So this story came out of nowhere. It was inspired by a post by ChrystalWynd and suddenly I felt I just had to write it. It was originally intended to be three chapters, but as I was writing it morphed into a single short story. Hey, these things happen.
Once again I'm experimenting with various fetishes - namely, tattoos and pregnancy. I don't rightly know why myself - my muse works in strange ways.
Enjoy!
******
One Night Out
I sighed as I looked at the computer screen in front of me. My thesis was almost due and I hadn't done much at all. Sure, I had the first chapter worked out, and little bits of the second and third, but the real problem was that I lacked the meat to really get it going. I could foresee my professor tearing my work to shreds when they realized that I didn't have any real life studies to back up my claims.
I blinked. Wait. That was it. Real-life studies...if I didn't have them, I could just go out and get them. Why didn't I think of this before? Too many all-nighters and cups of coffee can do that to you, I guess.
I guess I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. Who am I? My name is Kathleen Meyers, and I'm a Psychology major who is way behind on her thesis. Like, really way behind. Two months behind. I've never been much of a looker - mousy brown hair, too-big glasses, pretty normal ass - but that hasn't really bothered me. I would rather spend my nights in front of the TV than on a dance floor.
Except that tonight I might need to forego my usual diet of Netflix and chips and actually go to a club. Not to get wild, you understand, but to do research. My thesis was on the behaviors of college majors in a social setting, and I couldn't think of a better place to gather data than at the hottest club in town - Detox.
If you're wondering how a totally non-party girl like me was even thinking of getting into a nightspot like that, well, my roommate was a bouncer at said club. Dave is a generally a nice guy - a lot nicer than you would think a 6.6 hulking mass of muscle would be. I clean up after him and I don't complain too much when he brings men home - and in return he does me small favors, like get me into Detox at a moment's notice. It's an arrangement that works for both of us.
I stood up from my chair and did some light stretching, then I threw open the cupboard to select my outfit for the night. I wasn't much of a clothes horse, but bouncer or no bouncer; I wouldn't be getting into Detox with anything less than club wear. After a few minutes of selection, I settled on a cute black top and matching pants. Nothing fancy, but like I said, all I wanted to do was get my research done.
It took me less than a minute to change, then I called an Uber and I was off. I felt pretty pleased with myself. If I got some good results, I'd be able to wow my professors and then that honors wouldn't seem so far off after all. People tell me that Detox could be a dangerous place, but no one there does hard drugs and besides, I could always call Dave if anything goes happens. What could go wrong, right?
As it turned out, a lot.
--
Detox was really jumping that night. I know that it's one of the hottest places in town, but even I didn't expect such a crowd. There were at least 50 to a 100 people in the queue, but I wasn't fazed for a second. I just marched straight up to Dave and he waved me in. Perks of knowing the bouncer.
It took me a little while to get used to the loud music and gyrating bodies inside - I'm not a party girl - but after a few minutes I didn't feel like I was going to pass out anymore, and I slowly made my way to a table. I must have lucked out something fierce, because the couple that was occupying it was leaving just as I got there. I slid into the free seat, carrying the free drink that I had gotten from the bartender a while before. Perks of being a lady.
I nursed my drink while I pulled out my notebook and began writing. I'm not much of a drinker, but I wasn't about to let it go to waste. But that wasn't why I was here. There was a lot of human activity, and good data to gather, and my pen and I busied themselves for a good half an hour before I was interrupted.
"Hey there. You alone tonight, darling?"
I looked up in irritation to see a tall, dark and handsome stranger smiling at me. I kid you not - he really was tall, (taller than me at least) dark (but it was so dark inside Detox I couldn't really see) and handsome. He had a short buzz cut, a piercing gaze and a grin that won't take no for an answer.
Unfortunately for him, no was what he was going to get. While he WAS pretty cute - a lot hunkier than my last boyfriend - but I wasn't here to date or hook-up. Terms papers don't wait for anyone, and my notes wouldn't write themselves. So I told him off.
"Yes. But I'm not interested, sorry." I said shortly.
"You kidding me? You come to Detox to...write notes?" he scoffed, gesturing to what I was doing.
"It might seem strange to you, but yes. I have a paper to finish, and I'm here to do research. Now will you please leave me alone?"
He seemed a little taken aback, but in seconds that infuriatingly confident grin had reappeared on his face.
"You don't know what you're missing out on, babe. I can show you a good time - the best. Trust me."
I rolled my eyes. Was this guy deaf or what? Cute, but stupid. I looked up from my writing and looked him straight in the eye.
"Read my lips. I'm. Not. Interested."
He took a step back and held his hands up in the universal gesture for surrender, but his grin didn't waver for a second. "Alright, alright...I get you, I get you. Not going to play tonight, cool. But tomorrow might be a very different story." And with that parting shot, he turned on his heel and walked back into the horde of dancers.
I blinked in surprise. Tomorrow? What was he talking about? How did he know where I would be tomorrow? I shrugged, chalking it down to just bravado, and returned to writing. Some guys were just sore losers and simply had to have the last word.
As the night wore on I felt myself getting sleepy. I knew I should just call it a night and go home, but...there was so much good data! How people were talking to each other, what they said, how they said it - it was a gold mine. I wrote and drank and drank and wrote until I discovered that my drink was empty and my notebook was full.
Alright, time to go home then. Or at least, that was what I intended to do, until I stood up...only to discover that the floor and ceiling weren't where they were supposed to be. They seem to have reversed their positions, and I sat back down heavily. Whoo. Had too much to drink, it seemed. Probably need to take a breather.
So I sat there, taking some deep breaths, until I noticed my eyelids getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier...
--
I woke up on one of the plush sofas with a ringing hangover. The club was empty. Apparently somebody (Dave?) was nice enough to transport me somewhere I could rest properly, instead of falling off a bar stool. Nice of them.
The hangover wasn't the worst of my problems, though.
I sat up and looked at myself in disbelief. Running up and down the length of my arms were a pair of dragon tattoos...that definitely weren't there last night. They were jet-black, scaled and winged and pretty damn large, spanning the length of my arms from knuckle to shoulder. I ran hands over the patterns, picking at them with my fingernails a bit. No, these weren't just stickers or iron-on patches...they were real alright.
I had always sorted of...admired people who got tattoos. I mean, they must hurt a lot! Sitting there for hours, letting someone draw on you like you were a human stencil...I'm not sure I could do it, to be honest. My sister had a friend who was a tattoo artist, and she said that people sometimes screamed in the chair. She had more than one customer whose orders she needed to cut short because they couldn't handle the pain. And I'd seen them on other people before...they weren't exactly rare on campus.
But I never thought I would ever get them. Not like this, at least. Tattoos don't just simply appear overnight, but apparently that was what had happened to me. I continued touching them in disbelief. Yup, real, totally real. Imagine that.
I had to admit...they were really nice tattoos. Intricate, with a lot of detail. I could make out the fangs in the dragons' mouth, for instance, and even some of the scales on the wings. The black stood out strong and true against the whiteness of my skin. Whoever did these knew what they were doing.
I'm not quite sure what I felt about them. It had all happened so suddenly. I could get them removed, of course, but they would cost a lot. I was a poor college student who didn't know the first thing about tattoo removal, only that it involved lasers of some sort. Which sounded both painful and expensive.
First things first though. I needed to get home and take a bath. I stumbled out of the club and into the daylight (which had never seemed so bright) and took a cab home.
The combination of hot water and soap did the trick, and the world seemed a lot clearer than it had been half an hour ago. It was somewhere between washing my hair and scrubbing myself that it suddenly hit me, and I sat bolt upright in the tub.
The guy from last night! The dude with the grin! He was the one that did this to me. I was sure of it. His comment about tomorrow, and my putting him down...like I said, tattoos didn't just appear overnight, and I'm sure he had something to do with it. Exactly what, I wasn't sure, but I was going to get to the bottom of it if it was the last thing I did.
I finished up my bath and began transcribing the notes of last night into my computer, but my thoughts were of the night ahead of me. I did manage to get some work done, but I spent most of my afternoon alternately trying to puzzle out what had happened to me and looking at my new tats in amazement. Not an incredibly productive day.
Finally the evening rolled around and I took another Uber to Detox. Time to track down Mr. Smiley and see what he had to say.
--
I was expecting a lot of stares as I walked into Detox again, but it turned out everyone was too busy dancing and getting drunk to look at a single tattooed girl. It was too dark to see my tattoos anyway - plus, they were black. Ever tried to find a black cat at night? Exactly. I gave Dave a nod and he waved me in. Good ole' Dave. I always hoped he would find a nice guy and settle down - the club scene wasn't really his thing, any more than it was mine.