Cheryl's Secret (Two Stories Series) (12 page)

“This is fascinating stuff, where did you learn all of this?”
wondered Mark.

“
I read a lot about the mind and life, and based on certain principles, I came up with these exercises.”

“Like psychology books?”

“Never psychology books! I stay away from all that psychology/psychiatry crap. All this stuff about your childhood, sex and thinking you can solve people’s problems by drugging them just makes me nauseated.”

“I know what you mean
.”

“Now after
a while, a wonderful thing is going to happen if you continue this practice of reversing your polarity.”

“
I get a woman?”

“You might, but getting a woman is not always the greatest
fortune nor does it always lead to a happy ending. Remember, women are like cars, high maintenance and expensive.”

She sounds so serious
, but she must be joking.

“It’s
O.K. to laugh. I meant it to be funny.”

“
You’re
so
in charge of me,” responded Mark. The only hint of his inner laughter was a fleeting grin.

“
But unlike other women you’ve met, I‘ll eventually give the controls back to you, and you’ll be more in charge of yourself than you ever were before. The wonderful thing that’s going to happen is that your energy will balance out
then
you’ll get
yourself
back.”

“I suppose
you’re going to say something like, once I have myself back, I can have someone else too?”

“Exactly!
Anyway, let’s go to the Art Museum tomorrow and continue there.”

Chapter 14

Mark spent most of his morning playing video games. It was a nice contrast, doing something shallow like this after a day of being so deep.

Tanya
came to the door. When she saw what Mark was wearing, she asked him to change. “We’re going to the art museum, for crying out loud. Look respectable!”

Mark smiled to himself.
He remembered his ex-wife saying the same kind of stuff to him. It seems all women train their men to some degree, and it wasn’t such an original idea after all. Cheryl and Tanya were just more comprehensive.

The two of them spent a long time at the museum.
Tanya wanted Mark to relax and clear his mind before doing another one of her drills.

“Mark, I want you to look at me, and
I want you to feel like I’m the most attractive woman in the world.”

“Well that won’t take too much imagination
.”

“
That’s very sweet.
Thank you.
Now I want you to admire the hell out of me as if you’re absolutely in love. I’m going to do the same thing. Don’t kiss me, just look, and give me that energy. I’m going to do the same thing for you.”

They did, and Mark had
that familiar feeling that he had when he met a woman, and it was all heaven. He tingled all over, and his mind went nearly blank. He realized that although most people really desire this sort of thing, it’s actually quite uncomfortable.

“Did you feel that?”
Tanya asked, “Because I felt it too. It’s the blissful agony of being in love. It’s a wonderful thing that eventually wears off.”

“I know how that goes
,” said Mark.

“Now I want you to do something else.
I want you to put your arm around me affectionately, and I want you to look at that painting there, the one you said you liked. I’ll admire it too. The energy won’t be the same because it’s a nonliving object, but do your best.”

Mark did as was asked.
They both stared at the painting for a long time. He felt Tanya getting closer to him, and he felt a certain kind of “warmth” about the whole thing, not just warmth below the belt, although this he couldn’t deny. But his attention was on the painting, not really on her.

“I don’t get it.
Now we’re so in harmony as opposed to before,” Mark said, impressed himself by how perceptive he was becoming.

“It’s because we have something outside of ourselves to put our attention on.
There has to be more to life than just ‘each other’ and even more important that it’s the
same thing
.”

Mark listened, silently.

“You see, there are two points I want to make here. First, when couples fall in love they’re both gushing at each other, and it’s quite volatile. It’s as if two fire hoses were pointed directly at each other. The hoses eventually run out of water, and if there’s nothing left for the two to put attention on besides each other, then things get ugly.“

“I think I understand.
Maybe I’ll know better when you make your next point.”

“I
f a couple’s only game is ‘I love you’ then that game eventually turns into ‘I hate you’. However, it
won’t
turn into that if the ‘painting’ is there.”

“I never thought of it that way, but you
’re right,” replied Mark.

Tanya
and Mark went around the museum longer, holding hands. Mark didn’t quite know what the boundaries of their relationship were, so he was careful to let Tanya initiate everything. Perhaps this is what Tanya had wanted from a man all along, was permission for her to be in charge. But she wouldn’t want to be in charge for very long. She’d like a man to be in charge too. He knew he wasn’t going to be that man, but continued anyway.

Through the next few days,
Tanya saw Mark after work and had him do all sorts of interesting things. One of the drills required him to wink and then look away from a woman right after he did so. Another drill was for him to look at a woman in a café for a few seconds, then look away, then look at her again repeatedly, so as to balance his attention. He felt connected to the opposite sex, to the world, and even himself in ways he’d never felt.

“Don’t feel bad about taking the energy of others by being negatively charged
,” Tanya told him on one of their outings. “After all, women have been doing it to
you
all your life. You need to get your energy back. Once you get it, manage it intelligently. Make sure there’s a balance, not just in relationships with women, but in
all
relationships. Don’t let any woman, or
anyone
rule your life.”

Mark thanked her for all this. By
Wednesday night, Tanya had taught him everything. Or at least enough so that he could continue his journey of sexual self-discovery on his own. Or was this just plain self-discovery after all, sex being only incidental, a subject of interest, as good of a reason as any to understand everything else?

As
both of them came back to Mark’s home ending their last night of training, she imparted her final advice. “Sexual relations are the most dangerous of all human activities. They’re more dangerous than war. At least in war you've got a gun to protect you. With sex, you’re completely vulnerable. So it’s of the utmost importance that you engage in it only with people you trust. Having large breasts or thin legs never made
anyone
trustworthy. Any woman can go to the gym, the beauty salon and put on makeup. That makes them
attractive,
but not necessarily
valuable
. If you remember anything, remember this, after you finish looking at
her
, make sure you’re both looking at the
same thing
, just like I showed you at the museum.”

“You mentioned wanting a favor from me.
I assume we’re done with my training now, so what’s the favor?”

“I
’ll be over tomorrow night. I’ll ask you then,” Tanya said with a smile. She then gave him a small kiss on the lips followed by a warm hug, and then left.

The next night came, and Tanya arrived at Mark’s apartment.

Tanya
had brought a box full of stuff with her that included dinner, candles, and some clothing at the bottom of the box. He only glanced.

“Don’t look.
You’ll see after dinner.”

“
You’re cooking me dinner? Is this like a date?”

“
Yes it is Mark. You see; we’ve been doing all work and no play, and I think we’re each entitled to a date, O.K.?”

“I wholeheartedly AGREE!”

A smile and a chuckle passed between them.

They both ha
d a nice candlelight dinner. Their conversation was light, and didn’t involve much of what was covered in the “training”.

Mark had one last question.

”Tanya, I never learned how to tell if someone is really interested in me. I mean, how do I handle a situation like you gave me on our first date?”

“Mark, if
you have to wonder, it’s just not there. The right woman for you, or even the right woman
for now,
shouldn’t give you any doubts. Now, I may not be your true love, or maybe not the one you spend your life with, but do you have any doubts that I’m interested in you now?”

“Of course not”

“So then, it’s time for me to ask you for that favor.”

“
O.K...”

“
First I’m going to change into something more comfortable.”

As
Tanya came out of the bathroom and back to the table, she was now wearing a thin silk robe, red with a large dragon on it, with nothing on underneath.

While
she sat down on his lap at the table, Mark asked “Umm, I have a feeling that we aren’t about to look at a painting, are we?”

This lightened the mood for
Tanya, and she only responded to that by smiling.

“I mentioned
earlier, what Cheryl showed you about sensuality was only a part of what you need to know. I provided you the other part. But truth be told, I
need
the part that Cheryl taught you. When it comes to sex, I’m a beginner, and regrettably, so was my ex-husband. Would you mind showing me how to do this
Electric Pussy?”

“
I think it’s the
very least
I can do for you.”

HER STORY

Chapter 1
 

Cheryl
was at the health club Sunday morning, looking at her friend Tanya’s laptop. Tanya had just joined a single’s site and wanted to tell her all about it.

“T
here’s the guy I saw last night. We went to the café, and he took me back to his place, showed me his drawings and played his keyboard for me. He was nice, a bit forward, but at least didn’t try to remove any clothing.

I
would’ve forgiven the messy place if it weren’t for him saying he’d cleaned it that day. I don’t know. I’m going to see a few more guys before deciding.”

“Mark17”,
oh wow, got to remember that one, Cheryl.

Tanya continued flipping through the profiles, with an occasional “I saw this one” and a
n “I want to see this one” while Cheryl viewed the screen with rapt attention. But no matter how many more men Tanya showed her, Cheryl kept thinking about this first one, thinking how much restraint this guy must’ve had, not trying to remove Tanya’s clothing. After all, Tanya was that ideal White-American woman that all men drooled over.

“You should joi
n, Cheryl. You’ll probably get a flood of emails. Just imagine how many guys you could date,” Tanya suggested.

Cheryl
had never tried online dating before, but she heard it was good because it saved a lot of time and agony. With some exceptions, at least you knew by the profile the guy wasn’t seeing someone, married, or gay. You could also check to see what they did for a living. Just knowing they had a job in the first place was even helpful.

“Anyway, I’m going out with another guy tonight, then another one tomorrow.
Is that cool, or what?” Tanya continued.

Hearing this and k
nowing Tanya, Cheryl had an idea what was going on. This “Mark17” had most likely asked for a second date, and Tanya most likely had given him the old “I’ll check my schedule and get back to you.”

It would be just like you, Tanya. Leave YOUR
options open, and HIM wondering. When will you learn?

“
Tanya, can I use your computer for a few minutes? I want to check my email and create a profile of my own.”

“Sure
Cheryl. I have to talk to guest services about my membership. I’ll be about 15 minutes.”

Cheryl
took Tanya’s laptop to remote access her home computer. She checked a few emails then made her profile. She hurried through it, skipped the picture, and put a few key things about whom she was and what she wanted.