I groaned and pushed my chair away from the computer. My eyes burned from staring at the screen for so long, and my legs were cramping up.
David looked up from his homework. "What's up?" He was my next-door neighbor, and my parents absolutely loved him. Said he was a "good influence" on me, whatever that meant. Even with my parents gone for a few days, they had no qualms about him coming over. He was a good guy, and I felt completely safe around him.
"I've been working on this book for so long, but I just can't get this chapter down right. I'm having some serious writer's block."
"What's the chapter about?"
I blushed. "It's...not really appropriate."
"Oh," David said. He turned back to his homework.
"The main character gets stripped naked," I blurted. I felt my face flush with embarrassment.
That made him look up again. "What? Why?"
"Well, the main character, the governor's daughter, gets captured by pirates, stripped naked, and has to make a deal with the devil to get freed before they...you know..."
David was silent, and I knew he was trying to find some way to tactfully respond. He probably thought I was going to judge what he was going to say, but I honestly didn't care. "Well...if you're having trouble with it, can you try writing a different scene that works?"
I shook my head. "It's crucial to the story. I need to write it this way, and I need to write it well, or the whole story falls apart," I said. "I'm just having a hard time visualizing it and describing her emotions. I've never gone through anything like that."
David nodded. "Well, I doubt I'd be much help. English has never been my strong suit. And I've never been a pirate."
His words started my mind brewing. Never been a pirate...As I looked at him, poring over his homework with that cute, determined look of his, an idea struck me. "David..."
"Hmm?"
"Would you...strip me naked?"
He looked up, completely unable to concentrate now. "What?"
"You know...strip me naked," I said. Oh my gosh, what was I saying? "Strip me down like a pirate would. And I mean like get really into it. Tear my clothes off, be rough with me, everything. Give me the whole experience"
"Emma, I don't think-"
"It would really help," I said. I spoke quickly, before the idea vanished. It had hooked itself into my mind, and I couldn't let it go. I had to make this happen. "If I can visualize it and draw from my own experience, it'll make the scene so much easier to write."
David stayed silent for a long moment. I don't think he could trust himself to say anything, and it was kind of cute. I was asking him, his neighbor, to strip me naked. It was a boy's dream come true, but he was too shy and respectful of me to agree outright.
"Please?"
"Listen, Emma, I like you, and I want to help, but I don't want this to affect our friendship, especially if I'm going to actually see you naked."
I felt a tugging in my heart. Of all things, David was worried about our friendship! It was so adorable. I knew from years of hanging out with him and teasing him that he always wanted to see me naked, but he had always been too polite to admit as much. "Don't worry! This won't affect our friendship at all! Everything is purely for research, and I trust you completely."
"...Okay, but a few ground rules."