2. Private Use Only
Remember (2 of 9). Milestone 2
Maria’s phone vibrated.
She was sitting on the floor, knees up, with Great Expectations in her hands.
It vibrated again.
She reached up onto her bed, patted around, then found it.
Julian.
“Hey,” he texted.
“Hey. How are you?”
“Okay.”
“I was worried.”
“I’m good.”
“When can you come by?”
“I dunno.”
“I miss you.”
She paused on this. She didn’t know why. They were far beyond that.
“I miss you too.”
It was good to read.
“You can’t come over?”
“No. Too risky.”
The texting paused. The three blue balls bounced.
“Would you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Would you send me a picture?”
“A picture?”
“A naked picture.”
She took a moment. This hadn’t happened to her before, for obvious reasons. She wasn’t the type of girl who would make millions on “Only Fans.” Her feet were ugly, too.
“I don’t want you to share it.”
“I won’t. It’s just for me.”
“This seems stupid.”
“You don’t have to.”
“No,” she was intrigued. She hadn’t heard from him for two weeks since their last meeting when he climbed the windmill. And now he wanted nudes.
She spun the Krugerand he had given her when they last met.
Maria felt her core warm to the idea.
Okay, then.
“Wait.” She texted.
“Okay.”
“Personal use only!”
“Okay.”
She stood up, took her shirt off, and looked at her breasts. They just hung out.
Except they seemed to be getting cold.
She held her phone out, turned slightly to a profile, and took three pictures.
She looked like a ridiculous cow. She had the least sexy expression on her face. She should practice if she was going to do this sort of thing again.
Maria looked at the pictures she took. It was exciting. It was stupid. The vertigo of the moment snuck up on her, and she felt herself dropping off the cliff.
She sent the third picture to him.
“Just the top.”
“You look great.”
“Private use.”
“Love you.”
“Don’t get caught.”
“Wish I could come over.”
“Me too.”
The next morning, before school, she showed the text thread to Elaine. They stood in the main hall at the high school, near the guidance office and under the whale skeleton.
“What do you think?”
“I think we have to work on your posing. You need to get your shoulders back.”
“Have you done this?”
“Sadly, yes.”
“What happened?”
“We broke up two weeks later. But he is probably still spanking it.”
Elaine left the titty picture and scrolled back up the conversation.
“He seems good.” Elaine said.
“Yes.”
“No explanation.”
“He is terrified of his father. His dad beat him this summer.”
“Doesn’t he have a name for you?”
Maria considered her friend. Unlike Maria, Elaine dressed up for school. Today, she was in a blue and white striped sun dress. She had either expertly put on a full panel of makeup or was only wearing a touch. Maria didn’t wear any and couldn’t tell for sure.
“He calls me ‘Muy Gato.’”
Elaine smiled at her. “In Spanish, that means ‘my cat.’”
“So?”
“My pussycat.”
“I looked it up. It’s a term of affection. It’s like ‘my cutie.’”
“Or?”
“Or that.”
Elaine’s smile faded.
“He doesn’t use it in the text.”
Maria paused.
“So?”
“It’s just…odd.”
“No.”
“Well, I hope he enjoyed himself.”
The bell rang.
Elaine held her friend’s hand. “There’s a party Friday. Maybe he could come…” she grinned,“…again.”
Milestone 2: Remember
Chapter Three: Nothing Happened!!
Chapter Four: Jane Doe Will Remember
Chapter Five: Nothing Good Comes Home at Two in theMorning.
Chapter Six Initiation in the the Brotherhood of Rangers:
Chapter Seven: Great Expectations
Chapter Nine: Lost in the Harbor
Some of my writing…
Barr’s For Life: A substack of essays and claptrap
The Boat at the End of Lover’s Lane
The Inn on Brant Point (Novella)
Her Lover on Monomoy Road. (Novella)
Winter: A Collection of Island Living Essays set between January and April 1.
Spring: The next collection of Island Living Essays set in April and May
June, Essays about Nantucket in June.
July Essays about Nantucket in July
August: Essays about Nantucket in August
Autumn: Essays about Nantucket in Autumn.
The Boys: A collection of essays about my two sons, written as they grew.
Rolling in the Surf: Essays on Teaching.
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another shorty. for those of you who like the meta aspect of this, the short ones do get more readers. More to the point, they are good discipline for the writer, especially a writer who likes to go wandering. Take Elaine. Love her. She has had an important role in the past, but in this version, her story gets subsumed. Not even put into a novella, just cut. I'm trying to be good.