The Humper Game Pt. 05 Ch. 05

I tried not to collapse too hard on her. Her breathing was a lot harder than mine, even though she generally was in better condition than I was. I'd been doing more than my share of the moving, but then, she had climaxed three times in a short span of time. After I was sure she wouldn't fall over, I pulled out and backed off. She turned around and kissed me at some length.

She picked up her discarded clothes and pulled them on and partway up. From the pocket she took a couple of paper towels, handing one to me. She wiped herself off with the other, then put it as a pad in the crotch of her panties as she pulled them up. By this time, I'd wiped myself off somewhat and pulled on my own nether garments. I went over to Ellen and positioned her bra back over her breasts, then fastened it behind her as she began to get her outer clothes arranged and fastened.

She came over and kissed me again, a long kiss. "I love you, Phil. You know that. Thank you. I was going to have a lot of trouble waiting for tonight. Maybe again tonight, though, anyway."

I turned around, and there was Kelly, staring wide-eyed. I looked at her, and she said, "I wish I could be the one in your bed tonight. Ellen's lucky. And I guess you're lucky, too."

I told her, "You probably shouldn't have watched. Really. The thing is—um. There are several things, but one is that seeing something like that, when it's good, may make you be thinking about that when you're getting to know an eligible man. And for you, especially, the questions you should be asking are not whether he'd be good in bed, but above all what are his spiritual commitments, and then what is his character like. Physical attraction's important, too, but of those three it's dead last.

"You're right, I'm lucky beyond belief to have come out of school with Ellen and Sam and Jenny, all three. Lots of people diddled around, once sex ed had come and gone, winding up with no one satisfactory. Several of the girls I was close to wound up with what look like relationships that will hold up. Some of them, if I'd been really available, would probably have preferred me. There are some I had sex with, in the gym game, whom I like a lot, but it was never more than a brief dalliance. Of those, some might have asked for more if I hadn't already been overcommitted, though.

"But even about sex, um, what you just saw, there are things you should realize. For one thing, Ellen and I are still in what, in a marriage, would be the newlywed stage. Assuming we do get married, we're not likely to be so eager after a couple of years. She in particular isn't likely to, most of the time. And even with that noted, um, things don't normally go that fast. Ellen said some about why she was so turned on already, and then hearing about Sam and me gave her arousal an additional kick. But normally, when we go to bed, we need to spend some time first in kissing and touching if she's going to enjoy it much at all. And even then, sometimes she doesn't come at all. Normally, if we move that fast, it's almost always a quickie. I'm in a hurry and don't want to wait for her, or there's just plain not time, or she's not really interested enough to want to take the time to get aroused—or maybe even she's uninterested enough that she thinks she's unlikely to get really interested."

I stopped, and after a moment Ellen picked it up. "If I'm not interested at all, really, I would usually want to kiss and to let Phil touch me, enough for some lubrication. Then he gets to enjoy me, and I get to enjoy having him enjoy me. It's pleasant enough for me. And the kissing and cuddling and touching all say that he loves me, which is what I really need to hear in those cases. He gets to know that I don't love him just for the great sex I sometimes get, I get to know how much he cares for me—since I have to make it really clear that this is what I want, or he'll insist on more for my sake."

We started walking again, and I said after a bit, "I think maybe we need to go through the Song of Songs sometime soon. Not anything like a verse by verse study, but a careful reading and discussion. That's one that Ellen absolutely has to be present for, though.

"And all that has now eaten away your girls' afternoon out by yourselves. I'll go in and help Aunt Sally. I'll bet she is thinking about dinner preparations, if not making them. Can you keep your bearings well enough to find your way back to the house? If you get lost, well, the wooded area isn't all that big, and if you wait a few minutes you can probably hear which way the road is—but you can call me. If we need you to help with something, I'll call you. OK?

"I hope your chat doesn't mostly amount to a post-mortem on my romantic and sexual performance, though."

Ellen pulled me into a hug and kissed me, not a peck but not with great passion. I gave Kelly a quick hug, before heading back to the house.

Aunt Sally had indeed started on dinner. I washed my hands and presented myself as an available assistant. Dinner was a turkey-rice casserole, with broth and a whole lot of vegetables and some spicing. OK, mushrooms technically aren't vegetables, but they were there, too. I followed her directions as best I could, tasting at various points. This was very good, and I thought I could add it to my own repertoire pretty well. I wasn't likely to have turkey or turkey broth readily available all that often, but I thought it would work about as well with chicken, and with commercial chicken broth if I didn't have any home-made. I decided I needed at least a small pressure cooker sometime soon, and put it on my to-get list for the resale shop.

I asked Aunt Sally about thickening the broth, and she said she'd never done it. I told her I would probably try one on my own, with chicken, in the reasonably near future, and I would probably try thickening the broth, too. She said to let her know how it turned out.

When Ellen and Kelly came in, Ellen came and gave me a hug. "We need to talk, Phil. After dinner will be fine, but can we manage some time for it, please?" she said fairly quietly.

"Sure. I think Aunt Sally could do without me at this point, if that's better. Setting the table won't take long."

"After dinner will be fine. I just wanted to get my request in now, before anything else gets scheduled."

I got the table set, and then sat down, with Ellen next to me. Our chairs were scooted close, and I put my arm across the back of her chair, around her shoulders. After a bit, she laid her head on my shoulder. I wasn't sure what clued me in, but after a few minutes I realized that she was trying not to cry.

"Aunt Sally, can you spare Ellen and me for a while? I guess we need to talk about something for a few minutes. I hope we can make it reasonably brief, but I'm not sure."

She looked at us and said, "It looks to me like you're right. If you're not ready for dinner, just say so when we call, and you can eat whenever you're ready."

We went upstairs and closed the door. I hugged Ellen, and said, "Ellen, I love you. I don't know whether I should be asking what you wanted to talk about or what's wrong, so you'll have to tell me."

She put her head on my shoulder and cried a little. No great sobbing or anything like that, just tears dripping. After a couple of minutes I reached and got some tissue, and offered it to her. She blew her nose and wiped around her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Phil. I don't understand why I'm feeling this way. I really don't think there's a problem, it's just that our girl talk didn't go where I thought it would, the way it was on Wednesday in the car. In one way, you could almost say we talked about exactly what you said you hoped we wouldn't, and maybe that's the problem.

"We weren't really talking about what you did, but that kept coming into it. She was asking questions about me, and I couldn't answer without talking about you, too. She didn't have an orgasm herself, you remember? And she was wondering about my coming three times there. I told her that partly that was that I was so turned on, even before you said that about Sam. But that also, of course, since it all did happen pretty fast, and you weren't deprived or anything, you weren't so ready that you couldn't last through it and keep going.

"I had to explain stuff I know from experience but don't completely understand myself. I know that when I come, I clamp down on you, not steadily but rhythmically, I can feel that much myself, and I know that stimulates you, so you often come if I do. But if I'm near, I don't know exactly what it is about your coming that can set me off too. Something about the way you move, I think. I'm really not all that aware of what's being sprayed around, I'm pretty sure, but I guess that might be it, or part of it.

"But anyway, you didn't want us talking about what you were doing, and I did exactly that. As I said, I told her first off that you could hold back because I came so fast—you hadn't been stimulated all that much. But then, I had to say that you try to hold back, if you can, usually, to let me have another chance, to make it good for me. Phil, you're so much better to me than I deserve, and there I was, discussing what you'd just asked me not to! And you heard her, too. Just as you'd been afraid—or concerned, anyway—watching made her wish it could have been her. Or at least think about what it would have been like had it been her.

"I really felt that I needed to tell her some other things, trying to answer her questions about what she'd seen. I, well, I had to tell her a little about knowing I can trust you completely, and so I had to say something about—about the time I didn't, when I needed to. She knew the basic facts about the situation, of course. But I had to tell her how I'd promised, over and over, that I'd trust you with absolutely anything, and then the first time it got hard I didn't. Phil, I'm so sorry. And I think that's why I came in feeling so down, really. I'm sorry."

I sat down and—if I say I pulled her into my lap, that's misleading. I turned her around to face me, and sat her on my knees, or just a little higher, straddling my legs so that she could look straight at me. I said, "Ellen. Do you remember our discussion Wednesday, in the car? The two of you were talking so I couldn't hear, giggling together, all that. I started to worry that you were plotting something I would have to object to. I didn't really think you were agreeing to stick Kelly in bed in here with me, under the cover of darkness, or anything like that, but I had to wonder what it was. I finally said I hoped it wasn't something I'd feel I needed to spank you for. You said it was just girl talk—and I trust you!—but you felt it necessary to reassure Kelly that I'd never spanked you and you were pretty sure I never would. Remember?"

She was looking a little uncertain or even worried. "Yes, Phil. I remember."

"Ellen, think a minute. You promised to trust me. Period. You were just saying so, again." She nodded, looking a little more concerned, I think. "Do you remember what I said about that time, with Elise?"

"Phil, I don't know that I remember it all, and I'm not sure where you're headed, so I don't know what parts you're asking about."

"Well, actually, part of what I'm asking about was later, when we were talking to someone. Maybe to Kelly, in fact. No, wait, this was in the aftermath, I told Kelly when we were running, and you weren't there. Though I must have said the same to you, too, I would think.

"There were mitigating circumstances. For one thing, anyone in her right mind would have jumped to the conclusion you did, seeing what you saw—at least for that first moment, I mean. And then, you had trusted Brian—I had too after all!—and he let you down, and it must have seemed like a replay.

"The only thing needing to be forgiven was that, after promising to trust me, you wouldn't trust me enough to listen to what I might have to say. I'm sure I said this to you. But Ellen, did I tell you I forgave you for that?"

She kind of gulped. "Yes, Phil."

"Are you willing to trust me to mean that? That I've forgiven you?"

"Yes, Phil. But—." I waited. "But. I'm sorry, Phil. You're right, I haven't been trusting you for that."

"OK. Will you promise to trust me on that, too, then?"

"Yes, Phil. But—." She looked very uncertain and worried indeed. "You started out talking about spanking. I don't want to be guessing. Will you please tell me, right now, what you mean?"

"Ellen, the next time you get bent out of shape that way, thinking about your reaction to Elise's kissing me, and specifically, the next time you feel you have to apologize to me all over again, I will turn you over my knees and spank you. Hard enough to hurt. Is that clear enough?"

She took a deep breath and let it out. "Phil, you're right, I'm breaking my promise to trust you every time this comes up. If you decide to spank me for that, I promise I won't resist. At all. I probably will scream at the pain, I'll try not to, but if you want to gag me first, I won't complain or resist. I promise."

"I may not do it on the spot, I'm afraid."

"That's fine, if there's any reason to postpone. I'd rather you didn't do it here, for example, myself. Well, I'd rather you not do it at all, but if I earn it then you do what you've promised. And maybe I'll learn."

"Does that deal adequately with what you were upset about?"

She leaned forward and put her arms around my neck and kissed me, hard. "Yes, Phil. I love you. I don't want to be spanked, but I probably will be at some point. But you're right, I was feeling hurt because I felt like you hadn't forgiven me, like you couldn't really forgive me."

"Is there anything else from your talk with Kelly that I need to know about?"

"No, Phil. And thank you. As usual, you understand me better than I understand myself. If I forget that you really have forgiven me, a painful reminder really may help. And I obviously need the warning."

There was a knock at the door, and we abruptly stood up. I stood up, I mean, and perforce Ellen did as well. "Come in," I said.

Kelly opened the door and took about half a step in. "Sally says that dinner's ready, and she hopes you are, but not to worry if you aren't."

Ellen took my hand. "We're ready. Just, but we are. Let's go." So we all went down in a group, single file on the stairs, and sat down at the table.

Aunt Sally prayed, this time. We all served ourselves. Besides beverages and the casserole, there was warm, homemade bread with butter and jam. More than one kind of jam, in fact. I had blueberry. I'm sure the cherry was really good, too.

"I'm glad you two got Ellen's problem worked out," Aunt Sally said. "You're both looking much happier."

Kelly looked back and forth between Aunt Sally and Ellen, with an occasional direct glance at me. I had decided that this wasn't the point at which to say anything to her, and Ellen apparently had too. She said nice things about the dinner, and I thanked Aunt Sally for letting Ellen and me abandon her.

"Kelly was very helpful," she said. "You had cut up all those vegetables and helped me build the casserole. All it really took was setting the table, pouring the beverages, and slicing the bread as soon as it had cooled enough."

Uncle John asked me some questions about my classes, fairly technical ones. The women talked among themselves. I didn't really listen to what they were saying, even when Ellen scooted over closer to me and gave me a little hug. I was too busy thinking about what I was saying. Eating really didn't take that long, since the meal wasn't complicated or fancy.

Uncle John finally finished quizzing me. He said, "Maybe tomorrow we can talk a little more. You know I don't get to talk shop very often any more. In fact, I really owe you some thanks for sending Dr. Wheeler my way. We spent one of the most enjoyable afternoons I've had in a few years, and I hope he will come by again at some point when he's not too tied up with teaching.

"You're right that it's easy for a professor to get into a rut, teaching the same class term after term, and sometimes we can lose sight of why we studied that subject ourselves in the first place. I'm very glad you've perked up some of the other students, in your classes where the professors do want more than just to go through the material. Everyone is better for that, in the end, when the students keep the teacher on his toes. It's just that some give up after trying unsuccessfully to make people think, after a few years."

"I can sure see why. There are definitely some students there whose attitude is, 'Is that going to be on the test? I don't want to write it down unless it will be on the test.' How do they expect to live their lives after they graduate? I really don't understand it!

"But I'd better get off that subject. Ellen has heard me rant about it more than a few times. I'm surprised she puts up with me."

Ellen said, "Phil, I just notice that I won't have to know it for a test, and stop listening. And you don't do that too much, honestly, and I know some psych students who are just as bad. Much worse, in fact."

Kelly said, "John, the class I'm in with Phil, it really is a lot more interesting since Phil, and then Pete and Tammy, and then some others too, started asking more questions. I can understand some of the people who get impatient with it, because it makes studying take more time, and some of them have jobs or even families and jobs too, and time is an issue for them. But some really seem to see the university as no more than a device for getting a diploma so they can get a better job.

"I just wish Phil had been in my classes two years ago. I'm just barely starting to get the hang of studying the way he and Ellen do. And our Friday night discussions are helping me learn. It's a difference in attitude. Not, what do I have to learn to pass this course, but what can this class help me learn about this subject. And somehow no one ever even suggested that I should think like that, as far as I can remember."

By this time we were finished with dessert, which was some kind of chocolate pudding. I thought it was technically a mousse, though I was really pretty vague on the difference. I got up and started to clear the table, and Aunt Sally said, "Phil, leave it to me this time. Everything's easy. You three just go and take some time together. But thank you for being so helpful. Especially yesterday, and then fixing us breakfast this morning."

We went outside. The weather was pretty pleasant, even though it was dark by that time, but there was a little too much wind, so we went back inside and up to Ellen's and my room. We shut the door.

Kelly said, "I'm sorry. Obviously I upset Ellen somehow. I didn't mean to, and I don't know what I said or did."

Ellen looked at me. "Phil, I'm fine now, so let me tell her. She needs to understand, I think. Kelly, if you remember, the last thing Phil said before he left us was that he hoped we wouldn't be analyzing his, um, performance. And I realized that your questions weren't about that, but that in answering I did have to talk about it an awful lot. And, well, I felt like it seemed he just couldn't trust me, to do anything.

"And realizing that brought back the time I really fell down, the time I found Elise kissing him and jumped to conclusions. I felt so guilty. There had been an earlier situation once where I needed to trust Phil. He was being so unbelievably kind and gentle with me, helping me—this was something for sex ed—and because of some history I was all tense and jumpy. And he promised to take things as slowly as I needed, and he proved over and over that he would. And he finally asked, Ellen, will you trust me? I told him, with you, anything, anything at all.