"What do you mean you're defective?" Ryan asked.
We were walking, enjoying the downtown buzz of activity with the city lights enveloping us as people laughed and went about their plans. We were discussing sex, a subject for which I should have had a de facto degree. I had just finished telling him something that I was sure he already knew, but apparently didn't.
I looked up at him. "We've talked about this before, haven't we? I've told you this before, right?"
"No, you haven't told me before. What does that even mean?" He looked back at me, a curious look on his face. Sighing with resignation, I answered him.
"It means I've never... had an orgasm with a man." I watched as his eyes widened with surprise as the words registered, and I could feel my face flush with unease. At 32 years old, the idea that I would never be able to be that responsive with a man was starting to scare me. Whenever I thought about it I could feel small panic waves attack my insides. It wasn't that I didn't know how to have an orgasm, I had done it to myself plenty, I just couldn't seem to let myself reach that point with a man and so I had given up trying, resigning myself to defective status.
"Never?" he asked incredulously.
I could tell from the question that he was still trying to fit that reality with the picture of horniness and mischief I usually presented. When it came to sex I was insatiable, and he knew it. I talked about the subject almost non-stop, and he had heard the stories of nearly all of my sexual escapades, so this was probably the last thing he expected to hear.
"Not with a man." I emphasized that sentence, not wanting him to elevate me to freak status. It was bad enough that I felt defective in bed.
"Never? No hand, no mouth... nothing?"
I sighed. "Never. No orgasm by hand or by mouth... nothing." I looked at him through lowered lashes, and my voice lowered to almost a whisper. "Surprised, huh?"
He paused in his stride, glanced away, and then looked back at me. "Yes. But more frustrated than anything."
"Why frustrated?"
"Because I want to help." He let out a growl, and looked at me once again. "I know I can help."
I laughed, and shook my head. I'd been having sex nearly every day for 16 years and my sexual experience was not something to be dismissed or even laughed at. "I love your self-confidence, but... I don't know... It's complicated."
"Is it inexperience on the part of your partners, or something more?"
"Something more," I responded, cautiously, looking at him. He was taller than I was by about four inches with a medium build. With dark blonde hair and a square jaw, he managed to look both boyish and strong. We'd been good friends for years, and there were many nights that I envisioned myself wrapped in his arms, safe. Nevertheless, there were still certain secrets that I kept to myself. Secrets no one knew. Still, if ever there was a time to confide in him, maybe it was now. Taking a deep breath, I spoke again. "Something more. I have trouble trusting my partners. I can never seem to relax enough to let them have total control."
He looked directly into my eyes, searching for answers. "What happened, Bren?"
I told him about the attempted rape and about the partner I had at 20 who liked to try to strangle me after he orgasmed. The events long in the past no longer hurt as much as they had years before, but telling him still made me feel like a load had been lifted from my shoulders. "I am always turned on when we start. I'll get to the point where I think it's going to happen, but then I freeze. It sucks!" I exclaimed emphatically attempting to lighten the mood. He laughed.
I watched his face in reaction, enjoying the display. He grinned, grit his teeth, then sighed, grinned again, then worried his lip. It was almost as though he were having a conversation with himself that he wasn't sure he was winning. I turned my head away so that I could laugh silently, and then looked back. This time, he looked determined, and my heart thudded in my chest. It was a look I has seen before when he had an issue to tackle. It was a look of single-minded resolve-- and this time, I thought, the thing he wanted to tackle was me.
I swallowed hard. Although Ryan had been a good friend for a long time, I had never let myself cross that barrier between friendship and a sexual relationship, too afraid that I'd lose him. Time however was not moving slowly, nor did I believe that I had forever. A belief possessed all too often by the young. And I wanted to cum with a man. Damn, I wanted it so badly! My face flushed and I took a deep breath. My desire, hopefulness, and attraction to him were enough for me. "So, you really want to try?"