Just Practice

The air conditioning really sounded like it wanted to break again.

On a summer's day like this, when things got hotter than they ever ought to be allowed to, especially in Wales, that was quite unacceptable. Tammy was, precariously as you can imagine, balanced on a wooden dining chair, trying to find the source of the sound within the unit's mechanisms. Having no idea what any of these wires did, she wasn't having the easiest time of it.

"What're you doing?" Tammy glanced over towards the archway which led to the kitchen -- standing in it, suckling on a Rocket Pop, was Megan, one of her newer best friends.

They'd met at the Reading Festival, where it turned out they shared a postcode and, after reuniting at the Red Lion and Megan having to take Tammy to A&E after she' d drunkenly headbutted a door handle, it was only natural they'd be hanging out more often. Megan was a trainee English teacher, naturally glad of the summer holidays, plump, with a pretty, somewhat round face; she embraced this, even going by 'M 00 nface9 9 ' on Instagram.

Despite the weather, she was dressed as conservatively as usual, with her pale high-waisted jeans and long-sleeved green cardigan. Tammy wasn't going to ask if she was going to change -- Megan seemed to like the outfit and if she liked it then Tammy liked it. Besides, Megan might be self-deprecating in the extreme but she didn't do a good job of hiding that this was just compensation for her own irritation at her appearance. Personally, Tammy didn't know what she was on about. Megan was hot -- sure, Tammy wasn't into girls, much, but she could see what Dean saw. Curves, brown eyes that still managed to sparkle, curly hazelnut hair, nice teeth if that wasn't weird to say, cute faint freckles, big boobs that Tammy found herself quite jealous of, and a hearty, joyful laugh that Megan often got embarrassed about, given how it could dominate a room. Tammy didn't like her own laugh -- she sounded like a goose being strangled. So, at the very least, Megan had that. Not to mention a budding career -- Tammy just worked at a cafe. Dunking tea bags wasn't a career. It was barely a pastime.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" asked Tammy. "I'm fighting a piece of machinery and it's winning."

"Why'd you even get it?" she asked. "We're in Swansea."

"Because climate change is real and it's a-coming, Megan," hissed Tammy, smirking. Megan smiled and, shaking her head, went across the living room to look through the window.

"Why's he not back yet?"

"You can live without your boyfriend for five minutes."

"Last time he was late it was 'cause he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his arm."

"Well," said Tammy, hopping from the seat, having given up on finding the source of the noise, "if that happens again, you can enjoy a very strange coincidence."

"You're very funny. Is it definitely not working, then?"

"It's working -- I just don't think it will for much longer. Bet it blows up and kills us."

"Oh, God, I hope so," Megan chortled. The ice lolly was finished now, and she looked around for somewhere to put the stick.

"Just chuck it out the window."

"Don't be daft."

"A bird'll get it. Take it for his nest." Megan shrugged and dropped it out of the living room window, as suggested. "How long 'til Dean comes to pick you up?"

"An hour or so, I think," she said, sitting at the sofa. "Once he's back from patching up that roof or whatever it is he does."

"How's it going with Dean, anyway?" asked Tammy, joining her at the sofa, positioning herself so she didn't have to see her reflection in the TV which, given the weather, was in a very reflective mood.

"Well..." Megan sighed, a sigh which turned to a nervous laugh as she realised how she was sounding. Tammy raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I think he's getting bored of me, to be honest."

"You've been together for, like, a month."

"I know, but, well, you know..."

"No," said Tammy, blankly, "I don't."

"It's just bedroom stuff."

"Oh, we having a bit of a girls' night in?" giggled Tammy, and Megan giggled back.

"No, it's not like that," Megan said, eventually, "it's just, well, we have sex every now and then-" She was cut off by Tammy's sniggers. "What?"

"Sorry," Tammy laughed, "that's just really funny to me, for some reason, 'we have sex every now and then.' Carry on. Please. I'm listening."

Megan just shook her head in wonder at her friend's silliness.

"Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," she said, smiling despite herself, "we have sex but it's all missionary cause that's really all I know."

"Oh, yeah?" asked Tammy. "Not comfortable with anything else?" Megan shook her head.

"I guess I could maybe try riding him, maybe, but I'm scared about getting it wrong and breaking his dick or something."

"That can happen," Tammy acknowledged, sighing. "They're actually pretty delicate. And yet they rule the world."

"But I guess the real problem is that he's actually quite kinky."

"Really?" Tammy was actually rather shocked. She looked at the window as if he was right there for her to regard, to do a second-take and reassess, but all that was out there was a quiet suburban street and, every now and then, an oblivious car. "You wouldn't think it from looking at him."

"That's what I thought!" exclaimed Megan. "But he said in his last relationship he used to do all kinds of stuff. You know, ropes, wax, the whole shebang."

"I would've never guessed," said Tammy, in half-amazement. She'd felt like she was getting to know Dean reasonably well -- the FIFA addiction, the animal shelter volunteering, the inability to hold his drink, the questionable politics that Megan tried to ignore but which would surely mean the end for them eventually. He was nice, yes, and a decent fit for her, but Megan could do a lot better.

"Well," continued Megan, "he's kinky, and he's getting frustrated that I'm not."

"So dump him," said Tammy, flatly, and Megan looked at her like she'd just proposed converting to Wahhabism.

"I can't," she whined, "I really like him. And in a good relationship you learn about each other and you improve from it."

"Well, yeah, sure, but only as much as you want to," answered Tammy. "I mean... you don't want hot wax poured on your tits, do you?"

"No," said Megan, very quickly, flinching at the thought. "I don't know. I guess this is just making me think about how plain I am."

"Oh come on, you're not plain, my love," insisted Tammy. "You're one of the most interesting people I've ever met. You read books about physics for fun."

"That's boring!"

"It's different! It's unique! That makes you interesting -- and if Dean can't handle that, if he needs you to be inserting anal beads for you to be interesting, then fuck him."

"He said he thinks I'm interesting," Megan murmured.

Outside, a lorry rumbled by, rattling the windows. Megan sighed.

" I'm just not very experimental. One of my friends from uni told me she went to the beach with some friends a few days ago and once it got dark the lot of them stripped off and ran in the sea. Just like that."

"Wow," said Tammy. "Ballsy."

"Yeah," said Megan, a hint of sadness in her voice, "and I guess I'm just jealous."

"Of the streaking?" asked Tammy. "Or the psychology behind it?"

"The psychology behind it," Megan said, gesturing almost limply to Tammy in agreement. " I just can't imagine ever getting myself in a mindset where I could do something like that."

"Well, do you want to do something like that?"

"I want to be more exciting than someone who just likes missionary and nothing else," Megan replied, half-shrugging. " And I bet I'd like doing more... dirty stuff. If I actually tried it. But it's the whole getting into the mindset to try it that I'm having trouble with, right now."

"Okay," said Tammy, sitting back on the sofa and crossing her legs. Well, she might as well look the part of 'girls' night in.' "Well, what is it that you'd be doing? When you say 'dirty stuff'? Has Dean been asking for anything?"

"He wants to take me from behind," said Megan, quickly, obviously embarrassed to be on the topic at all.

"Okay?" said Tammy, shrugging. "What's wrong with that? That's not kinky -- that's tame. All guys want that."

" I don't want him to see my..." Megan shifted in her seat. "...you know."

"What, your butthole?"

"Yeah..." Megan nodded, sniffing. " Actually, you might know; i s it, like, visible? When you do doggy?"

" It can be super visible," Tammy replied, nodding gravely. "Depends on the butt."

" Ah." Megan grimaced. " My bum's a bit big so maybe he won't see it. I don't know. Either way, t hat's a bit too rich for my taste. And then he wants to actually put it in... there." Tammy nodded.

"He's your first proper sexual partner, right?"

"Yeah..." Megan sighed. "I can't believe it took 'til I was twenty-one to lose my virginity but here I am."

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Tammy. "My mate Kirsty's twenty-nine and she hasn't done anything at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and there's nowt wrong with her. She's got all her teeth and everything." Megan sniggered. "She's just waiting for the right person."

"Well... I think Dean is the right person. At least for now. I haven't told him but I think I love him."

"That's... a big word."

"I know," she sighed. " Especially for a month in. Maybe I'm wrong and just being dumb about it. But it's the only word that makes sense. So I want to make him happy. And give him the things he wants -- and maybe I would like them! I just don't know. And I don't know how to know. You know?"

"Yeah, I know," said Tammy, smirking at the liberal use of 'know.' " Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"Yeah, but if I was gonna start doing this stuff I'd want to surprise him. Not build it up. I think he'd like that way more."

" Well, I guess all you've gotta do is just flip over onto all fours next time you're having sex."

"I tried to!" cried Megan. "Last night we had sex, and he pulled out of me, and I thought about turning over and, like, presenting, but I choked."

"Oh. That's not good."

Tammy couldn't help herself, imagining Megan and Dean in bed together, Megan on her back with her pale legs pushed up, staring at Dean as he railed her with the same surprise on her pretty face she had the first time he slipped into her and she learned what this whole sex business was about.

Then, quickly, she snapped back again.

"What I need, really, is some guy to practice it all with, and then I can take what I've learned to Dean." She laughed. "But that's not how relationships work."

"No, not really." It was Tammy's turn to shift, a bit uncomfortably, in her seat. A light bulb had just burst to life in her head and, though she was trying to turn it off, it was only getting brighter. Insisting.

"I guess I'm cursed to be plain forever," Megan sighed, falling back into the sofa, staring mournfully at the ceiling.

"Well," said Tammy, smirking, "I have a dildo back at my place. I can always fuck you myself." Megan stared at her.

"What?"

"That's a joke." It was. Unless she'd said yes.

"Okay." Megan shook her head, sniggering. "You had me scared for a second there."

"Sorry," Tammy replied, smiling. Okay, she thought, so that wasn't happening. What an idiot she was for even entertaining it.

"Would you, though?" asked Megan, suddenly. "I mean... if I wanted it, and I asked for it, would you do it?"

"Do you want it?" Tammy asked back, carefully.

"No, course not!" Megan laughed. "I'm with someone. But if I wasn't, and I asked to, which I wouldn't anyway cause I'm not into girls, would you have done it?"

"I don't know," said Tammy, truthfully. "I think I'd be a bit like you in that scenario. I'd probably freeze up."

"Yeah..." Megan looked deep in thought. And then: "What's it like? Sleeping with a girl?"

"I've only done it a couple times," laughed Tammy. "And my male body count is nineteen or twenty or something stupid. I think I'm a bit too unbalanced to give my opinion."

"Yeah, but you still have one."

"Girls are probably better," she admitted. "But having a real cock inside you can be... well, it can be something else."

"Uh-huh," said Megan, nodding quickly, her face a little bit redder, which might have just been the weather.

"Whereas a girl knows what she's doing with her mouth. I guess that's the big distinction -- at least for me. I've never had a strapon in me so I can't compare with the real thing but I assume it's worse? Like, it's rubber or whatever. How's that better?"

"I don't know," agreed Megan. "Have you ever been spanked?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Dean's into that, too," she sighed. "Maybe I could handle that. It's a bit scary but I could try it."

"Well, if you want me to spank you, all you've gotta do is ask," Tammy replied, casual as you like, and the little note of silence which followed told her plenty.

"Seriously?" They looked at each other. Tammy shrugged -- the effort to stay casual was exhausting.

"Maybe it'd be good for you. I guess you've never done that, either."

"No, never," Megan replied. "I mean, Dean slaps my bum sometimes, and grabs it, and stuff, but spanking's, like, properly kinky, right?"

"It's the kink bread and butter," sniggered Tammy. "Are you really thinking about it?"

"I'd have to talk with Dean about it." Megan crossed her arms tightly. "But... yeah. But it's still scary."

"Well, if you wanted, I'd be up for practising with you." Her friend looked at her with alarmed eyes.

"Is this for real now?"

"Do you want it to be real?" Megan looked away.

"I guess you're the only person I can properly talk to about this. Maybe. I've got other friends who've got way more experience than me -- it's hard not to have more experience."

"Why spanking in particular?" asked Tammy, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. "Why's that what interests you?"

"It just feels like a gateway, I suppose. He'd, you know, see my bum, I'd be all vulnerable, and maybe it'd make me more open to other stuff down the line. I think I really need that. I think we really need that."

"Okay," said Tammy, rolling her shoulders and sitting forward, "well, let me put my cards on the table -- if you want, I'll spank you. So you can have a taste of it. It wouldn't mean anything, you wouldn't be cheating or whatever, but you'd get a sense of what it's like." Megan stared at her,

"Well..." Megan glanced down at her legs -- she pulled her jeans up a little, as if afraid they'd come down of their own accord, giggling nervously. "How would you, like, do it? If I agreed?"

"Well," said Tammy, trying to hold down the excitement flickering in her tummy, "when my ex would spank me, he'd put me over my lap, then spank me over my clothes, then over my knickers, then over my bare arse."

"Right." Megan looked at her, sheepishly.

"Then he'd, you know, finger me, and then fuck the living daylights out of me, and then once I fell asleep he'd sneak off and go fuck some slapper called Lindsay, but I'm not proposing any of that with you." They both laughed -- Megan altogether much more nervously. Tammy saw no laughter in her eyes, only nerves, and that brought even more excitement. It told her that Megan was really considering it.

"And you like that kind of stuff?"

"Sure. It's fun. There's nothing more complex to it -- that's what sex is meant to be. At least as far as I'm concerned. It's a game you play together."

"But we wouldn't be having sex, right?"

"No, course not. I'll spank you and that's it." Megan looked away -- never had uncertainty been so obvious on a person's face. "Go on, you know you want to," she teased. Megan looked back at her with a sheepish grin.

"You'd stop when I told you to, right?"

"One-hundred percent," Tammy assured her, a hammering growing stronger in her chest. "The whole point of this is for you to see what it's like. Nothing else. It's not about me and you, you know? In the nicest way possible."

"Yeah, sure," said Megan, nodding, her hands playing absent-mindedly with each other. "Well... okay, let's say that we do it, and at no point do I tell you to stop. What would you do? That stuff you said your ex did?"

"If you didn't tell me to stop, I'd have you over my lap, then spank you over your jeans. Then over your knickers. Then over your bare butt." Megan bristled and Tammy shivered.

"Right. Well..."

"It's completely up to you."

"Would it hurt?"

"It's meant to -- that's part of the fun. But you control the pain, so even though you're the sub in the equation, you're actually equal in power. It's a fun dynamic to play with -- I guess that's why so many people are into it."

"Right." She glanced at the window.

"Nobody can see us from this angle," Tammy laughed. "Don't worry."

"Okay, well..." Megan bit the inside of her cheek. Tammy stared at her, silent, waiting for what would come next. "Maybe we could try? Just a little bit? But only over the jeans. My bum's private."

"Great!" said Tammy, trying not to sound too enthusiastic, and she scooted back, sitting against the sofa, and patted her thighs. "Come on over."

"Don't pat your thighs," giggled Megan, shifting closer, painfully embarrassed -- but still coming.

"Sorry," said Tammy, giggling too, trying to control her painfully wide smile as her friend lay over her lap and reached for a sofa cushion, putting it under her chin. Quite suddenly, in a development which she hadn't anticipated when she'd been woken up by the builders at six this morning, Tammy had Megan over her lap. "If you just adjust a little bit, get your butt right over my lap." Megan did so, sniggering quietly at the absurdity of it all, a bit heavy on Tammy's admittedly weak legs but it was a comfortable weight, like a weighted blanket, and it was all worth it to be staring down at Megan's plump butt, soft looking even with jeans over it. Tammy rested a hand on Megan's thigh -- it, too, felt soft -- and the other on her back. Through her cardigan, just about, she felt Megan's bra strap.

"God, if Dean walked in right now..." mumbled Megan, putting her face in the cushion.

"We'd hear the front door go," Tammy assured her. "It'll be fine."

"So, you gonna do it?"

"Yeah; I'll start light, and you just tell me if you wanna stop, alright?"

"Okay," came the reply.

T ammy was true to her word -- she spanked Megan with a force that would be called "woefully gentle" in the kink clubs, sticking to the nearest cheek, and Megan responded with the occasional flinch or suppressed giggle, face often pressed into the cushion or looking directly ahead. Her butt bounced pleasantly at each tap, Tammy sticking to one cheek for a few hits, then moving to the next. The denim of her jeans was fairly thick and she imagined a lot more force would be needed to get any pain out -- but she didn't want to scare Megan off. This was, depending on who you asked, the chance of a lifetime.

" You doing good?" Tammy asked, after a couple dozen hits.

"I think so," Megan replied. "I feel pretty comfortable with it. Maybe just cause you're a girl?"

"Maybe," said Tammy. "Shall I keep going?"

"Sure." So, she did,

" You do have a great bum," Tammy admitted, and Megan didn't reply beyond a snigger. Tammy noticed, too, that Megan's eyes were closed -- she was enjoying it as if it were nothing more than a shoulder-rub.

A fter another dozen or so pats, Tammy withdrew her hand, the skin already stinging from contact with Megan's jeans, and shook it a few times. Megan must have noticed the movement, because she glanced over her shoulder with surprised eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"My hand just hurts a bit," Tammy laughed. "Jeans are super hard to spank on for a while, you know?"

"That makes sense," admitted Megan. "Is your hand okay?"