Annie had never been much for the night life. She didn’t care much for bars, never really liked clubs, and as far as parties went, she never really felt like she fit in with that kind of crowd. She just didn’t enjoy it, surrounding herself with strangers who were all drunk or high, she’d just much rather be with friends. She wouldn’t go as far to call herself shy, but at the end of the day she understood she just wasn’t a very extroverted kind of girl. She knew this, understood it, and was fine with it too; she still had her circle of friends and frankly had plenty of fun in her own ways. She just wasn’t about that kind of life, or she thought she wasn’t…before waking up in a stranger’s bed with a splitting hangover.
As Annie first began to wake up, things were silent. The soft give of a mattress below her was all she could feel for a moment, but after a second a headache rushed through her senses. “Ugh, oh wow,” Annie mumbled to herself as she slouched up in the bed. She began to open her eyes, but was immediately blinded by light pouring in from the window. Instinctually she covered her eyes, and after a second she sank back into the soft bed below her. “God, where even am I?” she groggily thought to herself as she rested her hand on her brow. Just trying to remember what happened the night before came as another split in her headache. She could remember a few details; she decided checking out a new pub down the road would be something to do, that she was talking, laughing with someone for most of the night, and then walking somewhere. “Must have walked here then, I guess..ahh,” she thought as she slowly opened her eyes once again. Still blinded slightly, she made a quick glance around the room.
It was a bedroom, naturally, but everything about it was sharply organized and laid out. What furniture there was took the color of a uniform dark wood tone throughout the room. The walls were a simple beige, with the only things breaking the pale consistency of its surface being the window, door, and a large, closed closet door to the right of the bed, all with the same dark wood finish as the furniture. “At least whoever I ended up here with has some taste about him, I guess,” she thought to herself as her eye returned to the window, but something caught her eye. Beside her in the bed, there was a slender frame underneath the covers, with only their head showing, unveiling a long stream of blonde, thick hair. “Wait… a girl???” Annie’s eyes went wide, for a second forgetting the throbbing headache, replacing it with a rush of confusion and denial. “No, I’ve never thought about a woman that way, there’s no way I’d ever..” she stopped herself short. Now she just sat there, staring at the back of the girl’s head through her blurred vision, who apparently was undisturbed by her movement. Annie didn’t know what else to do, and after a moment she began to reach to lift the covers to leave, but before she could a thought shot into her mind. ‘I..I need to know what happened last night.’ At that, she sighed deeply and turned back to the girl. Slowly, she began to extend her arm to the stranger’s shoulder, just to try to wake her up, but as Annie fingers began to brush her shoulder, she felt distinctly…cold. Quickly, Annie retracted her arm back, but as she pulled her arm away, she knocked the girl’s surprisingly light frame back with her, her chest facing up with her head lobbing gently towards Annie as she did. Now, all Annie could do was stare at the stranger’s face, shocked at what was in front of her now. “A..a doll?”
Now only inches away from Annie, it was clear that the girl next to her in bed was just a large, stuffed doll. With her head bobbed off to the side and her gaze set off aimlessly to the corner of the room, the life-sized toy was incredibly realistic, with every detail about her definitively lifelike. Her eyes were stitched with layers of different cloths, each laid out to resemble the depth and color of a regular eye, just made of fabric. Her eyebrows were precariously stitched, matching the light blonde texture and tone of her curly yarn hair. Her nose and lips were made similarly; each detailed to resemble greatly what you’d see on a flesh and bone girl, giving a great amount of detail to the doll’s button nose and lips, which were curved up in a slight smile. Even her cloth skin looked almost real, if it wasn’t for the occasional seam of stitching going down her arm or up her neck. The uncanny detail on the toy took Annie off guard. ‘What, what is something like this even doing here?’ she thought briefly as she reached out to brush her hand across the doll’s arm, but she stopped short. “No, wait, this doesn’t even matter. I just need to get out of here!” she thought as her curiosity returned to confusion and discomfort, and in a second she quickly tore her gaze from the doll and quickly stepped out of the tangled sheets of the bed. Quickly gathering her clothes from the floor and the end of the bed, she made her way for the door, but as soon as she walked through, she stopped and turned her nose to the air immediately. “Is that,..bacon?” Still enveloped with caution and confusion, Annie slowly made her way down the unfamiliar hall to where the smell was coming from.
Her steps were methodically slow as she moved towards the wafting smells ahead. Careful not to make noise as she walked along the wooden floors, she stayed close to the wall as she reached the end of the hall, leading out into a kitchen. Hesitantly, she peaked her head out from around the corner and looked around. The kitchen seemed sizable for an apartment. The cabinets were lined with the same dark wood texture from the bedroom, but as her gaze moved across the room, she stopped when she saw a man standing over the stovetop. For a moment, Annie didn’t know what to do; she just stood there, her head still throbbing from her hangover, but before she could even open her mouth, a voice rang out through the open room. “Hey, you. How’d you sleep?” It was him; Annie went wide-eyed. “Umm..not bad..but-“ before she could finish she stopped short as the man turned to face her, holding two plates of food. “Come on, I made us some breakfast.” With that, he moved quickly to the table, and after another moment, Annie slowly followed.
As Annie gingerly lowered herself onto the chair at the table, the man slid one of the plates of bacon and eggs in front of her. “You should really eat something Annie. Ha, you had a long night.” Annie sat there for a moment shocked. She didn’t know this man at all, but here she was, and he knew her name. She glanced up at him. He had lean build, with sharp features and short dark black hair, but after a second of starring he looked up from his food and caught her gaze. He smiled for a second, “You really do looked roughed up Annie. Ha, I suppose I would be too if I drank as much as you did last night.” After that the table went silent again. Annie slowly ate her eggs, while the man at the other end of the table smiled kindly at her as the two ate.  But after a while, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Hey, listen..” The man looked up as she began to talk. “What..What exactly happened last night? Honestly, I don’t remember anything, and waking up here, and I don’t drink usually but here I am, and…what happened last night?” At that, the man chuckled. “Oh wow, I knew you were bad but not that bad. Thank god I brought you back when I did.” Annie just continued to look at the man, longing for answers.  He still seemed warm and open about everything. “Well, I guess I’ll start from the beginning then.”
The man went on to tell Annie essentially everything. He had found her at the bar the night before, and they hit it off immediately. By the time he got there she was already well on her way to being drunk, but she carried conversation well and the two apparently had a lot in common. Time passed, they talked, laughed, even had some fun with the other patrons of the bar, but last call came soon enough and they all walked out into the streets, but Annie was practically stumbling. At that, the man offered to just take her back to his place, seeing he only lived a block away from the bar, and eventually just that happened. Annie was still taken back by it all. It sounded like nothing she would do, but then a thought ran through her head. “Wait, we didn’t..you know, did we?” At that, the man chuckled to himself. “Listen Annie, I can be a jerk, but I’d be a real asshole to sleep with you when you were that drunk. I just got you back here and let you sleep in my bed, I took the couch,” he said motioning to the couch in the living room next to him. ‘Thank god, I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I did it with a complete stranger’ Annie thought to herself, but after a moment of silence another thought ran through her head. “Hey, um. That reminds me..what’s with the doll? The one in your room?”  The man smiled again. “Oh, her? That’s Holly? She was a gift from one of my ex’s, she split on me a few months back, but she left her, so I got to keep one girl in my life,” he said with a chuckle. “Ha, you seemed to love her last night. I had her propped up on the bed before you came over, and when I showed you where to sleep you full-on tackled the poor thing. You fell right asleep with her smothered in your arms.” He smiled again, but Annie just groaned to herself at the thought of drunkenly jumping all over the toy. “Listen, I am really sorry about all this,” she said pressing her hand to her forehead. “I don’t even drink, but I just ruined your night, and stayed with a stranger, and-“ The man cut her short again. “Hey, hey. If anything you made my night thank you very much! And you seem like a great girl, so please, don’t worry about it.” Again, he flashed her that warm smile, and even if it was just a little, Annie felt better.
After the two finished eating, the eventually made their way over to the door of the apartment. Thankfully, the awkard tension Annie felt seemed to have melted away. She still didn’t remember much from the night before, but the vibe she got from this guy was nothing but good. The two approached the door frame, but as the man opened the door for her, Annie stopped him. There was an natural ease that she hadn’t felt in some time in her voice, “Hey..can we try this again sometime? I know I probably made an ass of myself, but I want to make it up to you.” The man looked down at her and smiled again. “Maybe I can buy you a drink some time. Not that many drinks, but a drink. Maybe dinner?” At that Annie laughed a little, and was quick to answer. “Sounds great! Should I get your number?” He smirked even wider, “Check your phone Annie, you already asked for it last night.” With that the girl walked out the door and stepped out to the street. ‘That, went much better than I thought,’ she thought as she started making her way down the street, pulling out her phone as she walked. She flipped through her phone and found the man’s contact right away. Nate, with a little text winky-face next to his name. ‘Nate, huh. Well good to officially meet you Nate,’ she thought, as she looked back up to the street in front of her with a smile.
And that was the beginning of it all. Annie and Nate met up a few more times after that night, and soon enough they were a couple. Annie hadn’t had too many relationships in her life, but this one by far was the best. The two clicked just like they did on that first night, even without White Russians and beer to foster what they had. With time the two came closer and spent more and more time together; That friendly personality of his extended well beyond just a warm smile as she found out over time. He treated her great, always making her laugh and being playful with her, and always made a point to let her know he cared. With time, Annie found herself hanging out regularly in the apartment that she once woke up shocked in, and eventually it became as familiar to her as her own apartment was. Seeing that it was nicer than her own only motivated her to spend more time there, even when Nate wasn’t home. Nate was absent from the apartment pretty often anyway, spending a lot of time at work, so Annie thought she might as well enjoy the place. But it was there that Annie found herself surprised again; as much as she loved having a new boyfriend, having Nate in her life, she found herself having another interesting new relationship: one with Holly
It started out simple enough: As Annie spent more and more time at Nate’s apartment, she quickly got used to the idea of having Holly around. At first, she was almost standoffish to the toy, seeing that she did think it was strange to have a life-sized plush girl just lying around the house. Even Nate told her he knew it was odd, but he enjoyed having her, and over time Annie started to feel the same way. It started at first with Annie taking naps in Nate’s bed when she was over. Annie had always loved napping when she could, and napping in Nate’s bed proved to be amazing. It was even more comfortable than her bed back home, and on top of that it smelled like him as an added benefit, but then there was Holly. Annie had always loved sleeping with her stuffed animals when she was young, and as she grew older she was always loved cuddling with people too. At that, Holly became the doll she always wished she had. Holly was typically propped up, her smiling face drooping to the side as she leaned against the backboard of Nate’s bed, so when Annie started napping there, she always found herself snuggling up to Holly regularly. Her soft frame and warmth made her the perfect bed toy, and Annie found herself either spooning the doll or even just using her as a pillow whenever she slept there. From there Annie’s affinity for the toy only grew. As she spent more time in the apartment alone, she found herself carrying the toy through the apartment like a child dragging around her favorite ragdoll. Whether she was watching a movie, reading a book, or even just waiting for Nate to get home, soon enough it was typical for her to have the doll pulled close to her under a blanket or at least laying around on a chair nearby.
After a while, Annie even started treating Holly as doll beyond just having her as something to cuddle with. When she was bored, she found herself playing with Holly; she started having little conversations with the doll, talking to her about her day and even having joke conversations with her when Nate was around. Eventually, Annie even brought some of her clothes with her to the apartment one day to dress her up. She propped the toy up on clothes stand and undressed her, putting a fluffy white sweater and some pajama pants on her at one point just to make her a better pillow. She even decided to dress her up in a party dress of hers at one point just to see how Nate would react.  Over not too much time at all, she started really liking having Holly as a doll, and she really did see why Nate liked having her around. It became common for Nate to come home and find the two together doing something. Eventually, it even became a running joke between them that she was in just as much in a relationship with Holly then she was with him, and at that rate, she couldn’t deny it.
One night, Annie was waiting for Nate to get home watching a movie on the couch. The two had a date night planned; not much, just dinner with some candles and wine here in the apartment, but it was time she’d get to spend with Nate, so she was happy. As usual, Holly wasn’t too far away, her body laid limply over the other side of the couch where Annie left her, still dressed up in a sweater from a previous nap. Besides the faint noise coming from the TV, the room was quiet, but after a moment Annie felt her phone shake in her pocket. It was a message from Nate: ‘Hey baby, I’m sorry, things are running late here at the office, I’m not going to make it home for dinner, really sorry, love you.” At that Annie dropped the phone disappointed. ‘Damn, I was really looking forward to spending some time with him,’ she thought as she sat back in her seat. She sat there for a moment just glancing distantly at the TV, but after a second she shrugged off the disappointment. With a slight smirk on her face, Annie jokingly inched her way over the couch to Holly and lifted her back and chin with her hands. “Guess we’ll just have to have a date night instead, babe,” she said giggling to herself. At that, she let the doll fall gracelessly back to the couch and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of wine.
After some glasses of wine and some Chinese food, Annie found herself on the couch with the doll pulled closely to her chest. With the toy sitting on her lap as she wrapped both arms around her, Annie stared at the TV, resting her chin on the doll’s shoulder. It was late, almost midnight, and after watching her second movie in a row, the final credits finally began to flick across the TV screen. Annie sighed, clumsily grabbing the remote from the side and dropping the remote back on the couch. With that, Annie laid back on the couch, still holding the doll close to her. It was pretty clear the wine had taken its toll, as Annie closed her eyes and smiled. She spoke quietly, slurring her words as she spoke, “You see, Holly? We don’t need Nate to have fun, we had a great date night all by ourselves, yeah?” Holly laid there in silence, sprawled out over Annie, still being hugged by the tipsy girl. Annie laughed to herself a little, “Yeah, just wished we could have had a little more fun.” With that, Annie relaxed into the couch, and silence filled the dark room.
Soon, she found herself losing track of time; Annie felt like she was beginning to drift off to sleep, but something caught her attention: movement. She didn’t react, but something was moving. Slowly, she felt the weight of Holly being lifted off her chest. ‘Nate must have gotten home,’ she thought to herself drearily, but after a second she felt something new; someone stroking her sides. ‘Yup, that’s Nate’ she thought to herself smiling as she began to lift her head. As she did, she felt the weight on top of her lower back onto her chest. “Baby?” Annie said, still half asleep. Then, in the soft, warm tone of a girl’s voice, someone replied. “I’m here.” Annie’s eyes shot open; Holly was still on top of her, but she was moving, the doll’s arms holding her frame up and her legs moving along Annie’s. Immediately, Annie tried to spring upwards in shock, but nothing responded. Her arms laid still at her side, her legs wouldn’t move, even her eyes wouldn’t close now that they were open. Before Annie even had a chance to react, a warm finger touched her lips. “Shh, it’s ok babe, it’s just me, it’s ok.” Here hands were real, skin and all, and as Holly only moved closer to her, it was clear that the rest of her was as well. “It’s ok, don’t freak out.” She said in a lighthearted and cheery tone. “Don’t worry about not being able to move, it gets normal after a while. And Owner isn’t even home yet, I…I just thought we’d have some fun.” Annie could just look up in shock at the girl who as far as she could remember was just a doll she fell asleep with. She tried to speak, but even her lips wouldn’t respond, but before she could even react, Holly leaned down and hugged her strongly. Lifting Annie to a sitting position as she did, Holly hugged the girl closely. “Wow, you have no idea how good it feels to finally hug you after all the times you’ve hugged me,” the girl said as she slowly exited the hug. “Now come on, I’ve got something to show you,” Holly said with a smile as she picked up Annie with ease, her body falling limply over Holly’s forearms.
“This, this can’t be real,” Annie thought as her head bobbed up and down with each step Holly took. “None of this is possible, none of this is-“ Annie stopped short as Holly pulled her torso upwards, hugging her from behind and lining up her body with her own. “Tada!” Holly said as she tilted Annie’s head up to face forward. It was a mirror, one that hung in the hall near the bedroom, and even in the dim light Annie could make out its reflection: It was a curly blonde haired girl holding up a doll; it was holly holding up Annie. Everything about Annie seemed the same, her height, her shoulder length red hair, but despite it all she just looked like someone made a doll of her, just a very detailed doll. Her light skin was just cloth, her hair was a natural red headed color of yarn, her gaze was unmoving, looking straightforward with her now cloth blue eyes at the reflection where Holly aimed her chin, her lips were sewn into the same slight smile that Holly had, but now holly was smiling widely. “See how great this is! You get your first chance to feel what it’s like to be me!” Holly began making Annie move around, puppeting her arms and head as if to just silly-ly play around with just a regular toy, but soon enough she left her torso fall limp over her arms again as she hugged Annie tightly around the waist as she did, but once again any reaction by Annie was halted as Holly whizzed down the hall.
Before she knew what was happening, Annie felt herself being tossed into the air before crashing onto the softness of Nate’s bed, her appendages bouncing slightly as they did. Feeling her at her feet, Holly quickly joined her on the bed, jumping right on top of Annie’s newly plush body. The girl giggled to herself as she wrapped her arms around the toy, who’s arms were out to her sides. Holly laughed to herself as she moved to prop up Annie against the backboard of the bed in the same place Nate had always positioned her, letting her limbs fall to her side and her head flop down like hers always did. After a moment though, Holly went silent. Annie was just sitting there, still running through everything that could prove to herself that this wasn’t real, but then she felt Holly slowly move on her knees until her chest was inches from Annie’s. Softly, she heard her speak, “You know Annie, for Owner always saying how we’re a couple, we’ve never actually kissed.” At that Annie’s still slightly dreary mind shot to focus. ‘A couple? Kissed?!’ she thought to herself frantically. Holly just looked down at her, biting her lip slightly. “Hey, I promised you some fun, didn’t I?” Holly slowly lowered her head, lingering for a second as her nose touched Annie’s, and gently she kissed the cloth lips of the doll below her. Before Annie could protest internally, she felt her lips against hers and her mind stuttered, losing herself for a moment in what she felt. It was better than any kiss she ever felt, better than kissing Nate, and before she knew what was happening, feeling continued as Holly pulled her by the hand under the sheets of the bed and pulled her into an embrace. Lining her up to spoon with her, Annie kissed her once more on the cheek, quietly saying “Goodnight, Annie, you’re the best doll, the best girlfriend , ever.” with a smile on her face as she drifted off to sleep. Annie laid there in the girl’s arms, confused, panicked, but more than anything, relaxed. Every moment she tried to think of what happened, how any of this could have happened, she felt the warmth from Holly move through her, felling the girl’s slight movements in her sleep move her slightly, and then she remembered her kiss. Immediately she felt herself drifting off to sleep as well, in the distance hearing Nate come through the apartment’s front door. She wanted to yell out to him, but as soon as she thought that Holly only pulled her closer, crushing the stuffing in her breasts gently as she pressed her forehead to Annie’s. Before she knew it she was asleep, a doll in the arms of what she thought was a plaything just a day before, with the last thing she heard being Nate’s footsteps as he walked into the bedroom before she was lost in Holly’s warmth as she slept.
(To be continued, See Description)