Lives Between Walls

Briana was an addict for making TikTok videos. Her favourite was playing pranks on her friends and family. She had quite a following and everyone knew her by her alias, Prankster Bri. “You know Bri, one day those pranks will cost you a relationship,” her best friend Jada would always harp. Bri would simply shrug her shoulders, “You need to loosen up Jada, it’s called ‘having a sense of humour.’”

On one occasion, there was a new TikTok challenge being pedaled around Orchidville. This challenge saw various women performing a prank on their partners whereby they would buy and hide a pair of panties in the house, and then ‘discover’ them while their partner was in the room and subsequently accuse them of cheating. Briana found the reaction of the bewildered husbands and boyfriends hilarious and couldn’t stop watching it on her phone during her lunchbreak. Her best friend Jada glanced at her as she ate her cheese chicken sandwich. “I hope you’re not thinking of doing that on poor Mike,” she had said to her. Briana mused, “Of course not. I would never do this to Mike. But is it a sin to find this entertaining?” But at the back of her mind, she couldn’t help wonder how Mike would react if she accused him of cheating. Mike was such a gentle soul, timid and shy, the very thought of him even talking to another woman was foreign. That’s what would make this prank so hilarious on him. Jada replied, “I hope not, you don’t want to give the poor fellow a heart attack.” They had laughed about it, but Briana was still curious. The great thing Briana loved about pranks was that it offered a glimpse into somebody’s authentic nature without really exposing them to any real danger.

She decided that she would go ahead with the prank but she didn’t want to have to buy a set of new panties, instead she decided that she would just ‘borrow’ her friend Jada’s. She would return them back after she was done recording her TikTok video. So during the week she visited her friend’s house, and while she was in the bathroom, she managed to snatch a pair of her panties and tucked them into her pocket. She was definitely not planning to tell her friend about it, as she was against the idea from the beginning.

Later that day, she waited for her husband Mike to come home from his shift. She set up the video camera on the table, and concealed it so that it wouldn’t arouse suspicion. She sat on the maroon couch and hid the panties under her. She couldn’t wait for her husband to come through that door. Fifteen minutes later, she finally heard his van pull up onto their drive way. She was so excited, this would be the best prank she had ever done. She could just imagine the look on Mike’s face when she pulled out that red underwear and accuse him of cheating on her. How was he going to react? He would probably whine and grovel, pleading his innocence at her feet. He would try so hard to convince her that there was a mistake. Well she wouldn’t have to wait any longer to find out – the door rattled, as it was being unlocked from outside, and in came her unsuspecting husband!

He closed the door behind him, and then he saw her sitting cross legged on the couch in her white silk pyjamas. “Hey there,” he grinned enthusiastically. “What are you doing sitting on the couch and staring into space?”

“I was waiting for you, we have something very important to discuss.” Briana replied in a solemn tone.

He skewed his face in confusion, “Okay sounds serious. What’s up?” He asked as he walked towards me, taking his police hat off and hanging it on the coat hanger. She reached out from under her and pulled out the red thong and dangled it on her delicate forefinger in front of him. This sexy piece of underwear was quite unique in its design – definitely unlike anything she owned. It was made from light silk, with elegant frills along the top edges. It had a lacy see-through pattern on the front, culmimating into a dangerously narrow line of fabric on the rear. Clearly it belonged to someone more daring than her, someone like her best friend Jada. His face went ashen with fear, and his jaw muscle tensed. “I found these under the bed,” Briana continued in matter of fact tone, “and they are sure as hell not mine!” He nervously wiped the glistening beads of sweat that were beginning to form on forehead, as he slowly planted his scrawny behind down into the couch next to her with a large sigh. “So you better tell me whose these are right now!” she hissed.

He was clearly in shock. He opened and closed his mouth but no words came out. Briana was trying her hardest not to laugh, and act as earnest as possible, so as to not spoil the prank. “Err babe, this is… I,” he stammered – his already large brown eyes growing into circles. “Whose panties are they Mike?!” He looked down for a moment, his face awash in shame. Bri didn’t understand why he wasn’t vehemently denying what she was suggesting and trying to convince her of his innocence. Afterall none of this was true, and this was just a prank. Right? “Mike? Say something! Are you cheating on me now?!” Briana felt herself becoming slightly agitated. His trembling hand covered his mouth, as his eyes darted around the room desperately trying to avoid hers, “Bri, I can explain…” Briana continued the interrogation more fervently now, beginning to realize that this prank was taking a sinister turn, “I asked you, whose panties are these Mike?! Just tell me now!” Mike finally lifted up his head and for once made eye contact with her, “They… they are your friend Jada’s. I’m sorry.”

Briana was boiling over with rage as her body began to shake with sheer adrenaline. She suddenly reached out to slap him across the face with all her might, but he managed to raise his arms just in time to block her. “You little bastard! And I was just doing a bloody prank here!” She screamed as she lunged towards him. Mike quickly got up to grab her hands and swiftly put his arms around her, as she struggled to break free. “Let go of me Mike!” she bellowed ferociously. Mike tried his best to calm her down, “Briana please, you need to take it easy and let me explain.” She wasn’t prepared to listen. She couldn’t believe that he had just admitted to having an affair with her best friend. She felt so betrayed and sick to her stomach. “I trusted you Mike! How could you do this to me!” She kicked and fluttered her arms but Mike held tight onto her slender frame, till her body collapsed into his, and faint sobs escaped her lips. Mike then eased his grip around her and softly whispered into her ear, “It’s not so fun having a taste of your own medicine is it? Prankster Bri.”

Briana gasped in shock, spinning around to face him, “What are you talking about?!” Mike erupted into a loud howling laughter. “You see, I already knew about the TikTok prank that has been going around. I knew it was only a matter of time till you got in on it too, Prankster Bri.” He winked at her as he put his arm around her affectionately, “So the guys at work convinced me to come up with a strategy to prank you back if ever you should try that.” Briana was still overwhelmed, trying to make sense of everything as she wiped the hot tears streaming down her face. “So in other words, I’m not cheating on you babe. I’m just giving you a taste of your own medicine,” he replied as he gave her a playful shove. Briana gave a large sigh of relief coupled with what sounded like nervous laughter as she collapsed onto the couch behind her, “Oh you got me good Mike….real good.” She brushed her dark brown her away from her face as she stared at her husband earnestly, “You know I was about to hurt you seriously just now. I really thought you were admitting to an affair.” Mike chuckled, “It serves you right Bri, and that will teach you to prank your husband.”

That night Briana couldn’t sleep. Her heart was still racing from what had happened that day. Of course Mike would never cheat on her, he had just outsmarted her at her own game. Oh well, no more pranks for her. She would return Jada’s panties first thing tomorrow morning. But wait, there was one more thing that she couldn’t shake off, how did Mike know that the panties were Jada’s? He couldn’t possibly have known that she had stole her friend’s panties to prank him. Or perhaps that was just by chance, and perhaps he had just randomly used Jada’s name for his prank. Yeah that must be it. Maybe she should ask him just to put her mind at ease? Of course she could not go and ask Jada if she was cheating with her husband, because then she would have to explain why she stole her panties in the first place. Also, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Mike could not possibly have faked the panic and dread that had come over him when she had pulled out that underwear. It was too real to have been all acting, and her husband was certainly not an Oscar nominee.

In the morning at breakfast, Briana asked Mike, “Hey babe, why did you say that those panties belonged to Jada?” Mike’s smile was a sealed envelope, “Are they Jada’s?” Briana lied, “Of course not, I bought these at the shop.” Mike replied, “My point exactly, it makes no difference because they are not hers. I was just being random.” Briana nodded with a tense grin. “Please don’t tell me you are still thinking about yesterday’s prank,” Mike laughed. “Of course not love, I know it was just a prank. I know that you would never do that to me.” Briana replied as she slurrped down her cereal. “I love you baby,” Mike replied. Briana stared out the window with a dazed expression, not hearing a word.

Briana was an addict for making TikTok videos. Her favourite was playing pranks on her friends and family. She had quite a following and everyone knew her by her alias, Prankster Bri. “You know Bri, one day those pranks will cost you a relationship,” her best friend Jada would always harp.” Bri would simply shrug her shoulders, “You need to loosen up Jada, it’s called ‘having a sense of humour.’”