Holly Joins the Party

The next morning was largely uneventful. It almost felt like the last week or so hadn’t happened. Brad woke up, ate breakfast and played a few rounds of Battlefield. For the first time since he found out, he wasn’t stressed about what would happen next. He was nervous about how the conversation with Holly would go, sure, but overall, he was ready. He had just finished a particularly good game when his phone lit up, “On our way”.

He powered down his PC and started cleaning up a bit. Sure, he could just tell them not to care, but he still had some pride in his life. He washed the 2 dirty dishes, one benefit of being a single guy living alone, and vacuumed up. He heard a knock on the door and walked over to open it. When he did, he saw a very cutely dressed Maisie. Holly, on the other hand, looked like she was trying to become a nun. She was dressed extremely conservatively, showing no unnecessary skin which Brad didn’t fault her for, given the situation.

“Come on in y’all “Brad said as he stepped out of the way, “Make yourselves comfortable I suppose”.

As Maisie walked by Brad whispered in her ear, “Maisie, you will resume sending me a photo of you every morning as soon as you wake up.” And shot her a wink.

Maisie lit up but said nothing. They each took a seat on the sofa while Brad took the chair.

“So” Holly started, “How does this work? You tell me you’re my master too and tough luck?”

“Well, sort of. Maybe. Honestly, I’m not sure.” Brad replied, “The only reason we even thought it was a possibility is because of what happened the other night. Do you want to find out for sure?”

“Not if I don’t have to. “Holly said quietly.

“Well…”

Before Brad could finish, Maisie jumped in, “You at least need to know if it’s him because if not, that means it’s someone else.”

“Dammit Mais, when did you get so levelheaded?” Holly said, “fine, do the hair test.”

Without a second thought, Brad said, “Holly, your hair is now bright red and in pigtails.”

Sure enough, Holly’s hair began shortening and turning red, leaving no doubt in all 3.

“Well, that answers that. Next question. What the fuck are you going to do to me?” Holly was putting on a brave face, but the tremble in her voice betrayed her.

“First off Holly, you need to know I’m not going to hurt you.” Holly immediately relaxed, which Brad noticed. “Shit, Holly reverse the last command. Also, if you feel like any command I make is accidental or too far out of your comfort zone, you will question me before following it.”

Holly tensed back up but looked at Brad, “Thank you. I see what Maisie was talking about now. Accidental commands really do happen it seems. So, what grand plans do you have now that 2 beautiful young women, sisters no less, are at your beck and call?”

“Well, I have a few ideas honestly. I wanted to talk to you about them today. But first, Maisie, Holly, you will both be 100% honest with me and hold nothing back for the duration of this discussion. If we are going to make this work, we all need to be on the same page. I actually wrote up a little bit of an outline.” Brad paused to catch his breath.

“Nerd!!” Maisie yelled and started giggling.

Holly looked at her sister mortified, “Don’t antagonize him! Do you not seen how screwed we are?”

“Relax” Maisie countered, “If he was going to do any of that, don’t you think he would’ve already?”

“How do you know he didn’t?” Holly snapped back.

“Well, I would remem…oh” Maisie turned to Brad, “You haven’t done anything that I don’t remember to me have you Brad?”

“No, I haven’t.” Brad replied, amused at the conversation happening before him.

“Prove it. Tell her to remember everything.” Holly said, crossing her arms.

Brad had a feeling she had forgotten about her hair because she looked so damned sweet and innocent as she did so.

“Alright,” Brad relented, “Maisie, you remember every single command I have given you since finding out about the curse. You will tell Holly a simple yes or no if you remember anything now that you didn’t a moment ago.”

“No” Maisie said, satisfying the command, then continued, “I tooolllddd you! Hol, I know how screwed we are. But it could’ve been a lot worse. Now, Brad, let’s see this outline you slaved away on.” She giggled again as she said it.

Brad pulled up his laptop and opened the outline. He handed Holly the laptop, “There’s commands in there, but no names. Nothing in here should trigger the curse. Y’all want a beer?”

“Yes!” They both said in unison as they started reading the outline.

Brad walked to the kitchen and waited a few minutes to give them time. He heard whispering and a few giggles from both of them which he thought was weird.

He walked back into the living room, beers in hand.

“What’s so funny?” Brad asked.

“You triggered Maisie’s curse BRAD” Holly said.

Brad was confused but saw Maisie’s breath get shallower. “How, I was so careful!”

“Well, BRAD” it was clear she was enjoying this as Maisie’s cheeks flushed, “You left a section in called ‘don’t let the girls see this’ and you put her name right before two of them! Oh, and you want me to feel that way too, huh?”

Brad caught on that the mood was lighter and looked at Maisie. She got that evil glint in her eye that said, “do it”.

“Well,” Brad started to smile, “it’s only fair. Holly, you will also get aroused any time you hear my name.”

“BRAD!!!” Maisie blurted out bursting out in uncontrollable laughter and holly’s pale face went pink. “That’s what you get for teasing me about it hehe”

“Alright, so I’m sorry I left that in there. I didn’t mean to. Moving on though, what are your thoughts? Holly, you first”

“Well, I really don’t think this place is big enough for the three of us.” She started “and considering I just found out you’re gonna be controlling the rest of my life, I don’t really want to move in with you. As far as work, I like my job. If there’s a way to break this curse though, I want it. I think the archeology profession for me and the politician for Maisie could go a long way for that, assuming you actually want to find a way out of this and won’t just lock is in your basement as your personal sex slaves for the rest of our lives.”

“Tempting as that sounds, let’s assume not.” Brad responded, “Maisie, what about you?”

Maisie sighed heavily then started, “I don’t want to be a politician. I don’t want to be a fashion designer and I sure as hell don’t want to work at Hooters.”

“What do you want to do?” Brad asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’m 18! Why do I have to decide now? What can I do for you to let me stay out of that grind for a while? I’m sure there’s something. I just want to enjoy life still, ya know?”

Brad sighed, “Alright, we’ll come back to that one. What do you two think about the mutually beneficial commands?”

“I like them, but I don’t think you can command us to be in the top of our field. I think it would have to be something like you are exceptional at what you do and always know what to do and say.” Holly answered.

“Thought about this a lot?” Brad asked, “Makes sense though.”

“Only since I was FIVE when I found out about this stupid curse.”

“Fair enough, Maisie, Holly, all previous commands before now are void.” Holly’s hair regrew and took on its original dark color. “You are both excellent in your chosen career paths. You know exactly what to do and say and will always know the answer to a question that is asked of you regarding your career. You will know and do what needs to be done in order to rise up the ranks quickly. Furthermore, you are both to always be honest with me, no matter what. You are to always be available by phone. However, that also applies to me. If I am ever not available to you, that command is void for the one who I wasn’t available for. Finally, if you believe a command was not well thought out or made unintentionally, you are to question me before following it. Did that all take?”

They both nodded.

“Well then,” Brad said, “what next?”

Holly looked like she had seen a ghost. Her calm, playful demeanor evaporated and she started looking around for an exit.

"Holl, you ok?" Maisie asked.

"How can you be so relaxed? How can we trust him? Somehow he's controlling TWO of us? None of this is OK!" Holly got up to leave.

"Holly, wait. Tell me what's going on" Brad said completely missing the command he just gave.

Holly froze, "Damn it Brad. let me leave! When you undid all previous commands, you removed the command you put in forcing me to trust you. Can I go now?"

"Command to trust me? What are you talking about?"

"At the diner," Holly started, "when we met to discuss Maisie for the first time. You commanded me to trust you. I didn't realize it at the time but it all makes sense now."

"Holly, you are free to leave of course, but once you've calmed down, come talk to me so we can figure things out."

Holly walked out the door without another word. Maisie just sat there in shock.

"Well, that went well" Maisie finally broke the silence.

"Tell me about it, what should we do now?" Brad asked.

Maisie stood up and walked over to Brad. She wrapped her arms around his neck and said, "I think you need to relax a bit. Follow me."