The Island, Chapter 5 - Sex Stories

The Island, Chapter 5

... only one with a toddler with me. He seemed cool with the idea, and was great with Jared. I tried to tell him I was content just being with him, but he really wanted to get married. “For a while it worked. I got a real job and did surprisingly well with it, and he even joined a swingers club with me, because I told him I really didn’t like possessive relationships. I know he had sex with other girls, because all the women in the group used to compare notes. We all knew each other’s secrets. But when I made it with his best friend, he lost it. The fighting began, and things were never the same. He just couldn’t get it that pleasure was pleasure and love was love. If you care for someone, why would you not want them to feel good? We always came home to each other in the end, and that’s what love is. “I eventually gave up and focused on my career, and my son. I have tried to be the best person I can be, and do the best job I can at work and as a parent. I think it is just sad that I have to give up ever having a meaningful relationship again, because society’s conventions don’t allow my views to be considered normal. I finally realized that my staying with Steve was hurting Jared more than it was helping. We got divorced earlier this year.” She looked me in the eye. “I’m telling you this because I am sensing something between us. If you want a quick fling that’s OK with me. If this is all too heavy for you and you want nothing to so with me, that’s cool, too. But if you think ...

... you want something lasting, I am too old to change who I am. You are going to have to accept me and the way I live my life, or just move on.” I was speechless. Never before had I met someone who had put everything she had just said into words. I had always known that I was different from most people. I had had relationships and I loved sex, but they never seemed to be the same thing to me. I was a modern-day hedonist, seeking out whatever pleasures I could find, but I cared for the women in my life as well. I didn’t want to hurt them; I wanted to share pleasure with them. They all seemed to want a one-woman guy, though. And invariably I would get the uncontrollable urge to bed some new lovely, and that would be all she wrote for my current relationship. Just like Janie said, I always came home to them in the end, wasn’t that love? They didn’t seem to see it that way. I think Janie must have misinterpreted my silence as judgment, because she sighed and stopped. “ I guess that was TMI, huh? Let’s head back.” “No, wait,” I said. “I’m beginning to think this is some sort of bizarre cosmic joke. Or maybe the most involved hallucination ever recorded. Way too many coincidences seem to have happened already, and now I find a beautiful woman who just put my entire life’s philosophy in a nutshell.” Her face brightened, and I continued “I have never met anyone like you in my life, Janie. I think you and I were made for each other. I absolutely want a relationship with you. And I accept ...