In my final year as an undergraduate I had the great fortune to be able to study abroad on full scholarship in the country of my choice. My lack of ability to speak a foreign language just about narrowed my choices down to a handful of English speaking nations. I finally chose to go to school in London, which was a decision that I happily made since London had always been a place I enjoyed. I enrolled in a small liberal arts school that allowed me to finish my degree in Sociology and if I wanted, would place me in a graduate program in any number of European universities.
My scholarship not only paid my tuition but also gave me a living stipend with which I could rent an apartment and buy groceries. I let the school decide where I was to live since I had little knowledge of where or even how to find a flat in London. They placed me in an apartment in the West End that I was to share with another student from the college. The apartment was rather large. If you were to walk through the front door you would step into a fair sized living room filled with bargain basement furniture. There was a small eat-in kitchen opposite the main door, bedrooms flanked the living room and next to one of the rooms was the bathroom.
Both of our bedrooms were modestly sized and allowed for a single bed, desk and cabinet. I didn’t bring that much stuff with me since I could only pack what I was able to fit on the plane. These items included a couple books, some CDs, a discman, clothes, toiletries and my laptop computer. I was very happy with the arrangement; the building that my apartment was housed in was an old Georgian style house in a quiet residential neighborhood. I had quick access to the Underground and was able to reach my Central London school in a matter of minutes.
My roommate was from Northern England and was also attending school on scholarship. His name was Ian and he was a nice enough person, although he didn’t say much and preferred to spend his time studying rather than hanging out. This didn’t bother me much since the purpose of my being in London was to study and I had to maintain decent grades in order to keep my funding. When we did talk, we exchanged bits and pieces about each other and found out we had some common interests such as history, politics, computers and sports. When he talked, he had a funny accent that seemed a combination of English and Scottish. Ian was as new to London as I was and really didn’t have any friends to socialize with. On occasion he would bring over a study partner and after they were done working they would pop out to the pub for a drink. I was free to join them and sometimes I did; other times I opted to stay home and study. I made a few friends in the first couple weeks of my stay but none that I would go out of my to be with.
Both Ian and I got into the rhythm of studying and had few opportunities to take it easy. But directly after midterms our workload lightened temporarily and we started to spend more time socializing with each other. We went out to some bars, shopped together and took in a movie and through this interaction got to know each other better. I learned that he never had had a girlfriend, which I thought was slightly odd since he was a nice enough person and was fairly attractive. As for myself, I had left a girlfriend behind; we didn’t really break up but it seemed to be understood that we would see other people. I wouldn’t say I was on the prowl in London but I did make small (but unsuccessful) efforts to get a date here and there.
One day, Ian and I decided to blow off schoolwork completely and explore London. We started the day off by going to the Tower of London, ate lunch at a small café in the East End and as afternoon arrived we headed over to central London. There we did some shopping and had a few drinks in before topping the night off by taking in a movie and eating dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Close to midnight we walked around for a bit and wound up in London’s infamous Red Light district. There was a small pedestrian street lined with video retailers, strip bars, adult theaters, peep shows and sex galleries. We joked back and forth about some of things we saw advertised and kidded each other about going in to the some of the places. We came upon a place advertising peep shows and video booths for 50 pence. Ian said something about the fact that it was a good deal and being in a rather amicable mood, I suggested we go in. Ian’s face turned bright red and at first he refused. After some coaxing he finally agreed to going in the place and we opened the door.
Inside, we found a stairway leading down. We followed the steps and came into a small room that was lit by red neon lights. Adult videos lined the walls except for and older man who say in a booth behind a glass window. A sign above the window advertised the bargain rates for peeps and videos but we had to exchange our money for tokens. Ian and I went over and decided that we were each going to get about five pounds worth of tokens.
We were directed toward a corridor that led to the booths and we followed the hallway for what seemed like a long time. Ian and I came upon the peep shows first and decided we would rather see live women than watch videos. I opened the curtain to one of the booths and held it open for Ian. Ian looked at me nervously and told me he rather have his own booth. I became embarrassed and realized that Ian must have thought that I wanted to do something to him, which was not my intention at all.
I put one token in the slot and a small window slide open revealing a rather shabby looking room with bed covered in black sheets. On the edge of the bed sat a woman who was topless but wore a g-string. The woman was not at all good looking except she had rather nice breasts and a huge butt.
The woman saw me and shouted, knowing she had to penetrate the window. “ How you doing there young man? Like what you see? “
I was tempted to answer “ No “ but instead just smiled and waved. She must have noticed Ian because she turned her head slightly and repeated the same words.
The woman began to caress her breasts and eventually, one of her hands worked its way down to her crotch. In a fake moan, she rubbed her crotch and pinched her nipples. This went on for a while and after about 2 minutes the window for my booth closed – time was up. Somewhat reluctantly I put another token in and I resumed my peep show. The woman continued to rub her crotch and play with her breast. At one point she changed positions and got on her knees and started rubbing her crotch from behind. Now, I must admit, I’m a butt man and this woman’s ass started to turn me on. But, my window closed. I started to catch on – the woman stalls and you have to keep putting tokens in, eventually loosing all your money. I wanted to see some ass so I fed the booth again.
The woman was still on her knees, rubbing her crotch. She then stood up on the bed and slowly removed her panties, revealing a shaved, red snatch. She rubbed her crotch for a but and then slipped a finger inside her. I pumped more money into the booth because I was hooked. She got on her back, spread eagle and finger fucked herself all the while screaming in fake pleasure. Despite her ugliness, I had a huge, stiff erection and which I began to rub. But, I felt somewhat dirty and decided that no way, no how, would I jerk – off here. I could feel my boxers getting wet from pre-cum and I really wanted to relieve myself right there and then. But, I stood fast and eventually just ran out of money..
I lingered in the booth a while because I wanted my erection to go away so Ian wouldn’t see it. It eventually did go away and I left the booth. Ian must had still been in his booth because I didn’t see him so I decided to wait in the lobby and look at the videos. After some time Ian came and asked it went. I joked about the woman and how nasty see was and he sort of agreed. As we were walking up the steps to leave I started to turn around to say something to Ian and that’s when I noticed he was zipping up his pants. My god! Had he been jerking off in there?
Ian and I resumed our studies and would, on occasion, joke about our visit to the Red Light district. That night had made me really horny and I wanted to go back without Ian. I had decided that I would throw caution into the wind and just beat off in the booths. I reasoned that those booths were there for precisely that reason and who cared what I did as long as I wasn’t hurting anybody.
But, it was in a pub, with a few drinks in him, that Ian admitted that he liked the peep show and had been dying it return. I confessed that I too had had a good time and would like to return to the Red Light district. A sense of mission filled the both of us and it carried Ian and me back to the tiny street of sex. We decided to return to the same place we had been before and descended the steps once again. The old man that had been there previously was replaced by a middle-aged woman, with high, tossed hair and a cigarette dangling out of the side of her mouth. I suppose the sight of a woman unnerved me a bit; I quickly lost the enthusiasm that had brought me there. I realized where I was and felt a sense of shame about what I was doing. Not Ian though, he walked confidently up to the woman and exchanged a five pound note for tokens; I had never seen him so at ease. Sheepishly, I bought 5 pounds worth of tokens and we began to walk back toward the booths.
As we reached the first row of booths, the peep show, Ian decided he wanted to try out the video booths. I thought this was a pretty good idea and we walked around another corner until we came to a set of doors. We figured out they were the booths and I checked inside to see what they looked. The booths were slightly larger than the ones in which we watched the peep show in; there was a monitor on one side and a slot for tokens underneath. A sign was hanging behind the door – “ One Token – One Minute “.
Ian cursed and decided it was too much to pay for five minutes of video. Agreeing with him, I brought up the point that with the peep show, we didn’t get too much more viewing time.
