The day I slept late that July was unforgettable. I had just graduated high school and was gently preparing to go off to college, but mainly that summer I was relaxing – sleeping late and not having many plans.
My sister was travelling somewhere in Europe and my parents were both working long days, probably thinking about my college expenses. We also had a house guest for a few weeks that summer. Leigh Chandler was an old friend of my mother's from her college days. Leigh had recently started a new job in town and was staying with us while she looked for an apartment. I didn't see much of her as she was always gone before I got up and she was always out in the evenings looking at apartments.
I liked Leigh. She was in her early forties and still very attractive with long brown hair and a lively face with excitable features capped off by a narrow pair of glasses that always seemed to be slipping off her nose. Her voice was high-pitched and added to the enthusiastic aura that seemed to follow her everywhere and she was slim, to the point that her jeans slipped off her hips a lot and exposed the first two or three inches of her butt crack to anyone behind her. That was something we all laughed at behind her back, but to me, and eighteen year-old with limited sexual experience, it was a vision from heaven.
I don't think I was thinking of Leigh when I got up that morning and rolled into the kitchen looking for some breakfast. I settled for some cereal and sat at the kitchen table, spooning it into my mouth while I browsed the sports pages of the daily paper.
After breakfast I went back upstairs to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I spent a few minutes washing myself and when I got out and stood on the bath mat to dry myself. It was no surprise that I had an erection. Back then it seemed like I had an erection every few minutes.
I gave myself a couple of strokes, just idly, with no great intention, but the strokes immediately felt good and I decided to pursue the endeavor with a little more intent. I rubbed a towel over my clock, balls and between my legs, and then stroked a few more times. I closed my eyes, savoring the early arousal sensations that started to wash over my body as I sat on the edge of the bath and stroked myself.
I heard the bathroom door open but had no time to react and pull a towel over me. I had no option but to sit there, cock in hand and mouth open, while Leigh walked through the door.
In hindsight, it was difficult to know who looked more shocked, but we met each other's eyes with looks of pure horror. Time stood still as the realization of the situation sunk in and Leigh comprehended the scene before her.
"I... I'm so sorry." She stuttered. "When I heard the shower stop... I thought you were finished."
I wanted to say sorry too, for leaving the door open, for not knowing she was still in the house, for my nakedness, for stroking myself... but it was a horrible, incapacitating moment and I said nothing. Without another word Leigh disappeared behind the door and I was left in silence with a fast dissipating erection.
Numb, I locked the bathroom door, finished drying off and pulled on my underwear. I was relieved that Leigh had retreated to her bedroom when I exited the bathroom and slipped into my room to get dressed.
I sat on my bed for a while, trying to erase the moment from my mind, appalled at the shame and wondering what the implications were. It was hard to think straight and my world seemed to have momentarily turned upside down. I eventually heard the shower start in the bathroom and at that point I dressed and went downstairs, planning to go out for the day and find a way to forget the disaster of being caught in the act.
I made a couple of quick calls to friends but they were both out working summer jobs. I wondered about walking to my dad's office to borrow the car for a while, but really didn't know what to do. I was washing up my cereal bowl from breakfast when Leigh unexpectedly arrived downstairs. Somehow I'd expected her to stay up in her room for a while, as I'd done, so she caught me by surprise for the second time in an hour.
"Look," her tone was positive and reassuring, "best thing is if we both just forget about this morning and not mention it to anyone. That work for you?" She had pulled on jeans and a green t-shirt but her hair was still wet from the shower.
I nodded, not sure that my voice would hold up to the moment.
"It was just unfortunate, that's all, nothing to get all worked up about. Her features were softer now and her glasses slipping down her nose. "It's a natural thing, I understand that, it's not something you should worry or feel bad about. And, no, I will not tell your Mom."
"I thought you were out at work." I offered as a lame explanation for my oversight.
"That's a fair assumption." Leigh granted. "I didn't feel all that great this morning, so I decided to stay home, at least for the morning."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't worry about it." she reassured. "Let's just forget it ever happened. You want some coffee?"
Still feeling horrified and embarrassed, I said, "Yes please."
Leigh busied herself with making coffee and I sat at the table, looking at the newspaper but not reading any of it.
I continued to scan the newsprint when she placed a coffee cup in front of me. I desperately wanted the atmosphere to clear and things to return to normal but the overwhelming feelings that accompanied my most intimate moments being discovered meant normality was a million miles away. Leigh started to make small talk about baseball and school but the conversation was a thin veneer over my crushed spirit and I was pretty sure she could see it.
Eventually she took the bull by the horns and addressed the situation again. "Look, I can see you feel really bad about this morning, but it's nothing, really." She gestured across the table, her palms up in openness. "You're still young and these things are still a big deal to you, but believe me, it won't seem such a big deal in a few years. You'll laugh about it."
Given how I felt at that moment, I doubted she was right, but I appreciated the words.
"Anyway, that kind of thing happens to everyone at some point."
"What," I perked up, possibly seeing a lifeline in that I might not be alone in being caught masturbating, "what do you mean, it happens to everyone?"
"Hell, it even happened to me." She laughed at the recollection. "My ex-husband walked in on me once. Didn't do the marriage much good as he took it very personally, but there you go."
I looked over at Leigh's smiling face with a smirk of my own. I could feel the warmth of her admission and appreciated her trying to make me feel better.
"I mean," she continued, looking at me over the top of her glasses now, "at the end of the day it's nothing but a quick jerk off. Nothing to worry about between friends, right?" She offered me her hand across the table. I took it, shook it and she smiled again.
Sitting back now, Leigh took a sip of her coffee and asked, "So, what are you going to do with your day?"
I admitted I had no plans. "Are you going in to work this afternoon?"
