Playing with Heartstrings

WARNING: SAUCINESS STARTS HERE, GOES ON INTO CHAPTER THREE

SPLOOSH!

“I gotcha, Ben! That one always works on you!”

You lift the bucket off of your head with a frown plastered on your face and toss it to the ground, wet hair dripping water all over the linoleum floor. “Shut up, Cole.”

Your encounters with Lyra made you naïve and simple-minded, making you the perfect target for one of Cole’s imminent pranks. Today he pulled a classic on you – leave a bucket of water on a partially open door, then wait for your target to open the door and watch as they get drenched.

Ever since he changed your clock’s alarm timing and you laid out that scotch tape trap for him you and Cole have been at each other’s necks with pranks. Some days its bugs in the cereal, and others its corn starch on the showerhead, but it seems like you’ve stumbled right into a prank war. You walk into your room calmly, but instantly slip on some well-placed ceram wrap and crash onto the floor. Through the wall you hear Cole burst into laughter and plop down onto the couch, so you angrily claw at the shiny wrapping on the floor until it tears away. After that’s taken care of you change into some dry clothes, all the while having your mind being taken apart by two puzzling thoughts.

One, the more cheery one, is about Lyra and if you should go look for her the next day.

The other, the darker one, is about what other traps Cole set up all around your pad.

Cole suddenly walks into the frame of your door, causing you to initially panic. He chuckles at your paranoia. “You’re getting off lucky for a while, Ben. I’m going on vacation to my folks’ house for a few weeks and you’ll be perfectly safe on your own. Use this time to plan some pranks; it’s the only way you’ll ever get back at me,” he explains as he pops some gum into his mouth.

“You’re leaving at the beginning of the semester? It’s been only a month.” you ask.

Your roommate shrugs at you with a bright white smile on his face. “That’s right! I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up on what I miss.”

Inside your head you know that he won’t, but don’t say anything and just watch him walk away. You flop down onto your bed, exhausted from the day both physically and mentally, then quickly fall asleep.

The days go by, feeling like they’ve been going faster and faster ever since you first met Lyra. Your meetings in the park have become part of your regular schedule and she’s even started to warm up to you a bit – that is, if warming up to someone means finally being able to form sentences when talking with them.

At first she was quite bitter to you and didn’t really enjoy your company, but over time she started to appreciate your company when she was playing on her harp. She’s nice to you once you got to know her, but she has turned out to be a bit tough and feministic. In turn you also get to learn a bit about her background. You two never really delve into the deeper subjects about your relation with Lyra’s old friend that you remind her of, but instead go into the present and start to get to know each other better.

Lyra is of Greek descent, her father being pure Greek and her mother being from Canada. Her father taught her the language when she was young, and this is the language that she speaks when she is singing. For most of her life she lived out in the rural areas of Alberta, but never really got a taste for the farm-life. One thing about the country that she does obsess about is equines, namely horses. She’s super into them and owned at least seven horses back in the day, and as a result she’s become a vegetarian. She also claims that she’s colorblind to certain shades of red.

All of this leads to you becoming good friends with Lyra, your evening meetings going on for at least an entire month before the next step was taken.

As per usual, you and Lyra meet up in the park after your daily classes to talk. However, something else appeared to be on her mind when you met up.

“Hey Ben!” she calls as you she enters your view. “I’ve got somewhere I wanna go!”

You quickly catch up with her to hear the rest. “Where is it?”

“There’s this old cinema out by my pad that’s super cheap and almost always empty. They just play older movies over and over, but today they’re showing one of my favorite movies!” When she sees your dull expression she lightly chuckles. “Don’t worry; it’s not a chick-flick. It’s one of those inspirational sports movies that you always hear about – y’know, like ‘Rocky’ and ‘Chariots of Fire’ and stuff. Do you wanna come with?”

After rolling the proposal over in your mind for a while you accept and the both of you walk off to exit the park and head to the theatre. You’ve never really gone anywhere with Lyra before, it’s mainly just been meeting in the park and talking for a while. However, you’ve got a feeling that this is gonna be worth it.

It turns out that said cinema truly is pretty old and worn out, and the guy who runs it just does it for some extra cash alongside his full-time job. Just as Lyra said the place is empty and dirty, but it’s nice and quiet – no kids screaming at their parents to get them snacks or teenage girls freaking out about seeing the next vampire movie. The whole place actually seems warm and friendly, sort of giving you the feeling you get when you head over to an old friend’s house for the afternoon.

As you enter the theatre with your amazingly fresh popcorn Lyra explains that the guy who runs the cinema doesn’t even advertise the place at all. She found it because the owner is actually a good friend of her mom’s from high school and he phones her up regularly just for updates on what movies he can show for her and any friends that she might bring by.

The projector above your heads works surprisingly well for such a low-budget cinema and the movie is up faster than any official theatre you’ve ever been to has been. Not to mention that both the film and sound quality is crisp and clear with no cutting out, making you glad that you came to the movies at all.

Lyra’s relatively silent for most of the movie, actually enjoying the cheesy story and easily recognizable actors. You don’t mind it that much, but the whole concept of a runner who needs to overcome his family’s challenges to win the big race is a bit overdone. Despite this you enjoy the time that you spend with Lyra.

About half-way through the movie you drop a piece of popcorn in mid-bite by accident. As you look down to see it fall you notice something that you should have noticed a lot earlier; Lyra’s hand is placed right on your thigh, not moving at all. You wonder to yourself if it had been an accident and how long it had been there, but then decide not to embarrass her by saying anything. However, the more you think about it all your mind drifts to you and Lyra’s relationship. Are you just friends? You have never really thought of it that way before – but does she want something more from you?

The thoughts gnaw at your brain and you soon turn to look at Lyra, who is engrossed in the movie and staring intently at the projection. Even though you don’t want to you find yourself looking up and down her body, taking in almost every detail that you can – her hair, her eyes, but most notably her shape. She’s got all the right curves in all the right places, making her quite a catch. She appears to be a bit flat-chested to you, but that’s never really been your thing anyways. She’s got cute thighs that come out from under her revealing shorts, causing you to begin thinking about how her ass is. You’ve seen it before over all the time that you’ve hung out with her, but now it’s really starting to become a prominent thought.

All of these perverted mental notes get you to feel a bit uneasy, hoping to yourself that you don’t do anything stupid around her. A burning feeling ignites in your chest, and before you know it you realise that you’re coming on to Lyra. You’ve started to get a thing for her, even though you didn’t really want to.

“Hey Ben.”

You’re taken out of your thoughts by her voice and you quickly turn to her, slightly surprising her. “Y-yeah? What’s up?”

Lyra opens her mouth to say something, but stops before she does and gives you a snide look. “You know Ben,” she gives you a playful elbow. “You’ve got a nice bod. Just saying.”

Her remark takes you back and you feel blood rush into your cheeks. “Erm, thanks... what made you say that all of the sudden?”

“Oh, just the fact that we’re watching a movie about a muscular runner dude. I’m not really into the buff guy that badly, I just feel like they’d push me around too much,” she grabs your relatively skinny arm and gives it a squeeze. “I feel more adequate around thinner guys like you – no offence.”

The way that Lyra’s suddenly gotten so intimate all of the sudden is a bit weird, but your inner self is telling you to go on and play with it. You listen to it and in turn give her a smug smirk. “You’ve got a pretty face yourself.”

“Don’t try flattering me so much, man,”

You get a bit offended by her statement. Does she think that she’s not good-looking? “Lyra, I’m being serious. You’re a really pretty girl.”

Once it sinks in she seems to be affected by your statement – positively or negatively is a mystery. She shrinks away from you in what appears to be flattery, but her eyes show shock. “I, uh... you really think that, Ben?”

She sure is acting weird. “Yeah, Lyra. You’re pretty,” you say again.

Her face is getting pale now. “Oh gosh…” she says, twirling some hair around her finger. “Sorry if I’m acting weird, it’s just that…” Something seems to click in her head and her nervous expression turns into a little smile.

You feel Lyra’s hand begin to run along your thigh, causing you to clench up all of your muscles. She laughs at your reaction. “I want you…” she whispers.

Strangely enough, you don’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. In fact, your mind starts racing as you feel Lyra’s hand moving up towards your fly. You feel an erection building inside of your pants, and at a time like this that his fine. Quick and nimble fingers undo your fly and reach into your boxers, lightly touching your balls all the while.

In response you find your own hand moving along Lyra’s leg and towards her shorts. “Lyra… I want you too…” you whisper back, your feral instincts having taken over what cheesy lines you say now.

Your hand cups around the base of her shorts and you slowly begin to rub, causing Lyra to gasp out loud in pleasure. You play with her through the green denim for a while before starting to actual pull her fly down to go inside.

Meanwhile Lyra has been playing around with your rock hard cock and has been lightly running her fingers around the base of it. It feels ridiculously good and you begin to appreciate having ever gone to the movie with her.

Your own fingers are lightly squelching on her wet vag, slowly running around the soft flesh. The sound of Lyra’s erotic whimpering is driving you crazy inside, and soon you find it impossible to not grab her head and bring it to yours in a kiss. She seemed a bit surprised at first, but in a matter of seconds she’s got her free hand running along your face and playing with your shaggy head of hair. Your other hand is also running through her hair, caressing her pale green locks and taking in just how nice they feel.

A few minutes later you change tactics, pulling your hand out of her shorts and up through her white tank top. Under her shirt you manage to get her bra to move aside and grip around her tits, noticing that they feel a lot bigger than they appear. You squish them around and play with her nipples, the sensations seeming to drive her crazy. Now instead of just rubbing your dick she’s gotten a bit more into it, gripping the entire width of it in her hand and jerking you off. Above it all you’re still both kissing, tongues lashing at each other and eyes closed.

Your intimate moment goes on for what seems like eternity, but without warning Lyra suddenly moans loudly into your kisses, trying desperately to tell you something. She reluctantly takes your hand away from her boobs and lets go of your cock, shaking her head and looking deep into your eyes. “This doesn’t feel right,” she explains as she starts fixing her ruffled clothing.

You’re not sure if it’s either your common sense or your horny inner self talking, but you speak up against her. “What do you mean? No one’s here, Lyra. We’re alone.”

“That’s not it. I just… I can’t…” Lyra turns away from you as she tries to spit out the last bits of her statement.

The two of you sit in an awkward silence as you wait for her to finish her sentence, and it lasts for basically the rest of the movie. Once it is over you leave the cinema together, albeit not talking, and after a few seconds of walking down the cool evening road Lyra stops walking and turns to look at you, apparently ready to finally talk.

“Ben, the reason I was acting so strange back in the theatre was that… I once…” she stutters and stares at the ground as she speaks. “I once kinda had a… girlfriend…”

At the last word your eyes unintentionally widen and it seems like she notices, so she stands up straight and hurriedly begins to explain herself. “Back in Canada I had a really close friend who I always hung out with named Bonne. She was my only friend up there and I spent most of my time at her house; I went there for rides to school in the morning, I came back to mess around after school, and sometimes I even stayed over for a night or two. Most of the other kids at our school started to notice our frequent meet-ups and came to the conclusion that we were a thing.”

“Being the immature middle school kids we were, my friend and I were constantly teased and made fun of just because we were good friends. We both saw nothing of ourselves as lesbians, but the teasing did start to wear on us and our hanging out slowly dropped over time. Eventually one of the times I was at Bonne’s house she finally explained to me that the peer pressure had gotten to her and she had decided that she really was going to be lesbian. When she asked me if I would actually start going out with her I said no, and that’s where our relationship really fell apart. We parted ways almost instantly, both of us crying; I was crying over having to lose my only friend to some dumb teasing, and she was crying for being turned down. I felt bad about what I had done to her and tried to avoid seeing her at all costs – haven’t seen her ever since high school grad night.”

But her story wasn’t done there. “Here’s the catch; the reason I first approached you at Sugarcubes is because you looked way too much like Bonne to be true. You dressed the same way, your hair was almost the same as hers, and even your names were similar, so something in the back of my head made me feel inclined to talk to you. Too bad my mouth didn’t work and just made everything awkward...”

“Once we started to see each other in the park more and more I decided that it was time to try this friendship thing again with hopefully no mess-ups – from the looks of it that’s gone smoothly. But the most important part of it all was just to see if I would be attracted to you. I wanted to see if I really was lesbian and just didn’t know it at the time; then I would know if I made the right choice leaving my old friend in the dust. I’m almost using you, Ben. When I seduced you in the theatre I was trying to get myself to be aroused while around a guy, and it seems like it worked. I’m a bit sorry for it, but I’m using you as a test.” By the end of her story you can hear Lyra’s voice trembling and see her eyes start to moisten up, and you almost felt the same way. She was really looking sad now and you felt incredibly bad for her, even if she did just apologize.

You place a hand on her shoulder to try comforting her. “Don’t worry Lyra, you don’t need to say sorry. I don’t even feel that used, and you’ve been a great friend so far. And I’m sorry that things didn’t work out with you and Bonne, but I think it’s time to move on. That’s the far past, long gone, and now you’ve gotta look to the future.”

Lyra looks up at you hopefully, rubbing the tears out of the corners of her eyes. Then her eyes soften and she smiles, playfully punching you in the ribs. “Thanks Ben. You can be a real sap some times.”

You laugh out loud at her sudden change of emotions. “Look who’s talking, Ms. Melancholy!”

The two of you begin to walk again down the chilly autumn road and back to the park. As you walk your hand accidentally knocks into Lyra’s, but she doesn’t mind. In fact, she reaches over and grabs your hand back again, holding onto it with a lovingly hard grip. Her touch feels almost electric and you grasp her hand back to reassure her that you’re good with it all. To put a cherry on the cake the sun’s setting too, so you feel like you’re in some kind of cheesy movie – luckily for you, that cheesy movie just happens to be a blockbuster.