"I want you to write me a stroker."
WHAT?
"And then read it to me."
"What?" I said and blinked rapidly. "What, what?"
I'd never heard the term stroker, but I immediately knew what he meant, sort of.
I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. Jordan and I were sitting in The Greasy Spoon diner. He was the only one who knew I wrote erotica. He hadn't read anything I'd written (at least that we know of) because I write and post under a pen name. I'd only been writing erotica for six months, but it seemed like it took up all my focus lately. Still, even though he was the only one who knew, we never mentioned it.
"Magaaah," I said.
He leaned forward over the table, his voice getting sexy. "Come on," he licked his lips. "Do it."
I shook my head.
"Then you can write about it the experience of writing about it. Think about what an explosive story that would be."
A story immediately popped to mind, of a sex club, and handcuffs, and a boy's first time.
I shook my head again. "I'm really quite shy, you know," I said.
"Yeah, I know, but Maryanne, you can do this."
"The question is, why would I?"
"I could pay you," he said.
I shook my head. I needed money badly, but not that badly.
"It's a paying job. You're a writer. Consider it a commission."
I pursed my lips at him.
He leaned over the table and made his voice sexy again. "Do it because I want you to. Do it to please me."
I closed my eyes. Oh God.
I nodded.
He laughed triumphantly.
We'd come to this diner twice a week for five months to work on writing exercises. He was trying to write the great American Novel. I was trying to write a screenplay. Usually the time at the diner was the only time I worked on it. And I valued his advice. And his company. And truth be told, I had a little crush on him.
"You realize, this would... ah, sort of bring us to a whole different level," I said.
"Not if we don't let it," he said.
I pursed my lips at him again. Bullshit.
"Well, I'll write you one if you write one. Just three pages, super short."
He seemed to consider.
I wanted to make my push on him harder. "And the one you write for me has to be a threesome."
He smiled.
"A gay threesome. Three guys. Totally doing every possible thing they can do, all the way."
He groaned.
"I'm not even sure I would know what that is," he said.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then you'll have to do research."
Jordan stuck his hand out. "Deal."
Holy fuck.
I shook his hand, "Okay. Deal."
"By next Monday."
"Friday."
"Wednesday."
"Fine."
"And it has to be the hottest one you've ever written," he said.
"Oh, come on."
"Smoking. Absolutely the hottest."
"God, sometimes I hate you," I mumbled under my breath.
"I heard that," he said.
*
I paced when I got home. Hottest I've ever written. Stroker. What exactly did that mean? And read it to him? No way.
My house is small and I think I paced a worn path in the carpeting in my hallway. I'd need characters. And snapping sexual tension, yeah, what would make it good would be the tension. And a scenario. Some sort of set-up that put them in a situation. A time compression.
Nothing. More pacing. Still nada.
I was drawing a blank.
Then something came to me.
Think like a guy.
I had an idea. Not a great one, but what the heck.
Here goes nothing, I thought, and sat down at my computer.
My wife and I needed this night. After twelve years, our sex life had dwindled some, and I was hoping a romantic night on what I referred to as 'our little beach' would help.
I packed a basket with candles in big glass jars, and a blanket.
I held her hand in the car, and put soft classical music on the radio. We used to go to this beach once a month, on the anniversary of our first date, but then life got in the way. Tending the garden of our romance got pushed down the list behind business, and the dishes, and daily bullshit like the news. We used to bring little slips of paper and write down what we were grateful for about each other, read them to each other in whispers and then burn them in the candles, then kiss for hours, on our beach.
Tonight would be candlelight and romance.
But when we got to the parking lot for the beach, three kids were piling out of an old Honda. I recognized the two girls as the McInn twins, who used to live down the street from me. The boy, I didn't know. We naturally gravitated near each other as the parking lot only had room for three cars.
The twins were, 16 I think, when they moved away. They must be in college by now, or maybe the just finished, I didn't know.
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. J," one of the girls, I think Allison said. She had cut her blonde hair to chin length, Amy had left her hair waist length like it was when the moved away. "I'm Allison, that's Amy," she said. "I know it's probably hard to tell in the dim light."
"Thanks," I said, because it was.
"This is Josh," Amy said. The kid reached forward to shake our hands. He was tall, built like a swimmer, and wearing a dark T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. He had a clean-cut, square looking jaw. I couldn't really see the rest of his face.
Amy was wearing a tank top and shorts both bearing the name of our local university.
"Going to the Merce?" I asked. That's what we always called it.
"Yeah," she said. "We both have one semester left. Thank God."
"You?" I said, looking at Josh.
"Just graduated. Got an internship at Jonowski & Sons."
"Good firm."
"No, no, no," I said out loud. "This is all wrong." It should be in the third person. With a different kind of tone and description. And not as much description about the three students. "Try again."
The full moon was bright and low in the sky. Ethan walked around to the passenger's side of the car to open the door for Nicole, something he hadn't done since they were dating. A crisp breeze blew up, lifting her flowy skirt away from her legs and molding her wrap-around top to her breasts briefly before letting go. Ethan touched her back as he helped her into the car.
"No, no." I said to myself. "Start the story later, at the beach." I growled a little in frustration. "Come on, Maryann. You can do it. Third time's a charm," I said. I even put the title on it immediately, to show myself I was serious.
THE STROKER
The anticipation of sex crackled hot between them. It was a sultry night, with smells of late-blooming jasmine mixed with the salt and sand making the air feel heavy and laden, lush and ripe. The very moonlight seemed seductive and wily, as if it were glowing just for them.
Ethan put his hand on Nicole's bare thigh, and she jumped as a surge from her charged up need crackled as a little jolt of static electricity between them. He turned into the parking lot.
A damper, like a cool washcloth to the forehead, or a slap of a cold hand, came quick, to both of them, when they saw the old, dark, Honda parked in the first spot.
"Fuck," Ethan whispered.
"We could turn around," Nicole said.
"No, no, of course not."
They saw three figures still walking at the end of the plank-like boardwalk that took people over the sand dunes and scraggly marsh grass and onto the beach. They were highlighted by the moonlight. A wind from the ocean blew up, taking the smell of salt water to Ethan and Nicole.
He held her hand and smiled at her. It had been a while.
"Better," I mumbled.