TWENTY
NIKKI
Dani was pretty much hooked. On The Femme Fatale Handbook, that is. Once I opened her up to the reality that she possessed the ability to wield her seductive charm over the opposite sex, she wanted nothing more than to keep on trying it. Because she finally realized that everything I was telling her was right! And I was thrilled to welcome her on board. Now armed with our newly found sense of confidence, we were turning heads wherever we went.
Yes, we both still had moments of doubt, and there were times when she did start to feel down about Craig, but as soon as she did, I simply reminded her to look to the future which was going to be very bright. Even though I felt like we weren’t at a place yet where we could wage a full-on seduction, I did believe that we needed to get more comfortable with interacting with the opposite sex. And that meant seeking out available men and talking to them … and where better to find men than a bar?
“I can’t do this, Nikki!” Dani protested with unreasonable force as she started to completely freak out.
“Yes, you can,” I answered smoothly as I attempted to lure her into the hallway, but she dug in her heels and remained rooted inside our bedroom.
“Look, Dani, you’ve come this far without any problems, right?”
She shrugged.
“I’ve taken care of you all of the way through it, right?” I continued.
“Yeah.”
“Then you can do this. You’re strong, you’re confident and you’re in control. All we have to do is follow the script until we’re more comfortable. Everything that we need to know, Jane has told us.”
“I’m not sure if I’m going to get comfortable with my part.”
“It’s simple, really,” I grinned. “Your smile is the thing that’s going to give him the signal to approach. Then he’ll talk to one or both of us. And he’ll say something like ‘you have a pretty smile,’ or he’ll ask how our night is going or what we’re drinking, right?”
“What if he says something else?” she asked with a pout. “Like, you have toilet paper trailing on your foot or there’s a piece of spaghetti stuck to the side of your mouth?”
“Really, Dani?” I asked with a frown.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted.
“There’s no reason to be nervous,” I started, my voice softer now. “Because no guy in his right mind is going to come up to you to say either of those things,” I continued. “All he’s going to do is let it be known that he’s trying to get into your pants. Can you handle that?”
She sighed again. “Yeah, I can handle that.”
“Good,” I answered as I felt relieved.
“Let’s just suppose, for the sake of argument, that he says one of the things that you mentioned, like we have a nice smile or whatever. How do we respond to that?”
“That’s why we’ve got a script.”
“Okay, so let’s practice together,” she said while striking a smooth guy pose by raising her eyebrows several times. She looked like a caricature and, as such, totally ridiculous. Leaning toward me, she quirked a side grin as I immediately burst out laughing. “Hey you,” she started, sounding like a guy from one of those mafia movies. “Yeah youse. You smilin’ at me or what?”
“First off, we wouldn’t be trying to flirt with someone who talks like a hit man,” I argued as I shook my head and wondered where she came up with this shit.
“Just play along, doll,” she answered in her Mafioso.
I smiled and nodded, mostly because I was curious where she was going with it. “Oh, you thought I was smiling at you?” I replied with a shocked expression that reeked of faux innocence. “Actually, my friend said something funny so I was responding to her. I must have been looking in your direction at the same time.” Then my smile deepened as the innocence began to bleed out of my expression. “But I can’t say I regret it.”
“It’s ah good thing you said so, dollface, ’cause I was about ta put ah hit out on ya,” Dani finished with a gruff laugh. I followed suit and then we both erupted into a fit of giggles.
“Okay, cool enough,” she said, back in her own voice again. “But what if he wants to press the issue?”
“That’s when I cut in,” I answered. “If you start to fumble, I’m here to help you. Just keep in mind what type of seductress you are, remember?”
“Yeah, I’m going for the coquette,” she answered.
“Right, think Mae West,” I said with a nod. “You should be totally comfortable with her by now,” I added, referring to the countless hours we’d spent watching Mae West and Marilyn Monroe movies so we could familiarize ourselves with the roles we were going to play.
“Mae West and always playing a game,” she said with a nod.
“Right, so that will mean that you act interested and then you tell him we were just leaving, so have a nice night. And then we beat it out of there. See? We still avoid any actual conversation or contact for now.”
“What do you mean, ‘for now’?” she asked, her expression paling.
“At some point, we’ll want to tease them, or we will want to know more about them.” Seeing the panic spreading across her face, I raised my hands in a gesture to calm her down. “Not right now. Not yet. Chill. Baby steps, remember?”
“Yes, baby steps.”
“Now you try. I’ll be the guy,” I said before clearing my throat. “You have a pretty smile.”
“Thanks for noticing. Yours isn’t half bad either,” she answered in a nonchalant sort of way before pretending her cell phone was ringing in her bag. “Excuse me,” she offered as she glanced down at her phone … “Hmm. I’ve got to take this.”
“That was good except you seemed like you weren’t interested in him at all. Remember to hook him before you drop him,” I laughed. “But not bad for a first attempt. You’re better at this than you thought.”
“Imagine the look on a guy’s face …”
“Hey, we’ll use that as the quick way out!” I said, a huge smile spreading across my face.
“What?”
“The fake call,” I said as I further considered it. “Any time we’re pressed, one of us will punch the speed dial and call the other; and we’ll make it seem as if it’s a call that we’ve got to take.” I took a breath before continuing. “You’re a genius, Dani!”
“I can’t argue that,” she said with a shrug before she glanced down at her nearly imaginary black dress and stilettos. “Let’s do this thang!” she said, and although it was awkward in stilettos, we both managed to strut our stuff right out the door.
***
The first guy that approached us didn’t use any of the lines we thought he would. Instead, he settled for the very simple:
“You both are beautiful. What are your names?” His voice was deep and sweet as honey and his delivery was well practiced. Either he was comfortable with talking to himself in the mirror, or he made picking up on girls an art form.
Calm as a cucumber, I slipped into the dumb blonde act quickly, acting surprised to see him. I had to admit I was pretty good at channeling Marilyn Monroe. ’Course, I’d watched enough of her movies and practiced imitating her in the mirror enough times that I felt like she was my long lost missing twin or something. “Oh, hi,” I said with a sweet smile, my voice soft and feminine. “We are doing just fine tonight, how are you?”
“I’m better now,” he answered as he leaned his elbows against our table and took turns smiling at us both.
“I think we would be lots better if we had a drink in our hands, handsome,” Dani said, doing a great job of Mae West. She was so smooth, in fact, that I had to admit I was surprised. He glanced at both of us and, apparently noticing we were empty handed, he immediately stood up.
“How rude of me for not noticing,” he announced. “What can I get you both?”
“I would love a Sprite since I’m driving,” I said in a sugary tone.
“Rum and diet for me, thank you,” Dani added with a sexy smile.
“No problem,” he said as he turned around and started for the bar.
“I can’t believe you just said that!” I whispered as soon as he was out of earshot.
“Why? Was it the wrong thing to say?” she asked, looking confused.
“No! It was totally brilliant!” I gushed. “Good goin’!”
“Yeah, this guy probably totally thinks he’s going to take us both home and have the threesome of his life.”
“Imagine his surprise when we finish our drinks and take ourselves home!” I managed with a laugh.
“Or to the next bar,” Dani suggested. “Can’t say I’m in love with the idea that our night could be over so quickly.”
I nodded. “Well, remember,” I continued as she eyed me narrowly. “You can’t get so drunk that you lose control of yourself. A moderate buzz is okay, but keep in character.”
“I got it,” she said and then saluted me.
A few minutes later the guy returned with our drinks. As we sipped them, we played our parts excellently; I was doing the whole batting eyelashes, little girl act while Dani played the part of the coquette so well, even Mae West would have been proud.
“So what are your plans later?” the guy, whose name was Peter, asked as he eyed us both with undisguised hope.
The ice cubes in my Sprite made a vacuuming noise as I sucked the last sip through my straw. I glanced at Dani’s rum and diet and found it was already empty. I watched Dani as she smiled at Peter and put her glass on the table as she reached for her purse which was sitting beside me. “Actually, we were just leaving,” she said, rising up from her seat as I did the same. “Have a nice night.”
“It was really wonderful meeting you,” I added as I offered him a little wave and followed Dani toward the front doors. I didn’t bother looking back.
“And that is how it’s done,” I said once we were outside and headed toward the car.