03 - Tough Love
Story index at the bottom
By dreadnaught3200 Thanks to [mention]Larzade[/mention] for finding and posting this gem
As everyone who is in, or has gone through high school will tell you, when you look back on it, time flies. When you're in the thick of it, time moves about as fast as a tired snail.
Such was the case for the four theatrical types, with the beacon of hope that the musical had offered them gone, they once again returned to living from weekend to weekend, with five lunch breaks in between to keep them sane. One thing they did have though, was each other.
Justin, Becca, Sarah and Xander had only started spending time together during rehearsals for the musical, but even as it was over, the cohort stayed together. With the popularity that the musical had earned them, the four became a force to be reckoned with in their grade. They found themselves with lots of that social standing that is so critically important in the mind of a teenager.
But popularity could be fickle, and so the four had decided that their game in the costume loft the previous month should remain a tight lipped secret, for fear that word should get out and they should be ridiculed for it.
But this was the furthest thing from their minds one plain December Wednesday, as the four sat up against Justin's locker eating lunch and happily chatting their way from subject to subject.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Sarah exclaimed.
"No joke, Brett somehow managed to get away with it again." Becca explained.
"I don't get it, he does more stupid stuff then practically anybody else at this school and he never gets busted for it."
"Maybe the teachers have just given up?" Xander suggested as he lazily strummed his guitar.
As Becca and Sarah continued to gab contentedly, Xander turned his head over to Justin, whose gaze was completely transfixed on Becca.
After a minute she turned towards him, and he quickly jerked his gaze away.
Once she turned again, Xander stared strait into Justin's eyes and arched his right eyebrow.
Whoever said that only women could have conversations without words couldn't have been more wrong. Entirely using their eyes and facial expressions, Xander Justin repeated a conversation they'd had whilst walking to class the previous week.
Xander flared both of his eyebrows up and widened his gaze.
Justin replied by shrugging his shoulders and looking slightly sheepish.
Xander exclaimed by rolling his eyes and tilting his head upward.
Justin yelled back by jerking his hands upward with a frustrated look.
Xander shook his head and turned back to his guitar, his friend was such a coward.
"I'm going to the cafeteria to get a bowl of soup, who wants to come?" She announced.
"I will!" Justin said, all too quickly.
Xander looked to the floor to try and hide his chuckle.
The two waltzed off toward the cafeteria, Justin looked very contented, Becca did a better job of hiding it.
"I suppose you saw that." Xander said, without looking up.
"Yeah I did." Sarah replied quietly. "What was that all about?"
Xander didn't say anything, prompting Sarah to grab his shoulder and spin his head toward her.
"Look Becca likes him ok? And by the look of it, he feels much the same way about her. Am I right?" Sarah demanded.
Xander sighed, Justin had threatened him on pain of death to never reveal his feelings to anyone, least of all Becca or Sarah.
"Yeah." Xander, signed his own death warrant.
"That's what I thought. Now, what do we do?" Sarah asked.
"Well Justin may be a wimp when it comes to the fairer sex, but I'm sure he'll pluck up the courage to ask her out when he's ready."
"How bad is it with him?"
"She drives him insane."
"And you still actually believe he'll ask her out if left to his own devices?"
Xander thought about it.
"No not really."
"And I know it's worse for Becca, she's going to start despising him if he doesn't make a move soon."
"I guess your right. We probably should help them along."
"Yeah."
The two sat back and started thinking how they could do this.
"I know reasoning with Justin won't work." Xander said.
"Same with Becca."
"We just need to find a way to put them in a situation where they'll blurt it out to each other without realizing it."
An evil grin crossed Sarah's face. Xander saw it, he knew he'd seen it before somewhere.
"You have that same evil grin you had on your face up in the costume loft" Xander observed. "No. Your not thinking?..."
"Yes I am." She said.
Xander just sighed.
Sarah leaned towards him and spoke quietly.
"Were hanging out at my place on Friday afternoon right? My parents aren't home at all this weekend, so we can do whatever we like. So if we tie them up and leave them in the same room, they'll have to talk about something."
Sarah appealed to Xander with her toothy, evil, smirk.
"Alright, let's do it." He agreed.
For the next couple of minutes, the two conspirators began working out some of the specifics of their plan, they knew they'd have to plan it very carefully to get the jump on both of them.
Their conversation abruptly switched to local gossip as Becca and Justin returned, each with a bowl of soup in their hands, Becca having convinced Justin to indulge in one with her. Though they seemed to have walked slower than either would have on their own.
Ten minutes later the bell rang and the four began the slow march to their next classes. As they left, Sarah turned to Xander and mouthed: "Facebook. Tonight."
The afternoon could not have passed more slowly for any of them, Becca and Justin both wanted to catch a glimpse of one another and Sarah and Xander were eager to work on their evil plans. Needless to say, when two thirty finally arrived on the clock, all four dashed out of class.
True to their word, Sarah and Xander met online that night and through the rather impersonal tool of FB chat, worked out a detailed plan that Sarah copied onto a word document. The concept they built on was sublimely simple: Divide and conquer.
The best description of Thursday that has ever been uttered is "The day before Friday."
The day passed without much interest, except for one thing. After class, Sarah snuck out to the auditorium and paid a visit to the old costume loft, to see if any of the supplies they had used were still there. Much to her delight, all of the rope and a few of the zip ties were still lying right where they left them. Apparently nobody went up there much.
The town awoke to light snowfall on Friday morning, which continued throughout the day. Making already attention deficit teenagers even more so, much to the frustration of their teachers who had to compete with snow for their student's attention.
The bell finally tolled two thirty and they were free. The famous four met at the front entrance as they'd agreed earlier, and happily began hiking through the snow to Sarah's place.
They all lived in the same neighborhood, so walking from house to house wasn't a big deal. Though the snow made the trip somewhat more difficult, but also more enjoyable. Snow is great when you don't have to drive in it.
Well snow is great when you don't have to drive in it, AND when it doesn't get down your shoes, which couldn't be said for poor Sarah. Once her house was in sight, she ran for it, leaving the other three in her wake and quite confused.
Clambering into the front hall of her house, Sarah yanked off her snow infested shoes as fast as she could and took off her wet socks. Little did she know, that decision might be one of the worst she'd ever made.
Once everyone was inside and had dropped their stuff, they all headed into the kitchen and took spots around the kitchen table, while Sarah made four mugs of cocoa. The first step in the plan.
After Xander made a point of finishing his mug faster than anyone else, and quite innocently left the table and headed to put it over in the sink. And right where it was supposed to be, he saw the zip tie Sarah had left for him in the sink.
Discreetly he hid it in his pocket and headed back to the table, giving Sarah the slightest of nods to let her know he had it.
Both Becca and Justin were still blissfully unaware of what was happening , indeed they were far too busy staring at each other yet avoiding the other's glances to know what was going on.
After a few more minutes, Becca excused herself to go the washroom. Sarah and Xander knew this was their moment. They'd been waiting for either of the two to do exactly that.
"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed.
"What?" Justin asked.
"There's something I want to show you guys."
She and Xander stood up and started to head toward the basement.
"Shouldn't we wait for Becca?" Justin asked.
"Nah, she'll find her way down." Sarah replied with a deliberate flippancy.
They all headed out of the kitchen and down the next hallway. The hallway had two openings on the right side and lead strait to a TV room. Both of the openings on the right side were stairways. The first led up, the second led down to the basement. It was obviously through the second door, they descended.
They headed through the sitting room they landed in and through a door to the left that left to the unfinished storage room.
Now, if Justin had been observant he might have noticed two out of place looking arm chairs from the dining room upstairs, pressed against the storage room's far wall. As well as a long mirror that had been left in a corner of the sitting room allowing for a view into the storage room.
Fortunately, he wasn't observant.
Sarah started rummaging through some cardboard boxes that were stacked in disorganized heap on one side of the room. Justin watched, curious to see exactly what she was looking for. Unbeknownst to him, she glanced over to Xander who was standing near the door, and nodded to him slightly.
"I have to go back upstairs for a second. I'll be right back." He said just before vanishing.
On Wednesday night the two conspirators had realized that merely trying to out muscle their victims would have been suicide. Sarah and Becca were equally strong, but Justin certainly had the advantage over Xander. With Becca and Justin fighting together, they'd certainly lose. They decided to outwit Justin and overpower Becca. Assuming Justin would be automatically suspicious of anything Xander said, they decided Sarah would use innocence on Justin and Xander would overpower Becca, which would be simple for him.
With Xander gone, Sarah moved on to her next move.
"Ok here they are." Sarah said.
"What?" Justin asked, completely oblivious.
"Something my parents brought back from their trip to China a couple of months ago. They're really good."
"What are they?"
Sarah put on a fake, slightly evil smirk.
"Close your eyes and open your mouth." She replied.
"What? Why?"
"This is what my Dad did to me when he first brought them back. It's an interesting sensation."
Justin gave her an odd look, trying desperately to see what she was hiding behind her back. Finally, he decided to obey. What was the worst thing that could happen?
He shut his eyes and opened his mouth as he was told. Sarah, of course, had absolutely no interest in giving him any food. The only thing she was hiding behind her back was a zip tie.
With his eyes safely closed she quickly and quietly darted behind him, and grabbed his arms. She pulled them behind him and quickly slipped the zip tie around his wrists and tightened it.
"What!?! What the hell are you doing!?!" He yelled.
"What do you think?" She replied.
In his mind Justin wanted to bang his head against a wall. "What's the worst that could happen!?! This! This is the worst that could happen!"
As soon as he'd left the storage room, Xander stealthily dashed back up the stairs and waited against the wall, right next to the washroom door. Becca would need to turn left to head back to the kitchen, so he hid on opposite side.
After a few minutes of agonizingly tense waiting, Becca emerged from the bathroom and turned left to head to the kitchen. Xander charged forward, zip tie in hand and grabbed her arms.
"What!?!" She yelped.
Before she could fully comprehend what had happened, her assailant had secured her wrists.
"Hi." He said.
"Xander? You Not fair!"
"Sorry Becs."
He grabbed her arm and led her to the storage room downstairs, where Sarah had already fooled Justin in allowing her to zip tie him, and she'd added one around his ankles to keep him from going anywhere temporarily.
"Hey Becca." She said.
Becca didn't respond and just glared.
Sarah casually walked over to the two out of place armchairs in the corner and dragged them to the center of the room, and putting them back to back.
Sarah quickly dashed over to the cardboard boxes and picked up a huge bundle of rope, some of it taken from the loft some from her Dad's workshop. Seeing this, Xander marched Becca over to one of the chairs.
Sarah approached her and pulled a pair scissors out of her pocket. She cut the zip tie and took one of Becca's arms while Xander grabbed the other, and they lowered her onto the chair.
"I Hate you guys." She sputtered angrily as her wrists were tied down onto the arms of the chair.
"Sorry honey." Sarah replied.
Once her arms had been secured, her two captors took two more pieces of rope and got to work on her ankles, wrapping the ropes around them again and again.
With both her arms and legs secured, they both stood up. But there was no time to admire their handiwork.
"Ok Justin! You're tur." Sarah started.
He was gone.
"Haha! You two totally missed it!" Becca mocked them.
Xander charged out of his room, noticing a shadow on the stage he dashed for it. As he got close, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, Justin was determinedly trying to hop his way to freedom.
"I'm impressed." Xander said.
"Oh well, it was worth a try." Justin admitted.
Accepting his fate with an air of grim inevitability, he didn't fight as Xander grabbed his arm and dragged him back down the stairs, through the sitting room and into the storage room once again.
"You're my hero Justin!" Becca said as he was dragged back to his prison.
Both Sarah and Xander chuckled.
Xander held a firm grip on his friend's arm while Sarah cut the zip tie around his wrists, immediately dropping the scissors and grabbing his free arm. He didn't fight them as they pushed him down into the chair.
Grabbing two more pieces of rope from the bunch, the two captors repeated the process on Justin that they had on Becca, first tying his wrists down onto the chair arms with amounts of rope that bordered on the absurd, and then tied his feet to the legs of the chair.
For the finishing touch, Sarah grabbed the last and longest piece of rope and gave one end to Xander who ran around to Becca's end, and in a display of pre-planned teamwork, Sarah and Xander started passing the rope around their friends' waists four times before knotting it off at the side.
Sarah couldn't have been more pleased with herself, and stood back to admire her handiwork. Xander, who's feelings mirrored hers did much the same.
"Well, I think we're done here. Come on Xander."
And with that, the two of them left the room and marched upstairs. After a minute or so, the TV clicked on.
"I hate them." Becca hissed.
"So do I." Justin replied.
"But"
"But what?"
"I kinda expected them to gag us."
"Yeah so did I."
Both Becca and Justin pondered for a minute. Everything Xander and Sarah had done that afternoon had been highly planned and well orchestrated. Why would they miss something so obvious? Unless they wanted them to be able to talk to each other. But how long could they leave them there? What would they talk about for hours?
Justin clued in first.
Hatred erupted for Xander in his mind, he mouthed several expletives. How could he have told Sarah? Xander would never betray him like that.
"What was that?" Becca asked.
"I don't know." Justin replied.
"Oh that wasn't you?"
"No"
A few seconds later, Becca realized what Sarah had done.
"How could she betray me like that?!?" Becca screamed in her thoughts.
A few feet away, Sarah and Xander watched the expressions of hatred and betrayal fill their friend's faces. The two had indeed gone upstairs and turned the TV on, but had almost immediately silently crept back down stairs and sit down against a wall of the sitting room and watched into the mirror that Sarah had placed in such a way that they could watch their captives, who would both have to strain their heads to see into the mirror, if they'd noticed it at all.
"Can you get any slack on your wrists?" Justin asked.
"No, it's really tight." Becca replied.
Sarah and Xander smiled to each other, they both could have probably escaped if they'd really wanted to.
For the next ten minutes, the two captives discussed nothing but their seething hatred for their Sarah and Xander and the revenge they were going to take once they got free.
"Why did they tie us up anyway do you think?" Becca asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Justin replied.
"They're just jerks I guess."
"Yeah must be."
They both knew Justin didn't believe what he was saying.
Xander knew Justin very well and he could easily see the internal conflict on Justin's face.
"Come on! Come on!" Xander whispered.
But still neither Becca nor Justin said what they wanted to. The first ten minutes became fifteen, then thirty.
But finally, after forty minutes of agonizing waiting, something happened.
After fifteen minutes Becca's head had started to droop and twist about, clearly she was getting tired. After forty minutes of only occasional conversation, she couldn't take it anymore and her head fell back onto Justin's shoulder.
She quickly yanked it away.
"Sorry." She said.
"Oh! No Don't!... I mean, it's ok if you want to." Justin stammered.
Becca took him up on the offer and put her head back down onto his shoulder. Sarah could see the look of pure contentment in her eye. Xander clearly saw that Justin was nearing boiling point.
"Becca, look We need to talk... about this." He said finally.
Sarah slammed her palm down onto Xander's knee in expectation.
"Owwwww." He Xander moaned as quietly as he could.
"What do you mean?" Becca asked, deliberately playing dumb.
"Uhm Well I know we're friends but I've been wondering if you want to take things a step further."
"Like Are are you asking me out?"
With a sudden burst of un-characteristic confidence Justin replied.
"Yes, yes I am. I like you, I want to be more than just friends."
Becca looked up to the ceiling and uttered her thanks to the good Lord.
"Yes!" She exclaimed. "So I have a boyfriend do I?"
"Yes you do."
Xander and Sarah couldn't help but feel very pleased with themselves. Silently he held up his fist and Sarah pounded it.
"Let's give them a few minutes." Sarah whispered.
Xander nodded in agreement.
Justin and Becca both soaked up the contentment of the their new found relationship and after spending a few minutes discussing where Justin would take her for their first date, the two stopped talking and just enjoyed the glow.
After a few minutes, both Becca and Justin leaned their heads back and rested them against each other, quite content to fall asleep.
"That is SOOOO CUTE!" Sarah whispered with gusto.
Xander finally stood up and decided the waiting was over. Sarah grudgingly followed him and the two walked into the storage room.
"That is so adorable!" Sarah exclaimed, waking the two resting lovers.
"You two!" Becca yelled.
"So it's finally official. Congratulations." Xander said.
"So I take it this was your plan all along?" Justin demanded.
"Yup."
"When did you come up with it?" Becca asked.
"Wednesday." Sarah replied.
"And who initiated the conversation?" Justin asked. "You were both sworn to secrecy."
Xander and Sarah looked at each other.
"That will stay our little secret." Sarah concluded.
"Oh don't pretend you're not glad we did it!" Xander yelled.
Both Justin and Becca couldn't help but nod. They were both very very grateful.
Without another word Sarah and Xander moved to release one of their prisoners, Xander to Justin, Sarah to Becca.
With two minutes, both Becca's and Justin's arms and legs were free. A couple more seconds and Sarah undid the knot tying their waists and they were free. They both stood up and stretched, a little stiff from being tied up for an hour.
An evil thought leapt into Justin's mind.
"Hey Becca" He said.
"Mmhmm?" She replied.
"How about we do it now?" He suggested.
Xander and Sarah looked at each other.
"Do what?" Sarah asked.
Becca nodded, and charged at Sarah knocking her to the ground. Simultaneously Justin charged toward Xander who barely had time to jump out of the way. Not giving up so easily, Justin spun around and tried to grab his shoulders. The two started wrestling and Justin desperately tried to pull him towards the coils of rope on the floor and Xander tried desperately to escape Justin's grasp and get as far away from the rope as he possibly could.
After the initial impact, Sarah managed to spin out of Becca's gasp and propel herself on all fours out of the door and into the sitting room beyond, her nemesis hot on her heels.
The two clambered over the furniture as Sarah made a mad dash for the stairs. When flying over the last couch, Sarah propelled herself over the edge and jumped strait onto the second step, scrambling up the steps on all fours. Becca was no more then a few inches behind.
"Keep her busy, I'll come help you when I'm done!" Justin yelled.
Xander prayed Justin was overestimating his chances.
"You sound confident." He remarked as they fought.
"C'mon! Who do you think is going to win this?" Justin said.
The devious side of Xander's mind kicked into gear. He saw an opening.
"Ok! Ok! Stop!" He yelled.
Justin let go and stood back, he may have been certain of his eventual victory, but he knew he'd have to sweat for it.
"Thanks!" Xander yelled as he ran past his adversary.
Justin simply smiled at his friend's blunder. Xander hadn't headed for the door to the sitting room and the rest of the house, he'd headed for the door that led to Sarah's, Dad's shop, which only had one door.
Justin calmly grabbed two of the ropes and walked into the shop, seeing Xander frantically spinning and looking for a way out Just like the cornered rat he was.
"Nice move man seriously that's gotta be the smartest thing you've done today." Justin chuckled.
"Well you know me! Mensa material! That's what I am!"
"So are we going to do this the hard way or the easy way?"
"Come on! All I did was force you to do something you wanted, but were too much of a wuss to go through with it. You should be thanking me, not tying me up!"
"Maybe, but I didn't exactly want to get tied up, so you'll have to go through it too. Plus I mean come on I don't want you eavesdropping on Becca and I."
Xander couldn't help but smirk.
"Oh, if only he knew."
All of a sudden Justin charged forward, turning slightly inward so he could impact Xander with his shoulder. The charge worked and both guys ended up crashing to the floor of the shop. Both of these guys were normal teenage males and were no strangers to play fighting, or full contact sports. This time Justin was able to put these skills to some practical use.
With his opponent down, the assailant managed to grab both of his arms and hold them together within the crook of his elbow. With his free hand he recovered the rope he'd dropped and started to wrap it around Xander's wrists loosely.
Xander was still giving as good as he got, but he knew he'd lost.
One Justin had gone around a few times, he let go of Xander's hands and devoted both his hands to tightening the loops of rope. This paid off, and the fight was over.
With his friend's hands effectively subdued, he worked on making it more permanent, looping the rope around his wrists six more times. He took the remaining rope and began wrapping it vertically between his hands, cinching the knot and making it tighter.
Justin stood back and thought about it for a minute. He'd made the mistake of tying Xander's hands in front. He'd manage to subdue Xander this time, but to move his arms behind his back he'd need to untie them again. Or would he?
A thought jumped into Justin's mind and he looked up to the ceiling and smiled. He saw the ceiling wasn't finished either, and there were many cross beams running along the ceiling.
"Stand up." Justin told his friend, with a gloating "Haha I beat you!" kind of smile.
Xander decided to be a good little captive and just do what he was told. He was too tired to keep fighting. Once on his feet, he watched as he captor reached for the second piece of rope he'd brought with him. Justin took one end of the rope and looped it through his captive's arms and held the two ends with his hands.
"Come on!" Justin said as he yanked.
Xander got pulled along as Justin walked over to Sarah's Dad's workbench and pulled out the stool underneath it. Leading Xander back over to the center of the room, away from any workbenches or tools, Justin set the stool down and climbed on top of it.
Justin threw the two ends of the rope over the crossbeam in opposing directions and pulled both of the ends down simultaneously. He pulled until Xander was standing up completely strait but not being lifted off his feet, or terribly stretched. With the remaining slack, Justin pulled both ends under Xander's wrists one more time and over the top of beam. He then looped the ends in opposite directions around the beam itself until he had just enough slack left to knot it all off on the high side.
Justin jumped down, and dragged the stool back over to the workbench from which it came. Looking back at his captive, he decided his job wasn't quite done.
Running back outside, he grabbed a third piece of rope from the pile in the storage and ran back to Xander, who remained wordless. He took it and wrapped it around Xander ankles over and over again. It might have been more than a little redundant but hey! If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.
Once he wrapped the rope around Xander's ankles, cinched it, and knotted it off, he stood up and turned to leave.
Before he left, he turned back and faced his captive.
"One question before I go." Justin asked, with an almost serious look on his face.
"Yeah?"
"Who was it who spilled the beans first?"
Xander tried to decide how to answer. On the one hand it had been Sarah who started the conversation, but he did actively participate in it. So he really wasn't innocent either.
"It was her wasn't it?" Justin said.
Xander nodded. The two were best friends, they could reach others minds.
"It's ok. I won't tell her you told me." Justin assured him.
Justin patted his friend on the shoulder and walked out of the room, picking up a role of duct tape he happened to notice on the way out the door. Xander tried pulling on his bonds, but he knew that he wasn't escaping any time soon. But he couldn't help but smile. He knew he'd done right.
Meanwhile, the situation upstairs had developed into a stalemate. Becca had chased Sarah up the stairs and they both made a hard left and ran into the kitchen. Sarah ran quickly so both she and Becca would had to have picked up momentum and she burned a hard U turn and ran right past Becca who slid along the hard wood floor into the refrigerator. Recovering, Becca saw Sarah heading up the stairs to the top floor. After gaining some ground the chase came to a halt as Sarah dived into her bedroom and shut the door.
Becca knew for a fact the door had no lock (A deliberate measure by her parents those teenagers raging hormones, they never change) and pushed against it as hard as she could.
Sarah leaned against it from the other side, and the situation quickly degenerated into a shoving match. With both of them forcing the door as hard as they could, it had swayed back and forth, but as is in with most battles of attrition, the defender had the advantage.
After a few minutes, Becca decided she couldn't do anything but wait for Justin to come help her. So she lowered herself to the floor and pressed her back against the wall and pushed against the much contested door with her feet. Making sure not to give Sarah the idea she was simply biding her time.
The ruse worked, on the other side Sarah pressed her back against the door and sat down herself, idly pushing against Becca's advances.
The minutes ticked by slowly, neither party said anything to each other. They simply waited.
"Finally!" Becca yelled as Justin found his way up the stairs, two pieces of rope and a roll of duct tape in hand.
"Sorry, I was a little busy." He replied sarcastically. "She's in here I take it?"
"Yeah."
"Ok."
Becca stood, and they both pushed the door as hard as they could. Hearing Justin's voice, Sarah had made the mistake of standing and not just blocking the door with her foot. With both of them pushing, she fell right over and they burst into the room.
Sarah's room was moderately sized, but home to only a few pieces of furniture: A desk with her computer on it with a rolling chair, a bookcase, a closet and a bed. It was on the latter of these Becca set her sights. She and Justin each took hold of one of Sarah's arms and lifted her off the floor and threw her towards her bed.
"Oh c'mon! This isn't fair!" She whined.
"Deal with it!" Becca yelled back.
"But but we did you two a favor!"
"Yeah well, no good deed goes unpunished."
Sarah resigned herself to her fate. Becca was set on tying her up, and there was no stopping her.
As far as binding their captive went, Becca and Justin both agreed with each other on what to do without even realizing it. Sarah had a single bed with a head and footboard of stained maple at either end.
Justin grabbed the first rope and moved down to Sarah's feet, pulling them strait down and through two spaces in the footboard so they hung over the edge of the bed. Taking his rope, he looped it around her ankles tightened it, and cinched the rope without tying it off. He took the remaining rope and tied it around the wooden bar in the footboard between Sarah's feet, tightening it and finally tying it off.
Becca meanwhile worked on her hands, taking the rope and using both ends to tie and cinch them together. It worked out well that Sarah was a fair bit shorter than her bed, so once her hands were tied together she pulled the rope up to the headboard, and looped it around the center wooden bar. Which left several inches between the end of Sarah's fingers and the knot binding her hands.
Though Becca couldn't help but notice that she was slightly pre-occupied watching Justin tie her feet. She seemed incredibly nervous about it.
Once both captors were finished, they stood back to admire their handiwork.
"She ain't getting out of that." Justin concluded.
"Nope." Becca agreed affectionately.
Sarah only glared.
"Well if you'll excuse me, now that we've gotten you both, I'm going to watch a movie with my girlfriend." Justin declared.
Becca playfully held onto his arm.
The two began to walk out of the room, but before they did, Becca's unused hand brushed against Sarah's bare feet hanging over the edge of the bed. She jumped and squealed.
The two looked back.
"Oh? What's this?" Becca asked.
Sarah didn't say anything, but the redness on her face spoke volumes.
"Is someone ticklish?" Justin asked flippantly.
Sarah shook her head violently.
"She's a liar!" Becca exclaimed.
Sarah cursed her own decision. If she'd only left her socks on, she might have been able to withstand Becca's brush without reacting. But now she was screwed. And she was right to be afraid. Gleefully Becca knelt down at the foot of the bed, took both of her hands and attacked the souls of Sarah's feet with her finger tips. Sarah was very ticklish, and her feet were the worst culprits. She began thrashing and screaming as Becca mercilessly sratched her fingertips back and forth.
After almost a minute of agony, Becca let up and let Sarah breathe. Sweat already was coming out of her skin and much of her long blonde hair had gathered over her face.
Ten seconds later, Becca resumed and sent Sarah back to tickling hell.
Sarah laughed, screamed and squawked so loudly that Xander, two floors below, could hear her quite clearly. Leading him to ask empty space:
"What the hell are they doing to her?"
Sarah probably would have given anything to be the one asking that question rather than causing it. She couldn't possibly have been more miserable, and Becca showed no signs of relenting. Ten agonizing seconds stretched to thirty, then to a minute, then to two.
"Ok, ok, Becca stop!" Justin yelled finally, taking pity on poor Sarah.
Becca stopped and looked up at him.
"Why?"
"Can't you see? You keep that up any longer she's going to die!"
Becca glanced at her captive's face. She was still writhing from side to side and gasping for her, as if she'd been under water for two minutes. Her eyes pled with Becca not to continue.
"Wow You really are ticklish." She remarked, giggling.
"Yeah." Sarah replied, panting.
Becca couldn't help but tickle Sarah's feet for a few more seconds. They were right there just so inviting how could she possibly resist?
When she let up finally, Sarah once again panted, coughed and wheezed.
"I am going to get you back." She said.
"Really?" Becca replied sarcastically.
"Yeah. You're going to be sorry. So very very sorry."
Becca couldn't help but notice the role of duct tape Justin had brought with him and had left on the floor. After making the usual "She talks to much" retort, grabbed it and ripped off a piece.
"No, no don't you dare mmmmmmph"
Becca dared.
She pressed the piece over Sarah's lips, which was only the first five, successively longer than the last.
"There, that's better." Becca said, contemptuously looking down on Sarah's death glare.
Being satisfied that she'd made her friend suitably pennant for the good deed of setting up her and her new boyfriend, she took Justin's and the two waltzed out of the room, heading downstairs to watch a movie and cuddle. And while she didn't really want to be alone, Sarah was glad that Becca had left the room and her torment had ended, at least for the moment.
She started struggling against the ropes, testing to see if she could weaken them at either point. To make a long story short It didn't work. Since her feet had been pulled through her headboard, they acted like foot stocks. And since she couldn't move her feet at all, she could get no closer to the headboard and to the knot that held all of the rope tying her hands in place. She was thoroughly stuck.
Two floors below her, Xander was making more progress.
He'd noticed that since Justin was in such a hurry to secure him, he secure the ropes around the beam tightly enough so that they couldn't be pulled. As the beam ran directly across the room, he knew he could pull it to either of the benches that lined all four walls of the room.
He half jumped, half leaned his bound feet over to the left, putting himself at an awkward angle, then he pulled, and eventually the ropes moved slightly.
It was a long and agonizing process. Over and over again he hopped over and pulled the knot a little closer to the bench. After what felt like an eternity, though realistically it was probably only half an hour, he managed to pull the rope far enough that he could sit on the bench. With the angle of his feet limiting him, he pulled the rope right over the table. Lifting his legs onto the table and clinging on to the rope, he managed to hoist himself upright.
The rest was easy. He untied the knot that held his arms in place, did a bit of unraveling and the rope around his hands loosened right up. After slipping that off, he reached down and untied the rope around his ankles, and he was done.
After taking a moment to stretch, he started making his way through the basement silently. It could've been some kind of twisted Mission Impossible fantasy, he needed to find and rescue Sarah before they started torturing her again. What were they doing to her anyway?
Stealthily he made his way the stairs, poking his head out and looking left and right to see if there was anyone nearby. Justin and Becca were in the TV room watching some random chick flick that he didn't recognize and were cuddling. They'd be far too busy to notice him.
Quietly he made his way onto the main floor and searched every room for Sarah. But she was nowhere to be found.
He moved on to the upper floor, and noticed that only one door was open on the entire floor.
He entered Sarah's bedroom and immediately saw her, tied to her bed and brooding about her revenge. As soon as she saw Xander, she let out a quiet squeal.
Xander wordlessly walked over and pulled the mass of duct tape from Sarah's lips. No doubt causing her a fair amount of pain.
"What were they doing to you?" Xander asked.
She just motioned her head down to her feet.
Xander looked back.
"Ohhhhhh." He said with realization.
"Yeah. Could you untie me now?"
Xander couldn't help but be curious, he walked over to the foot of her bed and examined how her feet had been tied. Jokingly he waved his right hand near one of her feet.
"Do it, and I'll kill you!" Sarah threatened.
He couldn't resist. He scratched the bottom of her feet a few times and watched her writhe.
"Not funny!" She said.
"Ok, ok, ok."
He spent the next couple of minutes untying her feet. Once that was done, he moved up to the headboard and untied the knots tying her hands to them and she was as free as he was.
Sarah sat straight up on her bed and massaged her wrists.
"Ok listen, we need to call a truce for today." Xander said. "Justin is stronger then I am, this'll keep going back and forth all night."
Sarah grudgingly saw the wisdom in this.
The two sat and rubbed their wrists for a few more minutes, then got up and marched downstairs. Standing outside the TV room they overheard Becca talking:
" look since this is your first time, I'll give you the rules. Boyfriend Commandment Number one: Thou must do whatever thine girlfriend asks, if thou wants to keep her." [Respects to Mr. M hehe]
Chuckling, Sarah and Xander entered the room.
"We come in peace!" They yelled together.
"How did you get out?" Justin asked them.
"You didn't do that good a job bro." Xander replied sarcastically, patting Justin's shoulder.
Becca didn't seem too pleased that Xander and Sarah had burst in on and her and Justin, especially when they were still supposed to be tied up and nicely out of the way.
"We'd like to purpose a truce." Sarah announced. "At least for tonight."
Justin and Becca nodded. Without saying anything more, Sarah sat down on the other couch and Xander lay down on the floor and four finished watching the chick flick together. Once it was over Sarah and Becca thought it was only fair that since they'd watched a chick flick, now they needed to watch an action movie. So they turned on Die Hard four, which pleased Justin and Xander greatly.
At around eleven the decision was made to call it a night. The three guests made their way to the front door and they all gave Sarah a hug. Justin and Becca walked arm in arm through the snow on the way home, while Xander walked behind, keeping his distance.
Next they reached Becca's place.
The two had the longest hug of their lives before Becca went inside.
"No kiss?" Xander asked.
"Were not quite there yet." Justin replied.
"I'm guessing it won't take long."
"No probably not."
Justin sighed.
"Thanks man. I probably never would have been able to do if you hadn't set it up for me." He said.
Xander nodded.
"You owe me one."
After a hearty man-hug, the brothers parted ways.
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dreadnaught3200 's stories
- 01 - Ghost Stories (m/f, mm/fff)
- 02 - Clash of the Divas (mmf/f, f/f, mm/f)
- 03 - Tough Love (mf/mf, m/m, mf/f)
- 04 - Up at the lake (ff/m, m/f, mm/fff)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section