Surprise! Surprise!

Chapter 1: The Game Begins

Jane Collins sat expectantly in the coffee shop. It was a beautiful, warm Spring morning and she had been half-tempted to take one of the outside tables on the sidewalk. But Emily had told her that she would meet her inside. So Jane sat inside and gazed at the park across the street.

Deep inside, Jane knew that it would have been find if she had taken an outside table. But, out of respect, she sat inside and watched the lattes and cappuccinos and frappuccinos being made and served to the endless line of customers.

Jane and Emily had been close for twenty years. Jane was now twenty four and was a bona fide adult, having gone through college and two years of graduate school. She completed her last exam only two days earlier and the only formality left was to collect her diploma.

Emily Braxton was thirty four, ten years older than Jane almost to the day. They had first been introduced by Jane's parents when Emily had been hired to babysit a four-year old Jane. Since that first meeting of infant and teenager, they had grown close and had become fast friends. It was difficult to describe their friendship, however. It was something of an amalgamation of babysitter, older/younger sister, mother/daughter, close confidant and co-conspirator.

Jane had wondered about meeting. Was this just a casual cup of coffee? Did Emily have plans for after the coffee? Frequently, they would go to a museum or for a ride in the country. Sometimes, Emily would take her to dinner, but this was far too early in the day for that. But it still had left her in a quandary about how to dress for the occasion. Should she dress up? No. That would make her appear expectant. Maybe something elegantly casual? No. That would also make it appear that she was anticipating something. And she was now a totally free, credentialed, and degreed young woman. She could wear whatever she liked and she wanted to create the appearance that she was not expecting her friend to set the agenda.

She had settled on a navy blue top with khaki shorts and sandals. She thought that this would signal that she was simply meeting her friend for coffee with no expectations of imposing on her friend's generosity.

She had debated about the bra. What would it signal if she wore one? How would it be interpreted if she didn't? She decided that she had obviously taken way too many psychology courses in college to even wonder about this. And she made the decision to let her 38D breasts just fend for themselves without the support of a bra.

At exactly the designated time, Emily strode through the door and crossed the distance to the table, leaning down to give Jane a kiss on the cheek and a hug. "How ya doin', pip?"

Jane blushed as she heard the twenty year old pet name that Emily had dubbed her with early on in their relationship. "I'm great, Em," she replied as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

"Glad to hear it. Let me get a coffee and I'll be right with you." With that, Emily dumped her purse on the table and headed off to the bar with her wallet. She returned a couple of minutes later with a steaming brew of something exotic and plopped herself into the chair beside Jane.

"I still can't get over how you have changed," she said as she reached for her purse and set it beneath the table. "I think that the first time I saw you, you weren't much bigger than one of these." As she said "these" she reached out and playfully poked Jane's nearest breast, causing Jane to gasp and jump back.

But you never moved quite like that when you were that size." She snickered as she saw the breast swaying and jiggling beneath Jane's top.

"Em!" hissed Jane as quietly as she could. "Please! I'm not a kid any more!"

"I'll say," laughed Emily. "You're really packing these days."

Again, Jane blushed and tried to hide her embarrassment by taking a sip of her coffee.

"Okay, okay, I'll behave. It's so good to see you. I just got carried away. Forgive me?"

"You're forgiven," smiled Jane as she realized she was regaining control of the situation.

"Hugs?" asked Emily as she stretched out her arms.

"Oh, okay," replied Jane sheepishly as she leaned toward Emily gave her a hug.

"Much better," said a contented Emily. "So tell me what's up. I'm dying to hear about all of your plans now that school's over."

And Jane spent the next twenty minutes described all of the horrors of final exams and all of the possibilities that lay ahead of her. She babbled on nonstop until she had run through every career possibility under the sun.

‘So no plans, huh?" asked Emily when the monologue had finished.

"Well nothing definite," replied Jane, defensively. "But I have a lot of opportunities."

"So where ya goin' to work on Monday?"

"Em!" cried an exasperated Jane. "Don't I get any time off at all?"

"Yep, you do," smiled Emily. "I was just kidding. You should have some time where you don't have to make any decisions. You should be free of any responsibilities. Lord knows you've had enough decisions to worry about for the past few years. And I have just the answer for you."

"You do?" replied Jane expectantly.

"You bet I do. And I have a present for you." With that, she reached down to her purse and started to rummage around. "Just reach down here and get it."

Without thinking, Jane quickly bent over and reached beneath the table, expecting Emily to place some concert tickets or maybe even plane tickets in her hands. Instead, she felt cold steel against her wrists and heard clicking sounds.

"What are you doing?" cried a very surprised Jane.

"Hush, pip" replied Emily quietly, "unless you want everyone in the place to hear you."

Jane quickly glanced around to see if anyone had noticed her embarrassing predicament. Thankfully, everyone was engaged in chatting with friends and sipping exotic coffee.

"What are you doing?" she asked again, but in hushed tones this time.

"Helping you relax," smiled Emily.

"Relax?" asked Jane,using a louder voice than was appropriate. Emily quickly reached out and placed her finger on Jane's lips to quiet her. "Relax?" said Jane in a whisper. "How is this supposed to relax me?"

"It frees you from decisions and responsibilities" replied Emily. "As long as you are wearing those, you don't have any worries. I'm forced to make all of the decisions for you."

"Is this some kind of a game?" asked Jane as she furrowed her brow.

"Exactly," responded Emily as her finger stroked Jane's cheek lightly. "Just think of it as a game."

"You can't be serious!" hissed Jane as she started to get annoyed with her older friend. "I don't think this is funny at all."

"Take a deep breath, girl," instructed Emily. "Where's your sense of adventure? This should be lots of fun. In fact, let's get started. Time to go." With that, Emily arose and waited for Jane.

"I can't walk out of here like this. People will think I'm some sort of criminal or something," complained Jane.

"Oh sure you can," replied Emily. "Just drape this scarf over your hands and nobody will know the difference."

"I don't know about this," said Jane warily as she tried to arrange the scarf to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

"Don't be a ninny" chided Emily. "Come on, let's go." And she grabbed Jane's ponytail as she headed toward the door, urging Jane into motion.

"Okay, okay," said Jane as she jumped to her feet. "I'll go along with the gag, but you have a lot of explaining to do."

"No problems," quipped Emily as she used the brunette ponytail as a handle to steer Jane toward the exit. "There'll be plenty of time for explanations later. Plenty of time."

Emily finally released her charge's hair but draped an arm across Jane's shoulders so that she could continue to guide the younger woman. "These puppies can really move around!" Emily said as she again playfully poked at one of Jane's untethered breasts.

"Hey!" protested Jane, only to be pushed into the passenger seat of Emily's car. Emily got into the driver's seat and then reached across to buckle Jane's seatbelt. "Now you're doubly locked up. And not a care in the world. Don't you feel better already?"

"Not really" muttered Jane.

"Spoil sport!" With that, Emily started the car and drove across town. They exited the city and, within an hour, arrived at Emily's home.