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Down, boy Down

What had he been thinking in there, s he wanted to do the sahs,wasn’t helping with his tight suit, damn it, so he stood and forced hi about Diane That was always good for a wilted willie

Settling back in, he let his h the past hour She wanted hiaed in twelve or even fifteen years ago Being more mature, his sexual transactions tended toward thefinancial transactions had ended years ago, thank goodness A few stupid years of hedonism had ended with a hefty dose of antibiotics and a ht, Jereerator

Sixwhat he, Mike, and Dana had just a year ago, searching for someone with that expanded view of sexuality so feomen possessed So few, in fact, he’d only found one

And she’d been temporary

He felt like a eunuch, stuck next to Lydia as his dick throbbed in his swie Even worse than having it cut off and unusable wasunable to use it The pain of blue balls was a steady re beside Jererayto be washed off in a shoith hi down between her…

Throb

Cursing hi in pain Pain was better than frustration In pain, he could find relief from torment

Or so he told his you like better about Iceland than you do about home, Lydia," Sandy asked Actually, it wasn’t a question--it wasThe problem was that Lydia couldn't cos that went beyond the trivial Like how she felt when she sat on top of a coffee house, in the rooftop garden aardens; the hippie feel of the kind of place that had been regulated out of cities like Boston and Cae

The little coffee houses charmed her, made her feel like she had entered into a different era, one that was both ti wos stretched out and crossed at the ankles, staring at the clear blue sky, the sun war her as she sipped a latte

If she told Sandy that, her mother would simply say, "We have coffee here!" and Lydia would reply back, "You just don't understand, Mom," and Sandy would say, "Then explain it to me so I can" And they would enter into the endless loop oftension for unconditional love and independence, the two caught in a tug-of-war that left no victors, only raw, sore hands, aching shoulders, and hurt feelings

Lydia could easily tell her s she h, wasn’t home--it was Matt Jones, or, rather, Mike Bournhah for Lydia to develop what she thought was aexcept the coffee was terrible here The men were too tall, bland, and seemed already committed And if they weren’t, there was no easy way to flirt, to connect, to test the waters The idea that she would find a hot Viking was now laughable The only way that would happen would be to ask so

The food was overpriced and quite terrible, with a few exceptions And even then it was the quality that was good, not the price Twelve dollars for one hot dog and a Coke wasn't her idea of fine or affordable cuisine And so she clung to the coffee shops as her buoy in a stor It combined three elements: scandal, disappointment, and impulsiveness The scandal was self-evident By the skin of her teeth she’d escaped it, this Diane taking her place A place Lydia had never wanted, and never intended to be in

Not quite true, a voice whispered You certainly wanted to be there, you just didn’t want to be videotaped

Fair enough, another voice in her mind said This happened a lot without a confidante And although Krysta was only a phone call away, it wasn’t the sa, like conversations with Sandy, to frustration

Disappointment? Disappointment came from her mother, who she knew mourned Lydia’s o, she knew it pained her to have a child even four hours away But a continent away, or damn near close? That was too hard

And impulsiveness That one was a hundred percent on her She jumped at the chance at first, and then ran froravity of such a last-second decision Hers was thoroughly a first-world probleures now, living in a foreign country, all expenses paid for now, until her relocation allowance was spent, with a title most people couldn’t dream of until they were ten years older than she