It'd been one of those really, truly, horribly, awful days.
I was rewarding myself with a bottle of sweet Riesling and a romcom. I'd considered printing out a picture of Keith and throwing knives at it, but I didn't want to ruin the walls.
I uncorked the bottle and flopped onto the couch, remote in one hand, wine in the other.
The previews for the movie started, and that was when I noticed the frog.
"Holy shit!" Before I could fully process the fact there was a frog sitting in the middle of my living room floor, the remote was out of my hand, sailing with unexpected speed towards the amphibian.
It hopped easily out of the way of the projectile.
Blinking, it asked, "really, a remote?"
By this time, I had jumped over the back of the couch and was crouched and ready, the wine bottle clutched between my breasts. "S-shut up!" I shrieked. I should mention that when I'm surprised, I turn into an idiot.
"Did you just tell me to shut up?" the frog asked, rather sarcastically.
I shook my head. Frogs don't talk. Frogs can't talk.
"This isn't happening," I muttered, taking a gulp of wine right out of the bottle. Not that classy, but who was going to judge me, the frog? "Nope," I said, "not happening."
"I hate to disappoint you, but this is happening," the frog replied. It sounded cheery. "Yes, there is a talking frog in your living room."
The opening credits of the movie had started, a familiar song accompanying them.
I stared at the amphibian, flabbergasted. I rubbed my face and took another swing of wine. "How... why?"
The frog blinked again. "Why what? Why am I in your apartment, or why can I talk?"
"Both?" I eyed the frog and wondered if I should throw something else at it. Something bigger than a remote that it couldn't dodge. But what if I killed it? Then I'd have to clean it up. And should I kill something that could talk? That would probably be straight-up murder.
I took another gulp of wine, just to be safe.
"I'm in your apartment as a result of the reason I can talk," the frog continued. "I'm under a curse and I need you to break it."
A curse! This was getting more and more ridiculous.
"Wait." I gripped the back of the couch with one hand. "Wait, so you're saying you're a magic frog and that's why you can talk, and that's why you're in my apartment." I eyed it.
"How'd you even get in here?"
The frog just blinked and said, "did you know that you're the only woman who's single, straight, and between the age of twenty and thirty that lives in this building?"
"I wasn't aware," I grumbled, glaring at the hateful thing. "What about those two girls who live down the hall? I never seen any guys leaving their place."
"They're gay," the frog said, amused by my reaction.
I guess that explained why one of them had complimented my butt the other day. I shook my head. "And how do you know that and also, why does that matter?"
"It's the curse," the frog said dismissively. "It tells me where to find the closest person who can break it."
It took me too many seconds to realize what it meant. I lifted a finger from the wine bottle and pointed at myself. "Me? You want me to break this curse of yours?"
"If it's not too much trouble. I know how busy you are," the frog said, giving me a truly sarcastic look.
I remembered that I was wearing just a sports bra, my underwear, and a pair of my comfiest socks.
Turning red, I crouched even lower behind the couch. "Oh my god don't look at me," I moaned. I recalled how I'd stormed inside, thrown off all my clothes, and grabbed the bottle of wine after popping in the movie. I seriously hoped the frog hadn't been there the whole time.
I reached over the couch and groped for the nearest blanket. One handedly, I pulled it over myself. The wine bottle was like a lifeline, and I took another swallow from it.
"If it consoles you, a frog's vision isn't anything like a human's," the frog said. It turned slightly so it wasn't facing me, and looked up and around the room. "So, now you know all the basics, right? I have a curse, it needs to be broken, and you're the one to do it."
"...how?" I squeaked.
The frog turned its head back to face me. "Pick me up and give me a kiss."
"I'd rather not," I said quickly. "Can't you find someone else to do it?"
"As much as I'm sure we'd both love to have someone else break the curse, it dictates that it must be broken by a single, straight woman who's between twenty and thirty. Unfortunately for me, it does not require me to find a beautiful, intelligent, witty woman."
The last part was said rather pointedly.
I was reminded of Keith and my desire to throw knives at his face. Perhaps the frog could meet a similar fate.
"Can't you just find... someone in a different apartment building?" I asked, pushing away my anger. It was awkward, but I managed to climb back over the couch. I sat down, the blanket wrapped tightly around me.
"No time." The frog hopped closer to the couch. "Well, get to it then. Pick me and give me a kiss."
I had thought that I'd established I wasn't going to do that.
"I'm not going to do that," I reminded it.
"It won't be so bad," the frog said. "Well, I assume it won't be so bad. And once it's done it's done, and I'm sure you're never going to have to kiss a frog again."
"One time is one too many times," I grumbled. I took another drink from the bottle and eyed the frog. I mean, I'm sure it wouldn't be the worst thing I'd ever done, and probably not the worst thing I'd ever do. I remembered freshman year, when I was drunk off my ass and ate a worm on a dare. Kissing a frog was not worse than that.
I exhaled loudly and took another drink.
"Alright," I said, "so let's say that I kiss you. Then what happens?"
"Then my curse is broken," the frog said. I imagined that if it could roll its eyes, it would. "Are you honestly this stupid?"
"I just want to know what I'm getting myself into," I grumbled. "So, the curse breaks. What does that mean?"
"It means it's broken. Part of the curse is that I can't tell you more. Anyway, why ruin the suspense?" The frog hopped even closer. If I bent down, I could pick it up.
I considered it.
"Oh why not?" I rolled my eyes. "Today's been bad enough that kissing a frog isn't going to make it worse." I pushed aside the blanket, put the bottle of wine on the side table, and bent down.
Up close, it really was a large frog. Green with blotchy brown spots, and rather slimy looking.
"Let's get this over with," I declared. I grabbed the frog and lifted it up.
Its slime felt like egg whites, gooey and goopy. It was also strangely warm in my hands.
As I pulled it closer to my face, I felt the warmth spread from my hands up my arms, across my chest and to my face in an unexpected flush. It made my lips tingle and my body feel like it'd been kissed by sunshine. A corresponding tingle of heat radiated from between my legs.
"Are you going to kiss me or not?" the frog demanded.
"What's...um... what kind of slime do you have on you?" I asked, feeling even more muddled than the wine had made me. My heart thudded in my chest, and I felt hot and... horny? Yes, this was definitely a feeling of arousal. Uncomfortable, I crossed my legs.
"It's not poisonous, if that's what you're worried about," the frog said irritably. "Why aren't you kissing me? You said you would."
"It's um... it's like a... like an aphrodisiac," I muttered. My cheeks were warm. I shook my head and lifted the frog towards my lips. I didn't want to kiss a frog, I wanted to kiss a man. Desperately. Shit, once I was done kissing weird frogs with aphrodisiac slime, I was going to find my vibrator and get to it.
I puckered my lips and lifted the frog the rest of the way.
Actually putting my lips on the frog's body made them tingle more, and my nether regions twinge and moisten, and I squirmed, longing to shove something—fingers or dildo—into myself
It almost distracted me from the actual kiss, which wasn't as horrible as I'd been fearing, unless making me incredibly horny was a bad thing.
The frog suddenly grew very hot and very heavy. I dropped the thing before it burned my hands, and grabbed the nearest pillow.
I really, really wanted to just hump something, which was ridiculous, but my desire to see what was going to happen to the frog managed to overcome my desire to start touching myself. Barely.
Not running into my bedroom and throwing myself into a passionate masturbation session turned out to be the right choice.
The frog was growing, growing and glowing, so bright that I had to look away.