5 - Coming Due

Elizabeth didn’t even smile for Carlos and Davy when she clocked in for her morning shift. People were worried. She tied her hair back in the staff washroom and came out looking like being pretty made her money. She just didn’t know what was her money and ... How much of a waitress’s job was her body? Her feet were her body. Elizabeth guessed 97.3%.

“Boom! This ass!” Darlene, who always had the dayshift, came up behind Elizabeth and slapped her hands on the blonde’s hips. Darlene stuck her head by Elizabeth’s shoulder and couldn’t find disgust, only frustration. “You’re miserable.”

“Yeah,” Elizabeth nodded. “How are you?”

“Skull’s ringing like church bells while Quasimodo sees Esmeralda’s tits for the first time.” Darlene grinned. “Y’know, fantastic!”

“I never saw that movie.” Elizabeth said as they crossed the dining room. There was a couple waiting at the door. “I’ll take the left?”

“Yeah, you will.” Darlene grinned as if it were sexual. Elizabeth put on her smile and unlocked the front door.

“Hi, sit wherever you like.” She beamed.

They chose a booth on the right and Darlene practically floated over to them. They were in for the best the restaurant could give today. Elizabeth only walked tall because the customers might see her. She crossed into the kitchen. Carlos walked right in front of her and dropped a small plate with a little strawberry tart on it.

“What’s this?”

“I’m thinking of expanding the dessert menu. Give it a taste.” Carlos grinned. He hoped the smile would be infectious. It was beautiful. The chocolate sauce and cream and ... She really doubted getting fat was in the cards.

“Sorry Carlos, trying to keep this up.” She waved to her figure and smiled her sadness. “It’s not really a cheat day.”

“No? I can’t even tempt you? One bite?” He saw his cajoling wasn’t working.

“Tempt her how?” Darlene asked looking over Elizabeth’s shoulders as she headed to the fridge. “Damn! That looks good!”

“You got a cheat day?”

“Cheat?” Darlene frowned. Elizabeth cheated? With Carlos.

“On your diet.” He clarified.

“Oh!” Darlene smiled wide. “My diet has always been ‘Never say no to sweet things from men who own vans.’”

“Your mom put you on that diet?” Davy laughed as he grabbed the receipt from the printer and stuck it in the carousel.

“You know it!” Darlene said. Carlos looked to Elizabeth and then offered the tart to Darlene. “We both always wanted to find my real dad again.” Darlene sucked her finger clean. “I’ll get the rest of that after I get those two set for drinks.”

The door opening sent Elizabeth back to the front. The smile, the work, it still came easy to her. The lunch rush started in earnest. She didn’t get a breather for another few hours. Darlene was having her best day.

“What’s climbed up your ass and hung Christmas lights?” Elizabeth repeated a question she heard from Darlene whenever someone was having a good day.

“I got my toes curled!” She had her back to the dining room as she refilled sugar jars and cleaned up a spill she’d made over the bar. “And I still got his number. I’m going back for rounds three through seven after work.”

“Oh? Good for you.” Elizabeth relaxed a little when she discovered she could be happy for her friend. “Anyone I know?”

“Yeah.” She beamed over her shoulder. Her voice had a sexy timbre as she bragged. “Owen. Though there’s still that thing with his tattooed skank.”

“His cousin?” Elizabeth asked but her skin was tingly and her eyes were wide. Dammit! Why was she asking the stupid questions? Janice had small tattoos on her wrist and over her shoulder. Hardly what called attention to the green haired crunchy beauty.

“Oh yeah! His cousin. Slipped my mind, I guess.” Darlene laughed at herself. “What about you? Brett core you out like you wanted?”

“No, I mean. I gotta sort something out first...” Her voice trailed off as she saw a threesome coming in the front doors. Green hair, broad shoulders, new tag-along brunette. Darlene hadn’t noticed. Elizabeth pounced. “Hey let me get the next table.”

Owen stood before his bookshelf. He tossed three of the coins absently in his good hand. He looked on Tamara with a deep frown. She relaxed. Janice flicked up an eyebrow as she looked between them. The green haired girl erupted into laughter.

“What?” Tamara snapped at Janice. Owen looked at his cousin with a more polite wonder.

“This girl begs to be owned! You should’ve seen the underwear she put on last night. All it took was someone else telling her she was gonna get laid!”

“What of it?” Tamara crossed her arms. Her breasts rose up and Owen was very interested in her body. She was thick, large breasts, wide hips, with a proper hourglass. Her face, which had been a little plain Jane in high school, had matured into beauty. Her thick dark bangs fell across her face. Owen smiled still seeing some of that high school timidity in her.

“I wanted Owen to get laid and ... Boom! You seemed like proper pussy. If I’d know you were all submissive and shit, that you wanted Owen to tell you what to do, I’d have picked up a dog collar and a leash.” Janice smirked. “I know how to pick ‘em, right? How many of those coins have you got left?”

“Shit, uh...” Owen had ten in the apartment but he wondered. He looked down into his palm. He had been tossing them and rolling them around for a few minutes now. He didn’t know which had been in Darlene’s fingers and which had been in Tamara’s but he knew the one that hadn’t been in either. “I guess eight. Uh, nine. There’s the one at the appraiser’s.”

“Friends’ one?” Janice flicked the cast at the poor penmanship on his wrist. “She wanna do that before or after.”

“After. She kinda followed me out of the store on a lunch break.” He sighed. “Eight? I think that’s about right.”

“I’m counting three spent. There were twelve right?”

“Yeah, remember, I may have tipped Liz--”

Janice was red faced for how hard she was laughing. She pumped her fists into the air.

“What?” Tamara snapped. Owen’s patience was also thinned out by then.

“OK, so, figure out what you can do to Tamara and then we’re going to eat! I wanna see what you can pull off the VIP menu!” Janice tittered again. She elbowed Tamara and warned, “You’ll like Liz. Owen won’t abide cat-fighting in his harem.”

“Why would that make me like her?” Tamara frowned. She turned to Owen. “You don’t need others, you’ve got me.”

“Uh, well, welcome.” He mumbled. He scratched his hair. He put the spent coins on the lower shelf and slapped the third on top of the box. “I wish he’d given me an instruction manual.”

“What for? Slip a silver dollar in a g-string, and ... Bam! New Last Grandma!” Janice laughed.

“Janice flash me your tits.” He said turning. Tamara was aghast. Janice had her shirt up and over her perky pale points in a second. Janice booed as she rolled the shirt back down.

“What?” Tamara had lost her bite.

“He said flash. Should’ve told me to take the damned thing off. I’d rather just go topless.” She said. Owen sighed.

“I guess that proved nothing.” He said. “You know what? We’ll deal with it later. Let’s go get breakfast.”

“She’s breakfast.” Janice pointed at Tamara. Tamara started to blush but she smouldered more than she looked insecure. “Bought and paid for.”

“There’s something else about the coins. I--” He looked at Tamara. “Do you want to go on a date later?”

“Boo!” Janice growled through a hand microphone. Tamara smiled.

“I’d love to!” She said. She looked at Janice who was looking impatient as she was disappointed. Tamara frowned. “Can we have some alone time?”

“No,” Janice said. “I have no doubt that she’s a freak with the lights off and the curtains pulled. You want to see how far you can pull her strings? This one’s going to need an audience. I’ve got microwave popcorn.”

“Either way, this one needs coffee because my brain is overloaded.” Owen gestured to himself. He walked by the girls and to the bedroom. Janice followed him and Tamara felt she had to follow Janice. He grabbed clothes and was about to get dressed when he watched the girls come in through his bedroom door. “For fuck’s sake.”

“I know right.” Janice leaned in at Tamara. “He stinks of a one night stand and he’s just going to throw on new clothes. If we’re lucky, maybe he’ll think about slapping on a new coat of deodorant. Dude. Shower. Look, I brought you a new rubber ducky.”

Janice thrust Tamara forward by the buttcheeks.

“You do kinda smell.” Tamara said with an empty frown.

The problem was Owen was clearing his head as he moved. He was waking up. He wasn’t jumping at shadows. He was happy to recover doubt that any sort of curse was attached to the coins.

Darlene had come to his apartment before she had touched a coin. Elizabeth hadn’t tried to look him up. Frieda had his number and she hadn’t called him. Tamara was on the plane before she had known the coins existed.

It was fine then. Right? This owning her body was just a game. Besides, the rules were for her and her enemy? Who the fuck had enemies? Owen couldn’t think of someone since junior high that he would count as an enemy. Tamara didn’t suffer Janice picking on her terribly well. Yet, at the same time, Tamara had got on board with the plan and flown in with his cousin to meet Owen. Coffee would help. So would a blowjob. It seemed like Tamara had visited with the idea for sex.

“Alright fine. Tamara bathroom. Janice go get cleaned up at your place and we’ll meet at the elevator in thirty.”

“Forty five.” Janice countered. “Hers is your body now. Make her cum too.”

“Out.” He flicked her green hair as he walked by Janice. Tamara had left on her command.

“Forty five minutes means no butt stuff.” Janice called from the door. When his apartment door shut. Tamara finally smiled in a way that she hadn’t been able with Janice around.

“You don’t think too badly about Janice, do you?” He asked. He started stripping off. He watched her. She watched him. That look in her eyes? He felt better looking than he had in a decade. It had been her excitement back then too. Why did he break up with her?

“Oh, she’s pushy but she means well.” Tamara refused to say she didn’t like someone. That was familiar. Whatever, they had both matured and Owen was more than willing to pay the price it seemed to cost him.

“Now take your clothes off.” He said. She stripped with no haste and no sloth. “How have your, you know, fucking skills improved since high school?”

“What? It’s not like we didn’t do everything, right?”

“We never had anal sex. Never had a threesome. Never used a toy. Never did doggystyle.” He waved his hand. “Lots of stuff we never did. I don’t even think I came in your mouth.”