SafeCrackerJack
by Mudak
Part 3 — Utilization
Dane rang the doorbell at the entrance to the apartment building that his sister shared with her old friend from college.
After a short wait, she opened the door and smiled broadly. “Thanks for coming by, Dane.”
“It’s no big deal, Sophia. I’m always glad to help you out.”
Sophia laughed. “How long have I been asking you to come out and help me out around the house?”
“Oh, maybe about five or six years now, why?”
“Sometimes I think you’re only helping me out here is because of my roommate.”
Dane laughed but said nothing.
“I mean, seriously. I might not have the cash, but you know Alison does. Why not let her pay for someone to do some of the stuff we need around here.”
“Sophia, you know I’m just looking out for you.”
“She’s got to learn to make her own mistakes, Dane.” Alison sidled around the corner.
“Hello, Alison. It’s... always a pleasure.”
“You wish.”
Dane sighed.
“I heard that sigh. How many times do I have to tell you, Dane, nothing’s going to happen between us. Ever.” She smirked at him. “Eh-verrrr.”
Sophia tried to come to her brother’s defense. “You know he’s had a crush on you since you and I were like, fifteen.”
“Yeah, I...”
“And he’s one of the few guys out there who you could be sure liked you for who you are, and not your money.”
“Sophia, I can defend mys...”
Alison interrupted Dane. “I’m not sure of that. He just likes my tits.”
Dane scowled. “Um, ladies, can we talk about something else? Like, you know, where’s that leaky faucet?”
Sophia smiled and led her brother to the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom. “Knock yourself out! Can I get you anything?”
“A water would be nice, actually.”
“Can do.”
Dane’s sister left him in the bathroom to take stock of the situation. A few minutes later, she returned with a bottle of water.
“Thanks.”
“Any time. Do you need anything else?”
Dane paused for a minute and then decided to say, “You know my roommate, he said he’s come up with an addictive new game that can be played on a smartphone. I haven’t really played much of it myself but from what I’ve seen, it’s pretty good. Would you mind please asking Alison to download it and try it out?”
“What’s it called?”
“SafeCrackerJack.”
“Sure...”
Dane started to work on the sink and he could hear the sounds of his sister and her roommate talking. While he couldn’t quite hear the whole conversation, it seemed that Alison begrudgingly agreed to download the game. Alison said to Sophia, in a somewhat louder voice, “You know, Soph, you need to get a phone like this...”
“Eventually I will. It’s just not that high on my list right now.”
Dane started working on the leaky faucet in the bathroom. His questions of whether or not Alison had actually downloaded the game were answered when he heard her walking by the bathroom door, playing the game.
Alison stepped into the doorway and said, “Tell your roommate this game is pretty well-designed.”
“I think I will. Thanks! You playing it now?”
“Yes. I’ve cleared a couple of rounds and I like it. Good brainteaser.”
“Ken says that every five rounds you get more tools to help open the safe.”
“Yeah, that’s in the instructions. When the codes get harder, it’ll be nice to be told something other than right number/right place, right number/wrong place, or wrong number.”
“Well, enjoy the game. If there’s anything you’d like me to tell Ken, just let me know.”
“Right now, I’ll just say I like it. And it’s addictive. He really ought to charge something for it.”
Dane laughed. “I said he should charge something, too.”
She slowly tossed her hair to the side and walked away. He shrugged the abrupt end of the conversation off as being related to her lack of desire to pay attention to his past expressions of desire for her, and returned to fixing the sink.
After about ten minutes, he had fixed the faucet and walked out to the living room, where Alison was still playing the game. He smiled when he saw her playing it so intently. “How’s the game going?”
“Shh! I’m about to beat the fifth level.”
He cocked his head to one side and turned to face his sister. “Your sink should be working fine now.”
“Thank you! Can I get you anything—”
“YES!!!” Alison yelled out. Her phone played a grinding hip-hop beat of congratulations.
“I guess she solved level five, huh?” Sophia said.
“I guess...”
Alison sat straight up, holding the phone a couple of feet away from her face. She started to count from one to nine, slowly, tapping the center of the phone as she uttered each number. Sophia and Dane simply looked at each other.
After Alison said the number ‘nine,’ she sat there quietly, staring at the phone for a moment. Sophia started to approach her roommate, when she tapped the phone one last time and said, “OK.” Alison looked up and smiled at the two people who had watched her actions with a mixture of concern and bewilderment.
“You OK, Al?” Sophia asked, supportively.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Well, you just seemed kind of, you know, out of it for a minute there.”
“It’s a really cool game. Your friend did an amazing job of it, Dane.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him that. Well, if you girls don’t need anything else from me, I might as well be heading out.”
Sophia smiled. “I’m good. I owe you another one.”
“Someday I’ll actually collect.”
Alison said, “Thanks for your help.”
Dane stepped out the door and his phone rang before he reached the elevator. “This is Dane.”
“Dude! Where are you?”
“I’m just leaving my sister’s place. Why?”
“Looks like Alison downloaded my game and beat level five.”
“Um, yeah.”
“Do you still want her to want you?”
“I—”
“Don’t leave yet.”
“Wait! What....” Before Dane had the chance to finish asking his question, Ken had hung up.
He stared at his phone, wondering if he should call his roommate back. After a short mental debate, he started to call Ken back, but didn’t have the chance to hit the ‘call’ button on his phone.
Alison opened the door to her apartment and called out, “Dane! Wait! Can you please come back here?”
Dane turned around and called back to Alison, “Is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong, but I’d, um, I’ve got a little something for you. You know, to thank you for everything you’ve done around here.”
Sophia’s voice echoed around the corner from behind the doorway. “Ally, what’re you talking about?”
“It’s like I just said, Soph! I want to thank your brother.”
Dane cautiously returned back to his sister’s apartment. Once he was a few feet away from the doorway, Alison reached out and pulled him close to her. Before he could register what was happening, she stood on the tips of her toes, put her hand behind his head, and gave him a passionate kiss.
Unsure of how to respond, he let his hands hang by his sides and didn’t touch her in any way. When she recognized his uncertainty, she took his hands and cupped them over her ass. Using his hands as leverage, she lifted her leg and started to dry-hump him in the doorway.
He tried to fight her halfheartedly, but the more he moved, the closer she pulled herself up to him. Finally, when she paused for air, he gasped, “What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. Yet. Come with me and we’ll see if we can get something into me!” She pulled him into the apartment and almost knocked his head into the doorway. Clutching his hand tightly, she led him into her bedroom at a pace that was just shy of running.
Sophia watched all of this with amazement. She had never known her friend of more than a decade do anything even remotely this sexually aggressive. But at the same time, she thought of her brother and how he’d never really hidden the fact that he fantasized abut her roommate.
Torn between concern for her friend and gladness for her brother, she figured she’d make sure everything was all right. After the yells, screams, and general signs of pleasure died down in Alison’s bedroom, of course.