After Jessica had loosened all the ropes and begun to untangle them from around Kim's body, Kim relaxed with a deep sigh, taking a moment to soak in the relief, feeling more free than she had all week. Only after a few seconds of that feeling did she reach up and unbuckle the gag, carefully removing it from around her neck.

"Leave it on the table there. I'll clean it up before putting it back," Jessica said while coiling up one of the ropes, hanging it back up after she was done. "How do you feel?"

"Amazing." Kim carefully got up, leaning on the wooden pole a little. "Thank you so much."

"Anytime. Almost literally." Jess picked up the next rope. "Are you in the mood for anything else?"

"Not today, I think. But... I might be back a lot sooner."

"Well, then." Jess smiled and opened her arms, still holding half a finished coil in one hand. Kim stepped in and gave her a short, light hug. "Get home safe."

"Thanks." She walked to the door and put her sneakers back on before taking her bag and stepping back out into the hallway. She sighed again and slung the strap over her shoulder, heading straight for the door.

"Kim!"

She flinched at the sudden shout and turned on her heel, just in time to see Alison come flying in for a much firmer hug, squeezing her for a moment. "You're here!"

Kim rubbed Ally's back and awkwardly smiled at Dana, who was leaving another room behind her. "Yeah, I told you I'd just take some time and think it over. Did you... just get done?"

"Yup." Ally stepped back, a wide smile on her flushed face, her hair hanging partially open from her loosened ponytail.

"Wow, you look like you had a workout," Kim noted drily. "What in the world did she do to you?"

Alison hooked her arm around Kim's and started leading her to the club's front door. "Oh, you'll love this."

They walked home together, Alison sticking by Kimberly's side when they would have had to split ways, going all the way home with her instead, along the way recounting the details of her challenge, quietly but excitedly.

Her voice rose a little when Kim shut her apartment door behind them, with the risk of anyone overhearing basically eliminated.

"It was so freaking good, you have no idea. You need to try it!" she finally finished, while taking off her shoes.

"I dunno. It does sound fun, but I don't think I can show myself off like that."

"Then don't, you can wriggle around in a winter coat if you want." Ally plopped herself down in the big armchair, pulling her legs up, while Kim sat on her bed, finally pulling her sweatshirt over her head and adjusting the simple top she had on underneath.

"I guess so. I'm just working my way up."

"Okay? Then what did you do with Jess?" Alison sat upright, still looking eager.

Kimberly hesitated for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek. She could explain, but she had a much better way to convey the information. She reached down into her bag and pulled out her phone, before coming over and sitting on the armrest next to her friend.

She had only wanted the picture for herself. She'd been embarrassed to even ask for it, but she knew she wanted to have the chance to see herself like that. A front shot of the setup, the ropes pushing into her clothes and giving the slightest hint of her figure underneath, the gag hanging around her neck and her hair in slight disorder.

"Whoa. That's hot," Alison said plainly after Kim showed it to her wordlessly. "Pretty tame, but hot."

"I would rather stick to the tame stuff right now anyway." Kim quickly closed the image and walked back over to the bed. "Jess is nice and Dana is cool and all, but, you know, I feel like I might die if I show myself too much."

Alison shrugged and leaned back, pulling her hair tie out and tugging it around her wrist instead. "That's cool. You're really pretty one way or another."

Kim scoffed and smirked over at her friend. "Do you need something from me, or are you just horny?"

"Neither!" Alison insisted, before rolling her eyes. "Okay, I'm not not horny, but I do mean it."

Kim chuckled quietly and got up, stretching. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Right. I should probably go home." Ally got up again as well. "But hey, let me know when you go next time? We should totally go together more."

Kimberly had other plans on Saturday, but her Sunday was wide open. She slept in and took her time getting up and ready. But when she was properly awake, she started thinking about how to spend the day, and the club was on her mind as an option right away.

After being indecisive and just watching videos at her desk for a while, she finally made the decision final by messaging Ally and then getting ready to go out.

A sweatshirt or hoodie simply didn't do today, with the sun as bright as it was. So she put on a light buttoned shirt over her top instead, resolving not to think too much about it.

When she got to the building, Alison was already leaning on the wall next to the front door, smiling and waving when she saw her. "I was already out," she explained before Kim could even ask, then led the way up the stairs.

While Ally was bounding up, Kim took the steps one by one, trying to not tire herself out again before they even got there. When she caught up, Ally was waiting while bouncing on her heels. It briefly brought the image of an excitable puppy to Kim's mind.

The first thing Kim noticed when they headed inside was the person behind the reception desk. Instead of Jess, there was an older woman in the chair, sitting upright and filing papers. She looked up at the sound of the door and gave the two of them a slim smile.

"Welcome. May I help you?"

Kim and Ally glanced at each other for a moment before walking up. "Hey. Is Jess off work today?" Ally asked.

"She works four days a week. I'm usually here the other three. Do you need to see her for something?"

"Nope, just curious. Is Dana available, then?"

The woman adjusted her glasses and looked at something pinned on her side of her desk. "No, I'm afraid she's also off today."

"Aw, man..." Ally crossed her arms with a disappointed sigh. The feeling only briefly caught on Kim as well, before she pushed through.

"That's fine. Can we just take a room by ourselves, then?"

They quickly confirmed their membership with the woman, before she directed them to one of the playrooms. They both left their bags and shoes near the door and stepped in, Kim starting to look over the labels on the shelves, while Ally dropped herself into a chair.

"We could ask for someone else? I've been to one of the guys before and he cool, maybe he's in?" she suggested half-heartedly.

"That's okay. I've got this," Kim said calmly, opening one of the drawers and looking inside.

"You got this? have you ever tied someone up before?"

Kim shrugged. "I know how, in theory. And I'm not gonna learn if I don't try." She looked over at her friend after taking a rope from one of the hooks. "If you'll let me."

Ally shrugged and stood up again, taking her open shirt off in favour of just her sleeveless top. "Sure, why not. Might as well, since we're here."

Kim nodded and walked over to her, letting the rope unravel and stepping behind her. Ally already held her hands behind her back, presenting her wrists. Kim hesitated for a moment, the rope in her hands.

"Um... hang on." She quickly skipped over to her bag and retrieved her phone, wandering back while starting to type.

"Oh, now you need instructions?" Ally teased, "I thought you said you got this."

"Hey, do you think you can do better?"

"Maybe?" Ally grinned. "Maybe I'm a prodigy and I'll have you wrapped up like a roast in ten minutes."

"I doubt that. Now turn around again." She looked at the instructions on her phone closely before putting it in her pocket and mimicking the steps while tying the rope around Ally's arms, tying them together horizontally. She tugged at it and cinched it like shown in the images before tying it off, then quickly went to get a second rope.

When she turned around with the coil in her hands, she stopped, watching as Ally easily wriggled out, the rope unceremoniously dropping to the floor. "Not as easy as it looks, huh?"

"What? But I did it just like it told me." Kim put the second rope down and looked more closely at her phone again. "Let me try again."

The next attempts weren't any better. Loose loops she couldn't tighten, angles of leverage she hadn't accounted for, not to mention Ally's increasingly blunt teasing, started to gnaw at her while she tried to focus. Finally, she discarded the idea and had Ally hold her arms together vertically instead, starting with something simpler.

With focus and attention to detail, she finally managed to tie Ally's wrists in a way she couldn't easily slip out of. Taking the second rope, she repeated the process the same way further up, tying her friend's arms together and forcing her elbows to nearly touch.

Ally wriggled and pulled, grunting quietly. "Hey, it actually worked this time. And you only needed like a dozen attempts. So, what now?"

Kim sighed with satisfaction, looking at her work, before glancing back to the shelf. "Now..." A mischievous smile sneaked onto her lips. "Now I'm going to stuff your big mouth."