A Simple Text (f, m, & m)

Contest ends 24:00 GMT Feb 28th 2019
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Stoutland395
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A Simple Text (f, m, & m)

Post by Stoutland395 »

Love Is Irrational

Breanna knocked on the apartment door, waiting in anticipation at the surprise she was promised. It was a simple text – Come over. It’s a surprise <3 – but there was a subtle mystery to it that was absent in all of Bryce’s other texts. Breanna’s boyfriend was not one for coded messages or nuance, so this sudden turn-about with a text like this was extraordinary. Reading the word “surprise” – followed with a heart “<3” emoji, no less – made Breanna’s heart skip. She threw on her favorite jean-jacket over a green top and pinned her strawberry bangs into her pixie hairdo with a green flower barrette. Her brown eyes lit up seeing the doorknob jiggle. She adjusted the spaghetti strap of her purse on her shoulder, and her freckles faded beneath a pink hue forming on her cheeks.

A man opened the door. He was young, about the same age as Breanna, and slightly taller. He wore a light pink short-sleeved button-up and khaki pants, both of which seemed to fit tight on his body. The hem of his khakis bunched up, showing off his bright blue dress socks. His pale face became flush seeing Breanna, making his blue eyes and pink lips more pronounced on his white skin. “H-Hi, Brea,” he managed to squeak out.

“Hey, Ben,” Breanna said with some hesitation. “Um, I thought… you—”

“Moved?” Ben asked, addressing her confusion. He stepped aside, allowing Breanna inside. To the right by the couch and on the coffee table, boxes of different sizes were stacked and sealed with pink tape. “I still am. I’m just giving myself some more time to make sure everything is in order. Tying up loose ends, getting my affairs in order, and all that.”

“It’s not going to be the same without you here,” Breanna sad softly. “Make sure to give me and Bryce your new number, okay?”

“You won’t need it. You two will have each other. There’s just nothing for me here.”

Breanna grabbed Ben’s hand. “We’re really going to miss you. We’ve all been together for so long. It’s hard imagining things without you with us. But, if it’s what you really want…” Breanna clapped her hands and waved them above her head, shouting, “I release you! You are free to grow up now!”

“I’m older than you,” Ben said, amused.

Breanna smiled. “I must say, too, I wish you dressed more like this earlier. This look suits you way more than those baggy shirts and basketball shorts.”

“Yeah, I figured new place, new look, new me,” Ben said, tugging the bottom of his shirt. “I’m definitely not used to these things. I thought I might’ve gotten my size wrong. They feel a little snug. You sure it looks okay?”

“Perfectly handsome!” Breanna said. She pinched Ben on the cheek, much to his embarrassment. She spoke playfully as one does to child, “So handsome. Our little boy’s growing up! If only Bryce were here to see you off—oh!”

Ben raised his eyebrows. Breanna smacked her forehead, feeling embarrassed for forgetting. “Bryce!” She shouted, remembering. “Where is Bryce?”

“Hm?” Ben’s face turned slightly pink, and he gulped. “Oh, yeah. I was kinda wondering why you came by. Bryce isn’t here.”

“What? No, I got a text telling me to come over. He said he had a surprise for me. You sure he’s not here?”

“Pretty sure. His door’s locked.”

Breanna looked confused. She stared at the message on her phone – Come over. It’s a surprise <3 – She’d read it over and over, left in wonder by Bryce’s sudden shy spontaneity. Now, she began to feel a sense of longing and worry. Why would he have sent this if he wasn’t going to be here? There was a strange emotion in her gut, and a hard lump formed in her throat. Fanning Ben away as he reached out to comfort her, she called Bryce’s number, listening to the busy-tone and waiting for Bryce to pick up. After several buzzes, the voicemail picked up, so she tried again. And again.

“Asshole!” She shouted, her voice breaking. She turned to Ben. “You call him.”

Ben nodded, obliging, but the result was the same. “I knew it. No answer,” he said. “He has an excuse. There's a valid excuse. Hey? Come on, don’t be upset.”

“I’m not upset. I’m just confused. Why? I-I don’t understand. He asked me to come over, and you’re telling me he’s not here, and won’t answer his freaking phone-!”

Ben grabbed Breanna by the shoulders. “Hey! Listen! I… uh…” Ben’s face blushed again. Breanna looked at him expectantly. “You know him. I know him. There’s always an excuse with him—”

“—That’s the point! There’s always an excuse!” Breanna shouted.

“No! Don’t!” Ben pleaded. “Please… don’t… don’t make anything of this. I don’t want this to be my last memory of you two. I don’t mean to… just don’t be angry. Like I said, I’m sure there’s an excuse. Maybe he’s planning something special, and he just needs more time. I would do the same thing—”

“W-what?”

"Nothing!"

Ben drew back, turning away from Breanna, who insisted on an explanation of what he meant. Amidst the stuttering and denials, Ben became increasingly more agitated, as did Breanna. Finally, in a sudden outburst, Ben shouted, “I... I love you!” Breanna stood silent. Ben paused, and his words hung heavy in the air. “It’s… it’s probably not a good time, but… I thought you should know before I leave. Maybe if I said something sooner, maybe it would be us. But I didn’t. I didn’t. This was a mistake. It was all a mistake.”

“Ben…”

“I know, it shouldn’t matter now. It doesn’t matter. You should know, though. So, there it is. Oh, this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have done that.”

Breanna looked down at her phone.

Ben spoke again. “Promise me you won’t be mad.” Breanna looked back, narrowing her eyes in confusion. “Bryce is a good guy. Don’t be mad. You know that. You two will be fine.”

“Ben…” Breanna tucked her phone in her purse. “Let’s go see a movie.”

Ben seemed skeptical. “Really? I just said-- Wouldn’t that be a little awkward, considering—”

“Two friends can’t go to a movie?” Breanna asked, rhetorically.

“What about Bryce?”

“If he wants to surprise me, he’ll have to do it another time. I don’t know what he was or is planning, but I’m not too happy with this mysterious side he’s adopting. I miss the directness.” Ben and Breanna left the apartment, Ben following behind Breanna and looking back before closing the door. “I won’t be mad,” Breanna said, replying to Ben’s earlier comment. “But, he better have a good excuse for leaving me high and dry like this. And his ‘surprise’ better be worth it!”

“I know he does. Like I said, he’s a good guy.”



Bryce laid shirtless in his bed, the door locked so no one could enter. Stripped down to a pair of plaid boxer shorts and a pair of calf-length black dress socks, he rolled on the mattress, feeling the soft cotton fabric of the quilt and bedsheets brush against fair skin of his tightening chest and stomach. The ceiling fan whirred and buzzed above him, sending streams of air that cooled the dampened sheets. Hours of struggling left his body clammy, so it was nice to at least have a steady chill cooling the perspiration on his skin. Stray blonde hairs fell over his brows; his sweat acted like a glue, drying it in place, but he couldn’t wipe them away to stop them from tickling his forehead.

Bryce’s arms had been pulled behind his back, wrists crossed and tied together by strand of white cord. His ankles had been crossed and tied, similarly. An additional white cord wound around his knees to keep him from spreading his legs apart. A final length of rope tethered his ankles to his wrists – it was yanked so tightly that his heels nearly touched his rear. The excess strands from the knot were pulled down and tied to the rope around his knees to keep him from fumbling with the correct knot.

If only he could…

Over those tied joints, duct tape, flashing bright hot-pink, wrapped around the rope in sticky layers of adhesive. Even more so, tape wound around his thumbs and fingers, cocooning his hands and turning them into little pink mitts. The same had been done over the tops and bottoms of his feet. Every precaution was taken to keep him as immobile as possible, but Bryce strained all his muscles attempting to escape his prison. The rope was bad enough, stinging as it dug into his skin, but the tape was the worst. It was tighter the more layers that had been wound around, like a compression bandage smashing his joints together.

Bryce let out a pained gasp. All the bondage pulled his limbs backward, stretching out his stomach and thighs, and the muscles in his shoulders, back, and calves began to lock up and sting like a bad cramp.

He flopped and flailed as much as the rope and tape allowed, rolling around and screaming at the top of his lungs. As sore as his throat was from screaming, his cries for help were barely audible even to him. A thick pair of thermal socks, folded into a bulb, was stuffed into his mouth. The wad stretched his jaw and flattened the tip of his tongue. He had t concentrate, flexing the back of his tongue to the roof of his mouth to stop the socks from moving further in, but the dull ache in his jaw made that increasingly more difficult. A bandanna fit over his gaping mouth to hold the socks in place, and more pink tape wrapped around his head, forming an ‘X’ that smashed his mouth, puffing his cheeks and chin.

Bzzt… Bzzt…

Bryce’s cell phone, placed deliberately by his face, buzzed, and a text flashed over the home screen image of himself and Breanna – kiss between two lovebirds immortalized in a screenshot. Another text, following the several before it that he couldn’t respond to:

Sorry rly. Brea is just so beautiful <3 Just one date b4 I’m gone. Thx 4 the change of clothes. A bit tight, but Brea said I looked handsome! B chill & I'll let u out when I get back <3 <3 <3

Bryce squeezed his eyes shut and released another muffled scream, violently thrashing in his hogtie. They were right there, he kept thinking. She was right there. If I’d only been a little louder. I was here the whole time, Brea. Cramped and frustrated, he flailed about miserably until the fatigue overwhelmed him. His nostrils flared sucking in gasps of air, and angry tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.

… Ben was a dead man.
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cj2125
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Post by cj2125 »

I already told you earlier but this is one of my favorite stories! Although the twist was a little bit predictable, the execution was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Now I want to see a second part where Ben is murdered XD
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Post by FelixSH »

Pretty much agreed with cj2125. It's a fun and sort of sweet story, even though Ben feels a little bit unhinged :D.
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Stoutland395
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Post by Stoutland395 »

Thank you. If there was a Part II, I imagine Ben taking his time to load his things up, talking to Bryce about his "date" with Brea. He'd then undo the hogtie and take some of the tape off Bryce's hands. Then he'd make for Albuquerque while Bryce hops around looking for the scissors (that Ben placed on the counter - is he not merciful?).
Short stories are difficult for me, considering I make my stories 7+ chapters long, and my shortest one on my Word doc is about 30pgs. I really like these contests because it gives me incentive to write something with a limit. But there's always that urge for me to go back and expand the stories to 7+ chapters.
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Post by Xtc »

Sorry, I thought I had posted this earlier but congratulations on placing in the story contest. I hope you will participate in the next one.

P. S. Resist that urge!!
They all say boxer shorts are cool,
but little Speedos always rule.
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Stoutland395
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Post by Stoutland395 »

Thanks, and I can't wait for the next one.
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Post by LK3869 »

Already said I liked it elsewhere, it's suitably mean and a fun Valentine twist, with short but good character depiction. In the same spirit as CJ's one, but different.
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