The Bet - Chapter 51 (Sunday – week 8 part 3 of 8)

The Bet

by Karen Singer

Chapter 51 (Sunday – week 8 part 3 of 8)

     Chad had to carry bag after bag of groceries up the steps while wearing his silly dress and four inch heels.  And whenever Mel noticed anyone in the parking lot looking at him, she made him curtsey for them too.  None of them were ever close enough for him to show them his pretty fingernails though. 

     As soon as the groceries were all into her apartment, Mel had Chad remove his silly dress.  “Hang it up and make sure it’s ready for later,” she told him.  “We need to go to the mall this afternoon and I know you’ll want to wear it.”

     Wear it?  To the mall?  She had to be kidding!  But somehow he knew she wasn’t.  After this morning’s little romp through the grocery store, Chad wasn’t at all sure he was ready for that!  He could just see himself curtseying non-stop for everyone in sight.  And the mall would be much more crowded and busy than the grocery store had been.  He had no doubt that he was in for a miserable trip for sure!

     As soon as all the groceries were put away, Mel let him get his laundry from his apartment and get started on it since he had so much that absolutely had to get done right away, including his now wet sissy socks that he had worn while grocery shopping.  So clad in just his bra holding up his glued-on falsies, one diaper, and his pink high heels, he got busy again. 

     He was actually glad to be home now and doing something… useful.  He was especially glad to not be out in public anymore.  After last night and now this morning, he had way too much of public exposure!  And now Mel wanted to go to the mall later too?  And she wanted him to wear that silly dress again?  He really would be the talk of the town soon!  What would be next, putting him on TV?

     Since it needed to be done, Mel let him work while she started making more batches of tea.  At the rate he was drinking now, it was starting to look like she would be doing this every day!  But she would gladly do that as long as he kept wetting like she needed him to. 

     It was later in the morning when Mel’s phone rang.  She had just been contemplating starting in on the dress rehearsal for his little ballet tonight.  She grabbed her phone to answer it first.  “Hello?”

      “I have pictures…” Sandy’s delighted voice spoke back.  “Lots of them!  And you don’t want to miss them!”

     Mel laughed.  “So I take it things went well last night?”

      “Real well!  Not quite what I had in mind, but it was certainly interesting!  And Cassie and I took pictures all night so you could see what happened.”

      “I can’t wait!  Do you want to bring them over now?”

      “That’s why I’m calling.  I can be there in a few minutes.”

      “Sounds good to me.  See you in then.”  Mel turned to Sissy.  “Sandy is on her way over.  I’m going to change into something better for dance practice.  Let her in when she gets here.”

     Chad curtseyed and said, “Yes, Mistress.”  He was betting that Sandy was coming over just to tell Mel all about last night.  Last night!  What a night!  In some ways, he wanted to forget it – forever!  But in other ways… it had been without a doubt the strangest and most humiliating experience he had ever had!

     It was actually a few minutes later when the knock came at the door.  “Tell Sandy I’ll be right out!” Mel called from her bedroom.

     Chad was just glad that it was Sandy who was coming over, because dressed the way he was in only a very wet diaper, his bra, and his pink high heels, he would be even more embarrassed than he already was.  He opened the door and started to curtsey his greeting for Sandy, but he stopped in total shock!  He couldn’t move!

      “What the hell!”

     Still frozen in place.  Chad couldn’t move or answer.

      “Sissy!  Let her in!” Mel called as she walked out of the bedroom.  Then she too stopped dead in shock.  “Derek!  What are you doing here?”

     Unable to take his eyes off of Sissy, Derek replied.  “Maybe I should be asking you that question!” he asked angrily.  “I just stopped by to see if you wanted to go out for a bit of a snack, but I can see that it was a big mistake to come here!  What the hell is going on?”

     Mel pulled Sissy back out of the way and moved between him and Sissy.  “Come on in,” she invited as she held the door wider for him.  “I’ll explain it all.”

     Derek stepped inside, but he was still looking angry – mostly at Sissy. 

     As Mel was closing the door, she spotted Sandy outside, hanging back a bit from the doorway.  She looked shocked.  Sandy just pointed back towards her own apartment.  Mel nodded.  She would see Sandy later.

     Once the door was closed, Mel was quick to realize that Derek had not only seen Sissy, but he had probably already guessed the worst.  And since he had, she needed to keep Sissy on the straight and narrow!  “Sissy!  Greet our guest – properly!”

     Chad was horrified.  Curtsey to Derek?  He looked at Mel, not believing what she had just said.

      “I know you heard me! Now do it!  The way you’re supposed to!”

     Shaking a bit with fear, Chad finally dropped a proper curtsey for Derek, but his eyes were downcast at the floor as he said, “Hewwo Dewek.”  He couldn’t remove his eyes from the floor if he tried.

     Derek looked back and forth between Mel and Sissy several times.  Angrily, he shouted, “What the hell is this?” 

     Mel could see how angry and confused Derek was.  The other thing she noticed was his balled fists!  She knew she had to take charge of everything – and fast!  It was the lawyer in her that took over.  She turned first to Sissy to get him out of the way.  “You!” she said.  “Go stand on your perch.  And take a fresh bottle with you.  We’re going to be busy for a while.  And if you start leaking, keep quiet about it.  I don’t have time right now.”  Then she turned to Derek.  “And you…” she pointed at the couch.  “Sit!”

     But Derek was too angry to be ordered around.  “What the…”

      “I said sit!” she shouted as she pointed at the couch again.  “I’ll explain all of it, but not till you’re sitting down!”

     Derek headed slowly and almost warily toward the couch.  But he looked back and forth still between Sissy and Mel.  He sat, but it was reluctantly. 

      “Good!” Mel declared.  But she couldn’t help but notice the tension still in Derek’s body.  He was a ticking time-bomb that had to be defused!  She turned toward Sissy who seemed to be barely moving.  “Hurry up!” she ordered.

     Chad grabbed a fresh bottle and ran to his corner where he climbed up onto his perch and… reluctantly… put the bottle to his mouth to start drinking it.  Derek had seen him!  Derek… his friend!  Or was it former friend now.  Most likely, former friend.  And now, Derek knew everything… or soon would.  And there was nothing he could do about it.  He leaned as far into the corner as possible while still drinking his bottle.  If he could have gone through the corner, he would have.

      “Now what’s…” Derek started to ask, but Mel held up her hand to silence him. 

      “I told you I would tell you, and I will.  All of it!  But you’re going to listen to it calmly and rationally!  You’ve already seen him.  You already know some… or you think you do.  But there’s more, and there’s a reason!”

     Derek looked dubiously at her.  “More?  And a reason?  This I gotta’ hear!”

     Mel knew he clearly didn’t believe there could be more… or a reason.  And maybe he was right – to a point.  But just as she had done with Robin, she decided she needed to start at the beginning.  She went to her desk and found her framed contract of the bet and carried it back over near the couch where she sat in a chair close to Derek.  “The day… Chad… moved in here, I accidentally found out some things about him that he never meant for anyone to ever find out.”

      “Yeah!  I can pretty much see what those things are!”

     Mel shook her head.  “Maybe, but you don’t know all of it.”

      “If there’s more, then I don’t think I want to know all of it!”

      “Yes you do!  Trust me!  For everyone’s sake!”

     Derek just glared at her.  “I’m listening.”

      “As I said, they were things he never meant for anyone to find out.  But I did.  And because of me, things have… well… escalated.”

      “Escalated?”

      “Let me continue!”

     Derek shut up, but he wasn’t sure if his curiosity was peeked, or if he just wanted to get out of there. 

      “That first day,” Mel continued, “I’m afraid I got him a little… drunk.  Well, we both got blitzed to tell the truth.”

      “I thought he didn’t drink?”

      “He doesn’t.   That was my fault for insisting.  But the result was that we wound up making a bet.  A very unusual bet, but a bet all the same.”

      “A bet?  This is all part of some kind of bet?”  Derek clearly didn’t believe it.

      “Yes and no!”  Mel took a deep breath before continuing.  “As I said, we got drunk that first day, but the ideas we talked about struck a chord in both of us, so the next day, we actually did made the bet between us.  And since I’m a lawyer, and contracts are the kind of thing I like to do the most, we… formalized it.”  She held out the framed copy of the bet for him to take.  “This is what it’s all really about.  As you can see at the bottom, we both signed it and had it notarized.”

     Derek looked at the bottom of the framed document and saw the raised seal and the signatures.  “Notarized?  For a bet?”

     Mel shrugged her shoulders.  “It’s what I do.”

      “So this thing is legal?”

     That was a really tricky question, the answer to which leaned more towards no, but that wasn’t anything she would tell Derek.  “Mostly,” she replied. 

     Derek rolled his eyes.  “I don’t believe it,” he muttered to himself as he looked back at the document, now bringing his eyes to the top of it to begin reading.  “What the hell is all this legal mumbo jumbo?” he asked as he tried to figure out the beginning of it.

      “I’m a lawyer.  It’s a legal document.  That’s how it’s done.”

      “Well I’m not a lawyer!” Derek replied as he handed the document back to Mel.  “You’ll have to explain it to me…  In English!”

     Mel took the document with a sigh.  Then, to the best of her ability, she started again at the beginning again, telling him all about Chad’s hidden quirky side, and all about the conditions of the bet.  And then she tried her best to explain to him how the bet had become so much more to both of them.  While she couldn’t really speak for Chad, she was pretty sure he felt the same way she did, that the bet had become their whole life.  That it meant so much for the future – for each of them. 

     Derek remained silent the whole time she was speaking. And when she was done, he continued to just stare at her for a bit… dubiously.  “So you’re telling me, he was pretty messed up in the head before all this started, and now things are ten times worse!”

      “That’s not exactly…  But… I guess it’s one way to look at it,” Mel agreed.

     Derek got up from the couch fast.  Mel noticed his balled fists again as he headed directly toward Sissy in the corner. 

      “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shove my fist down your throat!” he roared at Sissy as he headed directly toward him.

     Mel stood quickly.  “No!  Don’t you dare!”

     Derek only looked back at her angrily as he stopped right next to Chad – still standing on his perch in his corner, holding an empty baby bottle by his side, cowering in fear, and now sobbing audibly.  Derek didn’t hit him, but he wanted to.  “You moron!” he yelled angrily at Sissy. 

     Mel watched carefully, but she didn’t approach.  She had hoped she had explained things well enough, but it wasn’t looking like she had.  At least Derek didn’t hit Chad… yet.  But her lawyer’s experience also told her that this confrontation had to happen between the two of them.  And for Sissy’s sake, it was probably better if he remained in just the position he was in… submissive, and silent!  Because otherwise, Derek really might shove his fist down his throat!

     Derek looked Sissy over.  He was wearing nothing but a diaper – an obviously very wet diaper!  But Mel had said this whole thing was over making him incontinent.  And hadn’t she said something earlier to him about leaking?  He saw the realistic looking breast forms inside of Sissy’s bra.  He could see how the weight of them pulled at his bra straps.  And the idiot liked that?  Then he looked down at Sissy’s feet – adorned in very high pink patent high heel shoes.  But Sissy was standing on some kind of bar that kept even those high heels off the floor.  It looked like it would be torture on his toes.  “Is that thing you’re standing on… comfortable?” he asked Sissy, his voice soft but dripping with threat.

      “He’s not allowed to speak when he’s up there,” Mel replied quickly.  While it wasn’t completely true, the last thing she needed was for Chad to say anything that might make things worse.  Chad’s only response was another audible sob as he tried to push himself even harder into the corner.

     Derek looked back at Mel, but only for a moment.  Then he turned to Sissy once again.  “So this is the kind of life you want?” he asked a bit softer, but it still held more than a hint of threat.

     Chad cautiously turned his head a little toward Derek.  How was he supposed to answer that question?  Not because he wasn’t supposed to speak, but because he didn’t know what to say. 

     But Derek didn’t really want an answer.  “Stick your face back in that corner, moron!” he yelled angrily.

     Chad buried his face fully back into the corner as fast as he could, even as more sobs started to escape him.

      “You want this kind of life?” Derek yelled angrily.  “Then you deserve this kind of life!  This and more!  You idiot!”  In disgust, Derek turned away from him.

     Chad was just glad it was over.  He hoped Derek would leave now – quickly.

     But Derek was just getting warmed up.  He turned right back to Chad again.  “I used to regard you pretty highly,” he said menacingly.  “You were my friend… at least I thought you were.  And then when you started showing up at work in dresses, my regard for you went way down.  Way down!  But now…  Now…  Now my regard for you has dropped a thousand percent!  I have no regard for you anymore!  My regard is less than zero.  It borders on total disgust!”

     Chad was sobbing uncontrollably now, almost as loudly at times as Derek’s voice.

      “You want this kind of life?” Derek continued.  “Then I hope you get everything you deserve!  Everything!  I’d still really like to ram my fist down your throat.  But I won’t.  I won’t because I can see that it would be nothing... nothing at all… nothing, next to what I sincerely hope you get out of this kind of life.  And I really hope you get it!”

     He turned away from Sissy in disgust.  He had meant every single word of what he had said.  He looked at Mel.  “I came here this morning because I thought we had made a connection last night.  I thought there might be something interesting between us.  I don’t know about you, but I had a good time last night.  A real good time.  I was going to see if you wanted to go out for lunch somewhere this afternoon.  But I can see that it was just a big mistake.  I’m sorry I came.”

     Mel watched as he stared toward the door.  But she stopped him quickly.  “Wait!”  She waited till he had turned to look at her again.  “I had a good time too.  A real good time.  And I thought we had a connection too.  I was… comfortable with you.  I didn’t want you to find out about… all this.  I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.  You know, and that’s all there is to it.  I was just hoping you would understand.”  She paused, but only for a moment.  “And…  And I’d really like to go out with you this afternoon.  If we can.”

     Derek stood there and stared at her.  Was she serious?  But he did still like her.  As much as he hated to admit it, he still liked her.  Last night he had liked her a lot!  “You want lunch?” he finally asked.

     She nodded.  “Yes…  But…  But you have to understand.  Sissy has to come with us too.  I can’t let him out of my sight right now.”

     Derek shook his head.  “Forget it!”  He turned to leave again.

      “Please!” Mel pleaded quickly.

     Derek stopped.  “I’m not buying him lunch!  I really don’t want him anywhere around!”

      “You don’t have to buy him lunch!  Me either!  Maybe we can just go somewhere where he can stay nearby.”

     Derek wasn’t too sure about that though.  “Like where?”

     Mel shook her head.  But then she remembered something.  “The mall!  I have to go to the mall this afternoon.  We could go there.  And Sissy can just… stay where I can keep an eye on him.”

     Derek wasn’t sure about it though.  “Why can’t he just stay here?”

      “Because I’m… doing things with him.  And because I don’t want to lose this bet!”

      “Doing things?  What’s that supposed to mean?”

     Mel’s face changed to a wicked smile.  “Take me to the mall and find out!”