The Bunny Hop (Patreon)

“Today’s the day, be ready at 10 am. I’ll send you the location..” Ricki said with relish in her voice. “It’s Bet Day, so you don’t need to bring anything.” Ricki hung up the phone before I could say anything back.

My blood ran cold.

It’s Bet Dy! I had forgotten all about Bet Day. It was about six months ago when Ricki and I had made that stupid bet together. She’d insisted that she knew what she was talking about. I couldn’t remember what it was about now, but she was so certain.

But so was I.

“You wanna bet?” Ricki sneered, her golden hair swinging around as she looked up at me.

“Hold on a second...”

“Put your money where your mouth is,” Ricki pushed my buttons again on purpose. “Are you so certain that you’re willing to make The Bet?”

“I know I’m right,” I said meekly for a second. The way Ricki looked at me dead in the eyes, the way she was sneering in the moment, the way that she had gotten right in my face made me worried for a moment.

But who was I kidding? Ricki was a poker player, she was good at bluffing for a living. She literally stared down the other men at the table while shuffling chips in her hand, staring blankly into their souls while taking all of their money. She literally lied for a living.

She also literally had a habit of just saying whatever came to her mind too.

Like the time Ricki said that she was certain the dining hall allowed buddy passes for free meals. Turns out it wasn’t true and I was almost tossed out of college for stealing. The police officer had walked up to our table where I was stuffing my face with pizza and asked why I hadn’t paid. A few moments later, we were marched off campus, Ricki shooting me apologetic looks as the officer explained that the campus had an honor code for a reason and that the next time we tried stealing, we’d have to speak to the dean.

Ricki to her credit had apologized and I had learned not to take everything she said at face value.

Like right now, when she was insisting she was correct. But no. I wasn’t falling for this. So I stood my ground.

Only, this time she was right.

Ricki was fucking right. And there she was, grinning like a madman, knowing she’d gotten me for good this time.

Being young adults who just graduated from college a few years ago, we didn’t ever wager money. No, we wagered the one thing that’s more valuable: our time.

Ricki had come up with this concept back when we were both working at a telemarketing gig and chatting. We were supposed to be selling supplements. Something called Mothers Milk for bodybuilders and subscriptions to a new app by the MTP company.

“What if you were able to bet your time?” Ricki suggested while I hung up from another caller who was demanding a refund on the bodybuilding product.

“What do you mean?” I started my daily data entry.

“Like, if you lose a bet, you are my slave for a day and vice versa. We don’t have any money after all.”

“Slave?” I cringed.

“Oh come on Jeremy,” Ricki was clearly rolling her eyes from over the phone. “You know what I mean, servant, plaything…”

“You said it, not me.”

“Focus, it’s the best way to hold people accountable.”

“So I’d do what, clean your house all day?”

“If I wanted you too. I could clean your house all day, or do your laundry for you. For 18 hours, we’d be the other person’s plaything. We’d call it Bet Day.”

I scratched the edge of my head. It sounded easy enough. Why not? I’d just have to make sure I didn’t lose any bets anytime soon.

Only, I lost this one.

And now Ricki was cashing in on Bet Day.

***

I pulled my old Toyota Corolla up to the address Ricki had sent me. It was the the local community center. One of the cool things about this building was that it was brand new and private. You could never see what was going on inside. A lot of organizations liked to have parties there because not only was there privacy, but the gardens, the field and the track were simply beautiful. I had actually never been inside before, but I’ve seen the photos on Instagram and videos on TikTok.

A man wearing a vest walked up to my car and handed me a ticket. “I’ll valet your car sir. Complements of Mr. and Mrs. Marx.”

Fancy much?

Once inside, I looked around and my mouth dropped open. This party had to be one of the fanciest I’d ever seen. It was like the secret garden had exploded inside the venue. Everywhere there were flowers and vines. There was a basket of bunny rabbits and even waiters walking around with trays of some of the most beautiful looking desserts I’d ever seen.

“Egg tart?” one of the waiters in the bright pink vest asked?

I glanced at her up and down. She was wearing a black bodysuit with a bunny tail on the back. She even had a set of bunny ears on her head. She was also wearing a black mask that covered her eyes.

“I’m good thanks,” I stammered as she walked away.

A moment later, a man approached me in a similar outfit. Bodysuit, bunny tail and face mask. “Green Detox Juice?” he asked.

“He’s fine.” I spun around and saw Ricki standing there in a soft white summer dress with a backpack slung over her shoulder. “He’ll be working today.”

“What’s going on?” I hissed to Ricki who was rapidly leading me away from the waiter who had already moved on to his next potential client. “Who are these people?” This looked like some weird secret society that sacrificed virgins on alters. You know, the type that was filled with Senators and Presidents and the illuminati.

“This is Bet Day,” Ricki said casually, leading me into the back room and into what looked like a locker room. “And you’re going to do a job today.”

“You work for these people?”

Ricki had always worked odd catering jobs here and there, but this was… something else.

“I need to make money somehow,” Ricki said. “And besides, they pay really really well. Everything you need for today’s excursion is going to be in that locker right there.” Ricki pointed to a closed locker that has the words “Baby Bunny” on it.

“Wait a second… what exactly do I have to do?”

“It’s simple,” Ricki put on a pair of high heels that were sitting by the wall and started strapping them to her feet. “You need to get your uniform on in the next five minutes. I’ll explain your job today as soon as you’re ready.”

I walked over to the locker and opened it and groaned.

“Hold on a second Ricki…”

Ricki looked over at me, all innocent and wide eyed. “Is there something wrong?”

“There’s no way I’m wearing this,” I said, my voice quivering slightly. The uniform was completely humiliating. There was no way I could maintain my dignity while wearing this.

But Ricki was adamant. “You lost the bet Jeremy, this is the consequence. Remember what you did to me six months ago?”

I paused for a moment and grimaced. Was this revenge for her losing the bet all that time ago? Surely it would explain why she was making me do this.

Ricki just shrugged. “If you can dish it out, then you should be able to take it.”

I was quiet while trying my hardest to ignore the uniform. She had a point. I had remembered how Ricki had protested when I made her clean my apartment during the NFL draft party. In all fairness, she had taken it like a champ. She vacuumed the floors, gotten the corners of the rooms, all while wearing the bright pink maids uniform that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

And she’d done it all without complaining once. She even managed to make the dinner… well, she put the chinese carry out into plates and served all of us. I didn’t think she would take it personally, because she had been laughing. She had consented. We had agreed.

But right now, I can’t help but think, she’d been plotting her revenge this entire time.

“You have to hurry up,” Ricki said, glancing at her watch, then the door. “It’s almost showtime.” And then… “Don’t be a bitch.”

I glared at her. “I’m not a bitch.”

Ricki shrugged. “Then put on the diaper.”

***

About twenty minutes later, I exited the dressing room and met the events producer by a tall body length mirror. Ricki had told me to meet with her before I headed out into the main event space for my job.

“Ah yes,” the producer said, pushing her glasses up on her nose while single handedly brushing back her dark hair. “The bunny is here. Let’s see how you look.”

The woman stood behind me and began adjusting the outfit. She started at the bottom where I was wearing soft booties that locked onto my feet. Bright pink and fluffy, they made it easy to walk around and I had to admit, they were quite comfortable.

On my head were two pointy bunny ears that stood up and I was wearing a bib around my neck that said “Baby Bunny.”

But the part of the outfit that caused me to cringe was the thick, pink diaper that was around my waist. I had not worn a diaper since I was a baby, but now, looking into the mirror there it was, clinging to my waist. On top was a transparent diaper cover with baby bunnies on it and on the back was the poofy tail that made the “Baby bunny” outfit complete.

The producer stared at me for a moment, her eyes taking in the entire outfit. “I think it looks good,” she said, giving the back of the diaper a squeeze. “Here is your basket of Easter Eggs that people can come up to you and open.”

I nodded, taking the basket in my hands.

“They are going to take the egg, open the egg and then do whatever the egg says. Should be pretty straightforward.”

“What’s in the eggs?”

The producer reached into her pocket and pulled out a pacifier. “Oh yeah, I forgot, you need to keep this in your mouth at all times.” She pushed it into my mouth and fastened the pacifier tightly so I couldn’t speak. “I think you’re good to go now.”

I nodded quietly, now rendered speechless. I felt someone grope the back of my diaper and I glanced up in time to see Ricki motion for me to follow her out into the atrium where the festivities were.

My heart was pounding. My diaper was crinkly. Happy fucking Bet Day I guess.

***

Turns out this entire party was a bit… different. Besides the scantily clad waiters of all kinds walking around offering food, the partygoers were all dressed up in expensive suits and dresses. There was an orchestra playing somewhere, providing ambient music as people milled around speaking and catching up.

There didn’t seem to be one central focal point at the party, until I walked out.

Everyone in the atrium seemed to turn around and look right at me and broke out into applause. Somewhere, someone on a microphone said, “Let the Bunny Hop begin.”

Bewildered for a moment and worried I’d have to hop around like a bunny, I froze, but Ricki guided me to a group of people who were standing looking eagerly in my direction.

The first woman looked directly at me and giggled nervously. Looking at her friends, she said, “Can I be the first person?”

They all giggled and nodded.

The woman reached into my basket of eggs and pulled out an egg. Opening it, she giggled and then looked disappointed, a few jelly beans fell out. “Darn,” she said, showing her friends.

Curious as to why she’d be disappointed with candy, this same action proceeded to happen over and over again several times. Some people got candy, while others got little trinkets. But when I was with the second group, that’s when the unexpected occurred.

A young man, who looked no more than 25 grabbed an egg from the basket and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper. He read it and then showed it to his friends who started clapping and then to Ricki who grinned.

Somewhere, a bell rang.

I tried to speak, to figure out what the paper said that made everyone in the room get that glint in their eyes, but the pacifier gag only allowed me to make a muffled noise that got no one's attention.

Ricki motioned for one of the attendants who was in the room to come over and handed him the paper. The man nodded and rushed away. I looked wildly around trying to figure out what was going on, but all I could see were the eager grins of the room looking at me with devilish expectancy.

The waiter returned with a pitcher of water and handed it to the young man. Grinning like a mad man he approached me with the pitcher.

“Mhmph,” I asked questionably. What was he about to do with that water? But Ricki instructed me to turn around and not move.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt Ricki pull back my diaper and then a rush of ice cold liquid flood the back of my diaper.

I yelped from behind the pacifier gag as the cold liquid rushed from the back of the diaper to the front of the diaper. It was as if a sheet of ice had invaded my lower regions. I tried to stamp my feet to get some blood flowing, but the water just kept coming. The room was laughing, my balls were cold and I was sure I was about to start leaking.

But as I looked down at the now swollen, thick diaper, no liquid came out. In fact, impressively, the diaper held.

The liquid stopped rushing in as the room continued laughing at the ordeal. They were clapping too, holding their phones out and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I was not.

But the day wasn’t over yet. Ricki led me over to the next group where they pulled more eggs. Each step that I took, the diaper squished between my legs. I hadn’t worn a diaper in a long time, but it felt completely unnatural. Each step I took bowed my legs out causing me to make a pronounced waddle. I could see my bunny ears bouncing up and down and could only imagine how stupid I looked at that moment.

Luckily the next group pulled eggs with candy and other trinkets inside of them.

But another man, this time an older gentleman with silver hair opened up his egg to reveal another sheet of paper. He showed it to the group of men he had been speaking with and they all looked at me and grinned. Ricki took the paper and smiled to herself and motioned for another one of the attendants to come over.

The attendant took the paper and vanished.

The bell rang.

The diaper by this point was freezing cold and I prayed to anyone who would listen that this egg didn’t have anything stupid inside of it like more cold water. When Ricki told me to turn around, I braced myself.

Only this time, when my diaper was pulled back, no cold water rushed inside. Instead, I felt something warm and oozing on my bottom. It was warm, like oatmeal and felt thick and gooey. I wanted to cry. The mess going into my diaper felt awful. I felt a hand continue to push more and more of the warm goo into my diaper until the bulk of it came to rest between my legs.

After, I felt someone pat my bottom and tell me it was time to move to the next table.

Shell shocked, I waddled to the next group of people who had been recording my most humiliating moments on the phone. They pulled all candy eggs much to my relief.

I moved around the room to visit the rest of the participants. One person pulled a piece of paper that caused them to feed me a bottle from a woman’s lap, who was more than happy to prolong the experience. The entire time I just sucked and sucked and sucked on the bottle, determined to make the orange juice go down as fast as possible. The woman, who seemed to be enjoying herself more than anyone else in the room, continued to pat the back of my diaper, smooshing the mess around. The entire time, I couldn’t help but ask myself, who the heck are these people and why are they throwing this insane Easter Party that would have me in the humiliated position?

What made matters worse was that Ricki just stared at me from the other side of the room, watching me take each part of this humiliation over and over. The satisfied smile on her face scared me. It was as if she had planned this all along. As if she had planted the bet on purpose to make sure I ended up in this position.

Throughout the day, I suffered indignity after indignity. I was forced to eat carrot flavored baby food. I was forced to crawl around on the ground organizing impossibly weighted baby blocks to spell long complicated words. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ricki announced that it was time for me to get a diaper change and head out.

I sighed with relief, knowing this ordeal was finally over. Only, instead of watching people leave and head out to their cars they all kept staring at me expectantly.

And in an instant, I discovered why. Two of the attendants had me sit on the floor and held me down as my bunny outfit was removed. The ears were discarded, the bib was taken off, the diaper cover with the fluffy tail pulled down my legs. I was left in an incredibly thick, bulging diaper that squished and squelched as I tried to fight my captors.

One of the attendants pulled out a glass jar full of cards and offered it to Ricki, who pulled a card from the jar. The person, whose name was called, smiled nervously as she stood up and walked directly in front of me.

My eyes begged her not to do what I thought she was about to do. Begged her to change her mind.

But she knelt down over me and began to untape the diaper. In an instant she had pulled back the tapes and revealed what was inside. The entire room had their phones out and “ood” and “awwed” as she wiped me down, sprinkled new powder on me and taped a new bright pink diaper around my midsection. She gave the diaper a few pats and then stood up and took a bow.

It was all I could do to stop from crying.

This was humiliating. Having your diaper changed by a stranger. Being forced to eat baby food. Being recorded and exposed to everyone at the club.

I hated being Baby Bunny and never wanted to lose a bet again.

All Ricki did was just smile.

***

Later that evening, I was sitting in my apartment nursing a bottle of beer when Ricki left the room to take a phone call.

“Yeah, it seems like everyone liked him,” she said to whomever was on the other line.

She was quiet for a moment as I listened closely.

And then, “Oh yeah, don’t worry. He volunteered. I’m sure we can get him as the Halloween Pumpkin and Holiday Elf, he’ll never see it coming.”

I frowned.

“Oh, don’t worry, he won’t be able to say no. I don’t think he wants photos of his messy diaper being changed to appear across campus anytime soon.” Ricky hung up the phone and I shuddered.

I needed to find a way to win the next bet. Because revenge would be mine.