Nicole attends her first PowerPoint Party

Nicole, with the gift of a bottle of pinot in one hand, pushes the doorbell for Tabitha and Kennedy's apartment. She can already hear the healthy buzz of a party in progress seeping out the window. It's a long two minutes before the door opens. Kennedy's tall slim figure decked out in a stylish dark red power suit, and enhanced by high stiletto heels, occupies the center of the door frame. Nicole, at an average height of 5' 5", had always put Kennedy just under 6 feet without heels. The heels must be giving her at the least an additional 4-inches. She's towering and even more intimidating than usual. The bright smile that Kennedy was wearing when she first opened the door immediately fades when she looks down at Nicole. "Oh, you actually made it, hooray," she says in deadpan. "Come on in," Kennedy steps aside to let Nicole enter her apartment. "Tabby, the neighbor is here," she barely yells. She closes the door behind Nicole, who holds out her bottle of wine, but Kennedy ignores it and walks over to a group of women and starts chatting.

Tabitha pops up from the couch. She waves at Nicole before walking over to Kennedy and aggressively whispering something to her roommate. Nicole can't hear what Tabitha says due to the music, but doesn't miss it when Kennedy throws her hands up and says "fine! I know it was my idea." She holds a finger up to her friends and mouths something like "one moment."

At this point, all eyes in the room are on Nicole and the two hosts who are now both walking over to Nicole. Tabitha is typically around Nicole's height, but she's wearing platform pumps that boost her around five inches. There are eight other women in the apartment. All appear to be around 19-21, like Tabitha and Kennedy, and likely all go to the local college. Every single one is wearing a stylish pantsuit and devastatingly high heels. Some of the women are wearing nice blouses under their blazers, but others appear only to be wearing bras. Kennedy, as far as Nicole can tell, has nothing on under her blazer and her breasts are only concealed by a simple button holding the two halves of her blazer together.

Nicole feels inappropriately dressed and outclassed. She's the only one in a dress. All of the other women are in pants. And her practical babydoll heels only give her a modest two inches of additional height. She would have worn the heels from last night, but she could bear another night of feeling those blisters. She considers fleeing.

"Bi-cole!" Tabitha says in a sing-songy voice, "I wasn't sure you were going to make it. Never took you to be the sort to be fashionably late."

"Late? I'm sorry," Nicole says. She ignores the 'Bi-cole' monker. Considering their long running neighborly cold war she expected some gentle ribing tonight. "I thought you said the party started at 9 p.m."

Tabitha shakes her head. "Oh no, silly, I definitely said 8 p.m. But don't worry," her eyes move up and down Nicole's body as she speaks. "It's probably better because everyone is here and we're about to start the presentations." She takes the wine out of Nicole's hands. "And thanks for this." Momentarily leaving Kennedy with Nicole as she brings the bottle to the kitchen.

Kennedy is clearly forcing a smile. "Yes. So great. So great. Glad to have you here. Did you bring something to present?"

Nicole nods. "Yes, it's right here on my phone should I..." Nicole gasps as she feels her vibrator start between her legs.

Kennedy raises an eyebrow. "You can send it to Kate's email address. It's on the back of the laptop over there. We have you scheduled for second to last."

Nicole does her best to compose herself. "Okay, great." Thankfully, the burst was short, but it was a good reminder that GoldenOwlPeller was going to keep her on her toes. "So, right over there. Got it."

As Tabitha returns she's holding a drink out for Nicole. "We have prebatched Gibsons." Nicole takes it, thankful for the liquid courage. Tabitha looks Nicole up and down again. "Are you presenting like that?"

Nicole, sipping the Gibson, looks down at herself. "Yes, is that okay?"

Kennedy says "are fishnets ever appropriate?"

Tabitha sighs. "Kenny, be nice. But yeah, I told you it was a Powersuits and PowerPoints theme."

Nicole doesn't remember Tabitha saying anything beyond the PowerPoint presentations. She thought the fishnets were edgy and cute, but now she feels even more uncomfortable. "Oh, okay, well, luckily I live next door. I can go change. I have a suit."

Kennedy grabs Nicole's arm as she turns to leave and change. "That would be rude. Don't you think? We're about to start." Nicole gasps again, but not because of Kennedy's grip. GoldenOwl Pellet was clearly trying to tease out the allowed three minutes of vibrator time per hour. Nicole does her best to control her body from lurching.

She tries her best to respond without sounding like there's a vibrator pulsing inside her. "I'm sorry, I misunderstood Tabitha's instructions. I'll be quick. Ten minutes."

Kennedy doesn't let go. Instead, she stares down at Nicole. Her grip is much tighter than it needs to be.

Tabitha says, "we already delayed in case you decided to show. We even talked you up to all of our friends. Please don't embarrass us."

The pulsing stops. She knew the vibrator was going to be a terrible idea. "Tabitha, Kennedy," Nicole says with a hint of desperation in her voice, "I'm so, so sorry I misunderstood the party requirements. It means so much to me that you invited me over. I promise I didn't mean to embarrass either of you." She hated apologizing for errors she was certain she didn't make, but it seemed the best course of action.

Kennedy releases Nicole's arm. "Good. Send Kate your PowerPoint. Tabby, can you introduce her?" Once again Kennedy turns away from Nicole to talk to her friends.

Tabitha scowls at Kennedy before also turning away from Nicole, but she yells out to the room. "Attention everyone! Our guest of honor has arrived. Everyone, this is our thirtysomething neighbor, Nicole. Nicole, this is everyone."

Nicole waves nervously. "Hey, actually I'm 27."

Tabitha waves away Nicole's words. "Close enough. Anyway, we're excited to have Nicole here because she's a 27-year-old social media coordinator at Gideon Marketing..."

Nicole, once again, feels the need to correct Tabitha, "Integrated Marketing Manager. I haven't been a social media coord..."

Tabitha, her back to Nicole, releases a heavy, frustrated sigh. She clicks her tongue. "Yes, Nicole, everyone knows how important titles are to Millenials. May I finish the very nice introduction I prepared for you?"

The other women in the room are laughing and whispering amongst one another. Nicole feels bad for correcting Tabitha. And she really wishes she could ghost the party but only Kennedy and Tabitha don't have eyes on her. "Yes, I'm sorry. I appreciate it. You. I appreciate you."

"Thank you," Tabitha says. "Apparently Nicole is a fancy Integrated Marketing Manager at Gideon Marketing and we're excited to have her here because we're sure she's a well-seasoned PowerPoint presenter. She can probably teach us a thing or two. Also, it's been so lovely being neighbors. Giving her some exposure at one of our parties is long overdue. We're looking forward to helping all of you get to know her even better. And now, Nicole, we saved you a seat right up front on the couch between Liz and Janet."

Two women on the couch wave to Nicole. One pats the center cushion. Nicole makes her way to the couch. The one on the left introduces herself as Janet and the one on the right as Liz. They're warm and friendly, and help Nicole put behind the awkward welcome from Kennedy and Tabitha. Liz says, "bold of you to break Kenitha's dress code. I once wore sneakers to a bikini and sandals pool party and they..."

Janet leans over Nicole and hushes Liz. "Liz, stop. Remember?"

"Right," she says and pats Nicole on the leg. "Forget I said anything. It looks like Kate is about to kick things off."

Nicole has so many questions about what Liz had started to say. Also the name "Kenitha." Was that the group's pet name for Kennedy and Tabitha? Like Bennifer? Or did she mishear? She's about to ask when the woman she understood to be Kate steps in front of the television.

Kate welcomes everyone and kicks things off with her presentation. She's followed by Tabitha and then one of the other women who Nicole hasn't met. Each presentation is five minutes and after every three presentations, there's a 20-minute break for refreshing drinks and idle chit-chat. Most of the presentations are hilarious. Tabitha and Kennedy don't acknowledge Nicole throughout most of the night. In fact, Nicole, liz, and Janet all seem to be ignored by most of the other women. That's fine because Nicole is happy to stay in the seat and focus on these two women. It makes it easier whenever GoldenOwlPellet triggers the remote vibrator.

The presentations touch on a broad range of topics. Most are focused on pop culture controversies except for Liz and Janet. Janet's presentation is titled: "Ass: The New Pussy." It's in defense of anal play from wearing a butt plug to eating ass. Janet is clearly uncomfortable presenting it and her eyes constantly shift to wear Kennedy is standing in the corner. Liz presents on "Foot Fetish Freaks." It's all about how society has determined men are the only gender that has a foot fetish, but in actuality, many women love feet, too. Like Janet, her delivery is uncertain and she has a hard time making eye contact. Still, the group is supported and applauds their efforts.

Nicole makes it through both presentations with only a brief 30-second vibrator burst during Liz's presentation. However, when Janet sits down she turns to Nicole and says "I can't believe I made it through that." Nicole starts to say "you did great" but right at that moment GoldenOwlPellet whammies her with the highest setting on the vibrator. As she starts to compliment Janet she needs something to grab onto, so she grips Janet's hand. Her simple "you did great" turns into "oh...oh my god....Janet....that was....sooooo...soooooo....good." She clenches the woman's hand tightly, staring into her eyes, and feeling like she needs to ask for help. Oh God, GoldenOwlPellet was really going for it.

Janet yanks her hand away and recoils. "Thanks? I guess."

"Sorry, no, it's not, I'm..." Nicole tries to focus. She sits on her hands and balls her fists. "Fuck, sorry, sorry, sorry." And it stops. "I need to pee!" She exclaims and bolts from the couch, down the hall, and to the bathroom. Nicole stares at herself in the mirror. "Calm down, calm down." Steadying her breath she fishes out her phone. After this break, she's up followed by the closing act, Kennedy. If this break goes for 20-minutes that means she'll be on at 11 p.m. which starts a whole new vibrator 3-minute cycle. GoldenOwlPellet could trigger the vibrator during her presentation or during Kennedy's presentation. At least during Kennedy's, she'll be sitting, but if he sets it off during her presentation will she be able to control herself?

"Fuck," she whispers and yanks down her fishnets and panties. Nicole puts her fingers on the pink tail hanging between her legs. If she removes it, GoldenOwlPellet will receive an alert. If it's removed for longer than five minutes the Discord group will take that as a task fail and she'll automatically become a Fail Pet. Being a Fail Pet is so much worse than being a Forfeit Pet, because it would put her under someone's control for 12 hours. She really needed a break. She thinks maybe she could remove it for her presentation, speed through it in under five minutes, and put it back in right after, but that could be risky.