Speaking as a willing 'lee, I don't know if I can ever classify any of the tickling encounters I've had as 'torture'(being that those very sessions wound up providing the fodder for my fantasies later in life), but I can say that there were a couple of times that I seriously wondered to myself "Is this guy ever going to stop?!" It is at that time when there is total sensory overload, and even the slightest brush of a fingertip can keep the giggles going. It is when the pleads for mercy get lost amist the screams and hysterical laughter, and when you would do or agree to just about anything to get the 'ler to stop. There is one of those times that stands out vividly in my mind....
I was over at my friend Mike's house, and as usual, there were a few of us there just hanging out watching some TV. I'm not sure why, but I was normally the only girl among the group at any given time (probably because I was a bit of a tomboy, and found guys a lot more fun to hang with than most of the girls that I knew). The guys that were there (there were two of them) decided that they wanted to watch some boring sporting event on TV. I love to toss a ball around as much as the next person, but ask me to WATCH it and it's like giving me a very large and potent sleeping pill and asking me to wash it down with a bottle of zinfadel. It was during the course of my bitching "I would rather watch the home shopping network than sports!" that my friend Mike confidently put the remote control down on the coffee table. I saw my chance to end my boredom and took it. I dove for the remote from my place on the couch and quickly changed the channel (just to be a bitch I turned on a soap opera...I didn't even watch the damn things, I just wanted to piss them off.) All I heard was my friend Leo saying "Hell no!" before I was jumped by the two of them. I rolled off the couch, and tucked the remote underneath my body in an effort to keep them from grabbing it. Even as stubborn as I am, I knew that there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to hold onto this remote for too long, but I tried my hardest anyway because I knew that once I gave it up it was going to be nothing but boredom to follow. Little did I know at this point that the remote wasn't really going to be the focus of the fight.
I would say that it took Mike and Leo less than thirty seconds to wrestle the remote out of my hands. Once they had it, I fully expected them to let me up (they were both restraining me at this point), and go back to watching their mind numbing sporting event. It was at this point when I started mouthing off to them about how lame sports were, and that if they were real men they would PLAY the game instead of just watching it. I guess that was the last straw (I know how sensitive you guys are about your masculinity😉 ) because it was then that my friend Leo made the first move towards making me recant all of the crap that I had just said. He was straddling my waist and all at once wrapped both hands around my ribcage and began to tickle me senseless. My slanderous remarks were quickly replaced with screaming and laughter. I guess Mike thought this was a great chance at retribution because he jumped right on the tickling bandwagon, grabbed both of my hands, pulled them over my head, and began to tickle whatever spot he could reach.
It wasn't too long after this that the "Okay!! I'm sorry! I take it back!" pleads started coming out of my mouth. And anyone who knows me, knows that I would rather eat dirt than show that someone has the upperhand, but I was beginning to panic at this point and realized that there was no way in hell that I could physically fend off both of these guys at once. They both thought my begging was hysterical (perhaps because it was so completely out of character for me), so they decided to turn it into a game.
"Okay, now say....I looooove to watch sports!" Mike said in such an obnoxious tone it made me want to smack him in the head. A few choice four letter words came out of my mouth initially following his command, but again, were stiffled by my laughter when they continued their tickles. "What was that? I'm not sure I heard you right." was Mike's next prompt at getting me to say how much I loved sports. The panic began to rise again, and hit full tilt when Leo hit the one spot on my body that I absolutely can't take being tickled...my hips. If you added up all of the ticklishness from my feet, ribs, knees and underarms, they MIGHT equal the one little spot on my hips. This was the first time that I had ever really been tickled there. It was like some magic button. Once he begain to tickle there, all of my stubborness went right out the window, and I said everything that they wanted me to say (and then some). Leo knew that he had hit paydirt, so he started saying stuff to Mike like "Oh, I think I found something over here." and would tickle my hips again. It was then that I learned the difference between the sensations of playful tickling and borderline torture (even though he meant it in a playful way, I'm sure). I began an all out begging plead for them to stop, but I guess they couldn't help but get a few more digs in. "Okay, say the magic word." Mike say with a grin. "PLEASE!!!" I said quickly. "Is that the magic word, Leo? How many words are there in the English language, anyway? Could be any one of them." They both laughed and then began to tickle some more, Mike up around my neck and underarms, and Leo around my waist and hips. A steady stream of "PLEASE!" and hysterical laughter continued to spew out of my mouth, until they finally relented. I don't know exactly how long the encounter lasted (felt like a lifetime), but it was definitely long enough to bring me to that panic point.
After it was all over, they hopped back on the couch, gave each other some high fives, and put the game back on TV. I just laid there in a sweaty lump on the carpet and after about ten minutes or so began to plot how I could instigate round two...
🙂
Maggie
What can I say, I had a crush on her and didn't want to push my luck. I did see her get her feet tickled by her brother and his gf later that same year while a couple of us tickled her sides at the same time...but that's another story.
