The Web of Embarrassment

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An internet relationship leads to some online humiliation
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[This is a prequel to my stories "Never Forget a Birthday" and "Tanya's ComicCon Calamity", this time with Tanya's boyfriend Mitchell baring the brunt of the embarrassment. All comments, PMs and votes welcome.]

=====================

The fevered tapping of fingers on a keyboard were the only sound that interrupted the otherwise cold quiet of the night.

A flickering screen illuminated the room, and outlined the shape of a man hunched in front of a computer that was perched on a simple wooden desk. The computer's sleek black appearance was barely noticeable in the low light offered by the screen, it's unobjectionable lump-like shape giving no outward indication of the nature of the online chat that it was helping to facilitate.

"So you liked the story? ;)"

The words appeared on the screen as the man's fingers whirred away. As quick as he was typing though, he stopped just as suddenly, and the room lapsed into an expectant silence.

A nervousness radiated from the man, and more than once he stole a glance over his shoulder to make sure that he was alone in the room. Alone in the room, but not alone in the world.

After a few too many seconds for the man's liking, the screen finally sprang back to life, and a brief burst of words appeared out of nowhere.

"Of course, silly! ;)"

The man audibly sighed, and his shoulders noticeably released some pent-up tension. A few brief taps sent a simple message back to the person at the other end of the chat.

"Awesome. Sorry it was late. You know how it is!"

He leaned back and rubbed his eyes, the lateness of the evening beginning to get to him. Now that he knew the story had hit the mark, he was beginning to yearn for his bed. He didn't have to wait for long for the reply this time.

"lol. well, you know, while I really like your stories, the waiting is driving me crazy!! ;)"

The man grunted, a brief smile crossed his lips.

"Nice to be appreciated. I'm sure I'll get better at deadlines!" he replied, playfully. He spun around in the seat, and ran a hand through his hair, before putting a few pieces of nearby notes back in a desk drawer. As he went to type a "goodnight" to the woman at the other end, she beat him to the punch and a follow-up message popped up on his chat window.

"I've got an idea on that front, but it might be a little too much."

The man arched an eyebrow, and his curiosity was momentarily piqued.

"Umm... and what did you have in mind?" He paused for a moment and his fingers loitered over the keyboard, betraying a sudden strain of uncertainty, before he hesitantly added a " :) "

The darkness of the room enveloped him even further as he leaned away from the computer screen.

"Well." The single word appeared in reply, and the stop-start nature of the incoming message made the man's breathing quicken.

"What if we gave you an incentive"

The man's eyes narrowed, and his hands lay by his side as now the only sound of his room was the beating of his own heart.

"Some kind of reason to make sure you didn't miss a deadline? lol"

For a few moments, the man didn't move. Slowly, he raised a hand up to his face, and rubbed the stubble on his chin. His eyes were more than a little tired, after having worked on the story for several hours before having sent it off to his audience of one. As his hand came down from his chin, it idly hovered over a few keys, and he sighed deeply as he stood at the crossroads of an dangerous decision.

" :) " He typed, before cautiously adding "What kind of reason?"

"Haha" the woman replied, with a surprising quickness that would have further alerted someone more awake "what if you had to do something if you made me wait again? ;)"

"Like?" he said, his curiosity pulling him deeper and deeper into this strange tangent from their earlier chat.

"Like what if you had to email me your name?! lol!"

The man's eyes shot open at that. For the past few months, he'd been writing a few... well, he supposed he'd have to describe them as 'erotic stories'... for someone he'd met on line. It was a good release, even if he did already have an attractive girlfriend and a decent job. But he'd been careful about preserving his anonymity. His stories had a certain kink to them that made it wise to make sure his real-life identity wasn't connected too closely.

"So, if I miss a deadline, I have to email you my real name?" the man replied, carefully testing the words out in his mind before committing them to the screen.

"Yep!! well, you don't have to of course. ;( it would make sure you were properly motivated to write though!"

The man's mouth twitched in a half-smile, and the cold night air was a sharp contrast to the heat of anticipation that rippled through his body. He pushed the chair back slightly and arched his body, trying to stretch out some of the sudden tension that had built up.

Settling back into the seat, the man leaned forward and tried to think hard for a moment. A minute passed as he sat frozen in the crux of indecision. Then, he let out a snort and shook his head.

"Sure! :)" he said, "I guess that's only fair!" He'd play the game, he thought.

One sudden realisation comforted him greatly. She could never actually make send the email. She could never actually make him tell her his name. But disappointing the woman wouldn't be something he'd want to do, so he had to admit that the threat of having to reveal he wouldn't actually send the email would be strangely motivating in it's own right. If she set a deadline - he reasoned - and he missed it, he'd have to admit that he had no intention of following through on the bet. That would be a difficult conversation, and he liked having an appreciative audience.

He smiled at the screen as the woman typed back "yay! well, hope you get the next story to me in two weeks, or you know what you'll have to do! ;P"

"Sure." he replied, "Two weeks and you'll get the next story. I promise!"

"And make sure the woman has to expose herself in a really public place this time, no hiding!"

The man laughed, but also couldn't stifle a yawn as the night finally caught up with him.

"Yeah, no worries. :) Anyway, bed time now, goodnight!"

"Bye for now"

He was tempted to add in a quick tease, but as the moment passed the man settled instead for spinning on his chair one more time, before logging out of the computer and flipping the monitor's power button to off.

Plunged into sudden darkness by the screen switching to black, the man stood for several seconds in front of the computer. At the back of his mind, obscured by the strains of tiredness and the conscious plans of tomorrow's To Do List, a tiny nagging thought set down the smallest of roots in his subconscious. The nagging thought that something of deeper significance had just happened. The nagging thought that sometimes even the smallest of snowflakes can turn into an uncontrollable avalanche if the wrong things were to happen at the right time.

Dismissing that in favour of the much more immediate benefit of sleep, the man simply shrugged, and stumbled his way out of the room. Another day beckoned, and any nagging thoughts could at least have the decency of waiting until then.

*******

"I'm off now Mitchell." the tall red-headed woman called out, as she slung a bag over her shoulder and opened the front door. Mitchell grunted in response, and gave a half-wave to his girlfriend as she bent down and slipped on her shoes.

"Off to get my present?" he replied, already knowing the answer.

'Nah, I'll get it later," the woman turned to smile at Mitchell, "it's weeks until your birthday."

Mitchell rolled his eyes at that. Tanya was many things, but organised and likely to remember his birthday were not amongst that list. Still, he had more pressing matters on his mind right now than a birthday that was still three weeks away.

"Whatever. See you later Tanya." Mitchell said, and focussed back on the issue at hand. He had an apology to pen, and forgiveness to beg for.

As he wandered back into the study, a single spot in the middle of the small room was bathed in light as the sun peeked through half-closed curtains. Instinctively, Mitchell shuffled over and jerked the curtains closed, plunging the room into a murky darkness. Now, only second-hand light from the hall outside gave Mitchell any means of navigating through the room, but that was enough for him to find the power switch on the computer, and to fling himself into a comfortable chair.

The computer booted up, and he was still rehearsing his opening line in his mind when his chat window came up automatically, and he noticed that she was already online. Online and apparently waiting.

"Hey, where's that story!! or the email! ;) Haha"

Mitchell grimaced at that thought, and his fingers flew swiftly over the keys in what he hoped would be accepted as a heart-felt apology.

"Sorry, got busy at work, and I've almost finished the story. I just need another few days. :)"

He included the smiley at the end optimistically, and silently prayed that the woman wasn't too serious about the email. Her next message sent that optimism right back to the box from which it had been prematurely brought forth...

"You're keeping me waiting again. :( *sigh* well, you know the penalty. Send me an email now! :)"

Mitchell paused for a moment, and for a second he wondered if he really should just send the email. The excitement of her knowing was something he'd dreamed about occasionally, caught up in the thrill of the idea of her knowing who he really was. However, Mitchell knew that a short-term thrill had the potential to turn into long-term disaster, and with a noticeable reluctance he typed out a reply.

"Sorry. I guess I can't do that in the cold hard light of day. :( I thought maybe I could, when I agreed." Mitchell lied.

There was no response for a short while. Mitchell suddenly realised he was actually blushing a little as the seconds dragged by and he sat there, silent, still, waiting for some kind of acknowledgement from this stranger.

Then the words became to appear on his screen.

"Disappointing! :("

"Sorry! I thought I could, but I guess forcing myself to do it now is a step too far. :( Sorry."

Before he'd even finished typing though, the woman had added something else to her last message. "Clearly we need a better way to motivate you to write!"

Mitchell's heart skipped a beat, caught between a feeling of mild relief that she seemed to be interested in keeping their chat going, and a feeling of unsettling concern as to exactly what she might have in mind.

"Like?" he responded, slowly and with trepidation.

The answer came back quickly, catching Mitchell off-guard slightly.

"Well, how about if you set up the email before we even set the deadline?"

Mitchell shook his head in bewilderment.

"Umm... not going to send you an email _before_ I miss a deadline." he wrote, before thinking about it and adding a "lol!" at the end for effect.

"No, silly!" she replied, "but what if we were to use something like one of those online systems that allows you to schedule emails?!"

Mitchell didn't know what to think about that, but mostly because he'd never actually heard of those websites. Making that clear to her, he waited nervously on her next message. The house around him was deathly quiet, and the lowest of hums from the computer went unnoticed as his body began to tingle in anticipation at what she could possibly be suggesting.

"Well," the message said, "how it works is that you can create an account on one of the email scheduler websites. You create an email that will be sent at a certain time! Say, a day after your next deadline. ;)"

"Okay..." Mitchell said, not quite following how this was any different from the status quo.

"However, you set the account's password to one of my choosing, and you're not allowed to write down what it was!! I'll give you the password when you send me the next story..."

Mitchell gulped audibly at that. He could now see where she was going with this. If he failed to send the story, she wouldn't send him the password and the email with all of his details would be sent, with him unable to log in to stop it from being fired off. At that point, if he missed the deadline, she'd have his real name...

Still, surely he'd be able to simply use the "forgot password" feature to get access back, he reasoned. His mind raced with the possibilities, and he was still weighing up what to do when she added "well, are you up for that?! clearly we need to do _something_ to stop you procrastinating so much!!"

Mitchell paused for a few more seconds, before tapping in his decision.

"Okay... sure... send me a password, and I'll set up an email to be sent to you. Haha. Sorry about the last deadline. Don't worry though, won't miss the next one!"

The conversation ended shortly afterwards, with a new deadline set for two weeks hence. Mitchell felt a wave of fear sweep over him as he circled the new date in his calendar, and his pen shook a little with thoughts of what could possibly happen if he were to fail. Still, he chanted to himself, there's actually no way she could stop him from resetting the password if he really needed to. He forced a half-smile at the thought of that "out".

That night, a password arrived from the woman, and Mitchell set up his account. Mitchell typed his real name and address into a brief email, and set the email to be sent one day after the deadline. The deadline he was determined not to miss. With a sense of nervous self-preservation, Mitchell checked the send date four times before he semi-reluctantly hit the "schedule" button.

Before he lost his nerve - ridiculous considering that he could make this non-binding, he chided himself - he made himself change the password on the account to the one the woman had provided, and then deleted the woman's password email before he could second-guess himself.

As the email disappeared from his inbox, so did the hazy memory of the random sequence of characters and numbers that formed the password.

Breathing deeply, Mitchell leaned back into his chair and considered what he had just done.

It was just a little bit of fun, he reminded himself. Just a little bit of fun, and a small helping hand when it came to motivation. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even as he walked out of the room though, and idle thoughts of his next story line danced in his mind, some creeping doubts rallied at the furthest edges of his brain. Mitchell grunted to himself, and dismissed them as a crazy over-reaction. He had a story to write, and worrying about the easily-avoidable certainly wasn't going to help with that!

*******

The weeks passed by with the usual speed and best intentions. As work contrived to turn two minor incidents into full-blown mini-crises, and Tanya caught a bug that laid her low for several days, Mitchell's best-laid plans of being a productive and prolific writer once again crumbled to ashes.

On several occasions, he'd chat with his mysterious female fan, and it was quite noticeable that the teasing ramped up quite significantly as his deadline began to loom ever larger on the horizon. With only two days to go, and the majority of the writing still left to be done, Mitchell was already second guessing his ability to satisfy the symbolic date. At the back of his mind though, the fact that he could simply reset the password both reassured his fraying nerves, and reduced his short-term motivation.

Onwards he struggled though, and the words came to him in spurts until he had at least half of a semi-decent story at a fairly final draft stage.

There was only one small problem for Mitchell though. That semi-written, half-decent final draft was finished as the final hour began to tick down, and as with a sinking feeling he realised he was once again destined to miss the deadline. Even he knew that this was taking on the characteristic of being faintly ridiculous.

She was online of course, as the minutes ticked down.

"Where's the story?!" she asked.

Sighing, Mitchell finally gave up, and switched from his word processor to the web browser. He'd given it his best shot, but right now, his final few minutes were best spent resetting the password rather than racing to an impossible finish.

The front page for the scheduling website popped up in his Chrome browser, and his mouse swiftly moved to the login screen. He'd practiced what he needed to do. Log in with a random password, have it fail, and it would offer him the opportunity for his "real" password to be emailed back to his regular account.

A few clicks quickly transpired, and the browser briefly indicated that it was contacting the server to request the next page. Mitchell waited impatiently, drumming his fingers on the desk by the mouse.

Another message popped up.

"Surely you haven't missed another deadline!!"

Mitchell frowned. The browser window with the password reset was taking a little longer to load that he'd initially expected. As the progress bar slowly inched forward, Mitchell's pulse climbed with it.

"Hello?"

Suddenly, the login page disappeared. In it's place, a much plainer page rendered in the window, and Mitchell looked on slack-jawed as he saw that his simple request for a password reset had been replaced by an error page.

In horror, Mitchell realised that the password-reset feature seemed to have developed a fault. The friendly error screen informed Mitchell in the politest possible terms that the team at the website were most certainly working on it, but that at this unfortunate point in time, the password couldn't be reset. However, Mitchell was told, in a jaunty font that he read through wide-open eyes, if he came back in a few days, the error should be fixed...

Mitchell swore openly at the computer, and banged his fists down in frustration. This couldn't be happening to him. If he couldn't reset the password, then he couldn't stop the email being sent, and he couldn't prevent his mysterious fan from discovering his deepest secret - who he really was.

Unless...

"Hey." Mitchell typed, hurriedly.

"Hi. :) Where's my story? Or don't you want the password after all? ;)"

"Haha." Mitchell said, without any visible trace of humour. "Yeah, look... I may have screwed up..."

"Oh?"

"I haven't got the story... Look," Mitchell tried to bargain, "what could I do to get that password?"

"Haha. Write me a story? By the deadline! ;P"

Mitchell winced. This was going to take some serious negotiations, he belatedly realised.

"Umm... how about I write a _really_ good and long story next time! :)" he wrote, throwing in random smilies to try and keep the mood upbeat.

"Haha. No!"

Mitchell stared at her response for a few moments, and he was rapidly developing a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Umm... okay, well... what would you like." Mitchell eventually said, breaking the protracted silence. "Other than a story. :)" he added, hopefully.

The person at the other end seemed to similarly pause, and Mitchell felt like entire minutes passed by before the typing resumed on his screen.

"Well... lol." the words seemed to take an age to form. Either the woman wasn't sure what to ask for, or she knew exactly what to ask for and she wanted to drag this out to ratchet up the tension. Either way, she had Mitchell hanging on to her every keystroke.

"Well... you have a girlfriend, right?"

Mitchell was momentarily confused by the question, but nevertheless answered in the affirmative.

"If that's the case, you must have a pair of her panties nearby, right?"

Mitchell's confusion intensified, and he had unsettling thoughts on where this line of enquiry could possibly be leading.

"Yes..."

"Good! Go fetch them for me. :) Then, fire up a web-cam, and I want to see you standing in just your girlfriend's panties!! haha"