(Warning: This is a graphic story about menstruation and menstrual sex.)
The band was setting up for the evening's entertainment as Michelle returned with our drinks. As she crossed the room, a woman who had been standing beside her at the hotel's bar walked over and touched Michelle on the shoulder. She stood close to her, almost whispering in my girlfriend's ear. When Michelle reached our table, she had a slight frown on her face. Before I could ask why, she put the drinks down and said, "I'm just going to the toilet. Back in a sec."
When she returned a few minutes later, she said, "I need to go to up to the room. I have to change my skirt."
I wondered what could be so urgent, but before I could say anything, Michelle headed for the lifts. As I followed, I could see a spot, about the size of a twenty-cent coin, on the back of her short, white skirt.
No one else was waiting in the foyer, and as the lift doors closed, she said, "Looks like I've got my period."
"I didn't know you were due this weekend," I said.
"I sort of planned to skip it," Michelle confessed, after a moment's silence. "Seeing we were going to the beach for the weekend."
"How?" I asked.
"The usual way - I didn't take the inactive contraceptive pills. I just went straight on to a new pack."
"I think the problem is I skipped last month too. That was Lisa's wedding, and I got my bikini line done on the Friday. Skipping too often doesn't always work."
It occurred to me that beauticians probably saw much worse things than a tampon string, but I decided to keep that thought to myself.
"You didn't know until that woman spoke to you?" I asked, realizing immediately the foolishness of the question.
"I felt a bit of wetness. But seeing we had sex before dinner, I just thought I was leaking a little into my panties."
Michelle had her dress off even before I'd closed the door to the room. There was only a small spot on her panties, but like the dress, the material was thin, allowing the blood to soak through. Michelle, in her bra and panties, rummaged through her handbag and the pockets of her suitcase, retrieving a number of tampons. Some of them looked as though they had been in there for ages.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
In a mildly frustrated voice, Michelle said, "Pads! I normally use pads overnight. I can't believe I don't have any in my bag."
Hesitantly, because I didn't know how the suggestion would be received, I said, "There's a 7-Eleven store across the road. If you like, I could duck over there for you."
There was a moment's silence while Michelle considered my offer.
"You're really offering to go over the road and buy me some pads?" she asked, amused and slightly incredulous.
Her tone suggested I was the first man in history to ever make such an offer. "Didn't your Dad ever buy tampons or pads when he did the weekly shopping?" I countered, a little defensively.