Losing My Best Friend

Story Premise: Megan Ashford, the girl who didn't like to lose, was about to lose her best friend. In fear of that, and having failed every attempt at swaying her friend to stay, she took a leap of faith. She decided to give hypnotism a shot, and see if it'll be enough to wrap her best friend around her finger, for good.

Kinks: Hypnotism, Domination, Humiliation, Foot Fetish.

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I'm losing my best friend. I thought as I looked at her with seemingly impressed eyes, fuming inside. She'd been talking for about ten minutes, and I had started unpaying attention for eight. Usually when Holly talked, my ears would be on full attention, but the current topic was too hard for me to listen to.

"Megan..." Holly said, weaving her hand at me.

"Yeah," I widened my eyes, waking up from my slumber of annoying thoughts. "I'm with you."

"Yeah?" She pursed her lips. "What was the last thing I said then?"

I had no idea, but I could guess, so I gave it a shot. "About how you are...worried that...you won't get accepted."

"Oh..." her eyebrows furrowed. "Right."

"See, DumAss." I shrugged, giving her a blaming look.

"Sorry." She said.

Both of us were lying on my bed on our sides. I laid there with my elbow on the bed and my head probed up on my palm. She was laying the same way, facing me.

"So yeah..." she said. "What do you think? Am I overthinking it?"

"You're overthinking it." I sighed, feeling yet another surge of sadness. "You're gonna get into the damn thing. I know it." I did know it. And it made me sick. "You're the smartest girl I know"

A warm smile curled up her adorable thin lips as she gave me a kind, shy look. "Thanks."

I smiled in return, only faintly, before I looked away. Discouraging her hadn't worked, but only made us fight. Trying to toy with her confidence and competency hadn't worked, and only made her study harder. Trying to sway her to stay, hadn't worked, and only made her bitch of a mother who already hated my guts, loath me more.

So all I could do now was sit there, pretend to be encouraging, and watch her sail away to her dumb bright future and her stupid glamours university. I still had one last move, one last attempt, but it was so ridiculous I was thinking of not even trying it.

It tormented me, looking at her now. Her brunet silky hair fell down over her shoulders. Her big brown eyes looking into me, all innocent, oblivious to the dirty thoughts I harbored towards her. I was losing my best friend. Could I...still call her my best friend.

I mean, one should want the best for their friends, right?

A cackling hysteric laugh from downstairs interrupted my train of thought. I looked at Holly and we both smiled and shook our heads. Mom was having her little get-together in the living room, as she did every Friday. I felt sorry for her friends; along with the bossy demanding personality, which I'd inherited from her, she had a ringing laugh that would make one's ears bleed, which, thanks to God, I didn't inherit.

We spent some more time talking. It was almost nine p.m. Usually, Holly would've already left by now, more accurately, her mother Martha would've called by now, demanding that her precious little daughter gets her ass home immediately. But Mom was still occupied with her friends downstairs, and it was Friday, which meant Martha had no problem if Holly stayed for another couple of hours.

"That reminds me," Holly said, her face wrinkling slightly, as if she was about to say something embarrassing.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Can I borrow your dress."

"My dress?" I said, making sure no worry made it to my face.

"That velvet dress..." She ran her hand on her knee. "That goes below the knee."

She never borrowed dresses from me, which made me now certain of the reason she was about to break that rule of hers for. It wasn't supposed to be until a couple more months that I would have to worry about this. "Thought we said you're gonna wait for prom," I said.

"We decided we're gonna do it a tad sooner than that."

"How sooner?"

"Next week."

My jaw tightened as my shock and anger showed as a simple widening of my eyes.

"I know I know." She sat up straight on the bed. "But I just...don't wanna wait that long. Neither does he. I mean we're both pretty sure we wanna be together, why wait right?"

"So that it could be special." I said, firmly, assertively, kind of angerly.

"..." She gave me a knowing frown. "Didn't you lose your v-card in the jock's locker rooms or something. How special could've that been!"

"Hello" I held out a hand, pointing to the obvious. "...I was stupid."

"So am I." She smiled back at me. "But seriously. How about that dress?"

I couldn't question her decision further. She already suspected I had feelings for her. I couldn't let her know for sure. "Fine." I shrugged.

"Thanks thanksthanks." She gave me a short hug. "I'll only wear it for a bit while I'm with him then I'll take it off I swear. No disgusting things will happen while I'm wearing it I promise."

"Yeah yeah," I said. "Whatever."

Bitch was gonna betray me wearing my own dress. How appropriate. The he she was referring to, was Harry Nolan, a boy in our school, and since the beginning of this current year, the person I loathed most in this world. Poor thing, he had done nothing wrong, other than keeping my Holly away from me. She already had her time half-full with her studying and chores and shit, her mother made sure of it, and as if this wasn't bad enough, she and this champ had started dating this year, which hogged a big portion of what little free time she had left.

Brining me out of my troubling thoughts, the door opened, making both of us look its way, before Mom's blonde head peered inside. "Hey pumpkins," she said in her usual bubbly tone.

"Hey Mrs. Ashford," Holly said as she sat straight on bed.

"It's almost nine. You heading home soon?" Mom said, and both me and Holly knew what she wanted.

"Yeah. You need something from me?"

"Now that you've mentioned it," she said, smiling and tilting her head. "Yeah. Living room is a mess, kitchen too. Would you mind giving me a hand?"

I spotted the brief faint smile that showed on Holly's face, before it disappeared. Giving me a hand wasn't an accurate way to describe the service Holly usually provided. "Sure," Holly said. "I'll be right down."

"Good girl." Mom said, giving her friendly smile, before closing the door.

I knew my prays would go unheard, but I couldn't help but try. I pinched her arm and whined, "You're really gonna leave now. You suck."

"We've been running our mouth for four hours."

"I know but I'm going crazy in here. I haven't seen anyone for like, a week."

"Here's an idea," She said, brining her index to her chin and pretending to think. "Don't like getting grounded. Don't steal a month's rent from your mother."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever."

"What did you spend that money on anyhow."

".........Shoes." I lied. There was no way in hell I'd tell her what I'd spent it on.

"Nice." She nodded, probably resisting the urge to give me an earful of her anti-materialistic bullshit.

Minutes later we were all down in the living room. Mom, still in her blue sheath dress, sat on her recline, her back sinking into its back and her feet up on the footrest. I laid on the couch with my eyes on the TV. Holly, having finished with the living room, was now washing the dishes in the kitchen behind us.

I had offered my help, of course. But as usual, as soon as I'd gotten up from the couch, Mom said, "Sit down dear, it's not like she's doing this for free." And as usual, Holly politely said she was alright, and like always, I slammed my lazy ass back on my couch.

It'd felt awkward the first couple of times, but after that it just felt normal, even enjoyable for me.

My mother admired Holly. My mother was simple. She was one of those stuck-up hags that one could only feel their snobby personality, but couldn't really point to any actual evidence of it. She liked people that were humble, subservient, ass-kissers--all her friends had at least one of those traits. Holly was no ass-kisser, but she dished praise easily, and never criticized. She wasn't subservient, per say, but always insisted on helping out with chores and the likes, which eventually ended up in her officially taking care of our chores sometimes for a good sum of money.

I saw mother grabbing the remote and lowering the volume on the TV, before she said, "It's a shame your mother wasn't able to make it today." She turned her head slightly back towards Holly.

"Umm...Yeah...She's been busy lately." Holly said, stuttering a bit, as if the question had caught her off guard, which was a bit surprising considering Mom always asked her that. "She would've come if she could."

"Humm..." Mom nodded, taking a sip from her tall glass of wine. "She still working in that restaurant?"

"Uha." I could almost hear the hesitation in Holly's timid uha.

"What about that other job...what was it again?"

I shook my head, suppressing my giggles. Literally ever time Holly was here, mom tried to find out what Martha's second job was...or if she had a second job in the first place.

"..." Holly sighed, as she stopped wiping off the dish for a moment. "She's just working at the restaurant for now."

To no success.

"Uhh." Mom nodded, with a knowing smile. A minute or two passed, before Mom said, "So how's she managing with money lately.? She's doing well?"

"She's doing fine." Holly said.

If this sounded like an interrogation, that's because it was, one that Holly was desperately trying to get out of. For me, if a forty-something-year-old woman was trying to shove her noes in places that were none of her business I'd just tell her it was none of her business. But for Mrs. Polite-girl back there, that would probably be unthinkably rude. I'd pull her out of it sooner or later, but for now I'd just let Mom have her fun, partly because I was too a bit curious to know how they were doing.

I met Holly about two years ago, first year of Highschool. And as far long as me and mother remembered, her and her mother had been struggling financially. And ever since then, Mom had been trying to help her and her stuck-up-bitch of a mother.

Her mother refusing our help, had only been one of the insults Martha had made towards Mom and me. One could only try to imagine my surprise when I had known that our mothers had been friends for basically decades. Combined with the fact that we'd been living in the same neighborhood all this time, made me question how it took this long for me and Holly to meet each other. When I asked Mom about it, she just said, "Don't know...I brought it up with Martha a couple times. She refused. I didn't ask a third time."

I was generally a pretty secure girl, but still, that really offended me. I remember spending nights thinking about why in hell would that woman have a problem with me spending time with her girl. I was Awesome. I was confidant and talkative and outgoing and nice, and unlike her closed-up daughter, had tons of friends.

It hadn't taken me long to realize that it was all because of the weird relationship that she and Mom had. They were the weirdest king of best-friends I'd ever seen. According to Mom, they'd been pretty close since college, but for some reason had grown apart after Martha's husband left her. Ever since then, they'd been struggling with money, as her husband was the only provider in the family.

We however, weren't filthy rich, but it was a small town, a town where one wouldn't run into some big-shot film producer or a corporate CEO or some fancy shit like that. Mom had the salon, and kept in check the smart investments dad had started before he died. So we were one of the few wealthy families one could find around here. Holly's family used to be like that as well, before her family situation got all screwed up.

Martha ended up getting a job, which she'd admitted to, and a second job, which she hadn't. The woman lived in complete secrecy, and it was clear that Holly had clear instructions on what she was and wasn't allowed to reveal to us. In my opinion, her and mom's fallout was a result of her own egotistical personality. The woman was unhealable.

When Mom first knew about their money problems, she immediately offered Martha a position to work in her Mani and Pedi salon. Martha refused. Couple of months went by, problems still unsolved as they dug through their savings, so Mom offered her to do gardening work around our house for a generous pay. Martha refused. Third time, Mom already knew the answer, but she offered anyway, for Martha to do some chores around the house, on a semi-daily basis. Martha refused and Mom just said fuck it.

I mean. Who did she think she was! Only option left for mom was just to give the woman money, and I knew for a fact Martha would refuse, saying it was charity or something, and she'd be totally right. It wasn't like she had any skills or degrees. Woman was useless, and should've been thankful for what Mom offered her, but no, she just, shoved away the hand that was trying to feed her.

I guess I could see, however slightly, where she came from, why all the secrecy and the sensitivity when it came to money. She probably thought Mom would hold it over her head, or rub it in her face or something. She was one hundred percent right.

Mom had a big mouth. As in she liked to rub her fortune in people's faces. And as for the favors, sometimes it felt like I'm the daughter of Don Corleone or something; she'd never let someone forget a favor she'd done to them, big or small, a day or a decade ago.

But still, money came with bragging rights didn't it. But what bothered Mom the most, was the extent her friend would go to, the struggles she'd put herself through, just so that she wouldn't have to work for us. She worked two jobs, a cashier at a restaurant and God knows what else, lived paycheck to paycheck, didn't put a penny on something that wasn't necessary for their survival or Holly's education.

With how closed off she was about her lifestyle, we were pretty much kept in the dark, but it didn't take a genius to know how hard it was on her. Last time I'd seen Holly in new clothes was two years ago I think, and not once since we'd meet had she agreed to go out with me to a cafe or a restaurant. She couldn't afford it, and, taking after her mother, would never accept me paying for her.

Given that I didn't give a shit about the woman, only thing that bothered me was that how this affected Holly. Her mother got her so focused on that damn university that she barley had anytime to have fun; aka spend time with me.

"Hum...right right," Mother's words brought me back to her little interrogation, which I was sure had reached ridicules extents by now. "So what did you have for dinner yesterday--"

"Just lay off her you nosy hag." I said, throwing a cushion at mom.

After catching the pillow in her face, Mom gave me a cold frown as Holly suppressed a giggle.

After a brief frowny but playful look me and Mom exchanged, she looked back at Holly and said, "So, where are you going for college again."

"Uhhmm" Holly paused for a second as she assorted the dishes. "USM. Hoping so at least. You never know." She crossed her fingers.

"Oh right," Mom nodded at me, stupid grin on her face.

She already knew the answer. I knew the answer. Everybody knew the damn answer.

"Biology, right?" She turned her head again towards Holly.

"Uha." Holly nodded.

"Then Med school."

"Fingers crossed." Holly said, already getting uncomfortable with the conversation, mostly because she knew Mom only opened it to tease me more than anything else.

"Your Mama must be so proud."

"She is." Holly said, excited for the conversation to end.

"Wish that lazy bitch had something like that going for her." She said, actually wiggling her eyebrows at me. She looked like a child. She was a child.

I knew better than to argue, but I couldn't resist, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "I mean... med school is so that you'd have good money. We have money."

"No one said you're doomed to be stupid if you have money, honey. You can be rich and smart at the same time."

I only puffed in return. I didn't have a comeback answer. I generally gave Mom a pass whenever she came at me with my education choices, for the sole reason that I knew she was a bit hurt about the fact herself. I wasn't going to college, mainly because, I wasn't really that passionate about anything. In addition, we didn't need the money; we were business owners, and the best thing I could do for myself financially was learn mother's business.

And, thank god, I didn't have that insecurity my mom's generation seemed to have, about the necessity of a higher education. I didn't give a shit. It did pain me somewhat how it hurt Mom. She was probably thinking about how Martha--who already didn't shut up about how smart her daughter was and about the high grades she was scoring--was going to belittle me in comparison to Holly.

Even though Mom wouldn't admit it, their relationship had long turned into some kind of a competition, one that Mom had clearly won. I saw it in her eyes sometimes, how she enjoyed watching Holly pick after us or clean after her dinner parties. Or how she bragged about her business and the new shit she bought the few times her and Martha would get together.

So the fact that she only started giving a shit about my academic horizons after she knew that Holly was aiming for Med School, confirmed to me that she wasn't willing to lose that battle. That her little daughter, compared to Martha's, was insignificant trash, in the brains and academic sense at least.

"All done." Holly said.

"Oh..." Mom said, turning her head towards Holly. "Good job Holly."

"Okay, let me head home then." She said as she wiped her hands on the kitchen's towel.

I walked her to the door and we said our goodbyes. Knowing I'd fail, I didn't try to persuade her to stay, even though I had nothing planned for the rest of the night. A Friday night, for goodness' sake. She probably had nothing either, I knew that once she'd get home, she'd open those books and keep studying until midnight.

"What you watching," I said to my mother as I closed the entrance door behind me.

"Movie."

"yeah what's it called."

"No clue."

"Never heard of it." I said with faked interest.

"No...I have...no clue what it's called."

"...Good enough." I said as I flopped on the couch.

Me and Mother laid there for the rest of the night, watching what quickly turned out to be the dullest movie there was.

Friday night, and I was spending it home with Mom watching a movie that neither of us cared to know its title. My life hadn't used to be like this. I always had something planned, for every night of the week, especially the weekend.

I had a lot of friends, a group that I had tons of fun with and that were available 24/7. I was content with them. And not to sound like a ten-year-old out of a Highschool movie, I was some what of their leader. I used to joke around with them, saying they were my followers or lackeys. I decided on what to do, where to go, where to eat, whose house the sleepover was going to be at--which was never mine.

Also, I felt like myself whenever I was around them. I was generally a pretty confidant and bossy person. It didn't reach a point where I was...like ordering them around, but I did dish out some demands often, and they rarely, nearly ever, refused to do as I say.

And of course they were the occasional playful insults that I often gave, that they knew better than to return. Like this one friend we had, Merial. Fat was an understatement when talking about her cow-like body.