Chelsea is a manipulative person, overbearing and mean. But she is a physically attractive woman, so she ends up with men who will tolerate who abuses until at some point they stop. She has had 5 approximately equal-length relationships over the past 4 years and they have all ended the same way. The men unconfidently confronted her trying to re-assert themselves and she pre-emptively dumped them.
This is where I come into the story. I don't quite know why Chelsea has expressed interest in me, but for whatever reason she has. I've witnessed her relationships over the past few years from the safety of my neighboring office cubicle. I have heard her brag of her warping of these innocent men's souls to her female coworkers.
She would mostly share office-friendly manipulations such as how she pulled men away from their friends and family, but in every case, I suspect the real reason the men were sucked in and the real reason the men wanted to leave involved sexual deviations. I only overheard whispers of such things, but I got the impression she seemed to quickly assess what the men secretly wanted and would give it to them. Somehow she would hold them, and when they were dumped, they were permanently fucked up.
All the while I have said very little to her other than simple pleasantries. But perhaps my looks in her direction might have lingered too long. Perhaps I gave something slight away to her, a sort of desperation. I know how foolish it would be to date a woman like this. I am desperate.
Despite this all, I hope to myself that I could date her for just a little bit, to have sex with her, and maybe then I could get back at her on behalf of all of the men by dumping her before she dumped me. I doubted I could be made dependent on her sexually, so I figured I was safe. She seemed a terrible person, but I would have sex with her and move on.
"Hello, Peter."
"Hello, Chelsea, how have you been?"
"Oh, fine, I recently broke up with my boyfriend Mike. It has been hard, but I think it is probably the right thing for both of us. But, let's cut through the garbage. I know you like to eavesdrop on me having conversations. I catch some of your slightly too long glances. I can tell you seem interested in me."
"I mean, I won't lie, some of your stories are a bit intriguing and you are an attactive woman, but -"
"What are you, some kind of creepy pervert?"
"No of course not, I just -"
"Why haven't you approached me then? Don't you see and hear that I go through emotional difficulties, and yet you've never even though to extend a kind gesture to me?"
"I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of it that way. I hope you are feeling alri-"
"I am alright, especially now that I've confronted you. You were making me feel uncomfortable and I was debating if I'd need to report you to HR."
"I'm glad you came to me before doing that. I might have lost my job." She was being ridiculous and making me uncomfortable. I wanted to flirt with her, but this all seemed to be going in the wrong direction.
"Indeed, I'm glad too. I'm going to insist you take me out for dinner. As a bit of rebound, I could use dinner with an admiring pervert. Sure, I broke up with Mike, but having a creeper who hangs on my every word might be nice for a change."
"Uh, okay. I don't think I've been creepy and given how explicitly you seem to dislike -"
"Nonsense, you are a disgusting man, but you will take me out, otherwise I will tell everyone that you have been trying to look up my dress. You do want to look up my dress, don't you."
"What?" How am I supposed to answer such a question. I hadn't even explicitly thought of such a thing before she mentioned it.
"So that settles it, you will come to my place tonight at 7pm to pick me up for dinner. I'll email the address," she asserted confidently.
I was about to reply when our boss came over and needed to discuss a report with me. Chelsea quickly left, and I found myself unsure of what to do. This was not at all what I had in mind for an interaction, but a date was what I wanted. So I admitted defeat in the first battle and resolved to meet her for dinner.
-
At 7:03pm I knocked on the door of Chelsea's apartment. She opened the door and invited me in. I had never seen the inside of her apartment. It looked a bit ridiculous. It was decorated like the inside of an eclectic and mystical objects shop. There were beads hanging to serve as doors between rooms, a crystal ball on the shelf, a tarot deck laid out in use on the coffee table. I had to suppress both my surprise and amusement. I really would never have thought Chelsea would have such peculiar, and to my mind adolescent, interests.
"As you can see, I'm a bit of a occultist. I tend to take a liking to some of the darker arts."
"But you certainly don't believe -"
"Believe! One does not need believe when one has firsthand experience with forces clearly from outside this world."
"Well I -"