“About sex.” When Riley opens her eyes, there’s no challenging grin like Charlotte expected. Instead, she looks genuine and inviting. “What do you usually like?”
“What do I…?” Oh god, are they really talking about this?
“Yes, let’s start at the beginning. When you have sex with a man, what is your favorite part?” Charlotte’s eyes dart away, and Riley’s voice softens. “Hey, if you’re not comfortable with this, you can say no. Okay?”
Charlotte bites her lip. She’s not going to back down now. “No, I… Just let me think for a minute.”
Riley nods patiently. It’s almost annoying how much effort she puts into making Charlotte feel at ease.
Charlotte’s mind goes back to the last time she’d had sex, which is quite a while ago.What does she like about it?
“Well obviously, it can make my body feel good. And it can make me feel attractive; I like that.”
Riley smiles. “So fair. What else?”
“Uhm, I think… I think my favorite part is actually foreplay.” Not wanting to lose herself in her own embarrassment again, she chooses to keep her head up this time. She kind of regrets that when there’s the faintest of twitches around Riley’s mouth, like she’s laughing at some inside joke.
Realizing that Charlotte has clocked her, she explains: “I’m sorry. But that’s just so very gay of you.”
Charlotte gives her a look. “Do you want me to continue?”
“Yes, please. Sorry. What do you like about it?”
“I’m sure you can imagine.”
“I’d like you to explain it to me. It’s not really a conversation if we just… imagine things.”
“Are you gonna fess up too?” Charlotte snaps, just hoping Riley will meet her outside of her comfort zone.
“If you want me to, sure,” she says. “But we were talking about you. What about foreplay do you like?”
Charlotte finds a spot on the horizon to stare at while she talks.
“I like the chase. The anticipation, I guess? Not knowing what’s about to happen yet, but knowing where it will end.”
“And physically?”
“Physically, I— I do most of the touching. And if I feel like I want to be touched, I can do it myself. Sometimes, I’ll ask for it.”
“Do you like to be on top?”
Charlotte is alarmed by the boldness at first, but somewhere, something inside her is waking up. She has never gone into detail about this with someone before, and Riley’s apparent lack of judgment makes it feel exciting instead of humiliating. She decides to lean into it, and meets Riley’s gaze head on.
“Yes.”
“Do you want to be in control?”
“Usually, yeah.”
“Have you ever tried it the other way around?”
“Didn’t like it.”
Riley leans forward, more and more invested. “Gotcha. What else don’t you like?”
“What I don’t like… Well, you’re going to laugh: I’m not a fan of penetration. But I totally understand it’s a part of what—”
Riley raises a hand to interrupt. “Stop,” she says sternly. “You don’t like penetration. Full stop. No ‘but’. You don’t need an excuse, no need to justify.”
