Special thanks to WindySwimming and shygirlwhore for the editing help!
*****
In the summer of 2005, I first saw the movie preview for "The 40 Year Old Virgin".
Even though I was only 20 years old at the time, let's just say that it hit a bit too close to home.
Getting a girlfriend was something that happened to ...
other people
.
Not me.
Finally getting a girl, let alone a concept like actually having sex, was a pipe dream stacked on top of another pipe dream.
But that stupid movie inspired me to actually grow a pair.
I was not going to end up a 40-year-old virgin!
I had to reverse my fortunes.
I got some industrial grade acne medication to clear my face.
I tried looking people in the eye more often. And along with that, actually
speaking to humans
more often.
And I found out people thought I was kind of funny. Who knew?
The hardest thing, though, was running and lifting weights. The entire concept was totally antithetical to my nerdy, "I hate jocks" persona that I had cultivated my entire life. But I stuck with it - and actually kind of enjoyed it. Again,
who knew?
Six months into my transformative vow, I finally landed Beth.
We met in our college creative writing class in the Spring of 2006.
We began getting close, bonding over movies, writing, and all that artistic junk that literature majors like us held dear.
In quite awkward fashion, we hooked up. But, neither of us could admit that that was our ulterior motive.
We got the idea to work on a collaborative story. It was about a young elf (me) and a regal forest nymph (her). They were seeking to recapture some MacGuffin device from an evil wizard.
Truth be told, the story was utter shit. Just a cheesy "Lord of the Rings" ripoff.
All you need to know, though, was that the whole "story" was just a ruse that allowed us to hook up with each other, after which we promptly abandoned our story.
Like me, Beth was a virgin.
Technically
. Ugh ... it's complicated.
It's a long story. It truly is.
She is a bigger girl, and I thought she was kind of cute. She had a great smile and all, and was curvy in all the right places. And good lord, the girl was seriously stacked like a never-ending game of Jenga. But unless she wore a tight top (which she never did), she wasn't the kind of girl that would actually get looks from passersby walking down the street.
We were two birds of a feather like that. Nobody would notice either of us. Except for the
stacked
thing. I wasn't stacked.
See? I told you I was funny.
But Beth seemed to
actually like me
. That sort of thing didn't happen often.
Ever.
By summertime, we were in the midst of a truly virginal courtship worthy of balloons, puppy dogs, and pretty pink flowers.
I didn't push the sex thing on her. It just wasn't the thing to do. Again,
it was a long story
.
But mercifully, about three months into the relationship, she finally let me.
The first time was a blur. All this buildup, for
this
?
It was quiet, after-school-special copulation. Very awkward. Confusing. I had no idea what I was doing. I barely knew where to put it. Neither did she.
Even though she was 26, she was a virgin, too.
And sex frightened her.
It frightened me less, luckily. I was strangely...
confident
in the bedroom. It was the damndest thing. It was so unlike real life, where
everybody else
frightened me. I guess it was because I already
got the girl
. So why be nervous? As such, it only made sense that I should take the lead.
That's what led to me heading to the bookstore to find a book. A how-to book. I needed to learn how to
do this stuff
, and this was an age before universally free porn.
Beth worked at this particular bookstore, so it made it difficult to sneak in and procure a sexual instructional manual. I had to do this on the
down low
.
I was quite nervous looking in the sex section at the bookstore. I was worried somebody would see me. Honestly, I was worried that Beth's co-workers, who knew that I was her boyfriend, would see me, report back to her, and tell her I was some pervert messing around in the sex section. I have no idea why I would be nervous about that. It's a normal, adult subject. But with Beth, it was, I don't know ...
not normal
.
I found an older paperback there, and began thumbing through it. It was called "A Sensuous Man." It was written like an instructional manual. It was, essentially, just what I needed. It was graphic, talking in detail about pleasure zones, cunnilingus, all of the taboo subjects that we just weren't told about in the dark ages of the early 21st century.
The approach it took put me at ease.
"Assuming you have found your ideal woman - or at least a woman who will do until that one comes along - it's time you learned how to make love to her so capably that your mutual satisfaction, your outright ecstasy, is assured."
Beth
needed this
. To enjoy it. To not be scared.
I wasn't scared.
I just didn't know
what
to do. I just wanted her to feel good.
To relax.
I didn't want her to be the frozen, scared plank she was.
Somebody
had to lead this.
As I pondered this, previewing the book with rapt attention, a sweet, sing-songy voice broke my concentration.
"Sir, are you
finding
everything okay?"
I was startled and instantly froze. I felt a harrowing and fearful chill burrow its way up my spine and slap me in the back of my head. Like I just got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I looked up from the book to see a mind-bogglingly gorgeous girl.
I know I was taken by Beth,
but I wasn't dead.
She wore a pair of black, wire-rim glasses and her lips just
shined
.
They were bright pink and glossed up, begging you to notice them, which I did. She bit her lip as she looked at me, a move that always made my pulse quicken.
My eyes glanced downward, looking at her nametag on her green bookstore polo, perched atop of a pretty staggeringly large swell of breasts for an otherwise slim girl.
"Zoey" it said.
Most men could cycle through that reaction in a matter of seconds. But for me, and my magnificent social anxiety, that was about a 10-second span of silence as I just
looked
. Think about how truly long that is to be quiet after somebody asks you a question.
Throughout this, I saw her expression change three times.
First from the bitten lip, almost innocent stare, to a raised eyebrow, waiting for a reaction. Then, to a more relaxed giggle as she seemed to look me up and down. Then she smiled.
Big.
Wait wait wait ...
was she checking me out?