dig dug dog
3rd Level Red Feather
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2001
- Messages
- 1,681
- Points
- 38
Hello, Friends. It's been quite a while since I contributed a full story, but time and inspiration presented themselves. I really hope people enjoy this. Feedback is always welcome.
ddd
Sunday morning, about 10:45 am; the first weekend of fall semester. 17 girls were sitting in a large circle on the floor of the sorority house living room. Most were barefoot and wearing tank tops or were still in their pajamas. A “get to know your sisters” activity was in progress.
“Who’s been to Paris?” Tania, the membership secretary asked. Five or six hands went up, including Lauren’s, a new recruit to Tau Kappa Lambda.
“Who speaks a foreign language fluently?” This time three hands went up. Again one of them was Lauren. When asked, she revealed that it was Mandarin Chinese. Her family had spent two years in Beijing when she was young. Marley, the sorority president frowned slightly.
The questions continued on like this, about past experiences, food and movie preferences, relationships, family size and birth order, religious beliefs, and even phobias.
“Who’s not afraid of spiders?” Seven girls raised their hands this time. One of them was Lauren. ‘Of course,’ Marley said to herself, looking at the petite brunette. For some reason Marley felt challenged by Lauren, almost an instinctive sense of competitiveness, as if she could see Lauren vying for the house presidency, even though she was only a sophomore and Marley herself was a senior. New elections were in three weeks. The fact that Lauren was very pretty, much like Marley herself, certainly didn’t help.
“Who can bench press 100 pounds?” Two hands were raised. Sara, a large, red headed girl…and Lauren. Marley couldn’t help herself, “Seriously? 100 pounds?” she scoffed, locking eyes with Lauren. “You’ll have to prove that at the gym this week.”
“Gladly,” Lauren replied with a slight smile. “I work out a lot.”
Marley was about to reply, but Tania gestured that she wanted to continue.
“Ok, here’s a fun one...Who’s ticklish?” The room was very still for a beat. Then, all at once, every girl lifted a hand toward the ceiling. Some raised two hands for emphasis. The girls started chattering. Expressions like “Oh my God, I’m SO ticklish” and “Don’t even get near my feet” were heard. Marley, her own hand raised, glanced around the circle. Suddenly she realized that Lauren’s hand wasn’t up.
Marley’s jaw tightened. She didn’t consider herself very ticklish, maybe a 2 or 3 out of 10. But she wasn’t going to go so far as to say she simply wasn’t ticklish. As a girl, sometimes her mom would playfully tickle her as a gentle “punishment” when she “deserved it,” as her mom used to put it. She did recall at least one occasion when she was rolling around on the ground in hysterics as her mom tickled her belly. This was after Marley had tied up her younger brother and left him in the closet for almost an hour.
The girls were still talking about the tickle question, and Marley wanted to say something again to Lauren. But before she could get anything out, Elle, a junior sitting next to Lauren spoke up, “Wait, you’re not ticklish? I mean, not at all?!”
Lauren thought for a second or two and then answered. “Well, the truth is I used to be pretty ticklish when I was young. My older sister always tickled my feet. She even got me to do some of her chores by threatening me with tickling. So one summer I decided to train myself not to be ticklish. It drove my sister crazy when she realized she couldn’t get me anymore.”
“Train yourself?? You’ve got to teach me how to do that!” a tall girl named Sophie blurted out.
“You know, that’s a risky thing to claim in front of a group of sorority girls,” Marley said with a smile. On cue, Elle reached over toward Lauren’s exposed right sole and quickly ran her fingers over it. There was no reaction from Lauren. The girl sitting on her other side then suddenly poked a finger into Lauren’s right rib cage and twisted it there for a few seconds. Lauren shrugged, a bit sheepishly.
“When’s the last time someone tried to tickle you, for real?” Marley asked skeptically.
“Oh gosh.” Lauren took a deep breath and looked up. “Probably junior year of high school. My boyfriend tried a few times but eventually just gave up.”
“Mind if I give it a shot right now?” Marley said.
Lauren looked around the room for a moment and noticed the many eyes watching intently for her reply. “Sure. No problem. But how long will you tickle me for?”
“Why, is it a problem to tickle you for a long time? I thought you said you trained yourself not to be ticklish,” Marley said, brightening.
Tania intervened. “No, Lauren’s right. If this is a tickle challenge, there need to be rules. Let’s make it, umm, seven minutes. Is that ok, Lauren?”
“Seven minutes in heaven,” Lauren said with a grin. A few of the girls giggled at the reference.
“Ok,” Marley responded. “But Elle and Sara get to help me hold her down during the tickling—as needed.” She punctuated the sentence with a slight smirk.
Tania and everyone else looked back at Lauren, probably expecting to see protest coming from the small sophomore.
“That’s fine. My sister used to sit on top of me all the time when she tried to tickle me. I just didn’t know you were into the whole bondage thing, Marley.” The sorority president unconsciously raised her eyebrows in surprise at the crack while many sisters chuckled. “But here’s the thing,” Lauren continued, “if you make me laugh out loud during those seven minutes, then you win. But if you don’t, then I get the same amount of time to tickle you, and the same, uh, helpers.”
Marley smiled stiffly and nodded her head. Inside she was caught off guard; she hadn’t imagined being the one to get tickled. Although Marley felt confident that she could get Lauren to react to her tickling, the thought of being held down herself and receiving the same treatment from someone she hardly knew was a little unnerving. ‘But I’m barely even ticklish,’ she reminded herself.
Tania set a seven minute alarm on her phone. All the other girls stood and formed a larger circle into the middle of which Lauren, Marley, Elle, and Sara now moved.
“Lay down on your back.” Marley instructed firmly. “Girls, hold her arms above her head.”
When the three were in position, Marley kneeled down at Lauren’s right side. She started to inch up Lauren’s green tank top from her waist to expose part of her belly, but she stopped suddenly, looked at the prone girl, and said politely, “May I?”
“Knock yourself out, sister.”
Marley raised it to her lower rib cage. She could see Lauren’s stomach rise and fall slightly with her breathing.
“Alright,” Tania called out, “begin!”
Marley first ran her fingernails lightly across Lauren’s belly from side to side, glancing occasionally at her face for any signs of a reaction. The first 30 seconds went by fast as she searched the skin for a weak spot. Lauren was laying perfectly still, eyes half-closed. Although Marley thought she noticed a twitch in Lauren’s stomach as she grazed the soft area under her belly button, when she focused her efforts there, going over that skin again and again, she couldn’t make the reaction repeat.
“One minute,” Tania reported.
Marley quickly changed tactics and began squeezing Lauren’s waist on both sides. “Aww, that belly tickling felt so good,” Lauren taunted. Marley took a deep breath and shifted to Lauren’s ribs, probing the bones she could feel distinctly on this thin girl. When there was still no bodily response from Lauren, Marley straddled the girl’s waist and tickled a little harder.
“Oh, just like my own real sister used to do.” Lauren said with mock sweetness. “Memories.”
“Two minutes!”
Marley felt a brief wave of anxiety as she realized this was going to be much harder than she thought. In the back of her mind an image of herself in Lauren’s predicament materialized and was dismissed. ‘The feet,’ she thought, ‘they have to be ticklish.’ And turning around, Marley now straddled Lauren’s calves and stared down at her feet. They were small, like the rest of her, and narrow. Marley was counting on a technique she had used on her brother to great effect, a spot not a lot of people tickled: the tops of the feet. She stroked them lightly up and down, dwelling in particular on the tops of Lauren’s toes. Marley definitely saw the girl’s toes reflexively jerk down a couple times. But was she being tickled?
“3 minutes.”
“I know you think you’ve overcome tickling, Lauren, but I have a theory: once ticklish, always ticklish.” Marley knew she needed to try adding some psychology to the situation. Tickling was as much mental as it was physical. Reaching over her toes, Marley dragged her fingertips firmly up Lauren’s soles. She was pretty shocked at the complete lack of response. She did the same thing over again. Then she teasingly tickled the balls of the girl’s feet and into her arches. “Tickle tickle tickle,” Marley cooed. “Tickle tickle tickle.”
“What was that you said, Marley?” Lauren asked innocently.
“I bet this really tickles, doesn’t it?” she tried, as she delicately scratched at the skin just underneath Lauren’s toes.
“4 minutes.”
Marley was getting a bit desperate. She felt totally on display despite the fact that Lauren was ostensibly the one more exposed and vulnerable. She started to probe for some spot— somewhere, anywhere—that might trigger a ticklish feeling in Lauren, even a minor one. She could build on that. She squeezed Lauren’s thighs several times, just above her knees. Nothing. She pressed down on the lithe girl’s hip bones and jiggled the skin around it several times. Again, nothing.
“5 minutes.”
Time seemed to be moving faster now, but she had one more chance. Swiftly Marley moved herself between Elle and Sara, above Lauren’s head. The two assistants made room for her as Marley lowered her hands toward Lauren’s underarms.
“I’ve just been playing with you, sister,” Marley said, attempting to sound brash and confident. “We all know no one can stand a real armpit tickling. Lauren’s smooth underarms could be plainly seen; the room palpably tensed as people seemed to sense that the climax of this showdown was nearing.
“Do your worst, Marley.”
‘There's no time for much subtlety,’ Marley thought, as she dug her fingers into the girl’s armpits, pressing and probing the area in a way that she believed would have to make Lauren jump, squirm, and giggle. ‘It’s armpit tickling! It’s one of the worst!’
But her hopes were dashed as she observed Lauren calmly and quietly stretched out on the floor in front of her, even as she continued to tease the girl’s underarms and occasionally slip her hands down to rub along the sides of her breasts. Despite herself, Marley again mentally pictured struggling as this girl teased her feet or underarms in revenge.
“6 minutes,” Tania faithfully called out, a hint of disappointment audible in her tone.
“I told you I’m not ticklish anymore,” Lauren said a bit smugly. “People always try these same spots and it never works.”
Marley paused. She knew she had less than a minute. Something about what Lauren just said gave her an idea. She shifted in front of Lauren once again, laid beside her on the floor and put her own face right next to the sophomore’s. Then she reached up and started tickling Lauren’s neck and under her chin, softly but just hard enough to be ever-so-slightly uncomfortable.
“Cootchie cootchie coo,” Marley whispered as she kept tickling. She thought she felt Lauren’s body attempt to inch away from her.
“Cootchie cootchie coo.” She tickled faster and heard what sounded like a tiny sputter releasing from Lauren’s mouth.
“Cootchie cootchie coo, little darling!”
Right then Lauren’s chin came down hard on top of Marley’s hand, clearly trying to prevent her neck area from being touched. It felt like a sudden, involuntary reflex. But Marley’s fingers were already in there and she kept tickling and tickling around Lauren’s chin. “Does this tickle?... Cootchie cootchie coo,” she repeated.
“30 seconds!!”
“Don’t…no…I” Marley heard the girl say, and she could also hear her breathing heavily now, almost snorting. Though not in the best position to see, Marley could make out that Lauren’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut and a huge smile was spreading inexorably across her entire face.
Marley took a deep breath, placed her lips on the side of Lauren’s neck and blew into it as if she were blowing on a trumpet.
Immediately, a new sound emerged from Lauren, a bubbling, babbling sound. It began soft and low, but then in an instant became very loud and high-pitched.
“HahahahahahahahahaHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEHEEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
The girl’s powerful laughter filled the sorority living room, top to bottom, and Lauren’s whole body was squirming now left and right, looking for some means of escape, but all three of her sisters held her tight.
“TIME!” Tania shouted, trying to be heard over the escalating laughter.
Marley stopped and quickly stood up. She had the look of a victor, but relief also shone in her green eyes. Lauren panted heavily, a few more giggles emerging from her open mouth. Then she rolled to one side and curled her body up protectively.
Marley felt the urge to gloat. She had won, but she also realized how close she came to losing this contest and bit back her words.
Many girls were still looking down at Lauren. “But I’m not ticklish,” she said weakly.
Sara, still sitting next to her on the floor, heard it and chuckled. “Oh yes you are, sweetie, yes you are.” She patted the girl tenderly on the head.
Marley’s thoughts turned to the upcoming election. What just happened today had to help her chances, right? It showed she’s the ‘top dog,’ right? ‘Everyone was on my side,’ Marley told herself. So she didn’t notice when Sophie stepped up behind her and quickly wrapped her arms around her waist and started tickling the front and sides of her belly.
“And just how ticklish are you, Madam President?!” Sophie said gleefully.
Marley completely froze. She couldn’t believe she was actually being tickled after her big success. But it was true. She felt Sophie’s strong fingers probing her abdomen with abandon. For a few seconds she breathed deeply and just stood there trying not to react.
“You really deserve to be tickled after what you did to that poor girl!” Sophie said, laughing.
“What did you say?” Marley asked almost involuntarily.
“You deserve this! You were so mean…Time for payback!”
Marley felt her knees buckle as the tickling finally penetrated her brain. She realized for the first time, as she crumpled to the ground, that while she normally wasn’t very ticklish, it all felt really different if the tickler had a good reason, a justification, for tickling her. It’s like they had full permission to force laughter from her.
Sophie followed Marley to the ground and continued the playful, ticklish assault. “You’ve got this coming!” Sophie sang out.
Marley exploded. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOOOOHOHOHOHOHOOO!!! DOOOOOOONNN’TTT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!! She rolled and squirmed every which way trying to avoid Sophie’s skilled probing of her midsection. At this point a couple other sorority girls came over and pinned Marley’s hands to the ground, just as Lauren’s had been. Marley’s eyes shot open to their full capacity.
“NOOOOOOOOOHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Suddenly, through her wild laughter, Marley saw Lauren standing over her. Was she? No, no, she wouldn’t.
“Go for it!” Elle called out. “If anyone deserves to tickle her, it’s you.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Sophie added.
“WAAAIIITTT!! EEEEEEE…NOOOOOOOO. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA. IIII'M SOOOOOORRRYYYY!” Marley managed to get out.
Lauren slowly crouched down to Marley’s side and wiggled her fingers. Sophie let the sophomore take her place as tickler. The brunette smiled. “What was that you said before about armpit tickling?”
As Lauren’s fingers made contact with her soft skin, Marley jerked and bucked hard and a new stream of helpless laughter roared out of her like a waterfall.
“HOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOOOOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!”
The tickling continued for another full minute. Utterly at Lauren’s mercy, Marley laughed and laughed and twisted and shook. When it was finally over, she laid there sweaty, disheveled, and exhausted.
‘Maybe I need to change my campaign strategy,’ Marley thought.
ddd
Sunday morning, about 10:45 am; the first weekend of fall semester. 17 girls were sitting in a large circle on the floor of the sorority house living room. Most were barefoot and wearing tank tops or were still in their pajamas. A “get to know your sisters” activity was in progress.
“Who’s been to Paris?” Tania, the membership secretary asked. Five or six hands went up, including Lauren’s, a new recruit to Tau Kappa Lambda.
“Who speaks a foreign language fluently?” This time three hands went up. Again one of them was Lauren. When asked, she revealed that it was Mandarin Chinese. Her family had spent two years in Beijing when she was young. Marley, the sorority president frowned slightly.
The questions continued on like this, about past experiences, food and movie preferences, relationships, family size and birth order, religious beliefs, and even phobias.
“Who’s not afraid of spiders?” Seven girls raised their hands this time. One of them was Lauren. ‘Of course,’ Marley said to herself, looking at the petite brunette. For some reason Marley felt challenged by Lauren, almost an instinctive sense of competitiveness, as if she could see Lauren vying for the house presidency, even though she was only a sophomore and Marley herself was a senior. New elections were in three weeks. The fact that Lauren was very pretty, much like Marley herself, certainly didn’t help.
“Who can bench press 100 pounds?” Two hands were raised. Sara, a large, red headed girl…and Lauren. Marley couldn’t help herself, “Seriously? 100 pounds?” she scoffed, locking eyes with Lauren. “You’ll have to prove that at the gym this week.”
“Gladly,” Lauren replied with a slight smile. “I work out a lot.”
Marley was about to reply, but Tania gestured that she wanted to continue.
“Ok, here’s a fun one...Who’s ticklish?” The room was very still for a beat. Then, all at once, every girl lifted a hand toward the ceiling. Some raised two hands for emphasis. The girls started chattering. Expressions like “Oh my God, I’m SO ticklish” and “Don’t even get near my feet” were heard. Marley, her own hand raised, glanced around the circle. Suddenly she realized that Lauren’s hand wasn’t up.
Marley’s jaw tightened. She didn’t consider herself very ticklish, maybe a 2 or 3 out of 10. But she wasn’t going to go so far as to say she simply wasn’t ticklish. As a girl, sometimes her mom would playfully tickle her as a gentle “punishment” when she “deserved it,” as her mom used to put it. She did recall at least one occasion when she was rolling around on the ground in hysterics as her mom tickled her belly. This was after Marley had tied up her younger brother and left him in the closet for almost an hour.
The girls were still talking about the tickle question, and Marley wanted to say something again to Lauren. But before she could get anything out, Elle, a junior sitting next to Lauren spoke up, “Wait, you’re not ticklish? I mean, not at all?!”
Lauren thought for a second or two and then answered. “Well, the truth is I used to be pretty ticklish when I was young. My older sister always tickled my feet. She even got me to do some of her chores by threatening me with tickling. So one summer I decided to train myself not to be ticklish. It drove my sister crazy when she realized she couldn’t get me anymore.”
“Train yourself?? You’ve got to teach me how to do that!” a tall girl named Sophie blurted out.
“You know, that’s a risky thing to claim in front of a group of sorority girls,” Marley said with a smile. On cue, Elle reached over toward Lauren’s exposed right sole and quickly ran her fingers over it. There was no reaction from Lauren. The girl sitting on her other side then suddenly poked a finger into Lauren’s right rib cage and twisted it there for a few seconds. Lauren shrugged, a bit sheepishly.
“When’s the last time someone tried to tickle you, for real?” Marley asked skeptically.
“Oh gosh.” Lauren took a deep breath and looked up. “Probably junior year of high school. My boyfriend tried a few times but eventually just gave up.”
“Mind if I give it a shot right now?” Marley said.
Lauren looked around the room for a moment and noticed the many eyes watching intently for her reply. “Sure. No problem. But how long will you tickle me for?”
“Why, is it a problem to tickle you for a long time? I thought you said you trained yourself not to be ticklish,” Marley said, brightening.
Tania intervened. “No, Lauren’s right. If this is a tickle challenge, there need to be rules. Let’s make it, umm, seven minutes. Is that ok, Lauren?”
“Seven minutes in heaven,” Lauren said with a grin. A few of the girls giggled at the reference.
“Ok,” Marley responded. “But Elle and Sara get to help me hold her down during the tickling—as needed.” She punctuated the sentence with a slight smirk.
Tania and everyone else looked back at Lauren, probably expecting to see protest coming from the small sophomore.
“That’s fine. My sister used to sit on top of me all the time when she tried to tickle me. I just didn’t know you were into the whole bondage thing, Marley.” The sorority president unconsciously raised her eyebrows in surprise at the crack while many sisters chuckled. “But here’s the thing,” Lauren continued, “if you make me laugh out loud during those seven minutes, then you win. But if you don’t, then I get the same amount of time to tickle you, and the same, uh, helpers.”
Marley smiled stiffly and nodded her head. Inside she was caught off guard; she hadn’t imagined being the one to get tickled. Although Marley felt confident that she could get Lauren to react to her tickling, the thought of being held down herself and receiving the same treatment from someone she hardly knew was a little unnerving. ‘But I’m barely even ticklish,’ she reminded herself.
Tania set a seven minute alarm on her phone. All the other girls stood and formed a larger circle into the middle of which Lauren, Marley, Elle, and Sara now moved.
“Lay down on your back.” Marley instructed firmly. “Girls, hold her arms above her head.”
When the three were in position, Marley kneeled down at Lauren’s right side. She started to inch up Lauren’s green tank top from her waist to expose part of her belly, but she stopped suddenly, looked at the prone girl, and said politely, “May I?”
“Knock yourself out, sister.”
Marley raised it to her lower rib cage. She could see Lauren’s stomach rise and fall slightly with her breathing.
“Alright,” Tania called out, “begin!”
Marley first ran her fingernails lightly across Lauren’s belly from side to side, glancing occasionally at her face for any signs of a reaction. The first 30 seconds went by fast as she searched the skin for a weak spot. Lauren was laying perfectly still, eyes half-closed. Although Marley thought she noticed a twitch in Lauren’s stomach as she grazed the soft area under her belly button, when she focused her efforts there, going over that skin again and again, she couldn’t make the reaction repeat.
“One minute,” Tania reported.
Marley quickly changed tactics and began squeezing Lauren’s waist on both sides. “Aww, that belly tickling felt so good,” Lauren taunted. Marley took a deep breath and shifted to Lauren’s ribs, probing the bones she could feel distinctly on this thin girl. When there was still no bodily response from Lauren, Marley straddled the girl’s waist and tickled a little harder.
“Oh, just like my own real sister used to do.” Lauren said with mock sweetness. “Memories.”
“Two minutes!”
Marley felt a brief wave of anxiety as she realized this was going to be much harder than she thought. In the back of her mind an image of herself in Lauren’s predicament materialized and was dismissed. ‘The feet,’ she thought, ‘they have to be ticklish.’ And turning around, Marley now straddled Lauren’s calves and stared down at her feet. They were small, like the rest of her, and narrow. Marley was counting on a technique she had used on her brother to great effect, a spot not a lot of people tickled: the tops of the feet. She stroked them lightly up and down, dwelling in particular on the tops of Lauren’s toes. Marley definitely saw the girl’s toes reflexively jerk down a couple times. But was she being tickled?
“3 minutes.”
“I know you think you’ve overcome tickling, Lauren, but I have a theory: once ticklish, always ticklish.” Marley knew she needed to try adding some psychology to the situation. Tickling was as much mental as it was physical. Reaching over her toes, Marley dragged her fingertips firmly up Lauren’s soles. She was pretty shocked at the complete lack of response. She did the same thing over again. Then she teasingly tickled the balls of the girl’s feet and into her arches. “Tickle tickle tickle,” Marley cooed. “Tickle tickle tickle.”
“What was that you said, Marley?” Lauren asked innocently.
“I bet this really tickles, doesn’t it?” she tried, as she delicately scratched at the skin just underneath Lauren’s toes.
“4 minutes.”
Marley was getting a bit desperate. She felt totally on display despite the fact that Lauren was ostensibly the one more exposed and vulnerable. She started to probe for some spot— somewhere, anywhere—that might trigger a ticklish feeling in Lauren, even a minor one. She could build on that. She squeezed Lauren’s thighs several times, just above her knees. Nothing. She pressed down on the lithe girl’s hip bones and jiggled the skin around it several times. Again, nothing.
“5 minutes.”
Time seemed to be moving faster now, but she had one more chance. Swiftly Marley moved herself between Elle and Sara, above Lauren’s head. The two assistants made room for her as Marley lowered her hands toward Lauren’s underarms.
“I’ve just been playing with you, sister,” Marley said, attempting to sound brash and confident. “We all know no one can stand a real armpit tickling. Lauren’s smooth underarms could be plainly seen; the room palpably tensed as people seemed to sense that the climax of this showdown was nearing.
“Do your worst, Marley.”
‘There's no time for much subtlety,’ Marley thought, as she dug her fingers into the girl’s armpits, pressing and probing the area in a way that she believed would have to make Lauren jump, squirm, and giggle. ‘It’s armpit tickling! It’s one of the worst!’
But her hopes were dashed as she observed Lauren calmly and quietly stretched out on the floor in front of her, even as she continued to tease the girl’s underarms and occasionally slip her hands down to rub along the sides of her breasts. Despite herself, Marley again mentally pictured struggling as this girl teased her feet or underarms in revenge.
“6 minutes,” Tania faithfully called out, a hint of disappointment audible in her tone.
“I told you I’m not ticklish anymore,” Lauren said a bit smugly. “People always try these same spots and it never works.”
Marley paused. She knew she had less than a minute. Something about what Lauren just said gave her an idea. She shifted in front of Lauren once again, laid beside her on the floor and put her own face right next to the sophomore’s. Then she reached up and started tickling Lauren’s neck and under her chin, softly but just hard enough to be ever-so-slightly uncomfortable.
“Cootchie cootchie coo,” Marley whispered as she kept tickling. She thought she felt Lauren’s body attempt to inch away from her.
“Cootchie cootchie coo.” She tickled faster and heard what sounded like a tiny sputter releasing from Lauren’s mouth.
“Cootchie cootchie coo, little darling!”
Right then Lauren’s chin came down hard on top of Marley’s hand, clearly trying to prevent her neck area from being touched. It felt like a sudden, involuntary reflex. But Marley’s fingers were already in there and she kept tickling and tickling around Lauren’s chin. “Does this tickle?... Cootchie cootchie coo,” she repeated.
“30 seconds!!”
“Don’t…no…I” Marley heard the girl say, and she could also hear her breathing heavily now, almost snorting. Though not in the best position to see, Marley could make out that Lauren’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut and a huge smile was spreading inexorably across her entire face.
Marley took a deep breath, placed her lips on the side of Lauren’s neck and blew into it as if she were blowing on a trumpet.
Immediately, a new sound emerged from Lauren, a bubbling, babbling sound. It began soft and low, but then in an instant became very loud and high-pitched.
“HahahahahahahahahaHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEEHEEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
The girl’s powerful laughter filled the sorority living room, top to bottom, and Lauren’s whole body was squirming now left and right, looking for some means of escape, but all three of her sisters held her tight.
“TIME!” Tania shouted, trying to be heard over the escalating laughter.
Marley stopped and quickly stood up. She had the look of a victor, but relief also shone in her green eyes. Lauren panted heavily, a few more giggles emerging from her open mouth. Then she rolled to one side and curled her body up protectively.
Marley felt the urge to gloat. She had won, but she also realized how close she came to losing this contest and bit back her words.
Many girls were still looking down at Lauren. “But I’m not ticklish,” she said weakly.
Sara, still sitting next to her on the floor, heard it and chuckled. “Oh yes you are, sweetie, yes you are.” She patted the girl tenderly on the head.
Marley’s thoughts turned to the upcoming election. What just happened today had to help her chances, right? It showed she’s the ‘top dog,’ right? ‘Everyone was on my side,’ Marley told herself. So she didn’t notice when Sophie stepped up behind her and quickly wrapped her arms around her waist and started tickling the front and sides of her belly.
“And just how ticklish are you, Madam President?!” Sophie said gleefully.
Marley completely froze. She couldn’t believe she was actually being tickled after her big success. But it was true. She felt Sophie’s strong fingers probing her abdomen with abandon. For a few seconds she breathed deeply and just stood there trying not to react.
“You really deserve to be tickled after what you did to that poor girl!” Sophie said, laughing.
“What did you say?” Marley asked almost involuntarily.
“You deserve this! You were so mean…Time for payback!”
Marley felt her knees buckle as the tickling finally penetrated her brain. She realized for the first time, as she crumpled to the ground, that while she normally wasn’t very ticklish, it all felt really different if the tickler had a good reason, a justification, for tickling her. It’s like they had full permission to force laughter from her.
Sophie followed Marley to the ground and continued the playful, ticklish assault. “You’ve got this coming!” Sophie sang out.
Marley exploded. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOOOOHOHOHOHOHOOO!!! DOOOOOOONNN’TTT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!! She rolled and squirmed every which way trying to avoid Sophie’s skilled probing of her midsection. At this point a couple other sorority girls came over and pinned Marley’s hands to the ground, just as Lauren’s had been. Marley’s eyes shot open to their full capacity.
“NOOOOOOOOOHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Suddenly, through her wild laughter, Marley saw Lauren standing over her. Was she? No, no, she wouldn’t.
“Go for it!” Elle called out. “If anyone deserves to tickle her, it’s you.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Sophie added.
“WAAAIIITTT!! EEEEEEE…NOOOOOOOO. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA. IIII'M SOOOOOORRRYYYY!” Marley managed to get out.
Lauren slowly crouched down to Marley’s side and wiggled her fingers. Sophie let the sophomore take her place as tickler. The brunette smiled. “What was that you said before about armpit tickling?”
As Lauren’s fingers made contact with her soft skin, Marley jerked and bucked hard and a new stream of helpless laughter roared out of her like a waterfall.
“HOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOOOOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!”
The tickling continued for another full minute. Utterly at Lauren’s mercy, Marley laughed and laughed and twisted and shook. When it was finally over, she laid there sweaty, disheveled, and exhausted.
‘Maybe I need to change my campaign strategy,’ Marley thought.
