FreshPedicure
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Here's the latest installment of my series. I'm really proud of this one. I hope readers enjoy it!
Friday Overtime
Northcoast Hospital could never really be accurately described as “quiet” or “calm”, but a sunny Friday in late June often lent a certain emptiness to the campus. A University hospital, Northcoast was made up of the main hospital and a network of smaller buildings that hosted academic institutions, administrative offices, maintenance facilities and research and outpatient care clinics.
This large sprawling campus of concrete and brick buildings was made beautiful by the wealth of trees, flower gardens and park-like grassy areas that filled the spaces between buildings and parking lots – the perfect spot for patients to catch a breath of fresh air and the employees to enjoy a meal on a nice day.
Kristine and Jessica sat across from one another at one of the tables that dotted the grass outside of their clinic on the far east side of the campus. Both of them loved the Summer weather and on warm sunny days they yearned to be outside of their AC cooled building, so they took every advantage of their break time.
Both Physician Assistants by training, they were “lieutenants” to their managing Physician, Dr. Janice Chen. Kristine was in charge of patient care and Jessica assumed a clinic coordinator role, which meant they shouldered nearly all the responsibilities of their clinic’s operation. They’d become invaluable to Janice, both as individuals and a team. She relied on them for everything, overworked them whenever she could and rewarded them with autonomy and hefty bonuses.
The two blondes chatted in between bites of green salad and sips of iced drinks, more friends than coworkers even in the middle of a chaotic work day. A sight to see for a would be passerby: two beautiful young ladies in their mid 30s, dressed in tailored business casual attire enjoying a beautiful summer day.
Kristine took a final sip of iced tea and sighed as she slipped her freshly pedicured bare feet out of cognac-colored leather mules. She turned to sit longways on the bench, extending her legs out on the seat of it. She crossed one leg over the other at the ankles and flexed her toes to greet the balmy air.
The watermelon pink polish on her toes gleamed in the sunlight and contrasted nicely against her golden tanned skin. She wore an oat colored sleeveless top that draped off of her large breasts and was tucked into the top of silken navy trousers that hugged her firm butt but hung loose and straight like expensive curtains around her toned legs and ended just above her ankles giving her silhouette a chic, stylish contour. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled off her face and secured by a tortoise shell clasp in a loose but neat way and she wore subtle makeup around her amber hued eyes that seemed to make her alluring face, tan and faintly freckled, even more beautiful.
Kristine’s hand scrolled her phone while she rubbed one foot on the other and flexed her toes to stretch her feet, a habit she had. “I don’t know what to do about this thing with Marianna. I feel terrible.”
“I know. It sucks because it was really a misunderstanding. I’m going to talk to her for you.” Jessica replied as she poked her salad with her fork aimlessly before flicking her wrist up to check her Apple Watch.
Jessica was always the more conservative dresser of the pair and the epitome of high end prep. On this day she wore a light blue oxford shirt with a subtle but pretty white pattern on it, tucked into a pair of slim navy dress pants that were similar to Kristine’s only in color, but much more crisp and structured. She wore expensive black leather loafers on her feet and a dainty gold anklet that matched her necklace. Her hair, a lighter shade of blonde than her friend, was kept in a tight ponytail, and her pretty, friendly face tastefully made up to showcase her crystal blue eyes.
“I just can’t believe I got her in trouble.” Kristine said clearly dismayed.
The girls were talking about an incident that happened earlier in the week.
—
Marianna, a nurse in their clinic, believed that Kristine was wholly responsible for getting her into trouble with Dr. Chen. In truth, she was responsible.
Kristine had spoken too soon, and too freely.
The moment she registered a task undone, she made a comment to Jessica. It was something they’d often done. Office gossip.
But it was careless. Dr. Chen overheard. She interjected. She told Kristine and Jessica that she’d grown tired of Marianna avoiding tasks. She was frustrated.
It was only later that week that Kristine learned that Marianna wasn’t at fault. She thought about it. She spoke to Jess about it. They reasoned that Dr. Chen probably forgot about the whole thing.
They let it go.
Marianna always got along with Jessica and Kristine. For the most part. She put their bossiness and tendency to overlook the work of the medical assistants and nurses aside. She was shocked to learn that Kristine had been the one who alerted Dr. Chen, and even more shocked to learn that she was falsely accused.
Marianna was mad. She was upset that Kristine didn’t admit that she’d gotten the story wrong. She thought this was just another one of many instances where Kristine didn’t want to admit to being wrong.
There was also jealousy. Marianna and the rest of the staff all knew that Dr. Chen favored her hard-charging “lieutenants.” She treated them differently. She valued them more. If the brilliant Doctor was bad at something, it was interpersonal relations. She never made an effort to not play favorites, and it created silent animosity in an office full of young women.
—
“I’m sure it’ll blow over, Kris.” Jessica reassured her friend as she stood up and gathered the salad boxes and cups and made her way over to the garbage nearby.
When she turned around to head back to the table, Jessica saw Marianna and one of the medical assistants, Amanda, walking down the path toward the picnic tables. “Speak of the devil” she muttered under her breath as she walked back toward the table.
She thought for a second… This might be a fortuitous opportunity to see just how mad Marianna was with Kristine.
She waved the two girls over and watched as Amanda nudged Marianna a bit before they changed course and headed for Jess and Kristine.
Jessica, now standing at the end of the table, called out “Hey girls!”
Kristine spun her upper body around to see who Jess was talking to and whispered “Oh great.”
“Looks like we all had the same idea on this beautiful day!” Amanda said as she took a seat opposite Kristine.
Amanda was a few years younger than Jessica and Kristine and a friendly face in the office. She worked the front desk and was beloved by the patients and administrative staff, and chronically under-appreciated by management. A fair-skinned brunette who wore her hair in a loose wavy style and had green eyes that peered out from the lenses of the metal rimmed glasses that sat on the bridge of a large nose. She wasn’t unattractive, but she often felt insecure around the two blondes currently in front of her. She was short and slightly overweight and wore ill-fitting grey scrubs during work hours.
Marianna worked directly under Kristine as a part of a team of nurses. She had shoulder length raven colored hair that was almost always tied in a tight ponytail at work. She had a round face with deep chestnut colored eyes, bronze skin and full lips that were nearly always clad in scarlet red lipstick. Her curvy body filled her scrubs out attractively, and seemed to highlight her large round butt. She was short in stature, short enough that even thick soled athletic sneakers couldn’t raise her above the other girls in the office.
The girls chatted for a few minutes. First about patients they’d seen earlier in the day and then about some benign office gossip. Marianna was uncharacteristically quiet during the conversation and Kristine’s amber eyes kept sneaking away from Jess and Amanda to observe her body language.
Marianna seemed as if she didn’t want to be there. She was polite, but not in her usual way. Kristine read annoyance in her eyes and felt guilty. But how could she make it right now? The proverbial milk was spilt.
Jessica wanted to sit down where Kristine’s legs and feet were, hoping to enjoy the last ten minutes of the break. A different person might have nudged Kristine’s leg, or maybe tapped her foot. But Jessica chose to dance her manicured fingernails across the sole of Kristine’s resting bare foot. She knew exactly where to strike to get the best reaction: right below the soft round ball of her foot, on the baby-soft pale skin of her arch.
Kristine’s reaction was electric. Her upper body hiccuped and her bare feet moved away from Jessica’s tickling fingers with haste. “Hey! You could’ve said excuse me…”
The tickle was so quick and looked innocent enough that no one should have noticed. Jess knew what she was doing of course, but it wasn’t even long enough to make Kristine laugh. It was a simple way to startle her enough to move her legs.
But when Amanda and Marianna left their other two coworkers minutes later, and Marianna began reiterating how annoyed she was at Kristine, Amanda raised the question:
“Did you see Jess tickle her back there?”
Marianna replied “Oh that’s what that was? I saw her jump but I didn’t know what Jess did.”
“Yeah. She tickled her foot.” Amanda explained.
“You know… come to think of it… I think I’ve seen her tickle Kristine before.” Marianna said, thinking a bit. “You know, like little pokes here and there. I never thought anything of it before.”
“I bet Kristine is super ticklish...” Amanda led on.
“You think?” Marianna asked.
“Yeah definitely.” Amanda said. “Did you see her jump?”
Marianna’s eyes lit up as she said “Yeah… I got an idea…”
—
Kristine peered out the large window in her and Jessica’s office, watching nothing but the late afternoon haze creep around the parking lot.
“Ugh it’s almost time, Kris…” Jessica said from the desk next to Kristine’s.
“For you. I have to stay for that virtual meeting.” Kristine pouted with a disappointed tone.
“Oh my god… I forgot! How lame. Who schedules a meeting at 5:00pm on Friday?!” Jessica said commiserating.
Kristine sighed. “I know, right? Since I have to stay anyway, you can take off. I’ll field the rest of the call backs.”
Jessica’s eyes lit up. “If you’re sure, I am going to take you up on that offer… I’d love to beat the traffic.”
Kristine finished typing and turned to face her friend. “I’m good, seriously. Don’t worry about it. I’ll call you after dinner.”
Jessica finished stuffing her belongings into her bag and bent down and gave Kristine a hug before making her exit from their office.
Kristine logged into the Zoom meeting and watched the lights in the hallway go out–a sign that the rest of the people in the clinic were leaving for the day as well.
—-
About a half hour through the meeting it was clear that everyone on the call was looking to end their days. Kristine signed off and shut the laptop on her desk with a sigh of relief, only to be startled by the sound of her office door slowly opening.
A familiar voice crept through the door. “Hey. You’re not busy are you?”
Kristine looked over her shoulder toward the doorway and saw Amanda halfway through it. “No. I just finished up. I didn’t know anyone was still here… What’s up?”
Amanda took a few steps in. “I need that log book from last year. I have to look into something.”
“The one up here?” Kristine looked up directly over her desk to the shelf that housed the non-current books and old pharmaceutical manuals.
Amanda pointed upward. “Yeah. I think it’s right there.”
Kristine stood up, her desk chair rolling a bit out behind her. She stood on her tiptoes. Her round pink heels popped up out of the leather mules as she did. She reached up with both arms, her fingers stretched as far as they could go. She rose up the last quarter inch she had all the way on the very tips of her toes.
Her fingers fumbled on the spine of the large book. “Errgh” an adorable noise of exertion escaped her mouth.
In that second Kristine felt a jolt of familiar electricity. Her eyelids raised instantly. She felt a set of hands on her mid-section.
Amanda was behind her. She’d crept closer while Kristine struggled to get the log book. She’d wrapped her slender fingers around Kristine’s trim waist, just above the waistband of her pants.
She dug in with all of her fingers and squeezed with a wiggle. Kristine shrieked “Aaaiieee! Wha—” and dropped her arms.
Amanda tickled again. She had a good grip on Kristin’s sides. Kristine raised one of her knees slightly. She tried to scrunch up, but couldn’t.
Amanda held her and tickled her sides at the same time. Kristine’s lips parted when she tried to ask what Amanada was doing and instead of words, only laughter came out.
Amanda was relentless. Her fingers digging madly into Kristine’s lower ribs and sides.
Kristine, in a fit of laughter, did all that she could: she dropped down onto the floor and curled up in a ball.
Amanda was tenacious. She tickled wherever she could get a hand and Kristine squealed with girlish laughter until she could finally gasp out “whaaatt are you doooing?!”
Amanda chuckled to herself. “What am I doing? What does it look like?”
The door opened slowly and Marianna slid in and closed it swiftly.
Marianna walked around to face Kristine, curled up defensively on the floor. She crooked her head slightly and placed a hand on her hip. “Hey Kristine.”
Amanda pulled at one of Kristine’s arms and got it off of her ribs enough to launch her hand in and poke at her tender sides again.
Kristine let out another yelp and lost her defenses.
Amanda knelt behind Kristine and wrapped her arms around her in a bear hug.
Marianna said “You know you got me in a lot of trouble, right?”
Kristine caught her breath. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that, Marianna. I didn’t realize Janice could hear what I was saying.”
“Yeah, but you also didn’t tell Dr. Chen that I actually did what I was supposed to.” Marianna said.
“Well.. I..” Kristine hesitated and Marianna shook her head in disappointment.
“And you were kind of trashing me to Jess. Right?” Marianna asked.
“No, of course not.” Kristine said as she felt Amanda using her body positioning to keep Kristine seated.
“And you think we’re here to serve you.” Marianna said accusingly.
“That’s not true ...Where are we going with this Marianna?” Kristine’s brows furrowed a bit.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get over it. It’ll end right here tonight.” Marianna said nodding subtly to Amanda.
Amanda grinned “Yeah. Cheer up, Kris. Let’s just laugh this whooole thing off.”
“Uh…” Kristine muttered for a second until she realized what was about to happen. “No! Come on guys!”
Amanda pulled Kristine’s upper body backward and her arms away from her sides. Marianna darted all ten of her fingers into Kristine’s belly and moved them in a kneading motion into her taut abs.
Kristine’s girlish laughter reemerged and filled the room. She giggled uncontrollably until she felt Marianna tugging her silk shirt out of the waistband of her bands.
“Marianna! Plehease stop! I’m soo–” Her words cut short by Marianna’s fingers now poking and flicking the soft skin of her toned belly.
Amanda pulled her back more, exposing more of her terribly ticklish body. “Wow. Look at that tummy Marianna. Sexy!”
Kristine’s giggling intensified. She squirmed and kicked her legs. She yelped and fought so hard not to smile and laugh, but she couldn’t help it.
“Pilates, right Kris? That’s what you do, isn’t it?” Marianna asked knowing Kristine couldn’t even begin to answer.
She flicked a short crimson fingernail on the skin right under Kristine’s navel. “Aaaaiiieee!” She screamed before laughing hysterically.
“Oh that’s a good spot.. But I think it’s time for the main event.” Amanda said, grinning to Marianna.
Marianna peeled her fingers off of Kristine’s tan toned stomach, now red-streaked from the tickling. She got up and then sat down gingerly in Jessica's desk chair.
She rolled it over as Kristine protested “Let me go Amanda, please!”
“We saw Jess tickle your foot earlier.” Marianna said as she methodically lifted Kristine’s feet and ankles up toward her. “Let's find out how ticklish these feet really are.”
Marianna wrapped her muscular legs around Kristine’s, who now found herself completely trapped. She slipped the mules off of Kristine’s feet with ease.
Kristine’s heart raced as she felt the cool air hit her bare feet. “No way! Get off me! I’m serious! Do not touch my feheheheet”
Kristine began laughing again before Marianna even began her tickling. She felt Marianna staring at her feet and it was as if that alone tickled.
Marianna examined Kristine’s bare feet. Size 7.5 with perfectly shaped sturdy toes. Her toenails trimmed neatly and painted the color of ripe watermelon, and the shape of her tendons just barely visible under her golden skin as her toes flexed and wiggled in protest. “Look at these pretty feet!”
She gazed at Kristine’s soles, thick and incredibly soft looking. The balls of her feet looked plush and her heels round and smooth. Kristine’s arches called to her. Porcelain white, in contrast to the rest of her foot, and with fine wrinkles that became pronounced when her toes scrunched.
Marianna wiggled a single pointer directly into the super soft skin of Kristine’s right arch, her trimmed crimson fingernail drawing a maddening circle on the sensitive spot.
Kristine bit down on her rosey pink bottom lip for a few short seconds and tried to wrestle her hands out from under Amanda’s, before her muffled “mmmppff” turned into one chuckle and then another as she registered Marianna’s fingernails exploring her ticklish right foot.
Amanda yelled out excitedly “Oh man! She is really ticklish!”
Kristine’s laughter filled the tiny room. It was deep and natural, primal. She felt Marianna’s fingers dancing across both soles furiously, stopping only trace shapes on her arches.
“Plehehehease!” Kristine could barely get the word out. She knew it wouldn’t help anyway, but it felt like it was as natural as the laughter.
Amanda looked directly into Kristine's eyes and teased. “Please what? What’s wrong?” She pouted her lip falsely and mockingly.
Kristine gritted her teeth down and pinched her lips closed.
“Aw… What's wrong Krissy? You’re feet are really this ticklish?!”
She couldn’t hold it. Kristine’s lips cracked open revealing her perfect smile first and then her mouth opened and filled the room laughter again.
Marianna, without even looking up, said wickedly “Are you sorry yet? I mean, really sorry?”
Her fingers wandered up the ball of Kristine’s right foot and found a particularly sensitive spot on the cusp of it, right above the arch.
Kristine’s laughter hurried and she shrieked out uncontrollably. “Nooot theeeere!”
Marianna smirked. “Right here?” She flicked her fingernail back and forth on the spot and Kristine bucked violently in the chair as her laughter roared.
Marianna stopped for a moment. She repositioned her legs and let Kristine catch her breath.
Marianna looked down again at the beautiful bossy woman, completely vulnerable. The smile on her face gave the whole situation a lightness. A ridiculousness. She was this ticklish? So ticklish that she could be reduced to this powerless state?
Her eyes shifted back to the pair of ticklish feet in her lap. She watched Kristine’s toes curl and one foot push on the other, as if her feet were reacting to being stared at. She began again, tracing light circular patterns on her soles. One hand on each foot, toying with her.
Kristine’s smile turned to a grin. “No moore!” She said through her teeth. She felt the pads of Marianna’s fingers swirling in random figures on the balls of her feet. Her short fingernails randomly grazing all the sensitive spots of her perfect feet.
Marianna watched the delicate natural creases of her arches ripple into tight wrinkles as her toes curled and flexed. She flicked her fingers down over her soft heels and around the secondary arches on the outer edges of her feet.
A shriek came out when she hit those outer edges. Her toes spread wide as they could. “Aaaaiiiiieeee!”
Amanda smirked. “Oh another good spot!”
Marianna looked up grinning, her fingers still swirling over the delicate skin of Kristine’s feet.
“I’ve been wondering….” Amanda started “how do you possibly sit through pedicures being this ticklish?”
Kristine couldn’t answer coherently even if she wanted to. “I—bahahaha!”
Amanda let go of Kristine’s upper body and climbed to her feet. She nodded to Marianna, who steeled her leglock into rigid place. They knew Kristine was too exhausted to mount a defense.
Kristine sat up on her elbows, chest heaving. Strands of her dirty blonde hair hung down, having been loosened from the clip.
“I mean, I’m not nearly as ticklish as you and they make me squirm sometimes.” Amanda leaned down a bit and raised her hand up, making sure Kristine could see. She waved her long slender fingers in the air. “I love a good manicure though.”
Kristine’s eyes widened a bit. She chuckled more and more. Amanda’s nails were long and almond shaped, with rounded points at the tips. Painted a pretty shade of lavender, they hardly seemed like instruments of torment.
But that’s exactly what they were about to be. In this moment, they seemed designed for tickling.
Amanda smirked villainously and turned to face Marianna and Kristine’s trapped feet.
Kristine’s toes spread wide again and flexed as deeply as they could in a vain attempt to escape Amanda’s approaching nails. “Noooohohoho! Amaaannddaaa! Plehehehease!”
It was explosive. The laughter stampeded out of her mouth and trampled any words that she’d hoped would be heard.
Amanda flicked her long pointy nails on the plush balls of her feet and then dragged them slowly up and down her creamy ivory arches.
Marianna used her hands to hold Kristine’s toes back from curling. “Oh what’s that Kristine? You like her nails?” She said as the two of them cackled briefly, enjoying watching Kristine’s hips gyrate and intermittently try to sit up to no avail.
Marianna had her legs completely immobile, but it was as if the tickling itself was sapping the energy from Kristine’s body. She couldn’t get more than halfway up before collapsing back down to the floor.
Kristine’s head began to spin. She couldn’t think. All she could feel was the ticklish sensations reverberating through her feet, connected directly to the uncontrollable laughter coming from deep within her. She was hot and her face flushed. The scent of her vanilla perfume filled the room.
She felt Marianna pressing her fingers on the tips of her toes. “Oh my god!” She thought but couldn’t speak.
Amanda scratched her pointy fingernails on the extremely sensitive pale skin on the shafts of her toes. Kristine’s body jolted with electric ticklishness. “Gahahahahaha! Noooot my tohohoeesss!”
With Marianna pinning her toes back, It didn’t take long for Amanda to discover that the most ticklish part was actually just below her toes, where they met the ball of the foot. “Oh gosh… Kristine… I am almost starting to feel bad!”
“Ju-huhuhust stahahahaap!” Kristine shrieked out and gasped. “I’ll dooo annyyythiiing!”
Marianna smiled. She tapped Amanda’s wrist and slowed her tickling. “Anything huh?”
Kristine sat up finally. Her face hurt. Her abs hurt worse than after her hardest Pilates workout. She pushed her hair back off her face. She was exhausted. “Yes. Please. I cannot take anymore.”
“No more bossing us around.” Marianna said with her head cocked and her eyebrow raised, a sexy smirk shaped her red lips as she held her index finger up authoritatively.“And… You tell Dr. Chen you were wrong. Not that it’s all good, or that we worked it out. You tell her straight up that you were wrong.”
Kristine sighed. Her toes wiggled ever so slightly. “Ok. Fine.”
Marianna knew this meant they’d actually broken her. She knew how hard it would be for Kristine to admit she was wrong. Let alone to Janice.
“This can happen again.” Marianna said sternly as she ran her index finger down Kristine’s sole one last time.
Kristine’s toes curled and she let out a squeak before Marianna nudged Amanda’s hands away and unclenched her legs from around Kristine’s.
“Yeah. This was fun. I recommend you don’t give us a reason to do this again.” Amanda chimed in.
Marianna dropped feet off her lap and stood up. Her and Amanda clenched hands briefly, perhaps a sign of victory.
Kristine hid her poor, tormented feet as she sat up, crossing her legs Indian-style. She let her hair down and shook it out so that it fell relaxed for a moment before she pulled it all backward into the clip. Her smile was faint but still present.
She picked up her phone, tapped the message app and texted Jessica a single word:
‘Drinks?’
Friday Overtime
Northcoast Hospital could never really be accurately described as “quiet” or “calm”, but a sunny Friday in late June often lent a certain emptiness to the campus. A University hospital, Northcoast was made up of the main hospital and a network of smaller buildings that hosted academic institutions, administrative offices, maintenance facilities and research and outpatient care clinics.
This large sprawling campus of concrete and brick buildings was made beautiful by the wealth of trees, flower gardens and park-like grassy areas that filled the spaces between buildings and parking lots – the perfect spot for patients to catch a breath of fresh air and the employees to enjoy a meal on a nice day.
Kristine and Jessica sat across from one another at one of the tables that dotted the grass outside of their clinic on the far east side of the campus. Both of them loved the Summer weather and on warm sunny days they yearned to be outside of their AC cooled building, so they took every advantage of their break time.
Both Physician Assistants by training, they were “lieutenants” to their managing Physician, Dr. Janice Chen. Kristine was in charge of patient care and Jessica assumed a clinic coordinator role, which meant they shouldered nearly all the responsibilities of their clinic’s operation. They’d become invaluable to Janice, both as individuals and a team. She relied on them for everything, overworked them whenever she could and rewarded them with autonomy and hefty bonuses.
The two blondes chatted in between bites of green salad and sips of iced drinks, more friends than coworkers even in the middle of a chaotic work day. A sight to see for a would be passerby: two beautiful young ladies in their mid 30s, dressed in tailored business casual attire enjoying a beautiful summer day.
Kristine took a final sip of iced tea and sighed as she slipped her freshly pedicured bare feet out of cognac-colored leather mules. She turned to sit longways on the bench, extending her legs out on the seat of it. She crossed one leg over the other at the ankles and flexed her toes to greet the balmy air.
The watermelon pink polish on her toes gleamed in the sunlight and contrasted nicely against her golden tanned skin. She wore an oat colored sleeveless top that draped off of her large breasts and was tucked into the top of silken navy trousers that hugged her firm butt but hung loose and straight like expensive curtains around her toned legs and ended just above her ankles giving her silhouette a chic, stylish contour. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled off her face and secured by a tortoise shell clasp in a loose but neat way and she wore subtle makeup around her amber hued eyes that seemed to make her alluring face, tan and faintly freckled, even more beautiful.
Kristine’s hand scrolled her phone while she rubbed one foot on the other and flexed her toes to stretch her feet, a habit she had. “I don’t know what to do about this thing with Marianna. I feel terrible.”
“I know. It sucks because it was really a misunderstanding. I’m going to talk to her for you.” Jessica replied as she poked her salad with her fork aimlessly before flicking her wrist up to check her Apple Watch.
Jessica was always the more conservative dresser of the pair and the epitome of high end prep. On this day she wore a light blue oxford shirt with a subtle but pretty white pattern on it, tucked into a pair of slim navy dress pants that were similar to Kristine’s only in color, but much more crisp and structured. She wore expensive black leather loafers on her feet and a dainty gold anklet that matched her necklace. Her hair, a lighter shade of blonde than her friend, was kept in a tight ponytail, and her pretty, friendly face tastefully made up to showcase her crystal blue eyes.
“I just can’t believe I got her in trouble.” Kristine said clearly dismayed.
The girls were talking about an incident that happened earlier in the week.
—
Marianna, a nurse in their clinic, believed that Kristine was wholly responsible for getting her into trouble with Dr. Chen. In truth, she was responsible.
Kristine had spoken too soon, and too freely.
The moment she registered a task undone, she made a comment to Jessica. It was something they’d often done. Office gossip.
But it was careless. Dr. Chen overheard. She interjected. She told Kristine and Jessica that she’d grown tired of Marianna avoiding tasks. She was frustrated.
It was only later that week that Kristine learned that Marianna wasn’t at fault. She thought about it. She spoke to Jess about it. They reasoned that Dr. Chen probably forgot about the whole thing.
They let it go.
Marianna always got along with Jessica and Kristine. For the most part. She put their bossiness and tendency to overlook the work of the medical assistants and nurses aside. She was shocked to learn that Kristine had been the one who alerted Dr. Chen, and even more shocked to learn that she was falsely accused.
Marianna was mad. She was upset that Kristine didn’t admit that she’d gotten the story wrong. She thought this was just another one of many instances where Kristine didn’t want to admit to being wrong.
There was also jealousy. Marianna and the rest of the staff all knew that Dr. Chen favored her hard-charging “lieutenants.” She treated them differently. She valued them more. If the brilliant Doctor was bad at something, it was interpersonal relations. She never made an effort to not play favorites, and it created silent animosity in an office full of young women.
—
“I’m sure it’ll blow over, Kris.” Jessica reassured her friend as she stood up and gathered the salad boxes and cups and made her way over to the garbage nearby.
When she turned around to head back to the table, Jessica saw Marianna and one of the medical assistants, Amanda, walking down the path toward the picnic tables. “Speak of the devil” she muttered under her breath as she walked back toward the table.
She thought for a second… This might be a fortuitous opportunity to see just how mad Marianna was with Kristine.
She waved the two girls over and watched as Amanda nudged Marianna a bit before they changed course and headed for Jess and Kristine.
Jessica, now standing at the end of the table, called out “Hey girls!”
Kristine spun her upper body around to see who Jess was talking to and whispered “Oh great.”
“Looks like we all had the same idea on this beautiful day!” Amanda said as she took a seat opposite Kristine.
Amanda was a few years younger than Jessica and Kristine and a friendly face in the office. She worked the front desk and was beloved by the patients and administrative staff, and chronically under-appreciated by management. A fair-skinned brunette who wore her hair in a loose wavy style and had green eyes that peered out from the lenses of the metal rimmed glasses that sat on the bridge of a large nose. She wasn’t unattractive, but she often felt insecure around the two blondes currently in front of her. She was short and slightly overweight and wore ill-fitting grey scrubs during work hours.
Marianna worked directly under Kristine as a part of a team of nurses. She had shoulder length raven colored hair that was almost always tied in a tight ponytail at work. She had a round face with deep chestnut colored eyes, bronze skin and full lips that were nearly always clad in scarlet red lipstick. Her curvy body filled her scrubs out attractively, and seemed to highlight her large round butt. She was short in stature, short enough that even thick soled athletic sneakers couldn’t raise her above the other girls in the office.
The girls chatted for a few minutes. First about patients they’d seen earlier in the day and then about some benign office gossip. Marianna was uncharacteristically quiet during the conversation and Kristine’s amber eyes kept sneaking away from Jess and Amanda to observe her body language.
Marianna seemed as if she didn’t want to be there. She was polite, but not in her usual way. Kristine read annoyance in her eyes and felt guilty. But how could she make it right now? The proverbial milk was spilt.
Jessica wanted to sit down where Kristine’s legs and feet were, hoping to enjoy the last ten minutes of the break. A different person might have nudged Kristine’s leg, or maybe tapped her foot. But Jessica chose to dance her manicured fingernails across the sole of Kristine’s resting bare foot. She knew exactly where to strike to get the best reaction: right below the soft round ball of her foot, on the baby-soft pale skin of her arch.
Kristine’s reaction was electric. Her upper body hiccuped and her bare feet moved away from Jessica’s tickling fingers with haste. “Hey! You could’ve said excuse me…”
The tickle was so quick and looked innocent enough that no one should have noticed. Jess knew what she was doing of course, but it wasn’t even long enough to make Kristine laugh. It was a simple way to startle her enough to move her legs.
But when Amanda and Marianna left their other two coworkers minutes later, and Marianna began reiterating how annoyed she was at Kristine, Amanda raised the question:
“Did you see Jess tickle her back there?”
Marianna replied “Oh that’s what that was? I saw her jump but I didn’t know what Jess did.”
“Yeah. She tickled her foot.” Amanda explained.
“You know… come to think of it… I think I’ve seen her tickle Kristine before.” Marianna said, thinking a bit. “You know, like little pokes here and there. I never thought anything of it before.”
“I bet Kristine is super ticklish...” Amanda led on.
“You think?” Marianna asked.
“Yeah definitely.” Amanda said. “Did you see her jump?”
Marianna’s eyes lit up as she said “Yeah… I got an idea…”
—
Kristine peered out the large window in her and Jessica’s office, watching nothing but the late afternoon haze creep around the parking lot.
“Ugh it’s almost time, Kris…” Jessica said from the desk next to Kristine’s.
“For you. I have to stay for that virtual meeting.” Kristine pouted with a disappointed tone.
“Oh my god… I forgot! How lame. Who schedules a meeting at 5:00pm on Friday?!” Jessica said commiserating.
Kristine sighed. “I know, right? Since I have to stay anyway, you can take off. I’ll field the rest of the call backs.”
Jessica’s eyes lit up. “If you’re sure, I am going to take you up on that offer… I’d love to beat the traffic.”
Kristine finished typing and turned to face her friend. “I’m good, seriously. Don’t worry about it. I’ll call you after dinner.”
Jessica finished stuffing her belongings into her bag and bent down and gave Kristine a hug before making her exit from their office.
Kristine logged into the Zoom meeting and watched the lights in the hallway go out–a sign that the rest of the people in the clinic were leaving for the day as well.
—-
About a half hour through the meeting it was clear that everyone on the call was looking to end their days. Kristine signed off and shut the laptop on her desk with a sigh of relief, only to be startled by the sound of her office door slowly opening.
A familiar voice crept through the door. “Hey. You’re not busy are you?”
Kristine looked over her shoulder toward the doorway and saw Amanda halfway through it. “No. I just finished up. I didn’t know anyone was still here… What’s up?”
Amanda took a few steps in. “I need that log book from last year. I have to look into something.”
“The one up here?” Kristine looked up directly over her desk to the shelf that housed the non-current books and old pharmaceutical manuals.
Amanda pointed upward. “Yeah. I think it’s right there.”
Kristine stood up, her desk chair rolling a bit out behind her. She stood on her tiptoes. Her round pink heels popped up out of the leather mules as she did. She reached up with both arms, her fingers stretched as far as they could go. She rose up the last quarter inch she had all the way on the very tips of her toes.
Her fingers fumbled on the spine of the large book. “Errgh” an adorable noise of exertion escaped her mouth.
In that second Kristine felt a jolt of familiar electricity. Her eyelids raised instantly. She felt a set of hands on her mid-section.
Amanda was behind her. She’d crept closer while Kristine struggled to get the log book. She’d wrapped her slender fingers around Kristine’s trim waist, just above the waistband of her pants.
She dug in with all of her fingers and squeezed with a wiggle. Kristine shrieked “Aaaiieee! Wha—” and dropped her arms.
Amanda tickled again. She had a good grip on Kristin’s sides. Kristine raised one of her knees slightly. She tried to scrunch up, but couldn’t.
Amanda held her and tickled her sides at the same time. Kristine’s lips parted when she tried to ask what Amanada was doing and instead of words, only laughter came out.
Amanda was relentless. Her fingers digging madly into Kristine’s lower ribs and sides.
Kristine, in a fit of laughter, did all that she could: she dropped down onto the floor and curled up in a ball.
Amanda was tenacious. She tickled wherever she could get a hand and Kristine squealed with girlish laughter until she could finally gasp out “whaaatt are you doooing?!”
Amanda chuckled to herself. “What am I doing? What does it look like?”
The door opened slowly and Marianna slid in and closed it swiftly.
Marianna walked around to face Kristine, curled up defensively on the floor. She crooked her head slightly and placed a hand on her hip. “Hey Kristine.”
Amanda pulled at one of Kristine’s arms and got it off of her ribs enough to launch her hand in and poke at her tender sides again.
Kristine let out another yelp and lost her defenses.
Amanda knelt behind Kristine and wrapped her arms around her in a bear hug.
Marianna said “You know you got me in a lot of trouble, right?”
Kristine caught her breath. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that, Marianna. I didn’t realize Janice could hear what I was saying.”
“Yeah, but you also didn’t tell Dr. Chen that I actually did what I was supposed to.” Marianna said.
“Well.. I..” Kristine hesitated and Marianna shook her head in disappointment.
“And you were kind of trashing me to Jess. Right?” Marianna asked.
“No, of course not.” Kristine said as she felt Amanda using her body positioning to keep Kristine seated.
“And you think we’re here to serve you.” Marianna said accusingly.
“That’s not true ...Where are we going with this Marianna?” Kristine’s brows furrowed a bit.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get over it. It’ll end right here tonight.” Marianna said nodding subtly to Amanda.
Amanda grinned “Yeah. Cheer up, Kris. Let’s just laugh this whooole thing off.”
“Uh…” Kristine muttered for a second until she realized what was about to happen. “No! Come on guys!”
Amanda pulled Kristine’s upper body backward and her arms away from her sides. Marianna darted all ten of her fingers into Kristine’s belly and moved them in a kneading motion into her taut abs.
Kristine’s girlish laughter reemerged and filled the room. She giggled uncontrollably until she felt Marianna tugging her silk shirt out of the waistband of her bands.
“Marianna! Plehease stop! I’m soo–” Her words cut short by Marianna’s fingers now poking and flicking the soft skin of her toned belly.
Amanda pulled her back more, exposing more of her terribly ticklish body. “Wow. Look at that tummy Marianna. Sexy!”
Kristine’s giggling intensified. She squirmed and kicked her legs. She yelped and fought so hard not to smile and laugh, but she couldn’t help it.
“Pilates, right Kris? That’s what you do, isn’t it?” Marianna asked knowing Kristine couldn’t even begin to answer.
She flicked a short crimson fingernail on the skin right under Kristine’s navel. “Aaaaiiieee!” She screamed before laughing hysterically.
“Oh that’s a good spot.. But I think it’s time for the main event.” Amanda said, grinning to Marianna.
Marianna peeled her fingers off of Kristine’s tan toned stomach, now red-streaked from the tickling. She got up and then sat down gingerly in Jessica's desk chair.
She rolled it over as Kristine protested “Let me go Amanda, please!”
“We saw Jess tickle your foot earlier.” Marianna said as she methodically lifted Kristine’s feet and ankles up toward her. “Let's find out how ticklish these feet really are.”
Marianna wrapped her muscular legs around Kristine’s, who now found herself completely trapped. She slipped the mules off of Kristine’s feet with ease.
Kristine’s heart raced as she felt the cool air hit her bare feet. “No way! Get off me! I’m serious! Do not touch my feheheheet”
Kristine began laughing again before Marianna even began her tickling. She felt Marianna staring at her feet and it was as if that alone tickled.
Marianna examined Kristine’s bare feet. Size 7.5 with perfectly shaped sturdy toes. Her toenails trimmed neatly and painted the color of ripe watermelon, and the shape of her tendons just barely visible under her golden skin as her toes flexed and wiggled in protest. “Look at these pretty feet!”
She gazed at Kristine’s soles, thick and incredibly soft looking. The balls of her feet looked plush and her heels round and smooth. Kristine’s arches called to her. Porcelain white, in contrast to the rest of her foot, and with fine wrinkles that became pronounced when her toes scrunched.
Marianna wiggled a single pointer directly into the super soft skin of Kristine’s right arch, her trimmed crimson fingernail drawing a maddening circle on the sensitive spot.
Kristine bit down on her rosey pink bottom lip for a few short seconds and tried to wrestle her hands out from under Amanda’s, before her muffled “mmmppff” turned into one chuckle and then another as she registered Marianna’s fingernails exploring her ticklish right foot.
Amanda yelled out excitedly “Oh man! She is really ticklish!”
Kristine’s laughter filled the tiny room. It was deep and natural, primal. She felt Marianna’s fingers dancing across both soles furiously, stopping only trace shapes on her arches.
“Plehehehease!” Kristine could barely get the word out. She knew it wouldn’t help anyway, but it felt like it was as natural as the laughter.
Amanda looked directly into Kristine's eyes and teased. “Please what? What’s wrong?” She pouted her lip falsely and mockingly.
Kristine gritted her teeth down and pinched her lips closed.
“Aw… What's wrong Krissy? You’re feet are really this ticklish?!”
She couldn’t hold it. Kristine’s lips cracked open revealing her perfect smile first and then her mouth opened and filled the room laughter again.
Marianna, without even looking up, said wickedly “Are you sorry yet? I mean, really sorry?”
Her fingers wandered up the ball of Kristine’s right foot and found a particularly sensitive spot on the cusp of it, right above the arch.
Kristine’s laughter hurried and she shrieked out uncontrollably. “Nooot theeeere!”
Marianna smirked. “Right here?” She flicked her fingernail back and forth on the spot and Kristine bucked violently in the chair as her laughter roared.
Marianna stopped for a moment. She repositioned her legs and let Kristine catch her breath.
Marianna looked down again at the beautiful bossy woman, completely vulnerable. The smile on her face gave the whole situation a lightness. A ridiculousness. She was this ticklish? So ticklish that she could be reduced to this powerless state?
Her eyes shifted back to the pair of ticklish feet in her lap. She watched Kristine’s toes curl and one foot push on the other, as if her feet were reacting to being stared at. She began again, tracing light circular patterns on her soles. One hand on each foot, toying with her.
Kristine’s smile turned to a grin. “No moore!” She said through her teeth. She felt the pads of Marianna’s fingers swirling in random figures on the balls of her feet. Her short fingernails randomly grazing all the sensitive spots of her perfect feet.
Marianna watched the delicate natural creases of her arches ripple into tight wrinkles as her toes curled and flexed. She flicked her fingers down over her soft heels and around the secondary arches on the outer edges of her feet.
A shriek came out when she hit those outer edges. Her toes spread wide as they could. “Aaaaiiiiieeee!”
Amanda smirked. “Oh another good spot!”
Marianna looked up grinning, her fingers still swirling over the delicate skin of Kristine’s feet.
“I’ve been wondering….” Amanda started “how do you possibly sit through pedicures being this ticklish?”
Kristine couldn’t answer coherently even if she wanted to. “I—bahahaha!”
Amanda let go of Kristine’s upper body and climbed to her feet. She nodded to Marianna, who steeled her leglock into rigid place. They knew Kristine was too exhausted to mount a defense.
Kristine sat up on her elbows, chest heaving. Strands of her dirty blonde hair hung down, having been loosened from the clip.
“I mean, I’m not nearly as ticklish as you and they make me squirm sometimes.” Amanda leaned down a bit and raised her hand up, making sure Kristine could see. She waved her long slender fingers in the air. “I love a good manicure though.”
Kristine’s eyes widened a bit. She chuckled more and more. Amanda’s nails were long and almond shaped, with rounded points at the tips. Painted a pretty shade of lavender, they hardly seemed like instruments of torment.
But that’s exactly what they were about to be. In this moment, they seemed designed for tickling.
Amanda smirked villainously and turned to face Marianna and Kristine’s trapped feet.
Kristine’s toes spread wide again and flexed as deeply as they could in a vain attempt to escape Amanda’s approaching nails. “Noooohohoho! Amaaannddaaa! Plehehehease!”
It was explosive. The laughter stampeded out of her mouth and trampled any words that she’d hoped would be heard.
Amanda flicked her long pointy nails on the plush balls of her feet and then dragged them slowly up and down her creamy ivory arches.
Marianna used her hands to hold Kristine’s toes back from curling. “Oh what’s that Kristine? You like her nails?” She said as the two of them cackled briefly, enjoying watching Kristine’s hips gyrate and intermittently try to sit up to no avail.
Marianna had her legs completely immobile, but it was as if the tickling itself was sapping the energy from Kristine’s body. She couldn’t get more than halfway up before collapsing back down to the floor.
Kristine’s head began to spin. She couldn’t think. All she could feel was the ticklish sensations reverberating through her feet, connected directly to the uncontrollable laughter coming from deep within her. She was hot and her face flushed. The scent of her vanilla perfume filled the room.
She felt Marianna pressing her fingers on the tips of her toes. “Oh my god!” She thought but couldn’t speak.
Amanda scratched her pointy fingernails on the extremely sensitive pale skin on the shafts of her toes. Kristine’s body jolted with electric ticklishness. “Gahahahahaha! Noooot my tohohoeesss!”
With Marianna pinning her toes back, It didn’t take long for Amanda to discover that the most ticklish part was actually just below her toes, where they met the ball of the foot. “Oh gosh… Kristine… I am almost starting to feel bad!”
“Ju-huhuhust stahahahaap!” Kristine shrieked out and gasped. “I’ll dooo annyyythiiing!”
Marianna smiled. She tapped Amanda’s wrist and slowed her tickling. “Anything huh?”
Kristine sat up finally. Her face hurt. Her abs hurt worse than after her hardest Pilates workout. She pushed her hair back off her face. She was exhausted. “Yes. Please. I cannot take anymore.”
“No more bossing us around.” Marianna said with her head cocked and her eyebrow raised, a sexy smirk shaped her red lips as she held her index finger up authoritatively.“And… You tell Dr. Chen you were wrong. Not that it’s all good, or that we worked it out. You tell her straight up that you were wrong.”
Kristine sighed. Her toes wiggled ever so slightly. “Ok. Fine.”
Marianna knew this meant they’d actually broken her. She knew how hard it would be for Kristine to admit she was wrong. Let alone to Janice.
“This can happen again.” Marianna said sternly as she ran her index finger down Kristine’s sole one last time.
Kristine’s toes curled and she let out a squeak before Marianna nudged Amanda’s hands away and unclenched her legs from around Kristine’s.
“Yeah. This was fun. I recommend you don’t give us a reason to do this again.” Amanda chimed in.
Marianna dropped feet off her lap and stood up. Her and Amanda clenched hands briefly, perhaps a sign of victory.
Kristine hid her poor, tormented feet as she sat up, crossing her legs Indian-style. She let her hair down and shook it out so that it fell relaxed for a moment before she pulled it all backward into the clip. Her smile was faint but still present.
She picked up her phone, tapped the message app and texted Jessica a single word:
‘Drinks?’
