A Date With Angel and Other Things ...

by J. Judkins

  It took a few more seconds for her to react to this information and fully process the implications.

  Her hand was down Angel’s panties.

  Kim stopped to think about the situation, ignoring how her hand burned and smoldered as it lay against the softness of Angel’s ass.

  As a point in her favor, Kim hadn’t exactly been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Angel had put it there, and Kim herself had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, knowing this information did nothing to avert the crippling and overwhelming feelings of guilt at being caught that swept over her.

  Kim tried jerking her hand free, but the hand went nowhere. The thin material held it in place.

  The hand needed to be removed at once, she knew, but simply reacting to the problem hadn’t worked. She needed a workable strategy, something to rectify the situation while doing nothing that could possibly make her position worse.

  The hand gave an experimental squeeze. Kim took this as a reminder of how vital it was she ignore any and all input from the hand itself. She couldn’t afford to allow the sensations distract her.

  As it turns out, doing her best to not think about the situation was directly counterproductive to her finding a solution to her problem. It took her several long seconds for her to conclude the simple solution was the best solution. She should simply pull it out.

  Very slowly, Kim slid her hand back the way it came. Angel let out a small corresponding sigh of pleasure as it slid free, which Kim tried and failed to ignore.

  It took a moment for Kim to regain her composure, but she did. She raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Did you enjoy that?” asked Kim.

  “I did. I believe you did, too.”

  Kim rolled her eyes. "Goodnight, Angel."

  "Goodnight," Angel replied, and kissed her again, and once more. Then once more.

  Kim jerked back. "Stop it! Go to your side!"

  "Hmm. If you insist. Goodnight, Kim."

  "Good--” Kim interrupted herself. “No! Just go!"

  Angel returned to her side without further incident.

  Kim couldn’t see for certain, but she knew Angel was smirking.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Kim carefully lifted her purse, then used both hands to pick up her keys to ensure they made no noise. She opened the door with barely a whisper of sound and eased herself through. With exaggerated care, she engaged the deadbolt behind her. It slid home with an ominous click. The sound made her wince, but she knew it couldn’t be helped. Some noise was unavoidable. That extra half second Angel took unlocking the door could make all the difference in the world.

  With luck, she’d be halfway to work before Angel woke and noticed her departure.

  No goodbye kiss today. Not if I can help it!

  Standing in the hall, Kim paused to listen. There were no sounds of pursuit.

  She crept to the top of the staircase then froze, hardly daring to breathe. Betty Morrison stood by the mailbox at the base of the first set of stairs, leisurely sorting her junk mail one letter at a time. Based on her casual demeanor, she hadn’t noticed Kim. The security door and its path to freedom lay just beyond her.

  Kim cursed the unexpected delay. Her plan relied on stealth and speed in equal measure. She couldn’t proceed with Betty standing there, and didn’t dare attempt to breeze past her. The stairs couldn’t be rushed. The inherent risk of detection was too great. She couldn’t risk Angel appearing at that key moment and forcing a confrontation while she was vulnerable. Far preferable Kim get it over with here, on the top floor, away from prying eyes.

  Time continued its steady march. Each passing moment increased the danger of discovery and brought her no closer to freedom. She waited, fuming, silently urging the woman below her to finish.

  There isn’t time for this.

  Kim looked over her shoulder. Her own door remained closed. What should have been a comforting fact failed to reassure her. She knew it couldn’t last. Angel would wake, and she would come for her. Inevitably, she would come for her, certain and terrifying as death itself. Kim didn’t dare be here when she did. She was already living on borrowed time.

  Still Betty lingered, and Kim’s patience reached its end with a snap.

  Enough delays! She had to do it now, despite the risk of creaking stairs. Waiting would prove her undoing. She needed to risk it.

  The stairs stretched out before her. Kim swallowed, and took a tentative step, then put her full weight upon it. It didn’t creak. She took another step. Then another. So far, so good. Luck was on her side.

  Betty looked up, and their eyes met.

  Kim spoke first, in a voice barely loud enough to be heard above the sound of her heartbeat clamoring in her chest. "Good morning."

  Betty’s brow furrowed. “Kim, are you--”

  “Shhh!” Kim hissed, and Betty lapsed into blessed silence.

  Kim pressed on. Another careful step. And another. This one creaked under her weight. She withdrew her foot at once, then slowly, carefully, stretched over the treacherous step to the next down the line. One more. Her progress was slow but steady.

  Kim slowly let out the breath she’d been holding. The glass security door lingered just out of reach, but she knew the safety it offered was but an illusion. She’d barely traversed a third of the way, and had so far yet to go. The risk now was greater than ever before. She was exposed. Committed. Everything hinged on the next few precious seconds. She dared not linger, but dared not go faster.

  Another step. Another. For the first time, Kim felt the first glimmers of hope.

  Halfway there!

  All this time, she’d thought a goodbye kiss was inevitable. Inescapable. Fate wouldn’t allow her another path to take. This was her destiny, ordained for her by God. She took another step, and passed the halfway mark. Still so much to go, but hope welled up within her with each passing moment.

  Kim dared not smile and tempt the gods. Soon, she’d be free.

  Could this be it? Could she defy Fate itself?

  There was a click, and Kim stopped breathing. The Metal Gear Solid alert sound-effect went off in her head. The sound that followed made her blood run cold and turn to ice in her veins.

  A door is opening!

  Very slowly, Kim turned in place, dreading what she'd find and knowing she couldn’t escape. Her worst fears were confirmed. Angel stepped out into the hallway, met Kim’s panicked eyes, and smiled a beautiful smile that froze Kim in place.

  Fool! Run for it! her inner voice cried, but her feet refused to obey her.

  Kim whimpered as Angel approached. This was it. She was doomed. It was all for nothing. She hadn’t defied Fate. Fate had only been waiting, biding its time, waiting for the right moment to kick her in the head!

  Angel strode towards her as if she had all the time in the world. She was still wearing that same semi-transparent lingerie outfit she wore to bed last night. Kim could only watch and count the ragged heartbeats spiking in her chest as her doom came forward to claim her. She felt not unlike a sacrifice chained to a rock, about to be fed to an unpronounceable dark god with far too many consonants and apostrophes and not enough vowels in his name.

  "You're still wearing that," Kim managed at last.

  "I thought you didn’t want me sleeping naked." Angel’s voice was echoed by Betty saying "Oooh!" in the background.

  "I don’t care what you do," Kim retorted, exasperated. "Sleeping naked is fine with me!"

  Angel abruptly stopped, halfway to the stairs. Her confident demeanor didn’t fade so much as it shattered. Kim had no difficulty reading the new emotion. Fear. Angel looked afraid, deathly afraid. But why? Kim couldn’t understand a reason for it.

  Very tentatively, as if not to alarm her, Angel raised her hand. "Be careful, Kim."

  But Kim didn’t listen. Her gaze remained locked with Angel, not blinking. She took a step away from her, realizing too late that her foot touched nothing but empty air.

  The world tipped at an alarming rate, and
she was falling.

  Kim’s arms flailed as she desperately tried to grasp the rail, but it slipped away from her. A foot found the stair, but at the wrong angle and too late to save her, far too late. Her balance was lost. The floor rushed up to meet her, and this was going to hurt.

  Angel seemed to blur towards her in a burst of speed. She caught Kim’s arm with a grip of iron and jerked her to a stop. The next instant, she was in Angel’s arms, clinging to her desperately.

  Afterward, Kim remembered what happened to her in bits and pieces. She recalled Angel’s warm embrace, and how the moment seemed to last forever. Angel murmured words to her that somehow reassured her beyond what should have been possible, but Kim couldn’t have repeated a single word of them had her life depended on it.

  The entire experience felt surreal. Like a moment out of a dream.

  What she did remember all too clearly was what happened next, when Angel adjusted her hold and swept her off her feet. She carried her bridal style the rest of the way down the stairs. Angel kissed her with every step, holding her close as if she were someone precious and irreplaceable and she didn’t dare let her go. Even after setting her feet to the ground, Angel didn’t release her.

  Then the moment ended.

  Kim closed her eyes and willed herself to breathe normally. She spent several long moments gathering her composure and dignity as best she could under Angel’s watchful eye. It took time, but she did it.

  Angel waited until the precise moment where dignity was restored. Then she leaned forward and took it all away again, whispering, “I’ll see you tonight,” against her ear.

  It wasn’t the words themselves that made Kim shudder in reaction. It was the way Angel said them, making them sound like a seductive promise with a hint of something more to come.

  Angel gave her another lingering kiss that left her breathless, then walked back up the stairs. Kim watched her go, wondering if she was deliberately walking in a provocative manner for her benefit. If she was, she need not have bothered. Kim wasn’t attracted to her. Not in the least. Her breathing was only erratic because of her near death experience. Adrenalin. That was it. Adrenalin, and nothing more.

  Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.

  Betty cleared her throat. Kim stared at her. The older woman gave her a cheery thumbs up sign.

  "Were you just standing there? All this time?" Kim demanded.

  She shrugged. "Kinda."

  "Aren’t you going to be late for work?"

  "Worth it!"

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  As Kim drove to work, she had plenty of time to think about her situation and came to a disturbing realization.

  Like the goodnight kiss, the goodbye kiss was unavoidable. Angel wouldn’t permit her to leave without one. If Kim wanted to avoid such public displays of affection in the future, only two options were available.

  The first option required Kim to be self-assertive. She needed to put her foot down and demand a stop to them. No more kissing! Tell Angel to knock it off, once and for all!

  As Kim wasn’t the best at confrontations, that didn’t seem at all likely.

  Which left the second option.

  If confronting Angel was beyond her, then she needed to come to grips with it and fully accept the fact that it was going to happen, regardless of what she wanted. Armed with this knowledge, she needed to plan accordingly.

  Avoiding Angel or sneaking out was a temporary solution at best. In the end, it accomplished nothing. Even if she succeeded in avoiding Angel and made it out the door, Angel would follow her and chase her down in the hallway or into the parking lot. She’d kiss her senseless in front of anyone and everyone. It wouldn’t matter to Angel if there were one witness or twenty. It would happen, and nothing Kim could do would change that.

  That meant Kim was only free to manipulate the circumstances surrounding it. A kiss may be a foregone conclusion, but public kisses were not. If she received her goodbye kiss in private, Angel would be satisfied. She wouldn’t follow her into the hallway where others could see. Kim could get to work without further incident.

  All it required was kissing Angel. Voluntarily.

  Kim rolled her eyes. Sounds perfect. How could Angel ever misinterpret that?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  This was it. Thursday morning. Kim stood at the front door, contemplating it in silence. She had her keys, sunglasses, and everything she normally took with her and was ready to leave, but made no attempt to do so.

  Angel was still in the kitchen. Kim could hear her washing dishes. For some reason she couldn’t explain, Angel had given her a perfect opportunity to sneak away without saying a word. All Kim had to do was reach out and take it. A few steps, and she’d be gone. No dealing with Angel. No goodbye kiss. She could get away clean.

  Still, Kim hesitated. What was Angel planning?

  This was a trap, she knew. A trap she couldn't see. Her self-appointed girlfriend was devious and underhanded and plotting her seduction. Kim knew this beyond doubt, and knew for a fact Angel wouldn’t give up a chance to kiss her goodbye so easily. It wasn’t in her nature to give in.

  Angel wouldn’t tolerate an escape. This path to freedom had to be a trick.

  But where was it? What form did it take?

  The trap itself seemed straightforward. If Kim wanted to avoid Angel kissing her goodbye in public, she needed to ‘get it over with’ in private. But doing so implied a conscious decision on her part, and that was the trap. By voluntarily kissing her, Angel would have an even tighter grip on the throat of their relationship.

  But what choice was there? Kim couldn’t choose not to do it. If she escaped today, Angel would be back again tomorrow. She was fated to do this. One couldn’t fight fate. A kiss was inevitable.

  The door continued to mock her in silence.

  There had to be another angle. Something she couldn’t see.

  Kim tossed her keys from one hand to the other. Maybe she was thinking about it the wrong way. Were the implications so dire? Why was she getting so worked up about it? It was just a kiss.

  Her eyes widened.

  Just a kiss! That’s it!

  That was Angel’s plan! By itself, a kiss wasn’t important. Only the symbolism behind the gesture made it into anything meaningful. It didn’t need to mean anything.

  In fact, Kim agonizing over her decision was necessary in order for Angel to succeed. If she’d reacted as Angel planned and conceded defeat and gave in to the inevitable, it would cement in everyone’s mind what should have been a simple kiss into something irrevocably important. Hyping it up would have doomed her. It would have made her final act of voluntary participation nothing short of driving the nails into her own coffin.

  And she’d almost fallen for it, too!

  The implications sent a shiver down her spine.

  Without the hype, a kiss lost ulterior meaning. Kim could kiss Angel as much as she wanted and explain it all away as nothing more than her wanting to avoid public embarrassment. In fact, she could kiss Angel all day long and it wouldn’t mean anything. Let Angel think what she wanted. A kiss was just a kiss, after all.

  Her decision made, Kim went to the kitchen. She had nothing to worry about. It was just a kiss. Nothing more.

  Angel was still washing dishes and didn’t turn around at Kim’s approach. She was dressed in an overlarge t-shirt that hung just far enough to make Kim wonder if she were wearing shorts or panties underneath.

  Kim walked right up to her and simply stood there. Angel ignored her and remained focused in her work, taunting her with her silence.

  With elaborate care, Angel put down the last plate she’d been washing. She leisurely dried her hands, deliberately taking her time, and only after it was done did she turn to face her. "Yes, Kim?

  Now that the confrontation was actually happening, Kim’s courage took a hit. "I’m leaving for work," she said, looking at the dishes and then the table. Anywhere but at Angel. "I’m saying goodbye now."<
br />
  "I was hoping you’d do this."

  "I’m sorry?"

  "You told me once that a girlfriend needed a proper evil plan if she wanted to get anywhere.”

  Kim remembered saying nothing of the sort, but the phrase did sound like something she might say. “Are you saying you planned this? You admit it?”

  Angel nodded. “A relationship is a partnership between two people, but I’m far too impatient to leave everything up to you. I wanted more. How could I advance our relationship, I wondered? What could I do? Your accusations and suspicions gave me the answers. I needed to become devious."

  Kim grinned in triumph. All of her theories were vindicated.

  I was right! I’d been right all along!

  But Angel wasn’t finished. "It didn’t occur to me that I’d already started my plan until the second day of its implementation," she continued. "Whenever I do something to embarrass you, you take steps to prevent it from happening again, and I embarrassed you when I kissed you in front of that other woman two days ago. After you tried to sneak away the next morning, it made me realize I was manipulating you without being consciously aware of doing so."

  Angel took a step forward, her eyes burning with intensity. "You’re here to kiss me privately, aren’t you?"

  When Kim didn’t answer, Angel’s hands settled on her waist, whether in preparation for a kiss or to prevent Kim from fleeing the room, she couldn’t say. Perhaps both. "You were right about me. I didn’t realize I was doing it until the second day. I must be cleverer than I thought."

  “I knew it,” Kim gloated.

  Angel moved closer still and kissed her. Kim felt Angel’s arms wind around her back, pulling her into the embrace, but she was too elated to care. She was right! Angel had been plotting something, except her plan failed! Angel wasn’t half as clever as she thought she was. She wasn’t going to be kissing Angel anytime soon. Angel was...kissing...her.

  Oh.

  Hmm...

  Guess it wasn’t a flawless victory after all.

  Kim had been right. It was a trap. And she’d gleefully proved it by stepping right into it.