to show genuine concern.
“There’s nothing you need to be worried about,” Alice answered and let out a sigh. “It’s just something I am not allowed to tell you,” she reached out to place Bianca’s hands in hers, squeezing them gently.
“Now I am worried,” was Bianca’s response, as her brows furrowed and she tilted her head with skepticism.
It was Alice’s turn to laugh and shake her head, looking at their hands. “Nothing – not what you might think,” she answered and looked into Bianca’s eyes. “Probably worse,” Alice added, snickering, “and way better, you won’t believe it, but you have to swear on your unborn child to tell absolutely no one. This is a best friend secret.”
“Okay…” Bianca agreed slowly, but nodded. “I swear: best friend secret. Now tell me or I’ll faint.”
Alice opened her mouth but no words came out. She felt as if Big Guy could hear her breaking the rules. Breathing in deeply she tried to steady herself, laughing about her nervousness and her fast beating heart. Was she really breaking a promise? Promises and rules weren’t the same. The latter didn’t hurt and wasn’t a betrayal.
“When I went out with you, I met a guy,” Alice started off slowly, and paused, trying to find the right words.
“Which one?” Bianca responded, lifting her eyebrows while trying not to grin.
“Yeah, about that,” Alice answered and shook her head again with a knowing smile. “That’s the thing. One of them…” Her eyes seemed to find the right phrase at the ceiling. “One of them had a waitress deliver me an invitation; for some sort of club.”
She emphasized the last word, hoping Bianca would get the hint; and she did.
“Oh my God!” She exclaimed. “Really? You didn’t go there, did you?” Alice just looked at her best friend, the answer written all over her face. “You naughty minx!” Bianca laughed.
“Well, yeah,” Alice, though, wasn’t really sure if she liked the title and shrugged. “I’m not supposed to share, so don’t talk to anyone about it.”
“Of course not, but, Alice,” her best friend shook her head in disbelief and awe. “You need to tell me everything! God, I would be dying if I couldn’t tell you.”
Alice felt relief, but somewhat guilty, and wondered if Big Guy’s ears were ringing due to her rule breaking. She would find out later tonight if that enigmatic doorman had a sixth sense. For now, she didn’t leave out any detail as she told the story to her best friend, Bianca.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
It was about half past nine, when Alice realized she didn’t know the number to call a limo in case she did want to be transported from her apartment to the Dark Alley safely. She remembered from the brochure that transportation was free for everyone. It most definitely would be way easier and less difficult to get there if someone could pick her up.
Alice got the envelope from its hiding place and started skimming through her copy of the contract, and after that was done she moved on to the brochure, but there was no trace of a number to call.
She should have realized earlier – if phone numbers weren’t written down, they couldn’t land in the wrong hands. With a sigh, Alice put the papers back together and stashed them back in their hiding place.
“I’ll just ask Big Guy for the number, he must have it,” she told herself with a nod and went to get a purse big enough to hide her mask inside.
Alice wanted to put on the mask when she was right in front of the gated entrance and not before; she knew that she could leave everything else with the doorman.
There was quite an appeal in having everything meticulously organized, and nothing left to chance, or worse.
It gave her a sense of security.
Quite the paradox when she thought of it. Safety and having sex with strangers in an alley; she never thought that she would think of both things running together perfectly. When every single step was planned, it created safety, which was disturbingly calming.
In Alice’s mind that safety wore Big Guy’s face. She felt like whenever or whatever went wrong, it was him she could turn to, even if she didn’t know the man.
Yet, this was the vibe that the Dark Alley, and especially the doorman, sent out to her, and it made her adventurous. It made her discover a part of herself she thought she never would have been able to set free.
Now in the Dark Alley, she could let this raw, instinctive, and sensual being roam free. Alice wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to put this creature back into a cage. She hadn’t really even got started, but still, this needy and carnal being was lusting for more; things she didn’t even know she had been dreaming about.
Was this really what the Dark Alley was created for? It had to be.
Or had she misunderstood the whole idea of it?
Could she simply ask Big Guy what was possible?
Would she even dare to?
The latter was probably the real challenge.
Alice could imagine that there were things possible she wasn’t able to come up with. The brochure listing the benefits of the memberships spoke of different rooms on different levels, even play rooms and private rooms.
Was it possible that someone entered the Dark Alley but didn’t leave it at all? There were people out there who were rich enough to do as they damn well pleased.
No matter what Alice thought, on the edge of what she perceived as safety there always lingered the sense of danger, but it was teasing her.
Maybe she was being blind and naïve on purpose, because she wanted to believe that a safe place like this truly existed. Dark Alley was perfect for her and she hadn’t even played out all the ideas that kept flooding her mind. Yet something told her that her imagination was nothing in comparison to other’s. What would she do if she met someone who was ‘adventurous’ beyond her taste? Would her saying ‘red’ really suffice? She barely heard the tiny voice in the very back of her head that whispered and whined, “no.” Alice knew it. The seesaw of musings in her head wouldn’t end and she was sure that the possibility of danger amid the safety was the real thrill for her. She kept thinking about it all the way from her apartment to the alley, with the mask securely stowed in its box, which she had been happy to find a large enough purse to hold it all. Technically, it was her fourth time going there, but the anticipation still made her feel like a little school girl who was going to ride a pony for the first time. Alice wasn’t able to fully suppress the childish grin that appeared on her face at the comparison.
Alice knew that she was probably there far too early for the real crowd to arrive, and she had to admit that the thought of meeting someone in front of the alley, and without a mask, was making her anxious. Although a part of her wouldn’t mind stumbling into the man whom she had named after the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon.
However, this was the time she had chosen, another safety net for herself. This she had to admit, but since she just had joined this intriguing, mysterious club, she was fine with being careful; at least as careful as she could be.
“Miss Belladonna,” he greeted her with a slight nod, and a wave of shame washed over her.
She had no idea what his name was! In his eyes Alice could read realization, and he moved to lean his head just an inch to the left side.
“You may call me as you wish, Miss Belladonna,” he finally spoke and somehow his expression turned a tiny bit softer around his eyes.
This was a man of micro expressions. That was for sure, but Alice was glad that she knew him at least well enough to tell the tiny changes in his face.
“Well then,” she said thoughtfully, and wondered if he was secretly curious about how she would name him, or if he was as just as indifferent about it as he seemed to be about everything happening around here. “Good evening, Alfred,” Alice eventually said and failed to keep her mouth from grinning.
Big Guy cocked one brow in response and she felt like that this was his way of approving or maybe joining the joke. But he didn’t respond, at least not verbally.
“It somehow felt wrong to call you ‘Big Guy’,” Alice couldn’t help but admit, “And being here somehow feels like entering the Batcave.”
Speaking it out aloud made her feel even sillier, and a sigh of defeat escaped her. Alice shook her head in spite of herself and muttered a weak “Sorry,” while she started pulling her mask box from her purse.
“Miss, I’ve been called worse,” Big Guy suddenly answered. “And I do prefer being compared to Batman’s butler instead of Bruce Banner’s alter ego.”
Alice’s mouth fell open and again she couldn’t stop herself from smiling widely. This time however, she enjoyed his confession of being part of the normal world in silence. But she gave him a tiny nod and continued to pull out the box from her purse.
Dark Alley: Part One: Episodes 1-4 Page 7