“Good stuff, what are you drinking?”
“Get us a bottle of wine, we won’t be long.”
They both walked to the crowded bar and Sarah pulled me in the direction of the ladies’ toilets, which happened to be right next to another exit. I wasn’t expecting to be dragged back out the door. Sarah, not letting go of my arm, pushed open the door and we went straight out back into the road and quickly made our way back towards town.
“I wonder how long they’ll wait for us.” Sarah said as we found our way to the Upper George pub. The floor was always sticky in there, but it didn’t bother us as they always played great music. This pub had an unusual layout; the circular bar was in the centre of the room so you could be served from any side. There were tables and chairs all around with booths at the far end. It wasn’t particularly spacious, but they would sometimes have bands playing. Tables and chairs would be pushed together leaving very little room so sitting would be a struggle. There was no band playing tonight though so we happily found somewhere to park our bums.
“I don’t care. Serves them right for thinking he can hijack our night.” I put my drink on a coaster, which was unnecessary judging by the state of the table. “Right, so, where were we? Canada. Wedding.”
“Yes, are you ok talking about the move? I know I said we wouldn’t, but it’s all I can think about. I’ve wanted someone other than Max that I can talk to about it. He doesn’t understand.”
“It’s fine, talk to me. That’s what I’m here for.”
“I’m anxious about the move. Really anxious. What we can take with us. What we need to take with us. What the house will be like over there. Did I mention Max is going over next month?”
“No, what’s he going for?”
“They want him to meet the people he’ll be working with so he’s going for two weeks to try and settle in. They’re putting him up in a hotel, but he’ll be able to see the house so can tell me what we need. I’ve told him he needs to take loads of photos so I can see it properly. It’s fully furnished which is fab.”
“What about your house here?”
“Well, we’ve still got the mortgage on it. We might rent it out but will wait until after the wedding as we’ll need to stay there when we come back. It depends really on how Max’s job goes, whether it’s a permanent move or temporary as to whether or not we sell up.”
“That was your dream house though. It’s my dream house. I wish I could afford it.”
“I know, but it’s only a house. Bricks and mortar. It’s not important.”
I wish I could believe her. She had wanted that house for a long time. She worked so hard and made loads of sacrifices to save up the money for a deposit, they both did. It sits at the bottom of a cul-de-sac with their extension looking over field after field. Every spring there would be lambs sitting only a few feet from us as we would drink tea sitting on the couch. There were two lounges downstairs and the master bedroom had an en-suite and walk in wardrobe. It wasn’t bad for a first house.
I heard my phone bleeping in my bag so pulled it out to see what it was.
“It’s Dan,” I told Sarah, “wants me to go over tonight.”
“Oh, you should! Go test out that bed!”
“No, this is our night out. I told him I couldn’t when he called me yesterday.”
“What did he say in his message?”
“‘Hey babe, my offer still stands for tonight. I’ll wait up for you, come and see me.’”
“You should go, it’s only eleven o’clock. Give it another hour and we’ll head for a taxi.”
I was tempted. Plus, I was curious about the waterbed and what it would be like to have sex on it.
“You sure you don’t mind?” I had just had a leg and bikini wax. It would be a waste to go unappreciated.
“Not at all!” She fumbled about for her bag. It was then I realised that we were both actually kind of tipsy. “I’ll go get us one more drink, text him back that you’ll be with him soon. Don’t give him a time though, keep him waiting.”
“I will do.”
She got out of the booth and walked to the bar, so I sent him a quick message.
“Ok, won’t be long. Gonna have another drink and then head for a taxi. See you soon X”
“I’ll keep the bed warm for you X” he quickly replied.
24
Even at midnight, it was still humid outside. Sarah had pulled the receipt from our meal out of her bag and started using it as a fan. In the taxi I opened the window, hoping to let some fresh air and a breeze in, but there was no wind. The air was still and it was far too warm and sticky. I’d found a hair bobble in the bottom of my bag and had to put my hair up to get it away from my neck as it felt like I was wearing a scarf.
We dropped Sarah off at home and she made me promise to text her when I was in Dan’s house, so she knew I was ok. It was not far to Dan’s house, so it wouldn’t take long to get there anyway.
“Well hello.” Dan said as he opened the door.
“I hope you’ve got a fan on, it’s boiling out here.”
“I left a fan on in my room, so it should be cool. You look amazing.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“No, really, you look good.” It was strange to get compliments from Dan. We weren’t the complimentary kind of people, it wasn’t normal in our relationship. He grabbed my hand, lifted it above my head and twirled me around. “Really good, that’s a good dress.” He then pulled me in for a kiss. This was far too romantic and alien.
“Have you been drinking too?”
“I had some beers while I was waiting for you.”
We stood and kissed in his kitchen. His hands wandered around my body. We had never done this before. Our physical relationship had always been limited to his bedroom. The only thing that ever happened in his kitchen was he cooked a really good breakfast for me after we used each other for sexual pleasure.
“Come on.” he pulled me by the hand and led me upstairs. I’ve never known him so eager and horny.
We walked in the bedroom which was really warm. It was like being back outside. In fact, it was warmer than outside.
“Damn, the fan hasn’t been on.” He checked the plug and it was all ok. “It must be knackered.” He gave it a whack and it started spinning, but not fast enough to be effective.
In the centre of his bedroom was the new king-sized waterbed. It looked like a normal bed. I don’t know what I was expecting as the water was inside the mattress, not in a moat around the bed frame. He had new bedding too and it looked like new pillows. The old ones were almost as flat as pancakes he’d had them for so long.
I kicked off my shoes and began unbuttoning his shirt whilst he kissed me and held his hands on my face. It was very passionate. And I was pleased to realise that I didn’t feel any kind of bloatiness in my tummy.
I pulled off my dress from my sticky body and he slipped out of his trousers. Now was the time to test out the bed.
It’s a good thing I don’t get motion sickness. As soon as I laid on the bed, I felt like I was on a lilo on the sea. As he climbed on top of me, pushing his hands into the bed above my head, it had a ripple effect on the mattress. I couldn’t stop myself going up and down, up and down. We clonked heads as my head involuntarily bounced up as a result.
“Ow, sorry!” I said.
“No, that was me. I think that was me.”
He tried to keep up with the movements of my head which was being forced to move by the water in the bed. In the end I put my arms around his neck to try and make things a bit steadier. It did the trick, but his back was damp with sweat. We were finally in unison with each other. That was until we tried to have sex.
He was still on top, but it was not good. I was stuck on the bottom and couldn’t move. The only movements from me was when the waves from the water had me bopping like a buoy in the sea. I could not match what he was doing. And the more he tried to move, the warmer things became. I could see the sweat was start
ing to build up on his forehead. I was really uncomfortable. It felt like I had an adult sized hot water bottle on top of me.
His movements slowed down until eventually he stopped.
“Erm, I… erm,” he stuttered. “I think I’m too warm.”
“It is warm in here, oh,” I suddenly understood. I looked down to where our crotches met and amongst all the sweat was a shrivelled, shrunken cock. “It’s ok. Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
It really was fine. Waterbeds are not all they’re cracked up to be and I was not enjoying it. At that particular moment, I would have gotten more pleasure by jumping into a bath of ice whilst eating a big tub of ice cream.
“Damn, that never happens.” He pushed himself up and moved to the end of the bed to stand up. I bobbed up and down as he took his weight off the mattress. “I’ll go get another fan, there’s one in the spare room.” He pulled on his boxers.
“Alright, that’s fine.”
“Do you want something to drink? I’ve got plenty of ice in the freezer.”
“Just some water, please, with loads of ice.”
“Right, I’ll be right back. We can stick a DVD on or something.”
“Sounds great.” I smiled. I know a man’s ego can be really affected by something like this, but I think we were even now with embarrassing moments. If he ever mentioned the farting again then I would remind him of this.
As he went out in search of the fan and to bring ice cold refreshments, I reached for my bag and pulled out my phone. I’d forgotten to text Sarah so had best do that now.
There was a notification in Messenger, someone not on my friends list had sent me a message request. I was tempted to ignore it, thinking it would be Chris asking where we were. I could imagine him still sitting at the bar in Plummet Line with our bottle of wine.
I clicked on to see the message, it was not Chris.
“Hi, how you doing? x”
It was Zack.
25
What do I do now? Do I reply? What do I reply? Do I wait until morning? Should I speak to Sarah first for help? Should I wait until I’m sober? Can he see that I’ve read the message? Will he think I’m avoiding him if I don’t reply? Why does he want to know how I’m doing? He sent it at half eleven, why was he thinking of me so late? Has he messaged me by mistake? What should I do?
“Everything ok?” Dan walked back in the room with two large glasses of water.
“Yea, fine.” I quickly closed down Messenger. “Do you mind if I have a shower? I’m really warm, a cool shower might help.”
“Of course you can.”
“Just a quick one, then we can chill out.”
“Go for it, I might have one too. I found the other fan so I’ll bring that in. I’ll fetch you a towel” He placed the glasses on the bedside table and then walked back out on the landing. I heard the floorboards creaking as he made his way to the other room. When he returned, he had the fan and then handed me a clean towel.
“Thank you, I won’t be long.”
I stood up off the bed and had to stand still for a moment, suffering slightly with balance from being on the waterbed, although the alcohol could have been partly to blame. I took my phone into the bathroom and opened up Zack’s message. I took a screenshot and sent it to Sarah, asking what I should do.
The cold shower was a good idea. My hair was still in a bun so I could let the cold water trickle around my neck and down my back. It did not take long to cool down. Once I was finished, I had a reply from Sarah.
“Omg, this is it. The moment you’ve been waiting for! Typical you’re at Dans though!!! Aaahhhh!! Reply asap so he doesn’t think you’re ignoring him. Sound casual, don’t tell him where you are!”
“Really? So, he won’t want to know that I’ve just come to another man’s house for sex? I’ll think of something X”
I wrapped myself up in the towel and put the toilet lid down, so I had somewhere to sit and concentrate. I reopened Messenger and typed out my reply.
“Hey, I’m really good thank you. It’s so nice to hear from you X”
Simple, but effective. I checked and rechecked my spelling. Predictive text can be mean to you after a few drinks.
I wrapped myself in a towel and made my way back to the bedroom. Dan handed me one of his t-shirts that I could wear to bed and then made his way to the bathroom for his own cold shower. My phone buzzed.
“Did you have a good night? I saw you in Plummet Line, but you disappeared x”
He was there? I can’t believe it!
“It was a really good night. We didn’t intend on Plummet Line, we needed to ditch some guys who had latched on to us…I didn’t see you or I might have stayed X”
I pulled off my towel and allowed the fan to blow on me for a few seconds. There were still some trickles of water on my body from the shower. When goose bumps appeared on my arms, I pulled on the t-shirt and slipped my knickers back on.
“I was at the bar when I saw you walk in and out. Maybe I could take you out sometime and protect you from uninvited company x”
Oh crap. Oh wow. Is this for real?? I could feel my cheeks burning up. I thought I was dreaming until I sat on the bed a little too hard and bounced up and down from the waves. Goddam waterbed! I’ll be getting seasick soon.
“That would be great :) I’d love to X”
I had that giddy schoolgirl grin on my face again. I heard Dan switch the shower off. I would need to get rid of this smile before he came back in. It would be unfair on him if he knew I was texting another guy whilst I was in his bed.
“Great, I’ll message you properly tomorrow. I’m still out and being dragged to Cookies. Speak soon x”
I need to get this smile off my face quickly. I picked up my glass of water and started to drink speedily, until a piece of ice touched one of my front teeth. The pain shot through my gums like an electric shock. That definitely did the trick.
“Ahhh,” I said, “dammit.”
“Are you alright?” Dan walked back in and saw my pained face.
“Yea, the ice touched my tooth.”
I put the glass of water back on the bedside table next to my phone. The pain in my tooth subsided, but the smile was trying to creep its way back on to my face. I can’t believe that Zack messaged me. And I can’t believe that he was in Plummet Line! I can almost hear Sarah’s voice telling me that it was fate that we ended up there.
“Jenny? Did you hear me?”
“Hmm? Sorry?” I looked up and Dan was staring at me.
“I said what do you want to watch? I have the new Family Guy box set.”
“That’ll do.” I wasn’t really bothered. In fact… I felt guilty about being in Dan’s bed, as though I was cheating on Zack when we hadn’t even been on a date yet. I told myself to stop being so silly.
“Do you want anything to eat? It’s not too late to order some food in. Your choice.”
“No, thanks. I’m off takeaways at the moment.” As true as that statement is, I don’t want to risk another night of farting. Especially not in the waterbed. I don’t want any ‘jacuzzi’ jokes in the morning.
Dan pulled the duvet off the bed and left it in the corner on the floor. He then pulled out a thin sheet from his wardrobe and threw it over the bed.
“This might be a bit cooler than the duvet,” he said, “unless you want to be uncovered altogether?”
“The sheet is fine, it’s thin so will be perfect. Let me help you.”
I picked up one side and helped him spread it evenly over the bed. I caught him looking at me.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he looked down at the bed, he looked to be blushing, he must still be warm “this is just nice, that’s all.”
“Making the bed?”
“Yea, I mean no, just this in general. Don’t you think?”
“Erm, sure.” I had no idea what he was going on about. Nothing about this was nice. It was humid, therefore sticky and horrible. The fans were just blowing
warm air around the room. I was starting to get sweaty again. What part of this was nice?
I pulled back the sheet and climbed in, carefully negotiating the waves underneath me. Dan faffed with the DVD and soon an episode of Family Guy was playing. It wouldn’t be long until I was asleep. My eyes were feeling pretty heavy now.
“You do look great, you know. You always do, but you look like you’ve lost weight.”
“Thanks, I’ve just made a few dietary changes. Nothing too drastic.” Not drastic, but I’d had to order in a new work uniform in a smaller size. Knowing my place of work, it wouldn’t arrive for another six months when I probably would have put the weight back on.
He climbed into bed next to me. This was usually the point where he lifted his arm for me to snuggle in his nook, but it was too warm for any kind of nooking, as we had just learned the hard way… pun not intended.
We laid next to each other, not touching, trying to feel the breeze from the fans. We each had one blowing on us at full speed, but it wasn’t really making a difference.
Just then, out of nowhere, something strange happened. Something alien. Something I could never have expected. Dan reached out and held my hand.
I tried not to make a big deal out of it. After all, it’s not like I wasn’t used to our bodies becoming entwined in one way or another, but hand holding? Fingers wrapped around each other, his thumb gently stroking mine, what the chuff?
I looked up at him, and he smiled at me. There was something different about this smile. This wasn’t a ‘we just had sex’ smile or a ‘I’ve seen you naked’ smile. This was something else.
“Everything ok?” I asked. I didn’t know what else to say.
“Fine,” he smiled, “Just fine.”
Dan soon fell asleep, still holding my hand.
26
I woke up from a really bad night’s sleep. It was a combination of the sticky heat, the rackety fans, the wobbly waterbed, and imagining how a date with Zack might go. Would we go out for dinner and drinks? Would it be to his house for a home cooked meal? Would he just want to go to McDonalds? Hell, I’m up for that. Dan eventually let go of my hand once he was asleep, so I could finally turn over to try and get comfy, but I had to move carefully. Every time I moved, the water rippled through the bed and it made Dan move too. I didn’t want to wake him up. He might have wanted to hold my hand again.
Blind Date Page 10
