Intermission: A very warm welcome

It was about a fifteen minute drive from Sophia's flat to the bar the boys were meeting her at, giving her plenty of time to think about what she was getting herself into. It had become abundantly clear that morning that her compulsions were a much bigger issue than she initially thought. She couldn't even manage an hour alone in her own home without them exerting their pervasive influence over her life. Stumbling blindly into whatever situations this show threw her into was only going to leave Sophia completely at their mercy. It was time she started planning ahead. She needed to avoid triggering her compulsions wherever she could, and where she couldn't she needed to be ready ahead of time to push them away before they dug their roots too deeply into her mind. Forward thinking had never been Sophia's strong suit, but with the time she was given throughout her uneventful car journey she thought she had a few things figured out.

One clear instance of the unavoidable, for instance, was going to be the act of meeting up with Alan’s friends itself. She couldn’t exactly not say hello to the people she was going to be spending the afternoon with, and the very act of doing so was going to trigger an urge to make out with each of them one by one. That was a nasty enough prospect for Sophia in its own right without the fact she’d then be spending two hours making small talk with the men who’d just tasted her lips. She had to avoid that at all costs. Sophia didn’t know what that compulsion felt like, but she was sure she would be able to resist it if she could just focus all of her efforts on maintaining personal space. The moment she felt an urge to bring it in would be the moment she had to watch out for. If she could make it through two minutes of greeting people without succumbing, she’d be over the first hurdle and well on her way to a successful outing without humiliating herself.

The next thing that came to mind was the seating arrangements. If everyone was sitting around a table then Sophia would obviously have **** but to join them, compelling an offer from her to place herself in one of their laps, and there were few ways she could imagine the meetup turning out more embarrassing for her than that. Ideally the solution would be to keep everyone standing around near the bar, but she wasn’t willing to rely on that possibility alone.

It was then, thinking about how Jack had explained her Lap Warmer alteration, that a loophole suddenly occurred to her. The compulsion could only trigger if there was a lap available at the moment she sat down. Making a dash to be the first one seated wasn’t the most dignified move, but it was a huge deal better than the alternative. She needed to be sure that the boys wouldn’t already be sitting down when she got there though, and so after her flash of insight Sophia had taken a minute to pull over to text Declan to have them meet her by the entrance. With a confirmation received moments later, Sophia felt a tinge of pride at her own foresight. In the worst case scenario she would have time to brace herself to fight off the compulsion as they made their way to the tables. She had plenty of ways to work around the Lap Warmer compulsion all in all.

Happy to Help was another one she was going to have to watch out for. She already knew first-hand how unpredictable it could be. There was just no way of knowing ahead of time when someone was going to ask Sophia for a favour. Her best bet was to resist the urge to agree with them in the first place. It was only after she did so that the overbearing guilt made it so impossible to say no. These men weren’t as close to her as Alan or Lena though, and that would apparently play a part in making the compulsion easier to break free of.

Sophia didn’t feel she had as much to worry about with her other compulsions for the time being. She certainly didn’t feel like taking any pictures while she was out today, and they didn’t seem like the kind of guys to be capturing the moment either. She doubted there would be any games going on at a bar. She’d never been to this one before, so it might have been possible that there were screens playing football matches or the like, but as far as she could tell Prize Wife wouldn’t affect her if she couldn’t contact the participants. She would have to be careful if the guys started placing bets though; it would be best to avoid the televisions if possible. Her outfit wasn’t really prone to wardrobe malfunctions so she didn’t have to really worry about compromising positions. And if something phallic somehow ended up anywhere near her chest then Sophia knew the universe really was conspiring to make her life miserable. No, she had to say she was fairly confident with her preparations going into the meetup. Perhaps forward planning wasn’t as difficult as she thought.

The car park was quiet as Sophia pulled into it. She would have liked to take that as an indication that it would be quiet inside too but she supposed people didn’t usually drive to a bar. It suited Sophia well enough though. She still didn’t like people seeing her in her new body. She followed the directions Alan had sent to her, up a flight of stairs hidden out of the way around the side of a building and across a walkway. Even as she arrived at a doorway Sophia wasn’t sure she was in the right place, no signage visible from where she stood. Peeking in though, she could tell from the carpet that it was definitely some kind of lounge. She followed a stairwell down to the ground floor again and entered into an open space. She was relieved to finally catch sight of the people she was looking for as she did, gathered in a huddle in range of the entrance. One of them noticed as she came in and waved her over. Sophia braced herself as she did, ready to do battle with the urge to kiss and embrace.

Upon her arrival the men began fanning out to face her. Their reaction to seeing her was exactly as Sophia expected. Their gazes barely grazed her face for a second before falling down to her chest and remaining there. She was regretting now wearing a top that bore so much cleavage. Once Alan said he wasn’t coming she should have gone back to change. She’d only worn it for his sake, knowing that with him there his friends would try to be respectful. Without him though it looked like she was purposely inviting their attention, wantonly putting herself on display for their viewing please. Of course they would look.

At least now that Sweater Puppies was disabled, Sophia was thankfully spared from a cacophony of ‘Wow, Sophia, you got fake tits’. Somehow though, the long moment of silence as they processed what they were seeing felt even more uncomfortable and exposing, and she idly started to wish they would bring it up so everyone could move past it.

> Ew, don’t wish that on yourself Sophia. The less said about these things the better.

Still, the moment was dragging on long enough to be awkward. Sophia was starting to feel naked and **** beneath their collective stares. She put it upon herself to end the silence.

“Hey… uh, guys.”

Sophia stumbled for a moment, guiltily realising she could only recall the name of Alan’s best man. Nothing came to her as she looked over each of their faces. A tall, freckled, ginger man with a slender frame; a tanned, bespectacled man whose family Sophia recalled was from somewhere like Sri Lanka but who was himself born in the UK; a shorter, well-built man with a buzz cut; and a man who didn’t have any distinctive features or really much presence at all. Remembering their names was the bare minimum Sophia owed her beloved and she feared she couldn’t even manage that.

Their eyes all flicked up to her at once, some abashed at having been caught staring and others playing it off like it never happened.

“Oh hey Sophia.” “Hiya Sophia.” “Hey Soph.”

They each took a step towards her, forcing her to step back. This was what she’d prepared for. As they each made their greeting she’d been struck by the urge to come forth and embrace them, and in turn she urged her body to remain in place. Distance was her lifeline. As long as she remained out of arm’s length it was just her legs she needed to remain in control of.

> It… It’s working. I’m beating the compulsion!

Embers of joyful hope began burning inside Sophia for the first time in a long while. It took a great deal of effort, but it was real proof that she had the strength of will to fight off the foreign influences infesting her mind. It really wasn’t a lost cause to fight back against the show after all.

“Uh…”

But then a murmur brought Sophia’s attention back to the men in front of her, some bearing puzzling looks as to why she was retreating from them and others showing disappointment. One had paused with his arm partially raised, like he’d been expecting to meet her with an embrace.

> W-wait… are they expecting me to…

Sophia did remember Jack saying that people would consider the results of her compulsion to be normal, but did it go further beyond that? Did people consider making out to be the default greeting from her now? Was anything less than that now considered a snub?

Outside of her control, the embers of hope kindling inside Sophia’s heart gave way to paralyzing doubt. ‘Try to make a connection’. That was what she’d promised Alan. Was she being rude in refusing his friends a basic greeting? No, of course not. It was absurd to think she was being impolite for not planting her lips on another person. Telling herself that did nothing to assuage the guilt growing inside her however, eroding her will to fight the compulsion.

> Please… Don’t do this… I can fight it…

Sophia lost sight of everything around her. All of her attention was turned towards the stalemate inside her mind, pleading with herself not to give in - She didn’t need to do this. It wasn’t a broken promise not to kiss her lover’s friends. She had nothing to feel guilty about - Little by little she was managing to convince herself that she didn’t have to succumb to it. She didn’t need to kiss these-

“Little P?... You alright?”

A hand on her shoulder caught Sophia by surprise, shattering her focus to pieces. Declan was beside her, well within arm’s reach. She didn’t know what she was doing. Without a thought she had swivelled on the spot. Rose onto her tiptoes. Threw her arms around his neck. Dragged him in, closer, until their faces met.

> No! What am I doing?!

It was too late for Sophia to stop herself though. She was gripped in the talons of her compulsion, swept in too close to the vortex to ever hope to swim away. Her defiance was disarmed by the comforting relief of giving in to her internal strife. Declan accepted her body into his, wrapping his arms around her to plant his hands on her hips and sink his fingers into her curves. He parted his lips to allow her tongue to meet his own. Under her compulsion’s bidding she moved her body to initiate a smouldering show of passion.

Sophia couldn’t stand to look her lover’s friend in the eye as she pushed her tongue into his mouth. With no hope of breaking free from the compulsion at that point, Sophia deigned to allow herself a moment of escape. She closed her eyes and imagined it was Alan she was kissing, fresh from their wedding, arriving home to their new joint bedroom. Her devoted husband was proving to be a little more handsy than he usually was, but Sophia was willing to forgive him for getting lost in passion at that moment.

Kisses were always something that fascinated Sophia. Ever since she was little she’d been enchanted by the thought of true love’s kiss, dreaming of the day she’d be old enough for her own prince to deliver one to her. As a teen with internet access she’d looked up video after video of man and woman pressing lips together until she stumbled into the world of what she called ‘grown-up kisses’, a seemingly more mature way to show love to your special someone. Wanting so badly to mature before her time, she’d spent hour after hour, night after night studying every video she could find, eager to master this advanced form of romance.

But Sophia could only learn so much from watching others. Impatient to wait for the day she’d find her true love, Sophia had invited her best friend around for some practice play, eager to show her bestie what she’d discovered. It had come as a shock, then, when Heather had asked why her friend was showing her softcore porn. Sophia had been mortified, utterly ignorant to the fact that what she thought was a pure expression of love was really some smutty act of foreplay. She’d never felt so dirty, guilty of engaging in the same perverted behaviour as the boys that bothered her so much from school. The utter shame of that incident buried any interest Sophia held for tongue kissing.

But then years later she met her own Prince Charming, and feelings she’d suppressed so thoroughly began to stir in the depths of her soul. Sophia had been **** to dredge up those memories, the act of passion tainted by the great shame, embarrassment and disgust she'd felt at herself in her younger years. But even so she couldn’t deny that part of her wanted to let all that go, to fully embrace her lover with what she once considered the ultimate act of true love. All those hours studying had left a lasting influence on her impressionable mind, and she couldn't help but still see magic and wonder beneath the smutty eroticism she now knew French kissing to be… It wasn’t enough to stifle the cringe she felt at the thought of it, but maybe one day her work with Alan would let her overcome her aversion just for him, and she would no longer feel shame at embracing him the way a true lover would. Perhaps once they were wedded and she was finally ready in body and soul to let herself become his woman.

Now, trapped as she was by the impulses reigning over her mind, that was where she let her imagination wander, submerging herself in the fantasy. Her body entwined with her lover’s. Her soft, abundant curves yielding to his firm, muscular frame as he cradled her in his arms, cocooning her in his warmth. His hands cupped her posterior as he allowed himself to succumb to passion, almost lifting her from her feet. She didn’t mind it, trusting him to be her anchor to hold her steady. Their bodies pressed ever more tightly together as the whole world evaporated around them.

Guided by her compulsion, Sophia began to mimic the movements of the women she’d studied all those years ago, pushing her tongue deep into the mouth of her imagined lover. Even after all this time she still saw those scenes so clearly in her mind’s eye. The sensuous, delicate meeting of faces; the intense, focused expressions as nothing mattered but each other and the passion they shared.

Their tongues met. The gross, slimy appendage sent a shiver down her spine and her shoulders tensed up. Such a feeling would have normally had Sophia reeling back, but under the thrall of her compulsion she pressed on, sliding her tongue along the full length of his before rolling around to touch every side of it. Like two young lovers in a starlit field their tongues played and frolicked together for a moment before hers coyly pulled away, inviting him to follow. The chase took them to Sophia’s own mouth where his tongue finally cornered hers. His playfully pinned her to the root of her mouth, preventing its escape, before continuing its loving caress; a casual display of gentle power that brought a flush to Sophia’s cheeks. In response she pursed her lips, wrapping them around the invading organ to teasingly coax it back. It released her with a flick to leave its mark along the inside of her cheeks before pulling out, and the whole process began anew.

From that point on their tongues and lips danced together in a rhythmic duet, gliding and brushing against each other as they fully explored the feel and taste of each other’s mouths. Sophia’s thoughts were divided, a large part of her grossed out by the slimy, wriggling organ penetrating her lips, tainting her mouth with another person’s bodily fluids. But the young maiden inside of her that once saw these kisses as the height of fairy-tale wonder was rapidly waking up, and with every moment it muffled more and more of her reservations.

As she fell further under the spell of her fantasy, Sophia was starting to feel something she very rarely did. Her body was on fire, her nipples stiff and poking into her lover’s muscular chest, her hip unconsciously grinding against his like they had a will of their own. Something about this, having the whole world fall away until it was just her, her lover, their bodies and the passion between them, was such a turn-on for her. For the first time in a long while it wasn’t just her body that had been **** into arousal. Her mind was in complete agreement that this was one of the hottest things she’d ever done.

She poured that feeling back into their embrace, twisting her head and pulling her lover’s face in closer to focus all her efforts on their kiss. Their movements were much faster now, more feverish. Their lips formed a perfect seal as their tongues danced and darted between them. Her lover’s breath on her cheek, his strong arms holding her in place; it was all so intoxicating to Sophia’s horny brain. Her lover grabbed her tighter, kneading his fingers into her ass, but that didn’t matter to her right now. Here on their wedding day, all their inhibitions were coming down. She opened her eyes to meet Alan’s sparkling blue eyes…

…and the eyes that gazed back at her were green.

> Oh God! Wh-What am I doing?!

In a fit of panic, Sophia broke the kiss and pulled away from the man’s embrace. Once she was three steps back she froze in place, utterly in shock at what she’d just done.

“Looks like someone was happy to see me.”

The other guys tittered at Declan’s jibe, but Sophia could only stand and stare. She’d been able to pull away from his embrace so easily. That was only supposed to happen after thirty seconds. Just how long had she been standing there, making out with her fiancé's best friend with nothing stopping her from pulling away? Even worse, she’d been aroused by it, aroused by cheating on her love!

> No! It was thinking about Alan that turned me on, not Declan! I had ****! I was compelled to do it!

She tried her best to justify it but it didn’t change the fact of what she’d done. She’d succumbed to her compulsion with a man she wasn't promised to, and that was not okay. Excusing it once would just lead to excusing it again, and at that point she might as well just give up and become the whore those men wanted her to be.

“Hellooo? Earth to Sophia. You want to come and grab a drink with us?”

The voice broke her train of thought and brought her crashing back to the real world. Despite the turmoil raging inside of her, the guys were acting like nothing was amiss, preparing to head to the bar and go about their business. To them what had happened was perfectly normal. Perhaps it went on for long enough to joke about, but what they witnessed was still inside the realm of a normal greeting for her. That was just her new reality now. At least she didn’t feel the need to make out with the rest of them anymore… She shallowly nodded her head and let them lead her to the bar.

Her new reality… Was it really fair to be so hard on herself when the whole world was conspiring against her? With all the people she had to greet throughout her life, all that pressure every little ‘hello’ put on her, there was bound to be mistakes. If she beat herself down for every little slip-up she was going to become a shell of her former self, terrified of the very thought of talking to people. That didn’t mean allowing herself to succumb to every urge she felt to kiss someone, but for her own mental health she had to accept she would make mistakes. Accept them… forgive them… but condemn them, and tell herself it would never happen again. That was how she would weather the storm that was her kissing compulsion. Bend… but not break.

...And when she saw Alan tonight, she would allow her compulsion to take her completely, and make up for everything she had done with his friend and more.

“Alright, Little P. I think I owe you a drink after that lovely greeting. What are you drinking? Wine? A cocktail?”

“Um, I drove here actually.”

“Oh…”

Declan looked a little discouraged at her refusal, but Sophia had no intention of getting drunk with these men without Alan around.

“How about a VK then? One drink won’t hurt, right?”

Spurred on by her promise to Alan, Sophia accepted his offer. One alcopop wasn’t going to put her over the limit, and it might just have helped her with the nerves she was feeling. Things had not started the way she had planned and she couldn’t help the ball of anxiety that had settled in her stomach.

The bar was quiet and it didn’t take long for all the guys to be served. Sophia tried her best to keep her head down to minimise her engagement while she settled herself, and thankfully the men were happy to talk among themselves while they waited, though she did notice them eying her down a few times.

“Right, everyone got theirs?” Declan said, handing her her bottle. “Let’s grab a few tables. I already paid for them”

His last lines tickled the back of Sophia’s mind. Why need multiple tables when there were only six of them? And why pay for tables at a bar? She dismissed the thoughts, however, and quietly moved to follow them. That quickly proved to be a mistake however, leaving her completely unprepared for what she saw as they headed across the room. In the time she’d been here, Sophia hadn’t spared a moment to take in her surroundings, and she stopped short as she caught sight of the ‘tables’.

“What’s up Sophia? Did Alan not tell you we were going to a pool lounge? We were hoping you’d join us for a few games. Alan told us that you’re pretty good at it.”

The tables that lay before Sophia’s eyes were row after row of felt-lined pool tables. There were regular seats and tables against the wall to place one’s drinks, but it was clear what the focus of this place was all about. This was not something she had planned for at all. It was barely even a consideration that she would have to pay mind to this particular compulsion. But right as she was least expecting it was when it struck, and as she stood in shock it swept over her mind without the least bit of resistance.

So it was that she once again felt words slip from her lips from beyond her control.

“I’ll suck the winner’s cock.”

==Author's Notes==

Thank you everyone for reading. It's been a while since this wasn't a particularly great month for writing for me. I've split this chapter into two since it was looking to be pretty long, so I hope you like the tantalising cliff-hanger I've left it on. I think this may be the first real kissing scene I've written so I hope it came out well. Feedback is always appreciated.

(Also sorry to Alan's other friends. This story will already have enough characters to keep track of so you don't get any names.)

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