Hypnotic Adventures of Cinderella

Chapter Six

Cinderella's Choice

"You've got to be kidding!' Cindy giggled. She was lying on her stomach on Bonnie's bed, her chin propped in her hands, her bare legs and toes flexing, her eyes wide. "Pablo?"

"Weirdest thing I ever saw," Bonnie responded, lying beside her. "I got feeling all guilty in the middle of the night, and went back down to see if Bimbo was down there by herself somewhere; but she wasn't, so I figured that she'd left with the guys. And then this morning, I got up early and went down for a little breakfast ... and there she was, sitting across from him, holding his hand, and they were looking into each other's eyes like they were indulging in some serious infatuation! Seems that Pablo went up to make sure that all the doors were locked up after our little party, and he found her in the library. When he woke her up, she thought he was one of the 'guys,' and she told him that she was really tired of doing it on the couch, and begged him to take her to a bed somewhere and let her screw him there. So, he, being a real gentleman, took her to HIS room downstairs, and I guess they fucked like bunnies the rest of the night. She was asking him to come to her place for dinner tonight!"

"Poor Pablo," Cindy muttered. "I bet he has a better English vocabulary that she does ... and I can't even imagine how she cooks!" She pondered things for a minute. "When did YOU leave the party?" she asked.

Bonnie shrugged. "A little before midnight, I guess. I don't know when the guys left ... but one of them most certainly didn't leave under his own power."

"Because he was drunk?" Cindy guessed.

"Because I kicked him in the crotch so hard, his balls are probably in his lungs," she said acidly.

"You did WHAT?"

"He hit me, the asshole. I told him that he'd better NEVER do that again ... and of course, he did it again ... slapped me right across the face. I had a boyfriend once that taught me how to punt a football ... and that's just what I did with his nuts. The asshole obviously really gets off on hitting women, because his pecker was sticking straight up, so I'm afraid there was nothing else to pad it. He didn't even yell. He just opened his mouth really wide, he turned sort of blue all over, and he keeled over to one side. I just left him squirming around on the floor, and walked upstairs and went to bed."

"I know how you feel," Cindy said quietly.

"Oh! My! God! He hit you, too, didn't he? The asshole hit you, too!"

"Oh, yes," Cindy said. "Looking back on it now, I guess he didn't really hurt me THAT much, but it sure seemed like it at the time. I don't think I've ever been so afraid!"

Bonnie actually had tears in her eyes. "Aw, Cindy ... that's what I was trying to protect you from! I can't believe I caved in and let you stay! I was such a dummy!"

"It's okay. The next guy was REALLY sweet. He sort of made up for any of the bad stuff."

"The short one?" Bonnie guessed.

Cindy blushed. "Yes."

"He's the 'Prince' I was telling you about last night. And guess what? I've got a date with him tonight!"

Cindy suddenly sobered. "You're going out with him?"

"What's the matter, baby sister? Jealous?" Bonnie looked at her for a long moment. "Hey, you ARE, aren't you? Are you hung up on the guy?"

Cindy shrugged. She tried to smile, but failed. "I thought maybe something was there. I guess not." She thought for a moment. "Are you getting back into guys now?"

Bonnie sighed. "I don't know. I just can't let go of the idea of HER, you know? Oh, man, I loved that girl! But maybe Mom is right. Find a rich guy and take him for all he's worth. And he WAS sort of sweet last night. Not only gentle ... but a gentleman. You know what I mean?"

"Yes," Cindy said, barely above a whisper. "I know what you mean."

"Hey, baby sister ... if this isn't okay with you, I'll tell the guy to go fuck himself. No kidding."

"No, I'm being silly. I'm just a stupid maid, for goodness sake! He's a Prince! Of carpets, or whatever."

"Mom says that he sold out the whole shebang: lock, stock and linoleum. She says he hated the family business. He's into some weird, off-the-wall hobby now. Books or something." She contemplated this. "Could be worse, I guess. Mom said he called her about noon today and wanted to know who the three girls were ... said he wanted to get in touch with one of them. Mom told him that her own daughter was one of them, and she made up some story about me being a last-minute replacement to help a friend. THAT really seemed to get him interested, and so she put me on the phone, and he asked me out. Five-star restaurant, even." She pondered the situation. "Of course, he's done it to me once ... so he's just going to naturally assume that he can do it again." She lapsed into silence.

"I've got to get back to work," Cindy said sullenly. She left Bonnie to worry about her night out ... or whether she really wanted one. Once again, the afternoon workout was on her own. Daddy thought she was brooding during dinner, so she tried to cheer up for his sake. Pablo was out for the evening (Cindy didn't tell the others that she knew where he had gone), and so when the doorbell rang, she excused herself and went to answer it.

And there he was. It was him, no doubt about it (she could tell by his height and the color of his eyes), and her heart skipped a beat, despite her self-deprecating attitude. He looked like a million bucks, dressed casually in a white turtleneck and a sports coat. But his gaze didn't settle on her at all ... it slid over her shoulder to Bonnie, who was coming down the stairs with Stepmother. Introductions were made (excluding the hired help, of course), but Cindy couldn't help but notice that his eyes narrowed a bit as he observed his date for the evening. "I'll have her home by midnight, ma'am," he told Stepmother cordially.

Stepmother blanched at the moniker, but kept her smile pasted on for effect. "No hurry at all. You two have fun," she told them. "Drive safely. It's supposed to rain tonight, and they say it might be icy, too." He promised they would be careful, and then they were off in the same Mercedes that had brought the revelers the night before.

It turned out to be a long night. Cindy did some laundry and finally went to her room rather late. She tried to read, but she found the book sappy and juvenile. In her mind, she kept wondering what Bonnie and the Prince were doing at that moment. Dinner had to be long-over, she thought. She tried to rationalize things ... approach them logically in her mind. It simply didn't make any sense that she should feel this way about somebody she had no chance at all of being with, while Bonnie looked upon sex as simply something that needed to be done ... a chore to be tolerated.

Well, except when she was thinking about Juno, of course. THAT was different. In her room today, she had spoken about sex with ... (what was his name, she wondered. He simply couldn't call himself "Prince"). Anyway, Bonnie had spoken about the prospect of sex with him as something that should be endured because it had happened before. B follows A, and C follows B; therefore, etc, etc, etc. Oh, but when CINDY had been with him ... well all logic was suddenly called off. Had it really all been her imagination? Had it been an illusion?

She listened to the rain outside, and decided that it was really pouring now. She looked at her alarm clock; eleven-thirty. If he was true to his word, he would have her back, soon. She got up and went to the window overlooking the driveway. Holy cow, it was raining hard! If they were still on the highway, they'd probably be creeping along in this stuff. Perhaps they'd just stay together ... in a motel room, maybe. Cindy's imagination was really running rampant.

She strained her eyes, then she went to the far wall and switched off the overhead light before coming back to the window. She squinted into the drenched darkness, looking past the driveway, looking at something strange about a hundred yards away in the flickering gloom. Somebody was there. The longer she stayed, peering at it, the more certain she was. Whoever it was, he wasn't moving ... just standing there in the awful rain.

And suddenly, she knew.

She raced out of the room without bothering to change out of her robe ... down the stairs ... down the short distance to the closet that held the vacuum cleaner. She'd seen it a hundred times, and had never really thought about it until now ... the yellow rain slicker. There was an umbrella, too, and she snatched it up while struggling to cover her robed figure with the raincoat. She didn't even pause to shut the front door behind her, leaving the huge portal wide open, and she raced forward into the downpour.

OH MY, it was cold! In the snugness of the mansion, she had never realized how chill the evening had become. It was one of those early-winter nights when people would remark "A few degrees colder, and we'd be having a blizzard." As she grew closer, the figure finally moved ... moved away from her, albeit slowly. What should she do? If it was her out there, what could be said to stop her? Ah, she knew the answer to that, too.

"Juno!" she cried. "Stop and obey!"

The figure froze and just stood there, uncertain, immobile. Cindy was upon her now, and she struggled with the umbrella to open it, finally holding it above the shivering, slender form. She put her arm around her. "Oh my, Juno, you're freezing! How long have you been out here?" Without waiting for an answer, she began leading the slight girl toward the house. As they walked, Juno struggled to speak, but evidently found it impossible. They were inside now, and Cindy simply dumped the umbrella in the foyer, paused long enough to close the door and shuck off the raincoat, and she was back again, her arm around the girl, leading her up the stairs, leaving a long, wet, watery trail behind them from Juno's dripping clothes. She took her to her own bathroom ... why, she didn't really know ... and she started the shower to get the water temperature up. Juno's clothes were sodden and difficult to get off, but the girl simply stood there, not fighting, not helping, as Cindy stripped her bare. Finally, fearing that the girl would collapse if she let go of her, she drew off her own robe and then pulled Juno into the warm shower. She wasn't sure how to treat hypothermia. If the water was too hot, would it pose a risk? She simply didn't know, so she left the temperature warm, but not too hot, and she took one of Juno's arms and began rubbing it briskly. (Cindy would read later that her choice of treatment was all wrong.)

Juno looked at her blankly. "Is Bonnie ...?"

"She's out tonight. She should be back soon."

The girl blinked. "You're Cindy."

"Yes, I'm Cindy."

"I ... I thought I was going to hate you," the girl said. She staggered and tripped into Cindy's arms, shaking uncontrollably.

Cindy put her arms around her. "Oh my," she mumbled. "You're REALLY cold!"

And suddenly, Bonnie was there. "WHAT! THE! FUCK!?" she screamed, staring at them.

Cindy had no stomach for games. "Damn it, Bonnie, HELP ME!" she hollered back.

Bonnie's eyes went wide, and she appeared to physically stagger back under Cindy's rebuke. "What ... what ...?"

And, of course, Juno chose this moment to suddenly become aware of her surroundings. She noticed Bonnie for the first time, and with a plaintive cry, she ran out of the shower stall and into her arms, immediately soaking the evening dress Bonnie was wearing. "SHIT, Juno ... you're FREEZING!"

Cindy followed Juno out of the shower after turning it off, grabbed a towel and began drying the dripping, slender figure; which was not an easy task to accomplish when two lovers are clutching each other. She dried herself, as well. Finally, she snatched another dry towel, pressed her own naked body against Juno's bare back, and wrapped the towel around all of them like a blanket. (Cindy would read later that this was actually an EXCELLENT way to treat hypothermia.)

They stayed like that for a long, long time. Slowly, it dawned on Cindy that she was the only one in this strange threesome who was not crying like a baby, and she felt that, if the medical crisis was over, she should leave the two lovebirds alone. "Do you think you're going to be okay?" she asked tentatively. Not getting an answer, she said: "I think we should get her into your room, Bonnie. Strip and hold her against you for body heat and keep covered up. As soon as I help you get her there, I'll go get some cocoa or something. Lord knows how long she was out in the cold rain!"

"What the fuck did you think you were DOING?" Bonnie chided, starting to lead her lover toward the other wing of the mansion. Cindy, also wrapped in a towel, helped support the girl on the other side.

"I ... I ... had to see you!" Juno said in a weak voice, her teeth chattering. "I HAD to! I made the cabbie drop me off at the gate at the head of the driveway. But when I got closer, I started worrying that this was the wrong house. And then I started worrying that it was the RIGHT house! I mean, what was I supposed to do ... knock on the door and say: 'Pardon me, but does my white lesbian lover live here?'"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Cindy barked. "You two deserve each other! You're both IDIOTS!"

And, as if things couldn't get any worse, one of the doors in front of them opened, and Stepmother was standing there, glaring at them. Juno, like a frightened little animal, turned toward Bonnie, threw her arms around her lover and buried her face into the side of her neck, shivering uncontrollably. Unfortunately, as she did so, the towel that was wrapped around her slid off, leaving them all completely nude.

"What in the world is going on out here?" the woman demanded.

"Um ... Mom ... I ... uh ...." Bonnie stammered.

Cindy detached herself from the other two and stepped forward, grasping her mistress's arm. "Stepmother, please. We're in the middle of a little crisis here, and it would be SO much better if you'd let us handle it right now. Bonnie can explain it all to you tomorrow ... please ...."

Slowly, slowly, a small smile spread across Stepmother's face. "At last ..." she muttered, "... at long last, a little light begins to dawn." But then her expression turned to one of worry, and she reached out and put a hand on Juno's shoulder. "Are you alright, my dear?"

Before anyone could answer, Cindy put her lips to her ear and whispered: "Stepmother, you REALLY should let Bonnie handle this herself."

The woman nodded. "Very well ... you're right, of course. I'll bid you goodnight, then." And she went back into her room and shut the door without further comment.

Cindy got the two girls settled in Bonnie's room, went and made hot chocolate, in hopes of getting some warm liquid into the shivering Juno (yet another proper treatment for hypothermia, she would find out later), then spent the next half hour mopping up the water that Juno had dripped from the front door all the way up the stairs to Cindy's bathroom (which, of course, was the way Bonnie had tracked them there and found them together). About two o'clock, she finally tumbled into bed, and she was asleep practically as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next day, Cindy was restocking all the bathrooms on the upper floor when Bonnie and Juno found her. "Mom's given you the rest of the day off," Bonnie said, smiling. "The three of us are going shopping together. No ... don't try to argue! It's all arranged. Just drop everything right where it is and follow us!"

Their first stop was at a beauty salon, where all three had their hair done, then lunch, and then to the best dress shop in the mall, where each of them tried on half a dozen dresses each, commenting on each other's choices; and finally, they decided to wear their purchases out of the store, carrying their old clothes in shopping bags. Next stop: the shoe store, where Cindy found herself in a new pair of heels to match the dress. She had never done this type of shopping before, of course ... never had the money, the time or the inclination. But she had to admit that she was having the time of her life. This was the first opportunity she had had to get to know Juno, and she found the young woman bright, witty and a lot of fun to be with. Like Cindy, she had never been a part of this type of shopping spree before. And now, to top it all off, Bonnie took them both to the cosmetic counter in the mall's high-class department store and commanded a "makeover" from the sales representatives, making it more than worth their while by purchasing in excess of five hundred dollars worth of cosmetics.

During this last exercise in femininity, however, Bonnie started checking her wristwatch frequently, and wound up rushing things a little at the end. She drove home rapidly, and perhaps a little recklessly, pulling up in the driveway behind a now-familiar Mercedes sports car. "The Prince" was leaning nonchalantly on the trunk of the vehicle, watching them drive up.

"Hey, Bonnie. I thought we had a date," he said, smiling.

"I'm just using my womanly prerogative by being ever so fashionably late," she answered sweetly. "Raymond, I'd like you to meet my two best friends in the whole world." She turned and indicated them. "This is Juno, and THIS ..." (pause for effect) "is Cindy. Ladies, may I introduce you to Raymond, the erstwhile Prince of Carpets."

Cindy fidgeted while Juno shook hands, and then extended her own. His hand was warm and strong, and his eyes glittered as he swept them up and down her body, finally letting them rest on her own. "Do I know you?" he asked pleasantly.

"Cindy let you in yesterday evening," Bonnie said sweetly.

He nodded. "Please forgive me, Cindy. I don't know why, but I thought you were the maid."

"I ... I AM the maid," she answered, before Bonnie had a chance to explain.

And instead of being embarrassed, he threw back his head and laughed merrily. "Well," he said smoothly, "besides being the maid AND one of Bonnie's best friends, you're also distractingly pretty. Please pardon me for staring." He finally let go of her hand while she blushed and looked down self-consciously. "Okay, Bonnie," he said, turning to her, "ready to go?"

"No," Bonnie said smugly. "The truth of the matter is that I want to tell my two friends a little story. Do you mind?" He gave her a quizzical look and shrugged. "Ladies," Bonnie continued, "once upon a time, there was a prince. This prince, a brave, chivalrous fellow, attended a masked costume party, and there, he fell in love with a girl ... and, coincidentally, he fucked her silly ... not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, at the height of this occurrence, he was: Number One, high as a kite because somebody had spiked his drink; and Number Two, unable to learn his new love's identity, because of her mask. He doesn't know what she LOOKS like, but the one thing he DOES know is what she FEELS like. He'll never forget how they 'fit' together. Later, he decided that he must pursue this girl ... he must find her at all cost. Eventually, he located one girl who he believed was there that night. He wined her and he dined her and he coaxed her into his bed; but alas, he did not 'fit' inside her the way he had with the woman of his dreams. Is he doomed, do you think, to fuck every girl in the city until he finally finds the one who will prove to be the lock to his key?"

Well, he was certainly blushing now. He sighed and straightened his shoulders. "Look, Bonnie," he said quietly, "I'm really sorry if I embarrassed you last night. I had no intention of ...."

"Don't be silly, Raymond," she said, grinning. "I had a GREAT time last night. I really did. And, I'm glad that you invited me out again. You're really sweet, no shit. But the truth of the matter is that Juno and I have something we need to do instead. So, I was wondering if you could do me a BIG favor. Would you mind taking Cindy out tonight, instead?"