A couch fort

Megan sat in the cave of eternity with Charlotte, fighting a dragon. Her Little companion was so eager to return to where they left off last time, after killing an ogre, they needed to delve deeper into the cave and slay the final boss. Even though they had no action figures or dolls, Charlotte's imagination was plenty enough to turn the little sheets of paper with Megan's sketches into "the real thing". Megan's father had been an avid D&D player for her entire life, and she'd always appreciated the way it sparked her imagination for drawing. It was her secret to babysitting most kids in the neighborhood, if you could get them invested in a campaign, the story was easy to manipulate and keep moving. None of the monsters had their proper stats and there were no dice to roll, but the kids loved dealing critical hits to the ogre or troll. Unexpectedly, Megan heard the door unlock and then open.

Mrs. Bell gasped, her living room was a mess. The large couch and love seat had been turned upside down and covered in sheets, pillows from Charlotte's room were scattered all over, and she could hear a strange screeching sound from under the blankets.

"Mrs. B!?" Megan said in a muffled yelp underneath one of the couches. The young babysitter sprang up from between the seam of the two couches. "Your'e....._very _early!"

"I know," She smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I was so late that I wound up missing my girlfriends all together, so I just bought something and left."

"Should we.....clean up then?" Charlotte mumbled a word of protest down in the fort as Megan spoke.

"No-no-no, don't mind me. I'll be in my room.....relaxing." She waved, and hurried down the hall to her room. "You guys can do whatever you were doing."

Megan saw the bag from Seductions in Mrs. B's hand and wondered what she bought, but a tug at her shorts reminded her that she had a dragon to slay. The whole experience changed after Mrs. B came home early, even though she obviously didn't want to stop, Charlotte had lost most of her interest in the game now that her mother was home. The dragon fought hard, but it was slain eventually. The whole session in the cave petered out until Charlotte wanted something to eat, and left the cave. She resigned to straightening out the living room and turning the couches back over and folding the sheets up.

Megan turned on the TV and let Charlotte watch a kid's show for the rest of her time there. When it was time to go, and time to get paid, she waited an extra 15 minutes before heading down the hall to knock on Mrs. B's door.

"Mrs. B, I'm headed out now..." She started.

"One moment!" Mrs. Bell said, then opened the door wearing a white blouse that she hadn't been wearing when she came home. She was holding the money for babysitting in her had, but her hair was messy like she had been trying on different clothes. Underneath the white blouse was a bright red shirt that she recognized as an old cheer uniform for Bloomfield High.

"You were a cheerleader Mrs. B?" The words came out of her mouth without thinking. She saw Mrs. B blush, looking down at her shirt.

"Yes I...I was going through some old things."

"What's the occasion, anniversary?" Megan said knowingly. Mrs. B frowned at her and offered the money in her hand insistently.

"No occasion, just had some spare time on my hands," she lied.

Megan winked at her neighbor and took her payment. Before she could turn to leave, Mrs. B reached through her doorway and pulled her young babysitter into her room. She stripped off the sweatpants and blouse she was wearing, revealing her entire cheer outfit. The entire thing was too tight on her frame, but it technically fit.

"How does this look?" She looked worried,"Be honest. I'm trying out something special for David."