My head hurt. My blush was hot enough to dehydrate me. There was so much variety. I was afraid to keep looking but also afraid to wimp out and leave. Wait, was that one shaped like a...a fist? And hooomagawd who could fit something as big as THAT in...
I feel the panic and subsequent shame overtaking me. Why the hell had I thought this was a good plan? What demon possessed my head to think that stopping by a sex shop on a Saturday afternoon to gaze at lube and dildoes was the path to my future dating success. This wasn't me. I barely had a sex life. Ok well, to be honest isn't that what made me eager to make the drive out here?
I'm not a virgin, kinda, well, not really. I am a little ashamed to admit that at 26 I had been with just three boyfriends, none of whom I chose to go all the way with, and one awful hookup where I quickly lost my virginity, when I was 19. Gave it the old college try by way of a huge party, a friend of a friend who was known to be free and easy with his dick and almost a case of cheap beer between us. It still stung to know he was done in less than ten minutes. It hurt, it was awkward, I didn't get off and the whole thing seemed like a waste. The guy seemed ok with my effort, at least he said thanks and left looking decently happy in any case. What was his name, Matt or Mike or Mark maybe. God. It's terrible I couldn't remember, and it's one of my few regrets.
Anyway he was the first to take me and the last, as it was not super enjoyable. It wasn't like I thought I should do the taking, no that wasn't the issue. Thinking about my first time made me feel a bit broken, like I should have felt more or better or excited, but I hadn't. My few boyfriends after that never made it past the blow jobs level of intimacy before things fizzled out. Saying I was inexperienced and green on matters of sexiness and lovemaking was award winning in its simplicity.
Which brings me this warm Saturday to Danno's Sex Emporium. Where I had driven in hopes to push myself into being braver, bolder, and ready to throw myself onto the altar of gay sex. Worshipping Officer Kells from head to gorgeous damn toe.
My heart was racing, I felt more embarrassed looking at the products arranged for display than any out gay man within four years of thirty should. I wasn't ready for this. For craps sake I couldn't even hold a conversation with the man, yet here I was attempting to unlock the secrets to wild passionate fucking with his golden body in mind.
Still, wasn't it was absolutely cringeworthy to think I'd ever come close to fucking him since so far all I'd done was act like a soppy fool, twice, then run away. Yeah it was cringe inducing. Go home. Shit. No. Wait I can do this.
Ugh who was I kidding. I didn't even know how to ask for what I wanted. Why was I even kidding myself about this adventure. It was time to head back to safety. I turned and nearly bowled over a couple who could have been my grandparents which wow I did not want to think anymore about that in my haste to exit the store.
I nearly broke the sound barrier in getting to my car, only to stop at the door, patting my pockets. Where were my keys? My searching grew more frantic with a dawning realization. Oh please no, and I lean forward to peer in to the window with dread.
Shiny keys dangle from the ignition, catching and throwing the sunlight's reflection around the car. This cannot be my life. This week has already been a week to rival a fucking Lifetime movie script and yet here I am, standing in the parking lot of a porn shop, keys locked in the car and no way to reach my spare set because they were locked in the house. A house that no one else could get into because the only person I had any amount of trust in was Maris and her set of keys were on my kitchen counter still, since I had just replaced the old brass front door lock for a more stylish brushed nickel.
How could things get any worse?
Let me tell you how things could get worse. As I'm slumped defeated against my car, I'm contemplating banging my head on the frame until I can knock myself unconscious and get away from the dark comedy that is my life. I look up at the sky and the stormy clouds building. Super. Now I can either go back inside Danno's land of 1000 blushes or stand here and get soaked. I feel tears filling my eyes and start blinking rapidly to fight them. I'm not one to insist men never cry, but the parking lot of the local sex shop seems like an unwise choice of location to have a breakdown. Maybe if I call Maris to get me I can break a window or something to unlock my condo. Whats a broken window in the grand scheme of things? After all, it's already the pinnacle of worst day ever.
And then I hear a car pull in and the tell tale whoop noise of a police car siren activated briefly. Baby Jesus in the manger, if you've ever loved me please please please don't let it be...
"Car trouble Joshy? Or is there something else going on here"
I hear his deep voice inquire from behind me. Really baby Jesus, really? Not cool.
I steel myself as much as I can and stand up straight before turning to acknowledge the gorgeous man whose face and body haunts my daily routine.
"Hey Officer Kells. Great day out today right?" I smile as winningly as I can. How can I salvage this?
He eyes me with suspicious concern.
"I've driven by twice in fifteen minutes. I thought that was you. Tell me why you're out here lurking next to what I assume is your car in the parking lot of a sex shop. I don't want to have to give you a ticket for loitering. And you better not be soliciting either." he finished his speech with a low growl and a narrowing of his eyes.
"Oh my God no" I exclaim, my horror evident in my face and tone. I scuff my converse at the ground and haltingly tell him how I'd locked my keys in the car but the spare set is locked inside my home and no one else currently has a key to my place. I feel the level of unsexy dweeb rise around me into a halo of shame
"I see" my handsome cop smiles at me and I forget to breathe, staring into those eyes.
"Good thing I know how to pop a lock wide open" he continues, with a suggestive look and a light laugh at my continuing discomfort. He squints into the rapidly disappearing sun, slaps the roof of my car and turns around to walk briskly to his patrol car calling back in a tone thick with double meaning.
"So let me open you up really quick then Joshy, before you get soaked"
I watch his ass flex under his uniform as he moved.
Damn. Ok then. We will NOT be repeating the spazfest of last night. Josh you gotta man the fuck up and take a chance.
Officer Kells is back with some sort of thin weirdly shaped tool and in less than a minute my car door is open.
"Wow. That was impressive" I'm staring at the ground by now, unable to look up at him when he is so impossibly close. I can smell him and his intoxicating manly scent so I plunge on, before I lose the courage I've scooped up with both hands.
"So, hey. Kevin. Can I...Can I buy you a drink? Um. Now I mean? You know. To thank you. For, um.. for helping me."