On the Line
Learning a New Skill #nsfw
Predictable Kate
Kate writes for a newspaper where I sometimes pick up freelance work. She’s a business writer, with a calm and professional demeanor. In some ways, Kate tries a bit too hard to be taken seriously, but I understand why. She’s in her early twenties, trying to survive in a struggling field. She wears current, fashionably sedate, business attire: slacks, flats, and dress shirts that mimic menswear. With her short brown hair and piercing green eyes, the look works, but she seems oblivious to how attractive she is.
We run into each other once or twice a month and usually have a quick cup of coffee and chat in the empty break room.
It was a Thursday afternoon when I ran into Kate.
“How about going across the street?” she asked. “I’d rather not talk here.”
That was unusual for her, so I leapt to the conclusion that more cuts were coming to the newsroom. Kate led me across the street to the chain coffee shop, where we could talk.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, prepared to comfort her with reassurances that freelance work wasn’t so bad.
“Nothing. At least I don’t think so. Maybe something. I’m so confused.”
Coffee shops are apparently the modern confessionals. At least, they are where I hear a great many. We sat down with our mochas, as I wasn’t in a chai latte mood, and we sat in silence for a bit.
“I know you research relationship things. I have a question about if something is normal or okay or what.” Kate was uncharacteristically anxious.
I nodded and then placed a hand on hers.
“My boyfriend had phone sex with my roommate.”
“And you’re not sure if that’s a problem? I believe it is for most people.” I patted her hand. “But there’s something more to it, isn’t there?”
“Yes. It’s not like it was behind my back or anything. Let me explain.” She inhaled and exhaled slowly, twice. “Jill and I share a landline. It came with the cable bundle. It’s really practical choice — ”
“Kate, skip to what you need to share,” I interrupted. “Relax and just tell me the story and we’ll discuss it.”
And so, with my gentle nudging, Kate jumped ahead to the cause of her anxiety. Her voice wavered as she spoke. She took yet another deep breath and began….
Kate’s Story
Todd and I were finishing our weekly call. He’s still in school back home, working on a graduate degree in statistics. As you can probably guess, we both like our routines. Every Sunday night at 10 o’clock, I sit on my bed, call him up, and we talk about our respective weeks. Then, we say goodbye and trade emails and messages for the rest of the week.
“I’ll see you in a week,” Todd promised.
He visits the third weekend of every month. I really look forward to those few days together. Todd arrives late Friday, after the long drive, and we generally cuddle up and go to sleep. We wake up late the next morning, then go to the park, a museum, or just sit around and do nothing. He has to leave Sunday afternoon, sadly. Todd always calls the moment he gets home safely, though.
That night we were saying our goodbyes when suddenly there were the beeps of someone dialing the phone. The push-button tones stopped our conversation mid-sentence.
“What the hell?” I probably yelled, covering the receiver.
“Oh. Sorry, Katie.” My roommate Jill quickly apologized from the kitchen. “You two are usually done within 20 minutes or less. I mean, well, your calls are over quickly.”
Jill and I are the Odd Couple. She doesn’t remember to do her dishes, leaves clothes wherever she removes them, and walks around the apartment in next-to-nothing. A few times she’s forgotten that Todd is visiting and walked out of her room in nothing but panties. And it didn’t even faze her. She apologized and went back to put a top on, but her choice of tops aren’t that modest.
I uncovered the receiver. “Sorry, Todd.”
“She’s right. We do kept the calls short,” Todd acknowledged. “We are — ”
“Predictable,” Jill’s voice chimed in.
“Yes. Predictable.”
“Excuse me,” I interjected. “Jill, I was saying goodbye to Todd.”
“Seriously? That’s all you were going to say? That’s just pitiful, Katie. Do more than that.”
“Jill!”
“Don’t you two ever need to get a little wild? Damn, I sure do. Freddie and I know how to say goodbye.”
If there’s one thing Jill isn’t, it is restrained. I usually leave the apartment if she’s on the phone with Freddie, who travels a lot. Even with her door closed, and that means I close it for her, you can hear her. I know what she’s doing, and it makes me feel a bit awkward that she doesn’t care that I can hear. I’m glad that when Freddie isn’t on the road, she spends nights at his apartment. The few times they’ve come back to our place, it was… loud.
“Thanks, Jill, but we know how to say goodbye.”
“Oh, please. No you don’t. Katie, don’t you ever want to just tell him that you look forward to making love the next time Todd’s here? Don’t you want him all eager to see you again?”
“I am eager to see Kate,” Todd assured us, his voice meek and somewhat sad. That wasn’t the tone I had wanted to hear. At the very least, I wanted Todd to sound excited to spend time with me.
“I’ll see you soon,” I offered, without much enthusiasm. I told myself it was the result of Jill’s interruption. “Bye, Todd.”
“Goodnight, Kate.”
“Oh, hell no. No, no, and no. You two are not ending a phone call like that. Talk about dead fish.” Jill mocked us with a monotone, “‘Bye, Todd…. Goodnight, Kate’. What the fuck is that?”
“How we say goodbye isn’t really any of your business, Jill,” I responded tersely.
“Kate, don’t be offended. I’m sure Jill means well.”
“See? You guys need help. You might both be smart, but you’re pretty stupid about how to have a good phone call. You want to know how to really say goodbye, Katie? I’ll tell you.”
I could feel my neck muscles tense. My patience was wearing thin. I started to disconnect the call.
“How should we say goodbye?” Todd asked.
“Don’t encourage her!” I growled. “We don’t — .”
“I’d tell you, ‘Todd, I really can’t wait to kiss you all over. I can’t wait to feel your arms around me while we kiss. I count the hours until I get to see you again.’ Something like that.”
Come on, I thought, that is the most fake, most absurd thing to say imaginable.
“That’s… nice,” Todd said.
How could Todd not notice how stupid Jill’s little flirtation sounded? Maybe I should have ended the call. Or maybe not. I clenched a fist, but didn’t say anything.
“What else would you say?” Todd asked.
“Hey! Todd, don’t let her tell us how our relationship should be.”
“I’m just curious,” he pleaded.
And, of course, Jill kept on talking.
“I’d get you all worked up, telling you that when you arrive I’m going to slam the door behind you, push you against the wall, and kiss you like you’ve never been kissed before. My tongue is going — .”
“Okay, that’s enough. Your tongue isn’t doing a thing to my boyfriend!” I protested. Well, I probably screamed. I can’t remember being so pissed off as I was at that moment.
“I’m sorry,” Jill answered. “Not my tongue, of course. Your tongue, Katie. Right, Todd?”
Todd actually laughed. “I knew what she meant, Kate.”
“Still, she shouldn’t say things like that.”
“You’re right, Katie. I shouldn’t be saying them. You should be!” Jill said with a giggle. “You really need to learn to tease your man.”
I sighed, loud enough I’m sure Todd and Jill heard me. “That’s not me.” It wasn’t really a claim, so much as an admission that I didn’t know how to be any other way. I’m not seductive or playful. I’m serious, all-business, me. That’s the me Todd first met, so why try to change?
“Katie, the first trick is to get yourself in the right mood. Are you laying down on your bed?”
“Yeah,” I said with some hesitation. “And it is lying down. Not laying.”
“Whatever. You’re not doing it. If I open your bedroom door, I’ll find you sitting on the edge, ready to put the phone back in its stand. Recline. Put your head on a pillow and enjoy the sound of Todd’s voice. Imagine a bit.”
For some inexplicable reason, I did as Jill suggested.
“Now, I’m going to my room and I’m going to teach you how to do this right!”
Our rooms are on the same side of our small living, dining, everything room. The two-room apartment is pretty small, with one shared bathroom off the short hallway. I heard Jill’s bed creak as she flopped onto it. Part of me was still seething, part of me was stunned, and a whole lot of me was too damn curious.
“Is she really going to — ?” Todd asked.
“Yes, I am,” Jill gleefully responded. “You’re going to have phone sex, Todd. Real, wild, phone sex!”
“No, he isn’t,” I said.
“Bullshit, Katie. We’re going to have phone sex,” Jill proclaimed. “Todd, are you still thinking about getting kissed when you arrive?” Jill asked.
“Uh, well — ”
“Of course you are,” Jill continued. “You’re a guy and you love the idea of a tongue teasing yours. Good phone sex is all about great ideas, even if you’d rarely be so wild in real life. Well, in your cases, maybe never that wild.”
“This is sort of weird. We shouldn’t do this,” I said, trying half-heatedly to stop what seemed so likely to happen by now.
“Katie, you need this. And I’m sure Todd does.”
“Need what?” Todd asked.
“Okay,” Jill continued, ignoring both Todd and me, “I’m Katie. Just listen and don’t try to analyze everything. Let yourselves fantasize about each other.”
I leaned back on the bed and momentarily thought about Jill in the other room. Was she shaking her head at us? Was she laughing at us? Or was she thinking about Todd?
“Todd, you enter the apartment and I, Katie, close the door. I push you against the wall and kiss you. I push my pelvis against you, so I can rub my body against yours. My tongue teases yours while we kiss. And you kiss me back, passionately, with your arms tightly around me.”
“Sure. Yeah.” Todd sounded distant. He wasn’t having any trouble with his imagination.
“I’d slowly move to kissing your neck, while my hands undid your belt and unzipped your pants. I’d kiss you so passionately that the electricity would make you cock beg to be set free.”
I could hear Todd’s breathing change. We had never had phone sex, but it was clearly something he was enjoying. I noticed my hand was no longer clenched and my neck wasn’t quite so tight, but I wasn’t relaxed or okay with things, either.
“I’d drop to my knees and reach into your tighty-whities, pulling out your cock so I could tease it with a kiss.” Jill paused to listen to Todd. And then, without Todd realizing it, or me for brief moment, she shifted the perspective of her narrative. Damn, she is good at talking to men. “And another kiss. And your lover licks the head of your cock with the tip of her tongue. She’s teasing you.”
There was something about her voice. Jill was speaking in a soothing rhythmic manner. It was seductive. I want to be able to talk like that.
“She lifts your cock and licks that nice little spot where the seam is. You know the spot.” Jill paused. “Are you alone, Todd?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered. I knew he was alone, and so did Jill. Todd has a little studio apartment near the university. Then it dawned on me where she was going. I thought about speaking up yet again, protesting, but I really, really wanted to hear him.
“So take out your cock for Katie,” Jill instructed him. “Take it out so you can stroke it.”
“I… uh… it… ,” Todd stuttered.
“What?” I exclaimed?
“I didn’t mean to — ”
“It’s okay, Todd. Tell Katie what you’re doing.” Jill knew how to use pauses to tease Todd. It was an art form, the way she coaxed him. “It’s okay. Are you playing with it?”
“Yes. I’m holding my penis and can feel the blood pulsing through it.”
“It’s a cock, Todd. Or a dick. Or whatever you want to call it, but not a penis. Tell Katie what you’re thinking and doing describe it to us.”
“My hand is around my dick and I can feel it throbbing. It almost hurts, it’s so hard. The idea of… well, you know, someone doing that….”
“Now, think about Katie. You’re in the doorway and your lover is kissing it and licking it. A little sucking, too. But not too much. You don’t get to cum that quickly,” Jill continued. “She stands up and kisses you again. You finally realize, she’s wearing a nightshirt and nothing else.”
Me? Wearing nothing but a nightshirt? I couldn’t imagine doing that. Not even in my own apartment. And Jill knew that. I’m not her.
“You’ve done that,” Todd vacantly said.
“Yes, I have. Nice of you to notice,” Jill giggled. “Think of Katie wearing no bra, no panties, nothing. Just a nightshirt,” Jill cooed. “Katie, lose those sweat shorts you wear around the house.” Jill tapped on the wall between our rooms. “Right now. I’m taking my shorts off so I can enjoy this more. I’m going to be rubbing my clit while Todd gets off.”
Todd was breathing deeper, more intensely, but not faster. He was masturbating as he thought about both of us at the other end of the conversation. I was so shocked by Jill’s bluntness that I couldn’t think clearly.
“Katie? Those shorts off?”
“Yes,” I answered, and they were. And so were my panties.
“Todd, think about Katie, leading you to her room, your cock still hard and exposed. She’s going to push you down onto her bed and climb on top of you. Would you like that?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I would.”
“Katie, imagine Todd, lying there on the bed. You pull down his pants and his underwear. Still in your nightshirt, you climb onto him. You position his cock and slide down, guiding it deep inside of your wet, tingling pussy.”
Todd and Jill were both breathing in synch. My roommate and my boyfriend, about to cum together over the phone.
“Can you hear Katie’s gasping, deep breaths, Todd?”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s touching herself. She’s imagining that big, throbbing cock of yours inside her while she plays with her pussy. Don’t you wish you could see what she’s doing? She’s enjoying this!”
I was enjoying it. It was exciting and disturbing at the same time. Jill was talking to us about having sex. I shouldn’t have been enjoying it so much.
“So tell her what you’d be doing for Katie.”
Todd was doing quite a bit, from the sounds of it. He had to slow down and focus to tell us his version of the fantasy.
“I’d lift that nightshirt over her head, toss it aside, and kiss her breasts.”
“Kiss her breasts? That’s the best you can do?”
“No, Todd, don’t kiss my breasts and gently like you do. It’s not that great,” I blurted out. “I want you to suck my tits. Passionately go after my nipples, taking them into your mouth and really, really suck them,” I told him.
“Hell, yeah!” Jill concurred. “Go after Katie. Devour her. Consume her.”
“You’d be okay with that?” Todd asked. “I try to be gentle and romantic.”
“Sometimes, I want you to just rip my clothes off and fuck me. Suck my tits. Ram your dick into me. Have some passion.”
“God, that’s fantastic,” Jill said between moans. “Please, Todd, please fuck Katie this weekend. I want to hear that bed bounce and shake. Shove that throbbing cock of yours into her pussy.”
“Oh, no, I’m getting on top of him and I’m riding that dick. If he finally wants to show some passion, he’ll have to earn that chance.”
I was running my hand through my soft pubic hair, teasing my clit, and sometimes inserting a finger into myself. My pussy was dripping, begging for Todd’s dick. I tensed, tightening my pussy while fingering myself. And then I thought of being on my back, Todd pumping hard. I hoped he would really take me this weekend, really fuck me like Jill had said.
“Todd?” Jill softly whispered. “Keep stroking that cock of yours. Tell me about her tits.”
“I’ve always loved Kate’s breasts. So soft. Her beautiful light skin makes her nipples seem so brilliantly pink.”
“And you’re going to suck them for her.”
“Yes. I am. While she’s sitting on my lap, facing me, I’m going to suck her tits.”
“And I’m going to slide up and down that dick of yours, while you suck my tits,” I reminded Todd.
“Oh, crap! Oh, man. Oh…” Todd lost control. He gasped and groaned. He was cumming like I’ve never seen or heard him cum before.
“Katie, tell him what you’re doing,” Jill begged.
As I teased my clit, using the wonderfully slick juices from my own pussy, I told Todd I was touching myself. I didn’t know what else to say, but that was enough.
“I love you, Kate!” Todd managed to say.
I came instantly, with a wave of passion, my body convulsing. “I love you, too.”
There was silence as we all enjoyed the moment. Of course, Jill broke the silence.
“That’s how you say goodbye, kids. Damn that was fun.”
“I’ll see you Friday night,” Todd whispered.
“I’ll be wearing a nightshirt,” I promised.
We ended the phone call, but I kept thinking about the call for another ten minutes or so. Without so much as a knock on my bedroom door, Jill entered. She was wearing only a t-shirt, her pussy was completely visible. She walked over to my bed and sat on the corner. I realized my pussy was exposed, too. I sat up and tried to be nonchalant, but I felt quite vulnerable.
“I’m pretty sure Freddie’s home this weekend. You’ll have the apartment to yourself. Use it.” She then flopped down next to me, giggling. “Damn, that was fun.”
Jill pulled me down next to her. We were there on the bed, side by side, staring at the ceiling. She started to play with herself, right there next to me, without the slightest inhibition.
I wasn’t angry anymore, but I wasn’t sure how to feel, either. I nudged Jill. “What are you doing?”
“Masturbating. Again.”
“You can do that?” I asked.
“You can’t?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never been able to have two orgasms in a night. I’m just not wired that way, I guess.”
Jill turned her head towards me. I could feel her breath against my ear. She whispered as she spoke.
“On Friday, you’re going to fuck Todd. You’re going to throw him down on this bed, climb on his cock, and fuck him until you have two, maybe three, wild orgasms. You’re going to be so turned on that you cum with a burst. I bet it’s the first time you squirt!”
I reached down, and did what Jill was doing. She wasn’t just touching herself, she was thrusting a finger deep within herself. And more. I sat up to watch, to study. Jill smiled at me and kept on pleasing herself. She was using her palm as her middle finger explored her body.
“What are you doing?” I asked again, but this time my meaning was curiosity. “Tell me.”
“I’m feeling the ridges inside and pushing my palm against my clitoris. Right at those ridges, that’s the beloved g-spot. Put your head back on the pillow, look up, and find the g-spot.”
I did as she suggested. There were the ridges and an intensity I hadn’t felt before that moment. Something weird was going on.
“I think I need to pee!”
“No, no. Go with it. Think about Todd, think about whatever you love. Keep touching yourself. Enjoy the feeling.”
“But what if — ?”
“Enjoy it, Katie. Keep touching exploring yourself.” Her voice was soothing, but I was worried I might pee all over myself. But I didn’t.
Yes, I came again. It was messy and thrilling. With Jill right there beside me, coaching me on how to lose total control.
When Friday arrived, I came home from work to find a thin white cotton nightshirt on my bed, with the words “Wild Thing” emblazoned across the chest.
Learning to Trust Others
Kate looked at me, searching for approval or something.
“Sounds like you have a great roommate.”
“You don’t think we did anything wrong?”
I shook my head.
“What if Todd was thinking about her while he… took care of things?”
“He probably did. That would be normal, Kate.”
“Didn’t she cross a line?” Kate wanted some sort of recrimination, on the surface, but I sensed she really needed to be told what she had enjoyed was okay.
Why do we look for reasons to feel guilty? Do we think men do the same? Not in my experience. I’m sure Todd wasn’t wondering anything other than when he might get laid again.
I explained to her that Todd hadn’t cheated and Jill seemed to be a good friend. Todd clearly didn’t lie or go behind Kate’s back. Sure, Todd might think about Jill from time to time, but Jill had guided him to think about Kate. That was the right thing to do, and done pretty damn well.
Kate needed to accept that our friends and lovers all think about other people. Fantasy is part of most healthy relationships. Learning to use that fantasy and lose the guilt isn’t easy for some women, but we need to embrace human nature.
You have to learn to trust yourself, your partner, and your friends. Real love isn’t about to be damaged by enjoying a little teasing over the phone, especially when it is shared so openly.
