Stella's Toy
May. 14th, 2003 09:47 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
theodosia.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ds_flashfictionIf I say it took me a while to get a handle on this challenge, will anyone laugh?
It's a smidge over 900 words.
Stella's Toy
Snooping had been the furthest thing from Ray’s mind. They were planning a charity baseball game at the station, so he was up on a stepstool in the master bedroom closet looking for his old glove, and thinking that he’d been pretty good once, if he kept his glasses on. Knocking down Stella’s makeup bag had been an accident – okay, clumsiness – but that wouldn’t have even been a footnote in the day if the bag hadn’t started buzzing. Loudly.
That can’t be good. Ray climbed down and picked up the bag, felt the heavy vibration through the fabric embroidered with little G’s, and opened it up.
Stella liked to keep travel accessories ready to hand, so there were a variety of small items – travel pillow, spare hairdryer and so on to look through, but it was obvious the vibration came from a pink zippered bag. Ray guessed it might be an electric razor, maybe some new way of removing hair – Stella liked gadgets, in the kitchen and the bathroom. But it was big for a razor… maybe some kind of electric massager, like for your feet or back… it was pink plastic, loaf-shaped but much smaller than a breadbox, more like a hand-mixer. It had a strap across the top, so he could hold it firmly in his hand, though it was sized small, he had to bend his long thumb pretty far back to reach the switch. It buzzed away, strong vibration, with a nice heft.
Ray examined the underside, which had a raised bump on one end, definitely a weird design for a personal massager, not what you’d want to put on an aching back….
Oh, he said to himself, fumbling to turn the thing off, nearly dropping it in his haste. That would explain the pink, the strap, the smallness… it was a personal massager for woman-type persons.
His first instinct was to put the thing back in its zippered case, put the case back in the makeup bag, put the bag back on the shelf in the closet, and maybe never again go near this part of the condo. Just pretend it didn’t exist, do the ostrich act, and try to wipe his memory clean.
Only Ray knew that wouldn’t work, once an idea got through his thick skull it was there to stay. Even now he could see Stella, sprawled out naked on the bed, back arched just a little as she holds the thing between her legs, toes curling the way they did when she felt good, maybe a tiny sheen of sweat on her sweet face.
Yeah, he knew what Stella looked like when she was having a good time, had to admit it was a hot thought there… but still, damn. I can’t be jealous of a fucking toy… that’s just insane.
It was not like she was… go ahead, say it… cheating on him. Not at all. This was true, then why did he feel cheated on, it made no sense.
Maybe it isn’t hers. Maybe she was keeping it for a friend… or it had been bought for a gift at a cancelled bachelorette party… or maybe it was a gag gift that she’d gotten at their wedding shower, put away and forgotten about. Really, it could be any of those, plausibly, right?
Ray wasn’t succeeding in fooling himself at all. With fingers that felt like their nerves were missing, he zipped up the bag, got it all stowed away, no clues left that he’d been and gone.
He wondered what he should say to Stella. “Oh, we’re out of milk, and your vibrator fell out of the closet, honey.” A little too casual. “I was thinking… maybe we could use some toys to spice up our sex life.” Which was insane, he’d swear that their sex life was damn fine. “I swear I wasn’t snooping, Stella, but I gotta ask ya—” Yeah, that one would get his head handed to him on a platter, she’d never believe he wasn’t Mr. Nosey Parker.
The thing of it was, Stella had gotten so distressed back when he’d suggested they play around with sex toys, early in their engagement. Which maybe explained why this was a cute little femmy vibrator, not some big ugly dildo with sculpted veins. He’d accepted that Stella didn’t like those – if they made her unhappy, it wasn’t so important that he’d insist, even if there were certain things that he kind of liked. Marriage meant sharing, taking your partner’s feelings into account.
What did he care if Stella had a little fun without him? It wasn’t like he never jacked off without her – though it was definitely second best, Stella was some woman and his hands could never equal what she could do with the least little part of her body. No, really, he didn’t have to get all torn up over this, he should be happy that she could take care of herself when he wasn’t there.
***
By the time Stella got home – late again, what with preparing for her big case next week – Ray had argued himself into acceptance, understanding. She smiled so sweetly at his enthusiastic greeting at the door, let him sweep her up and carry her off to the bedroom and shortly thereafter was crying out his name with happy abandon – that he could soundly convince himself that the toy was a matter best never mentioned.
It's a smidge over 900 words.
Stella's Toy
Snooping had been the furthest thing from Ray’s mind. They were planning a charity baseball game at the station, so he was up on a stepstool in the master bedroom closet looking for his old glove, and thinking that he’d been pretty good once, if he kept his glasses on. Knocking down Stella’s makeup bag had been an accident – okay, clumsiness – but that wouldn’t have even been a footnote in the day if the bag hadn’t started buzzing. Loudly.
That can’t be good. Ray climbed down and picked up the bag, felt the heavy vibration through the fabric embroidered with little G’s, and opened it up.
Stella liked to keep travel accessories ready to hand, so there were a variety of small items – travel pillow, spare hairdryer and so on to look through, but it was obvious the vibration came from a pink zippered bag. Ray guessed it might be an electric razor, maybe some new way of removing hair – Stella liked gadgets, in the kitchen and the bathroom. But it was big for a razor… maybe some kind of electric massager, like for your feet or back… it was pink plastic, loaf-shaped but much smaller than a breadbox, more like a hand-mixer. It had a strap across the top, so he could hold it firmly in his hand, though it was sized small, he had to bend his long thumb pretty far back to reach the switch. It buzzed away, strong vibration, with a nice heft.
Ray examined the underside, which had a raised bump on one end, definitely a weird design for a personal massager, not what you’d want to put on an aching back….
Oh, he said to himself, fumbling to turn the thing off, nearly dropping it in his haste. That would explain the pink, the strap, the smallness… it was a personal massager for woman-type persons.
His first instinct was to put the thing back in its zippered case, put the case back in the makeup bag, put the bag back on the shelf in the closet, and maybe never again go near this part of the condo. Just pretend it didn’t exist, do the ostrich act, and try to wipe his memory clean.
Only Ray knew that wouldn’t work, once an idea got through his thick skull it was there to stay. Even now he could see Stella, sprawled out naked on the bed, back arched just a little as she holds the thing between her legs, toes curling the way they did when she felt good, maybe a tiny sheen of sweat on her sweet face.
Yeah, he knew what Stella looked like when she was having a good time, had to admit it was a hot thought there… but still, damn. I can’t be jealous of a fucking toy… that’s just insane.
It was not like she was… go ahead, say it… cheating on him. Not at all. This was true, then why did he feel cheated on, it made no sense.
Maybe it isn’t hers. Maybe she was keeping it for a friend… or it had been bought for a gift at a cancelled bachelorette party… or maybe it was a gag gift that she’d gotten at their wedding shower, put away and forgotten about. Really, it could be any of those, plausibly, right?
Ray wasn’t succeeding in fooling himself at all. With fingers that felt like their nerves were missing, he zipped up the bag, got it all stowed away, no clues left that he’d been and gone.
He wondered what he should say to Stella. “Oh, we’re out of milk, and your vibrator fell out of the closet, honey.” A little too casual. “I was thinking… maybe we could use some toys to spice up our sex life.” Which was insane, he’d swear that their sex life was damn fine. “I swear I wasn’t snooping, Stella, but I gotta ask ya—” Yeah, that one would get his head handed to him on a platter, she’d never believe he wasn’t Mr. Nosey Parker.
The thing of it was, Stella had gotten so distressed back when he’d suggested they play around with sex toys, early in their engagement. Which maybe explained why this was a cute little femmy vibrator, not some big ugly dildo with sculpted veins. He’d accepted that Stella didn’t like those – if they made her unhappy, it wasn’t so important that he’d insist, even if there were certain things that he kind of liked. Marriage meant sharing, taking your partner’s feelings into account.
What did he care if Stella had a little fun without him? It wasn’t like he never jacked off without her – though it was definitely second best, Stella was some woman and his hands could never equal what she could do with the least little part of her body. No, really, he didn’t have to get all torn up over this, he should be happy that she could take care of herself when he wasn’t there.
***
By the time Stella got home – late again, what with preparing for her big case next week – Ray had argued himself into acceptance, understanding. She smiled so sweetly at his enthusiastic greeting at the door, let him sweep her up and carry her off to the bedroom and shortly thereafter was crying out his name with happy abandon – that he could soundly convince himself that the toy was a matter best never mentioned.
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