Chains of Despair

Feeling satisfyingly refreshed and hydrated, I closed the fridge and went to my backpack to check my phone. The girls reclined on the sectional, absently watching me. No one appeared in a rush to do much of anything.

It was just after two in the afternoon. Thoughts of leaving crowded into my otherwise tranquil mind. I didn’t want to stay too long and risk crossing paths with Clay again. Plus, Erin was out there somewhere, lurking about, no doubt waiting for me to emerge so she could extract her twisted toll. But when I considered the four naked girls relaxing languidly on the sectional in a stupor of post-orgasmic bliss, I began to bargain with myself.

Come on, you don’t need to leave right this minute. Not yet. It’s fine. It’s still early. You’ve got plenty of time.

Aw, hell, who was I kidding? In truth, I didn’t want to leave, and I damn well knew I wouldn’t. Not until I absolutely had to.

Stop lying to yourself, chump.

I tossed the phone back inside the backpack and stood up. Some of the girls began to rise as well, stretching and gathering up their clothes. Ashley separated her underwear and turned her panties right side out, preparing to put them back on. Courtney and Kayla appeared ready to do the same.

“Do you guys want to be done for the day?” I asked, trying to hide my disappointment.

Ashley paused. “No. Why? Do you?”

“No, not at all. But you’re all getting dressed, so I just kind of assumed.”

Ashley looked at the panties in her hand and then at her friends. “No, I don’t want to be done. Do we still need to be naked?”

I laughed and shook my head. “I guess not, but it’s kind of hard to have sex with your clothes on.”

Kayla made a thoughtful expression and then chucked her clothes near my backpack. “I’m not done yet,” she said, dropping back onto the sofa.

Ashley and Courtney exchanged a look, and they both set their clothes on the coffee table and sat back down as well. I moved to my spot in front of the television and put my hands on my hips, tapping my fingers on my hipbones.

“How is everyone feeling?”

They appeared subdued, and a little more pensive than I would have expected. I saw a few half-hearted smiles and a couple of head nods. Ashley raised her hand.

“You’re not at school. You don’t need to raise your hand,” I said, and she lowered it. “What’s on your mind?”

She appeared unsettled. After a moment, she said, “Hmm, I’m not sure what I wanted to say,” but I could tell something gnawed at her.

“This is your sanctuary. You’re safe in here. Just say what’s on your mind.”

She hunched forward, fingers clasped together between her knees. “I guess I just wanted to know why we did that?”

“Did what? Masturbated?”

She hesitated, then nodded and looked down. Was she upset about it? I looked at the faces of the other three girls and observed a similar lack of understanding. Not quite the unease that Ashley had expressed. More of a pronounced uncertainty.

I reflected that Ashley had walked in on us unprepared, and that I’d thrust her into the middle of it all without any preparation or explanation whatsoever. I hadn’t given her a chance to fully comprehend what we were doing and why. I reminded myself that, for all intents and purposes, she lacked any experience whatsoever, and part of Ashley’s personality was to be a people pleaser, which meant she often did things she might not otherwise do.

I needed to do better.

“That’s actually a really important question and I’m glad you asked it.”

I mulled over my response. When I’d gathered my thoughts, I paced back and forth in front of them, but directed most of my commentary to Ashley.

“We’re trying to do a lot of things today, so let’s break it down. You want to learn how to be sexy, or ‘less repulsive to males’ as you so eloquently put it. You want to be able to get a boyfriend. You want to learn about sex and seduction, and you also want to practice having sex. Multiply all of that by four and it’s a lot of stuff to try to get done.”

“Problem is, we don’t have much time. It’s Sunday afternoon. You all have school tomorrow and I’ve got my own responsibilities, so this needs to be something of a crash course if we’re going to get it all done in time.”

Courtney interrupted. “We don’t have school tomorrow.”

“I thought all of you were in high school?”

“We are, but it’s Spring break. We’re off this week.”

I mulled that over. “Well, regardless, I’m sure you have other plans.”

“I don’t,” Kayla said.

“Me neither,” said Brittney.