Reader Story - Coitus Interruptus

This isn't my story.  I promise not to do this very often (unless you like the concept?), but this one's just too good to not share.  Of course, since it's not my story, I can't promise that I'll get all the details right.  Still, I think I'm capturing the essence.

To set the scene:
Our reader has been using an online personals program specific to her city.  Not Craigslist* but still a free service.  She's been out with a few guys, but nothing's really sparked for her.  No freaks to speak of (which, let's be clear, is good for her.  I'm the one who thinks meeting freaks is funny.  She's actually trying to find someone she can love.)

Then, finally our reader meets a guy she's really into.  They go out once and have a blast.  Their second date is amazing.  The third and fourth follow suit.  So by the fifth date, she's excited and thinking this might be going somewhere.  She's ready.  You know - ready.  She packs a few things before heading out for dinner, knowing that she won't be sleeping at home that night.

And she's not disappointed.  They go out, have dinner and a few drinks.  When it starts getting to be pretty late, he invites her back to his place.  She's eager and prepared, so of course she accepts.  And they promptly hit the sack.  This has, after all, been in the making for several really fantastic dates, and she's pretty sure they've both been thinking about it since the moment they met.  She can hardly believe she's waited this long. 

There they are, going at it "hot and heavy" as my mom would say.  Suddenly, mid-coitus, he stops.  He says he's not sure they should be doing this.  She allays his fears and they start up again.  For a couple of minutes.  He stops again.  He pulls out.  He turns away from her and curls up into the fetal position.  And he says, "this isn't right.  I can't do this."

She's stumped.  She tries to talk to him.  He curls further and further into a ball.

It clicks for her.  She knows exactly what's happening.  She was abused, so she's recognizing the signs.  She likes this guy, and she wants to continue spending time with him.  She wants that time to include sex.  And she thinks that maybe they could get back to it if only he'd open up with her.  The best way to get someone to open up about something?  Share your own story.  So she does.  She discloses her abused past to him.

And he starts to talk.

He was never abused.  Nope.  Not him.  But a friend of his was. 

(Side note: I've never experienced abuse, and I'm not a psychologist, so I don't have a totally clear sense of how the whole healing process works.  But this smacks a little of adolescent behavior.  You know, the kind of thing where one might say, "I have a friend who really likes this guy but doesn't know how to talk to him..."  Am I wrong?)

In fact, he walked in on his friend being abused.  And he was so angry about it that he "beat the crap" out of the guy doing the abusing.  Beat him to a bloody pulp.  The guy couldn't walk for days.  He saved his friend.

Riiiiight.

As he tells the story, his volume increases 10-fold.  It's the middle of the night; they're in an apartment with relatively thin walls, lying in bed naked.  He's screaming.  Spewing venom.  He's thrashing around. Surely everyone in the building can hear him.  It's scary.

As our reader says, "he wasn't the one abused?"

She's beginning to think that she should just gather her things and go home.  But it's late.  And she's still feeling the effects of drinking.  (PSA: Good for you, not wanting to drive drunk!)  She's relatively new to town and doesn't have any friends she can call on to come get her.  So when he settles down some, she decides that staying won't be so bad.

They start talking again.  Laughing.  Joking.  Watching YouTube videos.**  Laughing.  It's a little eerie how quickly he's back to being the guy she thought she was getting to know.  They're having a good time.  He turns to her and says, "Do you want to try again?"

Ummm... 
No.  NO.  NO.  She did not. 
Thank you very much.

And, as far as I know, she drove herself home the next morning and hasn't seen or heard from him since.


* Nope, not in Little Rock, either.  But I still think you should check out their ads.
** I don't know what videos they were watching, but this is the one that makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME I watch it.  I am 100% confident that I would have laughed even after experiencing what our reader did.