It was not quite the doghouse, but Cindy had apparently decided to play a game with me. Tit for tat, as it were. The next Thursday, Cindy was suddenly "overwhelmed" by schoolwork and could not attend our regular dinner. As the youngest of three sisters, Cindy could be something of a brat sometimes.
Sandy, Sara, and I had dinner and watched some TV for a while before the discussion turned inevitably to Sandy's new boyfriend, Doug. It seemed that not all was going well.
I made like I was not all that interested, but the idea of Sandy, a born-again, 21 year-old virgin who had barely ever even kissed a guy, trying to navigate her way through dating a hormone-driven young man of her own age gave me a kind of sadistic amusement.
Sara and Sandy did most of the talking, and I just sat there and listened. It seemed that Doug was ready for the relationship to start delving into physical areas that Sandy was just not quite ready for. She had always been very protective of her body, and where Cindy was the type of girl who would just come sit on your lap or snuggle up to you, Sandy definitely had her barriers.
Sara eventually stood up. "We talked about this last week, Sandy, and you know my opinion. I am going to bed."
Sandy nodded, disappointed. The pressure her boyfriend was putting on her was obviously causing her quite a bit of anxiety. She got to her feet and began putting on her coat.
"You don't have to go if you aren't done talking," Sara said. She was pouring herself a glass of water. "It might do you some good to get a male perspective on this."
Sandy paused and considered this for a moment. I was actually looking forward to getting some shut-eye β Desiree had let me know that I needed to be in the office early the next morning to have another frustrating "meeting." But Sandy shrugged and took her coat off again.
I kissed Sara goodnight, and then settled back down on the couch. Sandy sat down on the floor about ten feet away from me.
I figured if I was going to stay up, we might as well talk about something I could get interested in.
"So what HAVE you done?" I asked.
"You mean, like...to each other...physically?" she stammered.
"Sexually, yes," I nodded. Even the most clinical terms seemed taboo to her.
"Well,...I mean...I don't..." she struggled for words. There seemed no limit to her prudish ways.
I decided I would need to get direct and walk her through this one step at a time.
"Have you kissed?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"With tongue?" I asked.
She hesitated. Her pretty face was getting pink. I could not help but smile at her ridiculous bashfulness. "Yes," she answered.
"Is he the first guy you have ever kissed like that?" I asked.
"Like that, yes," she replied.
"That's hard to believe," I said.
"Why?" she said hurtfully, as if I had called her a whore.
"Because most people would think that a girl as beautiful as you would not have waited as long as you have," I explained.
Her shade of pink got a bit deeper, and she tried to hide a smile.
"Do you like it?" I asked.
Her cheeks got even pinker. "Yes."
"Has he felt your breasts?" I asked.
She was slow to answer, which gave me all the answer I needed. "Yes," she finally confirmed, "but not under the shirt."
"Has he felt you down there?" I asked, nodding between her legs.
She turned the deepest shade of pink and shook her head. Her thick pouty lips stretched into a naughty smile, as if even talking about such things were a new, exciting experience for her.
"No?" I asked, trying to sound surprised even though I was not in the slightest. "That's too bad. What stuff does he want you to do?"
She was very slow to answer.
"It's me," I said softly. "You can tell me."
"He wants me to give him a blow job," she said, and then buried her face in her hands, unable to believe that she just uttered such words. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at her.
"And that's not something you want to do, I take it?" I asked.
"Well," she said. "I do, but...I just...what if I...I don't..."
"You've just never done it before," I finished for her.
"Right," she nodded.
"And you're nervous about what will happen if you do it wrong," I said.
"Well, yeah," she replied.
"Understandable," I said. "You really like this guy. It's your first time. It's a huge step in the relationship, not to mention your sexual growth. It's a lot of pressure."
"Right," she said. She sounded relieved that someone understood her feelings.
"What did Sara tell you?" I asked, curious.
"She said I should just get it over with and do it. She said that if I really needed to, to practice on a beer bottle or something," she said, rolling her beautiful green eyes in frustration.
"You don't drink beer," I observed.
"Well, no..." she said.
"And how will you know if you are doing it right on the bottle?" I asked.
"Exactly," she said.
"The bottle can't exactly give you any feedback on what is good and what you need to work on," I said.
"Right," she said.