It's not a date. I'm just heading out for some fun...just like any other night. It's not a date.
Standing in the shower and carefully running a razor along her legs, Julia repeated what had become a mantra over the last hour. It was true, after all; the message from Liv that she saw every time she closed her eyes was an invitation, and it was a clear invitation to sex. That being said, however, that was all it was. Liv's interest in her wasn't up for debate, but the evidence didn't support any assumptions beyond that. She just wanted to get Julia in bed, potentially for Marcus's sake more than her own. As Julia ran a hand over her legs to inspect her work, she admitted that was all the reason she really needed to accept the invitation. Liv had made it clear that she wanted to have sex with her, and Julia certainly didn't have any objections. As recently as the previous evening with her wand, she'd definitely made do with less. There was no reason to feel anything but excited, but a strange and undefined feeling somewhere in the back of her mind kept trying to make its presence known every time she repeated the verifiable facts of the situation to herself. Growing frustrated, Julia turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.
Then again...she did say that I'm cute.
Dismissing the sudden warmth that sprang up where the nagging thought had been a moment earlier as the result of yet another errant thought, Julia redoubled her efforts to remain focused as she grabbed a towel and began patting her skin dry. The night ahead was only different in that she had specific plans with a specific person. Everything else was the same, including the fact that she was leaving home with intent. In a previous life, her every action in a day's time passed through a filter made of public perception and a need for acceptance. Despite her efforts to put that behind her, it manifested itself in the present as pretense. She always told herself that there was nothing unusual about looking one's best before going out for the evening, but the truth was that she knew exactly what she wanted before she made the decision to go out in search of it.
Romantic entanglement was always messy and complicated and, more often than not for Julia, impermanent. Keeping her grasp on someone's affection was like trying to hold smoke in her hands. That there was no way to hold onto that affection for long was of little consequence, however, if there was always more waiting to be found. When she left her apartment for the evening, she was a huntress in search of game to stalk; the care she put into her presentation was her lure, and the promise of her body was her spear. When she was pinned beneath someone who desperately thrusted into her, she captured him at the same time he captured her, each claiming the other as their prizes. The barely whispered words of satisfaction and sensation of a condom's swelling inside of her were the spoils of her hunt, destined to fade as the hours passed and her thoughts turned to the next evening's hunt. They were sustenance, and survival was a matter of succeeding on each hunt.
Content that she was sufficiently dry, Julia used her towel to wipe steam from the surface of the bathroom mirror. She was about to start wrapping her towel around her body when she saw herself in the mirror. Her eyes followed the curves of her body, scrutinizing details as she fell back into her habit of attempting to predict how she would be perceived by the next target of her affection. She let the towel drop into the sink as she turned the majority of her attention to her hair and grabbed a dryer, but her eyes kept sweeping over her reflection in the mirror. As always, she couldn't feel anything in particular from what she was seeing. It was nothing more or less than what she expected to see, as though she was looking at a picture in a medical journal or book on anatomy. It was a constant source of frustration that she couldn't understand what anyone saw in her that drove them to choose her over any other available option, and she'd thought more than once that she'd gladly have paid handsomely for a list of requests. She'd rarely had anyone comment on anything specific about her appearance, typically at most giving compliments on the overall effect. She never questioned it. It stood to reason as what they really cared about was given by answering unspoken questions rather than outward appearances.
Yes, I suck dick. Yes, I swallow. Yes, I like anal. Yes, I want to have sex with you. Yes, I'm into girls, too. Yes, I'll go home with you and your boyfriend.
As the last of Julia's practiced replies to the questions it often took half the night for someone to work up the courage to ask played through her mind, the last of them jabbed her heart and caused her to stop in the middle of fluffing her hair under the heat flowing from the dryer in her hand. It was a stark reminder of the vague thought harassing her from the edges of her mind and threatening to become more clear. Julia pushed the thought aside by returning to her mantra, reminding herself that there was nothing more to the evening than what she'd no doubt have spent it doing, anyway. The only thing that was different was that there were plans in place involving someone in particular this time. It was exciting but, in the end, it meant nothing. That Liv was bringing her as a present for her boyfriend was of no consequence. Forcing herself to return her attention to what she was doing, Julia pulled the dryer from her hair, breathing a sigh of relief as she realized that she'd returned to her senses just before it started to singe.
Ignoring the fear of intrusive thoughts led to filling the empty spaces between thoughts with the tasks ahead. Fortunately, there was plenty to do; now clean and dry, it was time to begin preparing the lure. Standing in her bedroom in front of her open closet, Julia's eyes swept over her various options one last time before she reached out for the black silk dress that she'd settled on before heading to the shower. Its low cut neckline and hemline stopping in the middle of her thighs made her think of the dress worn by the dark-haired woman in the picture Liv had sent her, only better. The bright red of that woman's dress certainly drew the eye, but it felt as if it was trying too hard to do its job, as if covering up a deficiency elsewhere. Black, on the other hand, was classic and elegant, but it subtly drew the eye to the body underneath rather than putting it on display.
Sliding the dress over her head and then looking at herself in the full length mirror on the closet door, Julia felt a sense of relief. Her assumptions about the effect of the dress were confirmed in an instant. The deep neckline called attention to her breasts at the same time it lifted them. The hemline fell to the middle of her thigh, the form-fitting cut bringing attention to her hips and her legs which, as she stared at her reflection, she noticed for the first time in a while were rather long. She smiled as she thought of Liv, petite and several inches shorter, and wondered if she would notice, as well. With some effort, Julia tore her thoughts away from Liv with the reminder that this wasn't a date and turned her attention back to her dress under the pretense that her interest was unrelated. It was easy to imagine that anyone interested in what lay in wait beneath the black silk would initially focus more on the dress before their thoughts turned toward what it covered, like the outer layer of a present that had yet to be unwrapped. The promise of what was to come was her spear, after all, and she wanted her prey's attention focused on the lure instead for as long as possible before she struck.
As much as she didn't want to give any credit to the dark-haired woman that she'd somehow decided was her competition, Julia had to admit that red wasn't necessarily a bad choice. It was more that she felt that there was a better way to make use of it. When her attention turned to her makeup, she settled on a deep crimson for her lips and a matching shade for her nails. Though she had no particular interest in her natural appearance, Julia could see the appeal of dark red lips that called eyes to them as they uttered words of interest in and agreement with the desires of those hearing them. One of the few specific compliments she'd received supported this, a moment spent in the afterglow in which someone mentioned that he couldn't take his eyes off of her bright red fingernails wrapped around his shaft until it was being smeared with a similar shade as it slid past her lips. That casual mention was what caused her to start focusing on details rather than relying on shock and awe to draw interest, always attempting to predict her undetermined partners' desires instead of assuming that spreading her legs would be sufficient. It often was, but she wasn't one to risk leaving an evening spent with her wand rather than moans of another's pleasure up to chance.
After losing track of how long she'd spent agonizing over her appearance, Julia stood in front of the bathroom mirror one last time to inspect herself. No matter how much she scrutinized her mascara or checked for as much as a hair that was out of place, she could find no further improvements to make beyond reaching out for a purple perfume bottle. She lightly covered her neck and chest with a single spray of a dark and alluring fragrance, and her spirits were lifted by the thought of capturing someone's attention with the scent of raspberries and roses. Just as she was pretending to not know why she cared so much more than usual, her phone chimed to announce an incoming message. Her attention still on looking for flaws, her heart went still when she saw Liv's name on her phone's screen. With a trembling hand, she opened the message and, without realizing it, held her breath as she read it.
Hey there, cutie. Heading out with Marcus now. He wants to go to some shitty bar across town, so it might take us a while to get there. I'm pretty sure I can get him back on track, though. See you there...and you'll see these there.
Before Julia could finish wondering what Liv meant, an image popped up on her phone. It was a close shot of someone wearing a sweater dress--this one a pale pink--lifting the dress to expose her bare breasts as her biceps pressed them together. When the initial shock began to fade, Julia laughed in spite of the nerves that had yet to calm. Just as earlier in the day, Liv was playful to the point of being cute even while doing something so erotic. Before she realized what she was doing, Julia was turning around to sit on the bathroom sink as she lifted her dress. When she felt satisfied that the sink had sufficiently lifted her ass, she took a quick picture of the lacy and backless crimson panties that matched her lips and nails. Pushing aside her better judgment, she sent the picture to Liv with a hastily typed caption.
