I try so hard to be good, and usually I am, but let's face it—I have a sex drive so powerful it could run the city of Chicago for the next three months. Oftentimes, it takes me, not the other way around. I've been in so many positions, in so many beds and in so many places in the past, but let the past be the past. I've tried to start anew.
Rules for myself included: 1) no sex without a committed relationship. 2) no masturbating in the bathrooms at work (most accountants are so robotic that they don't need to use the crapper, it's a wonder I haven't gotten caught yet). 3) no more porn on my computer. 4) no cybersex. 5)nothing crazy crazy. 6) keep sex to inside the apartment. 7) don't wake up the neighbors.
These were a lot of rules for somebody like me, somebody who could easily go through a few orgasms over the course of the normal day. A great day for me would be wake-up sex before I make me and my partner from the night before a cup of coffee, then while I'm at work I go to the bathroom to jerk myself off—I won't if things are busy, but I will if things are slow. And the slower things get, the more "bathroom breaks" and "cigarette breaks" I take. And then there's whatever happens when I get home from work.
I wouldn't categorize myself as a sex addict, because I can go for a few days without any sex at all. You probably watch a lot of TV because you like to. Are you a TV addict? Is it the end of the world if you miss a night or two? Some people like food, some people like books, some people like smoking, some people like vacations, I happen to really, really like sex. I do not think that is a crime.
When I was in elementary school my classmates used to call me Glinda, based on my uncanny resemblance to Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz. I have her strawberry blond curls (though recently I've taken the time every morning to blowdry my hair straight, it's what the fashion magazines are telling me to do) and I have her gait. I am, I will tell you, the cheeriest accountant you will ever meet. I practically hum when I do accounts payable. But when I'm in bed, I scream.
Anyway, this morning I felt good about my resolutions, good about sex and good about trying to clean up my life (my last few encounters had all been organized through internet sites, and let's just say I met some dreary people and was not at all happy with where they left me, emotionally speaking). For now, I'm me, and I have my fingers to do whatever somebody else can't.
That's what I was telling myself until around 12:15, just when I was about to leave the office with my friend Hannah for lunch. I got a call to my desk, from a phone number I didn't immediately recognize.
I picked up the phone. "Miranda Stallworth."
"Hey Miranda, it's Jared."
"Jared! How are you?" Jared is one of my good friends who would be best off as a contestant on Beauty and the Geek. He has glasses and a short, gelled haircut that absolutely makes him look every bit the software engineer that he is. "I'm great. Are you up for lunch?"
"Absolutely. Mind if my friend Hannah tags along?"
"No problem. Meet at Trio's?"
"Sounds good. Let me just ask her."
"Hannah," I call over to her. "Trio's? You'll be able to meet my friend Jared. He's a great guy."
"Sure thing," Hannah said. "Just don't set me up with him or anything, I don't need any more drama in my life right now."
I looked at her as if she were crazy. "It's just a lunch. Nothing more."
"Alright, whatever."
"Hey Jared," I said back into the phone. "Meet at Trio's as soon as you can get there."
***
The waitress was kind enough to find a table that was in a relatively quiet section of the restaurant, so that Hannah, Jared and I could talk more intimately. Hannah and Jared were delighted to learn that they had both graduated from Cornell in the same year and they were recounting all of the great times they had had as college students. I saw Jared's green eyes light up, the way I know they buzz whenever he has an orgasm. As for Hannah, she had just gotten out of a long relationship with a guy who, as from what it sounded like, didn't know anything in bed. Though I take Hannah as somewhat of a prude, I was surprised to see a shade of a black lace bra covering her ample breasts when she leant in to talk to Jared. This girl has a lot to give, I thought to myself.
"College was nuts," Jared said. "I was nuts."
"Nuts how?" Hannah asked.
"Let's just say that I was with girls left and right."
"Really?"
Jared flushed a shade of red. "Yeah... see.... I was walking down the hallway of my dorm once with a towel around my waist, straight out of a shower. One of my male friends thought it would be a great idea to yank the towel from my waist, to prove to himself and everyone around him that engineers didn't have anything down below. Let's just say that he—and a bunch of girls walking towards me—were very surprised at what they found under there, and word got around that God was kind to me when I was born. So a lot of girls banded together and decided that they wanted to... you know... experience me...test drive me, so to speak. I deflowered so many girls that way I can't even tell you."
Hannah giggled. "Are you.... Really... that.... Big?"
"I don't really have much of a basis of comparison—it's not like I go hunting to compare to other men and I've never measured myself.... But if what girls tell me is even half true... then I guess I am blessed."
Hannah turned red as a tomato. It was Jared's turn to laugh.
"It's okay, sweetheart... I'm used to it. And, apparently, I'm good with it too. Just ask your friend Miranda."
Hannah turned to me in shock. "You mean you've..."
"Had sex with Jared? Fuck yeah."
"But you guys never went out with each other. Or anything. Or maybe you did and you never told me about it."
I laughed and laughed. "Jared and I... we both like to have sex. And we like each other. And we like each other enough that we can have sex and we're okay that it doesn't amount to any romance. And that can be a problem, when we're in committed relationships."
"Oh my goodness," Hannah said. "That just sounds so weird to me."
"It's not, I promise you. If you like it, you get used to it. Jared and I know what each other are about."
"It's just so.... Untraditional, I guess."
"Maybe," Jared said. "But who's to say that tradition's any good?"
"And do you guys still...."
"Occasionally," I butted in. "We've been a bit slow on that lately. I just made a promise to myself to clean up my sex life, but now that I see you here, Jared, in the flesh, I might just have to change that."