The White Rabbit By Zea Chapman

Outline

John and Mary met Derek and Jane, who are in an open relationship and very adventurous; John and Mary not so much. They talk John and Mary into visiting the White Rabbit, a low-key fetish/sex club. Although uncomfortable at first, on noticing the atmosphere, the couple grows excited, and they end up experimenting with ‘public’ sex in one of the clubrooms.

Chapter One: Once Upon A Time

The car pulled up, and Mary wondered just what they had gotten themselves into. There were mentions of a club, but she saw no sign of it. One would almost think they were at the wrong street if Jane and Derek weren’t so confident this was the place. She looked at John, who seemed calm on the surface, but she knew how to read him, and she took a small measure of comfort in knowing that at least she wasn’t the only one nervous about this. Like her boyfriend, Mary decided to smile and act chill about the place they were about to explore.

They had carpooled there, which meant she and John didn’t have privacy to exchange impressions. Anything they said in the backseat could be easily overheard. They didn’t want to sound rude by showing reservations about the other couple’s idea for the evening. But there was more than that at stake. Since Mary had met Jane in her evening cooking classes about six months ago, they had become fast friends, and Jane had such a captivating personality that Mary couldn’t help but want to be liked by her. She was more than happy to hear that Jane was also in a long-term relationship, as every one of John and Mary’s friends was currently single. And none of them had even had a relationship that lasted more than a year. So, after being a couple for three years, the two were eager to hang out with another couple.

Jane and Mary had set a double date so their boyfriends could meet, and while Mary was afraid the boys might not get along, everything worked out in the end. John and Derek had both played the same online games during their teenage years and shared a passion for some of the same geek interests now as adults. By the end of the date, the two couples felt they knew each other for years. The boys were making plans to hang out together, and Mary and Jane seemed more than happy to schedule more double dates.

Something was intimidating about them both; they were simply too modern and worldly: Jane wore her dark brown hair in dreadlocks with an undercut. She had tattoos adorning her caramel-coloured skin; she worked as a photojournalist and had a travel blog. And Derek was a helicopter pilot who served briefly in the Airforce. They met while he was doing a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East, and Jane was there to photograph the conflict. What seemed to impress John the most about Derek was how much he seemed to know about beer and pop culture. The tall, handsome and broad-shouldered soldier was into making his artisanal drinks and discussing Star Trek.

They were both good-looking, had fascinatingly rich lives and were simply too fun to be around. But most importantly, they were a couple, and John and Mary could finally do couple things together. Their friendship had flourished over the past six months, especially after dragging Jane and Derek to do many of their vanilla ideas for double dates, like hosting game nights at their apartment, fancy dining and wine-tasting events. They felt they owed it to them to try something more adventurous. Whenever it was up to Derek and Jane to choose what to do, they always had the most alternative ideas: A hike on the hills outside the city, renting a sailboat for the evening or going to an escape room.

During one of these outings, they had mentioned the ‘White Rabbit’ in passing as an alternative club, and Mary jumped right in, saying she’d love to go clubbing together. The other couple briefly exchanged glances before saying that it might not be John and Mary’s thing, which compelled them, in turn, to insist, with Mary assuring that she and John were ‘up for anything’. The last thing she wanted was for those awesome people to think they were boring. Not that they seemed like the judging type, but Mary was often concerned about what others thought.

Now they were parked in the dark street under a light rain with no club insight, and Mary began to regret being so insistent in proving her adventurousness.

“Alright. We are here. Let’s go.” Derek says as he stops the engine and steps out.

Jane follows him, and the other two take a moment longer, exchange a final glance and a nod as if giving mutual encouragement to face what was ahead before they disembarked. It’s not that they thought they were in danger or anything. Instead, their nervousness came from the fact it had been ages since either of them had gone clubbing. And to start doing so again in an ‘alternative’ club, which was likely to be some industrial basement, was an intimidating prospect.

“Where… Where’s the club?” John asked, which earned him a glare from Mary, even though she couldn’t see any sign of the entrance.

“Well, it’s kinda hidden,” Jane says with an amused chuckle.

“Yes, you’ll see, come.” Derek nodded and guided them across the street and to a small alley between two tall buildings.

They followed until they saw the concrete steps leading to a level below the streets and a metallic door without any signs at the bottom. Derek knocked and waited. A port on the door slid open, and Derek spoke to the man behind it, with a nod to the others.

The port closed, and the door opened. The bouncer in a suit ushered them into a neon-lit corridor rocked by distant muffled bass. They ventured down the dark passage until it opened into an underground brick gallery with vaulted ceilings. At a glance, there was nothing alternative with the place. People were dancing, drinking and having a good time under flashing lights. And there was music, drinks and a dancefloor. But as Mary’s eyes adjusted to the dim light, she felt her cheeks burning abruptly.

The outfits worn by most of the patrons were risqué, to say the least or plain indecent. Nylon and latex shirts were little more than nets, letting anyone see right through them, and in some cases, merely bodysuits, thongs or just tape glued to the skin to cover the most intimate reaches of flesh and leaving the rest bare. John seemed just as shocked as Mary at the very skimpily clad crowd, but she could tell that he felt more than just being mortified. His eyes lingered on a girl with an admittedly great body, rocking only latex purple shorts and pasties over her nipples, dancing without a care for her partial, near-total really, nudity. Mary gently elbowed him in the ribs to get him to pick back his jaw and stop ogling.

“We… Did warn you the place was different.” Jane said with an amused laugh, gauging the reaction of the other couple.

“Is this… A sex club?” John asked, more bluntly and straight to the point.

Derek and Jane exchanged looks, a mute question as if deciding how to best answer it. After a second, Derek turned back to John and bobbed his head, neither nodding a yes nor shaking it to say no.

“In a way, I suppose? It’s… More like a free-expression thing.”

“Like Burning Man?” Mary asked.

“Yes, just like Burning Man. But smaller, more contained and every other weekend.” Jane said with a chuckle.

“Oh…” Mary started to understand. Or so she thought. “I see, well… I feel a bit overdressed.”

“Oh, you look fine, girl,” Jane replied immediately. “Nobody here has to dress in any specific way or do anything specific. The important thing is… Not judging those who do.”

“I see. Well, okay, that we can do!” Mary said and turned to find John’s gaze wandering again. “Right, John?”

“Uh? Oh… Oh yes, right. Totally.” He says, coming back to his senses.

“Great!” Jane declared. “We are going to say hi to some friends; feel free to mingle and enjoy the place. We will find you soon.”

“Oh, okay, sounds great,” John says, and Mary nods in agreement.

With those words, the other couple departed, leaving the two stranded in the strange atmosphere of the new place, with some time and privacy to exchange impressions about the whole situation.

“So, this is a bit… Awkward.” Mary begins after a moment of silence.

“Yeah… I wasn’t expecting a place like this, but…”

“But?”

“I mean, we can’t leave right now, can we? It would be super rude. Derek had to vouch for us to get in.”

“Hrm… I suppose. But I am not sure about any of this.”

“Well, you heard what she said; we don’t need to do anything. We can just chill, get a few drinks.” John proposes. “And it’s… Mostly naked people… Nothing we can’t handle, right?”

“You sure seem to be having fun with that part,” Mary says, with a bit of a teasing tone to her voice.

“I mean… It’s tough –not– to look.” John concedes, blushing, slightly ashamed of being called out on his leering.

“I know. Relax, I’m just pulling your leg.” Mary added with a chuckle, trying to dispel her slight discomfort with humour. “Drinks, then?”

“Drinks.” John agreed.

They headed to the window on the brick wall that served as the counter, and John fumbled with his wallet for a moment, then bought beer for himself and a Black Russian for his girlfriend. They moved a few feet away so Mary could rest her back and lean against a pillar as they observed the dancing crowd and nursed their drinks. The grinding of barely covered bodies, the movement of sweaty flesh reflecting the colourful neon lights inside, and the slow deep thumping of music causing some flushing to rise to both their cheeks. Mary is the first to break the silence:

“So… We aren’t going to do anything crazy tonight.”

“No. We aren’t.”

“…But, if you were…”

“Mary?”

“I mean if you were to do something… Or someone. Who would you choose?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“Come on; I’m just joking around. Just a game. You can answer.”

“Okay, fine… I think… The redhead.”

“Which one?”

“The one in the black bodysuit…”

“Really?”

“What… You asked!”

“It seems a bit… Too obvious. She’s very… Tight within that outfit.”

“Yes, I mean, that’s the point, right? Should I pick someone I don’t know based on their personality?”

Mary elbowed him playfully on the ribs and laughed along with him. She had not seen anyone in the crowd she found particularly attractive. They were all gorgeous, as a group, but also as an abstract idea. The idea of letting go and expressing one’s more sexual side so openly. Then she spotted Jane on the dancefloor. She almost waved at her before she noticed who Jane was dancing with, a young girl wearing a shirt and stockings made of fishnet over a revealing bikini and hair of many colours. Within a few seconds, they were pressing together and then making out.

Mary tried not to gasp. And she felt her cheeks on fire. She turned to John with a sudden urge she hadn’t felt since the early days of their relationship:

“Hey there stud. Want to get out of here?”

“Mary?”

“Just… Play along.” She asked, growing a bit flustered.

“Oh.” He paused. And then, after another second, something clicked, and he repeated it. “Oh! Hm. Okay… I mean… Yeah babe, let’s find a quiet place…”

“…And make it less quiet,” Mary suggested, grabbing his hand and guiding him towards the club’s bathroom.

About The White Rabbit: A couple hesitatingly goes with their new ‘cool’ friends to a club, only to find out it’s a fetish club. Seduced by the exhilarating atmosphere, they eventually decide to explore new avenues of their sexuality.

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