Submissive Desires

Four

I heard the warble of a skype call, and she slid to the floor in, I am not making this up, a kneel, with her head down and her hands behind her back. She looked like a book cover from the kind of books that set off my feminist ire, but it did look beautiful, even as it raised my hackles.

"Andrei," she whispered, eyes down, face glowing.

I'm not going to try to render her half of the conversation; for one thing it was impossible to remember the words in Romanian and for another some of this is a blur. But some things were obvious from context, and it was clear he told her to sit herself on the sofa. Unfortunately she stumbled a bit doing this. And there was an awkward pause, and he spoke, and then she said something which was obviously meant to be a tongue twister and sounded like "banal manic banana". She stuttered all over it, her face fell, and she listened to a brief speech. "Da... Îmi pare rău." I did not need to know her language to know a "Yes... I'm sorry" when I heard it. She'd already been found out.

(I asked later, and the tongue twister was O babă bălană mănâncă o banană babană, an old blonde lady eats a big banana, and Sy had no problem saying it ten times fast. The joke, she said, was a girl who is good at tongue twisters is good at oral sex, so she became expert in saying them all.)

The conversation that followed was swift and intense, and Sy was instantly in tears, but they quieted quickly. At one point she dropped into her kneel again, and whispered something I couldn't make out, over and over. When she looked up again she was much more peaceful and no longer sad. I was struck by her peace, very deeply. I've been comforted by boyfriends and in the end felt kind of impatient with the whole thing, to be honest. She'd been given less comfort, but was now very serene, and even smiled warmly.

Ok, so it was like she'd said, he could be nice, I supposed. But seriously, kneeling?

Then she turned to me and said "He wishes to speak to you."

"Who wishes to- wait, what?"

She unclipped the headset and held it out to me. I gave her a bright smile.

"I heard you wrong. I thought you said he wishes to speak to me but that's impossible. He doesn't even know I'm here. And I don't speak Romanian."

"He speaks some English. You know that, he's said hello to you a couple times. And he knows I'm drunk enough that someone helped me with the makeup and so I had to... explain some things to him." She gestured with the headset.

"I am not getting on camera. I mean, I'm just going to bed-"

"Don't make him wait, roomie. And you can stay there, the Bluetooth will reach."

"I-"

She walked over, a little unsteadily, and put the headset on me.

I swallowed. "H-hello?"

He chuckled, softly. "Clarissa. I wish to give you thanks for keeping Sy safe."

"Oh! It's nothing. You're welcome. Good night!"

"And, something more..."

"Yes?"

"Sy says you are curious about, what is the word. Bending. No... Submission."

"Um... n-no. But if I have any questions I will ask Sy, she's an expert, I can, um, see that-" I suddenly blushed red. Awkward conversation to put it mildly.

"She also says you do not understand and she desires very much that you do."

"I'll, um, google it."

"No. You must feel it to understand. Now."