Finals week was the only time that I actually cursed my weakness for procrastination. Even mild procrastination can lead to heavy stress during finals week. I had this horrible habit of crashing after mid-terms and putting off reading assignments. A few pages here and a few pages there slowly add up to whole books that need to be read in the span of two or three days. During my freshman year in college, it was okay because my roommate and I had the same weakness. For the fall and spring semesters we both were crabby, tired, ate a lot of junk food and stayed up all hours trying to get our work and studying done. Last year was okay, too, because I lived in a single room in the dorm. This was my first semester living with Julia during finals week.
This had been my most work-intensive semester since I had started college. Even though I tried not to crash after mid-terms and put off reading, I did anyway. Now I was about to face a full week of finals and no inspiration to do any work.
I sat at my desk, doodling. I was trying to figure out an effective cramming schedule. One of my favorite procrastination tools is “planning.” I had two finals on Wednesday, a paper due on Friday, and another exam on Monday. The first final was a no-brainer multiple choice test for Social Psychology. I still had to read three chapters in the text and review the notes. That wasn’t too taxing. The second final of the day was an essay exam for my Sociology of the Family. For that, I had two full length books to read and a couple of articles. I was already discouraged over that one. The paper that was due on Friday was for Feminist Literature. I hadn’t started the rough draft yet, but at least my research was done, and I knew what I wanted to say. The final on Monday was another essay exam in my funky little class called “American Culture.” I didn’t think that the exam for that class would be too difficult, but I wanted to be prepared, anyway. For that, I had to watch two movies and read two books.
After I wrote out everything that I had to do over the next seven days, I went into the kitchen and made myself a snack. I still had no inspiration. I looked at the clock. Julia would thankfully be home soon. She hated it when I used her to help me procrastinate, but the thought of talking to her for a little while was a lot more appealing than facing my gigantic pile of work.
I heard the front door open and close again and I heard Julia talk to Doohickey (the cat.)
“Hi, Jules!”
She came into the kitchen and put down her bag.
“Shouldn’t you be studying, miss?”
“You’re not even going to say hello?” I said, with a small pout.
She came over and wrapped her arms around my waist. She gave me a playful slap on my bottom and kissed my lips gently.
“Shouldn’t you be studying?” she said, again.
“But I don’t wanna-,” I started to whine and she put her fingers on my lips.
“March,” she ordered, turning me around and pushing me towards the bedroom. When I asked her to help me with my procrastination problem during finals week, I didn’t think she would take it this far. “I want to see your nose buried in a book until supper time or you’ll be studying on a sore bottom for the rest of the night.”
“Is that a threat, Jules?”
“That’s a promise, Lillian Rose.”
Ahhh… Use of the middle name. I could play off of this.
I went into our room and sat down at the desk. I started to read, but I couldn’t concentrate. Then I started to wonder what we were going to do about dinner. I got up and went into the kitchen.
“Julia?”
“I hope you’re not testing me, Lily.”
“What are we doing about supper?”
“I’ll take care of that. You just go back to studying.”
“Are you going to make me study all night?”
“No all night- just until we go to bed.”
“But-,”
“March,” she ordered, pointing me back to the bedroom.
I sighed and went back to my book. I picked up the fine art of skimming in my college career, so I set a goal for myself to have the book skimmed and two articles read by supper. I put on a little Chopin and got to work. I motored right through the book in about forty five minutes, but I started to feel my stomach rumble. I pushed myself through an article and then I got up to see what Julia was doing about supper.
“I’m starting to get hungry,” I said, going into the refrigerator and munching on some carrot sticks.
“I’ll order the food,” she said. “Go back to studying.”
“Wow, you’re quite the drill sergeant,” I said. “Can I get something to drink?”
“Yes, but then get back to studying.”
“I wonder what it was like to be your roommate in college,” I teased.
“You are this close-,” she said, holding her fingers about a half an inch apart to demonstrate.
“This close to what?” I teased.
She opened the drawer in the kitchen where we kept the paddle.
“Okay, I’ll be good,” I said, finishing my glass of water and going back to the room. I was thankful when the food finally came so I could take a break.
“How’s it going?” Julia said when we sat down to eat.
“I got a lot of reading done for Soc of the Family,” I said. “But I still have a whole book to read. And I have a Social Psyc exam the same day.”
“Ouch. That doesn’t sound like too much fun.”
“The Social Psyc exam should be okay, but Soc of the Family might kill me.”
“I guess you’ll have to study extra hard for that one, then,” she said.
After I helped clean up, I flopped down on my back on the couch. I had absolutely no desire to go back to cramming.
“Are you forgetting something, Lily?”
“I’m tired,” I whined. “I just want to rest. I have all day tomorrow to study.”
“If I remember correctly, you have a paper due on Friday,” she said, in that responsible adult tone that occasionally drove me crazy.
“Just let me watch one show,” I said.
“Only if it’s for school.”
“But-,”
“Lily, I’m starting to get the impression that you want me to spank you.”
“Maybe I do,” I said, shyly.
She looked at me tenderly for a moment, and then went into the kitchen. My heart was pounding like mad. I knew she was going to paddle me, and although a part of me dreaded it, another part of me needed the paddling.
Julia came back into the living room and sat down on the couch. She put the paddle on the coffee table and patted her lap.
I lay across her knee, and she put her hand around my waist to hold me in place. My whole body was tense, partly from anticipation and partly from stress. I jumped a little when her hand came down hard and fast on the seat of my boxer shorts. I felt the warmth spread across my bottom and I began to relax.
“You’re under a lot of stress, aren’t you, honey?” she said, gently, stopping to rub my bottom.
“Yeah,” I said, softly.
“Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes.”
I was going to tell her it was exactly what I needed, but at that moment, she had begun to slowly pull my boxers down to my knees. The sting of her palm made me wiggle a little bit and I soon began to forget all of my stress and worry over finals week. Julia stopped to rub my bottom for a minute or so. I felt her lean forward to pick up the paddle, and my bottom tingled in anticipation. I jumped a little when I felt, the cool, hard wood against my warmed bottom. I had been anticipation the first smack.
“Are you going to listen to me when I tell you to go into our room and study?”
The paddle came down hard on my bottom. I jumped and let out a small cry.
“Yes.”
She started with light, steady spanks, and gradually increased the force of her blows. I wiggled and breathed an occasional “ow-,” or “ah-.” The familiar hot and achy feeling came back, and I began to curl my toes with each painful smack. I was tempted to tell her to stop or slow down, but a small part of me wanted her to keep going.
Julia stopped and put the paddle on the coffee table. She tenderly rubbed my flaming bottom, letting me lay quietly across her knee.
“Do you feel better?” she said, gently, brushing my hair back from my face and kissing my cheek.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Now will you go study?”
“Only if you promise to spank me again after my finals are over.”
“It’s a deal.”