Gadget
Chapter 1

Laurissa was pissed and she didn't care who knew about it. The taxi driver, who's cab the Laurissa had climbed into, learned of the young ladies temperament very quickly after he tried to engage her in playful banter to pass the time. He gave up after only a couple of blocks. It was clear the woman in the back wanted to be left alone.

Laurissa had come to Chicago to spend the weekend with her friend Stephanie. It was something they had been doing for nearly two years. The two women had grown up together and were as close as any sisters. They had even attended the same college. Eventually it was their chosen careers that had led them to two different cities. However, they were determined to try and stay in contact with one another. In addition to burning up the phone lines several times a week. One or the other would travel to the others city so that they could spend at least one weekend a month together. This time it had been her turn to fly up from St. Louis.

On more than one occasion there were times a month would pass between each visit. Even so the two women had always picked up where they left off as though no time had passed at all. This was counter balanced by the months that they visited more than twice in a single month. The two shared their lives and adventures like few sisters ever would. That was until two months previous. Shortly after that months visit, Stephanie had called. She wanted to share her news about finding 'the one'.

This was nothing new. Stephanie was always finding 'the one', even though the relationships were usually short lived. The fact that Stephanie was still with him during her next visit said something about the guy. Most of Steph's relationships lasted a week or two at most. This guy must have been strong enough to tolerate Steph's normally overbearing personality, or a total wimp. Either way, he made Steph happy and that was all Laurissa wanted to know about him.

Of course, the fact that the man in question made Stephanie happy, did eventually become a problem. The problem was, now that she had a man in her life and was happy. She thought everyone of her friends had to have a man to be equally as happy, regardless of what the person wanted. Since her and Laurissa were the closest, Laurissa became Stephanie's first target. Of course Laurissa was blissfully oblivious to Steph's machinations. She became aware of it during the following visit. Stephanie had decided to bring with her two extra visitors. One of the uninvited might have been overlooked and that was Stephanie's boyfriend.

However, Stephanie had made the decision, without asking, to include him. His presence was something that would intrude on their normal 'girls only' weekend. That in and of itself would have been bad enough, but Steph had gone further and brought along a guy that she was certain would be perfect for Laurissa.

Needless to say, Laurissa and Tom got along like oil and water. From Laurissa point of view the weekend was a total disaster. It was bad enough that she had to put up with her own mother playing the matchmaker during visits. The last thing she needed in her life was for her friend to start the same shit.

Laurissa was forced to admit, even if it was only to herself, that she did like Randy well enough. She could see what her friend saw in him. He was tall with wide shoulders and reasonably good looking, but it was his personality that made him stand out from others. Laurissa was glad to see that he had a strong and independent personality and wouldn't let Stephanie walk all over him. During their many phone conversations since, Stephanie had apologized repeatedly and promised that she wouldn't do it again. It was on the basis of those promises that Laurissa had decided to fly up this weekend. She wasn't happy when it became apparent that Randy was going to join Stephanie and her for dinner. Maybe it was wrong or even selfish of her to want their 'girls only' weekends to continue to be 'girls only'. It wasn't as though Randy didn't have her the rest of the time.

Perhaps if that was all that had gone wrong, she might have found a way to enjoy the evening. Like so many other things in life, it wasn't meant to be. It couldn't have been more than two minutes after being seated at the restaurant, one of Randy's 'friends' appeared at the table. He 'just happened' to be at the same restaurant at the same time they were and of course he was alone. Being in the same restaurant as a friend, he just had to stop by the table and say hello. To Laurissa, his actions were reminiscent of a hawk swooping down on what he thought to be easy prey. When Steph and Randy invited Daniel to join them and seated him beside her, she knew the fix was in.

The meal wasn't bad, meaning the food was good. It would have been better if she didn't have to keep forcing Daniel's hand off of her thigh. When the meal had ended, Laurissa was exhausted after fighting off Daniels constant, and uninvited, advances. For her part she was ready to go back to her hotel room. However, Stephanie thought they should go out dancing, since, according to Stephanie, the evening was still young. Laurissa found herself outvoted three to one and since she had ridden to the restaurant with her friend and her boyfriend she felt she had little choice. They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty. Looking back now Laurissa should have gone with her original instinct to catch a cab from the restaurant. The bouncer at the door seemed to know Randy and Daniel and the group was allowed into the club, while others were kept behind the rope. The first stop was at the bar, and again they got their drinks almost immediately. What was even more amazing was they found an empty table. The first flashing warning light started in Laurissa's head. She had the feeling that this had all been set up in advance.

When the D. J. started playing music, out of a courtesy to her friend, Laurissa even agreed to a dance with Daniel. What a monumental mistake that turned out to be. She quickly discovered that it was like dancing with an octopus that had a hand at the end of each tentacle. Each time she fought one off; another would find another inappropriate place to land. No matter what she said to the asshole about it, he wouldn't be deterred. She was never so glad for a song to end in her life. She had to physically pull away from him when he tried to keep her on the floor dancing. She sat at the table for three more songs. She was glad that the asshole had found someone else to grope through those songs, When her friend, and the guys, returned to the table, the guys went to get more drinks. This troubled Laurissa because she still had a nearly full glass, and Daniel insisted he was buying her another drink. With his insistence, the second warning light began to flash in her head. As soon as the men had left the table Laurissa laid into her friend.

"God damn it, Steph, you promised me that you wouldn't pull this shit again." Her friend open her mouth to object, but Laurissa cut her off by continuing. "Don't try that, 'I didn't know he was going to be at that restaurant' shit. That lie is older than 'the check is in the mail' and 'I promise I won't cum in your mouth'. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Did you think I was stupid? You must have! If you thought I wouldn't notice all the things that were too coincidental." Again Stephanie tried to deny it, but it was easy to tell by her expression that she was behind the evening. She had that 'caught with your hand in the cookie jar' expression on her face. Laurissa was done with her friend yet, she felt she had to get her point across now or this would keep happening.

"You and Randy may be happy together, Steph and I'm happy for you. But that doesn't give you permission to interfere with my life. These weekends are designed for you and I to catch up on what has happened in our lives since the last time we were together. They are not for you to play matchmaker.

"I'm warning you now. If you try to set me up again, regardless of your reasons, then that will be our last weekend together. We can still be friends and continue to talk on the phone, but, damn it! It's bad enough that my mother tries this shit during every visit. I will not tolerate this kind of meddling from anyone, and that includes you."

Anymore that might have passed between the two friends was interrupted by the return of Randy and Daniel. The chagrined look was still on Stephanie's face. From the sheepish look on Randy's face he must have realized that Laurissa had not only figured out what was going on, but had confronted Stephanie about it.

Daniel, however, was totally oblivious. He seemed to be concerned with only two things. Trying to get Laurissa to finish her old drink and start on her new drink and getting his hands higher on her thighs. This caused the third warning light to begin flashing in her head.

That was when the evening went from bad to worse. Laurissa had already turned Daniel down on several dances and continued to nurse her original drink. Both actions seemed to infuriate him, which made her even more determined to stick with her original drink. Her warning lights, which was how she thought of the instincts that were warning her, were rarely wrong.

When the next slow dance started, Daniel refused to take no for an answer. Instead, he grabbed Laurissa by the wrist and dragged her toward the dance floor. He ignored her struggles, complaints and verbal reprimands. The flashing lights had now added sirens, bells, and whistles letting her know this date would end badly if she didn't do something, NOW!

When they got to the dance floor Laurissa decided the only way this asshole would learn, would be to teach him a lesson. She allowed herself to be pulled closer and the asshole got a smug smile on his face, as he ground himself against her.

That was, until his eyes went as wide as saucers. Laurissa had brought her knee up between his legs with as much force as she could. In her mind, Laurissa thought that pain is a very good way to teach a man what is considered inappropriate.

The asshole crumpled to knees. She wasn't over her mad yet, so she followed up with a knee to the face, breaking his nose. As the asshole was in the process of falling to the floor, she headed back to their table. She didn't stop, instead she grabbed her purse and jacket as she passed by and kept going. Laurissa made a beeline for the front of the club and the exit it provided.

From the sound of Stephanie's voice, she was sure her friend was trying to catch up with her. She was so upset that she ignored her friend's pleading voice behind her. She walked out of the front of the club with purpose, and headed for a nearby taxi stand. Her anger still burned brightly as she road the elevator up to her room.

Edited By TeNderLoin