"You're sure about this?" Darcy asked, a dubious expression on her face. Her big hazel eyes were framed by dark bangs, and anyone looking at her would have thought that she was the kindest, most generous, most friendly and concerned person they'd ever met. "Because I really will understand if you want to back out. A bet's a bet and all, but I'm willing to call it off if you are. The other sisters probably won't even remember this by tomorrow morning."
Lia knew better. She fixed Darcy with a challenging stare, her own deep blue eyes gleaming with determination. "You're only saying that because you don't want to follow through if you lose." She let her mouth crook into a confident smirk, already picturing the way those Armani shoes were going to look on her feet. She had no intention of letting Darcy wriggle out of this one, not with unlimited access to Darcy's extensive (and expensive) wardrobe for the rest of their college career on the line. She wouldn't be able to wear everything, of course-they were the same size, but Lia's blonde hair and fair complexion made her more of a spring than an autumn, but still. ARMANI.
"No, I'm saying that because I know I can win," Darcy said, layering on the mock sincerity so thick that Lia felt her eyes practically twisting in their sockets from all the rolling they wanted to do. "Seriously, Lee, I want to make sure you really understand what you're getting into here. I'm going to hypnotize you into becoming my obedient sex slave. For the rest of your life. We're not talking about a few drunken fumbles in the coat closet with Mindy Calabrese, here. This is spending every night in bed with me, eating my pussy until I can't see straight and only getting to orgasm when I feel like it. I want to make it completely clear before we start that this is the real deal. If you don't want that, you can back out now. No harm, no foul."
Lia made a show of checking her watch. "That little speech took up almost a full minute, Dars. You've only got fifty-seven left. If you want to get me to walk out of your bedroom naked, you better get started now." Lia knew when she made the bet that it was never going to happen-Darcy could make all the claims she wanted to about her 'hypnotic skills', but there was no way on God's green earth that Lia was going to parade her naked butt around a whole room full of her sorority sisters. Especially not with Darcy leading her around on a leash, like she claimed she would. Lia didn't go for that whole 'alpha bitch' thing some girls did, but she also didn't bottom for anyone. Especially for another woman.
(Mindy Calabrese was on the bottom that night in the coat closet. And Lia knew from the looks Mindy gave her that she'd be happy to be there all over again.)
But Darcy kept going with her bullshit fake concern act, giving Lia the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world. "I'm not going to start anything until I'm sure you understand what you're getting into," she said, putting a little urgency in her voice. "In a few minutes, Lia, I'm going to ask you to look into my eyes. And once that happens, you're going to find that you won't be able to look away. You'll think you can stop any time you want to, but you'll always decide that you don't want to just yet. You're going to want to stare into my eyes just a little bit longer, Lia. There's no need to hurry, no need to even blink, because you can always look away just a little bit later."
Lia sighed. Darcy was really carrying the whole act through, wasn't she? "Bullshit," she countered. "I'll tell you what's going to happen. In a few minutes, you're going to tell me to look into your eyes, and I'll just close them." She locked stares with Darcy, daring the other girl to try to make her look anywhere she didn't want to look. Darcy just gave her a big, soulful look back, almost like she pitied Lia for being put into such an impossible position.
"No," Darcy said, sounding almost resigned to the outcome, "that comes later. At first, you're going to simply find yourself fascinated by the tiny details of my eyes. You'll look at the little flecks of gold and green, in among the hazel, and you'll start trying to spot each and every one. You won't even dare to blink, because if you blink you might lose track and have to start over. But that kind of focus is tiring, Lia. It takes energy. You're going to focus so intently that your eyelids will get heavy from the strain. Once you start to notice how heavy they're becoming, you won't be able to think about anything else anymore except how good it would feel to let them slip shut and relax."
Lia snorted derisively. "Is this really your plan? You're just going to tell me, 'Look into my eyes, you are getting sleepy'? Because if it is, you'd better just get it over with. I've got clothes to try on once we're done in here." She knew they had to have spent at least five minutes now just discussing the preliminaries; at this rate, Darcy was going to spend so long talking about how she was going to hypnotize Lia that she was never going to get around to doing it.
"It is my plan, Lia," Darcy said, leaning in just a little to give Lia a better look at those big hazel eyes of hers, "and it's going to work. That's why I want to tell you about it now, so you're not surprised when your eyelids get so heavy, so exhausted from the effort of meeting my gaze and chasing down all the warm, beautiful gold in my irises. I don't want you to think that you can resist, Lia. If you think you can resist me, you'll just keep staring as your whole body struggles against the strain of blinking. But if you blink, you'll find that you won't be able to open those sleepy eyes again, Lia. That's why it's so important for you to decide now whether you want to be my sex slave, because once you close your heavy, tired eyes then your body will make the decision for you."
"It doesn't work that way, Dars," Lia said, fighting the urge to blink. She was determined not to let the other girl think that she was worried about this hypnosis crap actually working on her, even if it meant staring at Darcy's eyes all night long. She could always look away later, once Darcy got through with her ludicrous attempts to intimidate her and actually started trying to hypnotize her for real. She wasn't in any hurry.
Darcy let out a worried sigh. "See, Lia, when you say things like that it only makes me worry that I'm not being clear enough with you. Because that's exactly how it's going to work. When your eyes slip shut, when that exhaustion finally kicks in and you can't fight the inexorable, irresistible pull of sleep any longer...when the beautiful sparkles of gold and green in my eyes have worked their magic and made you all weak and helpless and oh so very tired...that feeling of relief when you finally close your heavy, heavy eyelids and slump onto the bed is going to feel almost sexual. It's going to be like a wave of heat washing through your drowsy, dreamy body, and it's going to feel so good, Lia. So hot. And part of you will know that all the pleasure you're going to feel came from listening to me and obeying me. Once that happens, it's going to be all over for you."
Lia wanted to argue, but it was clearly pointless. Darcy was never going to stop her little hypnosis filibuster, and Lia had better things to do than rebut every little big of wrong in the vast tapestry of wrongness she was weaving. She decided to let Darcy ramble on, and just wait for her to get to the hypnosis so that she could pointedly not look into Darcy's eyes and hunt for the flecks of gold. It wasn't like they were hard to find, anyway. Lia found one, and then another, and then another and another in almost no time at all. She leaned in so close she was almost touching the other girl, looking as close as she could to spot them all.
