Ari

Someone’s here! Their heads bumped as they both tried to see who else was in here. They both tried to turn to see, Ben turning counterclockwise and Julie clockwise. Julie was off balance because of her hands, and they almost fell over. Finally coordinating their movements, they managed to turn one eighty and recognized the voice as coming from Ari! Except that she had her fingers in her mouth stretching her lips out like a second grader, so her voice was almost unrecognizable.

“Ari! What the hell! What are you doing here? And why are you making that face?”

“Ish Maghic!” She repeated “Shesh ah wish!” She said to Ben. Then looking closer at her mom, she asked “Arr yoo habing sheks?!”

“Take your fingers out of your mouth and talk normal! And none of your business!”

Ari pulled her fingers out of her mouth and her lips snapped back to the fish face. She tried to talk but all that came out was “MMMBBMMWW” Then she pulled out her phone and started texting, only she had the text speaking out loud. As a typical 18-year-old she could type with her thumbs faster than she could talk. “She’s a Witch. She cursed me like this and she probably cursed you too.” She typed while looking at Ben. “Why are you sharing a pair of shorts, and a shirt. That’s kinky!”

“Young lady! I’m not a witch, how could you say that? Why would you say that? And why are you making that face?”

“Because you cursed me! You have a wand. I saw it! I made a face at you and you cursed me with your wand!”

Ben said “Julie, what’s she talking about?”

“I have no idea! What wand?”

Ari started typing. “You had a wand! I saw it! You were holding it and then you cursed me, and now I’m stuck like this.” She started crying “I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!” she was having trouble breathing with her lips in a fish face. So, she stuck her fingers in her mouth again and pulled. “Ahh oww anna eee iii esss”

Julie froze and said. “That stick!”

“What stick?” and “oohhsllk”

“I was holding that stick I gave you! It did look kind of like a wand! Do you suppose it’s really a real wand? Like magic and stuff? Where did you put it?” Julie asked.

“Stick? Oh that. Uhh, you gave it to me, I was standing behind the bar, I was deciding whether to just toss it, you were bussing tables, OH SHIT!”

“What?” Julie asked.

“Uhh, well, umm, I was standing there holding the thing and I kind of daydreamed about you. Look this is all kind of embarrassing.”

“What exactly did you ‘daydream’ about me?”

“UHH well about trying to get into your pants…”

“Well…” Julie said “Urrgell” Ari said.

“And now I can’t get out of them!” Ben said, “Where’s the wand now?”

“You were holding it last. Did you set it down?”

“No and I didn’t have it when I appeared in your shorts.”

“Maybe you dropped it?” Julie said and started looking around the bar, and on the floor.

Ben had the disadvantage of being behind Julie, so it was hard to look, but the tight shorts constantly squeezing them together had its own compensations. Julie spotted it first, it was in a floor drain. But when she tried to reach for it all she could do was tug on her breasts. Which was distracting for her. Ari quickly got between them and the drain and held her hand up in a stopping gesture. She started tapping on her phone.

“Don’t touch it! It’s dangerous!”

“Dangerous how?” Julie asked.

“DUH” Ari typed and pointed to their situation and her own.

“And I found this, when I was trying to figure it out.”

She showed them her phone.