"My sexuality is not an inferior trait that needs to be chaperoned by emotionalism or morality."
--Alice Bag
CHAPTER 08
Over the next few weeks, I thought a lot about Brooke and Aaron and the Society. I texted Aaron occasionally just to say hello and to maintain contact. He would ask how things were going and answer my occasional question, though I would call or text Brooke with the more difficult and involved questions. When I would speak with Aaron, he purposefully stayed away from any topics that I didn't bring up. He told me that he did that intentionally, as he wanted to give me the freedom to make up my own mind.
One thing I did bring up with Aaron was the phone he gave me. I told him to cancel the line. He sounded shocked and said he was sorry our relationship was ending. I laughed. He was puzzled but I told him that it was silly to have to maintain two phones. I gave him my regular phone number and told him feel free to contact me using that line. He laughed too and thanked me for giving him that trust.
I also spoke to Brooke quite frequently during that time over my regular cellphone line too. She would text or call or I would do the same every few days. We got together every weekend, but we agreed it would be better to meet in public so we wouldn't be tempted with anything else and break any Society rules. I admit that I was conflicted with what might happen if we were in private, so that worked out for the best. We met at restaurants and talked long after we were done eating. Our friendship really blossomed. I couldn't help but really like and admire her. Her interests were pretty wild, but she was very open about everything, at least with me. She was nice and genuine, and that's hard to find in this day and age.
It was hard keeping all of this from my other friends and family, especially my friend Brittany. She could tell something was up, something different, and I was hiding something. I kept telling her that it all had to do with my split from Jonathan, but I'm not sure whether she bought it or not. She kept bringing it up, but I took extra care never to reveal anything to her. I figured I might have to eventually tell her, but I didn't want to break any of the trust the Society members had given me.
When the final week rolled around, Aaron sent me something that he said I should think about. When I opened his email, I actually laughed out loud. Here was one of the things that I saw in
Fifty Shades
that I was most curious about: the BDSM contract. What he sent wasn't really a contract like the one in the movie, and certainly it was not really a binding contract, not in legal sense. Aaron said in his email that this was a list of BDSM activities that I should review. If I were to commit to join the Society, I should know what all of these were, what they meant and what they involved, and what my interest were in all of these. I wasn't required to like all of them or even any specific ones; I just needed to familiarize myself with them so if the topic should come up, I didn't have to ask about it. It would also be something he and I would go over as one of our initial steps, so that our boundaries were clear. I emailed back thanking him and told him I would look it over.
The list was extensive. There were many things here that I expected, like spanking, whipping, restraint, handcuffs, and things like that, but there were other things too like 'figging' and 'felching' that I had never heard of and had no idea what they involved. Incidentally, 'figging' is when you insert ginger root into the anus or vagina for the constant burning sensation and pain effect of the ginger root in those sensitive areas. Now that's not something you hear about every day. I looked up the other one, too, but I won't even go into what that one is (it's not for the faint of heart).
Since I still had a week or so before I would hear from Aaron and be allowed to commit to anything, I spent some time each day reading about these things. It's not like I had anything else to do at home after work anyway. I shied away from the many friends and co-workers and family who wanted me to get together with them, all of them telling me it would be 'good for me' to go out and relax and have a few drinks. A few even wanted to set me up with a friend or a cousin or co-worker, but I politely declined. Any way you looked at it, I wasn't ready for that, especially with Aaron on and the Society looming in my mind.
By the end of the week, I had gone through the list and sorted all the activities into things I liked and wanted to try, things I wasn't sure I liked or not or wasn't sure how I felt about, and things I knew I wouldn't like. For example, I think it's obvious that I would be interested in spanking and restraint, I didn't know how I would feel about group sex or public display, and I know I wanted nothing to do with permanent marks like tattoos or branding.
Working on sorting my interests like this was kind of detached and clinical, so it made it both harder and easier to examine these activities. This was true because, well, since you aren't experiencing the activity, just reading about it and imagining what it might be like, you could objectively examine and evaluate it, but without actually doing it, something would be missing. It made me realize that not only did my interests sway a bit from day to day or mood to mood, but I also realized that an activity I thought I liked might actually turn out to be horrible when I experienced it, and vice versa. I'm sure Aaron realized all of this, but I'd have to make sure and discuss this with him. I thought to myself that I was now feeling like Dakota Johnson in that scene from
Fifty Shades
. I hope I don't come off as being as naΓ―ve or silly as she did.
The final week seemed to take forever. I did my homework as mentioned above and even logged into that website that led me to all of this to begin with. The number of new emails had tapered off but there was still too many to read, so I cancelled my account. I decided that either I had found what I needed with Aaron and the Society, or I wouldn't do this at all, so I no longer needed that site.
Contrary to what it might appear, I did struggle with whether I should do this at all. On the night of the event that I attended, when I was there a the manor house, I was absolutely ready to join. However, given time to really think about it, I wasn't so sure. It was definitely wild and provocative and thrilling and absolutely enjoyable and pleasurable... at least on one hand. On the other ... I was raised as a nice, conservative girl ... not one that was into the fringe aspects of sex. Sex was supposed to be between one man and one woman who were in love with each other and were supposed to share that love with sensual intimacy and raise a family. The Society was almost the exact opposite. It wasn't personal and private, it was open and wild, and most people today would call it crazy and extreme. Then there was always the fear of safety and dangerous play that could result in serious harm. I hadn't been truly convinced yet that I was comfortable and safe.