The sunshine that rested gently against the leather couch of my office signaled the halfway point of my day. April clearly intended to erase the pain and torture that January unleashed after an unrelenting November and December. Spring was in the air and my patients were clearly enjoying the season. I’d decided the previous summer that I’d give up the pace of the city that kept me awake 23 hours a day so that winter was an approval from above that I was headed in the right direction. And maybe I’d finally say yes to the not-so-subtle advances of my temptress spin-class instructor.
That winter’s blanket of snow forced all of my couples to spend more time together and that made my job easier. As Erin and Jack gave me a goodbye hug, I wondered if they’d be okay without my counseling.
“We owe you so much,” Erin tearfully exclaimed as she squeezed Jack’s hand. “We don’t want you to go, but I feel like you’ve taught us all that we needed to know about ourselves. We get each other now. We do.”
That sentiment was repeated over and over that April. I was relieved that I could leave every relationship moving in a positive direction. My methods proved meaningful. My theories had been validated. And no couple had prospered more on that couch than my 2PM appointment, Tanya and Franklin.
Honestly I didn’t have much hope for their relationship in the beginning. I wasn’t taking any new patients after my wife’s accident, but they simply wouldn’t take no for an answer. They touched a nerve with my assistant Melissa and she booked them an introductory appointment without telling me. From the outside they appeared to be a perfectly happy, normal couple, but they were complete opposites from my vantage point. And they always fought about sex.
Tanya was the free spirit artist and Franklin was the bean-counting realist. Opposites attract but they have to understand their differences. Tanya and Franklin spent every minute of their relationship attempting to change themselves for each other. They had mastered this give and take so well that it took me 6 months to realize who they really were. Tanya was the manager at a bank and Franklin taught jazz piano at a prestigious university. Their previous counselors never realized who they really were because Tanya and Franklin were too busy being what the other wanted them to be.
Tanya was an imposing woman at 5'10". Though she was the warm-hearted and bubbly life of the party, I was not surprised that she found herself intimidating to most people. Especially men. She totally accepted her character and flaunted her stature with fashionable heels and skirts that demanded attention.
Franklin, on the other hand, had little idea that he would be considered intimidating by anyone. As a 6'1" health junky, professional athlete would be the first guess anyone would make against his chiseled physique. But once you learned that his body was the result of a battle with overeating as a youth, you could see that the book didn’t match the cover.
My theories about relationships revolved around defining stereotypes and moving away from them until people understand what made them happy. Men are men and women are women. Until they’re not. Complexities in relationships occur when men and women don’t fit into neat stereotypes, outside expectations or simple biology. I landed on this simple premise when I realized that my same sex couples were used to figuring out ‘who believed what’ in the relationship. Every step of their relationship required negotiation with no default. With a man and a woman there are presumed beliefs that often go unspoken and thus unsettled.
This was clearly the case with Tanya and Franklin. Their problem was that they were living the mirror of what they actually wanted. Tanya was a meticulous bean-counter in real-life, but wanted the spontaneity and whimsy that she saw in Franklin’s life. Franklin had very little guarantee that any day would ever be the same and longed for the consistency that Tanya appeared to be wrapped into at the bank.
So my fix started with a simple assignment. Tanya would plan every aspect about their dates for a month except for one detail: the restaurant. Tanya would consult with her husband on every aspect along the way as she made here decisions - from what they’d wear to how they’d get there. Tanya would offer up two possible restaurants and leave it at that. Franklin’s only responsibility would be to choose which place and keep it as a surprise until they arrived.
“That’s it,” Tanya complained nervously. For over six months they complained primarily about their intimacy concerns and I had them planning date nights. “My husband just told you that he’s jacking off to porn and ashamed to tell me and you want us to choose between Italian and Japanese!”
“I don’t really like Japanese food,” Jack sheepishly joked.
“Not the fucking point,” Tanya bit back.
“Try it for a month,” I quietly prescribed as I closed my notebook. “We’ll check back in and see how it’s going.”
Fuming, Tanya grabbed her bag while Franklin followed her out of my office. Melissa recognized the tension as they passed through the office to the elevator. “Date night?” she asked already knowing the answer.
A month later, Tanya and Franklin returned.
“So what’s up?” I eagerly questioned them once they settled onto the couch.
For forty-five minutes Tanya and Franklin described their dates along with their prescribed planning. Tanya was a force of nature with respect to organization as she left no detail unresolved. From what shoes Franklin wore to where they might sit in any given restaurant. They openly discussed their likes and dislikes until the day of the date. The surprise of the restaurant or concert or event would remain until they arrived. Of their nine planned dates, two had to be postponed because of some emergency or another. On one date Franklin gave away the surprise by asking too many questions about the chef at one restaurant. But in all, the assignment proved fruitful. As they spoke I kept an overly upbeat demeanor that probably confused them.
“Excellent!” I bounded after they completed their recap.
“We’ve had 9 really amazing date nights,” Tanya opened, “but that’s not really why we’re here.”
“Don’t get us wrong,” Franklin chimed in. “We definitely talked more and enjoyed being out, but that spark didn’t translate at home. You know. In the bedroom.”
“Interesting,” I replied in confusion. “Tanya, did you enjoy planning every detail of your dates?”
“Not really, but I would do anything to make this work,” Tanya answered. “Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal because I do it every day, all day at work.”
“Was it a problem for you to not know where you’d ultimately end up?” I asked as I leaned into Tanya.
“Actually, that was the exciting part,” Tanya responded with a flicker of understanding. “He even blindfolded me so I …”
“Franklin,” I interrupted as Tanya trailed off, “did you like having the evening fully planned out?”
“I guess,” Franklin answered as though I had asked something deeper. “As we planned each date I thought more about it before the day arrive.”
“Did that anticipation make the food taste better?” I asked as I stared at my notebook.
“Yes,” Franklin acknowledged.
“Tanya,” I volleyed, “how was the food at the restaurant when you figured out where he was taking you 3 days before?”
“It was okay,” she replied. “I didn’t love it.”
“Franklin,” I jumped again, “how was your day at work after those nights when your plans were cancelled.”
“Terrible!” Franklin happily exclaimed as he recognized the pattern.
“So our next assignment will be …” Tanya pushed me as they clasped hands like many clients before them.
“For the next month, Tanya will schedule every sexual activity that you two discuss with two potential … executions,” I offered. “The discussion, build-up and anticipation of your interaction will drive Franklin mad while the surprise of what actually happens will boil Tanya’s blood.”
Tanya and Franklin sat on my couch with their mouths wide open.
“Just remember,” I added as I stared deeply into Tanya’s eyes while speaking to Franklin. “Tanya needs spontaneity and surprise to make this work. You may need to bring a few unrequested surprises to the party to keep her entertained.”
“And Tanya,” I continued, “you must understand that Franklin’s anticipation must ultimately be quenched or the tease will be answered with resentment instead of joy.”
Tanya nodded, but I wanted to make sure she understood when I added, “Don’t leave him hanging.”
As they exited my office I was satisfied with where they were headed, but they would overachieve like no other couple I’ve encountered.
“We fucked on our patio this morning,” Tanya joyously exclaimed just as my office door closed. Franklin simply smiled with content. “I gave him the choice of a blowjob in the shower or fucking me on the patio two days ago. We texted about it nonstop until he simply pulled me out of bed this morning and propped me against our patio window. FUCK!!”
“So all is well,” I acknowledged.
For months our sessions were filled with the most explicit acts of lust that my office would ever hear. On the days when one of them would come to the office solo because the other was traveling, they would feel the need to raise their level of detail. “Anal plug or ball gag?” Franklin quizzed me on a Friday afternoon.
Where most couples would have shared how things were better, Tanya and Franklin bolstered about how they were now planning sexual escapades out by months in advance. Other couples I found more challenging, but there was definitely a magnetic chemistry between these two that was blossoming now. They understood what made the other tick. Honestly, their breakthrough, along with their openness of constant stories of desire and pleasure, gave me the strength to plan my move out west.
“Six months? We have to do something BIG!” Tanya exclaimed when I shared with them my plans to close my office. “You have done so much for us.”
“How about Barista vs Bartender?” Franklin offered up with a devious look on his face.
“Are you sure?” Tanya answered with an equal sense of menace.
“Barista vs Bartender?” I asked, no longer wanting to be an outsider to the conversation.
“Before we came to you,” Franklin started, “Tanya and I discussed opening up our marriage. We knew we weren’t strong enough as a couple to handle it but we were out of ideas. Now that we’ve been enjoying this magical ride we’ve been putting all sorts of crazy ideas back on the table. We’ve always had options like threesomes on the table, but they sat next to two more conservative ideas.”
“That way we’d have a way out if we got cold feet,” Tanya explained.
“But we’ve been dancing around the idea of Tanya giving a blowjob to either the barista near my office that flirts with her when she comes to visit me or the bartender near her office that flirts with her when I visit her,” Franklin glowingly recalled as he shifted his pants to disguise the hard-on that was growing from their description.
“Quite a big step,” I commended them knowing that the anticipation was really what drove them. Should they actually act on the idea or not, their talking about it was giving both of them indescribable pleasure.
“Next April. Barista vs Bartender,” Tanya and Franklin quietly spoke to each other as if I weren’t in the room. I was a little nervous that they were going to fuck right there in front of me. Wouldn’t have shocked me one bit.
And then winter came and life got back to normal. All of my couples were forced to spend time together discussing their issues and enjoying solutions - dressed or naked.
When the snow finally melted and spring arrived, a sense of romance captured everyone’s hearts. I was finally building up the nerve to go out with my spin-class instructor even though I’d be leaving in two months. Better late than never.
Though we hadn’t discussed 'Barista vs Bartender’ in several months, the thought had always been in the background. I knew they hadn’t forgotten about it, but the topic hadn’t been raised in front of me. Until March.
“I have a surprise for Tanya,” Franklin announced after Tanya detailed their plans for this summer in South America. “I asked some of my students to do some recon for me. Tanya, please check your email.”
Tanya pulled out her phone and opened her personal email. She had a puzzled look on her face and then she bit her upper lip. “Oh my,” she melted.
“I asked two of my attractive female students to request dic-pics from the Barista and the Bartender,” Franklin explained. “Appears that the two young men were happy to oblige. Tanya, any thoughts?”
I had never felt more uncomfortable in my life. I had always heard about these conversations after the episode. Never before the act. This was definitely new territory.
“Well, I have to say,” Tanya thought aloud, “I’m still not sure if I want you to watch me sucking one of these dicks or if I’d prefer to tell you about it after. Either way, I’d definitely swallow either one of them. I also don’t know if I’d make it a show - ya know, get naked, lap dance, etc - or just unzip and start squeezing.”
“How about we talk about it on the ride home?” Franklin said as he saw how uncomfortable I was becoming. “We’ve got a couple of weeks to decide.” As they left my office this time, Melissa scheduled their last appointment. I definitely needed to take my spin-class that afternoon.
While I did a pretty decent job keeping focus for the next couple of weeks, I must admit that the couple before Tanya and Franklin had very little of my mindspace. I was anxious to know what happened with the Barista or the Bartender or both. Had they already finished the act? Did they even go through with it? I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Then Tanya entered my office alone.
“Franklin had to go to London for a week,” Tanya explained as she settled into the couch for one last session. My face must have been full of disappointment to see her solo, so she began to share more. “So, I told Franklin that I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go through with this Barista vs Bartender thing. The anticipation was unbelievable over this last six months. But the reality of it all is a different vibe.”
I nodded my head as I understood her dilemma.
“He told me he wasn’t exactly certain how he felt when I dropped him off at the airport,” Tanya continued. “I feel like we discussed every possibility of this scenario and I’m not sure why we are still on the fence. I’ve dreamed of sucking off both the Bartender and the Barista. Sometimes when I’m sucking Franklin’s dick I imagine it’s either one of theirs. I just can’t decide what to do anymore,” Tanya proclaimed.
“Maybe the anticipation is really all that you two needed,” I said in hopes of settling her confusion. “You two have come a long way in …” I began to explain when her phone began to vibrate.
“It’s Franklin,” Tanya exhaled as she opened her text. I was trying not to be nosy but I felt like I had as much right to know as she did. The air in the room was being baked by the midafternoon sun and I began to sweat until a big smile and a sigh of relief came from Tanya.
As she typed back her response, I could see her mouth the question, “Are you sure?” while she bit her upper lip. She then looked up at me in silence as she awaited his response. We smiled nervously at each other.
In seconds, her phone buzzed and she sighed, “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I offered, when I really wanted to know whether it was the Barista or the Bartender.
But before I could ask, Tanya cleared her throat and said, “Franklin wants me to do it naked but with heels on while he’s in London. He wants to hear all about it when he gets home.”
I then attempted to unravel here statement to decipher whether her act would involve the Barista or the Bartender. That’s when Tanya walked towards me and dropped her skirt to the floor. Her purple lace thong concealed very little as she stopped just in front of me. With little hesitation, Tanya dropped to her knees in front of my chair and released my hardening dick from my pants with her blue and white manicured nails.
“Thank you for everything,” Tanya smiled up at me just before pushing my dick deep into her mouth as Melissa opened the door and watched.
Surprise.
