Back Seat Backbeat

It was a warm night so I just grabbed a light jacket as I left my apartment, heading uptown to meet my boyfriend. I was late as usual, so I decided to skip the el and just flag down a taxi. Fortunately, there was a hotel just around the corner where there was always a line of cabs waiting. The […]

Back Where You Belong

Felicia wasn’t sure how long she’d been waiting. The room had a timeless quality to it; there were no clocks, and she’d left her phone and watch in her locker when she got undressed. The music that played had no discernible beginning or ending-chords flowed from one to the next without ever coming to a crescendo. The jasmine-scented air felt […]

Back With Me

“Talking about the dark got you that worked up, huh?” He knew I never liked dark places. Too scary, too many unknowns and possibilities for getting hurt. Not safe. I confessed as much again. Maybe this time it would sink in. Maybe, unlike all the other times we talked and talked, this time, perhaps, I’d find the right words and […]

Back-Up Dancer

Selma plopped down on her couch and twirled her signature black hair. She had just finished her biggest North American tour and finally had time for some rest and relaxation. Her social media was full of the usual videos and posts: cats doing funny things, wanna-be stars doing make-up tutorials, men injuring themselves for laughs. Advertisements were predominately layered in […]

Background Check

“You have a very impressive resume, miss,” her prospective employer says. “I know,” she says confidently. She sits in front of his desk in her best power suit, hair and makeup on point, coffee in a styrofoam cup in front of her. Feels strange, interviewing for an office job after all these years. But hey. Everyone’s got to sell out […]

Babysitter-Wife Swap

It was Phil and Elizabeth’s anniversary, and all signs were that it was going to be their last one. Every day seemed to contain more arguments and Phil couldn’t remember the last time that he and Elizabeth had shared a heart to heart, and their once active sex life was a distant memory at this point. In spite of this […]

Baby Got Back

That was Lashawnda’s attitude, at least. She peeled off every stitch with complete abandon as soon as she got to the clothing optional area of the convention, yanking off her shirt and shoving it into an unoccupied cubbyhole. She brushed her dark, curly hair back into place, then reached behind her and unhooked her 36E bra, sighing in relief as […]

Human Reproduction

Dr. Jeff was trying to finish wiring his new device before his Intro to Bio class started, but it was starting to look pretty unlikely. As a molecular biologist, designing machines to improve concentration wasn’t really his field (and to be honest, he was fairly certain he wasn’t supposed to be using university equipment for personal projects either), but some […]

Truce

“Hey Jer, if a zoo had a half-man, half-horse, do you think he’d be the centaur of attention?” The young, elemental twins Jerry and Gerry, known by their team codenames as Burn and Blizzard, laughed to themselves, intentionally within earshot of me as our team hid in the shadows of the warehouse. They were at least mature enough to keep […]

The Lighting Tech

The assistant director gave the cue “Ok, fade up lights on cue 142. Go sound effect 26.” I raised the main power slider to full and hit the computer key to cue the lights to their preset intensities. The lights on stage illuminated and the play continue after the intermission. The sound of a window smashing and the tinkling of […]