Jennifer Mills was lying in bed with her boyfriend, Garson.
They didn’t live together; she was spending the night.
Jennifer made it clear that she would keep her own apartment until they got married.
If they got married.
Garson was kissing Jennifer on the neck, which was getting her aroused.
Even though she wasn’t in the mood for sex at the moment, Jennifer was willing to go along with it.
She was a girlfriend who wanted something in return for sex.
Namely, tuition money for her master’s degree.
Garson wanted to get married and start a family, but Jennifer wanted to get her degree and move on to something better. However, she had no money to finish her courses and needed Garson’s help. Garson had the money, but he wanted to use it to buy a house in Scarsdale.
No thanks.
She had tried to break up with Garson without success. As soon as she picked a fight with him, he would apologize for his insensitive behavior.
So every time she wanted to leave Garson, he would lure her in by further compromising his own position. She had him pussy-whipped, but it was getting her nowhere.
Garson was nibbling on Jennifer’s ear as he put one of his hands on her breasts.
She would never have to work again if she stayed with Garson. But more than anything, she wanted to stay in school.
So tonight she would give Garson a roll in the hay that would put him to sleep like a baby. This would leave her wide awake and alone with her thoughts.
Garson put his hand on her cheek to turn her face to his.
Jennifer looked into his hazel-green eyes.
Garson was handsome in an all-American kind of way. He looked good in a suit and sometimes wore glasses to appear more intellectual. He had clean-cut corporate hair and worked out at the gym regularly, playing pick-up basketball with the guys when he got the chance, so he had a good body.
He kissed her deeply, taking the straps of her tank top down to reveal her breasts. He fondled and kissed them respectfully. Like a young man would treat his future wife.
Jennifer could understand how this might be a fantasy for some women. Although what she had with Garson was good in its own way.
So there was no reason why Jennifer couldn’t give herself over to Garson tonight to keep the peace until she could resolve this relationship or come up with other options for money.
She thought about the money she could make on Dr. Prentice’s book, but that was a pipe dream.
Garson was making her wet with the way he kept kissing her and fondling her breasts.
Right now, he attempted to please her in a way that mattered.
Now he was yanking the covers off, while Jennifer pulled her tank top over her and wiggled out of her briefs. Soon, he would be inside her, and she was about as ready to receive him as she ever would be. He got on top of her and was kissing her deeply again, artfully using his tongue. She responded willingly, ready to make the best of the vanilla sex they always had.
Before he entered her, he looked directly into her eyes and smiled.
Jennifer grinned; Garson was always so handsome when he smiled and was trying to please her. He rose halfway, pulled down his boxers, banging Jennifer’s shin in the process.
Jennifer suppressed a yelp and giggle.
“Sorry, babe,” he said as he got on top of her.
Jennifer smiled again.
“It’s okay,” she said, and it truly was. Jennifer enjoyed having Garson inside her and on top. He was taking her the best way he knew how, and that counted for something.
So when Garson entered her this evening, it was comfortable, like being married. This is what Garson wanted, and making him happy made Jennifer happy too, if only for the moment.
But that’s when Jake, from Dr. Prentice’s office, popped into her head. Jake, with his new haircut and preppy clothes, resembled Garson, but in a sexier way.
Garson was thrusting into her with a little more vigor than usual; coupled with her thoughts of Jake, Jennifer felt something wonderful starting. Garson was still kissing her neck, which added to Jennifer’s arousal. She had had an orgasm with Garson once, but this was new.
After several minutes of thrusting, Jennifer could tell Garson was getting close. A few more times, he groaned with satisfaction and blew his load.
He rolled off Jennifer, satisfied.
It was over as soon as it started.
Jennifer cleaned up Garson’s mess and got back into bed.
“Do you want me to help you out, babe?” he asked.
“That’s alright,” Jennifer said.
Garson had tried to ‘help her out’ before, but he couldn’t get a handle on what it took to make a female come. Just as well. Jennifer didn’t need a release; she was glad Garson was satisfied.
Back to reality.
If they were going to be married, Jennifer didn’t see why she couldn’t go to school. She didn’t even necessarily have work in the mental health field. She wanted her master's degree in case their marriage didn’t work out.
Maybe that’s what Garson was afraid of.
This thought gave Jennifer new insight into her predicament.
Garson had turned over. He was drifting off to sleep. Jennifer, wide awake with new thoughts of her future, would not be ignored. She tapped Garson on the shoulder and said, “Garson, we need to talk for real. I would like to know whether you will allow me to complete my master’s degree or not. Right now.”
Garson pretended to be asleep.
Jennifer sat up straight against the headboard, keeping the sheet over her chest, not for modesty, but to put space between them.
“Garson,” she said, calm but definitive, “I don’t want children right now. I want my degree. I want my life.”
Garson turned toward her. He pushed himself up on one elbow, frowning as if she’d just spoken a foreign language.
“You have a life. With me. With us. Why can’t you see that?”
“Because it’s not the one I want.” Her heart was beating fast.
He blinked rapidly, the way he always did when something didn’t compute. “You’re being dramatic. You’ll go back to school after we get married. After we’re settled.”
“That means never, Garson. I’m not stupid.”
He sat fully up now, offended.
“I don’t get it. How am I the bad guy? I want to give you everything. You’ll never have to work again. I don’t get it. Most chicks would jump at the chance to be married to a guy like me.”
“Then why don’t you go out and find them? There are plenty of girls who are just as pretty as me, have nice table manners, and a college degree in their designer handbag.”
“But I don’t want them. I want you. I’ve loved you since the day we met. Can’t you understand that?”
“Then why won’t you let me get my master's so I can do something with my life?”
“What? So you can sit around and talk to crazy people all day, and then when I come home, you’re going to analyze me?”
“I’ve already analyzed you. You’re a complete jerk.”
“Here we go again. I’m always the jerk. I can’t win with you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Sure it is,” Garson said, “I can’t even please you in bed, and don’t pretend you have orgasms when we have sex. I know you don’t, but when I try something new, you just push me away. How is that not being a jerk?”
“That’s different,” Jennifer said.
“How? How is it different?”
“It just is, that’s all.”
“No, Jennifer,” not good enough. I’m not going to be the bad guy in every situation. And what about when I come home from work, hungry? All you can do is order out.”
“That’s not fair,” Jennifer responded.
“Why not? I have needs too.”
“This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Jennifer said. “You want me to be a housewife, have dinner on the table, and a martini in my hand. Then, after dinner, some quick missionary sex, and you’re asleep in bed as soon as your head hits the pillow.”
“I’ll let you hire live-in help. You won’t have to do so much as a finger to do any housework. I can even hire a nanny for the children. You’ll be so happy.”
“Have you not been listening to me?” Jennifer asked. “That’s the opposite of what I want.”
“All right, said Garson, “let’s try this a different way. You keep telling me what you don’t want, that you want to earn a master’s degree in psychiatry, but after that, what do you want? I’ll agree to anything you say.”
But Jennifer had no idea what she wanted after graduate school. She couldn’t let him know that. He would win the argument, and Jennifer didn’t want him to win. She wanted to date Garson and, at the same time, keep her options open. But was that fair to him?
Probably not. But Jennifer had to try.
“I see us living in a one-bedroom apartment after I graduate.”
“You mean like this one I already have?”
“No, maybe a nicer one.”
“Then what?” he asked.
“Then I would look at becoming a doctor and see how that goes.”
“Doesn’t that take about four more years?”
“Yes, but….” Jennifer didn’t have an answer.
“So, when do we have children? You want children, don’t you?”
“There’s plenty of time for that, once I go off the pill.”
“And when will that be?”
“Once I become a psychiatrist.”
“When we’ll both be working full time,” he said.
“You said I could have a nanny.”
“A nanny, yes, but someone to raise our children.”
“Who said anything about that?”
“I’ll tell you who didn’t say anything about it,” he said knowingly. “You.”
Garson was right. He had her tight where he wanted her. She couldn’t get out of this one.
“You’re not stringing me along, are you?” he asked point-blank.
All of a sudden, Jennifer realized what life without Garson would look like. She always had him to fall back on, to use, to manipulate, to make promises to and not keep.
If she left him, what would she have? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t want to face it just yet.
But that fear wasn’t enough to keep Jennifer in Garson’s bed for much longer. Things had changed at work. Dr. Prentice had a book she was working on. Even if it wasn’t successful, she would still need a full-time assistant to help with the publishing process, and who better than Jennifer?
So Jennifer decided to leave Garson that night. Right away.
“No, I’m not stringing you along,” she said. “I’m going to live my way and make up a plan to get where I want to go. Then if you fit into my life, that’s fine. And if you don’t, then I’ll have to live with my decision to be myself.”
Jennifer got out of bed and started dressing.
Garson didn’t get it. “Jennifer, don’t be like this. Come back to bed. My parents like you too much for you to leave me.”
Jennifer was flustered before, but now she was fuming. “So whose stringing who along? Do you just like me because I’m an easy fit? Your parents like me, so you don’t have to make any more effort to find a suitable mate to make your bed and raise your children? Fuck you, Garson!
Jennifer finished dressing, grabbed her purse, and slammed the door behind her.
Garson turned over to sleep.
“She’ll be back,” he told himself as he was nodding off.