Amber & Aaron: In a Few Days

This time, a look was all it had taken.

They’d been practicing their evening routine, Amber listening to a dense history book while Aaron watched TV, when she decided she wanted a glass of wine. As she sauntered past her husband’s chair, she became aware he was watching and put a wiggle in her step for him. She made a show of bending to examine the wine rack, selecting what she was fairly sure was a dry red, and of standing on her toes to get a glass even though it was unnecessary to do so. She did it knowing full well he was staring at her bare backside all the while.

Pretending not to notice, and casually avoiding eye contact, she went back to her spot on the couch and stretched out on her side to show off her toned form. She crossed her legs, letting one thigh cover the other and her arm drape over her breasts. She tossed back her hair, rested her head on her palm, and only then allowed her smoky gaze to meet his. And that look had done it.

He was standing over her then. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. She noted proudly that his hands were clumsy with anticipation as he tried to strip for her, and reached up to help him with the belt. She gasped when he finally fell on her. They didn’t make it to the bedroom that night. They never made it off the couch.

Such had gone the three days since Aaron had changed her; attempted normalcy devolving into explosive lovemaking. They were both on a hair trigger, she due to the sheer eroticism of the situation he’d dreamed up for her, he because she wouldn’t stop teasing him for it.

He’d meant to strip her of her independence as she’d stripped herself in response to his challenge. But she was too clever to be reduced to a simple sex object and had turned the tables somehow, wrapping him around her finger in the process. She had expected his changes to be humiliating, frustrating and above all, erotic. She had not expected them to be empowering.

Amber awoke the next morning to Aaron shivering in her arms. It took her a moment, and seeing ice on the windows, to realize he must have been freezing. The changes he’d made really had inoculated her to temperature. She felt perpetually comfortable. But a cold snap had apparently descended overnight and he’d clearly not been prepared for it.

She rolled her eyes. He never was good about checking the weather and she no longer had any way to. She got up to fetch a blanket for him, but by the time she got back, he was already up, shivering by the window.

“Holy shit,” He said. “It’s snowing.”

Amber’s eyes went wide as she draped the blanket over his shoulder. That was an understatement. Snow of any kind was rare enough in Virginia, and typically only a light dusting when they got it. But now the ground was covered, the air whited out with large, heavy. She felt a wild urge to rush outside and play in it, then remembered she’d be doing it naked where all their neighbors could see her. The thought of that sent a shiver up her spine, equal parts embarrassment and arousal.

She turned to find him staring at her.

“Guess you’re not going to the beach today, huh?”

She shrugged, indicating it made no difference to her. In fact, she felt an excited little thrill at the notion of being snowed in with him like this. But she was startled out of it when he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to him.

“Baby,” Aaron said earnestly, “It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed having you like this, but you’re supposed to be earning your way back. I’m gonna get tired of it eventually.”

She shrugged again. She wasn’t tired of it yet. Hell, she still felt like she was riding a sugar high.

“Besides,” he continued. “I’ve seen you getting text. You’re gonna have to respond to them eventually or people will assume you’ve gone missing or something.”

You could. She thought, pointing to him and then her phone to indicate as much.

He seemed to understand, and sighed. He placed his hands on her hips.

“The game isn’t fun if you don’t play it.”

She frowned with a little growl. This was a much more effective argument. Where, after all, was the fun in any of this if she was just going to enjoy it.

Still, there was one problem. She turned to the window, pointing at the snow as she cocked her head, then shrugged and raised a palm “Welp. Too bad.” she hoped the look said.

But Aaron only shook his head.

“Nah. There’s gotta be something else I can come up with. An indoor something.” He said. “Besides, it’s probably easier to start that way than to **** you out in public on your very first test.”

That had been the other factor in her reticence. Every time she’d thought about going out to the beach, she’d chickened out.

Amber bit her lip, trying to find inspiration in their surroundings. It came to her suddenly. Excited, she did a little hop, raising her hand.

“You got something?” He asked.

She nodded vigorously, then took his hand, dragging him toward the kitchen. She pointed to the stove, pantomiming flipping something in a pan. Aaron furrowed his brow as he watched her.

“You want to...cook something?” He said. “I don’t get it, you love cooking.”

She strode over to the small bookshelf she kept on the counter, picking a cookbook off the rack before turning to him. She displayed it, made a show of looking at it, then turned her gaze back to him and shook her head.

“Hmmm…” Aaron mused. “You might be onto something here.”

She smiled eagerly, watching him put the pieces together. Amber was a recipe cook, and always had been. She learned through following the instructions of others. Over years of practice, she’d become skilled enough to cook from memory, even to improvise. But without being able to refer to recipes, it would still be quite a challenge. How he’d translate that into an actual, quantifiable one, she wasn’t sure. But she’d at least planted an idea in his head.

Aaron lifted a finger.

“You know...I think I have something. Give me like an hour?”

She nodded excitedly, then smiled and leaned in to kiss him, foot popping off the ground. When she left for her morning shower, she was practically skipping.

It wasn’t until after noon that he finally came to her. By then, she was starving anyway.

“I think I’ve got your challenge all mapped out,” He said, interrupting her as she listened to her book. “You ready?”

She nodded eagerly, sitting up straight.

“Open the app.”

Amber opened her phone, then the little symbol she knew represented the app he’d created for her. As expected, her list of changes appeared, only now, underneath each, were gold stars. Her undergarments had a star each beneath them, her outerwear two. Her ability to refuse his commands was worth 3 stars, her new humiliation fetish and inability to drive worth 4. Finally, the microphone that represented her lost speech and book her literacy were each worth 5. That made sense, she supposed; they were easily her most frustrating changes.

“Scroll down,” He said.

She obeyed compulsively, thumbs moving almost on their own in response to his order. Below all the changes, she found cartoon images of dishes all in flat, easily recognizable corporate art style. Like her enumerated changes, they each had stars beneath them.

She recognized a bowl of ramen, and it was worth 10. A bowl of chicken tikka masala 8, a meat pie 6. On the lower end of the scale, a burrito was given only 4 and a bowl of mac and cheese 3. She could earn a single star with a number of sides. All of them were dishes she’d made before, but the higher value ones were much more complex.

She looked up at him and nodded. Yes, she thought she understood. Each change cost stars to reverse. She could earn stars by making the dishes.

“You get to pick one entree and one side, so you can’t run up the score with easy stuff.” Aaron explained. “You only earn the dish’s full value if it’s perfect, so don’t half ass it. And if you forget any ingredients or mess anything up, I’ll add some extra changes. Otherwise, you get to choose your own challenge level.”

Amber was impressed. It was a clever challenge. She winked at him and tapped her temple to let him know that.

Looking down at the list of dishes, she bit her lip. As sexy as all this was, she missed being able to speak and read. Earning a few articles of clothing before she had to go places wouldn’t hurt her feelings either. Still, she didn’t want to pick something that was so hard it would set her back. Finally, she tapped the one she wanted. It was highlighted green. She picked a side to go with it.

His own phone buzzed and he looked it over.

“Interesting choices. You gonna get started now?”

She nodded enthusiastically, and set to work.