"Ember?"
Shit! Ember withdrew her hands from her pussy. A feeling of empty yearning where just a second before there had been pleasure. She threw off her headphones and slammed her laptop closed.
She had totally forgotten that Linda wanted to go shopping. She scrambled around the little room. Where had she left her underwear? Then she remembered how she had kicked off her yoga pants and panties in the living room and had walked to her study dressed like Donald Duck. She looked around, was there anything in here she could use to cover herself? Nothing. She pulled on her tight sports shirt, it pulled down just low enough in front to cover her crotch. She could feel it creep up, leaving her bum uncovered. Right now she couldn't do anything to prevent showing her butt. She put her head around the door. No Linda in the living room. She must still be in the hallway. Quickly Ember opened the door and padded towards the couch where she had left her clothes.
"There you are!" The raven haired head of Ember's best friend peeked around the door.
"Linda! I was just about to take a shower!" Ember answered. Frantically she tried to pull down her shirt so she wouldn't flash her friend.
"You always get naked in the living room?" Linda wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"I forgot you were coming over." Which wasn't a lie. Not really. Quickly she walked to her bedroom, trying to keep the couch in between Linda and herself as much as possible. No need to keep flashing her friend. "Sit. Grab a drink, I'll go shower and then we can go shopping." She closed the door behind her. Leaned her head against the wood. That was close. What if Linda had been quieter? Would she have caught Ember four fingers deep in her pussy?
At that thought, the brunette once again became aware of the aching feeling inside her pussy. The missed orgasms, the delayed pleasure. She could bring herself to orgasm here, just do it quickly, quietly. Like she used to do while Linda and her shared a dorm room. Then she regained her wits. No time, Linda expected her. She grabbed some clothes, luckily she could get to her bathroom through the bedroom. She didn't need to cross the living room again. The warm water washed away her sheen of sweat. Normally she would be sweaty from working out, but today she was sure it was from masturbating to the edge of cumming so many times. Her soapy hands felt her curves. For a little bit they stopped to cup her breasts. Went down over her tummy to her pussy. Down between her legs, slick hands to her lips. A finger in between them, just softly touching her clit. No! She couldn't masturbate now. Linda was waiting for her. Quickly she continued washing herself, soap, rinse with water, dry. She couldn't trust herself, if she'd pause even a little, she knew she would start playing with herself again.
Still, where was the harm in letting Linda wait for just a few more moments? She could just quickly finger herself to an orgasm, she was sure that she'd cum soon enough.
"Hey Ember, what's this? You're getting a lot of notifications on your phone."
Shit. Her phone. She'd left the device next to her laptop. She wasn't sure the screen had been locked.
"I'll grab it. See if there's some kind of local news emergency."
"Wait, don't!" Ember didn't think she'd ever got dressed quicker. All thoughts of orgasms left her mind as she pulled up her panties, put on some jeans, pulled a shirt over her head and ran back into the living room. As she entered the room, she saw Linda looking at her phone with a puzzled expression.
"DeaDia, what's that? And why can't I look?"
Ember grabbed the phone from her friends hand. Frantically checked her phone, but luckily her screen was locked, the lock screen just mentioned three new messages. No content, luckily. As she held it, it buzzed again, another new message.
"Okay, okay, sorry. Didn't think you were this secretive."
"Sorry," Ember said. An blush of embarrassment crawled up her cheeks. She had overreacted.
"So, DeaDia. Some kind of dating app?"
"Something like that," Ember mumbled.
Linda's eyes went wide, "Something like that? It must be like one of those hookup apps. Good for you! You should go out more, have some sex with no strings attached."
The blush that had started to subside once again crawled up her cheeks. Linda could be so inappropriate sometimes. She'd been pushing her to have one-night-stands. Asked Ember to come to clubs with her, tried to set her up with friends. Even suggested some apps that Ember could try to pick out someone.
Not like Linda would have any trouble getting men interested. Compared to Ember, she was beautiful. Long black hair, full red lips, C-Cup breasts, curves in just the right places. And she knew how to dress to show off her figure. Ember would love to have just an ounce of Linda's confidence. She would never dare to dress in a way that showed herself off.
"Tell me all about it. Who's the boy?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean on the app. I'd rather not say."
"Or is it a girl?"
"Linda!"
"Nothing wrong with that. If I'd known you'd be into girls I'd set you up with one of my girlfriends. Or maybe I'd have kept you to myself." She licked her lips in an over the top fake seductiveness. Ember giggled. This is how she knew her friend, always trying to lighten the mood.
"So, where are we going?" Ember asked, trying to change the topic.
"There are some shops I want to try out. And to be honest, you could also use some new clothes."
For a while, everything was normal. Linda and Ember were going in and out of shops, chatting about everything and nothing. DeaDia nearly forgotten. Until Ember's phone buzzed again. She stole a furtive glance at her black-haired friend and opened up the app on her phone.
"Congratulations! You've completed your first user challenge! Better together completed." A small fanfare sounded before Ember found the wherewithal to turn the sound on her phone down. She saw the experience bar started to fill.
Below the automated notification, a message from Vermillion, the timestamp showed that it was received just after her challenge. Her heart started racing, she'd done what he asked. What more would he ask of her?