Running Rings

by Ruth G Juliano

  “Are you packing?”

  Adrian nodded, “Yes, Ma’am. I don’t leave home without condoms.”

  “Okay, I’m going to leave the room and come back and we’ll go from there.”

  “Oh, I’d better take off my belt. They tend to scratch. You might want to take off your watch too. Can I rip your shirt off?”

  Verity nodded and laughed, “Sure, why not. Okay, so we want each badly because we’ve been building up to it and never had the chance before. Let’s do it.” This was crazy but it sounded like fun. She walked out of the room and shook her arms and hands. She bent her knees a few times and stretched. She took a deep breath and walked into the lounge room where Adrian had his back to her, and Verity noticed that his jeans fit very well. “Adrian? Is that you?”

  “Verity!” he said, turning around.

  “Oh, Adrian!” she hurried towards him and launched herself at him. She wrapped her legs around him and his arms came around her. He kissed her hard and moved her to the wall. His tongue was out of control and making her thirsty for more. She ran her hands over his hair and raked her nails across his shoulders. He carried her to the lounge and lay down on her. They frantically kissed each other and touched each other in random places.

  They rolled onto the floor and he was above her. He pulled open her shirt and lifted her bra from underneath. He moved it up over her breasts and put his mouth to one while he gently squeezed the other. He was licking and sucking her nipple while rubbing his crotch against hers, causing Verity to moan softly and yearn to get him out of his clothes. She pushed him back and then moved on top of him. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pushed it up his chest. She began licking his chest and biting his nipples. She pulled her shirt off over her head, removed her bra, and rubbed her bare breasts over his chest then kissed him. After a few seconds she moved to beside him and put her hand down the front of his pants. There wasn’t enough room so she moved her hands and tried to unbutton his jeans.

  He moved his hand between her legs and inside her underpants and began stroking her. “You’re getting pretty slippery.”

  “I’m so turned on by you,” Verity breathed, “I want to do it from behind properly.” She moved onto her knees, forgetting that she was still wearing her underpants.

  Adrian moved behind her, lifted her skirt and pulled her underpants down to her knees. He rubbed one hand over her buttocks and Verity could hear the plastic from the condom wrapper in the other. A moment later he smacked her bottom and rubbed himself against her. He pulled her slowly towards him and then got into a rhythm. Verity pushed her buttocks up higher and leant on her forearms. The way his external parts were banging against hers was driving her crazy. After a few minutes, Adrian grabbed her pony tail and pulled her more upright. He cupped her left breast with his left hand and began almost biting the right side of neck, still while thrusting inside her. He moved his right hand down between her legs and Verity began orgasming. He quickly pulled out and pushed her to the floor. He flipped her over and buried his face between her legs, tongue probing wildly. Verity’s legs and hips shook uncontrollably, and she began moaning loudly. As she was about to reach her peak again, he suddenly moved up and was inside her again. He kissed her mouth and Verity tasted herself on his face. He was sticky and wet with her arousal. The lustfulness was irresistible and she found herself licking his lips and chin. She pulled her face away, “Adrian, oh fuck!”

  Adrian laughed and gave her a few more hard thrusts until he knew she was done. He shuddered and lay down on her. “Anything broken?” he laughed.

  “Holy fuck, Adrian.”

  “It certainly was.”

  “Oh, Adrian,” she panted, “Sorry. I don’t usually swear, but you are crazy good at making me feel good about sex.”

  “Was it sexy?”

  Verity nodded. She was still trying to catch her breath. “Wow, it is possible. You pulled my hair and took me from behind, and I didn’t feel the least bit degraded. That felt incredibly sexy.”

  “Good, I’m really glad.”

  “Maybe it’s just you though. Maybe not all men are this good at sex.”

  “I’ve had a lot of sex,” Adrian shrugged, “That doesn’t always make someone better at something, but I’ve taken the time to really listen to what pleases women. I can basically do made-to-order sex.”

  Verity smiled, “And you’re so blasé about it. You’re happy just to come and make a woman happy, give her what she wants and be on your merry way?”

  Adrian moved out from between her legs and lay on his side next to her. “I find that most women are really possessive and jealous and petty, and the more time I spent with some of them the more I knew how much better it was not to buy into that emotional stuff. I found that they weren’t really interested in listening to me either. They wanted sex and to complain about everything else in their life but they didn’t want to know about me. One day, I’ll find a woman who’s worth breaking down all those barriers and pushing through the shit.”

  “I’m interested in you,” Verity said, “I’d like to know all about you. I’d like to know where you’ve been, where you’re going and what you’re doing in between.”

  “Nah, I’m boring. You don’t want to know about me,” Adrian said.

  “Sure I do. How many women have you slept with?”

  “I have it written down, I’d have to check. I don’t keep count. I’m not trying to fill a quota or anything. Some women it’s just once, some it might be a few times over a couple of months, sometimes it’s every week for a few months, or the second time might be years later.”

  “And you don’t forget about them?”

  “I didn’t forget about you. You’re very memorable. And no, I don’t say that to all the girls. You have a very calm persona. You don’t seem like the type who flies off the handle and breaks stuff and screams about nothing. I find peaceful people very beautiful. Have you found yourself?”

  Verity sighed, “Mostly, but there’s a piece of my heart missing. I guess until I find that piece, I won’t be completely myself.”

  “Man trouble?”

  “Oh, Adrian, you have no idea,” Verity said, “Come lie on my bed. It’s nicer than the floor.” She stood up and put her hands down to him. They walked to her bedroom holding hands and reclined on the bed.

  “Is that him in the picture?” Adrian asked.

  Verity turned her head and looked at her bedside table. She rolled over and picked up the frame. “Yep, that’s him.”

  “Do you want me to search the Police databases and locate him, or was he already reported as a missing person?”

  Verity ran her finger down the edge of the frame, “I reported him as missing, but he’s not. It’s possible he just changed his mind about spending his life with me.”

  “Didn’t I see you around town with a blonde? That’s obviously not this guy in the picture.”

  Verity sighed, “He was supposed to be my friend. That was Brad Matthews.”

  “Good to know. If I see him again, I’ll deck him.”

  Verity laughed, “Thank you. I might too. So, have you ever been in love?”

  “Nope,” Adrian replied, shaking his head, “I don’t do love.”

  “You don’t? Maybe you do and you just don’t know it.”

  Adrian put his hands behind his head, “I don’t want to tie myself down. I’m not ready to force myself into the mindset of belonging exclusively to someone, and having them think that they own me. I want to control my own life and not be reliant on someone else to make me feel worthwhile.”

  Verity sighed and put the frame back on her bedside table. “It’s not that I don’t feel worthwhile without him. It’s that I love him and I’m concerned about him. I’d like to know that he’s okay. If he changed his mind about being with me, that’s fine, but the man I knew would have told me straight up. He wouldn’t beat about the bush or mince his words, he’d just say ‘Verity, I don’t love you anymore and I don’t want to be with y
ou’, except he wouldn’t say that to me because he does love me. I was going to ask him to marry me while we were wearing our caps and gowns at our graduation.”

  “Isn’t that a man’s role?” Adrian asked.

  “Proposals? I guess so. This ring is his. He gave it to me for my twenty first birthday. I have no doubt he was buying me an engagement ring too, and we could have asked each other. He measured my finger in various ways, even making me paper rings. I’m pretty sure he was getting my size. I don’t know what happened. He never showed up at our graduation and his numbers never answered and then became disconnected. I can’t commit myself to another person while I have this unanswered question. At what point should I just give up and let go? Maybe he’s in love with someone else. Maybe he’s married and expecting a baby. Maybe he’s dead. I just wish I had an answer.”

  “That makes sense now. I guess when we had sex the first time you wanted me to be him. And when we had sex just now you wanted to know what it was going to be like when you finally found him. Maybe you’re going to compare every man you meet to him, and they all miss the mark. Me included.”

  Verity moved over and rested on Adrian’s chest and put her leg over his. “No, that wasn’t what happened. I don’t compare you to him at all. I’m sorry if that’s how it seemed.”

  “You don’t have to be sorry. You don’t owe me anything, Verity, but you just have to remember that I don’t owe you anything either. I’ve had women decide that because we’ve had sex we’re in a relationship, and they have some kind of ownership over me. Sex is just sex.”

  “I’d like to be your friend, Adrian.”

  “Your friend who teaches you how to have sex?”

  Verity shrugged, “Would you feel better about it if I paid you?”

  “No,” Adrian laughed.

  “I know it’s up to you who you have sex with and when. Do you ever think that maybe women don’t think they’re in a relationship with you, but they just really want to be in a relationship with you?”

  “Absolutely, I get used for sex. They want my body, they want to get off and they know I’m good at it. That’s not a basis for a relationship, and they should know that.”

  “Good thing you don’t want a relationship then,” Verity laughed.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You already said you don’t do love and you don’t want a relationship, but have you ever asked what it’s like from their side? Do you know what effect you have on people? Do you know that you made me feel like the only person on the planet when you danced with me and when you had me in your apartment being so patient with me? It felt to me like a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I knew it couldn’t possibly go anywhere and that suits me fine. I’m already in love. But you’re a gorgeous, sexy, intelligent and fascinating man, Adrian, so I don’t blame the women for wanting to be in a relationship with you. It must be a sad realisation for some women, not all, but some who know that it didn’t mean as much to you as it did to them. Not hard for you, obviously. But I think you’re worth more than empty sex.”

  “Babe, I’m a simple man, just tell me what you want from me and if it suits me I’ll do it.”

  “I like you a lot. You restored my faith in men and you don’t judge me. I was never comfortable with being naked, not once in my life. I spent three months naked and it was torture. Getting naked in front of you the first time was a big deal, but I’ve been comfortable with my body since then. If someone as gorgeous as you can look at me, and think I’m beautiful, then it’s a huge compliment. I think you’re a wonderful man.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am. You are beautiful. Women in general are beautiful. Big, small, chubby, scrawny, whatever they are, if they smile and they respect themselves, it’s beautiful.”

  “I know you don’t believe men and women can be friends, and that women tend to have a hidden agenda, but I could say the same about men. They just want sex. I already consider you a friend and I’m always happy to see you. I don’t want to control your life, but I would love to be able to hug you and say ‘hello’ in passing if I see you around the city.”

  “Sounds okay,” Adrian shrugged, “I’ll think about it.”

  “And when you’re ready to commit and you finally find that woman who makes you want to stake your claim, I want to come to your wedding and check her out and make sure she’s up to the task.”

  Adrian laughed and reached over to squeeze her breast. “As long as you don’t tell my wife how we met, I’ll save you a seat. I’ll have to come to your wedding when you find Mr Perfect so I can see what all the fuss is about.”

  “There’s no fuss. He’s a very simple, straightforward person. What you see is what you get. He never had any hang-ups or issues with anything.”

  “None? Are you sure you’re not repainting the canvas there, Verity?”

  “How do I explain what he’s like? Okay, imagine a child. A child who was raised in a loving home, whose family didn’t have a lot of money, and everything about their life was really simple. So playing outside, and building things, and using their imagination, and mending things and not throwing things away was his normal life. Imagine someone who just took everything for what it was, and was totally green, like being naïve to the danger and heartache that exists in the world, and as such they were extremely simple and happy, and not tuned in to all the bullshit that life throws around.”

  “So he was a big kid?”

  Verity laughed, “In a way, yes, and he was really different to me. I was raised a snob by my mother, step-mother, whatever she was, and I went to private schools and had the best of everything. He was still wearing shirts he had in high school, using pens until they actually ran out of ink, and using both sides of the paper. He was nothing like me at all.”

  “So what was it that attracted you to him then? The old ‘opposites attract’ thing?”

  “I thought he was cute. I mean, really cute, like I’m a nine year old. He didn’t get bothered by things that would bother most people. He was never petty or mean or conceited. He helped people and he held doors and he picked up rubbish if he saw it. He was just one of those really nice boys. He always said ‘hi’ to everyone and asked how people were. I used to watch him thinking he was very cute and maybe just a little bit crazy. He climbed trees and loved being outside and barefoot. He loved to be active and run around and play sports. I came from the concrete jungle and hairdressers and manicures, and not doing anything that could be done by someone else. He was like nothing I’d ever seen before or since. I never changed him. I would never try because I thought he was perfect. He changed me though. I became a better person because of him. He undid all of the conditioning that I had from my schooling and made me able to enjoy really simple things. Things that people take for granted, and things I never even really knew existed.”

  “He sounds great. Mr Perfect obviously means a lot to you, so I really hope you find him soon and live happily ever after.”

  “I will invite you to my wedding, I promise. I guess I’ll just send the invite to your apartment and hope for the best.” She moved over and climbed on top of him. “Don’t laugh when I tell you this, but when Mr Perfect, as you called him, and I made love it was usually in the dark, or under the covers, and always with him on top. We were in dorms and had to make do with what we could get away with. When I see him again I want to try all different things to make him happy. Seeing as sex is just sex to you, and you don’t have any feelings about it, maybe one day you could teach me how to be on top and do it right. I’d like to know what works from the man’s side, what feels good for you, so I could really make him happy.”

  Adrian nodded, “Sure, if you give me a couple of minutes, I should be able to do it now. But if you want a rough idea, sit up straight. Mm hmm. Like that. Oh yes, that’s very nice. Your breasts look amazing from down here.”

  Verity laughed and put her hands under her breasts. She bounced them in her hands. “They turned out okay.”

 
“They’re beautiful. Now, if you’re going to be riding up there, it’s very unlikely that you’ll fall off unless you lean back too far and your horse isn’t very flexible. If you lean back and he cries out that you’re going to snap his saddle off, it’s best to lean forward quick smart. That, or do a backflip off the end of the bed.”

  Verity laughed and slid her arms under his neck. “You’re adorable, and you’re not a horse. I told you that last time.”

  He kissed her on the cheek and sat her up again. “Don’t distract me from the lesson. Now, you might want to hold his hands while you’re grinding away up there, like this,” he said, taking her hands, “or you can put your hands down on his abdomen or chest like this, or put your arms up like this and really rock it.”

  Verity moved back and forth on Adrian’s hips and nodded, “You’re amazing for doing this for me.”

  “I’m the best, what can I say?” he said, putting his hands behind his head.

  “When it comes to pleasing women in bed, I have no doubt in my mind that you are,” Verity said, “Maybe one day you’ll learn how to please yourself.”

  “You mean masturbate? I haven’t masturbated since I was sixteen,” he said, “No need. I can get a woman into bed any day of the week.”

  Verity smiled and lay down on his chest. She thought about being under the covers in her dorm. Their bottom half was naked and they were touching each other, trying to work out how to masturbate each other. They were whispering instructions to each other and laughing. She wanted to call his name. She’d never called his name out loud, only whispered it. She opened her eyes. “Maybe you’re just going to play the field forever then. I actually didn’t mean masturbating.”

  “Then what did you mean?”

  Verity sat up again, “I meant being really pleased with yourself, and doing something that you really enjoy and that makes you happy, not just because you’re good at it. For all I know, you might not even like sex. You might just have sex because you’re good at it, very good at it, and as long as you know you’re good at something it makes you feel worthwhile. But what about something else that really pleases you? Something more important that makes you feel worthwhile.”