Special thanks to WindySwimming and shygirlwhore for the editing help!
*****
In the summer of 2005, I first saw the movie preview for "The 40 Year Old Virgin".
Even though I was only 20 years old at the time, let's just say that it hit a bit too close to home.
Getting a girlfriend was something that happened to ...
other people
.
Not me.
Finally getting a girl, let alone a concept like actually having sex, was a pipe dream stacked on top of another pipe dream.
But that stupid movie inspired me to actually grow a pair.
I was not going to end up a 40-year-old virgin!
I had to reverse my fortunes.
I got some industrial grade acne medication to clear my face.
I tried looking people in the eye more often. And along with that, actually
speaking to humans
more often.
And I found out people thought I was kind of funny. Who knew?
The hardest thing, though, was running and lifting weights. The entire concept was totally antithetical to my nerdy, "I hate jocks" persona that I had cultivated my entire life. But I stuck with it - and actually kind of enjoyed it. Again,
who knew?
Six months into my transformative vow, I finally landed Beth.
We met in our college creative writing class in the Spring of 2006.
We began getting close, bonding over movies, writing, and all that artistic junk that literature majors like us held dear.
In quite awkward fashion, we hooked up. But, neither of us could admit that that was our ulterior motive.
We got the idea to work on a collaborative story. It was about a young elf (me) and a regal forest nymph (her). They were seeking to recapture some MacGuffin device from an evil wizard.
Truth be told, the story was utter shit. Just a cheesy "Lord of the Rings" ripoff.
All you need to know, though, was that the whole "story" was just a ruse that allowed us to hook up with each other, after which we promptly abandoned our story.
Like me, Beth was a virgin.
Technically
. Ugh ... it's complicated.
It's a long story. It truly is.
She is a bigger girl, and I thought she was kind of cute. She had a great smile and all, and was curvy in all the right places. And good lord, the girl was seriously stacked like a never-ending game of Jenga. But unless she wore a tight top (which she never did), she wasn't the kind of girl that would actually get looks from passersby walking down the street.
We were two birds of a feather like that. Nobody would notice either of us. Except for the
stacked
thing. I wasn't stacked.
See? I told you I was funny.
But Beth seemed to
actually like me
. That sort of thing didn't happen often.
Ever.
By summertime, we were in the midst of a truly virginal courtship worthy of balloons, puppy dogs, and pretty pink flowers.
I didn't push the sex thing on her. It just wasn't the thing to do. Again,
it was a long story
.
But mercifully, about three months into the relationship, she finally let me.
The first time was a blur. All this buildup, for
this
?
It was quiet, after-school-special copulation. Very awkward. Confusing. I had no idea what I was doing. I barely knew where to put it. Neither did she.
Even though she was 26, she was a virgin, too.
And sex frightened her.
It frightened me less, luckily. I was strangely...
confident
in the bedroom. It was the damndest thing. It was so unlike real life, where
everybody else
frightened me. I guess it was because I already
got the girl
. So why be nervous? As such, it only made sense that I should take the lead.
That's what led to me heading to the bookstore to find a book. A how-to book. I needed to learn how to
do this stuff
, and this was an age before universally free porn.
Beth worked at this particular bookstore, so it made it difficult to sneak in and procure a sexual instructional manual. I had to do this on the
down low
.
I was quite nervous looking in the sex section at the bookstore. I was worried somebody would see me. Honestly, I was worried that Beth's co-workers, who knew that I was her boyfriend, would see me, report back to her, and tell her I was some pervert messing around in the sex section. I have no idea why I would be nervous about that. It's a normal, adult subject. But with Beth, it was, I don't know ...
not normal
.
I found an older paperback there, and began thumbing through it. It was called "A Sensuous Man." It was written like an instructional manual. It was, essentially, just what I needed. It was graphic, talking in detail about pleasure zones, cunnilingus, all of the taboo subjects that we just weren't told about in the dark ages of the early 21st century.
The approach it took put me at ease.
"Assuming you have found your ideal woman - or at least a woman who will do until that one comes along - it's time you learned how to make love to her so capably that your mutual satisfaction, your outright ecstasy, is assured."
Beth
needed this
. To enjoy it. To not be scared.
I wasn't scared.
I just didn't know
what
to do. I just wanted her to feel good.
To relax.
I didn't want her to be the frozen, scared plank she was.
Somebody
had to lead this.
As I pondered this, previewing the book with rapt attention, a sweet, sing-songy voice broke my concentration.
"Sir, are you
finding
everything okay?"
I was startled and instantly froze. I felt a harrowing and fearful chill burrow its way up my spine and slap me in the back of my head. Like I just got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I looked up from the book to see a mind-bogglingly gorgeous girl.
I know I was taken by Beth,
but I wasn't dead.
She wore a pair of black, wire-rim glasses and her lips just
shined
.
They were bright pink and glossed up, begging you to notice them, which I did. She bit her lip as she looked at me, a move that always made my pulse quicken.
My eyes glanced downward, looking at her nametag on her green bookstore polo, perched atop of a pretty staggeringly large swell of breasts for an otherwise slim girl.
"Zoey" it said.
Most men could cycle through that reaction in a matter of seconds. But for me, and my magnificent social anxiety, that was about a 10-second span of silence as I just
looked
. Think about how truly long that is to be quiet after somebody asks you a question.
Throughout this, I saw her expression change three times.
First from the bitten lip, almost innocent stare, to a raised eyebrow, waiting for a reaction. Then, to a more relaxed giggle as she seemed to look me up and down. Then she smiled.
Big.
Wait wait wait ...
was she checking me out?
I'm not sure that had ever happened before! I'm not the kind of guy that actually gets checked out!
I finally stammered out some words.
"I... uh, I'm just, um... browsing." I quickly closed my book and tried to nonchalantly place it back on the shelf without her noticing.
"Are you
sure
there's not anything I could help you with?" Zoey asked, arching her eyebrow. She looked down again at me and back up into my eyes, letting a little giggle escape her lips. I don't know why I thought this, but it seemed like her giggle was ...
scripted
and not spontaneous. It's just something I noticed. Or pondered.
She had her hands behind her back and stretched slightly, arching her back ... and that just stretched her bookstore polo shirt out
even more
.
And I noticed. And looked. It occurred to me that if I pretended to be reading her nametag - which I had already read - I could get away with looking at her chest a second or two longer.
I looked back down at her and into her eyes, which were blue and big like an anime girl. They were the biggest, most shimmering pair of eyes I'd ever looked into.
Then a rush of thoughts of entered me.
Why have I never noticed her working here before?
Was she new?
Did she go to the same college as me?
How does a girl as pretty as her work at a
fucking bookstore
?
And how did she perfectly embody that goddamn hot librarian fantasy to a
fucking tee
?
Unlike my last journey inside my own head, all these thoughts and actions took only a few seconds, but they were vivid. I was suffering from sensory overload.
One thing I wasn't suffering from -
any thoughts at all of Beth and our sex life.
"I'm- uh, I'm fine. Like I said, I'm just browsing."
I twisted my elbow to place my book back on the shelf.
Success!
Now nobody would know ...
That is, until she just reached behind me. Right for the book I just put down. She picked it up, looked at it, then back up to me, glaring above her glasses with her shimmering eyes, full of playful judgment. She pinched her face in a cute frown before losing her resolve and letting it descend upward into a knowing smirk.
"Hmmm ..." she said inquisitively as she lightly tapped the closed book against her palm, like she was going to
punish me
or something.
I was frozen. Absolutely mortified. Despite those nerves, I kept glancing down. And I kept seeing her stupid tits staring at me. I kept yo-yoing back and forth from her body to her eyes, but couldn't bear to actually
look
in her eyes.
Get a hold of yourself, man!
"Books are a good start," she said, still smirking. She took a half step toward me. My nerves were blazing and I felt like my heart would beat out of my chest. Then she leaned in, toward my shoulder. I kept panicking.
"Don't tell my boss I said this," she said in a whisper, looking away from me. "But books can't match
life experience
."
She stood up straight again, looking at me,
daringly.
Her gaze was completely unwavering, like she was looking through my eyes and into my
fucking soul
.
Little by little, she began moving closer to me. Closer to my face, like she was going to kiss me. Her smile disappeared and she looked like she was going to eat me.
Devour me.
I'd never seen somebody look at me like that in my life.
And say what you will, but that's fucking scary!