She'd joined the site after an evening chatting with her friends about the situation. Three women in a similar position in life. One of her friends had more opinions on the subject than she did, dropping hints about possible indiscretions in her relationship with her fairly useless husband, or at least that's how it had appeared. It had suddenly seemed like a perfectly normal thing to want in life after years of feeling like she was slightly warped or worse. Her friend had casually mentioned toys and situations she wasn't even aware of, with her tiptoeing around asking for clarifications without wanting to seem too interested.
It was good to be out again on a regular basis. After years of gradually drifting apart she was now officially a single woman again. She had been for some time although it didn't seem something to shout about. It reality she wasn't looking for another relationship but was enjoying seeing her friends on a regular basis again. Her ex had finally moved out, after years of working away intermittently. They had drifted apart over time, there had been nothing between them for a long time in her mind. Even before he worked away she struggled to maintain enthusiasm for the relationship. Maybe it was being a parent that had taken so much time in their lives. Any adoration and attention she'd previously received from him now seemed to be focused on the children. That wasn't a bad thing, she was fortunate to have a husband who was a good parent. Unfortunately, In the evenings as they settled into watching whatever the most recent series was, she would sit quietly wanting more. Sometimes not so quietly, hints were dropped about the fun they could have, silk scarves were bought, pink fluffy handcuffs...none had made much of an appearance in the bedroom. It just wasn't him.
Instead they sat together, they had gone from feigning interest in each others activities to sitting in silence, often on their phones. She thought perhaps there was a period of time after any relationship where you struggle to come to terms with it ending, and that time period was proportionate to the length of the relationship. She'd come to realise however that in this situation the period of adjustment had happened during the relationship. She'd quite simply given up on it, a long time ago, and she suspected he had too at an even more distant point in time.
She had assumed and hoped that over time it would get better again but as they had more time to themselves they spent it alone more often. She was joining exercise classes, he was renovating a flat he'd taken on as a project. She wasn't aware of a point when her dreams didn't include him any more, but there came a time when she thought about that, and couldn't remember when they did include him. It wasn't him she imagined next to her on the beach on holiday, it wasn't anyone. It was an amicable split, they shared parenting duties, they both seemed to have more time. She wasn't even surprised when it happened, it was just another conversation that had been on the cards for a while.
It was novel to be in her new situation. She could openly discuss it with friends. She could talk about all the things she couldn't before. She'd enquire about men, are they single? What are they like? Often it didn't happen though, when they got together there was so much to discuss, and with louder and more opinionated friends than her she often found herself listening and responding, curious about this new world of hers
Her friends had discussed the site as she quietly noted to memory it for future exploration. Later that night she spent some time looking, creating a membership and marvelling at it all. Joining the site seemed so exciting after an evening out. Unfortunately it seemed the worst idea ever by the next time she logged in. Her cheeky photo of her legs had been liked a lot, which she was initially flattered by. She then read the comments, it had been commented on so many times with often perverted unwanted reviews of her. There were even more messages, mostly from faceless men who were more than happy to send her a picture of their cocks in various states of arousal. And the things they wanted from her, it was so blunt. One line descriptions of various perversions, some even making her feel a little unwell. It was all almost medical in it's openness. She didn't log in again for days.
When she did, it was with the intension of deleting the account. She started, perhaps foolishly, reading the messages again. The same range of almost generic perversions insulted her as she skimmed through. His message was there though. It was an anomaly, it didn't ask for anything, didn't offer anything. It was complimentary without being perverted. It was the first that seemed genuinely kind. She looked at his profile, there was very little information and no photos. She was curious though, and replied a quick but perfunctory thanks for the message. She deleted her photo and removed herself from the search listings, but after the message, she kept the profile. Maybe it was worth considering.
She'd thought about that message the next day, who was he? Was it worth pursuing? She checked again, another message, this time with more details. He was single, divorced, lived in the next city. His message contained questions about her too. She replied with some vague details, not enough to find her on social media by. The rest of the day her thoughts flitted between dark fantasies of him to paranoid ideas about being scammed or worse.
Over the week the messages became more regular. By the next week they had moved from the site to a messaging app at her request. They had swapped photo's, nothing indecent and none was requested. He looked like he took care of himself, she found herself looking at his photo often. They shared some common hobbies, liked similar music. They hadn't discussed in detail why they had joined the site. She had deleted her interests on it after the first message, she wondered if he remembered.
They started calling each other not long after. The conversation flowed really well, there were no awkward silences and he didn't spend the whole time talking about himself. He was flirty at times, but so was she. At some point during a call a few weeks later he surprised her by bringing it up. She was taken aback at first, it had all seemed so normal she had stopped imagining the kinkier reasons they started chatting. He had seen her interests, he relayed them back to her. She was silent, wondering how to respond. He took control of the situation on the call swiftly, politely explaining that if that was where her interests lie she could come over and see if she liked it. She didn't have to say yes now, she didn't have think about anything, she could come over and he would... take control of the situation is how he said it, slowly and clearly. And quickly, as her thoughts raced, the topic changed. They hadn't even met.