The Love Pill

by Arizona Tape

  ‘Can I read?’ Ruben asked, grabbing my tiny book. I quickly yanked it back. I was willing to consult with him, but I wasn’t showing him my notes.

  He huffed. ‘All right, fine. Talk to me. What do her tits look like.’

  I slapped him with my notebook. ‘That’s rude. Don’t use that kind of language, it’s degrading.’ I said, furrowing my eyebrows and shaking my head.

  Ruben just smirked, and held his hands before his chest, cupping them. ‘Were they firm? Did you have a good grip on them?’ He went on, pretending like I never said anything.

  ‘That’s just crude. I’m not even gonna answer that.’

  He made a puppy face. ‘I’m your bestest friend, give me a little detail. A tiny fantasy.’ He said with a childish voice, sticking out his lower lip, looking like an innocent child. But I knew him well enough. I flicked him on the nose.

  ‘Not gonna happen, buddy. Fantasise about someone else.’ I said, opening the newspaper and ignoring him. Not that that was gonna work. He yanked the newspaper out of my hands and pushed some blank papers in my direction.

  ‘We need a strategy. You know, on how to seduce her. I am a master in seducing and pleasing women. Let me teach you everything I know. And when you get her in your bed, you can tell me all about it.’ He said, looking smug.

  I sighed. This was gonna feed his ego, but he was right. I was really out of my depth here and I needed some help. I couldn’t screw this up.

  ‘Okay. Why not. That way you’ll feel useful.’ I said, pretending like I didn’t desperately need his advice. But he knew me well enough and saw right through me.

  ‘Right, well, if you don’t need my help, I won’t bother you with it.’ He said, looking me right in the eye, daring me to lie.

  I sighed again. ‘Fine, teach me, master.’ I said, doing a fake bow, rolling my eyes.

  Ruben told me about a couple of little things that weren’t big changes for me but would be very beneficial. Holding the door open. Giving her a flower. Texting her good morning and good night. Stuff like that. But the best advice he gave me?

  ‘Do the things you want guys to do for you. Woo her the same way you want to be wooed. Flirt with her like you want to be flirted with. Treat her how you want to be treated. She’s a lady. Make her feel like a lady.’

  He was right. He actually kind of shocked me with his knowledge about wooing the ladies. I always thought it were his good looks and his charming smile that got him the girls, but it was his attitude. He had thought about it and over time perfected his ‘act’. He knew the little things that we loved. It was rather disturbing, now that I think about it.

  ‘And when is it appropriate to kiss her?’ I asked, not wanting to spoil anything. Ruben smirked and made kiss noises.

  ‘Oooh, some girl on girl action. Me wanna watch.’ He said, making more kiss noises and laughing his butt off. He knew this topic made me uncomfortable and he enjoyed teasing me.

  I sighed. He could be such a little child.

  ‘So, when, where?’ I asked again, thinking that on the first date in the bathroom wasn’t the best time and place. I don’t think she really minded, and it was already too late, but better to check it anyway.

  Ruben made his thinking face, looking up in the air, holding his chin and tapping it with his index finger. ‘Well, when you say goodbye on the first date. Then you can give her a small peck, nothing too heavy. Just letting her know that you had fun and that you are interested. For a full on kiss, maybe wait a bit. Second or third date. Best somewhere to the end, somewhere private. Just make sure you make up your mind. Make sure you know when you are going for it, and more importantly, make sure she knows it’s gonna happen. Nothing worse than a surprised woman who didn’t see it coming.’

  ‘Aha.’ I said. ‘Interesting.’ intensely looking at the floor, thinking about our first kiss. It was definitely not a peck. I smiled thinking about the kiss and how I had felt so content.

  Ruben looked at me, squinting his eyes. ‘You sly devil, you already had your first kiss with her.’ he shouted, his mouth falling open. ‘Tell me about it! Where was it? How was it? Was she any good? Why didn’t you tell me? Oh, did you get aroused?’

  I felt my cheeks go red. Did I get aroused? Yeah, unexpectedly, yes.

  10. Dinner

  Lexi Zellichman

  I heard my phone vibrate and grabbed it as fast as I could. As I expected it was a text from Cara. She had been texting me all day and although it was 2:47 am right now, we were still texting like mad. In the beginning, I tried to play it off, but after a while, I gave up and just texted her back as fast as I could.

  — When am I seeing you again? —

  I smiled, soon I hoped.

  — I’ll see if I have a slot in my agenda :) —

  I texted back, pretending like I was extremely busy.

  — You better make some time for me. I wanna see you. Take you to dinner. —

  That was everything that I needed. Her admitting she wanted to see me.

  — Sure. What about tomorrow evening? —

  I immediately got a text back from her, which made the butterflies fly up in my stomach.

  — Perfect. I’ll pick you up at 8 pm. See you then, cutie. ;) —

  I smiled happily, put the phone on my nightstand and wiggled my body, trying to find a comfortable position. As soon as I closed my eyes, I fell in a deep sleep, looking forward to seeing her.

  When the evening arrived I got nervous. Every time I went out with her in public, I got a bit scared she’d leave with someone far more gorgeous than me. When the bell rang, I quickly checked my makeup and my hair, before opening the door. I knew she was gonna look stunning, but I wasn’t ready for this. Her long legs from under her skirt, the dress that clung perfectly to her body, a hint of cleavage.

  WOW.

  Cara flashed me her cocky smile. ‘Hi, you look beautiful.’ She said while throwing me a suggestive wink.

  I laughed, winking back. ‘Thanks, so do you…’ I smiled, wanting to say more, but cut off by Cara’s lips suddenly and softly on mine. She nibbled on my lower lip, sweeping her tongue over it, giving me chills.

  I pulled back. ‘Smooth. Let’s go.’ I said, pretending like it didn’t affect me, but nothing was more true. I grabbed my coat and flicked off the lights, stepping outside. Cara took a step back but stayed on the step-up in front of my door. It’s a small step-up, so when I closed my door, I noticed how close she was standing. I swallowed nervously because I could already guess what she was gonna do. She never failed to grab an opportunity to kiss me and make me weak to my knees.

  I was right.

  ‘You smell dangerously good.’ Cara whispered in my ear. Lightly grabbing my waist, pulling me closer to her. I felt her warm breath in my neck, giving me shivers. Her feather light kisses going from my ear to my collarbone. Her head pushing mine up, softly biting on my jaw. Her hands gliding up and down my spine, finally resting on the small of my back.

  All those things made me almost moan and when she started sucking on the soft skin of my neck I couldn’t help but release the soft moan I was so desperately trying to hold back. I felt Cara smile against my skin, sucking harder, surely leaving a hickey. When she was done she pulled back, rested her forehead against mine and cupped my head with her hands.

  ‘Just marking my territory.’ she whispered, stepping back and grabbing my hand. ‘Let's get some food.’

  The restaurant was sober but stylish. Rustic, wooden tables combined with cute placemats and all different kinds of chairs, like he bought them from a thrift store or had been collecting them over the years. But it was oddly charming. Cara greeted the waiter, handling him like an old friend.

  ‘Lexi, this is my old friend Gio. Gio, my date.’ she introduced me, pulling me closer. He gave me a big smile, kissed my hand and made a little bow.

  ‘I’m so pleased to meet you, darling.’ he said, grinning and looking at me like I was the best thing since sliced bread.

  ‘Than
ks, it is nice to meet you too.’ I greeted. Gio kept staring at me, shaking my hand up and down, so I awkwardly coughed.

  ‘Can I have my hand back?’ I asked, hoping I wasn’t impolite, but feeling very uncomfortable with him still holding my hand. He let go of my hand and started laughing, hands on his round belly, shaking uncontrollably.

  ‘She’s got spunk! Score, darling.’ He managed to say to Cara, still laughing and shaking his head in amusement.

  After exchanging a lot of pleasantries, we finally walked towards our table. Cara pulled out my chair like a true gentlewoman and when we were seated, Gio brought us two glasses and a bottle of red wine. He opened the cork and gave us both a tasting sip. The wine left a nice zing on my tongue and felt warm in my throat. We both nodded in agreement, so Gio filled our glasses up and disappeared into the kitchen. Sipping from my glass I looked around for the menu, but I couldn’t find any.

  ‘Do you see a menu?’ I asked Cara, feeling a bit stupid. Cara just smiled.

  ‘There is no menu. Gio knows what you wanna eat.’ Cara said, pointing at the kitchen door.

  ‘He “knows” what I wanna eat? I don’t even know what I wanna eat, how would he know?’ I asked, a bit sceptical. This was gonna be a disaster, I was a really picky eater.

  ‘Yes, just wait and see.’

  When Gio arrived with our food, it did smell delicious. He placed a bowl and a large plate on our table. In the bowl was a vegetable soup for Cara, filled with noodles, pieces of tender chicken and cut up greens. It smelled absolutely delicious.

  But what I got was even better. On the plate, Gio made three sections. The first section, starting on the left, was a green landscape made from vegetables. In the middle, a beautifully seared steak, baked à point, exactly how I liked it.

  The right side was an ocean of gorgeous, velvety cream sauce. I almost started drooling at the sight of it all. It looked beautiful and it tasted even better.

  ‘I can’t believe this. This is incredible. How come this place isn’t run over by people?’ I asked ecstatically, looking around. His restaurant was small, it had no more than 10 tables and could probably only fit about 25 people. And at the moment, Cara and I had the restaurant to ourselves.

  ‘Gio only serves a select public. He loves giving so much attention to the food he makes. If it were full of people here, the quality would suffer.’ Cara explained.

  I nodded. That made sense. Still, I would love to dine here again and hoped that she would take me, or that at least, Gio would let met back in.

  ‘I love it here.’ I said, looking around. I had only been here for a couple of hours, but it already felt like home.

  ‘Yeah, it’s a bit like home.’ Cara agreed, saying exactly what I was thinking.

  I smiled. ‘Thank you for bringing me here.’

  ‘Don’t thank me yet, wait until you had dessert. Then you’ll be thanking me.’ Cara grinned, winking, getting my cheeks to turn a nice shade of red. It had been a while since anybody treated me this nicely. It was a nice adjustment for a change.

  After dinner, we decided to take a walk and have a drink in a bar. As to toast on our good evening.

  One drink quickly became two drinks. And two drinks became three drinks. And so on and so on. I stopped counting after 6. Both much more tipsy than we expected to be, decided we should leave the bar. But on our way home, we somehow ended up in a karaoke bar.

  ‘Please, sing this song for me.’ I begged Cara, pointing at the screen, pushing a microphone in her hands. Cara grinned drunkenly, nodded and headed upstage. I couldn’t hold my laughter, the song I picked for her was Womanizer by Britney Spears. She started singing, while doing some funny dance moves. After the song, she made a little bow, jumped off the podium and pushed the mic in my hands.

  ‘Your turn, cutie.’ she said, pushing me on stage. Drunken me loved karaoke, so I waited for the song. And quickly, the tunes of IT girl filled the room.

  11. The Hangover

  Cara Hemlock

  Seeing Lexi drunk was quite a sight. I’m still not sure how the hell we went from a romantic dinner to a drunken karaoke bar.

  Was I complaining? Hell no!

  I never had so much fun on a date, I mean, the guys I used to date were mostly cliché romantic. And most of the times I loved it, but loosening up and not being able to hold my laughter, were things I wasn’t used to.

  When she waggled on stage, I snorted, spraying my drink all over the table. I thought I couldn’t handle my liquor, but Lexi was a disaster. Drunkenly she agreed to sing, so I picked a goofy song for her. The tunes filled the room and I focussed on her, the best my foggy mind still could.

  I’ve been looking under rocks and breaking locks.

  Just trying to find you.

  I’ve been like a maniac, insomniac.

  Five steps behind you.

  Tell them other girls, they can hit the exit.

  Oh, check please.

  Because I finally found the girl of my dreams.

  Much more than a Grammy award,

  that’s how much you mean to me.

  Her voice filled the room, leaving me speechless. She was extremely drunk, but her voice was incredible. I shook my head, what was I even expecting? Apparently, she was good at everything, except drinking. Then she sat down on a chair, looked me right in the eyes and started on the chorus of the song I had only ever heard Jason Derulo sing.

  You could be my IT girl, oh baby you are the shhh girl.

  Loving you, that could be a crime.

  Crazy how we fit, girl, oh, this is it, girl.

  Give me 25 to life.

  Oh, I just wanna rock all night long. Oh all night long.

  You in the middle of my spotlight.

  You could be my IT girl.

  You are my biggest hit girl.

  She captured my full attention during that whole song. Hypnotising me with her beautiful voice and her gazing eyes. I never really understood the song, because it was always so upbeat, but her singing it with so much feeling made me understand. Being someone’s it girl, being the only one.

  She kept looking at me during the song and I did feel like the only girl in the room. It was probably the tequila talking, but at that moment I could see myself falling for her. Like, really fall for her.

  After the song, she jumped down and waggled back to our table. I was still speechless, trying to get my vocal chords working.

  ‘Wow. You can sing.’ I managed to choke out, still feeling my heart race in my chest. She winked, slumped down on the chair and laid her head on the table.

  ‘I’m sleepy, Cara.’ she said, closing her eyes.

  I smiled, time to go home then.

  ‘You gonna be okay?’ I asked when I dropped her off at her home. She nodded and started looking for her keys. When she didn’t find her keys, she turned her purse upside down and emptied it completely on her porch.

  Her keys fell out and she picked them up triumphantly, swinging them in front of my face.

  ‘Found them.’ she grinned, turning around and trying to find the keyhole.

  I shook my head in amusement. The walk had cleared my head and I wasn’t nearly as drunk anymore. Lexi, on the other hand, was still extremely drunk. I started picking up her stuff, took her keys from her and opened the door. She stumbled in, giggling to herself.

  ‘Shhh, my cat is sleeping.’ she whispered loudly, shushing me even though she was making all the noise. She kicked off her heels clumsily, so I dropped all her stuff on the table and grabbed her, pulling her closer to me.

  ‘Where is your bedroom?’ I asked, looking around, seeing at least five doors. I had a lot of friends who couldn’t handle their liquor, so it wasn’t the first time I had to put someone to bed.

  She pointed at a door and slurred. ‘Shhhhhh, my cat, is taking…Mmm…Well…napping, there.’

  I nodded, picked her up bridal style and walked towards her bedroom. I was surprised I could pick her up, I mean, she was very light, but I normally
would just pull my friends toward their rooms. I never picked someone up bridal style. Maybe I was more drunk than I thought I was.

  I pushed the door open, walking in her room. I placed her gently in her kingsize bed, making sure she was comfortable. She immediately snuggled into her pillow, crawling up in a ball.

  I unbuttoned her blazer so I could take it off and hung it over a chair so it wouldn’t wrinkle. I took off her earrings and sat down next to her. I kissed her on the cheek, wishing her a good night.

  The next morning, around noon, I got a text.

  — Thanks for taking care of me last night. I’m really embarrassed right now. I’m crawling under my rock. —

  I smiled, she maybe felt embarrassed, but I loved seeing this side of her. Having a good time with my girl friends had never been a problem, so last night was something I knew how to do. In contrary to seducing women.