Malia

by P. S. Power

  He looked at her then, as if that one point would be the ultimate deal breaker. She didn’t see it, herself, so smiled and nodded.

  “Of course. I mean, I’ll need to see that Revengers thing first, but I’m sure I’ll love it.”

  He went dead eyed for ten seconds or so. Almost as if he thought she were serious.

  “Tell me you did that on purpose… Tell me…” He was being overly dramatic, which was good, since it signaled he was playing with her, instead of about to lose it over a movie title.

  She giggled a bit.

  “Of course. That was too big to miss, even if it is ten years old now. Fifteen?” It had been out for a while, at the very least. How long she wasn’t certain at all.

  He sighed.

  “Fine. We’ll have movie night each Saturday, from now on. At least until you get caught up with most of the important things.”

  She didn’t get to answer, since the girl working the counter called out, a single tray in front of her.

  “Jessica and Nick?”

  She got to sit there while Nick hopped up, his long legs making short work of the fifteen feet between their little table with the bright blue chair benches and the front counter. A moment later he was back, the bright red tray being unloaded, most of the food going in front of him. He looked at that part, seeming worried.

  Jess looked at her own burger, feeling the same way. That, plus the fries, was a lot of food for her. She got a straw and took a sip of the Diet Coke. That was a large, but had plenty of ice in it. She was suddenly thirsty though. It wasn’t really out of place, but it was a real enough thing that she got half the drink down inside a few seconds. Then she made herself stop. After all, there was a lot of caffeine in the drink.

  Her being wired and bouncing off the walls… Well, that would probably be a bit more fun than her being sleepy and bored all night.

  They started to eat, taking their time, talking while they did it. The topics were kind of boring. The average things that people their age talked about, probably. She didn’t really know. A lot of it was gossip about kids from school. Who’d failed out of college, who was getting married and who had to do that, since there was a baby on the way. When they left, bussing their own table and returning the reserved plaque to the front counter, the ice bucket going with them, along with the remainder of the sparkling grape juice, Nick seemed a bit nervous.

  “So, back to my place? We don’t have to do that.”

  She understood that he was giving her a way out. He was driving, so if she wasn’t into it, she couldn’t just try to climb out the bathroom window. He could have bailed on her, but the other way around meant doing some serious walking in shoes that weren’t really designed for it.

  Still, the night was going well, as far as she could tell.

  “That sounds fun. Um, earlier, I meant what I said. You’ll have to tell me what to do. Also, no anal. I’ll explain why, later, sometime. At least let’s not try that, right now.” Doing that was going to be right out, if he didn’t want to risk catching elbows and maybe having an eye or two ripped from his head.

  The thought left her feeling sad and a bit scared, though that lifted when he snorted at her words.

  “You know, that isn’t the starting point for things. Normally, it’s the last thing people do, unless they’re into group stuff. You know, we get to start with hand holding, some kissing, a bit of groping. Then we go from there. I mean, I get that you’ll want more and won’t be able to help yourself, what with all this being on offer but we should try to moderate things a little bit.” From his tone, and the way he gestured down his body, he was kidding with her.

  She shook her head. After all, she wasn’t falling for that kind of obvious trap.

  “Nope. That sounds like the road to the friendzone, right there. Moderation? Likely story.”

  She was just copying what he’d done the day before, which he understood easily enough.

  “A point. Good then. We’ll do everything except anal.” He stopped and shook his head. “I’m kidding, on that one. Your first time needs to be more special than this. Still, there’s a lot we can do, if you’re serious?”

  She was, she thought. It would be hard to know how much until she was doing things, but nervous or not, Jess was willing to try. A guy like Nick was probably used to doing more than just holding hands, after all. That was so lame that even people on television didn’t do that kind of thing. Besides that, they’d already passed that, in the library. She hadn’t considered that his ex was a bitch for a day or so, being busy. She thought about movies and television again then, trying to work out what they’d taught her over the years.

  It always started with a kiss. That probably meant she was lacking in a lot of ways, if Nick thought that there was a different location to begin at than that. Of course, it might have been that he was super lame and she was secretly the advanced one. That was a fun thought, though it wasn’t going to be real.

  He lived on the third floor of the apartment building. The whole thing was a gray blue, and his set of rooms was thirty-two. The place wasn’t huge, housing ten or so different people. Well, more than that, but they had ten units, she thought. Maybe twelve. It certainly wasn’t thirty-odd.

  Using his key, a shiny copper thing, he let them in. The place was furnished and looked nice. As if he cared about other people seeing it. The sofa was a nice brown, with plump cushions. When she sat on it, since the television was in front of it, she half sank into a wonderfully plush cloud. Her skirt rode up a bit, showing that she had stockings on, not tights. They held themselves up, but her pale, hairless legs showed in a two-inch gap at the top. She started to adjust that, embarrassed. The lace of the tops matched her thong, which was also visible.

  Nick ran a finger along the skin there, between the two pieces of fabric on her right thigh.

  “Nice. Sexy. We should watch something.” He stood back up, then put something on. That required doing something on a computer to make happen. When it ran, it was just a show. A movie that she hadn’t seen. The plot was slow and predictable, but she made herself pay attention. At least until Nick, seeming a bit nervous, actually took her hand. Then, carefully, he leaned in and kissed her. On the lips. It was slow and soft. He took his time, and gave her hints, mainly by showing her what to do first. Then she did it back. It wasn’t hard or anything.

  It did make it hard to focus on what was on the screen, of course.

  Then, slowly, over the course of several hours, they did more. Working on each thing slowly. Taking their time. Doing it more than once. Really, she hadn’t honestly figured on doing half of what they did. It wasn’t hard for her or anything. Even with the trauma of the night before. They had to take a break, after a while. Mainly because she needed both to use the bathroom, which would mean cleaning up well after, and to drink some water. A lot of it.

  She was just so thirsty. Plus, her skin felt hot. Almost as if she were running a fever. That, she thought, was just from doing what she and Nick were. It was physical enough and she was blushing constantly. Not that something as minor as mortal embarrassment was going to cause her to stop. It might be the only chance she got for a long time, after all. So far it had taken her nineteen years to get anything at all, so she had to be wary about it taking another nineteen after they were done.

  There were large plastic tumblers in the kitchen, which she drank several of, taking in purified water, which Nick had on tap, in his fridge. It was cold, too, which was perfect at the moment. After that, she left the room, taking care of things in the bathroom, then, feeling a bit daring, she stripped, used the shower briefly, dried, using a clean towel, and then walked back into the other room. Without bothering to put anything on. Her hair was still dry and she hadn’t gotten her face wet, otherwise, she was clean. Hopefully cute enough to be interesting.

  Her date smiled when he saw her, his clothing still being on.

  “You’re incredible. Let me… go and take care of some things. I’ll be r
ight out. No fair getting dressed.”

  That meant sitting there, the apartment warm enough really. It was awkward, but she started to touch herself, a bit idly, just in case things were going to be more interesting than she’d expected. When he came out, naked, she saw an erect penis for the first time. That got stared at. If the scrutiny bothered him, he didn’t let it show.

  Sitting next to her, directly, he started to touch her. First was her face, a light petting that tickled while leaving her feeling excited and as if she needed to rub herself there. Then, after a while, he moved downward. He spent a lot of time on her nipples, which was interesting, but didn’t do that much for her. Then her thighs, finally coming back up, to reach between them.

  She tried to do the same things, copying him. Instead of just rubbing between his legs, she took him in her hand. That had his going over the top of hers, guiding her for a bit. Then they paid most of their attention to the other person for a while. Finally, he lowered himself, his mouth going between her thighs, instead of just his hand.

  She’d lived an isolated life, but it hadn’t been free of the internet, so she had a basic idea of what he was getting up to. It felt a lot better than she’d thought it would, to be honest. After a long, very attentive while, Jessica felt herself tensing and releasing. Shuddering in pleasure, then having an orgasm. She’d done that before. Just not with another person. Not unless she were counting her stuffed bear.

  After that, panting a bit, she nodded.

  “Okay. Your turn. I’ll try not to bite? That’s the trick of it, I hope. That and… You don’t really blow, do you?” She was joking, smiling about the idea.

  Nick didn’t say anything, just laying back, expecting her to know what she was doing. That wasn’t going to be the case, but he managed enough hints for her to get the basic idea. At least she thought that was right. He seemed pretty well pleased with her, for a while.

  Until he started yelling.

  “What the fuck!” Nick suddenly jumped back, away from her. For a moment she’d wondered if she’d hurt him. That or gone into a flashback. Except that hadn’t happened at all. There was no blood and the man wasn’t clutching himself or anything. He was simply pointing, across the room.

  When Jessica looked, Malia stood there.

  Seeming bland and almost bored. Her little girl face turned, first to take in Nick, then toward Jess. She looked at Nick again and shook her head, slowly, mouthing a single word. Lies.

  Then she spoke out loud, a good bit more firmly.

  “He’s coming. Run. Both of you. Get away from here, now!”

  Then, because that was useful, the girl vanished. Just blinking out of existence.

  Nick screamed.

  Chapter seven: Run away, into the night.

  While it was tempting to run away, naked and having just done things for the first time in her life that she should have been doing for years, Jess decided that snorting was in order, instead. Mainly because, for some weird reason, Nick was acting like a little girl. Worse, he was acting like a child who had seen a scary spider, instead of like Mal, who’d been decently calm about her warning. She’d also told her that there were lies going on. While looking at Nick, but right before she’d spoken, her demeanor changing a lot.

  Which was probably about Jessica finally getting some, instead of anything else.

  Even if the little entity didn’t care about things like that in the main, she’d never seen her pal Jess doing that sort of activity. Even if she’d spied on her for years. It simply hadn’t ever taken place. Not with another person being involved at all, at any rate.

  Rather than act shocked herself, having seen the show before, she waved toward Nick.

  “Um… I suppose we should get some clothing on and leave? That might take too long, but I don’t know what the warning is supposed to have meant, really.” That lies were involved took part of the pressure out of it. Not that she was going to be telling anyone else about that part. It had felt secret.

  Half yelling, hyperventilating just a bit, her new guy friend, and she was assuming that they were on good terms for the moment, even if that was about to go away, thanks to Malia and her interruption, seemed not to get things.

  Not at first.

  “What the fuck was that? Some little, I don’t know, she was there, only see-through. A ghost, in a blue dress, with a ribbon on her head? Some kind of… I don’t know. Then she said something. I couldn’t really hear it. The screaming going on probably blocked that out… I could see her lips move.” The white of his eyes were showing as he stood there. Naked and still ready to have fun.

  Not that they were going to get to do that.

  “She said that he was coming and that we needed to run. We need clothes for that, first. Here, hurry. I don’t know if he’s coming up the stairs right now, or is on a plane from Australia, so we should move right along, just in case.” She felt more than a bit hurried, to tell the truth. Half panicked, probably.

  The only thing keeping her together at the moment was that Nick kept going over what he’d just seen.

  “A ghost! I was about to bust a load, wondering if I needed to warn you first and then, boom, I was seeing things. Why would I hallucinate a little girl? I swear, I’m not that creepy. Not normally.” He stopped then, and finally scrambled for his clothing. That was, much like her own outfit, on the floor in a loose puddle. She hadn’t stopped to fold anything, even if that had been tempting. She could have sworn there was something about not doing that in a book that she’d read once. A romance novel.

  Jessica read those occasionally, just for fun.

  At the moment, she scrambled, just as fast as she could, managing to get her skirt and hose on before Nick was even pulling on his shirt. It still took her longer to get ready, even if she left her bra off, so that she could flee into the night.

  To where, she had no clue. Malia’s warning wasn’t anywhere near enough information, truth be told. Nick followed her pretty well, his long legs letting him keep up with her slightly slow, clip clopping jog. She was nearly a master of high heels, having worn them for years, even if she didn’t have any place real to go. That didn’t mean sprinting was a real option in them. Then, if that was required of her at the moment, she was probably dead anyway. There was only so much she could do to protect herself.

  Screaming about rape might get some help. At least if whoever was coming for her was human. That didn’t seem too likely, given everything. Not in a strict sense of the word. A possessed person, or just possibly Malia’s master, both made more sense. Maybe just an entity of some type.

  Nick, thankfully, shut up when they got outside, huffing a bit, like he was out of breath, even if that was probably about fear, instead of lacking in fitness in any real way. He was lean at least and actually had good abs. That meant something, she didn’t doubt. Like dedication to gym time, or something along those lines. She was thin, and had a hint of that kind of thing, due to not eating enough, not actually working for it.

  As soon as they were both buckled into the silver sports car, Nick… Rather calmly and with good control, backed up slowly, then drove out of there. No one watching would have even looked twice at them, except for the fact that the metal beast they were in wasn’t made to sit in a lot with regular cars. No, it deserved a good home, with its own room and possibly a playmate brought in for fun on occasion.

  In the moment though, it was helping them escape, rather handily.

  Nick, finally, seemed to calm down. At least a bit.

  “That… you saw the ghost, too?”

  She could have lied, but had already admitted too much. Rather than pretend her friend was the strange one, even if it was a bit tempting, she simply nodded.

  “Malia. She didn’t look like a ghost to me, though. She always seems solid. Um… Roughly speaking she was my childhood imaginary friend. Then I had to kill a man. She did that for me. My parents and their coven of ceremonial magic users, who all swear they aren’t Satanists, apparently
raised her from an extradimensional plane. The idea at the time, if I wasn’t being lied to, was to try and stop a serial killer who, just so happened, to be possessed by another being like that. An evil one. The man that one was in, well, you get the idea.” She didn’t even bother sounding defensive. It was too crazy for that.

  They moved along, the silver car purring as if it were content to be out in the night, doing its job like it was. Nick finally nodded, his knuckles white, on the wheel.

  “Okay. I mean, I saw her, so… It’s not like I can just claim that it isn’t true. What do we do now? Where to, I mean? I can take you home?”

  She shrugged, then thought for a few seconds, just sitting there. Waiting for a bolt of inspiration that simply didn’t come at all. She had no plans, at all, for what to do if someone was coming for her like that. If that was even real at all. That might not have been what Mal had meant though. Lies. She had to remember that part. Her friend had told her that everything from that point on would be filled with those things. Possibly from Nick as well. That had been where Mal had been looking when she’d mouthed the word.

  “That might, or might not, be a good plan. I honestly have no clue what to do about this. Let me… Call my parents and see if they have any thoughts on the matter? Anything we do right now might be the wrong choice. Really, I should see if Malia will come out and play, so that I can get more information from her. If she has any. Not that I can do magic.” Only, as a kid, that had never been needed. She’d just stood in her room and called for Malia. Memories of her doing that came back. Then, as often as not, they played, colored together or had a tea party.

  It wasn’t complex, but she was willing to bet it could still work. At least, it might, if Mal wanted to still be her friend. The warning might mean that was the case, of course. If so, they were still kind of estranged. They hadn’t spoken for nearly fourteen years, before that morning.