*Inspired by a 3-word prompt - which became the title.*
***
"Hey, you want to play a game?" he said.
"Mmmm ..." She looked around the living room, which was cluttered but not untidy. She'd been lying on the couch, near-anesthetized by her phone, and now stretched her legs. "Maybe?"
"It's Saturday, we don't have anything to do ..." he mused. "I went shopping just the other day ... You don't have any zoom meetings or anything?"
She shook her head, already following him out of the room. "So where are we going?"
"I want to show you something in the workshop."
She laughed lightly, as he started down the stairs. "You mean the basement?"
"I mean the workshop!! Shush ..."
He led her over to one well-lit corner of their finished, carpeted basement space. One half of the level had been converted a while ago into a spare bedroom; the other half was taken up with tools, a workbench, and a big-ass TV with video games, man-cave style. There was something new in the corner by the bench, new but familiar, as she walked toward it. "What the ... heck is this?"
"It's a transmogrifier!"
"Honey, it's a cardboard box."
"Sshh, shh, ssh, use your imagination. It's a transmogrifier."
She walked around it. It was taller than she was, a phone booth of cardboard, more a cabinet than a box. "It's a big transmogrifier," she murmured. Did they deliver refrigerators in boxes this big, or something? No, he had clearly stitched this together from many pieces of cardboard and a bunch of masking tape, with words here and there in black magic marker, and control panels and dials drawn on.
She found the main dial, the only "working" part of the controls. An arrow cut out from red construction paper and attached by a brass-plated paper fastener so that it could be spun between three black-markered "choices," three settings to the transmogrifier, presumably.
"Goddess, Temptress," she read aloud, "or Bimbo."
Her lips curled into a smirk - she couldn't help it - as she raised an eyebrow. "Really, Cal?"
"Give it a try, Suze. I promise you'll like the results."
She turned the arrow back and forth, musingly, then left it on "Temptress" with a little nod. She opened the "door" to the cardboard cabinet, just as she'd done when they were kids, and stepped inside. It was dark, as expected. She looked back through the opening.
"OK, now what?" she said.
"Now," said Calvin, "comes the SCIENCE!"
He mimed flipping switches and pushing buttons on the outside of the box, making appropriate sound effects, as she giggled. "Three ... beep beep boop beep ... two ... fwoosh ... one ... klakalakaklak ... engage!"
He closed the cardboard door on its masking tape hinges, enveloping Susie in darkness. Instantly, strings of Christmas tree lights that he'd strung up inside the booth lit up, flashing in sequence to spiral around and around her.
"Oooh, you did put some work into this!" she called.
Music began to slide through the openings from outside, a techno beat with a thump thump under the melody. It started low, but the volume crept up, swirling around her. She could almost imagine she could hear whispers under the music, between the beats ...
"Can you hear me in there, Suze?" he called.
"Loud and clear!" she said with a smile.
"Maximum porcupine."
Her eyes went wide. The music went quiet, muted. The thumping seemed to drive straight through her head, and the lights swirled around, and around, and around ...
And off.
She blinked, in the darkness and the quiet. She put out a hand, to push at the door in front of her. And after a moment's confusion, she saw exactly what she thought she was going to see: an elegant night spot, brass and wood and muted lighting, and her favorite drink waiting for her at the bar. She smiled, and stepped inside.
Suzie stepped out of the cardboard box, and just from the way she carried herself, Cal thought he could see the costume change that had happened in her mind. She was no longer wearing leggings and a tank top ... she moved as if she wore a long, slinky black dress with a slit up one side. She moved as if she knew how gorgeous she looked in it. There was something confident in her smile ... something just a little predatory, too.
"Now that's a temptress," he murmured.
She looked around the bar - not many people, but then, it was early. She liked it before it got crowded. There was a handsome gentleman in suit and tie just a couple stools away from her. She could see he was watching her intently, while trying not to look like he was staring. He'd been watching her since she came in. Well, of course he had been ... she knew how head-turning she was ...
She returned his gaze for a moment, then looked away, pretending to idly study the bottles as she sipped her drink. Sure enough, he came over to her within moments.
"I'm sure I've never seen you in here before," he said. "I definitely would have remembered."
She turned her head slightly toward him, half-lidded. God, he was hot. She played it cool, though. "I would have made sure you remembered," she murmured. She extended a hand, knuckles up, so that he wasn't sure if he should shake it or kiss it. "Suzette," said Suzie.
He clasped her fingers in his. "A lovely name." What the heck. He kissed her fingers.
Suzette turned her body a little more toward his, and traced his full, soft lips with her fingers. He kissed her fingertips. She pushed one digit into his mouth, surprising him, and after a moment, he gave it a little lick. She raised an eyebrow.
"Suck it," she told him. He swirled his tongue delicately, warmly, around her finger. Pressed his lips together and sucked at her skin, holding her gaze. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, then she smirked, like a big cat eyeing a saucer of milk.
"Easy, tiger," she said, removing her finger and sliding it slickly across his cheek. "Obedient, I like that. And married?"
