From: blewis@be.seas.upenn.edu (benn bet nun nun lewis)
Newsgroups: alt.prose
Subject: STORY: Touching each other in certain places
Date: 27 Jan 93 03:11:37 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


     When Jon awoke he found that he had been turned into
himself.  Oh my god, what did I do? 
     He found that his legs were indeed his legs and his brain
was indeed his brain.  In fact, there was not a single thing
wrong or different from the person he had been yesterday.
     Jon had certain expectations for last night, but he didn't
remember the results.  He had hoped to do certain things but
remembered only that he had forgotten everything because one of
the things involved a certain intoxicant.
     Jon had wanted the earth to quake.  He had wanted to
suddenly understand his purpose and position in the galaxy.  He
wanted to feel like he fit in with the grand purpose of life.
     Jon smoked.  He said it was because it made him one of the
guys.  He belonged to the peer group.  He was a dragon lady.  He
was stimulated, it felt good, it made him look sophisticated. 
And, he had done it for so long that quitting was physically
impossible so he could put whatever rationalization onto his
little problem he wanted to, because whatever it was it was
obviously false.
     But he really wanted his volcano to erupt. (sic)
     He sat up in bed after debating whether or not to get up for
twenty minutes.  He peeled off his jeans and socks and went to
sleep again.
     The second time he awoke he found to his dismay that it
wasn't a dream:  He was still the same old Jon.  Good ole' Jon,
dependable, all-around-nice-guy Jon.  He sat up again, on his
same own butt and to his surprise found a women sleeping next to
him.
     It was his friend Jill.  In the beginning they made deal so
that whenever they got a good grade or finished studying they
would touch either other in places.  They met when they took and
dropped a psychology class together after learning that positive
reenforcement worked best when the pleasure center is activated.
     Later in their__ relations__hip, they touched each other for
other reasons too.(   )Sometim(es )one of them would be in an odd
mood and they wo(uld do) funn(y thin)gs.  Other times, someone
would be depres(sed(@) o)ver( ge(@)tt)ing a bad grade so other
things would hap(pen.  )From (the ti)me of about a month ago and
last night, they ha(d )been tou(chi)ng each other for a plethora
reasons.            __          ___    
     Jon couldn't remember how they ended up together last night. 
He remembered only that when he left to go out, he left alone.
     She looked asleep.  She wrapped her left arm around his
waste.  He scratched all over his body.  His skin itched.
     Jon wanted a reason to have a cigarette so he said this one
was because he 1) just woke up, and 2) wasn't really sure what
was going on.  He enjoyed this one.  The phone rang.  Jill sat up
as Jon was reaching over her for the phone.  Her breast pressed
against his arm.  She opened her eyes, looked blindly at the wall
then fell back to sleep.  It was a wrong number because Jon
couldn't hear anything on the line.  Not even a dial tone.
     Jon felt his leg.  To his dismay it was still his.  So was
the bed, the room, the cigarette, the sheet, the phone, the
picture on the wall.
     At the time it seemed like a good idea, but it had evolved
to the point where he was waking up with Jill and not even
remembering how she got there, let alone, what they did last
night as well as why.  He muffled his laugh and thought about the
abstinence by choice theme of a Beverly Hills 90210 episode.
     Once, his little brother came to visit.  Jill paid him undue
attention because he was had the tender age of being in the
middle of high school.  He was impressed and proud of Jon.  Jon
wished his brother would have left after he showed him around the
school, but he insisted on seeing his room, his neighbors, Jill. 
That visit was the first time Jon smoked with his brother.  His
brother insisted and even initiated the act.  Jon would have
rather waited a few years.  His brother asked him if he ever
touched himself.  Jon told him guys do that at his age.  Jon told
him, also, that guys Jon's age have girls.  "Like Jill?" he
asked.  "No," Jon answered.
     About a month ago, Jill scared Jon by asking him to do
something really weird.  So Jon agreed if he could watch her do
something really weird.  So they both did it and watched.  His
curiosity was fulfilled but the memory was still there.  Not just
the memory of that one night, but the memory of the whole
progression of acts that led up to this morning.
     He generally had been an good kid, not at all like some of
the friends he had that date raped and things.  He still thought
of himself as a good kid, he only went out if his work was done,
etc.  Only now, the reasons he did what he did were unknown to
him.  He didn't like that mystery and he didn't like being
curious about the answer.  He liked being curious about her in
the beginning.
     Her psychology book was still under his bed from that first
night.  She constantly forgot to take it with her, but after
awhile just stopped remembering all together.  He was fully awake
now and stuck his hand under the bed and pulled out the book.
     After flipping through it for a few minutes, he found a
little maroon box in the chapter on human emotions.  The title of
the box was "Love?"  There was a graph in it.  It had something
to do with the relationship between the amount couples touched
each other and the amount of intensity the couple thought about
their own relationship.
     Jill stirred in her sleep again.  Soon, she would get up,
put on his robe and retire to the bathroom for ten or so minutes. 
Then she would come out, smelling fresh like the
strawberry/lime/avocado shampoo she brought to his bathroom a few
weeks ago.  He tried using it on himself once and thought he
would die from having that smell all over his head.  An hour
later, he took another shower with his brand of shampoo.
     After she was cleansed, she would offer to make some
breakfast.  This time though, it was too late in the day for even
an omelette.  He thought maybe he should get up out of bed and
buy some fresh fruit for a brunch-like-meal.
     But, Jon made coffee instead.  He put the beans in the
grinder and chopped them up into little pieces.  Then he brewed
it and poured it into two black ceramic mugs.  He took one to
Jill after he finished his.  She turned then stirred, breathed in
the aroma and began to awake, holding the mug to her chest.  She
spilled some over the side and brought it close to her mouth and
drank the dribbles over the edges first before indulging in a
full blown sip.
     Then she started to talk about some sort of plans, but Jon
wasn't listening.  She was trying to go over important things
with Jon, like times and dates and places.
     However, Jon's mind was adrift.  He was wondering if he had
an Electra complex on himself.  He thought that if he was a
father, he would stop doing these dangerous things, that he would
be a more mature person, be more together, know his real self,
etc.  He thought about being a father and mumbled secretly,as if
to say something to himself, "yes, this is why I stay."
     And then Jon smacked himself on the head and said outloud,
"WHAT!?  AM I A FUCKING IDIOT?" and grabbed hold of Jill, and
sung, "Jill, you-make-me-feel-like-a-natural-ma-an."