Positive Reinforcement 1

"You've got to get out of your own head, Seth."

Seth squirmed a little at what his friend, Nina, was telling him. They'd been sat at this table for about an hour now and were no closer to doing what they came here to do, or rather what she wanted him to do. Seth and Nina had been friends since they were small children, both growing up only a few doors away from one another and attending all of the same schools. Their relationship was closer to siblings than friends at this point; they had each been one another's rocks following any setbacks, relationship breakdowns or stressful times in school and were the only people either of them felt fully comfortable around. This never developed into anything else as the two of them were very comfortable just being friends, despite taunting from members of their own friendship groups. Time had only solidified this and now each in their early twenties, they were about as close a definition of best friends as you could get.

As it stood, Nina was currently serving as Seth's 'Wingman' tonight. Seth was no slouch and his looks were enough to build initial interest from women, but paranoia over his past experiences made it difficult for him to move past anything more than small intimate acts like kissing or holding hands. His first time with a girl had gone disastrously as far as he was concerned; he hadn't been able to last longer than a minute or two and had been mocked and derided by the girl he was with for it. She had ended the relationship the next day and promptly informed everyone about why. Nina had been just about ready to knock the girl out if Seth had not insisted she didn't.

Nina was a very different story. She had blossomed into a curvy, confident and beautiful young woman and no interest in settling down or locking herself away in a relationship. For her, sex was much more of a hobby or a fun pastime than something to be kept exclusively within the confines of a relationship. She would never sleep with someone already in a relationship, of course, and always made it perfectly clear with any of her partners that she wasn't interested in anything longer term than waking up the next morning and saying goodbye. It had garnered her a reputation, one that had bothered her in the past, but she fully accepted who she was and was not about to apologise to anyone for it. And besides, it wasn't as if she didn't have standards; she had turned away plenty of oafish and self-obsessed asshats who assumed she was an easy ride. Often they were lucky to leave with only their pride damaged.

"You make it sound like it's the easiest thing in the world, Nina," Seth sighed.

"You've told me before that it's the thought it might happen that ruins things, right? You've got to get rid of that thought, Seth! Or at the very least you have to try," she tried to reassure him.

"It's not that I don't try, you know that as much as I do, it's just as soon as I'm there and it's about to happen, it's like the memory forces it's way to the front of my mind."

"And it will keep doing that until you have a positive experience to counter it! Then the next time will be easier, and then the next and then the next," Nina began.

"I think that many 'nexts' is ambitious," Seth muttered.

Nina ignored him and continued.

"Until the positives outweigh the negatives so much that the negatives don't even matter anymore! It's basic psychology, Seth, 'positive reinforcement' they call it."

Seth sighed again and stared at his empty bottle. He knew she meant well, she always did, but he just couldn't get her to understand that things weren't as black and white as she apparently thought. At times he felt that he resented the fact she seemed to have it so easy, but he would always remember the heartache and tears that had brought her to this point and felt like an asshole for even thinking that. Still, the fact that she had been able to move on whilst he was stuck in the same rut he'd been in for years was frustrating. He'd tried everything he could to put it behind him, but the event itself and the ensuing weeks, months and, sadly, years of torment he'd received after it just refused to go away.

Nina of course felt so bad for Seth. As his closest friend, she knew he would have been almost the perfect boyfriend or partner for any woman interested in having a relationship and even more so that he deserved the kind of happiness that would bring him. She'd never told him but she'd deliberately spread her own rumour that the girl who had upset him, whom she'd never liked in the first place, had crabs. It hadn't lingered for quite as long as what the girl had said about Seth but was still enough of an embarrassment for her that she'd somewhat ironically gone as red as a lobster with embarrassment on one or two occasions. Nina had decided not to tell Seth about this as she knew he wouldn't approve and was the kind of person who would feel bad for the girl that wrecked his life.

"You're looking empty there," she told him, motioning towards his drink.

"Oh, right," he replied, almost seeming to break out of a stupor. "I'll go and get the next round, what are you having?"

"No need, it's on me," Nina smiled.

"Are you sure? You got the last..."

"And you got the two before that," she said cutting him off.

"But we've only had two drinks so far..." Seth said, feeling very confused.

"Yes, but the last time we came out for a drink, you got the last round of the night, sooooo, this is my round to even things up," she replied with a grin.

Her logic baffled him sometimes, but Seth had learned that it was best not to argue in these situations. Nina had clearly made up her mind, regardless of whether she was right or not, and she would get her way one way or another. He sat back down with a smile and watched as she stood and went to the bar. He counted himself lucky having her as a friend, particularly in light of what had happened. Her advice and support felt far more genuine than any of his male friends could muster, plus he was certain she wasn't laughing about it behind his back which wasn't something he was sure he could say about them.

Seth felt his phone buzz in his pocket and took it out. It was a message from Nina:

'In the corner just next to the door, two nice looking girls, no excuses x'

He frowned in her general direction at the bar and received a grin and a finger pointing towards them from Nina. He turned to look in the direction of Nina's finger and saw the two girls. They were both reasonably pretty and looked like they were having a good time. He felt the urge to go and talk to them but quickly snapped out of it. Sure, the talking would have been fine, one of them may have even been interested, maybe would have liked to dance. But anything beyond that, he almost shuddered to think about. It only served to make him even more frustrated at the state he was in.

"Don't stare too long, they might notice," Nina said as she sat down with the drinks.

Seth's gaze quickly snapped back around to her.

"Sorry," he apologised.

"I'm only teasing you," she grinned. "By the way, not that I object to helping you out here, but don't you think having me here is a little counter-intuitive?"

"What do you mean?" Seth asked, taking a gulp of his drink.

"Well, if I was in their shoes and saw you sitting at a table with a girl, I'd assume you were taken and wouldn't approach you at all."

"Maybe that's part of the point," Seth shrugged and took another sip.

Nina looked confused and then annoyed.

"What, so you're using me as like, well, whatever the female equivalent of a 'cock-blocker' is?"

"Please don't call it using you," Seth grimaced. "It's just it's easier for me to make the first move than to react to someone else first, you know? You being here let's me do things on my terms."

"Well no offence, Seth, but doing things on 'your own terms' really isn't getting you anywhere."

"Does your beer taste off?" Seth cut her off, trying to avoid the potential confrontation.

"Don't dodge what I just said," Nina replied, watching him take another sip, "I only come out here to try and help you and push you when you need pushing. If I'm blocking that from happening, then I'll go..."

"Please don't," Seth pleaded. "I'm sorry, I know you try so hard to help me out and I want to change, god knows I do, but it's difficult. It feels like I'm hanging in an abyss I can't see the bottom of and the only option I have is to cut the rope holding me there. Either I fall forever or the pit isn't as deep as I thought, you know?"

There was a silence between the two for a moment.

"This is way too philosophical for this time of the evening, more beer," Nina commanded, taking a sip of her own.

Seth sighed and once again took a gulp of his beer.

"There is definitely something wrong with that," he said with a frown. "What about yours?"

He stared across the table at Nina who suddenly looked a little uncomfortable.

"I thought they'd be tasteless to be honest," she seemed to mutter to herself.

"I'm sorry what? What did you think would be tasteless?"

Nina smiled back at Seth sheepishly as Seth with a shocked look of realisation grabbed his bottle and tried to see if there was anything in it.

"You spiked my drink?!" he blared across the table. "What the fuck Nina?!"

"Calm down Seth and lower your voice, I don't want to get kicked out," she tried to reassure him.

His impulse not to cause a scene overriding his anger for a second, Seth lowered his voice and glowered across the table.

"You had no fucking right," he argued. "I thought we were friends."

"Just shut up for a second will you? You don't even know what it is..."

Seth glared at the bottle again.

"What the hell is in this, Nina? What have you given me?"

"Something that will help, that's all," Nina replied defensively.

She reached into her pocket and took out a small bottle with some writing and the image of a beautiful woman on the front of it and moved it across the table to Seth who snatched it up. It read:

'Aphroditium: The Night of Your Life, Guaranteed! Maximum Strength'

In disbelief, Seth read the description of the product which boasted a combination of all natural ingredients to vastly improve male sexual performance.

"Is this like Viagra or something? I don't need help getting it up, you know that! I have a completely different problem!" Seth said raising his voice again.

"Look, the bottle says 'sexual performance' not specifically just getting an erection. I've seen loads of these before, all it means is it makes you go for longer and that's what you want to be able to do right?"

"I can't believe you fucking drugged me," Seth said with palpable disbelief.

"It probably doesn't work anyway," Nina said trying to justify herself.

"Where did you get it? I've never heard of the brand before?"

"I ordered it off the internet," she replied quietly.

"Off the internet?! Jesus Christ, there could be anything in this!"

Seth grabbed the bottle again.

"It doesn't even say what's in it! It just says 'take one and feel the benefits until you release' whatever the hell that means..."

Seth noticed Nina was looking very sheepish again.

"Nina, how many did you give me?"

"Four..."

"Four!!" Seth shouted, standing up.

"I didn't think they'd do anything on their own! You know how impulsive I am, I just thought 'the more the better'."

Seth felt like he might explode with anger but suddenly lost his balance slightly, grabbing onto the chair to hold him up. The colour seemed to drain from his face and he started to feel a tightening sensation in his lower abdomen.

"Seth, are you ok?" a worried Nina asked.

Seth remained wordless but looked to be in a slight daze. Nina started to feel panic building in her from she'd done, how could she have been so stupid? She'd always been like this, acting first and not thinking about the consequences until later. It was part of the reason she was so close with Seth, he evened out her impulsive behaviours and had stopped her getting into trouble more times than she could count.

Her face was fixed on Seth's dazed expression until out of the corner of her eye she could see movement. She lowered her gaze to Seth's crotch. Beneath the tight material of his jeans, she could see a bulge forming slowly but surely. She watched in silent amazement, mouth agape, as the bulge slowly expanded further and further down Seth's trouser leg. She didn't need to guess what it was but couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. It was looking more and more like Seth had tried to smuggle a footlong sausage in his jeans, only slightly wider. Seth finally broke from his daze as the growth seemed to stop.

"Holy fuck, it worked!" Nina proclaimed with a shocked smile.

Seth looked down and gasped in horror at what he was seeing. He tried desperately to cover himself up.

"What the fuck have you done to me?!" he hissed quietly at Nina, trying to cause as little of a scene as possible, hoping no one had noticed.

"Frankly I wouldn't be so annoyed in your position," Nina retorted, "it certainly seems to have had the desired effect."

"For it to have the desired effect I would've had to have desired it in the first place!" he replied trying to keep his cool.

"Come on Seth, most guys would love a bit more downstairs," Nina tried to argue back. "This is a perfect opportunity to get whatever you want from whoever you want, you could probably have both of those girls if you went over there now!"

"Absolutely fucking not," he spat back. "I'm so fucking embarrassed right now, Nina, you have no idea," he continued trying desperately to cover himself up.

"Well, I was just trying to help," she replied sulkily.

As embarrassed as he was feeling and as much as he hated that, he hated upsetting Nina even more. He understood how impulsive she was but also understood that it always came from a place of good intentions. She would never have done this to him on purpose and not everyone would have recognised that, as he knew all too well. That being said, he needed to get out of there.

"Let's just go please, so we can let this stuff wear off," he tried to compromise.

Nina, whilst still disappointed, agreed. She was upset but not at the fact Seth had shouted at her, the fact she knew he was right. He was always right. It was what made her so frustrated that he couldn't see how wrong he was about putting his experiences behind him.

"Can you maybe stand in front of me please?" Seth asked meekly. "So that less people can see..."

"Of course," Nina obliged. "I'm... I'm sorry Seth."

"Thank you, but let's just get me home please."

Apologising was hard for Nina and Seth appreciated that, but now wasn't the time or place. They could talk about it more later.

The way out took them past the two girls and Seth felt his heart drop as he noticed the two of them staring at his crotch wide-eyed and open mouthed. He wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole at that moment. Instead, he hurried out of the bar behind Nina.

* * * * *

It had taken 15 agonising minutes to get back to Seth's place. He hadn't wanted to risk the embarrassment of a taxi, so they had had to walk the whole way, avoiding other people as much as possible. He had handed Nina the keys, not needing to tell her which one for the amount of times she'd used them before, and swiftly followed her inside his small apartment. The swelling in his crotch had not subsided even a little on their way home and his tight jeans had began to rub uncomfortably against it.

Nina had been trying to make light of the situation all the way back, with little to no success. She'd mostly focused on her own exploits, telling Seth she'd not seen one bigger than what she could see outlined in his trousers, missing entirely that that kind of ego stroking was completely counter-intuitive. Seth had barely replied as he had been focusing on something about the situation that was potentially very problematic.

"Thanks for seeing me home, Nina, I should be ok now," he said, trying to dismiss her.

"I feel really, really bad about this Seth. I don't want to go until I know you're ok," she replied, either deflecting him or being oblivious to what he was trying to do.

"I'll be fine as soon as I figure out how long this lasts for," he replied.

Nina took the bottle back out and read the instructions again.

"'Feel the benefits until you release'," she read out. "What does that mean?"

"I've got a horrible feeling that I know exactly what it means," Seth groaned.

"Oh... Oh!" Nina gasped as the penny dropped.

"Yeah," Seth returned with another grimace. "I'm gonna have to... y'know..."

"Cum?" Nina said earnestly, finishing his sentence.

"Yeah. That."

Nina tried to think of something to say to make the situation positive.

"Well, I mean at least you're ready to go, right? And it shouldn't take long..."

"That's the problem, Nina," Seth said, cutting her off. "I don't think I am..."

"What? You mean you're not...?" she asked with a look of both puzzlement and intrigue.

"No, I don't think so."

Nina couldn't help but look back down at the prominent bulge in Seth's jeans, stretched halfway down his trouser leg to just above his knee. She'd assumed the pills had just given him the most intense erection ever with a little extra length, but if what Seth was saying was true, he wasn't even hard yet. Part of her wanted to make it hard, just to see what would happen, but uncharacteristically she fought that impulse and forced her eyes back up to Seth's.

"What are we going to do?" she asked him.

"I don't think 'we' should really be doing anything. I don't really want to add exposing myself to my best friend to my list of reasons to be mortified about tonight."

"Yeah, of course," Nina replied, ever so slightly disappointed but brushing it off as another of her impulses.

"You wait here and I'm going to go to the bathroom to... er... 'relieve' myself. Hopefully then this whole mess will be over and done with."

Nina watched as Seth walked over to the bathroom door and closed it behind him. It was taking everything she had not to press herself up against the door and listen in.

With the door shut behind him, Seth let out a silent moan to vent some of his frustration. This evening was turning into one disaster after another. At least he could finally relieve some of the pressure in his trousers.

He removed his shoes and then carefully peeled off his jeans, seeing far more of himself sticking out the side of his boxer shorts than usual as he did. He had been right about not being hard yet, but even so the length of meat hanging down from the inside of his shorts was almost monstrous. The length notwithstanding the sheer girth of it would have put any man to shame. He couldn't help but compare it to his wrist as he lowered his jeans further and it was only just smaller than that. Next he removed his boxers to find that his testicles had also increased in size to match proportionally with his cock. For a brief moment, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He liked what he was seeing.

Seth's embarrassment came flooding back in a heartbeat. Whatever he felt about how he looked now, this thing wasn't natural and he needed to get rid of it. To do that, he needed to cum, or at the very least as far as he knew he did. He needed to clear his mind and just think about the things that turned him on, just for a few minutes, and then it would all be over. He reached for his cock and was slightly surprised by the additional weight. He closed his eyes and began to stroke up and down the considerable length while he thought about anything he could to turn him on.

It wasn't long before he started to feel himself stiffening, needing less and less support from his hand but having to travel up and down more and more. He wanted to look but also didn't want to break his concentration and make this last any longer than it needed to. He focused solely on trying to cum, resorting to two hands now, and supressing moans at the additional sensation he was feeling. It felt amazing, but nothing was happening. Normally he would have blown his load already, but he was clearly nowhere near that happening. At least the tablets kind of resolved that problem for now...