Chapter 20: I Treat Julia as a Sex Object

Monday, April 4, 2005

When I awoke Monday morning, I think the first conscious thought any of us had was, <Yippee, Julia's place after school. I can't wait.> It's such a nice way to wake up, knowing you've got full-on sex to look forward to later the same day.

I was the first one to the breakfast table this morning, after Mom of course, so I oh so casually told Mom, "I'll probably go to Julia's after school today." Probably indeed! Wild horses couldn't keep me away.

Mom replied, "Is she over her soreness?" It's hard to sneak one past my mom.

Figuring there was no point in trying to, I said, "I hope so!"

"We should have a little discussion about how often you should go over there. You don't want to make a nuisance of yourself. She can come here you know."

"Only if she can bring her bedroom!"

"Haha. Nevertheless, I know if you or Julia are left to choose, you'll be over there every evening. I can just imagine you two concocting a 'fair' system: where she invites you over on odd days, and you invite yourself on even days. I think not. We'll have to make some guidelines for schooldays and weekends. You're going over for their family dinner on Wednesday, aren't you?"

"Yes, as far as I know."

"That'll be twice this week already. Twice more for her coming here makes four. Out of five days, that doesn't leave you with any time for study and everything else. Don't forget you have Aikido this Thursday too." Because of my cast I couldn't participate, but I was going to watch to see if I liked the look of it.

^-- "Four times during the week is too many, so it has to be once per week in each direction. I won't count your dinner with them on Wednesday because I know Julia's family want to meet you properly. So that evening plus one other weekday evening this week."

"Only one evening per week, Mom, that's terrible!"

"One evening each way during the school week. For the weekends you've got soccer when your cast comes off, chores and various other things to do, but you can probably spend a whole day together. Try to split it up a bit, and spend part of it here so you aren't taking too much advantage of the Williamses."

"But that means only two times a week at her place. That's horrible. I want to see her more than that!"

"You can see her here, that's three times per week."

"But it's only at her house that we can, you know, go to her room. Unless you let me do that here?"

"Mark, when we gave you the bedroom rules, when did we say they would be reviewed?"

"Umm, about two months."

"It's barely been one and half days and you're already trying to renegotiate. I am NOT impressed. If you're not careful the deal will be renegotiated all right, and not in the direction you want!"

"Sorry Mom. But twice per week is so little."

"It's three times, Mark, unless you're telling me that the only interest you have in Julia is for sex." Mom's face was hardening into her steely glare. It was scary as hell. "In which case you are going to be in more trouble than you have EVER been in your entire life. WELL?"

"No, no Mom. It's not just for sex, honest! I love being with her."

"You have disappointed me. You were ONLY counting the opportunities for sex, and completely disregarding spending time with that lovely girl. You've disappointed and angered me! You're that close," holding up her hand with a thumb and forefinger very close together, "to having your privileges revoked. 'Privileges' - got that?"

"Yes, Mom. I'm very sorry."

"So you should be. One night each way during the week. No more than one day total together over the weekend, and I'm going to talk with Vanessa to make sure a large portion of that is outside the bedroom. You are going to learn that the most important thing is to get along with her as a person, not as a sex object, got that?"

"{Gulp}. Yes, Mom."

"Is Mark in trouble, Mom?" From Donna, as she and Carol entered the kitchen.

"Yes he is. He was treating Julia badly."

A sharp intake of breath from Carol, who didn't like the sound of that at all.

"I wasn't treating her badly! She's not even here. That's not fair."

"You were treating her badly in your thoughts."

"That's just in my thoughts. That doesn't hurt her."

"If you think bad thoughts about her, how long do you think it'll take to show up in your actions toward her?"

#4: <Ouch. You walked right into that one. You're dead, apologize.>

"I'm sorry Mom. You're right and I was wrong."

"Damned right. You've had enough breakfast, clear off back to your room. I don't want to see your face for a while. Think about your attitude, young man."

I scuttled away. I'd lost my appetite anyway, that being a strong indication of how badly I felt it. It's scary being on the receiving end of Mom's anger when I've screwed up. [[In large part because I was a wimp who couldn't stand up to anyone's anger.]]

I kept a low profile until the school's car arrived. Mom sent me off, as normal, but I still felt ashamed.

In the car the girls wanted to know what I'd done. They'd heard the last part of Mom's talk before they'd walked into the kitchen, about " ... her as a person, not as a sex object," and it wasn't hard for them to fill in the gaps. Carol was particularly concerned. I don't know what the driver thought.

I just said, "Mom strongly and correctly pointed out that I was doing something wrong. If you want to know more than that, you can ask Mom."

They'd obviously already tried that and been unsuccessful. They tried to cajole more out of me, but I didn't want to talk about it.

^

We arrived at school before Julia, so I waited for her at our new meeting spot, a quiet spot midway between the bike racks and where Mr. Moore (the driver of the car our school provides) drops us off. Not being in a high-traffic area meant we could get gushy with each other without too much embarrassment.

A few minutes later Julia came running toward me. I liked looking at her, particularly as she was wearing a shorter skirt than normal. She normally dresses quite conservatively, but today her skirt was above her knees. She looked good! I also noticed that she was moving without any soreness, and I smiled at what that meant. Then I realized I'd been thinking sexually, and I wondered how right Mom was, which depressed me.

Julia ran to me and hugged me, and I didn't return her hug with the enthusiasm she expected. She looked at me, and saw that I was sad, "What's wrong?"

"Mom caught me mistreating you this morning and told me off for it big time. She was right and it saddens me. I want to apologize to you."

"But I've only just got here. How could you have mistreated me?"

I smiled, "Funnily enough, that's exactly the same defense I tried. Mom shot me down in flames. She pointed out that I was thinking bad thoughts about you, and that they'd soon show up in how I treated you when we were together."

A rapidly concerned Julia asked, "What bad thoughts were you having about me?"

"Mom caught me valuing you too highly as a sex object rather than a person whose company I enjoy."

"Oh that's okay then. I don't mind that all. You can treat me as a sex object as much as you like. You're very good at it."

"Unfortunately that's not what Mom meant. I'm afraid that what I did was treat you as a sex object RATHER than a person whose company I enjoy. Mom and I were discussing how many days a week you and I can visit each other, and I was too focused on the days we could spend at your house and too dismissive of the days we could spend at mine. I made Mom think that my ONLY interest in you was sexual. She got quite angry with me. I'm sad to say she was right to because I was refusing to value the days you would spend at my home. I'm ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you. Please forgive me, Julia? I promise I will value you as a person, and that I DO value you as a person."

I knew Mom's accusation had been on target and I was expecting Julia to get quite upset with me. I awaited her response - more likely explosion - with considerable concern.

"You don't need to apologize to me, and don't worry about your mom: I'll give her a call and fix it. Let's go in."

#1: <Hang on, she can't just say we don't need to apologize and walk off like nothing happened.>

#2: <And "fix it." How can she possibly do that? I screwed up and I know I did. It's done, it can't be fixed.>

#4: <Sometimes I think females don't quite see the same world as we do.>

#1: <Yeah, they're weird.>

"Julia, hang on. I didn't expect your answers. I thought I was going to be in trouble with you, can you explain please?"

"What part do you want me to explain?"

"Umm, all of it actually. Why don't I need to apologize to you, and how can you fix it with Mom?"

"Your mom's the easiest one to explain. I'll call her and thank her for protecting me. That way she'll know you told me everything. It could take longer to explain why no apology is necessary because there are several reasons. How many do you want?"

#4: <Back up the bus! I haven't got a clue what the first explanation meant. And while I've got the floor, how can there be "several reasons" to the "no apology" question? I can't think of a single reason.>

"I still don't get how your thanking Mom for protecting you fixes my mistake this morning?"

"I'll make sure she knows you told me everything."

"Yes..."

"That's it really. I won't have to do anything else."

#2: <{Groan}.>

"I can see you're puzzled. You don't really understand how mothers work do you?..."

#4: <Given that Mothers are a subset of Females, that's certainly true.>

" ... I'll take it step by step..."

#2: <THANK YOU!>

" ... even though it's quite simple. I'll mention to her that you told me you'd been thinking of me as a sex object. Saying that to any girl automatically puts her on alert that she's being used, and she'll immediately become very cautious about giving you sex. You'd never say that to someone you were using as a sex object because it'd defeat the entire purpose of that relationship. That your mother knows you told me this proves you're not seeing me as a sex object, even though that's EXACTLY what I want you to do to me tonight, haha.

^-- "Second, that you explained it to me so we could discuss it means you're treating me as a full partner in the relationship, as a respected person, exactly the thing that your mother thought you were guilty of not doing.

^-- "Then there are issues such as your demonstrating your honesty; mothers like to see that. Also, that you came up to me and apologized means you listened to your mom and understood her point, which is another thing mothers like.

^-- "That I called her to thank her, lets her know that I accepted your apology and that you have my trust. My thanking her also means that we both value her involvement in our relationship, which we wouldn't do if it was just a sexual one but would do if it was one in which people and personal development was important, again being exactly what she was worrying about. There's more, but you can see that it's really quite simple."

"Ahh, honey, that was very impressive thinking. How can you think it's simple?"

"It's just a mirror. Mirrors are simple. Take the things she was concerned about - too much sex object and not enough human respect - turn them around and reflect them back. In this case, show her that sex isn't the main issue and respect is given between us. Her concerns are canceled by more of the good stuff and she ends up respecting you even more than before you made the mistake. Thus 'problem fixed'. Like I said, it's simple."

#1: <You know, all of that actually made sense.>

#4: <Except the bit where she said it was simple; obviously not that.>

#3: <No, obviously not that. But the rest made sense, in a stunningly impressive, complicated, we-never-would-have-thought-of-it way.>

#4: <But remember that of the two questions: "Fix Mom" and "No Apology Needed", Julia said the "Fix Mom" was the easiest. Anybody looking forward to the next explanation?>

#1: <Class starts soon, so let's try to get the condensed version.>

"Thanks very much. That was a good explanation, I understand much better now. And I think it's an excellent idea that you call Mom to thank her..."

#4: <Because we were NEVER going to think of a better idea, were we?>

#1: <Never.>

" ... but what about the 'no apology needed' explanation. We have just a little time before class, so can you give me some quick reasons please?"

"Certainly, my love. Here we go: You don't need to apologize for treating me as a sex object because you don't. I threw myself at you and to my intense frustration you responded better than a perfect gentleman. You ALWAYS listen to me and think about my views. You are enormously careful of my needs, and then apologize for the slightest mistake you think you might've made, even to the extent of apologizing for giving me what has to be the best sex it's possible for a woman to have. Lastly, you don't need to apologize for treating me as a sex object because I hope you'll do that sometimes. I know it's not your basic character, but it'll be fun sometimes because you're VERY good at sex. In short, you have my complete and total trust and commitment, and you can treat me in any way you want because I know you'll treat me very well, so no apology is needed, like I said."

#3: <That made sense too, but it was a little intense.>

"Um, thanks."

"You're welcome, my love. I'm happy to help you in any way you want. In return I hope you'll fuck my head off tonight?"

"Julia!" I looked around frantically to make sure she hadn't been overheard. And because I'd flashed on a memory of our doing what she'd suggested, I also had to issue a rapid go-soft command too. I warned her, "Someone might hear."

"If I could get hold of the school's PA system, I'd announce that you were the best lover in the entire world! I am so happy, proud and lucky." She obviously considered that the end of the conversation, as she grasped my left arm and we walked toward our first class, dragging my over-inflated ego behind her.

#2: <Do any of you have any idea where they learn all that stuff from? She honestly thought that fixing my problem with Mom was simple. The best plan I had was to apologize repeatedly for the next year or two in a pathetic attempt to reduce the amount of damage we'd done, yet Julia instantly knew what to do. She didn't even need to think about it. And what's more, her idea will actually fix it. Mom will go from being pissed off at us to being impressed. Do they sneak off to special classes to learn that stuff, or what?>

#2: <Any ideas anyone? No? I thought not. They learn it by magic.>

I had a girl flirt with me later that morning, fortunately not when Julia was around. It took me by surprise as so much had happened since last Friday at school that I'd forgotten about the 'real world'.

Once I recognized what was happening, I told her not to bother. I'd like to be able to say that I handled it firmly, quickly, effectively and kindly, but it didn't quite work out that way. I started very firmly and quickly, but then I felt I'd been too cruel, so I tried to backtrack a little to make her feel better. Then I realized I shouldn't be complimenting her for being good looking, so I tried to backtrack on my backtrack, which just caused me to vacillate around, going nowhere. She eventually lost interest in flirting with me, for one reason or another.

Everything Mom and Dad had told me had made me too conscious of what was at stake, and too self-conscious of how important it was that I do the right thing. Consequently I had done the right thing very poorly. I resolved to work on my Pretty Girl Rejection Technique as it obviously wasn't coming naturally.

At lunch a similar thing happened, this time when Julia was standing beside me. We were standing in line, when the girl behind me said, "Hi Egg. How was your weekend."

"Fine, thanks." I'd answered without thinking, but then realized that it'd been one hell of a lot better than "Fine".

I was still thinking about that when she went on, "What did you think of the newspaper story on Saturday?"

There'd been another story about the aftermath of the Annette and Biffs incidents. I told her what I'd told dozens of people already today, "I didn't see it. I don't read them."

"Wow, Egg, you're sooo cool." She gushed, as she put her hand on my arm.

I stepped straight back, as per Dad's advice to make sure girls miss when they throw themselves at me. In this case, even just a 'thrown' hand.

#2: <It's almost funny isn't it. We were about as uncool as anyone could possibly be two weeks ago, but after some crappy newspaper stories we're suddenly, "sooo cool".>

I looked toward Julia, to see if she had been watching. By the way Julia was standing I could see that she'd been watching the WHOLE time. She'd probably been aware of what was happening even before I was. (I think they go to special classes, or something.)

Still looking at Julia I said, "Shall I tell her, or do you want to?"

"You'll let me?"

"Be my guest."

"Oh goody."

Turning to whoever she was, Julia's entire demeanor changed, into a really scary-looking homicidal pixie (you had to be there).

Julia snarled, "Get lost, bitch! He's mine!"

Whoever-she-was clearly wasn't expecting that much invective. Me neither! She took a step back and said, "Oh. I didn't know."

"He's holding my hand, slut." Julia lifted our still held hands.

Whoever-she-was turned and started walking away, and was followed by a, "And tell your slutty girlfriends!"

Then a sweetness and light Julia gave me a lovely smile and hugged my arm, "Thanks, I enjoyed that."

"Yes, I could see that. I don't think she enjoyed it though."

"Good. I don't want her near you. She's trash."

"You know her?"

"I've seen her around, just enough to know that she's trash. Her boyfriend's a stoner."

"If she's got a boyfriend, why was she flirting with me then?"

"She was trying to trade up. Way, way up. You're so far out of her league she's delusional. Forget about her. Let's get some food for you." Now that she mentioned it, I was hungry. We resumed lining up, which just meant turning around. The Andersons have always taken bagged lunches to school every day - and Julia does now to stay with me at lunchtime - but I'd gotten hungry and had eaten most of mine mid-morning so we were buying me some more.

The rest of the day was good. School was school of course, and not much can be done about that, but Julia was with me as much as she could and we were both looking forward to our after-school activities.

I was first to arrive at the car rendezvous point. While waiting, I became a little confused about the transport arrangements. Would the car driver take me to Julia's place after dropping my sisters at home, or would I have to bike from my home to hers? This was the first time I could have gone directly to her place from school, and I didn't know what I could ask the driver to do. It would also be nice to offer Julia a lift, but she had to bike home as she'd biked to school. Then I flashed to the short-ish skirt she was wearing today, and I wondered what she'd look like on her bike?

I was still thinking about this when Carol next arrived. She skipped up to me (skipped!) and hugged my left arm just like Julia does. The trouble was that Carol is considerably better endowed than Julia, and I was instantly aware of it. A quick <Down boy!> command had to be sent to my cock.

#1: <I object! Carol is not "better" endowed than Julia; "more" endowed certainly, but not "better". Julia's endowments are small but they're absolutely gorgeous.>

#4: <Shall we agree they're both "wonderfully endowed" then?>

#1, #2, #3: <Agreed.>

Fortunately, but sadly, the wonderfully endowed Carol let go, and said, "Mom said you're going to Julia's?"

"Yes, although I think I'll need to go home with you first, and bike from there. I'm not sure the school's driver would like being made to go to two different places. That'll give Julia time to get home anyway."

"When you see Julia can you please remind her for me that she offered for me to come over one day and look at her clothes and do some makeup. I'd love to visit with her. She's such a wonderful girl, and so beautiful."

"Yes I'll remind her. It'll be good for my two favorite girls to spend time together."

"{Squeak}. I'm your second favorite girl! Really?"

I had a quick think, and to my surprise she was. I hadn't thought about that before. Of course, there were EXTREMELY few girls to choose between. I flashed back to Julia's "Get lost, bitch! He's mine!" and knew that there definitely weren't going to be any more added soon, or possibly ever.

"Carol. I didn't deliberately think about it before I spoke; I just opened my mouth, and it came out. But now that I've thought about it, I can tell you that it's definitely true. You are one of my two favorite girls."

"Oh that is wonderful."

#1: <There goes the arm grab again. Feel those breasts. Mmm, wonderful.>

#3: <If she knew how few girls are in the 'race for our affections' - to be very charitable - she wouldn't be so impressed by being in second place. It's not far up from the bottom.>

Carol added, "Do you know that you're my favorite boy?"

"Am I? Thank you, but you'll meet another boy to be your number one favorite soon. Then I'll be happy to be your number two."

"Maybe. I hope so, but I won't be as lucky as Julia."

"I'm not that great; there are LOTS of boys better than me. You'll have no trouble finding one either. You're beautiful, smart and nice. You'll have your pick of half the boys in school. You'll easily find a boy much better than me."

Nervously, "You think I'm beautiful?"

"Heavens yes!"

A very happy Carol grasped my arm even tighter. Mmm. <Down boy!>

We stood there, in the same pose, for a minute or so; Carol obviously very happy and me quite enjoying myself too.

Donna ran up. "How come you're hugging Mark so lovey-dovey?"

"He said some very nice things to me and I think he's wonderful."

"Yeah, he's pretty good now. Much better than he used to be, that's for sure!

^-- "I'm not going home with you guys. I've got a hockey game. Someone else will give me a lift home afterward. Please tell Mom. Bye." And she ran off. Running is Donna's usual form of locomotion.

I couldn't help asking Carol, "I'm much better than I used to be?"

I knew I was less nasty, but both girls had just treated me much more positively than just being "less nasty" would justify, so I was curious what they thought. A large part of my reason for asking was that I was hungry to understand girls. I knew I was on thin ice with Julia. For all of Julia's enthusiasm for me, I knew I would repeatedly screw-up with her, and it'd be very good if I could learn enough to reduce the number of times I'll hurt her, and the chance of my losing her entirely. Especially because Julia was so intense that my inevitable screwups are going to hurt her badly.