FRIDAY ^#48

Bachelor/ette Party

Autumn lives with her brother, Shawn, and the main hall of their home is filling with friends from varying circles, including actors from the Barefoot and Pregnant Theater, students and teachers from Violet’s pole dance studio, and a handful of peace activists from Damien’s collective. Nick is seated with his long-distance lover from Japan, Mia. When Raven looks around the room, she realizes her community has become inseparable from Violet’s.

A momentary thought lands like a little moth on her shoulder—if she were the one marrying Violet . . . or Damien . . . she would have invited all the same people to her party. This is her soul tribe, and it gives her pleasure to be leading the opening circle. She has a comfortable role to hide behind, instead of having to deal with her conflicting feelings.

Her intention tonight is to take pleasure in other people’s pleasure. It’s a spiritual practice. The poly community calls it compersion. But in Buddhism it’s known as Mudita: a vicarious happiness that can only come from an established sense of self. Whenever Raven notices jealousy or competition arising in her awareness, she is determined to shift her focus onto Violet and Damien’s happiness, instead.

Raven invites the celebrated couple to sit in large thrones, which Autumn decorated just for this occasion. Autumn rushes into Damien’s lap to kiss him before the official festivities begin. In that moment, Raven realizes she isn’t the only one whose beloveds are getting married. She hadn’t considered what it would be like to be in love with both of them without the solace of a primary partner. She glances in Nick’s direction and waves. He immediately goes into his role as cowboy, rounding people up and leading them to sit on a circle of pillows in the great room.

Violet watches wide-eyed as a slow stream of guests enter the common room. She meets each person with a reverent smile and brings them into silence once they’ve all gathered.

“Before Raven starts, I just have to say how moved I am to see everyone.” Violet giggles. “I know for many of you, this is your first play party, and a lot of you wouldn’t have come if it weren’t to celebrate our commitment ceremony. I want to thank you for taking that risk.”

“Feels right,” Damien says, almost finishing her sentence. “When we decided to have a private ceremony in the woods next week, we knew we would miss our community. We also knew most weddings are so focused on friends and family that they aren’t even about the couple anymore. Since our ceremony is designed just for us, this gathering can serve as a backward wedding reception, where we can contextualize our union within the larger ecosystem.”

Nick stands up. “We don’t have glasses to clink with our forks, but how about we snap our fingers when we want the lovebirds to kiss?” The room erupts in a rainfall of snapping, and Violet and Damien fall into a passionate kiss.

Raven begins, “We will be celebrating these two lovebirds in the most transcendent and transpersonal sense. Naturally, many of you are nervous about getting naked in a room full of freaks. Some of you might be downright terrified, so I’m going to go over the basics of consensual play, so we can all relax and enjoy the magic.”

Raven concludes the opening circle by inviting the soon-to-be newlyweds into the center, but Damien objects. “Since we’ll have plenty of bonding time when we leave for the ceremony, we discussed connecting separately tonight so we can optimize our time with the community.”

“Okay. I stand corrected.” Raven improvises, “Let’s start with a different icebreaker. Get into small groups for a brief massage with the intention to get out of the mind and into the body and heart. Afterward, it’ll be self-directed play followed by a closing circle around midnight.”

The room reorganizes into little sensual pods, then it transforms into an adult playground of scantily clad bodies enjoying all kinds of sensual exploration. Raven’s first move as party facilitator is to perch on the highest lookout point and watch the moving masterpiece to see if anyone needs support. Violet sneaks up behind the staircase railing where Raven is leaning and kisses her neck.

“Wanna check-in?” Violet whispers.

Raven makes room for Violet to sit beside her and asks, “So how are you feeling?”

“A bit like a butterfly. I just want to go from person to person and spread my love.”

“That’s beautiful.”

“How about you?”

“Well, I’m holding space for quite a few newbies. So, I thought I’d play the voyeuristic life guard tonight and watch all the gorgeous bodies in motion. I especially enjoy watching my lovers in the midst of pleasure. Nick said his intention was to reconnect with Mia and introduce her to the tribe. It looks like he’s doing a pretty good job of it already.” Raven points toward Nick, who is in the far corner slowly circling Mia’s big breasts with an industrial size spool of saran wrap. Her body is turning into a see-through cocoon.

“That looks fun!” Violet declares.

“And it would be fun for me to watch you play with whomever you want. If you or Damien need anything, I’m here in total service.”

“Thank you, for . . . everything,” Violet says with a kiss, and flutters away.

As the evening progresses, she witnesses Violet in a number of scenes, lap dances, three-way kisses, spankings, each with different people who have different significance in Violet’s life. Meanwhile, Raven practices self-connection with deep breath and prayer. Instead of feeling left out, she puts herself into the other person’s shoes. She imagines she is the one enjoying Violet’s attention.

The party has a wonderful soundtrack of moans, spanks, and sighs, with chill lounge music as the backdrop. Whenever Raven hears the echo of Violet’s giggle, it triggers her into her “compersion practice.”

At one point, Raven makes her way to the far corner where Nick is receiving a blow job from Mia. Mia’s breasts are pressed tightly against her body with a clear wrap, which exaggerates her cleavage. Raven enters their space slowly and gently reaches down to play with Mia’s jet black hair. She starts holding Mia’s hair away from her face, revealing her lips wrapped around her husband’s erect penis. Raven leans in to kiss Nick with an open mouth. His lips are dry at first from heavy breathing. Then she drops to her knees to kiss Mia’s face for a moment before placing her lips on the other side of Nick’s eager cock. Raven and Mia make eye contact and intuitively maneuver several kisses across Nick’s cock. They take turns slurping his shaft. Raven notices a pinch of competition and decides to give them some space. She kisses Mia on the cheek and squeezes her undulating ass as she crawls away.

Raven moves slowly to the music. It’s more like sensual stretching than dancing. Her peripheral vision is set on Violet, who is lap dancing for Singh, one of Damien’s business associates.

She unbuttons his shirt and then does an impressive handstand to wiggle her crotch in his face, before straddling his surprisingly hairy chest. After her wild, orgasmic display, she manages to strip his button-down shirt off and slip it on herself. A lacy thong is all Violet has on underneath, and the effect is stunning.

As Violet locks eyes with Autumn on the couch, Raven watches. Raven settles back into her staircase perch to watch Violet crawl across the seat cushions like a hungry predator. Their mouths meet, and Raven witnesses a foreign language, created by the uniqueness of their bond. Her stomach aches, but she reminds herself to stay out of the story. If she didn’t know these women, this would be incredibly hot to watch! Can she pretend for a moment that Violet is not her bitch?

Raven forces herself not to look away as Violet produces a strap-on. She pulls it over her hips and begins adjusting the straps with an ease suggesting she has done it before, a lot.

Violet strokes her erect cock a few times against Autumn’s writhing body, and still dancing, pulls Autumn’s panties down. They slither their bodies around each other like snakes. It’s as if they grew up doing this dance together in a cave where there was never enough space to move freely. Raven’s stomachache turns into a cramp. There must be a painful belief beneath this pain: Autumn fits Violet better than I do. That’s the painful thought, like a steel blade in her side that must be removed.

Raven focuses on the ecstasy on Violet’s face as she pins Autumn against the couch and inserts her dick with the help of her left hand. She grabs Autumn’s hips and increases the pace. Biting her bottom lip, she scrunches her nose and thrusts passionately.

Raven’s arousal draws her closer. She’s not interested in including herself, as she doesn’t want to interrupt, but she wants to get close enough to imagine it was her. She sits on the adjacent couch and massages her own breasts. She pulls at her nipples and presses them together, which feels good. Would she rather be the one fucking Violet? Or maybe she wants to know what it’s like to be inside Autumn?

She sees the beauty of what is happening right now, and realizes it’s perfect. There is no need to interfere with reality.

After one brief and beautiful moment, another stabbing pain distracts her. It is a new story. She’s concerned about how she must look, gawking at these two women. Are people thinking she’s being possessive? Who cares what they think? The truth is, if she looks away, she’ll be inauthentic, pretending not to care. Of course she cares. Violet is her beloved. This is not just her bitch, but her soulmate. And here she is, topping another woman, in clear view of everyone. She wants to see it. To feel it. To accept that her beloved is in love with another woman. The energy around her heart and pelvis begins to move. There is arousal, there is admiration, and there is acceptance. And of course, there is love, not just toward Violet, but toward Autumn too. In loving Violet, Raven has grown to love everyone she loves. That’s why their love is so enormous.

Autumn is moving toward orgasm—a loud, hot howl grabs the attention of nearly everyone in the room. Violet keeps pumping until Autumn coos: “Slow, baby, slow.” They melt into a sweet spoon. And after a minute of watching them cuddle, Raven releases her fixation and allows herself to scan the room.

There is a voluptuous woman flogging her husband in the middle of the room. Nick and Mia are now engaged in a kinky foursome with another couple.

Damien is sitting in the “shallow end,” having an intense discussion with a new couple and presumably helping them process their relationship agreements.

Meanwhile, there is a Hungarian man who has tied two women into rope harnesses and is walking them on leashes. Raven knows it’s almost time to close the party, and the Hungarian is going to need a little time to unbind them, so she announces there are only twenty minutes left. “Make your last request before closing circle.”

Closing circle is Raven’s favorite part. It’s where the community gathers to share their harvest. Nick makes his way to Raven’s side, bringing his sleepy jet-lagged girlfriend along. Violet stays on the couch with Autumn, making room for Damien to sit on the arm. There is a sweet energy in the room. Faces are glowing with post orgasmic smiles. After a brief moment of silent self-connection, Raven speaks slowly, inviting people to share about the magic of the evening.

Damien acknowledges his highlight was how many people were willing to show up for this grand experiment, and he thanks everyone for honoring their boundaries.

Violet agrees and adds how fun it was to dance for Singh, as she seductively unbuttons his shirt and returns it to him by throwing it across the circle.

Autumn admits that an old wound got touched. She felt left out, but was grateful when Violet came and gave her the attention she craved. “Thank you, baby.” They kiss.

Raven piggybacks on Autumn’s admission by saying, “Thanks for sharing so vulnerably. She is not the only one in the room feeling insecurity, jealousy, competition, or judgment. Whenever people are given permission to shine, our shadows also come out to play. Personally, I moved through a lot of my own ego, and I am still reminding myself the love in this room is bigger than the self-indulgent suffering.”

After several more shares, Raven invites Violet and the reluctant groom to the center of the room. “Normally I like to dedicate the orgasmic energy of the night to the healing of the planet and all sentient beings, but tonight, I want to add a prayer for this special union. May their commitment be blessed, may our community grow with them, and may this marriage serve the highest good.”

“Aho!”