...frog" Nicola smiled as she pointed the remote at James as if he was a television and spoke her instructions into it "but gradually, over the next 24 hours or so. You can stay over at mine tonight so I can observe. You can sleep on my floor I guess, or maybe the pond depending on where you are at by then haha!"
James stood up and began angrily picking up his discarded clothes from the floor. Nicola may have been able to hypnotise him somehow, but this latest suggestion was beyond ridiculous. It was time for him to leave this stupid shop which he'd never really wanted to enter in the first place. They were already too late to return to work that day as it was.
"If you could leave the remote with me before you leave" Meredith smiled.
"But you said I could..." Nicola began to protest, before something in the shop keepers gaze told her not to "sure, thanks for letting me use it. That was fun, right James?"
Her friend glared back at her, causing Nicola to giggle awkwardly as they left the shop.
"You aren't really going to show that video to anyone are you?" Was James' biggest concern as they emerged back into the real world.
"Of course not!" Nicola lied "I was just messing with you"
"Well it really wasn't that funny" James fumed back.
"Yeah I'm sorry I guess, I'll buy you a drink to make up for it" Nicola sighed, starting to feel at least a little guilty for her earlier power trip.
A few minutes later, the friends were sat at a table in a quiet nearby bar they occasionally drank at and were ready to wash away the day's bizarre events. They were soon joined by a friendly, attractive young waitress.
"Hi guys, can I get you anything to drink?" The bubbly blonde asked with commendable enthusiasm.
"Can I have a large red wine please" Nicola ordered first, as she always did.
"A pint of any pale lager please, griibit!" James responded. The pretty young waitress politely pretended not to notice the strange involuntary croaking noise he had let out at the end of his sentence. Where did that come from, James wondered to himself? Had he been hypnotised again? No, it was probably just a hiccup or something. Nothing to worry about.
"Gribbit" James unexpectedly added to the conversation as he finished his thought.
"Um, are you ok? Can I get you a drink of water?" The waitress asked helpfully with a look of very slight concern, not able to ignore this now.
"No, it's fine griibbit!" James replied to his increasing concern.
"It's ok, he just has a frog in his throat" Nicola grinned.
"Ok, well I'll be back with your drinks in a bit" the waitress nodded, now clearly unsure if she was being messed with, as she moved to serve the next table.
"Are you doing that to wind me up?" Nicola's eyes widened with curiosity at her friends unexpected behaviour.
"Of course not, you've hypnotised me again haven't you?" James was getting nervous, was he about to take his clothes off and start hopping around the pub? "Just stop it will you, it isn't...gribbiit..funny "
"I have no idea how to hypnotise or unhypnotise anyone" Nicola answered in a disturbingly convincing tone "The remote did it to you. Or that weird woman in the shop maybe"
"Then we neex to go back there now griibit!" James ordered "I can't go into work tomorrow making these stupid ...griibit..noises every other sentence"
"Ok, fine" Nicola sighed, a little concerned that James wasn't play acting now "hopefully it hasn't closed for the night just yet"
Having made a hasty exit from the bar, James and Nicola retraced their steps a few streets away back to where the magic shop was. Or at least where they thought it was.
"Hey" Nicola announced in confusion as she looked at the generic sports shop standing in place of Meredith's store "It was there, I know it was there!"
"We must have the wrong street somehow, griibit!" James asked with a hint of panic, which rose further as Nicola made an unwelcome observation.
"Hey James, look at your hands!"
Looking down, James was astonished to see that there was clear, visible webbing between his fingers. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was definitely enough to be noticeable. Was he imagining this? Was it part of some advanced hypnosis? It was completely tangible when he rubbed his fingers against it and Nicola had noticed it too.
"We need to find the shop now" James demanded urgently, the slight relief of managing to complete a sentence without croaking outweighed by remembering the wording of Nicola's last instruction to the remote.
"Gribbit' he added after a pause.
"But I'm telling you it was here" Nicola remonstrated before rolling her eyes and sighing "ok, we'll carry on looking"