The door opened, and voices followed as Alex walked in, talking over his shoulder to today’s visitor. It was rare that someone didn’t come by to see us, and I didn’t mind. I preferred interacting with people, and Alex was beginning to relax a bit more because of it.
Oh, and he’d also moved in three weeks ago, after deciding that us both owning a house was stupid and declaring mine was nicer than his.
On the down low, though, Cody had said that to him and told him it made more sense for us to live together. He then used it as an excuse as he began moving his stuff into mine.
Seeing who it was, I looked over at Sayla and waited for her to look up.
It didn’t take long.
“Shit,” she hissed, ducking her head down. “Why’s your brother here?”
Shrugging a shoulder, I tapped her on her tape covered leg. “Who knows, but at least you’ve got something pretty covering your leg and armpit hair.”
Hearing her words used against her, she scowled at me.
“Hey, baby,” Alex greeted, leaning over the couch to kiss me. “You guys doing the Duct Tape waxing challenge?”
“Yup.”
“What, you don’t say hi to your family anymore?” Roque pouted as he dropped down in one of the armchairs.
“Yeah, just not you.” Given that I winked at him, he knew I was full of shit.
“I had to go to see DB today, and I thought I’d pop by when I saw Alex leaving. Gotta say I’m glad I did.” He stared down at Sayla’s legs and smirked.
Getting up from the couch, Jacinda walked stiffly to the camera. “Okay, are you ready to shoot the next bit?”
Picking up my phone, I unlocked it and turned on the camera. “Ready to go. We can pass this down to take closeups and then mix it together.”
Hitting the button on the camera, we waited for her to get back and then launched into the explanation while Roque and Alex watched quietly.
“Sayla and Evie don’t think it’ll work, but I don’t see why not. In fact, I was so certain about it that I did my bikini line, too.”
Sayla’s head snapped in Jacinda’s direction. “You put it on your bikini line?”
“Sure did. I’ll pull it off in the bathroom, but it’s stuck firmly to the areas. Now, do we pull individually, or should we all go at the same time?”
“Let’s do it at the same time, otherwise we could be here for hours doing it,” I suggested. “Armpits or legs first?”
We all decided to do the armpits first and then the legs. As I lifted a corner of the tape, I had a sudden thought that although doing the challenges was fun, sometimes it was also a bad idea.
This being a good example of a bad idea.
See, as I’d lifted the tape, the skin had pulled up with it, and I’d gotten a taste of how painful it was going to be.
Taking in a deep breath, I waited for Jacinda to count to three.
And then I screamed my ever-loving mind off.
Sayla was still rocking slightly on the couch, and I hadn’t put my arms down since I’d torn the last strip off my armpit. We’d gone from armpit one to leg one, then leg two to armpit two. That’s when my arms had gone up in the air. My legs stung but under my arms felt like I’d rubbed acid on them.
And did it work?
I was too scared to look in case it’d taken off skin.
“At least you’re not in the same predicament as Jacinda,” Alex said gently as he rubbed my back.
That’s when both me and Sayla started laughing. Somehow, the pain had caused us to forget that she’d applied the tape to her bikini line, too.
Waddling up beside the bathroom door, we heard her yelping over the sound of the shower running.
“I don’t want to pull it off. Why won’t it just come off with water,” Jacinda wailed.
“Are you okay?” I called through the door.
“My twat’s covered in ducks that are going to rip it clean off my body,” she screamed. “What do you think?”
Squeezing in next to me, Sayla pressed her ear against the door to listen better. “That you should have gone with the camouflage tape?”
There was a thud as she threw something at the door in response.
“Was that your twat? Did the whole thing come off?”
It was mean, but it was also karma. Jacinda was usually the one in our shoes, like with the non-pain-free pain-free wax.
After five minutes of trying to wash it off, Jacinda realized there was no going back.
“Maybe try peeling it slowly in case the area’s too sensitive or delicate for it, babe,” I shouted. “You don’t want to try pouring anything like nail polish remover on it in case it burns your burger.”
There was a moment’s silence, then we heard, “Fuck it!” followed by a scream that would summon the hounds of hell itself.