Christine wakes up

Christine

It was a beautiful morning. The sun only just rose, but it tried its best to poke through the blinds. James was still asleep next to me in bed. He was peacefully asleep. He's such a sweet guy. Yesterday we just made out until... that woman arrived. Then we talked about how he helps her. Soon after, we just fell asleep, it had been a tiring day for us and it was already late at night. I put a shirt on and went to the bathroom, then went to the living room. As I walked downstairs, I could see a woman enter.

"Hi!" she greeted me. "You're Emily, right?"

"N-No..."

"Hm? Who are you then?"

"I'm Christine... James and I went here last night and stayed here."

"Is he here?"

"He's still asleep, yeah."

"Then where's Emily? I'm supposed to bring some food for her."

"She came here last night but left because James and I were here. I gave her an address to a women's shelter to stay for the night."

"Oh, alright then." She paused to think. "Do you two still need breakfast?"

"I guess, so yes, Mrs..."

"Call me Isabella. I'm James's mom." Oh no. I hope I made a good impression on her.

"H-Hi Isabella." We awkwardly shook hands.

"Breakfast should be ready in about 20 minutes, you go ahead and wake up James, okay?"

"Will do."

With that, I jolted upstairs again. He was still sleeping, and I returned to bed with him. I hugged him, squeezed him a bit more than usual. I missed the feeling of love so much. That feeling of finding everything about your partner new, exciting, and amazing. It's wonderful. James slept without a shirt on. And just like he said, he had little muscle, but he wasn't overweight either. Probably just not used to a lot of carrying things around, I guess.

I slowly touched all over his body, from his smooth and soft hairs to the wonderfully broad shoulders over his cute nipples down to his belly button and his trunks. Maybe one day I'll go further with that exploration. Being so close to him, I could smell him. He had no extra clothing and yesterday it was too late to shower. He smelled... good. It was nice being near him. I climbed over his body and gave him a kiss. He slowly returned it, before opening his eyes. "Good morning Christine."

"Good morning James."

"How are you feeling today? Happy about yesterday?"

"As a whole? Yeah it was great. I'm glad we did this yesterday. I felt less judged than in the office."

"Well I'm glad I could provide an escape from prying eyes", he said with a joking tone. "In all seriousness, Christine, I'm happy you could be how you feel, for a night."

"I'd be happy if it was more than just this night, James. We should go on another date some time." I smiled and probably also blushed a ton.

"Good idea, Christine. We'll talk after Christmas about this, right?"

"Good idea, next week is going to be a mess. I'll have to fly away to my family. Who knows how jetlagged I'll be next weekend."

"No worries. If you don't have the energy, we can always just text each other or call, too."

"I might do that, yes. In any case, James, your mother is here and making us breakfast, you better hurry up and get dressed."

"Aaah, you should have told me, then I'd have time to shower."

"S-Sorry."

"It's okay, you couldn't have known. But please don't be mad if I smell a bit."

"It's okay James, I didn't shower either. Promise me to be kind and I won't complain either."

"Haha, sure Christine."

Sadly, him getting dressed didn't involve getting naked, but it makes sense. Still unfortunate, I would have loved to... wait, we don't have the time, his mom is here. Ugh. Next time, I guess. There will be a next time, right? Isabella's breakfast was great, but I needed to go home soon. We all took the train ride and I exited the train at my station. Last night was amazing in ways I never imagined it could have gone...

I've had some experiences with guys, and none have been good. Well, except for James, so far. As much as I like him, a panicked part of me is still deadly afraid of him. James, the guy that didn't even ask for sex last night. The guy that would have gotten sex if he asked. Sigh, I'm frustrated by myself again. Therapy has really helped myself get out of a slump, but now that I can see the world like a normal person again, I'm just frustrated when I can't shake my old habits although I had already realized that they were stupid. That's something for the next session, though...

I got a message, from Floria: 'Everything okay with you last night? I heard you went to James' place?'

'How do you know?'

'I volunteered yesterday again. A woman told me she got sent here by you.'

'Oh, Emily was with you?'

'Yeah, poor girl. Is everything okay with you two? Did James do anything?'

'No he didn't do anything. We had a fun afternoon and then went to his home and that's where I stayed.'

'You slept with him? Did he at least use a condom?'

'We didn't have sex.'

'Huh, why?'

'He never asked. I kinda wish we did, though.'

'He genuinely never asked?'

'No we just made out and then Emily came, he explained everything to me, then we made out some more and nearly fell asleep, so we called it a night.'

'And he didn't do anything during the night?'

'Not as far as I can tell, don't worry. I promised him we'll go on a second date after Christmas. I hope we go further.'

'Actually, tell me what he told you about that woman. I want to compare stories.'

We both chatted and the stories roughly lined up. Of course, Floria had some details only Emily could know, but they didn't clash with James' story.

'I'm glad he told me the truth. This made me relieved, thanks Floria.'

'No problem...' Floria +10SP (+21SP) 'Can I ask you something?'

'Yeah sure what?'

'Do you think I'm too distrustful of him? I keep doubting him and what he says and I don't know if I should stop. Everyone else gets along so well with him and I slowly feel left out of the group just because I can't see in him what others see in him.'

'Well, I felt that too, at the start. That was the reason I snapped at him last week. The fact that he had mercy with me really woke me up and made me rethink, though I hope you don't attack him. It sounds weird, but maybe talk with him about it? You can clearly see what kind of guy he is if he responds negatively.'

'I kind of already did, though. I used to live in the house he owns now, remember? Where a camera was. He handed me the pay they give out as a company in person and apologized for his father's actions. It helped me see him as a different person from his father back then, but... not anymore, I guess? I still feel uneasy.'

'Floria, how much do you talk to James? Because at least for me, the more time I spend with him, the more comfortable I feel around him. If you only ever talked to him once, no wonder you can't convince yourself to be nicer to him.'

'I did talk to him one other time, at the lunch table with Gloria and Helen. Pervert immediately asked me about my free time.'

'How was he supposed to know you play beach volleyball? As long as he didn't immediately ask to visit a match or training, that doesn't seem bad.'

'Well, it was his second question, kind of. He suggested to invite some of my friends to a match and then excluded himself from that friend pool.'

'See? He seems to have good intentions. Just talk to him more and that's it. Btw, if you ever do invite me, I'd be glad to attend and cheer you on!'

'I guess I'll do that, yeah. I'll tell you when new matches start.'

James

As mom and I sat on the train, on our ride back, I felt bad. Bad about Em. I couldn't get that image of her in other, different tattered and torn clothes, cheek drenched in blood, out of my mind. I felt so bad about forgetting about her needs and not expecting things to get that bad.

Had I become too focused on sex? This entire week, I've had so much sex with so many different people in the past few weeks. All I could think about was getting more. What if Christine didn't have advice for Em? Where would she have gone? Alone, in this cold? When I see her later today again, I need to apologize. I should have been a better friend.

I think I have failed my mission. My self-set mission, yes, but still. I wanted to help these women but instead I used every opportunity for sex. Then again, not like that's incompatible. But I should be more responsible about it, I think. If I need sex this much, I can just ask Amber, Donna, Laura, or my mom to satiate that lust. And maybe that list will keep growing. I should still help these women when they need my help, I don't need to go for sex every time. As much as I enjoyed last night, it wasn't necessary.

But at the same time, there is one issue. I'm sad I didn't get Christine to +99SP yesterday, not because I want her under me, but because it meant more waiting for the quest. I wanted to help her problems but I didn't reach it. At least there would be a next time.

Quite frankly, I enjoyed her too last night. She's a very cute woman, very sweet and caring. Ironic, given what she tried to do last week, but regardless. If she had been normal from the start, I'm sure I'd have fallen in love with all three of my writer colleagues. I didn't want to push it yesterday, though. Sure, she's in the high SPs, but given her past I wanted to play it safe.

We arrived at my home.