Things were looking up for Tom and his demeanor showed it. He lazed in bed a little this Sunday morning after waking up early and gave in to temptation, only needing to type one 'x' into the search bar of his incognito browser before it autocompleted. Thank God for his self control app that blocked access to these sites giving a moment's pause to clear his head and avoid being sucked in. He thought back to his mindset at the time he put the controls in, remembering the community of people he had in the support reddit forum, and closed his eyes to gather his wits.
He shut the app and jumped out of bed, leaving his phone behind as he went to take a cold shower and get ready for the day. His day was wide open, with vague plans of going grocery shopping leading him out the door. His main goal was to enjoy the first warm days of the year.
As he pulled into the Farmers Market, Tom marveled at the fact that he was now a person who spent his Sundays at the Farmers Market. His first purchase was a canvas tote, anticipating making several purchases as surveyed the many stalls.
As he planned his route, he felt a person bump into his back and heard a pleasant voice say, "Excuse me, I'm so sorry!"
Turning to see the speaker, Tom knocked her further off balance and instinctively reached out to save her from falling. He grabbed her and placed her firmly on her own two feet before taking her in. She was stunning, deep brown skin and honey brown eyes that sparked with amusement, as she scanned from his face to his not gentle grip on her curvy hips.
"I usually charge people just to speak to me, but I'll let it slide this time, love," she said as she grabbed his hands where they were holding her, gave them a gentle yet somehow threatening squeeze and placed them by his sides. Despite being the one off balance, Tom couldn't shake the feeling that this was a situation she had complete control of.
Her honeyed voice calling him "love" was on repeat in his head as his loneliness hit him hard. He reminisced on the past few years, deep in his addiction and isolated from everyone who he once called friends. The work he had done to rebuild was mostly individual, replacing the money he'd spent subscribing to new sites which had sucked him dry, placing safeguards and creating habits to prevent relapsing. He hadn't quite gotten around to the part where he would rebuild friendships and make new ones. He felt her eyes on her and saw a worried expression tilt her eyebrows and pinch her glossy, perfectly plump, juic-
"Are you okay, darling?," she said peering into his eyes from quite close to his face, her citrusy scent washing over him. "You look a little shaken. I mean, I know my hips are impressive but I doubt they can do any real damage."
His fucked up mind instantly flashed to her hips smothering him--oh they could do some real damage alright. He caught himself and pinched the side of his thigh to refocus. "I'm fine, sorry about that," he said.
"Oh don't apologize sweetheart, you didn't do anything wrong," the woman said gently.
"Yes ma'am," was his automatic reply, before remembering that many women take offense to that honorific, especially ones younger in age than him like she appeared to be. "Oh, sorry I mean yes, uh, just yes." Her pet names and tender voice were completely unraveling him and horrifyingly he almost felt like crying. No one had been so understanding and kind with him in so long, and here comes a beautiful stranger turning that all around.