The Set Up

[If you're looking for a story with sex acts described in detail, this isn't it. It is about sex, but the sex happens a few minutes after I quit writing.]

"Pete can share anything with me. There's no reason to keep any secrets between us." Cathy said. The four of them were sitting in Helen's dining room finishing dinner.

Pete sat next to her. Harvey and Helen sat across from them. The four had been friends for ten years. Pete and Cathy had gone to their wedding.

Harvey's thought upon hearing Cathy make her assertion was, 'I doubt that.'

Pete looked at his wife and said, "How can you say that? Are you so sure I've told you everything?"

"I don't know if you have, but I know you could. I'm that secure."

Helen said, "I'm secure too, but there are limits. Harvey can keep secrets from me, as long as they don't directly affect me."

Pete turned his chair a little, so he faced his wife a bit more directly and asked, "So if there's a problem in our relationship, something that bothers me, you'd want to hear about it?"

"Of course. How can I help if I don't know about it?" She turned her chair a little too. Helen wondered if she and Harvey should end the party before this went any farther. If this opened up and they felt pressure to share their problems too, she wondered if she would, if she wanted to or even if she could. What if things went very wrong?

Pete smiled and said, "Ok. So you're saying you want to know about any problem and that you are committed to helping find a solution. What if you already know about the problem and have refused to do anything to help?"

"I don't know of a problem that I have refused to help with."

"Are you sure you want to go down this road?" Pete asked. "Maybe we should wait until in the morning, when we're alone."

"No. Like I said, there's no reason for any secrets. Harvey and Helen are close friends. They can know anything about us. If there is a problem perhaps they can help solve it."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Pete. I'm sure."

"Ok. Almost a year ago you and I had a conversation, our third conversation, about something I saw as a problem. It is something that can be solved. There are problems that cannot be solved, but this one could. I love you. I want a way to express my love for you physically."

Pete turned and faced their friends and continued, "Because I've had diabetes for many years along with high blood pressure, I no longer get erections. We haven't had intercourse in five years."

"I'm fine with that." Cathy said, "Since menopause I don't get the urge for sex like I used to. It's fine that we don't do it."

Pete faced Cathy again. "Therein lies the problem. All my life I have loved giving oral sex. When we first met I told you that, showed you that I loved doing it and offered it to you often. Since menopause arrived you have lost all interest in kissing, foreplay, oral sex and I'm over here wanting to love you. How? You don't even kiss me with tongue any more! You were a great kisser, but no more."

"I'm not interested any more. Don't you understand?"

"I understand. You said you wanted to know about a problem and you are committed to finding a solution. Ok. Here's the problem: I love kissing. I love giving oral sex. I love the feeling of having you orgasm while my tongue is in your pussy. You're not interested. I still want to do it."

Helen said, "You don't like it? Really?"

Cathy shook her head. "Never have liked it. I've never understood how anyone could want to put their mouth there. And, after, think I'd want to kiss them!"

"So it isn't Pete. You've never liked oral sex?" Harvey asked.

"Never."

"Pete, you're fucked."

"I wish I was. I've gone from being a sexually active man to being totally frustrated every day and every night. Look at Cathy. At sixty she's a good looking woman. She sleeps naked with me. I can scratch her back, rub her shoulders, but she won't even take my tongue in a kiss. I spent over forty years loving eating pussy! I can still do it! My tongue works! But, no thanks."

"What if I really wanted to be fucked?" Cathy asked.

"I could get a strap on. If that didn't do it for you then you could take a lover. I want you to be happy."

""I don't want to be fucked."

"And, therefore you see my problem as not a problem. I should get over it. Learn to enjoy life with no sex. Well, I've been living without sex for five years and the urge is just as strong now as it was five years ago. Help me solve the problem."

It was silent in the dining room for a long time. The tension in the room was thick. Finally, Helen spoke. "I have a suggestion. I'm afraid my suggestion may end our friendship, but... Harvey has never been interested in oral sex, either. My early sexual experiences taught me to really enjoy being eaten. My suggestion is that Pete and I get together for oral sex."

"Like I'm going to be Ok knowing Pete has his face in your crotch!" Harvey exploded.

"No. Like you're going to be happy knowing I'm happy and you didn't have to do it! I'm not saying I want to live with Pete. I want to live with you. And... I want to have my pussy eaten! Cathy wants to live with Pete, but doesn't ever want her pussy eaten. Ever!"

Again, it was quiet for a time.

"Would that satisfy you?" Cathy asked, looking at Pete.

"Yes."

"What am I supposed to do while the two of you are... together?"

"Whatever you want. You and Harvey can go to dinner, to a movie. You could play computer games. You could go visit our grandkids."

"What if I decide I want to be fucked?"

"Then invite Harvey in for a good romp. He's a good lover." Helen said.

"You're serious?" Harvey asked.

Helen kissed him and said, "I've told you a thousand times I think you're a good lover. If Cathy takes you to bed I'm sure you'll be good with her too."

"You'd let me do that?" Harvey's face was looking shocked and amazed.

"Are you leaving me?"

"No!" Harvey said.

"Are you sneaking around, cheating?"

"Not if you know about it."

"Then, I don't have a problem. Cathy, do you have a problem?"

"One. I don't really want to have sex."

"If I get what you're saying, Helen and I can't have sex because you don't want any. Right?" Pete looked like he just got slapped.

"Well, what do I get if you two go play?"

"You get a happy husband. Harvey gets a happy wife. You get a husband who doesn't pester you for what you don't want to give him."

"I don't know."

Helen looked across the table at her friend and said, "Did you ever screw when you didn't really want to, just because you knew your guy wanted to and you wanted to make him happy?"

"Of course. All women do that."

"Then do it again. Let Pete have me because you know he wants to and it'll make him happy. Take Harvey to bed and make him happy too. You're a giver. You can give this to all of us."

She looked at her plate, took the final sip from her wine glass and said, "When?"

Harvey said, "Now. We have a guest room. You can both stay the night here or two of us can go to a motel."

Helen said, "You two stay here. Use the guest bedroom. Pete and I will go to a motel."

Pete stood and picked up his and Cathy's plates. "I think we ought to clean up dinner before we do anything else."

The table was cleared, the dishes washed and put in the dishwasher in record time. Helen went to their bedroom and packed a small bag. They kissed their spouses good-bye and walked to Pete's car.

As he backed out of the driveway Pete heard Helen say, "I never thought they'd go for it."

"I'm still surprised they did."

Cathy was standing with her back against the front door of Harvey and Roberta's home. Harvey was unbuttoning the front of her dress. She said, "I can't believe they took the bait!"

"The art of selling is to convince someone that buying is their idea. You did great, Sweetheart."

"You did quite well yourself. Now, let's find that guest bedroom and see how late we can stay up."