Jean and I had been together for two years when I met her friend Erica. I'd never been much of a ladies' man, shy and awkward were my calling cards, and the first time I saw Erica it was after she'd played tennis and Jean and I were meeting her for ice cream.
She'd lived out of state for about three years and Jean and her had kept in touch by phone and email, but Erica was now moving back to town and Jean was very excited to see her again. I tagged along even though I usually found Jean's friends to be obnoxious and mean. One of her friends liked to call me "The Wimp" and once told Jean, "Why don't you get a man with some balls? You could do better."
Her friends didn't do much for my self-confidence, and Jean never stood up for me except to say, "I like Keith just the way he is." Jean was very domineering and controlling. She liked me the way I was because she could boss me around and get me to do anything she wanted. She was very overweight and tended not to care about her appearance, so holding on to me was probably something she did because she had trouble finding a man otherwise.
"So, this is Keith," Erica said after meeting me in the parking lot of the ice cream place, which was basically a big stand surrounded by picnic tables, a regular summertime favorite of the locals.
Erica was wearing a tight white t-shirt, pink tennis shorts, white socks and sneakers. She was an incredibly gorgeous woman, unlike most of Jean's friends. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, a perfect figure, and long, beautiful, golden tanned legs.
I've always had a fetish for women's legs, for as long as I can remember, and it had become more intense since I'd been with Jean. Her legs were stubby, fat, shapeless, and she almost never shaved them so there were always patches of dark hair on her knees and ankles.
Jean introduced us and rolled her eyes at me when she saw how I was looking lustfully at Erica. When Erica was out of earshot, at the counter ordering her ice cream, Jean told me, "Be real, Keith, she is completely out of your league."
I couldn't look away. As hard as I tried to look away, my eyes kept going back to Erica's strong thighs, her shapely calves, and her tight pink tennis shorts. She just smiled, acting outwardly like she didn't notice my stares, but when Jean wasn't looking she'd wink or give me a knowing smile.
After we ate our ice cream, Jean went to the ladies' room. She tended to have to urinate every twenty minutes because she drank upwards of ten bottles of wine every day, coupled with two pots of coffee and a fifth of bourbon. This consumption also caused her to pass out fairly early in the evening, usually around seven o'clock, but she still had trouble getting up in the morning for work and I'd have to shake her and sing her that "Red, Red Wine" song to get her up.
Jean had passed out early again when the phone rang at nine o'clock that night. When I answered it I was surprised to hear Erica's voice on the other end.
"Is she passed out yet?" she asked after I said hello.
"Um... do you want me to wake her?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you, Keith. You're a sick little monkey, you know."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you it's just that you're really beautiful..."
"And you are stuck with that alcoholic cow and she treats you like shit and you wish you could be with me, right?"
"Well, yeah, I wish, but you'd never be interested in me. Besides, Jean is your friend, right?"
"Yeah, we've known each other for years, but she's nothing like she used to be. She's just mean and angry now. So, tell me, did you fantasize about me after you got home today?"
"Of course not..."
"Oh, come on now, be honest with me. I bet you got home and rushed into the bathroom and started beating off while thinking about me the moment you got home."
I sat in silence on my end of the phone call, speechless. She was right.
"It's okay, sweetie, I'm not mad at you. I want you to fantasize about me and I want you to jerk off thinking about me, but I want you to do it three times a day, every day, until I tell you to stop."
I remained speechless, but now my jaw fell open.
"I know that means you won't have any energy left for Jean, but I don't want you to have any energy for her. I want you to think only about me."
"Okay," I said quietly while trembling with a combination of shock and excitement.
"In a few weeks I'm going to see Jean again, just the two of us this time, and I'm going to ask her about how her sex life is going. I want her to give me a very sad report about how you just don't seem interested anymore and you can't even get it up for her."
"But..."
"Sweetie, if you follow my instructions you'll make me very happy, and when I'm sure you have, then I'm going to give you a big surprise. What's your favorite part of my body?"
"Your legs..."
"That's what I thought. You were staring at them for so long it got me all wet. Did you know that?"
"No..."
"Would you like me to come over in my pink shorts so you can beat off ON my legs?"
I suddenly got an erection that threatened to burst the seams of my jeans. I was speechless again.
"I guess not." She laughed, not at me but because she knew I wanted her to come over but was too scared to ask or even say 'yes.'
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, "I know you are just messing with me and I'm sorry if I was creepy staring at you at the ice cream place... I should go..."
"Are you going to beat off thinking about me before going to bed?"
I paused, said "yes," and hung up the phone.
It might not have been three times a day every day, but Erica stayed on my mind, and I kept fantasizing about her and her gorgeous legs. There was one Sunday where I got myself off five times fantasizing about her. Whenever Jean wanted to have sex, which wasn't more than a couple times a week, I would be unable to get an erection. The combination of my frequent masturbation and the fact that I didn't find her physically appealing were major factors, but I also had a weird desire not to disappoint Erica.
"I'm meeting Erica for lunch today," Jean told me one day. "I'd bring you, but I'm pretty sure you creeped her out the last time."
"Okay," I said and turned back to my computer where I was doing fourth grade level math puzzles for no reason other than genuine dissatisfaction with the alternatives.
When Jean returned, I had gotten myself off twice while looking at pictures of women's legs on the Web that looked similar to Erica's legs. When Jean wasn't home I had gotten used to saying Erica's name out loud while masturbating and it made my orgasms more intense.
"So," Jean said after ordering me to make her a pitcher of manhattans, "Erica says her boyfriend never has any trouble getting it up when she wants to have sex with him."