Strelnikov
4th Level Red Feather
- Joined
- May 7, 2001
- Messages
- 1,820
- Points
- 0
by Strelnikov
Copyright 2003 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Ashley Curtis
A.K.A Beauty Queen. She’s 18, tall and shapely, with long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Her mother started entering her in beauty pageants and contests as soon as she could walk. She lives with her mom, a former beauty queen herself, who always showers Ashley with positive influence on how beautiful she is. Ashley and her mother moved to Tickle Street at the start of the school year. Besides being exceptionally beautiful, Ashley is also exceptionally ticklish – an ideal combination.
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky, the leader, is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and Veronica is right handed. They’re 20 years old, medium height, with very trim and fit figures that they maintain by martial arts. They have shoulder length wavy dark brown hair, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re extremely ticklish, but since they’re a team, they don’t get tickled much.
Morgan Ernst
A.K.A. Girl Genius. Age 18, medium height, slender, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. She gets straight A’s in all subjects. She’s new in town, her family moved to Tieson City at the beginning of the previous summer. She’s extremely ticklish. Because of a horrible experience in her former town, she had a deathly fear of tickling – but her neighbors cured that!
Candice Wade
A little beauty, 18 years old, with crystal blue eyes and ash blonde hair, and a very trim and shapely body. An extrovert and sensualist, she loves to be tickled and get in ticklish situations, but if the tickling goes too far, she's out of control. Lately her lust to be tickled has grown and grown, and now she'll do anything to get tickled. She's lived with her parents and sister on Tickle Street since she was five.
********************
Outside the dressing room, the announcer started her spiel. Mrs. Driscoll stuck her head in the door and said “Showtime in five minutes, girls! Remember, now – Ashley first, then Stephanie, and then Angie. Keep it moving, and don’t choke out there.”
There wasn’t much danger of that – all three were veterans of the beauty contest circuit. This wasn’t their first rodeo.
Ashley Curtis was blonde and blue-eyed, Stephanie Miklajcyk was a green-eyed brunette, Angie Fontana had black hair and brown eyes. But all three were the same physical type – tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long silky hair, flawless skin, beautiful faces, hourglass figures and long, shapely legs. They looked enough alike to be sisters.
The three girls were the Youth Advisory Board of the department store that anchored one end of Squander Mall. Once a week, they were paid $20.00 to spend an hour or so advising the buyers responsible for the young women’s clothing lines. It was easy money. Even better, the store considered them to be employees, so they got a discount on all of their purchases.
Four times a year, the store held a fashion show in the mall atrium to show off the upcoming season’s clothing. The three girls were among the models, and that was a good deal too. They weren’t paid at the same rate as the professional models, but they got exposure and job contacts. Some things – swim suits, for example – couldn’t be sold after someone wore them. The girls got to keep those. It was a nice little bonus.
The stage and runway were temporary structures, stored between shows in the store’s regional distribution warehouse. The dressing rooms were pretty basic too – plywood boxes built on utility trailer chassis. They were furnished with a long, narrow table under illuminated wall-mounted mirrors, chairs, a water cooler, a rack made of steel pipe to hang clothing.
The girls were dressed in bikinis, beach wraps and, incongruously, fuzzy slippers. They were professionaly made up, manicured and pedicured. The stylists had put enough goop in their hair that it would probably hold for weeks without recombing. The prep work had taken well over an hour. In other words, the usual.
Ashley kicked off her slippers, stepped into spike-heeled sandals and went out the dressing room door to take position backstage. As beachwear, the shoes were preposterous, but they were a fashion show standard. They made the girls’ legs look longer and prettier. Ashley had been wearing heels for so long that she never gave it a thought.
Mrs. Driscoll raised one finger, two, three, and pointed. Ashely fixed a smile on her face and walked out into the lights.
They had a pretty good crowd today, Ashley saw. Quite a few were guys whose wives or girlfriends had dragged them to the mall – they were being rewarded for it, but probably not the way their women had had in mind. Vicky and Veronica Righetti were there – they worked at the department store too, must be on their break. Michael Gabreski, Melissa’s brother, was there with her best friend Morgan Ernst – they grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. She knew others from school. And as always, Mom was front and center. Ashley gave her an almost imperceptible nod – anyone not looking for it would have missed it.
Mom was her biggest booster. She had been a beauty queen too, in her time, before… Well, Mom was only 34.
The baby had put an end to Lisa Curtis’s modeling career before it began. Part of the mother-daughter dynamic was Lisa living out her own lost dream through her daughter. Lisa was determined that Ashley would have what she herself could not, and further determined that Ashley wouldn’t repeat her own mistakes. She was as fiercely protective as a she-bear with a cub.
The announcer extolled the virtues of the swimsuit on her living, breathing mannequin. Walk – strike a pose – turn – another pose – flick the wrap off – pose again – then off the stage to polite applause as Stephanie came on. Ashley went back to the dressing room, shucked off the suit, put on the next – Angie was on by now – a fast touchup of her makeup, and back out onto the stage again. It went like clockwork – they could do this in their sleep.
Their part of the show lasted 20 minutes, and then the action moved on to other product lines. They were through for the day. That suited them fine – modeling is harder than it looks.
“Wooo!” Angie said, fanning herself with a magazine. “I’m about to burn up!” The dressing room smelled like hairspray and warm girl – those stage lights were hot.
“Me for a shower,” Stephanie said. She smeared cold cream on her face, passed the jar along and set to work scrubbing the makeup off. “My hair feels like cardboard. Jeez Louise, how I hate hair gel! You’d think I’d be used to it by now.”
“Part of the job, like sore feet,” Ashley said, wiggling her toes inside her slippers. “Here, let me help with that.”
It took the girls 15 minutes, working together, to scrub away an hour’s work. Morgan stopped in to visit. Ashley introduced her – Stephanie and Angie had seen Morgan around school, but didn’t really know her. Mrs Driscoll shooed Michael away, told him to go elsewhere for a while.
Stephanie and Angie got dressed and left. Ashley and Morgan continued their conversation. After a while, Mrs. Driscoll left too, with an admonition to Ashley to lock up when she was finished.
Ashley had cooled off by now, and wore a terry robe over her swimsuit. She kicked off a slipper and rubbed her toes. “This is a good gig,” she said, “but it’s tough on the feet.”
“Yah…” Morgan paused, then went on in a low voice. “All my life, I’ve wanted to be beautiful. Like you. A bird of paradise, not a little brown jenny wren.”
“Beauty doesen’t last, Morgan,” Ashley said gently. “Smart lasts a lifetime. Sometimes I envy you – I know I’m no rocket scientist.”
“Rockets! Michael!” Morgan said. “He was gonna look for a reprint of Galactic Patrol at the bookstore! It’s been…” (she looked at her watch) “…over an hour!”
“You better go, then,” Ashley said. “He’s probably standing outside with steam coming out of his ears. I’ll see you in a little while, at the Vellatrices meeting.”
Ashley gathered up her stuff after Morgan left. She had just taken off her robe, getting ready to get dressed, when there was a knock on the door.
“Forget something, Morgan?” she asked. “Come on in.”
But it wasn’t Morgan – the new arrivals were Vicky and Veronica Righetti. They wore their go-to-work clothes: collared blouses with name tags, dark slacks, sensible shoes. Their dark hair was done up in pony tails.
“Oh… Hi. I saw you two at the show, but I didn’t expect you to come here. Aren’t you working?”
“Just got off,” Vicky replied. “You looked pretty good up there.”
“Thanks… What can I do for you?”
“Oh, we just stopped by to visit,” Veronica said.
“That’s an odd combination,” Vicky said. “Bikini and bunny slippers.”
“My feet hurt. I don’t much like spike heels, but they’re part of the job.”
“We can fix that,” Veronica said. “We’ll give you a foot rub.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Vicky said. “We’ll give you a massage. Help me move the table, sis.”
“OK, Ashley, spread your robe on the table,” said Veronica. “Now, on your tummy, arms by your sides. Then close your eyes and relax – we’ll handle the rest.”
And a fine job they did, too. Vicky straddled Ashley’s hips and massaged her back and shoulders. Veronica worked on her legs and feet. Sometimes it tickled a little – too light a touch on ribs or sides or thighs or feet – but Ashley could feel the tension draining out of her.
Ashley was limp by the time they stopped. Vicky dismounted and said, “OK, Ashley, we’re gonna roll you over. Relax, and put your hands over your head.”
Ashley did as she was told. “If I was any more relaxed, I’d be comatose,” she said.
“We won’t put you to sleep,” Veronica said. “The next part is a little more active. It’ll be good for a few laughs.”
“Laughs?” Ashley was bewildered – she really didn’t know what was coming next.
Ashley was far from dumb – her grades were mostly B’s, with an occasional A. But as often happens with truly beautiful young women, life had treated Ashley gently. All her life, people had smiled when they saw her. She had never acquired the healthy suspicion most people have by the end of puberty. Nor had she needed it – her mother’s protectiveness had seen to that. Her open, sunny personality was the result.
But there was a downside. Ashley’s life had led her to expect good treatment out of the people she met. She was in for something very different.
“NOW!” Vicky shouted, and Ashley felt sudden constriction around wrists and ankles.
“Hey!” Ashley said. She tried to pull loose, but couldn’t. “What are you doing?”
The twins had come prepared – old nylons are strong and easily portable. Vicky tied Ashley’s ankles off to one end of the table while Veronica tied her wrists to the other. Ashley was pinned on her back, tied down at both ends.
“Remember how Veronica said this would be good for a few laughs?” Vicky asked. “She meant YOURS!”
Vicky climbed up on the table and straddled Ashley’s hips. “Relax,” she said, “you’re not going anywhere for a while.” She started gently stroking her fingernails in Ashley’s exposed armpits.
“Hehehehe! Sta-haha-ap!” Ashley begged. “That tickles!”
“It’s supposed to tickle, silly!” Vicky said.
“Noooo! Hahaha-HAHAHAHAHA-hehe-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Ashley laughed and giggled as Vicky tickled. Her tickle laugh was a musical contralto, as lovely as the rest of her.
Veronica gauged the laughter. “You’re gonna have to do better than that,” she said.
“A little help, sis?” Vicky said. Her tickling fingers picked up speed. No more giggles, the laughter was continuous now.
“How’s this?” Veronica asked, and joined in, tickling down the front of Ashley’s thighs to her knees, then up the back to her butt. She did her best, and Ashley’s helpless laughter went up a notch.
Vicky picked up the pace, tickling up and down Ashley’s ribs. She carefully tickled on each rib, tickled the spaces between them, then lobster clawed her way up and down as Ashley squirmed and laughed.
Vicky tickled her way down Ashley’s sides, onto her tummy, back onto the ticklish sides again. Suddenly Ashley was struggling, bucking, laughing her pretty head off.
“Wow! That’s more like it!” Veronica said. She stopped tickling Ashley’s thighs and walked around next to her twin. “What are you doing to her?”
“Tummy tickles – sides too. Care to join me?”
“Later. Wear it out.”
Ashley howled with forced mirth as Vicky tickled her flat abs, one hand following the panty line and the other the rib cage. Vicky tickled in circles around her navel, watching the muscles jump and twitch. Then side to side, hand over hand, crossing over and back to the ticklish sides. Ashley was incapable of resistance, all of the fight tickled out of her. All she could do was lay there and laugh like mad.
Vicky tickled up and down Ashley’s ribs, lobster-clawed the fit sides, onto the tummy. She circled a single fingernail around Ashley’s navel until Ashley thought she would go crazy. Then tummy tickles again, faster now, and Vicky reduced Ashley to gasping, red faced silent laughter.
“Good one!” Veronica said. “Let’s double-team her.”
Vicky dismounted and Veronica joined her, facing each other across Ashley’s body. Ashley caught her breath, gasped out “No more… please…”
“Don’t you wish!” Vicky said. “Here, sis – like this.”
Vicky reached across and tickle tortured Ashley’s sides, then tickled back and forth across Ashley’s tummy. Veronica joined in, and Ashley arched her back and laughed like mad. They tickled back to the sides and lobster clawed them, then back across the tummy again, tickling in circles. Now Veronica circled the girl’s navel with a fingernail while Vicky kept up the tummy tickling, back and forth from side to side. The fiendish tickling was more than Ashley could bear – she laughed herself breathless again.
“This was a good idea, sis,” Veronica said, flexing her fingers. “She’s even more ticklish than Nicole.”
“We gotta find out who the stylist was who did her hair,” Vicky said. “Look – all that, and not a hair out of place.”
“Yah… We haven’t tickled her feet yet. Ready for some more, Ashley?”
“Oh ghod… nooo…” Ashley begged. “Enough… no more tickling…”
“She’s got enough breath to beg, so she’s got enough to laugh some more,” Veronica said. She pulled up a chair and sat down at the end of the table, facing Ashley’s feet. “Let’s see… Like this, maybe,” she said, and scrabbled her fingernails all over the bottoms of both feet.
Ashley went wild, squirming, bucking, trying desperately to pull her feet away, laughing at the top of her lungs.
“Check it out!” Veronica said. “This is as good as the tummy tickles! Want some of this?”
“Later,” Vicky replied. “Find the sweet spots for me.”
But there didn’t seem to be one special spot, though Veronica did her best to find one. Ashley’s feet were incredibly ticklish all over. Veronica tickled Ashley’s soles, watching the toes twitch and curl. She drew circles, squares, figure-eight’s and other tickling shapes in the arches. She scratched and scrabbled on the heels. Ashley laughed and laughed, her struggles getting weaker as all resistance was tickled out of her.
Veronica held the toes back and tickled the stretched-out soles, side to side across both feet, up and down the creases in the middle, around the balls. Then under the toes while Ashley laughed and laughed. She scratched between two toes, producing more helpless laughter, repeated it on the other toes, tickling between each pair. Then finally flicked her fingernails in Ashley’s arches, fast as she could, and Ashley had the breath tickled out of her for the third time that day.
Vicky was an upper body tickler by preference, but this was just too good to pass up. She joined in on the next round of foot tickling, keeping pace with Veronica. Ashley laughed helplessly as the flying fingernails scratched and scrabbled, tears of laughter streaming down her face.
They started on the heels, tickled up the arches, onto the soles. They spread her toes and tickled between them, held the toes back and tickled the soft skin underneath, then onto the stretched out soles. Down the arches, onto the heels, back up to the toes again – over and over, while time expanded and the tickling filled Ashley’s universe. Then the finale, four-hand tickling, and Ashley’s laughter went off the scale. She laughed herself breathless for the fourth time.
They had been tickling Ashley for the better part of an hour. Vicky called a halt to let Ashley catch her breath. She would need it for what would come next.
Vicky straddled Ashley’s waist, Veronica sat facing her feet. Vicky started off, lobster clawing Ashley’s sides and then tickling up and across her tummy. She moved on to rib tickling, up the ribcage and back down to the ticklish sides, then back across the tummy again, over and over. Veronica tickled Ashley’s feet – nothing fancy, flicking and scratching and scrabbling as fast as she could. Ashley arched her back, laughing at the top of her lungs, and slipped into ticklish delirium. No one could endure four-handed tickling for long – she laughed herself out of breath for the fifth and last time.
“OK, that’s it,” Vicky said. She dismounted, flicked her balisong open and cut Ashley’s bonds, left Ashley gasping on the table.
“Y’know, we ought to tickle the other two,” Veronica said.
“Who – Candice and Morgan?” Vicky asked.
“Well – them too. But I meant Angie and Stephanie. I’ll bet they’d be lots of fun.”
“Mmm… You’re right. After the next show, maybe? Well, we can figure it out later.”
Ashley laid there, trying to get her breathing and heart rate normal again. She rolled onto her side and curled up, eyes closed, tears rolling down her cheeks.. She was sweaty, her throat was dry, her ribs and abs ached from laughing. But even worse was the humiliation, and the memory of another incident in the not-too-distant past. How could I be so stupid? she thought.
“We enjoyed this little session, Ashley,” Vicky said, and slapped her on the butt.
“It was a lot of laughs,” Veronica added.
“ ‘Bye, Ashley!” they said in chorus. They high-fived each other. “Woo-hoo! The reign of terror continues!”
After a time, Ashley stood and dried her tears. She dressed, pulled the door to, and left the mall without a word to anyone.
***
Ashley sat on the park bench, watching the children on the playground. She wore jeans, sweatshirt and sneakers now – and a good thing too, the day was noticeably cooler this close to supper time. There was an open pack of cigarettes and a disposable lighter on the bench beside her, half a dozen cigarette butts on the ground at her feet. The tears were gone, she had even washed her face to remove the evidence of them. She felt numb.
Two little girls, maybe 10 years old, were on a horizontal tire swing. Two others pushed them, back and forth and around in circles. All of them were shouting, laughing, shrieking – four little friends enjoying themselves together.
Footsteps behind her, and then a presence to her front.
“Ashley! I thought that was you,” Candice said.
Ashley looked up. “What are you doing here, Candice?” she asked, in a tone noticeably lacking in warmth.
Candice sat at Ashley’s side. “I was on my way to the library and saw the car here,” she said. “Morgan said you were coming to our Vellatrices meeting after your fashion show this afternoon. We missed you – I was a little worried when you didn’t show up.”
Ashley looked away from Candice, toward the little girls again. She shook another cigarette out of the pack and lit up.
“When did you start smoking?” Candice asked, surprised.
“This was my first and only attempt at youthful rebellion,” Ashley replied. Her voice wasn’t its usual musical contralto – she was a little hoarse from laughing and from the unaccustomed tobacco smoke. “I quit last summer, just before Mom and I moved here. Haven’t had one in almost a year.” She looked at the glowing end, took a drag and let it out. “But… They help me to think.”
The little girls had given up on the tire swing and were chalking something on the sidewalk. Ah – hopscotch, that’s it. She turned again to face Candice.
“Last fall when you and your friends “initiated” me, there wasn’t any Ancient and Honorable Order of Vellatrices, was there? You made that up on the spot.”
The stricken look on Candice’s face gave Ashley all the answer she needed.
“I thought so.” She paused to take a drag on her cigarette. “Vicky and Veronica tricked me this afternoon and then tickled me for over an hour. I thought they were gonna tickle me to death.”
Ashley took another drag, let it out. “I don’t hold it against them. I should have known better – that’s what they do. They did me a favor, really – they got me thinking. At least they didn’t pretend to be my friends afterward.”
“Ashley –” Candice started.
Ashley overrode her. “Let’s trick the dumb blonde and tickle torture her. Our story’s so lame that even a Labrador Retriever could see through it – but not Ashley, she’ll buy it, she’s dumb as dirt. Isn’t that the way it went?”
“Oh, Ashley,” Candice said, fighting tears, “I’m so sorry…”
“I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, maybe, but I do catch on eventually.” Ashley took another hard drag – the coal on the end glowed bright red. “Why did you do it, Candice? Spin that yarn about the Vellatrices, I mean. Did you feel sorry for me? Were you ashamed that you took advantage of someone who comes unarmed to a battle of wits?”
Candice wiped away tears. “You took everything we did to you with determination and without complaint,” she said. “We all respected that. Yes, I made it up, but you helped make it real, Ashley. You’re part of the group, an important part, and I’m glad you are. I missed you today.”
“No,” Ashley said. “No more lies. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” She dropped her cigarette on the grass, ground it out with her shoe. The little girlfriends, she saw, were still playing hopscotch. Two of them had their heads together, giggling. “Go away, Candice. I don’t think I want to be friends with you anymore.”
“Ashley, please…”
“Go.” The tone was implacable. “Before I forget that Mom raised me to be a lady.”
Candice left, in tears. Ashley lit another cigarette and watched the hopscotch game to its conclusion.
The little girls were leaving now, piling into a minivan with two women – their mothers, presumably. They were still laughing and giggling., still enjoying each other’s company even though playtime was over.
Ashley remembered a phrase from an old book: “going native.” Ashley had gone native as soon as she and Mom moved in. Emily had resisted for a long time, but she had eventually done so too.
But maybe Emily had been right from the first. They would graduate from high school in a few months – two months later, Ashley would go away to State University. And if that didn’t work out, she had enough experience and contacts by now to go into modeling full time.
In either case, Tieson City was a way station, nothing more. Ashley would behave the way she would in any such place. She would keep to herself, mind her own business, and require the same courtesy of others.
Like she should have done from the start.
***THE END***
Copyright 2003 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Ashley Curtis
A.K.A Beauty Queen. She’s 18, tall and shapely, with long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Her mother started entering her in beauty pageants and contests as soon as she could walk. She lives with her mom, a former beauty queen herself, who always showers Ashley with positive influence on how beautiful she is. Ashley and her mother moved to Tickle Street at the start of the school year. Besides being exceptionally beautiful, Ashley is also exceptionally ticklish – an ideal combination.
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky, the leader, is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and Veronica is right handed. They’re 20 years old, medium height, with very trim and fit figures that they maintain by martial arts. They have shoulder length wavy dark brown hair, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re extremely ticklish, but since they’re a team, they don’t get tickled much.
Morgan Ernst
A.K.A. Girl Genius. Age 18, medium height, slender, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. She gets straight A’s in all subjects. She’s new in town, her family moved to Tieson City at the beginning of the previous summer. She’s extremely ticklish. Because of a horrible experience in her former town, she had a deathly fear of tickling – but her neighbors cured that!
Candice Wade
A little beauty, 18 years old, with crystal blue eyes and ash blonde hair, and a very trim and shapely body. An extrovert and sensualist, she loves to be tickled and get in ticklish situations, but if the tickling goes too far, she's out of control. Lately her lust to be tickled has grown and grown, and now she'll do anything to get tickled. She's lived with her parents and sister on Tickle Street since she was five.
********************
Outside the dressing room, the announcer started her spiel. Mrs. Driscoll stuck her head in the door and said “Showtime in five minutes, girls! Remember, now – Ashley first, then Stephanie, and then Angie. Keep it moving, and don’t choke out there.”
There wasn’t much danger of that – all three were veterans of the beauty contest circuit. This wasn’t their first rodeo.
Ashley Curtis was blonde and blue-eyed, Stephanie Miklajcyk was a green-eyed brunette, Angie Fontana had black hair and brown eyes. But all three were the same physical type – tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long silky hair, flawless skin, beautiful faces, hourglass figures and long, shapely legs. They looked enough alike to be sisters.
The three girls were the Youth Advisory Board of the department store that anchored one end of Squander Mall. Once a week, they were paid $20.00 to spend an hour or so advising the buyers responsible for the young women’s clothing lines. It was easy money. Even better, the store considered them to be employees, so they got a discount on all of their purchases.
Four times a year, the store held a fashion show in the mall atrium to show off the upcoming season’s clothing. The three girls were among the models, and that was a good deal too. They weren’t paid at the same rate as the professional models, but they got exposure and job contacts. Some things – swim suits, for example – couldn’t be sold after someone wore them. The girls got to keep those. It was a nice little bonus.
The stage and runway were temporary structures, stored between shows in the store’s regional distribution warehouse. The dressing rooms were pretty basic too – plywood boxes built on utility trailer chassis. They were furnished with a long, narrow table under illuminated wall-mounted mirrors, chairs, a water cooler, a rack made of steel pipe to hang clothing.
The girls were dressed in bikinis, beach wraps and, incongruously, fuzzy slippers. They were professionaly made up, manicured and pedicured. The stylists had put enough goop in their hair that it would probably hold for weeks without recombing. The prep work had taken well over an hour. In other words, the usual.
Ashley kicked off her slippers, stepped into spike-heeled sandals and went out the dressing room door to take position backstage. As beachwear, the shoes were preposterous, but they were a fashion show standard. They made the girls’ legs look longer and prettier. Ashley had been wearing heels for so long that she never gave it a thought.
Mrs. Driscoll raised one finger, two, three, and pointed. Ashely fixed a smile on her face and walked out into the lights.
They had a pretty good crowd today, Ashley saw. Quite a few were guys whose wives or girlfriends had dragged them to the mall – they were being rewarded for it, but probably not the way their women had had in mind. Vicky and Veronica Righetti were there – they worked at the department store too, must be on their break. Michael Gabreski, Melissa’s brother, was there with her best friend Morgan Ernst – they grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. She knew others from school. And as always, Mom was front and center. Ashley gave her an almost imperceptible nod – anyone not looking for it would have missed it.
Mom was her biggest booster. She had been a beauty queen too, in her time, before… Well, Mom was only 34.
The baby had put an end to Lisa Curtis’s modeling career before it began. Part of the mother-daughter dynamic was Lisa living out her own lost dream through her daughter. Lisa was determined that Ashley would have what she herself could not, and further determined that Ashley wouldn’t repeat her own mistakes. She was as fiercely protective as a she-bear with a cub.
The announcer extolled the virtues of the swimsuit on her living, breathing mannequin. Walk – strike a pose – turn – another pose – flick the wrap off – pose again – then off the stage to polite applause as Stephanie came on. Ashley went back to the dressing room, shucked off the suit, put on the next – Angie was on by now – a fast touchup of her makeup, and back out onto the stage again. It went like clockwork – they could do this in their sleep.
Their part of the show lasted 20 minutes, and then the action moved on to other product lines. They were through for the day. That suited them fine – modeling is harder than it looks.
“Wooo!” Angie said, fanning herself with a magazine. “I’m about to burn up!” The dressing room smelled like hairspray and warm girl – those stage lights were hot.
“Me for a shower,” Stephanie said. She smeared cold cream on her face, passed the jar along and set to work scrubbing the makeup off. “My hair feels like cardboard. Jeez Louise, how I hate hair gel! You’d think I’d be used to it by now.”
“Part of the job, like sore feet,” Ashley said, wiggling her toes inside her slippers. “Here, let me help with that.”
It took the girls 15 minutes, working together, to scrub away an hour’s work. Morgan stopped in to visit. Ashley introduced her – Stephanie and Angie had seen Morgan around school, but didn’t really know her. Mrs Driscoll shooed Michael away, told him to go elsewhere for a while.
Stephanie and Angie got dressed and left. Ashley and Morgan continued their conversation. After a while, Mrs. Driscoll left too, with an admonition to Ashley to lock up when she was finished.
Ashley had cooled off by now, and wore a terry robe over her swimsuit. She kicked off a slipper and rubbed her toes. “This is a good gig,” she said, “but it’s tough on the feet.”
“Yah…” Morgan paused, then went on in a low voice. “All my life, I’ve wanted to be beautiful. Like you. A bird of paradise, not a little brown jenny wren.”
“Beauty doesen’t last, Morgan,” Ashley said gently. “Smart lasts a lifetime. Sometimes I envy you – I know I’m no rocket scientist.”
“Rockets! Michael!” Morgan said. “He was gonna look for a reprint of Galactic Patrol at the bookstore! It’s been…” (she looked at her watch) “…over an hour!”
“You better go, then,” Ashley said. “He’s probably standing outside with steam coming out of his ears. I’ll see you in a little while, at the Vellatrices meeting.”
Ashley gathered up her stuff after Morgan left. She had just taken off her robe, getting ready to get dressed, when there was a knock on the door.
“Forget something, Morgan?” she asked. “Come on in.”
But it wasn’t Morgan – the new arrivals were Vicky and Veronica Righetti. They wore their go-to-work clothes: collared blouses with name tags, dark slacks, sensible shoes. Their dark hair was done up in pony tails.
“Oh… Hi. I saw you two at the show, but I didn’t expect you to come here. Aren’t you working?”
“Just got off,” Vicky replied. “You looked pretty good up there.”
“Thanks… What can I do for you?”
“Oh, we just stopped by to visit,” Veronica said.
“That’s an odd combination,” Vicky said. “Bikini and bunny slippers.”
“My feet hurt. I don’t much like spike heels, but they’re part of the job.”
“We can fix that,” Veronica said. “We’ll give you a foot rub.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Vicky said. “We’ll give you a massage. Help me move the table, sis.”
“OK, Ashley, spread your robe on the table,” said Veronica. “Now, on your tummy, arms by your sides. Then close your eyes and relax – we’ll handle the rest.”
And a fine job they did, too. Vicky straddled Ashley’s hips and massaged her back and shoulders. Veronica worked on her legs and feet. Sometimes it tickled a little – too light a touch on ribs or sides or thighs or feet – but Ashley could feel the tension draining out of her.
Ashley was limp by the time they stopped. Vicky dismounted and said, “OK, Ashley, we’re gonna roll you over. Relax, and put your hands over your head.”
Ashley did as she was told. “If I was any more relaxed, I’d be comatose,” she said.
“We won’t put you to sleep,” Veronica said. “The next part is a little more active. It’ll be good for a few laughs.”
“Laughs?” Ashley was bewildered – she really didn’t know what was coming next.
Ashley was far from dumb – her grades were mostly B’s, with an occasional A. But as often happens with truly beautiful young women, life had treated Ashley gently. All her life, people had smiled when they saw her. She had never acquired the healthy suspicion most people have by the end of puberty. Nor had she needed it – her mother’s protectiveness had seen to that. Her open, sunny personality was the result.
But there was a downside. Ashley’s life had led her to expect good treatment out of the people she met. She was in for something very different.
“NOW!” Vicky shouted, and Ashley felt sudden constriction around wrists and ankles.
“Hey!” Ashley said. She tried to pull loose, but couldn’t. “What are you doing?”
The twins had come prepared – old nylons are strong and easily portable. Vicky tied Ashley’s ankles off to one end of the table while Veronica tied her wrists to the other. Ashley was pinned on her back, tied down at both ends.
“Remember how Veronica said this would be good for a few laughs?” Vicky asked. “She meant YOURS!”
Vicky climbed up on the table and straddled Ashley’s hips. “Relax,” she said, “you’re not going anywhere for a while.” She started gently stroking her fingernails in Ashley’s exposed armpits.
“Hehehehe! Sta-haha-ap!” Ashley begged. “That tickles!”
“It’s supposed to tickle, silly!” Vicky said.
“Noooo! Hahaha-HAHAHAHAHA-hehe-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Ashley laughed and giggled as Vicky tickled. Her tickle laugh was a musical contralto, as lovely as the rest of her.
Veronica gauged the laughter. “You’re gonna have to do better than that,” she said.
“A little help, sis?” Vicky said. Her tickling fingers picked up speed. No more giggles, the laughter was continuous now.
“How’s this?” Veronica asked, and joined in, tickling down the front of Ashley’s thighs to her knees, then up the back to her butt. She did her best, and Ashley’s helpless laughter went up a notch.
Vicky picked up the pace, tickling up and down Ashley’s ribs. She carefully tickled on each rib, tickled the spaces between them, then lobster clawed her way up and down as Ashley squirmed and laughed.
Vicky tickled her way down Ashley’s sides, onto her tummy, back onto the ticklish sides again. Suddenly Ashley was struggling, bucking, laughing her pretty head off.
“Wow! That’s more like it!” Veronica said. She stopped tickling Ashley’s thighs and walked around next to her twin. “What are you doing to her?”
“Tummy tickles – sides too. Care to join me?”
“Later. Wear it out.”
Ashley howled with forced mirth as Vicky tickled her flat abs, one hand following the panty line and the other the rib cage. Vicky tickled in circles around her navel, watching the muscles jump and twitch. Then side to side, hand over hand, crossing over and back to the ticklish sides. Ashley was incapable of resistance, all of the fight tickled out of her. All she could do was lay there and laugh like mad.
Vicky tickled up and down Ashley’s ribs, lobster-clawed the fit sides, onto the tummy. She circled a single fingernail around Ashley’s navel until Ashley thought she would go crazy. Then tummy tickles again, faster now, and Vicky reduced Ashley to gasping, red faced silent laughter.
“Good one!” Veronica said. “Let’s double-team her.”
Vicky dismounted and Veronica joined her, facing each other across Ashley’s body. Ashley caught her breath, gasped out “No more… please…”
“Don’t you wish!” Vicky said. “Here, sis – like this.”
Vicky reached across and tickle tortured Ashley’s sides, then tickled back and forth across Ashley’s tummy. Veronica joined in, and Ashley arched her back and laughed like mad. They tickled back to the sides and lobster clawed them, then back across the tummy again, tickling in circles. Now Veronica circled the girl’s navel with a fingernail while Vicky kept up the tummy tickling, back and forth from side to side. The fiendish tickling was more than Ashley could bear – she laughed herself breathless again.
“This was a good idea, sis,” Veronica said, flexing her fingers. “She’s even more ticklish than Nicole.”
“We gotta find out who the stylist was who did her hair,” Vicky said. “Look – all that, and not a hair out of place.”
“Yah… We haven’t tickled her feet yet. Ready for some more, Ashley?”
“Oh ghod… nooo…” Ashley begged. “Enough… no more tickling…”
“She’s got enough breath to beg, so she’s got enough to laugh some more,” Veronica said. She pulled up a chair and sat down at the end of the table, facing Ashley’s feet. “Let’s see… Like this, maybe,” she said, and scrabbled her fingernails all over the bottoms of both feet.
Ashley went wild, squirming, bucking, trying desperately to pull her feet away, laughing at the top of her lungs.
“Check it out!” Veronica said. “This is as good as the tummy tickles! Want some of this?”
“Later,” Vicky replied. “Find the sweet spots for me.”
But there didn’t seem to be one special spot, though Veronica did her best to find one. Ashley’s feet were incredibly ticklish all over. Veronica tickled Ashley’s soles, watching the toes twitch and curl. She drew circles, squares, figure-eight’s and other tickling shapes in the arches. She scratched and scrabbled on the heels. Ashley laughed and laughed, her struggles getting weaker as all resistance was tickled out of her.
Veronica held the toes back and tickled the stretched-out soles, side to side across both feet, up and down the creases in the middle, around the balls. Then under the toes while Ashley laughed and laughed. She scratched between two toes, producing more helpless laughter, repeated it on the other toes, tickling between each pair. Then finally flicked her fingernails in Ashley’s arches, fast as she could, and Ashley had the breath tickled out of her for the third time that day.
Vicky was an upper body tickler by preference, but this was just too good to pass up. She joined in on the next round of foot tickling, keeping pace with Veronica. Ashley laughed helplessly as the flying fingernails scratched and scrabbled, tears of laughter streaming down her face.
They started on the heels, tickled up the arches, onto the soles. They spread her toes and tickled between them, held the toes back and tickled the soft skin underneath, then onto the stretched out soles. Down the arches, onto the heels, back up to the toes again – over and over, while time expanded and the tickling filled Ashley’s universe. Then the finale, four-hand tickling, and Ashley’s laughter went off the scale. She laughed herself breathless for the fourth time.
They had been tickling Ashley for the better part of an hour. Vicky called a halt to let Ashley catch her breath. She would need it for what would come next.
Vicky straddled Ashley’s waist, Veronica sat facing her feet. Vicky started off, lobster clawing Ashley’s sides and then tickling up and across her tummy. She moved on to rib tickling, up the ribcage and back down to the ticklish sides, then back across the tummy again, over and over. Veronica tickled Ashley’s feet – nothing fancy, flicking and scratching and scrabbling as fast as she could. Ashley arched her back, laughing at the top of her lungs, and slipped into ticklish delirium. No one could endure four-handed tickling for long – she laughed herself out of breath for the fifth and last time.
“OK, that’s it,” Vicky said. She dismounted, flicked her balisong open and cut Ashley’s bonds, left Ashley gasping on the table.
“Y’know, we ought to tickle the other two,” Veronica said.
“Who – Candice and Morgan?” Vicky asked.
“Well – them too. But I meant Angie and Stephanie. I’ll bet they’d be lots of fun.”
“Mmm… You’re right. After the next show, maybe? Well, we can figure it out later.”
Ashley laid there, trying to get her breathing and heart rate normal again. She rolled onto her side and curled up, eyes closed, tears rolling down her cheeks.. She was sweaty, her throat was dry, her ribs and abs ached from laughing. But even worse was the humiliation, and the memory of another incident in the not-too-distant past. How could I be so stupid? she thought.
“We enjoyed this little session, Ashley,” Vicky said, and slapped her on the butt.
“It was a lot of laughs,” Veronica added.
“ ‘Bye, Ashley!” they said in chorus. They high-fived each other. “Woo-hoo! The reign of terror continues!”
After a time, Ashley stood and dried her tears. She dressed, pulled the door to, and left the mall without a word to anyone.
***
Ashley sat on the park bench, watching the children on the playground. She wore jeans, sweatshirt and sneakers now – and a good thing too, the day was noticeably cooler this close to supper time. There was an open pack of cigarettes and a disposable lighter on the bench beside her, half a dozen cigarette butts on the ground at her feet. The tears were gone, she had even washed her face to remove the evidence of them. She felt numb.
Two little girls, maybe 10 years old, were on a horizontal tire swing. Two others pushed them, back and forth and around in circles. All of them were shouting, laughing, shrieking – four little friends enjoying themselves together.
Footsteps behind her, and then a presence to her front.
“Ashley! I thought that was you,” Candice said.
Ashley looked up. “What are you doing here, Candice?” she asked, in a tone noticeably lacking in warmth.
Candice sat at Ashley’s side. “I was on my way to the library and saw the car here,” she said. “Morgan said you were coming to our Vellatrices meeting after your fashion show this afternoon. We missed you – I was a little worried when you didn’t show up.”
Ashley looked away from Candice, toward the little girls again. She shook another cigarette out of the pack and lit up.
“When did you start smoking?” Candice asked, surprised.
“This was my first and only attempt at youthful rebellion,” Ashley replied. Her voice wasn’t its usual musical contralto – she was a little hoarse from laughing and from the unaccustomed tobacco smoke. “I quit last summer, just before Mom and I moved here. Haven’t had one in almost a year.” She looked at the glowing end, took a drag and let it out. “But… They help me to think.”
The little girls had given up on the tire swing and were chalking something on the sidewalk. Ah – hopscotch, that’s it. She turned again to face Candice.
“Last fall when you and your friends “initiated” me, there wasn’t any Ancient and Honorable Order of Vellatrices, was there? You made that up on the spot.”
The stricken look on Candice’s face gave Ashley all the answer she needed.
“I thought so.” She paused to take a drag on her cigarette. “Vicky and Veronica tricked me this afternoon and then tickled me for over an hour. I thought they were gonna tickle me to death.”
Ashley took another drag, let it out. “I don’t hold it against them. I should have known better – that’s what they do. They did me a favor, really – they got me thinking. At least they didn’t pretend to be my friends afterward.”
“Ashley –” Candice started.
Ashley overrode her. “Let’s trick the dumb blonde and tickle torture her. Our story’s so lame that even a Labrador Retriever could see through it – but not Ashley, she’ll buy it, she’s dumb as dirt. Isn’t that the way it went?”
“Oh, Ashley,” Candice said, fighting tears, “I’m so sorry…”
“I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, maybe, but I do catch on eventually.” Ashley took another hard drag – the coal on the end glowed bright red. “Why did you do it, Candice? Spin that yarn about the Vellatrices, I mean. Did you feel sorry for me? Were you ashamed that you took advantage of someone who comes unarmed to a battle of wits?”
Candice wiped away tears. “You took everything we did to you with determination and without complaint,” she said. “We all respected that. Yes, I made it up, but you helped make it real, Ashley. You’re part of the group, an important part, and I’m glad you are. I missed you today.”
“No,” Ashley said. “No more lies. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” She dropped her cigarette on the grass, ground it out with her shoe. The little girlfriends, she saw, were still playing hopscotch. Two of them had their heads together, giggling. “Go away, Candice. I don’t think I want to be friends with you anymore.”
“Ashley, please…”
“Go.” The tone was implacable. “Before I forget that Mom raised me to be a lady.”
Candice left, in tears. Ashley lit another cigarette and watched the hopscotch game to its conclusion.
The little girls were leaving now, piling into a minivan with two women – their mothers, presumably. They were still laughing and giggling., still enjoying each other’s company even though playtime was over.
Ashley remembered a phrase from an old book: “going native.” Ashley had gone native as soon as she and Mom moved in. Emily had resisted for a long time, but she had eventually done so too.
But maybe Emily had been right from the first. They would graduate from high school in a few months – two months later, Ashley would go away to State University. And if that didn’t work out, she had enough experience and contacts by now to go into modeling full time.
In either case, Tieson City was a way station, nothing more. Ashley would behave the way she would in any such place. She would keep to herself, mind her own business, and require the same courtesy of others.
Like she should have done from the start.
***THE END***
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Very well done.
