"People getting it, people trying to get it, and people who can't get it." "No wonder the city never sleeps." "It's too busy trying to get laid, but if you ever actually do manage to get someone in bed, the real fun begins." "That's the kind with nuts in it." "We love our nuts." "After sleeping together for many weeks," "Mr Big and I had gotten comfortable enough to really sleep together." "It was nice. lt was the way I'd always dreamed it could be." " Good morning." " Morning." " Was that you?" " Oh, my God." " l think it might be worse under there." " Shut up!" "I hadn't dressed so quickly since getting caught in the boy's dorm sophomore year." " Wait, don't you want some coffee?" " Gosh. I'm late for a thing." "Oh, my God. I was mortified." "I didn't call him the rest of the day." "I tried to lose myself in work, but every time I stopped to think, I'd relive my hell all over again." "The next day I realised how childish I was behaving." "I decided to stop avoiding the situation and take the grown-up approach, complete and utter denial." "So I saw the Met is opening a new Goya exhibit." " Do you want to go this Saturday?" " Sure." " Could you get me more sauce, please?" " l most certainly can." "We have to stop and see the Renoirs." "I love the Renoirs." "OK." "There's a moment in every relationship where romance gives way to reality." "You know what?" "I'm exhausted." " Be all right if we just call it a night?" " Sure." " Sorry." "Good night." " Night." "That was the first night we slept together and didn't make love." "By the next week it was three times in a row, I was beginning to worry." "Three times?" "Try three months." " No." " Yes!" "Now would be a good time to wipe that horrified look off your face." "Sorry, sweetie. I just..." "I didn't know." "Where have I been?" "You've been having sex." "I've been renting videos. lt's tragic." "I'm two rentals away from some free Gummy Bears." " Relax." "You're just in a dry spell." " l can't believe you said that." "You're all freaked out about three times." "I'm talking three months." "It's different." "Not doing it when you're with someone means more than not doing it when you're not with someone." "What are you worried about?" "I thought you said everything felt comfortable and great." " Yeah, well, maybe too comfortable." " What do you mean?" "I farted." " l farted in front of my boyfriend." " And?" "And we're no longer having sex." "And he thinks of me as one of the boys." "And I'm gonna have to move to another city where the shame of this won't follow me." " You farted." "You're human." " l don't want him to know that." "I mean, he's this perfect guy." "He walks around his perfect apartment, with his perfect suit." "He's just perfect, perfect, perfect!" "And I'm the girl who farts." "No wonder we're not having sex." "You're insane!" "It's been three times. lt's perfectly normal." "Says who?" "Say it's not the..." "then what else is going on?" "is it normal to share a bed and not do it?" " lt depends what's normal for you." " God, I hate that." "Who am I to know what's normal?" "I haven't dated in a hundred years." "I don't have a clue." "Well, three months is not normal for me." "One month was interesting." "Two was numbing." "Three months, I'm going out of my mind." "There are 1 .3 million single men in New York and 1 .8 million single women." "Of these more than 3 million people, about 12 think they're having enough sex." "How often is normal?" "I have to masturbate three times a day just to make it through." "Some people take coffee breaks, I take jerk off breaks." "They say the average 33-year-old woman has sex 3.5 times a week." "I'd like to know who that woman is." "My wife and I haven't had sex since the baby was born." "The baby's applying to Yale next fall." "Once, one time a day, but two time on special day." "Normal is the halfway point between what you want and what you get." "Even in the plough position, I could count on Samantha for sexual clarity." " Good." "Move to downward facing dog." " Woof" "With him, I could do it every hour on the hour." "Do you think it means something if Big and I sleep together but don't sleep together?" " The truth?" " When have I ever wanted that?" " Yeah, OK, tell me." " l think there's trouble." "Sex is a barometer for what's going on in the relationship." "I wasn't going to tell you this but..." " l farted." " Then move your mat away." "Not now. I did it in front of Big." " Huge mistake." " You think?" " lt wasn't a choice, I'm human." " No honey, you're a woman." "Men don't like women to be human." "We aren't supposed to fart, douche, use tampons, or have hair in places we shouldn't." "A guy once broke up with me because I missed a bikini wax." "I knew it." "This is a watershed relationship moment." " l'm never gonna be able to erase it." " Sure you will." "Go and fuck his brains out, he'll forget all about it." "Men aren't that complicated, they're like plants." "Concentrate." "Quiet your insides." " Now he tells me!" " Roll over on your backs." "Take goddess pose." "Let your breathing work with you." "In and out." "Would you like to go for a coffee some time?" "45 minutes and three animal positions later," "Samantha and Siddhartha were sipping green tea at a health food restaurant " "Tofu Or Not Tofu." "I always feel so amazing after yoga." "My body feels so open, alive." "Ready for anything." " Samantha." " Yes." "I'm celibate. I practice tantric celibacy." " l gave up sex three years ago." " My God, why?" "Or more importantly, why?" "Didn't you like it?" "I loved it." "I'd have sex morning, noon, and night, sometimes three women a day and I was always ready for more." " Well, now you're just being cruel." " No. lt was all ego." "And where l am now is so much better than sex." " Come on honey, nothing's better than sex." " Think about really good foreplay." "Your sexual energy is just starting to awaken." "Now imagine a three-year foreplay where all that sexual energy is coursing through your body, but it never gets released. lt just recycles." "It builds, rises." "Until your entire being is humming with that electric sexual energy." " My apartment's just around the corner." " The only thing hotter than sex... is not having sex." "Amazingly, talking dirty about not having sex was the most sexually deviant act Samantha had participated in for months." "The next night when I met Charlotte for dinner, I'd reached my own transcendental state." "Pure Mr Big obsession." "The first time he was tired and the next two times... I don't know." "I don't know. lt's bad, isn't it?" "Relax." "Nothing's wrong with your relationship." " That's not all Charlotte, I..." " What?" "I couldn't bring myself to tell her." "I was afraid she'd go spontaneously deaf." "I'm sorry." "What were you saying?" "People put too much emphasis on the importance of sex." "It's not the most important thing in a relationship." " Right." " Take Kevin and I for example." "We've been going out for weeks and we still haven't done it." "We touch and cuddle, but he's sweet." "He respects my boundaries and I like it." "It makes it special." "There he is!" "Meeting a friend's boyfriend for the first time is always a little tense." "What if you don't like him?" "Or he doesn't like you?" "Kevin, this is my good friend, Carrie." " Hey, Carrie." " Hi." "What if you've already slept with him?" " You two know each other." " Kind of." " We used to go out." " Well, kind of used to go out." "You two used to go out." "That's so funny. lsn't that funny?" "That's my office. I gotta take this." "I'll be right back." " OK, when?" " Three years ago." "Three years, I can live with that." " Serious?" " No." "Good." "Why'd you break up?" "We were in different places and I just..." "Carrie, we don't have time for diplomacy, just tell me." "He's a sex maniac." "When Charlotte discovered that Kevin had tucked his libido away for her comfort level, she was even more moved by his restraint." "I want you to know how much I appreciate your patience." "You've been so patient with me." "It shows how much you really care." "And all that waiting is gonna make it all the more special for us now." "There's only gonna be one stop, thanks." " l don't think this is gonna work." " Why, is it me?" "No, you're great." "I'm just not that sexual a guy." "It's me. I know it's me." "Carrie told me you were quite sexual, in fact she used the word maniac." "That was before." " Before what?" " Prozac." "Yeah, I used to be such a mess." "Mr Mood swing." "It's a total lifesaver." "The only down side is it takes the air out of my tyres." "After a while, it's kind of like a taffy pull." " That's OK." "Don't worry about it." " l don't." "I wish I could say I felt worse." "But to tell you the truth, these days, nothing gets me down." "You want to watch a movie?" "Terrified of going to Mr Big's for what could become another platonic sleepover, I paced my apartment and tried not to think about our lack of sex when..." "There they were my new neighbours, Mr and Mrs Get-it-on." "A couple so obviously into each other there was only one thing to do... watch." "Then something wonderful happened." "My desire overcame my fear." "Hi, it's me. ls it OK if I come over?" "OK." "Across town at the corner of Nirvana and West Third," "Siddhartha was helping Samantha along her newfound path." "Blocks are connection to our inner life and true identities." " You're hard." " l know." "Our addictions and attachments are a way to block our spiritual hunger" " through unhealthy and dependent ways." " You're still hard." " lt will go down." " So can I." "I showed up at his apartment feeling sexy and confident." "Wearing my secret weapon skirt that really hugged my hips." "I was ready to go." "He didn't have a prayer." "Very nice." "Come on in." "I'm watching the fight." "Baby." "Carrie." "Come on, come on." "Let me watch this." "Jesus!" "Would you knock it off?" "I'm trying to watch this fight." " Fine, I'll leave." " What's up?" "Why are you acting so nuts?" "Maybe I'm not perfect." "Maybe I don't fit into your perfect life, with your perfect apartment, and your pay-per-view fight." "Maybe I should leave." "I stood there and waited for the obligatory, he's-coming-to-stop-me ten seconds." "He didn't." "By the time I got home l was sure he'd left an apology on my voice mail." "You have no new messages in your mailbox." "I didn't sleep very well that night." "But I wasn't the only one." "After a night of spiritual reading with her hunky guru," "Samantha began to feel things she hadn't felt in a very long time, frustrated and horny." "She decided it was time to put an end to her suffering." "But just as she reached the place Krishna once called the gateway to life, she turned back and decided not to enter." "After all, she'd come this far, she could continue not to come at all." "In an effort to get her mind off sex," "Miranda had rented a five-hour Danish documentary on the Nuremberg trial." " lt actually worked until..." " Hey, gorgeous." "Why don't you quick drop this?" "She's thinking about it!" "Where you going so fast?" "I got what you want. I got what you need." "Like every woman consumed with a relationship problem, I needed a project to stop my mind obsessing and my hands dialling his number." "Three months and one week." "Miranda needed to keep her hands busy as well." " Did he call?" " Nope." " And it's been two days." " Nice colour." " Ecru?" " Egg shell." "Well, I think it's over." "I should never have farted." "Jesus!" "That's it. I've heard enough about the fart. lt's not the fart." "I know it's not the fart." "I think I'm in love with him and I'm terrified he's gonna leave me 'cause I'm not perfect." "All right." "Let's put the roller down and go in the other room and talk." "The sex has stopped." "He hasn't called." "What if he never calls and three weeks from now I pick up the New York Times and read that he's married some perfect woman who never passes gas?" " When did you get obsessed?" " l don't know. lt's something about him." "You should see me around him. I'm not like me. I'm like "together Carrie"." "I wear little outfits." "You know, "sexy Carrie" and "casual Carrie"." "Sometimes I catch myself actually posing." "It's exhausting." "Then stop." "Why don't you show him more of this Carrie?" "She's pretty great." "What if he doesn't like her." "Miranda?" "Oh, my God!" " Look at them." " l had no idea they did an afternoon show." "When a show is good, word gets around." "There we were, the '90s version of matinee ladies." "Who said the theatre was dead?" "Samantha, I can't believe you'd give this up on purpose." " Actually, I hardly miss it." " How long has it been?" " A hundred years." " lt never goes down, does it?" " Look, it's still..." " Hard." "Gummy Bear, please." "Give me the candy!" "Snapping over gummy bears might be a sign that celibacy's not for you." " My big pay off better be worth it." " Samantha, I don't understand you." "There are people starving out there and you're fasting." "Stop complaining." "At least you can take care of yourself." "I'm way beyond that point." "I've given myself carpal tunnel." "Sure. it's all fun until you get to know each other." "Yeah, that move's what they're famous for." "It's been an hour." "How can that guy still be..." "Hard." "I have got to try this again with Kevin." "We really like each other." "That's got to be stronger than a drug, right?" "I'm warning you ladies, if I make it to four months, I'm humping one of you." " Oh, my God." " l hate them." "After the second show, each of us went on with our Saturdays." "Miranda went to get a movie and another pound of Gummy Bears." "It's my sweetheart!" "You look good, baby." "Good enough to eat." "Where you going, doll?" "I got what you want. I got what you need." " You talking to me?" " We got a live one boys." "You got what I want?" "You got what I need?" "What I want is to get laid." "What I need is to get laid. I need to get laid." " Take it easy, lady. I'm married." " All talk and no action." "What a cafone!" "Yeah, she's something else." "Samantha decided to channel her frustration at yoga." "Now release and breathe." "Unless you're planning to move those hands down, get them off me." "Exhale and turn around." "She had reached the end of her path and her patience." "Want to fuck?" "Want to fuck?" "Samantha spent the rest of the afternoon having multiple yogasms." "Later that night Charlotte was determined to prove she was stronger than selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors." " lsn't your arm getting tired?" " No, I think it's starting to work." "Charlotte, it's not, and I'm beginning to chafe." " You OK?" " Yeah." "I've just never been in this situation before." "Do you think you'll ever..." " Never mind." " What, think I'll ever go off it?" " Yeah." " Nope." " Not even for me?" " Nope." "Wouldn't you rather be with a guy who's kind and giving and not interested in sex, than an unstable, oversexed prick, who only wants to get laid?" "Nope." "Once Charlotte realised she couldn't get what she thought she didn't want, she couldn't imagine going on without it." "Saturday night's dinner came and went with no call from Big." "My life was suddenly shit, but my cabinets were looking fabulous." " Who is it?" " Me." " Surprise." " Yeah." " What's all this?" " l'm painting." " l can see that." " Why didn't you call?" "Why didn't you call?" "So this is where you live." " About time you invited me up." " l didn't invite you." "I know." "It's nice." "Very nice." "No, it's not. lt's a mess." "The floors need to be stripped and the curtains are... I want to change a lot of it." "I don't know." "I like it." "I like it the way it is." " What was that all about the other night?" " That was me." " Having a meltdown." " OK." " Nice paint." "Egg shell?" " Yes." "Did you know that there's a couple humping outside of your window?" "Really?" "I never noticed." "All I could think was, why aren't we having sex?" "is this normal?" "What's wrong?" "Where are we going?" "Hell, we can do better than that." "And then he kissed me." "Odd how normal can sometimes feel so uncomfortable."