How well can you possibly know someone? Think you are thick as thieves? Joined at the hip? Even people you are THAT close to will surprise you every once in a while.
That's how Jen and Heath were, at least until Jen went off to college. The hangouts slowly became less frequent during that first year she was away, but they did still keep in touch through text. It was frustrating to Heath, but what could he do? It was his gap year to figure out what the hell he could see himself doing for the rest of his life.
Fast forward to the next year and Jen had grown distant, now hanging out with what Heath called the "cool crowd." She was always out partying with that rich chick Tori or some other buddies of hers. Strangely enough, she would never tell Heath what happened at those parties, even though she used to be such a fountain of information.
One lonely Friday after his shift at the auto shop ended, Heath felt something pulling at him to reach out to Jen. It had been a while since they had actually seen each other, and he wasn't one to want to lose a good friend.
After a quick drive, he was sitting out in front of her house, hands gripping the steering wheel.
"Come on, she's your friend. What's the worst that could happen?" Heath muttered to himself, "Oh, I'm busy, can you come back tomorrow? At least then it'd be a plan."
With a quick "fuck it", he climbed out of his car and made his way to the front door.
*ding-dong*
Nothing happened for nearly a minute or two. No one answered the door. No one even acknowledged the doorbell. Heath knew there was someone inside as the lights were on, but it was eerily calm.
*ding-dong*
With a huff, he was about to give up, but he caught sight of some movement inside. Could it be his friend?
A couple seconds later, the lock on the front door clicked and opened as Jen stood in the doorway, looking a tiny bit disheveled.
"Heath! Um... what're you doing here?" she asked.
"Quite a way to greet a childhood friend," he replied, his hands in his pockets.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting... well... anyways, come in."
As he entered, Heath could not help but notice that Jen was wearing quite the mishmash of clothes. A baggy hoodie hung from her shoulders, but he could still see something rather strange peeking out from beneath it, something that she seemed to be trying to hide.
A shiny latex skirt.
"Did you have something fun planned for the night?" he asked.
Almost like she guessed that the skirt was showing, Jen tugged the hoodie lower as inconspicuously as possible, replying, "If by 'fun' you mean watching a movie and drowning myself in ice cream because my partying plans fell through, then yes."
"If you wanted some company, you could've just asked."
"Hadn't really crossed my mind."
Now that did not sound like Jen at all. She was always a planner. ALWAYS. Sooner or later, the other shoe would have to drop. He was sure of it.
"Need some help picking out a movie?" he asked, noticing the television wasn't even turned on.
It almost looked like Jen felt a jolt of electricity shoot through her. Very quickly, she said, "No no no, I can do that myself. Just get the TV set up and I'll be right back," before hurrying up to her bedroom. All Heath could do was shrug his shoulders.
It was all so weird.
Luckily for him, he wasn't too far away from being able to find out why.
As the movie droned on and on, Jen became more and more tired. Whether it was from boredom or actual sleepiness, Heath wasn't sure, but he also didn't really care. His curiosity was at an all-time high, and once his friend's head lay back on the couch, he ever so carefully stood up and crept out of the living room.
His mind was racing as he tiptoed his way up the stairs toward his friend's bedroom. He really needed the questions that were popping up in his head to just go away.
As he reached the door, he took an extra moment to press his ear to it. With the movie still playing downstairs, he wanted to make sure where certain sounds were coming from. Luckily for him, it seemed like the room was pretty quiet, prompting him to open the door.
At just a brief glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just a regular bedroom for a regular 20-something-year-old girl. However, as Heath stopped and observed, he began to notice some things that stood out to him...
Several piles of clothes strewn on the bed.
Thigh high leather boots haphazardly discarded on a chair.
A calendar planner book sitting in the middle of the floor along with several notebooks.
"Geez, Jen, college is really making you messy..." he muttered.
*thmp*
*tap* *tap*
Two sounds immediately caught Heath's ear once he stepped into the room. They were quick and barely noticeable, so quick that he almost thought his brain was playing tricks on him. Whatever the noises were, they had seemed to be coming from the far side of the room where Jen's closet stood.
*thmp*
One of the sounds happened again, definitely from the closet's side of the room. Taking a deep breath, Heath didn't know what to prepare for, so he clenched a fist, ready for anything. His heart pumping so fast that he could swear he could hear it, he reached out his hand toward the door handle and pulled it open.
A rather audible gasp escaped his mouth before he clamped his hand over it.
Inside the closet were two people, a man and a woman dressed head to toe in extremely tight latex outfits. Even if they wanted to, they wouldn't have been able to stop Heath from opening the door. Belts had been wrapped around their ankles, knees, and thighs to keep their legs from moving much, and other belts were wrapped around their upper bodies, for the woman above and below her breasts. From what Heath could see, it seemed like their arms were stuck inside what he thought was a device called an armbinder, something he'd seen maybe two or three times online. Ropes seemed to have been hastily wrapped underneath their shoulders and tied to the clothing rack above them, forcing them to stay standing. Their heads, covered in latex hoods, also had blindfolds that seemed to attach to the hood itself. Massive rubber ballgags filled their mouths as drool dripped down their chins and onto their latex-clad bodies.
"Holyshitareyouokay?" spewed Heath as quickly as he could. Even he could barely recognize what word salad he had just said. With his heart beating out of his chest, he reached forward to remove the ballgags from the now-mumbling captives.
As soon as the rubber ball was removed from their mouths, both the man and the woman each had to take a moment to catch their breath and stretch their jaws a bit.
"Are you two okay?" Heath asked again, this time much slower.
To his surprise, both the man and the woman nodded their heads in exhaustion.
