Daphne

(3) Trust and Respect

Daphne looked back, completely surprised for an instant, not believing what she heard. It was preposterous. She shook her head, "You're crazy!"

"Really?" Leo countered, looking her dead in the eye, "Besides you and me, who else knows about the erotic fantasy that's been haunting you all week? How many of your friends have you told about the kinky dreams?" He sat back in his chair. "You came here and waited – for me! – and now, here you are, talking to me about this. Why me – an untrustworthy, dangerous stranger? Why aren't you unloading all this with one of your trusted friends right now?"

Leo paused and let that thought sink in before continuing: "We both know why, don't we? You don't really trust your friends with your deepest, darkest secrets as much as you trust me! On one hand you're afraid of what they'll think about you. If you're really lucky they'll admit their own wild fantasies to you, and you and your friends will have a fantastic pajama party tonight and giggle and get horny and finger each other until dawn – or until everyone is so exhausted that nobody can move. But you're not sure. What if you're not so lucky ... what if, instead, they gossip about you, and soon everyone knows what a kinky nympho whore you wish you were? Before you know it you'll be real popular with boys and they'll flock around you and beg you to let them take you out, but they won't be the least bit interested in you, will they? After you go out with them you'll be expected to go down on them..."

After a pause, Leo continued. "On the other hand, there's me. Frankly, you don't care what I think about you. I'm not in your social circle, and I couldn't sabotage your reputation if I wanted to. I don't even know your name! The terrible truth is that the pervert in the park who wants you to strip naked and let yourself be masturbated by, and orgasm for, his pervert friends all weekend, he is – I am – actually more trustworthy than your dearest friends! How crazy ironic is that?"

Leo paused and slowly sipped from his cup.

Daphne fell back against the back of the chair, her eyes open wide, her mouth agape. It was impossible, and yet... He's absolutely right. She gulped at the stark prospect.

"You know, trust is like respect," Leo continued, "both can vanish in a puff and be lost in an instant. And neither materializes from nothing; they must be earned. Yeah, you're supposed to respect your parents and your senior relatives, but if they haven't earned it, it's not actually respect; it's more of a high regard. You're thankful that you were born and that they're helpful, and so on, but by and large, unless one of them is genuinely abusive in some way, you're expected to respect them simply because they exist. What sort of respect is that? Which of them would you really trust and respect if they weren't your relatives – if they weren't even your friends? That's a much higher hurdle. It's the one I have to clear.

"Unfortunately, there's no shortcut to earning trust and respect. Believe me, I wish there were. It's a long, hard slog and takes a long time and a lot of effort to cultivate solid trust and deep respect. Until I demonstrate my trustworthiness you've been smart to keep your guard up. I respect you for that. Really, I do!

"In my case, I think you know in your heart that I have been totally straight with you, even when it's been in my interest to 'sugar-coat' things or side-step the not-so-pretty stuff... In your heart you know I've given it to you straight, right between the eyes. I've respected you enough to be as bluntly honest with you as you've been with me. It would have been so easy for me to have lied to you a dozen times over, from beginning to end, top to bottom, just to get you to do what I want. I could have told you that everything is a bed of roses, everything is fun and games and that there's no downside, and all that crap – I could have said anything – and you know it."