The Whole Package

Still, each time that Ash recalled his extended humiliation in front of Skye, he flinched from the unbearable cringe. He knew that it would haunt him forever. He knew that, at eighty years old, calmly lying in his bed, trying to get some well-deserved rest, his mind would snap back to that delivery truck and recall it in vivid, perfect detail. Flashback to the day when he bought a dildo and a butt plug with a plastic ruby.

Ash didn't think of that inner voice as his, though. He tried to find his own - calmer, saner, more rational. Ah, you're just an overdramatic sissy! he told himself, then chuckled loudly. Is it really such a big deal? You bought a plastic cock online. So what? You're not the first guy who's done that. The only bad thing is that you can never order anything from Amazon ever again. But see? That's just another exaggeration. You just have to wait a few years, and by then, maybe Skye won't be working there anymore. Problem solved.

Ash knew he needed to distract himself. He couldn't think about his humiliating experience if he were fully engaged with something else. To that end, he stood up and approached his desk, admiring the peculiar display of items. The urge to shove them into a wooden chest and bury it far, far away, in some secluded, forgotten area, had already subsided. Ash couldn't wait to try them, but he wanted to taste that forbidden pleasure in small doses. It was like secretly eating candy before dinner. Stealing only one was a thrilling experience, but taking a fistful would be like cheating. He wanted to squeeze as many thrills as he could from this collection, and to savor each new experience for as long as he could.

With a shaky hand, he picked up the dildo and just let it lay in his palm. Then he touched the cover of the graphic novel, almost reverently. Ash knew that there were plenty of similar, more-or-less free art collections on the net, but that graphic novel was simply epic. It was special. He didn't even read the first page of it; he just glanced at a few of the illustrations. That alone made him tremble with excitement.

The dildo hanging limply in his hand was adding to the effect. He took it in his right hand, exactly like he would his own cock. Then he traced the pattern of veins on it with his fingers. Next, nearly unconsciously, he put it against his mouth. He slid his lips along the shaft. Oh, it would be so good if it was a real cock, he thought,hot and hard, slightly throbbing. But it would be gay!

Ash knew he wasn't like that. He liked girls, not guys, but he also just loved cocks! A bit isolated from the usual manly, hairy, sweaty background that comes with it. He always thought that a girl with a cock would be the best possible combination, just like the futa-orcs from his newly-purchased comic.

Sunken into his delusions and desires as he was, Ash didn't even register the moment when he started to gently suck on the dildo. It felt so good, even though it had a slightly plastic taste, yet it was lacking something: the authenticity, the warmth, the throbbing. At least he imagined that the real thing would be like that.

He was about to put it further into his mouth, when a sudden sound almost made him jump: the doorbell!

Ash spat out the dildo onto the desk, like a teenager caught with a cigarette by his parents. He quickly swept all the forbidden items into a drawer. It was 8:40 PM.Who could it be? he asked himself, the panic already building again.Maybe my neighbor, that old fart, Mrs. O'Malley? She probably did all the detective work already, gathering information about the 'package incident', and was now coming to confront the main victim... or suspect.

He sneaked up and peeked through the peephole. Behind the door he spotted none other than that beautiful delivery driver from earlier. Skye.

What?! WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE? Every voice in Ash's head screamed the same thing, all at once. His head almost exploded like a puffball.

OMG, open the door, dummy, it's totally impolite! Whichever part of him was in charge of good manners took over for a moment; without much thought at all, Ash unlocked the door.

Skye's eyes widened, as if in surprise, and Ash began to worry that he'd kept her waiting too long. But then the girl offered him a friendly smile and said, "Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting something..."

She eyed him swiftly, and Ash realized that he wasn't wearing pants! Fortunately, his T-shirt was almost down to his thighs, fully covering his panties. Still, it did look a bit like a dress.

Well, great, so you're not only buying dildos online, but also dressing like a sissy. You are the master of making the manliest impressions, Ash.

"Oh, hey, no, no, you're not interrupting, I was just..."

Sucking on that dildo, no big deal.

"...watching YouTube. What's going on?" He was babbling nervously, but at the same time, he was also getting a better look at her.

Skye looked casual, yet captivating, wearing a plain white T-shirt, tight-fitting jeans and sporty white sneakers. Her hair was tied up in a high and long ponytail. She had subtle makeup - only highlighted eyes and a light red lipstick. She looked fresh and energetic, even though Ash suspected she'd just come off of a long shift.

She smiled a bit shyly and lifted her hand, holding a plastic bag. Bottles rang inside. "I came to... apologize for today's situation in a proper way. That was awful, and I feel really shitty that you had to experience that. So, I thought that... uhm... we could chill with some drinks? Of course, only if you're not busy, and you want that," she finished and smiled a bit awkwardly.

Ash could hardly believe Skye hadn't been kidding earlier, or that she'd persisted even after he had scurried away like a coward. He froze.

He tortured himself, trying to guess at her thoughts and intentions.Does she actually want to hang out with me, or does she just feel guilty? Worse... does she pity me? I couldn't handle that. I have to know.

"Ahm..." he mumbled, thinking how he should phrase it. "I have time, but you really didn't have to trouble yourself. The package was damaged, but... the content was fine, so we can forget about it. I won't file the complaint, if that's what it is about." He was quite satisfied with how it had come out. Now the weight of conversation was shifted back to Skye. The ball was on her side of the court.

Skye's expression changed to a serious one. For a moment, she was silent, only looking at Ash, as if thinking how to answer. Finally, she cleared her throat and said, "It's not because of that, although I guess it may look like that from your side. No, I didn't come here because I was afraid that you would file the complaint. I'm very grateful that you didn't, but, well... there's more to the story, and I thought you deserved to know. I just... eer... it's hard to explain, but... somebody from the warehouse tampered with your package on purpose." Her face tensed up even more. "They must have noticed... you know...that it was from the sex shop."

She'd lowered her voice for that bit, and for that, Ash was grateful. He was sure that his neighbors were sitting with their ears glued to the doors.

"Not that it makes any difference to you, but the prank was meant to mess with me, not you." Skye winced bitterly.

"But why?" Ash asked sincerely. "Why would they want to be jerks to you?"

"It's a rather long story..." Skye answered and shifted from foot to foot. Bottles in the bag rattled again.

"Oh, gosh, sorry for keeping you on the threshold. Please - come in," Ash stepped aside, realizing that he was being terribly rude. That wasn't the way he was raised.

Maybe it was naive of him, but he believed her. He also believed that she hadn't come to mock him. Furthermore, Skye was hot. Even though Ash was convinced that she couldn't possibly be interested in him, it still helped push him toward giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Skye thanked him gracefully and walked in. She glanced around with interest. "Nice place you have here."

"Oh, it's my gran's apartment. I came to the city to go to college." Unable to think of any more small talk, he looked again towards the bag she held. "Uhm... there is the kitchen. You'll find the bottle opener right over there. I'll be right back."

He ran to his room and hastily pulled on the first pants he noticed. They were some tight yoga pants, and, for a moment, he thought that he would look ridiculously effeminate in Skye's eyes. But then he realized that he couldn't possibly make a worse impression on her - at least not in that regard. He figured he might as well stay true to his own style and be one kind of comfortable.

He came back to the kitchen and found Skye standing next to the countertop. There were six colorful bottles. She turned to him with a soft smile. "To be honest, I'm not a big fan of beer, so I bought Esprits. We have passion fruit, lemon-lime and... strawberry." Her grin became a bit wider for a moment. "Which one do you want first?"

"Maybe lemon-lime?" Ash answered with a shy smile. He was glad that she bought these drinks, as he didn't like beer either. "I'll put the rest in the refrigerator."

They took the bottles and sat on the armchairs in the living room.

"What are you studying?" Skye asked, and then took a sip. Her ponytail was on the side of her neck, going to the front of her chest. She had long, beautiful hair, which Ash appreciated a lot.

"Animation at NYU," Ash answered, feeling a bit of silly pride, as if merely starting to learn to do something was impressive.

"Nice! So, you're an artist?" Skye asked with an interest. Unknowingly, she slid her hand along her ponytail. It looked very alluring.

"Uhm... I wouldn't call myself that, but... well, sort of I am. I like to draw." Ash took another sip of his drink. It tasted good, almost like lemonade. Despite the small amount of alcohol in it, it was already making him a bit tipsy. He hadn't built up any tolerance for the stuff.

"Really? Will you show me some of your works?" Skye leaned toward him more.

"Oh... sure, if you like... just give me a moment."

Ash got up and walked to his room. There, he had to immediately reject the majority of his available works, since most of them were attempts to portray the variety of fantasy futa girls, orcs, elves, warriors, mages he fantasized about, all of them with massive, dangling cocks. They were nice drawings, and Ash had enjoyed working on them, since they were a guilty pleasure (with a big emphasis on 'guilty'), but he was nowhere near comfortable enough to share them with anyone - let alone a beautiful girl.

Ash collected a couple of less-sexual pictures that he thought would show his talent, and then returned to Skye. He passed her a few sheets and sat down, trying to keep his ego under control. He knew that he was a good illustrator, but wanted to remain humble. Yet, that wasn't easy, as he was aware that he could easily impress other people with his drawings.

Skye started to look at his works and Ash saw that she was genuinely delighted. She was taking her time, looking closely at the details. But he noticed that, like many people - including himself - Skye was more interested in pictures of people or animals than in buildings or still life.

Suddenly, she lifted one piece of paper with a drawing of a young elf with long, blond hair. Ash was very satisfied with that particular work. Everything had worked out: shadows, lines, transitions between colors and so on. And the elven boy was pretty hot, as he was designed to be a hero in Ash's imaginary story. A beautiful, innocent boy... who lusted for huge futa cocks. The drawing was great, but Ash couldn't predict what exactly had caught Skye's attention, until she spoke.

"This one... is it like a self-portrait?" she asked with a smirk.

"What?" Ash retorted. "Why would you think that? No, it's a completely made up character" Ash chuckled awkwardly, feeling both abashed and flattered - but more the former than the latter.

"He looks very similar to you," she said. "Blond hair, slender frame, and delicate, almost elven facial features... I like it." Her cheeks were a little pink. Ash's entire face, meanwhile, was red like a beet.

He couldn't wait to change the topic, and felt relieved when they started to talk a bit more about his studies and her work. Ash learned that Skye was twenty-three, and, aside from working at Amazon, she was attending part-time business school. The delivery job was how she was paying her tuition.

It made him a bit self-conscious about him being privileged enough to not have to work, but Skye didn't behave as if it would make any difference to her. It was more just Ash's way of being, swaying from one insecurity to another, but surprisingly, next to Skye he felt calmer. She seemed to be an easygoing and down-to-earth person. It was almost as if she were radiating some odd energy of acceptance. Ash even forgot for a moment that Skye knew about his little phallic obsession.

They enjoyed the small talk for a while, even though they both seemed to suck at it. Somehow they managed to find a common language and interests.

As the conversation was winding down, Ash even felt comfortable enough to ask Skye a more personal question. He'd also finished his drink, which had left him feeling quite buzzed, and much less inhibited than usual. That inner voice had been very quiet for several minutes, if not longer. "So, what is it about these pranks?" he asked. "Why are these warehouse guys always messing with you?"

"Ah, that's a stupid story, really," Skye answered wryly, and finished her drink too. "Another one?" she asked and stood up.

"Yeah, sure," Ash answered and gave her an empty bottle. Their fingers brushed against each other, and Ash blushed so heavily that he felt as if his cheeks were on the verge of exploding.

Skye went to the kitchen, and Ash heard the sound of opening bottles. After a moment, she came back and passed him another drink, this time the passion fruit flavor.

Skye sat down on the armchair in a more comfortable position, on the side of her hip, curling her legs under her. She seemed to already be a bit tipsy, and realizing that was a relief for Ash. He wouldn't be 'outdrank' completely.

"It's painfully cliche," she said. "One of the guys, Andrew, had a crush on me. One day he asked me out, and I wasn't interested, so I declined. I tried to be polite, but he took it badly. He and his friends have been harassing me off and on ever since." Skye shrugged her shoulders dismissively, but Ash had a feeling that it wasn't such a light topic for her.

"That sucks! I mean, it's bullying... or even harassment! All because you didn't want to go on a date with the guy? That's really petty of him." Ash shook his head with outrage. "Couldn't you just report that to their superior?"

Skye snorted mirthlessly. "I could, but Andrew is our team leader. How ironic, right? I need this job, not for very long, just until I finish school and then I'm out of there. Well, that's how I felt before today, anyway. They crossed a line, messing with a customer's package like that. That could have got me in serious trouble." Skye finished and gazed at him with a hard-to-read expression.

"You're right," Ash agreed. "Isn't it a felony of some kind? To purposely damage or open someone's package?" He hastily took a considerable sip of the drink. Talking about that package was again making him nervous. He wanted to change the subject, but it didn't seem possible at the moment.

"I think it is, but it still would fall on me, you know. Basically, the condition of all the shipment is my responsibility the moment I drive away from the warehouse." Ash figured she knew more about Amazon's policies than he did. He just nodded.

"I really didn't expect they would go that far!" she said. " Usually they'd just give me a tight schedule or send me into shady parts of the city. Not nice of course, but whatever. I can deal with that. But this time it was truly malicious! Purposely harmful! Somehow they figured out that those things had been ordered from a sex shop, thought that it would be hilarious to set me up that way. But it could have ended up nasty, am I right? A client could get furious or even aggressive that the exact package he wanted to be kept in private was destroyed and its contents shown to everyone."

"Yeah, that's true..." said Ash quietly, suddenly focused on his bottle, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. He felt the well-known heat of shame creeping upon his cheeks.

Skye went silent for a moment, only looking at Ash. When she spoke again, her tone sounded lenient. "I can only imagine how you felt in that situation, Ash. I'm so sorry."

"Ah, it's nothing, really..." He waved his hand, trying to look cool, but he obviously failed.

"No, it wasn't; c'mon. I know that you're trying not to make a big deal out of it, which is very sweet of you. But it's okay to be upset. Nobody wants their private preferences advertised like that."

Did she call me sweet? Wait, idiot, the more important thing was that she said 'preferences!' Preferences! She thinks that you bought it for yourself! Red alert, red alert! Evasive maneuvers!

"It's okay, you know," he mumbled. "It wasn't nice, but since it was a gift for someone else, it wasn't as bad as it could have been." He couldn't even buy his own bullshit.

He glanced at her and saw that her eyes were locked on his face. If he hadn't averted his gaze right away, he would have noticed that Skye's expression had mellowed.

"Ash, it's okay," she said. "I wouldn't judge you even if that gift was supposed to be for... you." She tilted her head backwards as she finished her drink. It looked pretty sensual.

Ash gazed at her, blinking nervously. She didn't believe him, that was certain, but at the same time she appeared to be honest.

"But... uhm... nevermind," Ash muttered quietly and finished his drink too. He wouldn't have come up with a good, credible response even if he'd been sober. After two Esprits, it was nearly impossible.

"Let's just say that it was a very stressful situation, but I was lucky that my potentially furious client turned out to be... a very cute and kind guy." Skye smiled at Ash, and, as if wanting to give him space to think about that, she stood up. "Let's take the last one, shall we?" she asked, raising her finished drink.

"Yes, sure," Ash replied and passed her his bottle. Skye disappeared in the kitchen again.

Oh, my freaking god, she really did call me cute! Was it like: 'oh, you're such a cute guy that you didn't get me in trouble'or it was 'heeey, you're a cutie, you know...'?

His head kept producing a long line of frantic questions: Could she be into me? But what about that statement about stuff from the package? How to interpret it? Does she swing both ways? Is she into pegging? What the hell? Oh, fuck, I'm so drunk already, I have such a weak head.

Ash's mind was one huge buzz of chaotic and incoherent thoughts - right up until Skye came back. Then it just all went away. Just as if Ash felt that she could somehow hear that.

"Here you go, Ash," she said playfully. "You like strawberries, don't you?"

He was aware that she was referring to the lube from the package, but her smile was so honest and friendly that he didn't feel threatened in any way. There were quizzical sparks in her eyes.

"Yeah, who doesn't like them, right?" he said, taking the bottle from her.

He tasted the drink, and it actually turned out to be the worst of all three. The strawberry aroma felt very artificial, like melted, low-quality bubblegum. However, he didn't care at all, because he was already hammered. Ash glanced from above his bottle and realized that Skye hadn't sat back down. She was standing and looking at him. In his drunken state, he was worried that she'd said something, and that he'd completely missed it.