A Good Tip

Author’s Note: If you’d like to see more of my writing check out: https://subscribestar.adult/hypnogriff or https://patreon.com/GriffWrites

“It’ll be fine,” Ally whispered, scooting down the long bench seat and leaning into her boyfriend, hoping the touch would raise his spirits.

It didn’t seem to. “I know. I know,” Ryan responded, not meeting her gaze. “I’ve just been looking forward to this show for a while. I wanted it to be just you and me. If she’s here I’ll have to watch what I say about my,” he paused, looking around as if he were being watched. “About my, well you know . . . ”

“I know, baby, but Courtney just started college and she doesn’t really know anyone. You know she’s important to me.”

“I know.”

Ally sighed, looking around the crowded tent. The blinking rainbow lights of the fair’s rides lit up the night like a circus. She was pretty sure half the crowd was only here to sit down, and escape the throngs of humanity. Truthfully, she didn’t see what the fuss was about. It was just a stage hypnosis show, but it meant a lot to Ryan. “We’re still watching the show together. If you want something more private, we can just put on our own show when we get home.”

“You mean that?”

“Mmhmm,” she said, biting her lip. “I mean, it was so nice of you to let my baby sister tag along. I have to make it up to you somehow.”

“I’d like that.” Then he leaned in and kissed her.

Ally could feel her boyfriend relax as their lips softly met. Fight successfully avoided. They hadn’t been together long, but he’d always been kind to her. Watching a silly stage show or two was a small price to pay for that. She felt her own stress begin to dissolve.

“Gross.”

The pair broke and looked up to see Courtney standing over them. She resembled her sister, but younger. She had the same dirty blonde hair, though she wore it up in a pony tail, instead of down like Ally’s. She had the same energetic blue eyes, even a similar figure, just more slender, but still with curves in just the right places. She wore a too tight fitting white tank top that hugged her perky breasts, and left her flat stomach exposed. A pair of loose, ripped jeans hung from her hips, always threatening to fall, but never quite doing it. She’d returned carrying a bowl full of something that looked . . . fried.

“Speaking of gross, what’s that?” Ryan asked.

Courtney happily sat down beside them. “It’s fried ice cream. I didn’t even know they could fry ice cream.”

Ally shook her head. “I don't know how you can eat that stuff and stay so skinny.”

“I guess I’m just lucky,” she said, digging into the calorie laden confection.

No sooner had Courtney sat than the lights on stage dimmed. The backdrop consisted of a large black-and-white spiral emblazoned with the words “The Mesmerizing Esmerelda.” As the crowd’s conversation died down to dull murmurs, a woman, presumably the eponymous Esmerelda, walked onto the stage. She had fishnet stockings, a red sequin jacket hugging full breasts and a top hat over her long black hair.

The air in the tent suddenly felt different. Something about the way this woman carried herself almost seemed to transport them from the packed pandemonium of the fairground to somewhere . . . else. “I assure you,” she said, voice echoing through the speakers. “Everything you’re about to see tonight is real. No plants, no actors, no tricks. I’m just going to talk to you, a lucky few of you, and then you’re going to do what I say. You’ll think what I say. You’ll be what I say.”

“She’s good,” Ryan said quietly to Ally. “She’s trying to set your expectations early to build up how powerful she is in your subconscious.”

“Oh, um, sure,” Ally answered, not really following.

“Any of you who want to experience something extraordinary, I invite you to play a little game with me. Extend your arm out in front of you.”

Courtney did so right away. Ally was more hesitant, but she eventually followed suit. Ryan just stayed watching his girlfriend and her sister.

“Now, close your eyes and see with your mind. See your arm silhouetted against a crisp blue sky. Imagine a balloon tied to your wrist, a beautiful ball of air, lifting your arm higher and higher.”

Ally could see it. Honestly she surprised herself with how vivid the image looked. Although it was dark out, the sky in her mind was bright and clear, save for the single red balloon, slowly but insistently tugging her arm up.

“And every time you look away from the balloon and look back, there’s another one. Now there are two. The next time you look there will be four, and on and on and on. Their pull gets stronger and stronger. They’re irresistible now, just like my voice. Irresistible, lifting you up, you rise, you follow. Open your eyes now, my lovelies.”

Ally blinked slowly as the bright sky vanished back to the dim tent. She was shocked to see her own arm rigid and sticking up at a forty five degree angle. But even more shocking was Courtney.

Her sister was standing up, back perfectly straight, both arms raised above her head. She was looking groggily around.

Ally turned to Ryan, but saw his eyes glued to Courtney with a hunger she’d only ever seen for her.

“You there, my standing friend,” The woman said, gesturing to Courtney. “Come join me on stage.” Courtney did so, still moving as if in a dream, completely abandoning her half eaten ice cream. Ally gestured after her, but Courtney didn’t seem to be paying attention. The hypnotist continued calling on other volunteers until the stage was nearly full. “And let’s see who else.”

Time froze. Ally’s emotions roiled. On the one hand she felt her instincts to protect Courtney. She couldn’t shake the feeling her sister needed her. On the other hand, she hated the way Ryan had been watching Courtney. She wanted him to look at her like that, dammit. And before she knew it she’d stood up and said, “Me.”

“Babe, you wanna be hypnotized?” Ryan asked. “I thought you just wanted to watch.”

“Well I said I had to pay you back somehow,” Ally said, rising and walking towards the stage. She could feel it as she walked. Maybe her yoga pants and baggy sweatshirt weren’t as sexy as Courtney’s outfit, but she knew the feeling of her boyfriend watching her ass as she walked away. Hers and no one else’s.

Soon the volunteers were arranged in a neat row on the stage, Ally and Courtney sat beside one another. Esmerelda started with Courtney. “You seem awfully suggestible, if you don’t mind my saying.”

“As long as you don’t tell my parents I was being suggestive on stage.”

Esmerelda smiled a predatory grin. “Suggestible, dear. It’s quite different, though the two run together sometimes. It just means you have a good imagination. Like if I told you to imagine that you couldn’t look away from my eyes,” she said, leaning down and towering over the blonde college student. “If I told you they had a gravity to them, pulling in all your thoughts, you could see that.”

“Uh yeah, I guess,” Courtney responded, eyes never leaving the hypnotist’s.

“In fact, you couldn’t stop seeing it. You couldn’t even imagine looking away. You can’t even remember what it was like to look anywhere besides my eyes. They just pull you in deeper, and deeper and deeper.”

“Deeper . . .”

“That’s it, you’re so deep that you can’t think at all anymore, can’t do anything besides sleep. Just go to sleep.” She tapped Courtney on the forehead and her eyes fluttered shut.

Ally watched in amazement as her sister’s head flopped across the back of the chair. “Is . . . Is she ok?”

“Oh yes, dear. She’s doing wonderfully. If you don’t believe me then just look for yourself.”

A part of Ally wanted to get up off the stage and run, some primal instinct, but then she caught a glimpse of Ryan shifting uncomfortably in the crowd. She knew that awkward squirm anywhere. He was getting hard. For Courtney. She couldn’t have that. She looked.

And then the inky darkness of Esmerelda’s gaze swallowed her like a black hole. Somewhere in the back of her head, a little voice said it was a trick, that Ryan would say she was just reacting that way because she saw Courtney do the same. But then that thought got pulled out too, and she was left blank, empty, obedient. A voice told her to sleep and suddenly that word swallowed all the empty space in her head. There was only sleep so she slept.

The rest of the show was a dream. She was floating. She was walking downstairs, going deeper. It was very important to go deep. That word echoed in her mind, so of course she went deep. Maybe some part of her was still determined to go deeper than her sister. Maybe she only went deep because that was what the voice said. In either case, she went further than she ever thought possible.

When she opened her eyes next, a new word had filled the empty space between her ears: dancer. She rose from her seat and took an en pointe position. Years of ballet lessons drifted back to her as she spun across the stage. The setting felt natural, correct even. These people were here for her, to watch her perform, not anybody else. She didn’t know why that thought repeated in the echo chamber of her mind, but it did. She flowed through a sinuous sequence of arabesques and attitudes, arms moving through a graceful port de bras. She felt calm, capable, in control.

Then a voice spoke, smooth and authoritative. It told Ally she was in a competition. Suddenly she became aware of someone else on the stage. Another girl who looked familiar, except this girl wasn’t a ballerina like her. No, this girl lacked the grace and composure of Ally’s movements. She rolled her body with a primal lust, gyrations of her hips flowing up through her exposed stomach and her chest, ending in a cocky swing of her head.

The eyes of the crowd began to drift towards the newcomer. Ally was losing them, losing him. She couldn’t believe it. That girl lacked the technique and discipline that she’d showcased. It was just sex on legs. Ally could do that. It wasn’t so hard. She pivoted on her heel, turning her back to the stage. She bent over sharply, flaunting her ass for the crowd. If they wanted sex, she’d give them sex. She straightened slowly, tracing a hand up the curve of her leg before resting it on her hips and swinging them side to side in time.

Then the voice spoke again and the nature of the competition changed. This wasn’t a dancing competition, it was a twerking contest. That made sense. The voice had said so after all. There were other people on the stage too, but Ally ignored them. She knew she only had one real challenger, the girl beside her with the ponytail.

Not that anyone could compete with her. No one could match her ass, certainly not the other girl. Every guy she’d ever dated had always gone wild for it, so round, soft yet firm. The other girl had always been skinnier anyway. Wait, why did she know that?

Oh, well. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Ally was winning. She rested her hands on her knees and began popping her hips up and down, sending her curves bouncing and jiggling in time with the music. She was too caught up in her own performance to even look beside her, but she knew she was winning. She had to be. Then she heard a loud ca-thunk and looked.

The other girl’s jeans had fallen down, leaving her pink panties and the pale skin of her backside totally exposed. The girl just kept twerking, like nothing had happened. That was bad. Wait, why was that bad? Because of the contest? No, because she had to protect the stranger. Stranger? That was her sister. It all came rushing back to her. How had she forgotten? She stepped in front of Courtney, shielding her from view.

Then the voice interceded, putting everyone back to sleep. When Ally opened her eyes again, everyone was clapping, the show apparently over. Esmerelda had just moved on from her and was now whispering something to Courtney. Courtney just nodded and whispered, “I obey.” Then the lights came back on in her sister’s eyes.

The performer thanked everyone and dismissed them back to the crowd. The pair stumbled off stage and found their way back to Ryan.

The passion of his kiss caught Ally completely off guard. He’d always been attracted to her, but it had never been like this. His fingernails dug into her back, clumping the fabric of her hoodie and clutching her like a precious treasure. It felt good to be wanted like that. She kissed him back, forgetting everything outside the taste of his lips.

“Wow, PDA much?” Courtney said, interrupting once again. “Whatever, don’t stop on my account. I’ve got something to take care of.” With that she started wandering away.

Ally turned, head still spinning from the kiss. “Wait, Court, where are you going?”

Her sister’s eyes took on a distant quality as she spoke. “I need to go get cash. I want to tip Esmerelda, but I don’t have enough cash. I’ll be right back.”

“Wait, what?” Ally was pretty sure Courtney did have cash on her, and she was acting strangely. She wouldn’t just wander off like that.

“Babe, that was incredible,” Ryan whispered, biting her ear. He leaned in for another kiss.

Ally didn’t know what to do. The heat of Ryan’s desire for her was practically palpable. She longed to savor it. But then again, Courtney was acting strangely. She should probably follow her and make sure she was okay.