Shall we Play a Game Pt. 02

It feels like I'm back at the start of everything that's happened. I'm parked outside Monique's, wondering again what to tell my friends, how much to reveal of myself. There are things I need to share with them that happened nine days ago and since then, things about myself that I don't understand yet, events and memories that gladden my heart but other things that have left me unsure about who I am.

Especially the parts that still feel like they happened to another person inside me. In my mind I'm making up a separate person, inside of me but different, wanting darker things than I do, to revel in lust and surrender my body, mind and soul to pleasure. I keep telling myself that it's only natural given what happened that night, but I still feed the need to push it away, keep it separate from my image of who I am, pretend that the hunger isn't mine but hers. My subconscious mind keeps going back to that night, replaying it over and over again as I've slept this past week. With the help of my friends, maybe I'll be able to figure out if what I'm experiencing is dreams...

Or nightmares.

Walking through the restaurant I can't help but look at the people around me sitting at their tables. They all look so normal, so at ease, so untroubled. Behind those masks are there faces with things to hide, showing happy features to cover the darkness that lies within them? I softly shake my head, I'm hoping everyone is feeling conflicting emotions like I am, trying somehow to make me feel better by believing they're like me.

I'm pretty sure that none of the people around me ever experienced what I did Friday night.

I had to miss our brunch last Sunday, I was still fairly weak that day. I'd taken the coward's way out of letting my friends know I wasn't coming by texting them. I knew if I talked to one of them over the phone they'd know that something major had happened and would be worried about me, ask me what was wrong. (Just like two Sundays ago) I wasn't up to that last weekend, and while I was recovered physically by now I wasn't sure if I was mentally. Maybe unburdening myself to them would help.

I hoped so.

Opening the door and walking in I was relieved that they were all already there, and Tiffany was there also, platters of food sitting there untouched yet. For a moment I paused, they all sat there, looking at me, looking for signs of distress or maybe physical discomfort, even pain. I almost panicked, like a deer in the headlights, frozen and unable to move. Trying to find something to say to break the tension...

"I think I looked just like that in second grade when I had to sing in a school talent night."

God I love Tiffany.

As if they'd rehearsed it they all stood up and came over and put me in the middle of a group hug. I could feel my body relax a little, my nerves settle down. Stepping away, Helen took my hand and led me over to our table. Once everyone was seated she looked at me and said "Sara, if you don't want to talk about it that's okay. We're here for you if you need us."

"Thank you Helen, everyone. I do need to talk about it, I'm not sure how to tell you about it."

Hesitantly, Beth said "Sara, if you had to describe it in just simple short words, what would you say?"

Nervous, almost sobbing laughter. "Short words? What happened was beyond words, and beyond anything I'd imagined it could be."

Almost everyone was too stunned to say anything, and all Claire could come up with was a soft "Wow."

Helen asked "What can you tell us Sara?"

"Maybe I can start off with the safe stuff, the things that led up to that Friday. Sean.. Sean can't hide anything from me, I always know when he's up to something, but Sunday through Thursday morning he kept up dropping hints about what he was planning, ramping up my excitement for what was coming. Sunday after I got back from our brunch he announced we were having a movie night."

My friends knew I was waiting for someone to ask me the question, so Beth obliged. "Okay, so what was the movie?"

"Fifty Shades of Grey."

"Ooooh." "Oh god." "Wow." "Damn!"

"Yeah. While the movie ran I sat on his lap, and I could feel his erection underneath me. After the movie was over he just stood up and went to bed."

None of them could say anything.

"Then Monday when I got to work and parked in my usual spot, there was a sign in front of me saying those five words again."

"Monday night I got home to find him stretching out on the patio. He said he was trying to work out some stiffness and soreness he had gotten from work that day."

Tiffany took her turn. "So what was so devious about that?"

"He was naked."

"Oooh."

"Doing yoga poses. With an erection."

"Oooooh!"

"Again, he went to bed early."

"Tuesday morning he left a letter on my car seat asking me to read it when I got to work. When I got there I read it first thing. I've got it here, let me read it to you."

"Stockholm, Sweden."

"Institute for the Study and Understanding of Human Sexuality"

"Dr. Inga Erickson, Director"

"To the reporters attending this announcement I welcome you. I have some exciting news about a new study we're undertaking here at the Institute. We feel it has some very interesting implications about the interactions between consenting adults in regards to sexual intercourse. To implement this study we are establishing testing sites in major cities around the world to compile enough data to arrive at what we hope will be some startling conclusions."

"Ms. Erickson?"

"Yes Mr.?"

"Johnathan Brune, I'm with a web site hosted in Germany. I was looking at the list of cities earlier and almost all of these are from major cities. But this one for Omaha, Nebraska? Where is Omaha Nebraska and why is it on this list?"

"To answer your first question Mr. Brune, Omaha Nebraska is in the middle of the United States. We have occasionally had communications with a young man in this city, and he has told us of some interesting plans he has for the near future that we feel will possibly be the cornerstone of our findings when we publish them."

"This is all very interesting Ms. Erickson, but you haven't told us what the study is to be about yet."

"I know sir, I'm trying to draw out the suspense. The focus of our study it to be...."

"How much pleasure the human body is capable of feeling, and how much pleasure the human body is capable of enduring."

Looking up from the letter, I took in the five astonished faces looking at me.

"If you think the five of you are stunned, think about me. I was a wreck the rest of the day."

"Tuesday night another movie. 9 1/2 weeks. Again, another early bedtime."

"Wednesday an envelope and a small box. Inside the envelope was an appointment card for that night to go to a spa for a (swallow with a dry throat) bikini waxing. A complete waxing, no hair left."

"Inside the box was a picture. Of Sean holding a pair of my panties up to his face, as if he was smelling them."

Megan couldn't say a word, she just slowly dropped her head to the table and shook.

Beth softly asked, "Did you do it?"

"Oh yes. It was a weird experience, both very personal and also very matter-of-fact, almost business like. I was sitting back in the chair, my legs spread open, my labia totally exposed, and she started out by using a hair trimmer to shorten my pubes. She softly spread the wax over me while I was desperately trying to avoid showing any sign of arousal. After that she sat back to wait while it hardened, making casual conversation with me sitting in front of her all spread out. Then she took a firm hold on the tab sticking out of the wax and yanked."

"Did it hurt?"

"Hell yes! Once I got myself under control she rubbed a lotion on me to ease the soreness, then left the room for me to dress myself, which felt damn silly after what she'd done. Walking out of the spa I could feel the front of my panties rubbing against me, no pubic hair left to lessen the sensation."

"I made it home to find that Sean had left me a note telling me that he was working on something at the new house and would be home late."

"When I read that note the only thing I could think of was that if there wasn't some heavy duty fucking coming soon I was going to knock Sean down and take him!"

Big, loud laughter.

"Thursday, just a simple note. It just said Soon."

All Helen could manage was a soft "Oh my god."

"I don't know what Sean had planned for Thursday night because I had a terrible day at work, people were getting things wrong, tempers and egos were flaring that needed to be soothed, that sort of thing. I left Sean a message to let him know I'd be late getting home and that I was having a rotten day, and shortly after that he sent me one back telling me to get ready for some serious pampering that night."

"I got home a little after 8 o'clock, exhausted. He met me at the door and when I got in he put his forefinger across my lips to signal me not to talk, picked me up and started upstairs. I went totally boneless and laid my head down on his shoulder. We went into the bathroom where he had the tub full of hot water, and the smell of lavender was rising up from the water. He sat me down on a chair and started undressing me, it wasn't sexual, just gently undressing me. He picked me up again and laid me down in the water."

"Our bathroom is equipped with speakers, and he started music playing, soft classical things that allowed peace and softness to fill me. He had a charcuterie board nearby, and he fed me tasty morsels, sometimes holding a straw up to my lips so I could drink some sweet apple juice, followed finally by some chocolate covered strawberries."

"Occasionally he would refill the tub with more hot water to keep the water I was in from getting cold."

"Then he just sat there by the tub and caressed my hair softly."

Beth opinion-ed, "That sounds like heaven."

"It gets better."

"No way!"

"Way. When he could tell that I was about as relaxed as I could get without falling asleep, he played a final song."

"Spanish Guitar."

Five women, in perfect unison, gasped. They all knew what that song meant for Sean and I.

"At the first few sounds of the guitar my eyes flew open, and I looked up at him, and he looked back at me with an intensity that took my breath away. At that instant we both remembered the incredible day when we first met five years ago."