Custom Curios: Anonymous
Bobby had to admit, he loved working from home. The ability to just sit in his living room, sit on his computer without the chance of anyone seeing what he was doing, was priceless. His office let him work from home twice a week, which he gratefully took on Mondays and Fridays. Today was one of those wonderful days. It was Monday and it was another day "at work"... which typically meant a day of some work, getting enough done, and the rest of the time looking at his favorite porn sites.
He had a wife, Annette, who was a knockout by everyone's standard... five foot four... thirty-four-inch bustline with gorgeous B-cup breasts... blond hair... blue eyes. She was his trophy, although that wasn't what got them together. When they first met, it was love at first sight. Their sex life was incredible before and after their marriage six years ago. Unfortunately, within the past few years, it had degraded.
The problem was time and boredom. As time moved on, their sex life waned as things started to feel... boring... and everyday activities seemed to always get in the way. Work always seemed to get in the way for both of them. And it seemed like every time they tried to have sex, it was always the same, boring thing.
So as time moved on, both of them became more and more frustrated. Bobby turned to porn while Annette turned to housework. Both of them dreamed and yearned for the day when things would be better. She dreamed of the day when Bobby would throw her down and ravage her. Bobby dreamed of the day when Annette wore sexy clothes to get his attention and seduced him.
As Bobby sat on his computer, sitting on the couch, Annette walked into the room carrying a laundry basket full of clothes wearing an old, large t-shirt and sweat pants. She sat in the recliner near him and started folding the clothes.
"What are you doing?" she asked, sounding tired of him not helping her with the household chores.
"Just doing some work," he said, closing his browser where a porn video had been playing.
"Can you help me with some of this?"
He shrugged and looked at the basket full of laundry. "I said I'm doing some work, babe?"
"You're always doing 'work'," she mumbled, throwing a folded towel onto a stack.
"Yeah, well some of us have to earn some money, you know," he said. "I can't just help you do chores all day."
She looked at him and frowned as if he never even helped when he wasn't working. "Ok then," she said sarcastically.
"Can I ask you something? Have you seen the lingerie I bought you for Valentines Day last year? I haven't seen you wear it once, even."
Annette nodded, smirking. "You mean from five years ago? I'm not really sure where it is."
"Oh... Are you sure?" he asked, puzzled. "I thought... I thought I bought something more recently than that," he said. "Anyway, it would... you know... it would be nice if you wore it some time? I like stuff like that on you. I mean, we've only been married for six years and all I ever see you wear any more are your sweats all day long. It all just screams 'keep away'."
"Wow," she said, looking at him and frowning again. "I'm sorry that I haven't slutted up for you lately."
"I'm just saying, you know, maybe if you wore something like that...." He plead her understanding with his eyes, but knew she was taking it the wrong way. He always seemed to say something stupid to make her mad at him.
"Something like that?" she asked, throwing down a semi-folded t-shirt. "You want me to wear frilly little lingerie when I'm sitting around this house doing chores all day? I'm sorry I'm not sitting here folding your laundry in just a G-string."
"Come on... I don't mean it like that. Look, it's not hard doing chores like folding laundry," he said. "I'm the one working my ass off every day."
She nodded and smirked again, not believing that he would say something like that. "Oh, by sitting in the living room on your computer all day?"
"Yeah... I'm working," he said, pointing to his open computer.
"Yeah, right," she mumbled, not believing that he was really working at all. She'd caught glances at his computer screen... at the porn. She knew what he was probably doing all day long and she wouldn't call it work.
"Look, all I'm saying is that I'd love to see you wear it," he said. "You look so hot in lingerie."
"You know what?" she said, sounding very frustrated with him. "When you decide to dress up for me, maybe I'll dress up for you."
Bobby looked at her for a moment, wondering how he could recover from this. He didn't want to argue again. He just wanted his gorgeous wife back and didn't know how to do it.
Suddenly his phone rang. "It's Patrick," he said, picking the phone up from the bed.
"Patrick?" she asked, shaking her head. She really didn't like his brother. He was a sleaze bag and was always leering at her when he was around. He had absolutely no filter for his libido.
"Yes. And I'm going to answer it."
"Fine," she said, throwing the folded clothes into the basket and carrying it up the stairs to the bedroom.
"Hey," he said into the phone.
"How's it going bro?" Patrick asked.
"It's going," Bobby said, sounding rather defeated.
"Ah... sounds like you had an argument," Patrick said.
"Unfortunately," Bobby said. "I just keep putting my foot in my mouth. I don't even know how to talk to her any more."
"So it's not any better?"
Bobby had talked to Patrick before, trying to get some ideas on how to put the spark back into his marriage. Patrick was still single with a new girl practically every week. His "spark" was a new girl to play with.
"No, still not so good," Bobby admitted. "And it's still the same thing. Six years and there's no fucking spark any more. I don't know what to do. I'm at a fucking loss."
Annette stood at the top of the stairs, holding the basket, listening to his conversation with Patrick and shook her head. He was right... he did keep sticking his foot in his mouth. It seemed like he was always blaming her for everything that was wrong. Now it sounded like he was as unsure of what happened as she was... he was as unsure of how to fix it as she was.
She thought of one thing that might help kindle a spark, something she could do. He mentioned lingerie...
*****
She wasn't sure how she ended up in this part of town. She was just coming back from grocery shopping, wasn't she? This part of town was the wrong direction to go home. She pulled over onto the side of the road to map the best way home when she looked up and saw a strange little sign hanging from the side of the building.
Custom Curios. What an odd name for a store.
She never heard of it or seen it before, although she very rarely visited this part of town. But there was just something about the place that attracted her. She looked in her mirror to make sure no one was coming and got out of her car.
The place seemed dark after coming in from the bright sunlight outside, but seemed cozy enough. There were multiple shelving units with items on the shelves, several clothing racks, and a video section. It was like an indoor yard sale.
"Good afternoon," a old man said, coming out from among the shelves. "Can I help you find anything in particular?" He was a tall, thin man, appearing to be in his eighties.
"Oh... um... I don't know," she said. "I'm just looking. I guess maybe for ideas to help my marriage."
"Ah yes... marriage help," he said, smiling. "I see that a lot. Well, there's some lingerie over here," he said, pointing to the racks, "and some little adult trinkets on the shelves back in the corner here." He pointed to the back corner of the store.
"Ok," she said walking over to the clothing rack. There was no way she was going to buy used lingerie, though.
"Just let me know if you have any questions," the man smiled. "I'll be here. I'm always here."