Xi - Chapter 4 - Flash
Friday night at the airport, Xi ensured that their greeting embrace was brief and less personal than perhaps Sage expected. After all, how horrifying it would be if Sage found out that Xi was imprisoned in Anna's belt. Oh, Xi was ecstatic to have Sage come for the weekend. Friends such as those that one makes in college, so rarely come along as one struggles on down the road of life. But, probably, even a closest friend would be shocked when a normally wholesome woman chooses to lock her own pleasure away. How could she understand... unless she too had the opportunity to feel the constant tingle and the gentle pull that the belt seemed to maintain on Xi's most private parts?
But Sage was a vision of beauty! Her slim body. Her stylish jeans. The gold stud in her navel luring the wandering eyes of all the passers by. Xi commented that Sage had not aged even a day since they were young, foolish college kids. Into the early hours of the morning they talked of work and old friends. And Sage regaled Xi with an endless stream of her adventures as a heart-breaking bisexual. Her stories of jealous ex-lovers were both tragic and hilarious.
As interesting as the stories were though, Xi found herself drifting from the conversation. Often. She would become lost in the soft percolating of Sage's beautiful voice. She would find herself transfixed upon Sage's shapely lips as they danced with each word's particular enunciation. Or perhaps Xi would focus on the way Sage's head moved and how her black, curly hair lightly draped across her shoulders. Xi struggled to stay present in the conversation each moment though her foremost thought was to reach across to Sage and gently touch the beautiful dark skin of her cheek. She wanted to cradle Sage's head in her palm, draw her dancing lips near, and feel the warm, moist exhalation of words drip into her ear. If she could, perhaps those words would tear through the deafening roar of smoldering desire emanating from deep within her.
When they finally retired to bed, Xi had difficulty falling asleep. She lay there with spinning thoughts that oscillated between erotic fantasies of herself and Sage and a disconnected sense of awe as to the strength of her ambition. Certainly, this was the belt's doing - teasing her to such arousal.
Even after Xi fell asleep she dreamt that she crept through the darkness of the house into the room where Sage slept and pulled back the sheets to reveal her friend's beautiful, naked form. In her dream, she climbed in bed with Sage. Their lips meeting - pressing softly. Their tongues touching lightly, sliding smoothly together...
"Did you sleep well last night?" Xi asked as she poured the morning coffee.
"Wonderfully! I rarely sleep as well back home," Sage replied. Then she looked up at Xi, pulling her curly, dark locks away from her eyes, "You're still a bit flushed. Are your allergies bothering you again today?"
Xi nodded, her lips stretched in a slim smile.
As usual, later that day, they found themselves shopping. Sage had collected an armful of the latest styles and dragged Xi into the dressing room with her. For the next fifteen minutes, Xi complimented Sage as she modeled each outfit, trying her best to sound casual. Secretly though, Xi could not help but to watch intently as Sage dressed and undressed. She furtively placed a clammy palm to her crotch and hopelessly pressed the hard surface of the chastity belt concealed beneath her clothes. Xi studied the exotic tattoo in the small of Sage's back. The symmetric design slid along the swell of her hips and then dipped tantalizingly beneath the waistband of her underwear. Xi felt so embarrassed. She was gawking like a pubescent boy at her good friend. She just couldn't tear her eyes away though. The curve of her back... The smooth mold of her arms...
"I think this would look good on you."
Xi snapped back into the present and managed a feeble "huh?" Sage was standing before her holding a short skirt. "You should try this on. I think that it would look good on you."
Xi's eyes widened a little and searched frantically for an appropriate lie to keep her secret safe. "No thanks. I'm trying to save money right now."
"Oh! Just try it on!"
"No, really. You know me... If I try it on I will lose all resistance, and before you know it, there goes another $300," Xi said snapping her fingers for emphasis. And before Sage could put forward another attempt to cajole her, Xi stated that she was starving for dinner and really wanted to leave to go eat.
Xi was hiding behind the enjoyment of a small wedge of cheesecake when Sage confronted her. "I'm concerned about you."
Xi stopped chewing and looked up from her fork. She felt blood drain from her face. Quietly, fearfully - "Why?"
"You just seem more distant than you used to be - so much more reserved. Are you OK?"
Xi briefly caught the concerned look in Sage's dark eyes and quickly refocused on the table. God, Sage was beautiful! Wait! What the hell was she thinking? Xi felt so ashamed. She had to find a suitable excuse... a plausible lie... Her mind was flustered. It seemed that cohesive thoughts melted in the heat of her desire. Images of the two of them ravaging one another in a naked embrace flashed in her mind's eye. Certainly Sage, and perhaps the entire restaurant, could see her inability to contain her naughty fantasies - her aroused, but guarded condition. "I..." Xi could lift no words above the cacophony of need within her. She shook her head and hid her eyes behind the palm of her hand.
Xi jumped at the light touch of Sage's hand softly comforting her shoulder. "Xi. You've got to let Anna go."
Xi slowly raised her eyes to meet Sage's. Her head suddenly somewhat more clear. A tear rolled down her face. "Yes," her voice cracking a little. Inside, Xi almost felt relief. Sadness, her familiar friend, stepped up to push aside her fervor for a moment. "I think I'm almost to a point where I'm ready to let her go..." Sage had moved around the table and was hugging her. "It's ok, my friend. It's ok..."
Xi luxuriated in the warmth of Sage's touch and the subtle scent of love. Yet, she felt a cold streak of guilt with the realization, that tonight, the comfort she sought did not derive from the tragedy of her past, but from the slow, rolling boil within the cauldron encasing her sex.
Diamond's had been in business for years. Xi and Anna used to frequent the establishment. Even back in the college days it had been a favorite hangout. Not much had changed since Xi had last come over two years ago. The clientele was the same though they looked younger.
"Xi! Long time!" It was Red. She was still bartending here? Red seemed to be staring at Sage as though trying to morph her into Anna somehow. Xi introduced Sage and Red extended her ghost-white arm adorned in cheap metal bracelets and studded leather cuffs to shake Sage's hand. Black painted lips and gold loop piercings framed Red's smile. Xi collected their drinks and carried them towards an open table.
Soon Sage's stories had Xi laughing so hard that her stomach hurt. As the evening progressed Xi felt more relaxed and less concerned about concealing her naughty secret. Maybe the growing noise and confusion of the nightclub drew Xi's attention away from the belt. Maybe the few tears earlier in the day had served Xi well. Maybe it was the margaritas.
The crowd of patrons grew. Soon the din of voices became drowned out by the thump of dance music. Flashing disco lights and mirrored balls replaced the halogens overhead. Xi and Sage soon succumbed to the exertion of being heard above the crowd and sat silent for a while gazing upon the growing host of women swaying and swirling to the beat.
Sage's barely audible "Bathroom!!" was enough to get Xi moving, following her friend through the crowd, preparing to wait in line.
Xi sat in the flickering fluorescent light, the hem of her dress pulled up around her waist, casually watching the door to the bathroom stall repeatedly attempt to drift around to her left. "Counter-clockwise... oh, shit..." When was the last time that she had drunk this much?
Xi staggered from the wash basin towards the bathroom door, working hard to keep the green Exit sign in clear focus. Suddenly, her ears seemed to plug up. The roar of voices became muted and the rhythmic pulsing of the dance beat slowed and echoed around in her head. Each note of music seemed to slide from and lay over the previous, quickly producing a wandering wall of discordant sound. Dizzy, Xi let her body fall upon the door. She tried yawning to get her ears to pop. The door opened and she stumbled out.
When she looked up, her legs froze, her eyes widened, and her mouth slowly opened. Through the flash of lights and wisps of cigarette smoke and manufactured fog, Xi gazed upon throngs of women, disrobed and intertwined in an orgiastic tangle of flesh. Each face was filled with a look of unquenchable lust, bodies twisting and stretching, desperately grasping one another as though to squeeze the fire of desire from their flesh. To the left, amongst the frenzy of naked forms, a single spotlight lit up and shone down upon a woman with midnight-black hair pulled back in a severe ponytail and skin, moon-tan-pale. Her breasts and sex were exposed and boldly displayed, framed by thick metal chains attached to and linking between a collar and many heavy manacles. Her smiling face was tilted towards the floor, yet her dark eyes were fixed directly upon Xi.
As Xi watched, the woman reached up and gently stroked the naked flesh of her pale breast. The woman's dark, pierced nipple grew hard and erect between her slim white fingers. When she knew Xi's gaze had met her own, the woman in chains extended a thin arm as though introducing a stage act. Black, steel links descended at various angles from the thick shackles anchored at her wrist and biceps, back towards other connection points around her body. Somewhat reluctantly, Xi shifted her gaze towards the direction indicated by the woman's presenting palm, across the sea of writhing flesh to another lighted scene. A woman, her hair plaited with some kind of primal, milky clay and skin painted or tattooed with a multitude of thin lines that followed and accentuated the contours of her naked body, stood at profile to Xi's point of view. The woman's hands were folded at her bosom, her waist slightly bent. A third woman knelt before her, reaching up with her hands to grasp the tattooed woman's hips... The noise in the room grew and reached a climax.
"Xi! Let's go dance!" Indeed, dancers once again populated the club. Sage pulled Xi by the arm into their midst, strutting to the irresistible beat. Xi shook her head for a second, stunned but only moderately concerned by the strange vision. "I'm only drinking water for the rest of the night," she thought to herself.
The vision quickly drifted into the clouds of Xi's awareness, cast aside as, perhaps, an effect of her racing libido and carnal desire. Even now the beat of the music seemed to appeal to a resonant frequency in the material of the chastity belt amplifying the frustrating pulling and teasing of her privates to a new and overpowering level. Moment to moment all that Xi knew was that beat and she moved her body to it as though she were possessed. The chaos of lights and bodies precluded the concept of a dance partner. Everyone was dancing with everyone - all, it seemed to Xi, with an enhanced passion and freedom.
Soon Xi found herself moving seductively in proximity to a blonde, shorthaired, butch grrl. By chance, the butch reached out her hand and placed it on Xi's waist. Xi's eyes widened in horror when she realized that the hand landed directly on the hard, metal waistband of Anna's belt. The butch's quizzical look turned to a grin of realization after her hand had explored sufficiently so as to make an identification of the object underneath Xi's dress.
The grrl had found Xi's secret! Strangely though, through this realization Xi found a certain sense of freedom. "What the fuck?" she thought to herself, and she pulled the blonde close. Xi ground her crotch against the woman's, up and down, teasing, ensuring that the woman felt the full surface of the belt's faceplate. Then Xi turned and spun away through the crowd excited and laughing at her own boldness.
The dance floor shook. Spilled drinks, wet hair, raised arms, and sweat. The hypnotic rhythm beat on. Sage pulled Xi up onto a platform overlooking the main dance floor. Sage looked out across the crowd, raised her arms above her head, and let forth a cry of joy. Xi mimicked her actions and then resumed moving and losing herself to the music and flashing lights.
A short woman, tough, but attractive, climbed up beside Xi. They danced together for a moment, rocking and spinning. The short woman smiled - the green luminescence of a glow stick in her mouth. She then looked off into the crowd. Xi followed her gaze to the blonde butch who gave a slight nod and smile. The short woman then quickly stooped, reached a hand under Xi's dress, and slid it up her naked thigh, surely seeking to confirm the existence of Xi's steel prison. Xi quickly stepped away from the short woman, but grabbed the hem of her dress. Xi looked directly into the tough girl's eyes and slowly, still moving to the beat, she started to pull up her dress.
The short woman stood and gazed, apparently in amazement. Xi closed her eyes and leaned her head back, smiling. She continued to pull her dress up until her hands were even with her breasts, revealing her shapely hips, revealing the smooth skin of her abdomen and stomach, revealing the glorious chastity belt. Xi continued moving and dancing, the flash of lights registering under her closed eyelids, laughing to herself, liberated.
In a moment Xi began to feel dizzy. She slowly opened her eyes. An overhead spotlight shone directly upon her. Xi shielded her eyes. Once again, she saw not dancers but the naked bodies of women slowly disengaging from their impassioned entanglement and turning their gaze upon Xi and her belt. Some hands pointed toward her for the benefit of those who had not yet seen. Some hands reached up as a salute to Xi's liberation. Cheers rose through the crowd.
Once again it was Sage who pulled Xi out of her dream. She forced Xi to lower her dress, pulled her off the stage and towards the exit of the club. As they stumbled past the bar, Xi saw Red smiling, subtly shaking her head back and forth in disbelief. They fell out the door into the gentle summer rain, climbed into a taxi that had just arrived and drove off towards home.
Xi undid her dress and let it drop to the floor, her breath, quick and shallow. Sage sat on the bed watching. She smiled and giggled softly when Anna's belt was revealed, locked around Xi's waist. Sage leaned back and put her hands over her head to grasp the bars of the bed frame. Smiling still, she said, "Xi... Are you sure?"
Xi simply nodded. She climbed into bed and crawled with the intent to kiss and seduce Sage, pushing her old friend's knees apart as she moved, settling down softly, with Sage's warm body underneath. Her inhibitions had melted away. "Tonight we must be lovers, but tomorrow," she said quietly to reassure Sage, "back to being friends."
To be continued in Xi - Chapter 5 - Frisson
23.08.06