Taking Centre Stage

Sugar and spice and all things nice, or so the rhyme went.

Lexie had always thought of herself as sugar - and nice - but not so much of the spice. But now her perception was changing.

Lexie was a grad student and what you might call inexperienced sexually. There had been a few encounters, but nothing really memorable. There was Mike, the guy she dated while still at school. They had 'gone out' with each other on and off for more than a year. He was unreliable in the extreme. He had never called her when he said he would, frequently let her down, but on the other hand he had bought a rust bucket of a car simply so he could see her more often.

Lexie always thought of Mike with fondness, despite how he had treated her.

She was a virgin when they met, but had been well educated about the ways of sex through teenage magazines and graphic schoolgirl gossip.

But what Mike had done was...unforgivable really.

She had held him off for a long time until one Friday evening he invited her around to his parents' home. He was a few years younger than her but still living with his mum and dad. Lexie had an idea of what might be in store when he called - after all, she already knew his parents were going to be out for the night.

Lexie had asked her father for a lift to the house a few miles away. When she arrived, Mike was waiting for her and could hardly wait to get her upstairs. In his bedroom, they had indulged in their usual routine of heavy petting. Again, he begged her to suck his cock but Lexie said she couldn't. In reality, she wanted to. But she felt overwhelmingly terrified of the prospect.

She may have been educated, but she didn't actually know what to do. And the terminology had always confused her: it was called a blow job but, from what she could gather, you didn't blow at all. Rather, you were supposed to suck.

Mike, despite being knocked back, didn't seem perturbed. He knew he wanted the real prize and he was going to get it.

Looking back, Lexie remembered feebly saying 'No' to Mike a couple of times. But the overriding memory of the encounter was the pain and boredom. Pain when he had first pushed his cock into her virgin pussy, and then boredom when he had continued to pump, pump, pump away on top of her. She had looked around his dingy room and eventually noticed the boys' 'Playboy' duvet she was lying on.

Afterwards, Lexie had felt let down. Sex was not what she imagined it would be, was not all she dreamt about. But she did feel a connection with Mike. Now she had shown him how much she liked him and she was sure his unreliability would fly out of the window.

She couldn't have been more wrong. Three days later, Mike had driven to her home in his rust bucket of a car and told her it was over - this time for good.

Lexie had been crushed. And she realised she must be useless in bed for him to break it off so soon. He didn't even give her a second chance! The fact she had been thoroughly unfulfilled was forgotten, for now she knew she was a letdown in the bedroom department. She vowed never to give her heart again.

That had formed the pattern of things to come.

Lexie had formed a few attachments since, but sex had always been a sticking point. She didn't enjoy it, dreaded it even. And the fact she knew she was useless did not help her to feel at ease or natural about what should have been the most natural of acts.

But now, that was starting to change.

Lexie had survived university without having her heart broken again. And now she was training to be an actor. It was an unusual choice of vocation for someone like her - she was quiet and shy - definitely not your average drama student. But it was something she desperately wanted to excel at, so every day went to drama school and fought the urge to cry in the changing rooms. Instead, she poured her emotions into her studies.

So far, she had received good praise from her tutors, but they all felt there was something missing in her performances. Despite her efforts to portray her emotions, they seemed to fall flat. Lexie worried her vow to never let her heart get broken had made her unable to feel again.

After classes, Lexie always hurried home to work on her art. She knew if she worked that bit harder everything would come right and then success, surely, would come her way. She didn't join in with the legendary piss ups the rest of her classmates indulged in. She knew they thought she was a little strange but Lexie ignored all that - she was just focussed. And now she had a huge reason to be focussed: she had been cast in the leading role in the end of term play. Lexie's character was supposed to fall in love with an inappropriate man. They were supposed to be passionate, star-crossed lovers in the vein of Romeo and Juliet. So Lexie knew she would need every ounce of herself if she were to make it believable.

Back at drama school, there were reading through the play early in rehearsals. The leading man was odious. Lexie liked him even less than everyone on the course and she was convinced he was the ringleader in talking about her 'oddity' behind her back. But, she was a professional and promised within to put her feelings aside and make the best of a bad situation.

Unfortunately, it was all too clear to the course tutor Greg that this casting would be a struggle. He thought the leading man was not too bad, but Lexie was painfully short of the mark. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she seemed like a shell. He knew he would have his work cut out.

At the end of the read through, Lexie was shocked when Greg asked her to stay behind. And what he said shocked her even more. He thought she needed extra tuition. All her extra work was for nothing - she realised she must be truly terrible for him to insist she stay behind in the rehearsal room.

Despite being thrown by Greg's request for to put in yet more hours, Lexie was determined to drink from his knowledge, his experience, and improve her performance.

Greg started reading through the main scenes with her - he was reading the part of the leading man. At the end of each scene, he patiently discussed with her what the characters were feeling. Immediately, Lexie found things were starting to fall into place. She liked the way Greg read. He gave her more time, more space, than the odious leading man she had read opposite earlier in the day. And while Lexie had thought she would feel uncomfortable in the cold, dark rehearsal rooms alone with Greg, she did not.

After the late rehearsal that night, Lexie lay in bed thinking about Greg. She had never really looked at him before. He had always been someone slightly terrifying, someone she desperately wanted to please, but now she was thinking of him differently - looking at him differently.

She wondered how old he was. He only had a couple of wrinkles so couldn't be far past his mid 30s - not that much older than her, then. He still had huge energy, charisma. He was blonde - not her usual type - and he had that slightly long, floppy hair she so detested in the drama students. It seems it was the actors' haircut of choice. But on Greg, it emphasised his cheekbones and long nose. And she liked the way he brushed it away from his kind blue eyes. Lexie decided she rather liked Greg. And she eagerly anticipated their next after hours rehearsal.

As the weeks passed, Greg took great pains to help Lexie understand the emotion and passion her character was experiencing. Slowly but surely, her performance started to improve. She felt more confident and when she looked at the odious leading man in normal rehearsals, she imagined it was Greg looking back at her. She pictured his smiling face and his soft voice.

At night, after their one-on-one sessions, Lexie often lay awake in bed at her small flat. She imagined the play was real life, that Greg really was taking her face in his, that he did really love her, that he was leaning in to kiss her. Often, Lexie would reach under the bedclothes - she still detested duvets after that first teenage encounter - reach into her knickers, and touch herself. She would rub her clitoris until she could feel her breath start to quicken and her body spasm. Tragically, no man had ever made her come.

Finally, the day came when she knew she and Greg would have to rehearse the climactic kiss between the two lovers. Lexie was filled with a mix of emotions - inside she was panicking. She knew she was beginning to love Greg, but she didn't want to betray that in the kiss. All day she got herself worked into a state about the rehearsal. She knew her performance was off in class, she knew she didn't do her best in the real rehearsal, but her mind was elsewhere.

Eventually, the time came for their one-on-one, and Lexie nervously waited for the other students to leave - for them to leave her and Greg alone at last.

The drama school was silent. Lexie and Greg were the only people there. They sat in the rehearsal room, which was painted black with the 'tab' curtains hanging at the sides of the room. Lexie sat on a chair centre stage, nervously looking down into her lap, just waiting for Greg to return from the coffee machine.

When he came back in, he pulled a chair opposite hers and asked if she was ready to do the scene. Lexie nodded slowly and lifted her gaze to his. "Remember Lexie, until this point they have not shown their love for each other physically. This kiss comes near the end of the last scene and it has to demonstrate their utter yearning - and burning - for each other. Do you think you can do that?" Greg asked.

Again, Lexie nodded.

And so they began the scene, still sat opposite one another. When it came to the point when they were to kiss, Lexie knew she was to let him make all the moves. So she just sat there, looking into his eyes. Slowly he leaned towards her. First, he cupped her hands, which were in her lap. She felt him start to stroke her left palm and it was lighting sparks in her belly. Then he leant closer, pulled one hand away from hers, cupped her face and they touched lips.

Eventually, they parted lips and she felt his tongue dart into her mouth. Lexie was startled, she knew actors did not usually kiss with tongues, but she didn't let her shock stop her reciprocating. Before she knew it, they were kissing ever more passionately. He had both hands around her face, almost crushing her cheeks with his passion as they continued to kiss. Eventually, their kiss slowed, became more luxurious, and Lexie dared open her eyes. She knew by now this was not in the script but she didn't know how Greg felt and was scared. She needn't have worried, his eyes were boring into hers and she saw the emotion swimming in them, mirroring hers.

He pulled away and, without a word, stood up and walked to the side of the room. Bewildered, Lexie turned to see what he was doing. He was holding one of the tab curtains with both hands and pulling down, hard. Eventually, the hooks gave and the curtain came tumbling to the floor.

Greg then walked back to centre stage and gently took Lexie's hand. She stood and followed him to the side, where he pulled her down to a lying position next to him and began kissing her again. Lexie felt his hand stroking her breasts through her jumper and was astonished to feel her nipples tighten and a surge between her legs. Then Greg started to feel for the top of her trousers and unbutton them. As he pushed his hand under the band of her knickers, Lexie was aware this experience was going to be different from any she had had before. As he slid his fingers between her pussy lips, Lexie knew she was already soaking wet and ready, and she was eager to get onto the next course. But Greg had other plans. "Wait, be patient," he said. And Lexie knew she must, after all he was her teacher, in more ways than one. He slowly stroked her clitoris and Lexie delighted in how different it felt to have someone else do it to her. She also ached to have his cock inside her, but didn't dare make another move, such was his intense concentration. She wanted him so much, she even reached for his cock and felt it through his jeans. It was swollen, turgid, and straining to be released from its denim prison. Lexie fiddled with his top button until it popped open, and the rest of the button fly followed suit. Then Lexie touched his naked flesh and felt him spasm. She pulled away from him and gently took his cock between her lips, suck gently as she bobbed up and down.

"Right, that's it. I can take no more," Greg groaned.

"I am going to have to take you and I'm going to have to take you now or come in your mouth."

Lexie gasped with delight as Greg started to rip off her clothes, item by item. Once she was naked, he stripped quickly and pulled her on top of him. Lexie lowered herself onto his penis, startled again that she was, for the first time, going to be on top during sex. She wasn't worried, but if she was she needn't have been.

It turned out she was a natural at sliding up and down on his cock. She arched her back to change the angle slightly, displaying her petite breasts. But she wasn't thinking about what she looked like, she was just caught up in the moment, caught up in grinding up and down. Greg reached out and started to play with her clit.

It was too much to bear and Lexie started to orgasm, calling his name, almost singing with pleasure. The ferocity of the orgasm took her by surprise almost as much as the fact it had actually happened - a man had made her come! Her body was still shuddering and she was still slowly thrusting when Greg began to orgasm. He didn't call her name, but gripped her hands with his, staring into her eyes as he filled her with his seed.

Afterwards, she collapsed next to him and he pulled the curtain over their naked, white bodies and they lay there, silent and sated.

Lexie looked at the black curtain - how right it looked compared with a Playboy duvet cover!

They continued their rehearsals after that, although there was no longer much point. Lexie had nailed her performance and was winning praise left right and centre for the depth of emotion she portrayed. But she and Greg met frequently, sometimes at the rehearsal rooms, sometimes at her flat, sometimes at his home.

They seldom practised any scenes, but they created their own passionate love story. She knew she was lucky to be fucked so well - and to fuck so well in return.

And going back to the saucy - yes, Lexie was definitely saucy now. Greg had taught her a lot after all. But maybe that was another story.