Julien clutched the lovingly written piece of card in his hands as he heard the distant ‘thunk’ of the front door being closed. Tonight was the night; he had planned it all down to the finest detail, and now all that remained was to see if Rosaline would be as pleased as he had hoped.
Darkness shrouded his world, save for the flicker of light shining on him through the keyhole in the heart-shaped door before him. He watched with bated breath, eye pressed to the opening as shadows made their way up the hall.
Wait, shadows?
“I’m telling you that was his car parked up the road for sure. He’s here for sure.” The impishly cheery voice could only have belonged to Taylor, of course. Julien felt irritation in his throat at the sound of their southern twang; of all the times they chose to show up out of the blue, they inevitably chose the worst ones.
“Perhaps, but he’s usually a lot more noisy than this; he’s not the most subtle man.” Rosaline replied with amusement in her tone. The pair strode into the room as Julien’s momentary flash of displeasure melted away at the sight of Rosaline. He’d dreamed of such a woman since his youth, since the moment when thoughts of love and lust had first entered his tiny mind, and those urges had only grown over the following decade. So perfect was she that he had been quite careful to take his time, cultivating their connection and making preparations such that the moment when he asked to make their relationship official would be perfect.
He hadn’t planned on Taylor being there, but he doubted it would make much difference.
“Not subtle huh? Well what do you call that?” Taylor noted with a smirk, nodding over in Julien’s direction. Rosaline followed her friend’s gaze and her eyebrows rose upon spotting the fruits of Julien’s labour.
“Oh my gosh.” The smile on Rosaline’s face made Julien’s heart sing a chorus as she stepped over, her already striking figure amplified immensely by the limited view from inside Julien’s hiding place. Fingers hooked beneath the chain of the locket, Julien bracing himself as Rosaline lifted the pendant and its miniaturized occupant into the air. Her eyes glittered with evident delight as she inspected the gift, and Julien shuffled away from the keyhole in anticipation. “It’s adorable… and there’s a note.” Her eyes drifted to the table for a second as she read aloud. “… ‘Happy Birthday My Dear Rosaline, I have a message for you from deep inside my heart.’ … I wonder…” She turned, the heart-shaped locket dangling from her fingers as she glanced around the room as though expecting Julien to emerge at any moment.
“Wonder what? There’s a key there Rosie, crack open the locket and read the message?” Taylor pushed in a teasingly excited manner as Julien felt some tiny amount of appreciation for them for once.
“Hmm… No, it wouldn’t feel right reading it without Julien here to share the moment.” Rosaline said after a moment, unclasping the chain of the locket as she slid it around her neck. Julien felt his heart skip a horrified beat as the words hit him, his mouth agape. The sudden motion sent him sprawling to the side, his head colliding with the cold metal of the locket’s interior as he slumped in a daze, the light outside vanishing abruptly. He could hear something loud, pulsing periodically behind him, the vibrations rattling his very insides.
The beating drum of Rosaline’s heart as his lovingly chosen prison dangled about her throat, nestled between her breasts.
“Kind of strange that he just left it sitting there huh? I mean, you’d think that he’d want to give you your birthday present in person, not just leave it for you to stumble on when you got home.” Taylor spoke, their voice faintly muffled by the flesh of Rosaline’s chest as it engulfed the locket.
“Julien’s a strange guy, full of little contradictions. This really doesn’t surprise me at this point honestly.” Rosaline stepped over to her bed and set her bag down, the soft ‘ping’ of her phone lock-screen reaching Julien as she pressed a few buttons. Silence hung for a few moments, until… “Well, he’s not answering his phone. Odd.”
“He’s probably on the can or something.” Taylor replied with an audible shrug. “What’s up Rosie? There’s something in your voice.”
Julien had heard it as well, and it filled him with cold worry as he listened intently.
“Oh, it’s just… I get the feeling this is just one more lovely gesture from Julien, but still nothing concrete.” Gravity rushed Julien’s throat as Rosaline seated herself, his mind and body both reeling. “It’s been six months of us ‘going out’, and I’m sure he likes me, but… he still hasn’t asked me out. I feel like I’m in Schrödinger’s relationship, and I’m sick of it.” There was frustration in her voice as Julien felt a wave of shame and guilt wash over him. He had hoped that he could wait this out until she opened the locket and spring the surprise anyway, but at this point he knew he had to call it off. He couldn’t bear to hear her hurting like this.
“Rosaline!” He shouted, hands cupped to the sides of his mouth, “Rosaline, look in the locket!”
Julien may as well have been trying to shout from the bottom floor of a skyscraper for all the good it did, especially when Taylor started speaking over him, their voice ten thousand times more powerful than his at a regular speaking volume.
“Whaaaaat? Hold on; you guys are all over each-other constantly, and he hasn’t made it official? For real? Has he given any reason for it?”
“No, I mean, kind of. But… I’ve been wondering about it. He says he adores me and he loves spending time with me, but he hasn’t told any of his friends and family that we’re involved at all. I’m just wondering if… I dunno. Maybe he’s ashamed of me or something, because of what I am.”
Julien felt a sickening lurch in his gut at how wildly off-base the thought was. The sound of weary paranoia in Rosaline’s voice made his skin crawl and he found himself shaking his head furiously.
“Rosaline! NO! PLEASE, LISTEN ROSALINE! OPEN THE LOCKET!” He screamed, his voice cracking in desperation as Taylor scoffed.
“What is there to be ashamed of? You’re a stone-cold stunner; an absolute bomb-shell of a woman in every conceivable way. You’re fuckin’ awesome and if he’s too scared or ashamed to openly call you his own, then I’ll fuckin’ do it.”
Rosaline laughed in genuine mirth at that comment, Julien’s world rocking a moment later as he felt Taylor seat themselves on the bed beside Rosaline.
“You’ll do what? Start dating me to force Julien’s hand?”
“Julien’s not even a factor; he’s an insect as far as I’m concerned. A sweet insect, a generous insect, an insect with a good heart, but he’s clearly too timid and frail to properly commit to you. You deserve better than that. Hell, you don’t even need to break up with him because you were never bloody dating to begin with apparently!”
Rosaline was silent for a moment, but Julien could feel the hammer of her heart growing more rapid, the heat building around him as he sat stricken with despair at what he was hearing. He screamed and screamed, trying to be heard, but to no avail as Rosaline let out a shaky laugh.
“I thought maybe he was going to ask me tonight, finally. Hoped he was anyway… because if he didn’t, I was going to tell him I didn’t want to see him anymore. You’re right, I do deserve better than that. I know that. Apparently the only one who doesn’t know that is him.”
“Well, not necessarily,” Taylor said, their tone momentarily diplomatic, “I mean, didn’t they say they left a message for you in the locket? Maybe it’s the message you’ve been waiting for?”
Light sprinkled back through the keyhole a moment later as Rosaline removed the necklace, hope welling up in Julien again as he tried to steady himself, wiping the fearful tears from his eyes as he held up the card once more, trembling softly. Through the keyhole, he could see the shape of Rosaline’s eye gazing steadily upon the pendant.
“… Maybe it is. But that’s not good enough. If he wants to make this official, he can tell me himself.” Her tone was firm, resolute and full of judgement. “I’ll give him until midnight… I owe him that.”
“You don’t owe him shit, but okay.” Taylor allowed reluctantly, rising and sauntering over to the door. “But if we’re gonna wait ‘til midnight, let’s at least grab some drinks. I wasn’t kidding about you being a knock-out; if your not-boyfriend isn’t going to give you a good time on your birthday, then I guess I’ll have to do it instead.”
Rosaline laughed richly at that, setting the locket down on the bed as she followed after Taylor, leaving Julien to stew in the dread of his self-made prison.
Hours passed as the little thing tried to pry open the locket from within, tried to call for help, tried everything he could think of – to no avail. Exhausted, hungry and quaking with physical and emotional dread, he could only lay sprawled on his back as he heard the sound of footsteps returning at last.
Giggles and faintly slurred speech wafted to his ears as he glimpsed the silhouettes of two titans looming over the pendant.
“Well… it’s midnight Rosie. What’s the verdict?” Taylor spoke with an audible grin as Julien saw Rosaline reach for the locket, the little expression he could see on her face brimming with contempt. Pressed flat by the force of the motion, Julien could only listen helplessly as she replied.
“The verdict, luckily for you, is I’m a lady of my word.” Rosaline replied, her tone imperious in its intoxication. “If my little ‘insect’ isn’t going to crawl out of the woodwork and declare his intentions, then I guess I’ll have to give consideration to the superior option.” Julien felt his world invert itself as the locket was dropped with a short, soft ‘thwack’ onto Taylor’s outstretched palm.
“Uh, why are you giving me this?” Taylor mused, jostling the locket idly as Julien was slammed about the interior like a pinball.
“Because if Julien is going to show how little he thinks of our relationship by leaving a message inside a trinket, then I want to show him how little I think of our ‘relationship’ by leaving his message inside a ‘message’ of my own.”
Taylor didn’t get a chance to reply as Julien heard the sound of lips connecting, kissing, soft gasps of pleasure and approval escaping the pair as he felt his mind stretched to its limit. He screamed in fear and confusion as his prison lurched repeatedly, squeezed, lifted, lowered and tossed about until finally coming to a halt amidst the sound of rustling clothes.
“Whoa-ho-ho… now there’s a sight I wasn’t expecting to see tonight; not that I’m complaining.” Taylor chuckled as Julien lurched over, pressing one of his battered eyes to the keyhole – and finding himself staring at Rosaline’s bared hips, her buttocks filling every inch of available vision. He choked in horror.
“Well? Go on then; let’s put my new ‘present’ to good use.” Rosaline purred, the blush audible in her voice as Taylor laughed.
“Good thing it’s got this handy-dandy chain eh? Means it won’t get lost up your ass. Julien really nailed this one… Pity he isn’t here to enjoy it.” Julien could practically hear the smirk.
“No, it’s probably for the best he isn’t here frankly; after all this… I’d happily lose him up my ass.”
Julien drowned in their shared laughter as he watched his tomb approaching…