Poison (F)

[High on Lullabies]

Another of those drabble prompts that became rather more than a drabble. I started this one about 18 months or so ago, got it almost to finish and then...got stuck. Finally figured out what I wanted to do with it a couple of weeks ago and here it is. Hope you like it.

Big thanks to tma for beta-ing it into submission

Poison (F)

“Not again…” Gemma sighed to herself, propping her head up with an arm resting on the smooth stone bar. She tried to reassured herself that her prospective date must be stuck in traffic or something, but rationally she knew 45 minutes after their planned meeting time and not a chirp from her mobile meant only one thing. Stood up again.

The barman, an attractive 20-something, wandered over. Gemma quickly realised she’d been staring and suddenly began to pay an awful lot of attention to her phone. It didn’t put him off.

“Yes love, what’s your poison?”

“Bravo”, she thought to herself, “subtle as a brick”

She looked up and smiled coolly at the friendly expression.

“Nothing thanks, I was just leaving.”

“Come on, it’s on the house if you tell me what’s bothering you”.

Gemma hesitated for a second. “Oh what the heck” she thought “it’s not as if you have any other plans for tonight now and besides, you weren’t exactly staring at him in order to work out his shoe size were you?”

She let her expression defrost a little.

“Okay, I’ll have a glass of Merlot, thank you.”

“Coming right up”

Gemma surreptitiously checked how she looked while watching out of the corner of her eye, the blood red liquid being poured.

“Here you go” he said, “Now, what’s on your mind?”

Gemma took a large swallow of the drink, delighting in the familiar fruity tang.

“Well,” she said slowly “I was actually just considering giving up on your half of the human race!”

They both smiled nervously.

“You were supposed to be meeting someone?”

“Yes”

“Sorry to hear that”

“It’s okay,” trying to disguise the bitterness in her voice “I’m used to it.” Another swallow of wine followed this statement. She snuffled as a sudden wave of heat and stuffiness spread through her nose.

“Hard to believe, pretty girl like you.”

“Hardly original is he?” Gemma thought, but smiled inside, before swiping at the underside of her nose, which was becoming stuffier by the minute and had also begun to tickle. A hot, irritated feeling that her half-hearted ministration had done nothing to cure.

“Thanks” she said and looked down at her reflection in the bar, redness welling up in her cheeks. She tried to think of a witty retort, not keen to give in to his advances that easily, but the creeping irritation was now disrupting her concentration and no words came.

“You know,” he said, pressing home his advantage with a cheeky smile “if you wanted to stay for a while, we could head back to my place when I get off work and I can try and uhm...take your mind off things?”

She blushed more deeply, not at the suggestion but at the fact her thought processes had been almost completely clouded by the rhythmic thrum in her nostrils.

An irritated call for service from further down the bar brought her temporary relief.

“Think about it”, he said with a slightly pained expression at being dragged away just as he went for the kill “I’ll be right back”.

As soon as his back was turned, Gemma snuffled hard and rubbed back and forth under her nose which did little to lessen the congestion and only seemed to ramp up the tickling further as her already irritated nasal passages took exception to being treated so roughly. Realising she’d only made the situation worse, she pressed her index finger hard into the base of her nose, trying to quell the suddenly imminent sneeze with one hand while fumbling blind with the other to locate the pack of tissues, which seemed to have picked this moment to decide they didn’t want to be found. She felt her nostrils quiver with desire against her makeshift wall and Gemma knew she could only delay it for a few seconds more. She also knew the result would not be pretty given the abundant congestion. She re-doubled her scrabbling efforts and finally clasped a small plastic package. Relief spread through her; relief which lessened her concentration on not letting herself sneeze...and that was all the opportunity it needed.

Gemma had just managed to pry open the package when the tickling in her nose accelerated decisively. She pushed harder against the base of her nostrils, squashing them up tight in an attempt to recover the situation, but only succeeded in making her eyes water with a stab of pain. Her body wrenched forward violently with a high-pitched, quarter-stifled sneeze and her nose expelled most of its contents over her hand and top lip: “Hii-skt-shhh!”

The blush lit up her cheeks like a light had suddenly been switched on in her mouth. She quickly removed the tissue from the package and pressed it to her face, all the while looking up at the bar and trying to make sure he hadn’t noticed. Gemma’s nose twitched underneath the tissue as the tickle resumed its torment, intensity barely dented by the sneeze. She cursed herself for choosing red wine when she knew full well what happened anytime she drank it. Self-reproach turned to panic as she saw him close the cash register and more to hand the change to the customer he’d just served.

“I can’t let him see me like this” was suddenly the only thought in her mind as she swiftly headed for the bathroom. She lost control of her nose twice more in her short flight, stumbling as her body pitched forward sharply with each sneeze. Once inside the empty cubicle, she leaned against the wall and sighed heavily. The tissue she’d kept clamped tightly over her mouth and nose was quickly flushed, its useful life spent in containing the last two huge sneezes.

At that moment she realised in her haste that she’d left her bag on the bar.

“This is really not my day” Gemma thought; hoping and fearing with equal measure that the barman might have noticed and put the bag somewhere safe. Her nose was still tickling furiously and she decided it would be best to try and satisfy the reaction before trying to retrieve it. Almost as if responding to her thoughts, the sensation in her nose surged and made her sneeze again, this time too swiftly for her to make any attempt to contain it:

“heh-ISHah!”

A cooling wave of relief was her reward for finally letting go. It was quickly dissipated as her inflamed sinuses flared up once more like water being re-boiled over and over again. She didn’t like sneezing openly like this, but knew from past experience it was more likely to ease the reaction than stifling or trying to control the force of the releases. Thankfully most of the congestion seemed to have cleared by now but that left the insider of her tormented nostrils exposed to the air, every inhalation seeming to accentuate the tickling more. Gemma closed her eyes and tried to will it onward, squeezing them shut as the urge built to an almost unbearable level before dying away again. This eye-watering sequence repeated itself three or four times, the sneeze remaining agonisingly out of reach.

She rubbed harshly at her nose, squeezing and stretching the unruly flesh as far as it would go; frustration boiling over at her body’s refusal to let go again. Once more her intervention succeeded in pushing her over the edge and this time she didn’t care. Embracing the swelling tickle like a long-lost friend, she made no attempt to try and control the explosions that followed:

“Hih-ISHHH! Heh-ESHHH! ah...hah...HAH-TISHHH!”

Her body strained the fabric of her tight-fitting dress as it wrenched forward, a light spray dusting the top of her breasts, the unrestrained fury of the sneezes leaving her throat slightly sore. Gemma sniffled, thankful that she was wearing black so any spray should be well hidden. Her nose was still tickling but it retreated from the all–consuming blaze it had been. She thought it would at least be manageable to retrieve her bag and leave without further embarrassment.

Before leaving the bathroom she took a moment to check herself in the mirror and fix as best she could the areas where her watering eyes and running nose had obliterated her make-up. Picking her way though the crowd, with some trepidation she approached the bar and saw him leaning against the back of it. When he caught sight of her, his face lit up with a smile, which she weakly returned. Without a word he reached under the bar and retrieved her bag, placing it between them just as she reached him:

“Forgot something?” He said, grinning.

Gemma’s nose attempted to answer for her, leading to a breathy, stuttering reply.

“Ye...heh...Yes, thank you, sorry ah..about that”

She pressed an index finger hard under her nose to at least temporarily quell the burgeoning sneeze and managed to force out a smile despite her embarrassment at its continued attempts to misbehave in front of him. She gathered her bag, anxious to escape before the urge overwhelmed her defences again.

“It was nice to meet you” he said quickly, trying to prolong the conversation. “I didn’t catch your name?”

She paused a moment “Gemma” she said “and likewise, nice to meet you...” she deliberately let the last word hang in the air.

“Matt” he said; swiftly adding “Can I get you another drink?”

Her nose gave an involuntary twitch as the tickling ramped up once more and her breath caught in her throat. She shook her head quickly.

“Sorry, I hah-have to go.”

She turned and quickly headed for the exit, almost reaching the door before the need to sneeze became impossible to stop. She fumbled around once more in her bag for the tissues which still refused to be found and her hand brushed against an unfamiliar scrap of paper. Before she was able to investigate it, she was interrupted by her nose.

She’d reached the door by this time and put one hand on the cool, smooth wood to brace herself as her chest heaved and two powerful sneezes racked her:

“Hih-ISHHH! Heh-ESHHH!”

A couple of drunken wags sitting nearby called exaggerated ‘bless youuuu’s’ in her direction. Gemma ignored them and pressed on, out into a warm, late summer’s night. She stood for a moment, drinking in deep breaths of clear air that helped soothe the remaining irritation in her nostrils and her mind drifted back to the scrap of paper. She fished it out and saw it was a headed receipt for the bar she’d just left. She turned it over and read Matt’s name and a sequence of numbers below it.

She shook her head, smiled and started to walk home, sure that she wouldn’t need to worry about her date not turning up next time.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Absolutely wonderful. I love how you build up to the actual uhm... event. Very original and well... gosh, frankly.

[poiub]

That was ace!

[March Hare]

Poison, eh? Nudge nudge wink wink? Say no MORE!?

[quantumsneeze42]

I loved this story! And her build ups were great!

[sneezygirl97]

I'm betting Matt the bartender turns out to be a fetishist