Suber: The Uber of Sex (Queer Erotica Short Stories)

Part 25: River & Maria

River looked over the woman on the other side of the coffee table, from the thick leather boots, laced over her fitted black pants, to her loose, black crop-top, barely covering her belly and shoulders. She looked like she could teach a class on human sexuality, like she knew all of humanity's sexual secrets, and could unlock them with one tantalizing, smokey-purple look. River realized they may have been projecting, trained to think that a seductively dressed, confident woman understood all the intricacies of sex. Or maybe they just wanted to think she knew everything, because they suddenly felt so uncharacteristically uncertain.

It was a strange feeling, uncertainty and exhilaration, smallness and nervousness. River wasn't accustomed to feeling naive in any arena, and didn't like it. But around that feeling of fragility was innocence, feeling fresh and new again, a rare feeling they hadn't felt in almost two decades.

"So, why did you make a Suber request?" Maria asked. Her lined and shadowed eyes, all of her attention on River, were hypnotic.

"Um." The decision; be honest, with innocence and naivety, or feign certainty and confidence? If it had been a traditional date, River would've done the latter. But this time... "To be honest, I've never done this. Any of this. Anything. It's never been a big deal for me. But I, I—I'm curious, I guess."

Maria's smooth face showed surprise, but not amusement, like River expected. "Oh. Okay." She nodded. "So—do you know what you're looking for?"

It was a poignant question. One River realized, in that moment, they had not yet asked themself. "I, um—sex, I guess."

Maria nodded again, still gazing at them, listening, considering. "Okay. There's a lot of options there. Have you thought about, you know, the details?" She smiled, not a mocking smile, but an encouraging one.

River might've sank into feigned confidence, but that smiled buoyed them. They chuckled, blush creeping into their cheeks. "No, I guess I haven't."

"No problem." That smile remained. "You have plenty of time to consider."

River smirked. "Ah. This is the 'don't rush into it' speech? 'Your virginity is sacred?' Is that right?" They had heard that only about a hundred times. "Are you going to convince me Suber isn't a good way to give myself away?"

Maria smirked back and shook her head. "No. The whole 'sacred virginity' thing is bullshit. But if this is new for you, it should be what you want. No expectations, you know?"

River considered it, and realized how many expectations they did have, none of which were their own. They didn't realize until Maria spoke again how long they had been silent.

"You don't have to jump into sex. I mean, you know, traditional sex, movie sex," Maria said. "Have you done other stuff? What do you like?"

"Well." River paused. "I'm nonbinary—agender. So, it's," they struggled to find a word to explain it "different." That would have to do.

"Got it."

River couldn't help but love how little that fazed her.

"So maybe," she said slowly, gently, "we should start slow." She smiled at them. "Do you want to come sit with me?"

Taking a breath, River got up from their chair across the table from her and sat down next to her, close. Looking at her sidelong, River studied her face. Her gaze was even more alluring up close, the tiny sparkles in her purple eyeshadow lending some type of earthly magic to her presence. Her cut-off shirt slipped off one shoulder, the wide neck showing the smooth skin of her chest, rising so gently along the edge of her slight breasts.

Maria leaned back against the couch and gestured River closer. "Come here."

River sank back against her, feeling their back against her chest. After a moment, her hands slipped gently up River's arms, to their shoulders. Her longer fingers curled around their shoulders, gently squeezed, and relaxed. Her hands moved closer to their neck, squeezed again, and relaxed. Her thumbs made gentle circles across the back of River's shoulders as she squeezed. Tension River didn't realize they'd been holding slipped away. The tips of Maria's fingers brushed their neck, sending a shiver down their spine.

"How does that feel?" Maria's whispering lips just brushed River's ear. The shiver down their neck moved across their chest.

"Good." River barely got the word out.

Maria chuckled softly. River felt the chuckle through her chest, against their back. "No rush." Maria kissed River's neck. Feeling her lips like a spark on their skin, River took a breath. "Let's go slow."

To be continued...