Chapter 2

Nikki was left standing there, uncomfortable to be in the same room with that ... that Thing. It was all too much for her brain to process. So much was being dumped on her at once that, instead of dealing with it, she rushed out of the kitchen to head for her workout gym. Quickly, she got on her treadmill for her daily run, determined to block out all thoughts of the dildo sitting in her kitchen for the time being. She seemed to run harder and faster than her usual pace this morning, though, driven by a general sense of anxiety. Before she was halfway through her exercises, she decided she was too nervous to go on and cut her workout short. As was her routine, she quickly stripped out of her sweaty clothes, dropped them into a hamper, put on a white terricloth robe, and headed for the shower. She realized she’d have to pass through the kitchen on her way to her bedroom bathroom. Still not quite ready to deal with the sex toy just yet, she entered the kitchen, holding up her hand to partially shield her eyes from it. ‘Yes, I know you’re there but this is My kitchen and you’re not gonna keep me out,’ she said aloud to the sex toy.

As if to prove a point, she side-stepped over to the refrigerator and took out a cold bottle of water. Then, spinning around on the balls of her feet, she took a giant sip, while leaning her left shoulder against the closed refrigerator door. “Brain Freeze!” she gasped out loud while stumbling to wipe up the excess water that had run down the side of her mouth on the sleeve of her robe. As she did, her gaze was drawn to the dreaded penis.

Maintaining a safe distance, she cocked her head to the side and began to study it. Somehow, it didn’t seem as threatening to her now. In fact, she nearly laughed at how ridiculous it looked. She wondered why she had been so afraid of it. “How could anyone be scared of that?” she thought. “I mean, sitting there

on the table, all by itself, it almost looks ... well, lonesome?”

At that moment, her eyes glazed over and a fantasy flashed through her brain of a parade of about a dozen such disembodied penises, except that each one now had a cartoon-like little smiley face on it. They each travelled around her in an elliptical path, with regular pauses so that each one could stop to smile and stare at her nearly naked body.

The silly image made her chuckle, breaking the tension in the room for a moment. Her laughter also caused her to snap out of her daydream.

“Alright, I guess we can’t leave you in the kitchen all day. Time to move you.” Still stalling, she took another sip of her water, smaller in volume and at a more careful speed, while still never taking her eyes off the fake penis. Then she smacked her lips, took a deep breath and tried to summon up the courage to approach it. She took one step forward ... AND immediately chickened out, making a swift about-face. As her anxiety returned, she thought, “I’m gonna need some more courage first!”

Nikki would usually never drink this early in the day but the situation seemed to cry out for extraordinary measures. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a fresh bottle of white wine. She grabbed a wine opener out of the counter drawer and shakily fumbled with it, trying to open the bottle. After a bit of a struggle, she finally got it open. Next, she searched the cabinet above her for the correct wine glass. ‘I’m gonna need The Big One for this’ she said to herself, drawing down her largest crystal glass.

Standing with her back to the table, she gave herself a small pour and took a sip to make sure the wine tasted alright. She was so nervous, though, she hardly noticed, one way or the other, and instead, found herself gulping down the rest of the glass like it was water. Immediately, she backed it up with another absolutely huge pour and nervously guzzled most of that down, too.