We hail a cab and Holtz tells the driver another address I don't know. The cab takes us completely out of the city and towards a pretty remote looking area.
"Are you taking me somewhere to kill me?" I ask, jokingly.
"I couldn't hurt that pretty little face, Gilbert." She winks and I shake my head. We go deeper and deeper into what looks like an almost deserted part of New York and I rack my brain, trying to think of what could be here. We finally arrive at a huge run down building and it finally clicks.
"Isn't this that insane asylum we busted a couple months ago that they're trying to make into a hotel?"
"Yep. They turn it into a haunted house around Halloween to raise money for the renovation. If you wanna go somewhere else, I totally understand. I know this isn't a typical date thing."
I smile widely at Holtz, vaguely remembering my drunken conversation about wanting to go to a haunted house. I can't believe she actually remembered though. Well, maybe I can believe it, because I'm pretty sure Holtz remembers just about everything. The fact that we're going to a haunted house on our first date is what I can't believe. I love that she actually made an effort to do something she knew I wanted to do. Every other date I've ever been on have been pretty typical and boring: dinner, movie, walks in Central Park, etc.
"Are you kidding? This is probably the best date anyone has ever taken me to. And, to be honest, I would be disappointed if our first date was typical. I expect no less than unique from Dr. Jillian Holtzmann."
Holtz grins, biting her bottom lip and takes my hand. "Shall we make our way to our demise?" She says in a voice resembling Vincent Price.
"We shall."
Holtz buys our tickets at the booth in front of the entrance and we make our way to the building. She takes my hand in hers gingerly, eventually intertwining our fingers the closer we get to the line. My face is flushed from the contact, but when her skin touches mine it makes me feel like I'm flying. Her fingers fit so perfectly between my own and her skin is so warm in the chilly, fall air.
The queue doesn't look horribly long; maybe 45 minutes tops. It's lined with stainless steel railing, similar to the ones they use at theme parks for waiting lines. We get behind a young looking couple; a blonde girl who's sitting on top of the rail and a boy standing between her legs with his arms around her waist. He's wearing a letter man's jacket, so I assume they're about high school age.
Holtz releases my hand to bend down and tie her shoe and I suddenly have no idea what to do with my hands, so I fold them across my chest and look at the building. It looks completely different now than it did when we were here for a bust. Red and orange spotlights flash across the front. The theme is obviously an insane asylum: evil looking doctors and nurses pace by the front door; torturous looking medical devices are scattered about; blood is strewn about the porch area. Heavy metal is playing from a loudspeaker nearby, adding to the suspense. You can hear screaming, both by scared customers and by actors, the closer you get to the front of the line.
All of a sudden, a man dressed as a doctor covered with blood and carrying a scalpel, screams in my ear, "Leave!" and I just about jump out of my skin, squeaking like a frightened child. I can hear Holtz bellowing with laughter and I scowl at her.
"You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?" I accuse.
"I'm sorry, but I did." Holtz stands up and gently pushes me against the railing, an arm on each side of me, gripping the cold steel. "Holtzy sorry. Can you forgive me?" She equips her best pouting face and puckers her lips adorably.
Her proximity is intoxicating. I can smell her sweet scented cologne, her apple shampoo, and that indistinguishable smell that can only be described as Holtzmann. Her breath is warm against skin, sending goosebumps up my arms. My eyes venture to her lips, which have now curled into a teasing smirk. To keep myself from ripping her clothes off right now, I bite hard on my bottom lip. I look at her deep, blue eyes that are accentuated by the eyebrow she has raised.
"How can I not when you look so cute?" I mumble. Where did that boldness come from?
She smiles broadly and shimmies her shoulders at me. "Erin Gilbert thinks I'm cute?" She asks, her voice raising an octave to sound jokingly childish.
"Isn't that the point of a date?" I grab loosely on the sides of her opened jacket. She looks down at my hands and takes a step closer to where our noses are inches apart. When she looks back at me, her pupils are blown and the look on her face sends a clear message: desire.
Now she bites her lip, also raising her eyebrow again, confidence exuding from her. She cocks her head slightly, moving closer until her lips tentatively make contact with mine. Her lips are warm and soft against me and her breath smells like spearmint. My arms absentmindedly rests on her shoulders while her hands sit lightly on my hips. My whole body warms and suddenly feels like a furnace. I want all of Holtz, right here, right now, but I know that would be inappropriate. I always assumed that if she kissed me in public, my self-consciousness would kick in full force, keeping me from enjoying it, but that isn't happening. In fact, I want everyone to know she's mine. But is she mine? We haven't really discussed anything like that yet.
I part my lips, wanting to deepen the kiss, when someone behind us clears their throat. We break away and look ahead. The line has moved clear up to the entrance of the haunted house. In fact, we're next to go in.
"Shit, I guess we better get moving!" Holtz says winking and stepping away from me, grabbing my hand.
A woman's voice says, "I'm sorry we had to interrupt, you guys are so cute." The couple behind us, who, I assumed, had cleared their throats stood smiling at us.
"Isn't she though?" Holtz says and squeezes my hand. My face turns bright red and I drag her to the entrance.
When we get to the bloody nurse at the gate, she asks how many.
"Two." Holtz answers.
"Welcome to the Hospital of Hell," she squeals. "Step up to the door and the good doctor will show you inside!"
We step past her, Holtz tipping an imaginary hat at her, and stand in front of a huge wooden door.
"Are you scaaaaared?" Holtz teases, poking me in the sides.
I laugh. "Not yet! We haven't even gone inside!"
The door opens and a bloody doctor holding a bone saw greets us. "WELCOME to the the HOSPITAL OF HELL!" He screams. He opens the door completely and motions for us to go in. I step in first, grabbing one of Holtzmann's hands. She stands behind me, resting her chin on my shoulder.
"Ready, hotstuff?" She whispers in my ear. Her breath is warm against my skin and I close my eyes for a moment in an attempt to keep my libido in check. She ungrasps my hand and instead wraps both her arms around my waist, pulling me closer to her front. I can feel her breasts against my back and a myriad of inappropriate thoughts flood my brain. I'm thankful for the darkness of the room to hide my bright red face.
We start walking, Holtz gripping my waist the whole way. The first room we venture in is set up like a child's room, with an evil looking kid sitting in a bed. When we walk by it, a hands juts out from under the bed frame, attempting to grab our ankles. I jump and start running through the room with Holtz somehow still attached to my waist and giggling wildly behind me. The next several rooms have various mental patients torturing each other and threatening us. Then we get to a long hallway with bars on each side, resembling jail cells. Each one is darkened which makes it impossible to see inside.
"Want me to go first?" Holtz teases.
"No," I whisper.
I start forward, but end up running through as people scream and throw their hands out at me though the bars. Holtz still remains firmly attached to my waist and runs down the hallway with me, laughing the whole way.
After going through several more rooms, we finally make it to the end. Another doctor who looks almost identical to the one who lead us inside stands by a door with EXIT spray painted over it.
"You have been released," he says, opening the door for us. Holtz lets go of me and leans up to smile.
"You alive up there?" She asks smirking. I turn around and kiss her cheek.
"Barely," I answer.
We walk out the doors and crisp October air hits me, causing me to shiver. I didn't realize until we stepped outside that I was sweating and now the chilly autumn air sends a chill through my body. I feel something drape around my shoulders and realize it's Holtz's jacket. She's smiling at me and rolling up the sleeves of her white button up.
"You shivered, so I assumed you were cold." She winks and my heart starts to beat faster.
"Thank you, Holtzy."
We walk further down the path in silence. I soak up the scents of Holtzmann's jacket, burning it in my mind. Definitely Holtz's cologne, but also the faint scent of oil and the smell something electronic produces when left on too long. I pull it tighter around me, tucking the rest of my arms inside.
"You wanna go get some ice cream?" She asks.
"I'd love to."
Holtz orders an Uber and gives him the address of an ice cream shop all of us frequent. I order my usual cookie dough cone and Holtz orders her usual: a flavor called Superman which looks suspiciously like a cone full of blue, red, and yellow playdoh.
We eat our cones on the way to my apartment, and I purposefully walk slowly, hoping to make time go slower, not wanting the night to end.
"So, I have a serious question, Gilbert." Holtz asks after eating the last bit of her cone.
"Shoot." I answer, finishing my ice cream as well.
"Why don't you ever cuss? I literally have only ever heard you swear maybe twice, and one of them was the other night at the club."
I grimace from the memory of last Friday, but Holtz doesn't seem to notice. "I don't know. I don't really feel like it most of the time. Just when I'm mad or upset, really."
"Well, its hot when you do. Probably because it's such a rare occurrence, though." She smiles at me broadly.
My face turns red for the millionth time that night. "Thanks... I think."
We get to my apartment building and nervousness is beginning to pool in my stomach. I don't want tonight to be over. In fact, most of the way back here all I could think about was finding some excuse to get her to come upstairs with me.
At the door, Holtz pauses, hands shoved deep in her pockets, again. She opens her mouth to say something, but I cut her off before she has a chance.
"Would you want to come up and watch a movie or something? I had a really good time tonight. I kind of feel like I don't want it to end." I admit.
Holtz's eyebrows shoot straight up and the corner of her mouth curls into a smirk. "We have to work tomorrow, you know." She says, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"If you don't want to, I totally understand."
"Oh, no, I definitely want to." She winks and licks her lips and I feel that familiar arousal start to surface again.
"Then let's go."
I hold the door open for her and she walks inside the building. She follows me quietly up the stairs and to the door of my apartment. My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest. Is she going to try to sleep with me? Am I ready for that? I mean, I am the one who invited her in. Usually when someone does that on a date it's a sign of wanting to go further. If she doesn't make a move, should I? Is she expecting me to? God.... this is so complicated.
I unlock the door and we go inside. I turn on the lights and Holtz starts taking off her shoes while I shrug off her jacket and hang it on the dining room chair. I look down at her feet and grin when her mismatched socks catch my eyes: one with blue and orange stripes, the other black with white skulls on it. Why do I think this is cute?
"Do you like popcorn?" I ask.
"Damn right I do! Who doesn't like popcorn?" She shouts.
"You can go ahead to the living room and pick out the movie if you'd like." I grab a bag of popcorn out of the cupboard and throw it in the microwave. I hear her walk into the living room, but she comes back to the kitchen almost immediately.
"Where are the movies, hot stuff?"
"Oh, they're in the tv stand drawer."
I hear her run back into the living room and jump, I'm assuming onto the ground in front of the tv stand. I watch the popcorn bag spin inside the microwave and smile. She's so adorable. I still can't believe this is happening. Tonight has gone so well, way better than I ever expected.
When the microwave dings, I grab a bowl out of the cabinet and pour the contents of the bag inside. I add a little salt also, sprinkling it throughout the kernels and giving it a good shake.
When I walk into the living room, Holtz is sprawled out on the couch, her head resting on one armrest, her feet on the other. She has her arms behind her head, bopping along to a non existent song.
"So, where am I supposed to sit?" I ask, feigning annoyance.
She sits up and pats the space where her head was occupied. "Right here, baby."
When I sit down, Holtzmann lays her head down on my lap and grabs the remote off the coffee table.
"Where am I supposed to sit the popcorn? On your head?"
"Of course not!" She takes the bowl out of my hands and sets it on her stomach, totally out of reach for me.
"And how am I supposed to eat any?"
She grabs a piece from the bowl and hovers it in front of my mouth. "Open wiiide," she teases. I open my mouth and she pops it in. "See? No problemo!" She puts another piece into her own mouth and turns on the television.
"What movie did you pick?" She puts another piece in my mouth while I grab a piece of her hair and start to play with it.
"Big Trouble in Little China."
"I love that movie. I've seen it at least a hundred times."
She turns her head up to look at me, her mouth full of popcorn. "Want to watch something else?" Somehow I decipher her sentence of popcorn filled mumbles.
"Oh no, I could probably watch this movie a hundred more times."
She presses play on the remote and feeds me a couple more pieces of popcorn. I try to pay attention to the movie, but between Holtz's head laying on my lap and her fingers so close to my mouth, I start to feel an overwhelming need to touch her. I want this. I'm ready for this. I CAN do this. She's made it obvious she wants me, and I definitely want her too. Everything just feels so right.
When Holtz grabs the next piece of popcorn to give me, I decide my first move. She puts it to my mouth, and I grab her index finger with my tongue, sucking on it gently. Her entire body stiffens and I let loose of her finger with a pop. She turns her head to look up at me, but I continue to chew on the popcorn and watch the movie, trying to keep my smirk as small as possible.
"I have to pee!" She shouts and jumps from the couch, practically running down the hall to the bathroom.
Damn, did I mess this up? Maybe she doesn't want me. Nice, Erin. Real nice.
I pause the movie and eat some more popcorn, waiting patiently for her to come back. I don't know how to react now. Should I just pretend like nothing happened? Should we talk about it? I think pretending nothing happened will work.
A few minutes later, Holtz comes bounding back, looking much more relaxed than when she initially left the room. She takes a seat next to me on the couch, one leg planted firmly on the floor, the other crossed over it, but she no longer lays her head on my lap. She puts her arm on the back of the couch, resting behind my head. At least she isn't running out of the apartment like last time.
"Ready?" I ask, offering the bowl of popcorn, hoping she doesn't hear the trepidation in my voice.
"Yes, I'm ready. And I don't want anymore, thank you. I have to watch my girlish figure you know."
I raise my eyebrows at her smirk, setting the bowl back in my lap. "Girlish figure? Holtz you eat more than anyone I know and don't gain any weight."
She shrugs, trying to play it off. I press play and pay attention to the movie this time. I don't want to embarrass myself again.
I continue eating for a few minutes, then put the bowl down on the table and adjust my legs to sit Indian style. It's strangely comforting to have Holtz's arm behind me, even if she hasn't touched me since she got up. I want to lay my head in the crook of her arm, but I afraid I'll do more damage. Maybe she just wants to take this slow; one step at a time.
All of a sudden, I feel Holtz shift next to me and I turn my head to her. She looks at me with an eyebrow raised and her eyes burn with something I can't place. Determination? Maybe. Then she takes my face in the hand not draped over the couch, and leans in to kiss me. Her lips are so soft; it surprises me every time. My hand wanders subconsciously to her thigh, needing an anchor to keep me from flying away to cloud 9.
She parts her lips, lightly grazing my bottom lip with her tongue, silently asking for entrance. I part them and her tongue fills my mouth, massaging mine with hers. The kiss quickly becomes heated and passionate and all I can think about is what her skin would feel like against mine. In one swift motion, I roll onto her lap, straddling her thighs and running my fingers through her hair. She moves her mouth to the tender place where my neck and collarbone meet, sucking and nipping gently. I moan louder than intended and feel her smirk into my skin.
I unzip my jacket, slowly taking it off, questioning her comfort about the situation with eye contact. She looks unsure of herself, afraid even. She puts her hands on my arms before I have a chance to take off my shirt.
"Erin, are you sure about this? I don't want you to do anything you aren't ready for. And I'm not gonna lie, if you keep going I'm gonna have a hell of time stopping."
"Holtzmann, I promise that I'm ready for this." I play with a curl my fingers have grasped while running my hand through her hair. "I don't think I can take this sexual tension much longer. It feels like it's been going on forever and I have NEVER felt this sexually frustrated. I... I really want this. Actually, I NEED this, Jillian."
"Oh god," she groans, laying her head on my chest. "It's so fucking hot when you call me by my first name." She lifts her head again, making eye contact with me. "So, once again, just so there's no confusion, ya know. You do want this?"
"I want this." I assure her.
Confidence floods her face again and a whole new massive wave of arousal courses through my body at the sight of it, stirred by how blown and dark her pupils have become.
"You want me to fuck you, Erin?" She raises an eyebrow and licks her lips, placing her hands on my thighs and squeezing tight.
I've never been good at dirty talk, but the way Holtzmann is looking at me now, like I'm the sexiest girl in the world, gives me the confidence boost I need. I lean down and hold my face as close to her ear as possible.
"Jillian Holtzmann, I want you to fuck me so hard I scream your name loud enough the neighbors hear it." I lick the entirety of her ear and feel her whole body shiver.
"Jesus fucking Christ, Erin."
I sit up straight again and she begins unbuttoning my shirt while I kiss her, hard. When she has it open, she rubs her hands up my collarbone and over my shoulders, pushing my shirt down while stroking my arms. Next she moves to my pants, unbuttoning them and massaging my hip bones. I involuntarily roll my hips against her and her breath hitches. She kisses the spot between my breasts, putting her fingertips just underneath the hem of my bra.
"We need to go to the bedroom. Like now." Holtz pants.
"Agreed."
I get off her and she jumps up from the couch, grabbing my hips and gently pushing me toward our destination. I grab her face and crush our lips together again, taking Holtzmann's tongue and sucking lightly. She moans and grips my hips harder, gently pushing me against the wall next to my bedroom door. She places a knee between my legs, kneading it against my already wet center, and arousal takes over my body completely. Her lips move from my mouth my down to my neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark, but right now I couldn't care less. Her hands move down to my unbuttoned pants, and roll them down my thighs, crouching and trailing light kisses along with them. It feels like electric shocks shoot to the apex of my thighs with every touch of her lips. She squats in front of me and let's me use her shoulders to balance while she pulls the jeans the rest of the way off.
"Erin Gilbert. Are you wearing a thong?" She turns me slightly, trying to get a better view, but I slam myself back against the wall. Oh my god, I forgot I wore those. This is a whole new level of embarrassment I've never experienced before, and I've been pretty embarrassed by Holtz. Heat floods my cheeks and I know I have to be as red as a ripe tomato.
"I, uh, it, it was all I had clean!" I stammer, covering my face with my hands.
I feel the air move in front of me as she stands up, taking my hands and pulling them away from my face.
"Don't hide, hot stuff." She strokes the palm of my hand with her thumb and I feel my heart rate calm down a bit. "You are so beautiful, Erin. Don't ever feel like you need to hide yourself, in front of me or ANYONE else. And I know you have other underwear clean. Because you are Erin Gilbert, who keeps her apartment spotless, dishes washed, and I'm sure her clothes clean. So..." She runs her index finger up the back of my thigh, to my ass, where she finds the string of my panties and snaps it against my skin. I gasp from the smack, but the effect it has on my body is incredibly arousing. "I'm honored you chose to wear it on our first date."
She winks and leans in to kiss me. It takes only a few more moments of Holtz's demanding tongue and wandering fingers to convince me to move on. I unbutton her vest and let it hang on her sides, not bothering to take it off yet. She pins me against the wall again and wraps my left leg around her waist, running her hand up and under my thighs, ending at the thin string of lace covering my entrance. She's so close to where I need her, but by the smirk she's pressing against my lips as she's kissing me, she knows what she's doing to me.
As I start to unbutton her shirt, I can't help but moan. "Holtzmann, please..."
And then I hear the door of my apartment unlock. We both look at each other, wide eyed and confused. The door opens and Holtz moves in front of me to shield my mostly naked body from whoever's coming inside.
"Erin?" A familiar voice echoes down the hallway.
Oh my god, what the hell is Abby doing here?!