Second Time Around

1

One Saturday evening during the Christmas term at University I had returned home from the pub and was playing bridge with my flatmates. As I remember there were more than just four of us there, and we took it in turns to play a rubber, and then sat out and watched. Also present were two girls who had been with us in the pub. One whose name I cannot remember was my friend John's girlfriend, and the other was a girl called Meredith.

After a little while John and his girlfriend decided fucking was a better alternative to playing cards and some of the others drifted off. This left four of us playing and Meredith who sat silently watching.

We must have played for another two hours and in that entire time she sat quietly in the background, and I do not remember her saying anything other than asking if anybody would like a coffee, and when we said yes, disappearing into the kitchen and appearing with five steaming mugs.

The night wore on and eventually we put the cards away and thoughts turned to going to bed. It was at this point that Meredith spoke for the second time that evening, or by that time, morning. She turned to me and asked.

"I'm sorry to ask Roger but can you walk me back home. It's not far but I'm scared to walk back alone at this time of night."

Her voice was soft and for the first time I noticed her Scottish accent. And then I took a proper look at her. She was tall and slim with small breasts. Her brown hair was cut in page boy style and her lips were full,her nose sharp, and her eyes olive green. She could not be described as pretty or having striking looks, but neither was she unattractive. Hers was a face that you probably wouldn't notice in a crowd, and her quiet demeanour probably contributed to that. She was wearing the standard student uniform of blue jeans and tee shirt and had put on an old Afghan jacket as she was speaking.

"No problem. Of course I will."

We walked through the quiet streets of the city, our footsteps echoing. As we walked I asked Meredith about herself. She told me she was at the beginning of her final year studying medicine and was from Elgin in Scotland. Her father was a priest and her mother a consultant paediatrician, but she thought she might like to become a GP when she qualified.

She already appeared to know a little about me and I surmised that John's girlfriend must have told her something.

Her house was a small mid terrace and when we arrived at the front door she surprised me by asking me in. I had already been entertaining thoughts about asking her out for a drink the following evening, so I was happy to go inside with her.

Her room was clean and tidy, warm and cosy. The radiator was working. The double bed was covered by a large pink eiderdown with a number of teddy bears sitting on the pillows. A desk and chair with a computer sat by the window with a couple of shelves on the adjacent wall stacked with medical textbooks. The desk was covered with notebooks and pens, and it was clear she had been studying. In the far corner was an armchair covered with a floral patterned cotton throw. The air smelt of perfume.

I sat in the armchair whilst Meredith made coffee. When she returned she put the mugs on the desk and then walked over to me leant down and kissed me full on the lips. For a second I was too surprised to react but then I kissed her back and for maybe thirty seconds we kissed. Hard!

She spoke,

"I've been waiting to do that all night."

"Come and sit on the bed."

We lay on the bed and kissed. She smelt intoxicatingly of shampoo and perfume. We kissed some more, and I placed my hand on her breast and held her tight to me, and then she surprised me for the second time as I felt her dainty hand reach down unbuckle my belt and unbutton my jeans before unzipping my flies. Shortly afterwards, for the first time in my life, a hand other than my own started to stroke my dick. I was surprised, shocked, and excited in just about equal measure.

My experience of women up until that moment could be properly described as non-existent. I was a virgin and had a highly romanticised view of the other sex. I knew I wanted to screw one of them, but I don't believe I understood that many of them also wanted to be screwed by a male, albeit the right one. I was both clueless and unconfident; not a combination that most women were attracted to.

That evening I had got lucky. Meredith had acted before I had had time to put her off. Or so I thought. The reality was that for all her shy and retiring nature she knew what she wanted, and she had wanted me. She had seen me with John and had fancied me from the beginning. John's girlfriend, whose name she reminded me was Jane, had confirmed I had no girlfriend. After that I had no chance.

And so, early that Sunday, I lay back on a bed beside a girl whom I had met only hours before, and she gave me my first real hand job.

Although it was the first of many I still remember both the shock and the pleasure of it. Meredith knew exactly what she was doing and slowly and gently held my foreskin between her thumb and forefinger and worked it up and down over my glans. Soon my penis was rock hard, the glans had become a swollen blue mushroom and my pleasure was immeasurable. It was beyond anything I had ever felt before.

I looked at her face as she gave me this experience and could see her concentrating hard "on the job in hand." It was obvious she derived great satisfaction from what she was doing to me, as she smiled softly, and her eyes twinkled.

She paused and raised her right hand to her mouth and covered her thumb and fingers with saliva before using it to moisten my penis tip. Slowly and with great skill she took me to the edge and kept me there. My penis felt harder than I had ever known. I ached for release, and I vainly thrust my hips upwards as I moaned in ecstasy.

Finally Meredith had pity and with a slightly firmer grip she brought me to a climax. As I cried out, my penis started to pulse rhythmically, and an arc of white semen gushed into the air. This was followed by another two smaller jets until my penis stood still with semen oozing from its meatus.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

She looked at me with satisfaction.

"Here and there."

And then unashamedly,

"Take your clothes off and get into bed. I'll sleep on the right if that's OK. It's really late and I've got church in the morning. I'll go to eleven o'clock communion so we may get seven hours sleep. Now no touching. Just cuddling. Promise."

"I promise."

Whilst Meredith went to the bathroom I quickly stripped got into bed on the left and switched off the lamp by the bed. A short while later, and in the dark, a warm, naked, and perfumed female body slipped into bed bedside me.

"Is that you Meredith?"

"Bastard!"

"Hold me tight and let's get some sleep."

She kissed me gently on the lips, and as I put my arm round her and put my hand on her breast, she put her head on my chest and within seconds was breathing gently in her sleep.

I lay awake for a few moments longer, in silent disbelief of the events of the last hour or so, before I too fell asleep.

2

I woke about ten o'clock the following morning. Meredith was in the shower and came into her room wrapped in a large white towel. She paid little heed to me, took off the towel, and stood naked for a moment before putting on her bra and panties and sitting on the side of the bed.

This was the first time I was able to see her naked and I liked what I saw. She was about five feet ten inches tall with milky white skin, small round firm breasts, a narrow waist, and a tight round bum.

Now she saw I was awake.

"Good morning I'm off to church. I'll be back in two hours. Can we go out for a pub lunch? I'll meet you at your place if you like?"

She quickly put on black stockings, a long black pencil skirt, and a white blouse and cream woollen sweater. Then she grabbed for a long black coat, pecked me on the cheek, and left.

"Let yourself out. Don't forget to pull the front door firmly shut."

I realised that without any planning or effort on my own behalf I had acquired a girlfriend. I wasn't even sure I liked her although she was certainly the most intriguing girl I had ever met. She hardly spoke, went to church, and had given me an unsolicited hand job within a few hours of meeting me. She appeared to be simultaneously wanton but innocent.

She had a nice body and was quietly attractive.

And I hadn't had any better offers recently.

A little later I pulled the front door behind me and walked home.

When I entered the house John and Jane were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee an eating toast.

"Good night?" said Jane with a smile.

I just grinned and went upstairs to my room.

3

Meredith pitched up at the house as arranged, having changed back into her jeans, and we went to the pub for lunch. Afterwards we went for a walk in a local park, Jesmond Dene, and then went our separate ways. I asked Meredith to come home with me, but she declined since she had course work she needed to finish by Monday morning and was running out of time.

I was already beginning to learn that she was a young lady who's outwardly quiet and unassuming nature hid a more focused and passionate side.

We agreed to meet the following Wednesday evening and we went to the cinema following which I took her home to bed.

Once again she gave me a skilful hand job this time sitting astride me as I held her breasts in my hands, but when I attempted to touch her she pushed my hand away.

"When I'm married."

The pattern was set. Our sex life involved only the delivery of hand jobs and I was never allowed to touch. Meredith made it clear it was "take it or leave it." She obviously enjoyed things, as far as they went, and I was still a virgin and didn't complain. And I was becoming very fond of her.

One night, after she had given me a particularly good time she fell asleep in my arms, and soon I was asleep too. I woke a little later and realised she was no longer close to me. I lay in the dark pretending to be asleep whilst she lay on her back and the bed sheets gently moved and I realised she was masturbating. My back was to her, and I remained quietly listening until I heard a gentle sigh of release, and a little while later Meredith snuggled against my back.

In the morning I woke to find Meredith looking at me. She kissed me on the lips.

"Good morning."

"You heard me last night didn't you?"

And I had to admit I did.

"It's perfectly natural. I just wish you'd let me do it."

Meredith told me that her wish not to be touched by a man before marriage was a consequence of several things. First and foremost she was a Scottish Presbyterian and although it might be old fashioned she did not wish to have sex before marriage. This belief was reinforced by her strict upbringing. Her father was a stern Scot made even stricter by being a Presbyterian priest. In their home and under his roof, for as long as she could remember, a bare bottom strapping with a traditional Scottish tawse was his answer to discipline.

Lastly she didn't trust herself to be touched by me because almost certainly my fingers would have rapidly led to something more.

"I am more passionate than most people know. For now I will confine myself to touching you and then touching myself."

4

By May the following year we were "an item." We had professed our love for each other and there was an unspoken assumption between us that we would marry sometime in the future. Meredith had even gone so far as to tell her parents about me, a relationship with a man being something she had never told them of before.

In the summer she obtained her medical degree. I still had a year to graduation and Meredith had to move away to a hospital several hundred miles south to work as a house officer. She worked every other weekend and we embarked on a long term relationship. At first we saw each other every weekend she was free, taking turns to do the travelling, but as the months passed and as my final exams drew near I became less willing to travel to see her.

At first Meredith came every weekend she was free but the four hundred mile round trip by train was tiring and often when she was with me I did not have enough time for her because of my studies.

Meredith was stoical and saw this as a period we had to get through before we would be together again, but as the year passed I became less and less sure of the wisdom of continuing to see each other. I realised that we might have several more years of separation and started to question whether marriage at that age was my best choice. My doubts and dissatisfaction with the effort of maintaining our relationship grew and grew.

Just before my final exams I rang Meredith and finished with her. She said she understood but her voice was breaking when we said goodbye to each other. When I put the phone down I had a profound sense of loss and was left wondering whether I had made the worst decision of my life.

But it was too late and with many regrets and not a little self-doubt I moved on.

5

It was twelve years later that I saw Meredith again. I had married five years before and then divorced three years later and had no children. Occasionally I had thought of her and wondered how life had treated her. I regretted the way our relationship had finished and my part in it. And I must admit more and more I wondered how different life would have been if I had married her.

When I saw Meredith again she was talking on television. She was a member of the audience in a weekly chat show which toured different locations in the country and intriguingly had been broadcast from a town about twenty miles away. She looked good and had grown her hair and was well made up, but she was obviously "my" Meredith.

Over the course of the next few days I thought about her more and more until almost inevitably I decided to see if I could find her. I didn't think it would be that difficult since I the television host had introduced her as a GP (Medical General Practitioner) which meant she was working somewhere in the UK and consequently must be registered by the GMC (General Medical Council). Once I knew the name she was registered under, I would be able to do a simple online search to find her.

And so it turned out. The GMC website confirmed that Dr Meredith Dewar who graduated from Newcastle University in 1998 was registered as a GP. It appeared that she was registered under her maiden name. After that it was easy to find her name on a search engine and I was both surprised and then intrigued to discover that she was working in a GP surgery about thirty miles away. She had been working there for the last two years.

It was not that surprising that she was using her maiden name. Many female GPs don't change their name after marriage particularly if they marry after they have been working for a while and are well known under that name. Some time ago I had learnt that she had married a French guy and gone to live in France. What was she doing here back here using her maiden name? Was she divorced? Had they both moved back to the UK? I didn't think so, but I knew I must find out.

To be honest I didn't really know what I wanted from all of this, except maybe to make my peace.

On a Monday morning in late spring I rang her surgery and asked if I could talk to Dr Meredith Dewar. I explained I was a close friend. She was already busy, so I left my name and telephone number.

Forty five minutes later the phone rang.

"Hello"

"Hello Roger. It's been a long time. How are you. How did you find me?"

And so I briefly explained how I had seen her on television and then gone online. I had been surprised to find she worked only thirty miles from where I now lived.

She listened quietly and there was a pause before she spoke.

"You hurt me badly you know."

"I'm sorry Meredith this was a bad idea, I shouldn't have rung you, but I just wanted to know how you were.

"Now why would you want to know that?"

"I'm sorry Meredith I shouldn't have rung you. It was selfish. Have a good life."

And I put down the phone and stared miserably and guiltily at the wall.

Twenty minutes later a message appeared on my mobile.

The Woolpack tonight at 8 pm. Please confirm M.

She had named a popular week known pub in the local area and which I had visited before. I replied almost immediately.

See you there R.

I spent the day totally distracted by our upcoming reunion, went home early, and then wished I hadn't because I had nothing to distract myself with. Early in the evening I showered, shaved, and dressed casually. I left home at quarter past seven and drew into the pub car park half an hour later.

I entered the bar and bought myself a pint of bitter and sat at a table with a view of the door. Ten minutes later Meredith walked through it.

She had changed. When we parted she was a shy 20 girl in her mid-twenties. The Meredith who walked through that door was a sophisticated woman in her late thirties. Her hair was now shoulder length, and she was skilfully made up. She had put on a little weight and was more rounded. Her clothes were undeniably expensive designer brands. She appeared to have done well for herself.

She scanned the room and caught my eye and she smiled and walked over.

"Hello Roger."

"I'll have a G and T please."

I bought her a double and brought it to the table and sat down and as I did she looked inquisitively across the table at me.

"Well why did you ring me?"

That was a question I had been asking myself all day and I realised that I now believed I had made a mistake when I allowed my head to rule my heart all those years back. I also knew I was being selfish. I had no right to walk back into Meredith's life in this way. I didn't know what to say so I hedged my bets.

"I saw you on television and was inquisitive."

"About what?"

"How life has been treating you. I cared for you once."

"Won't your wife object to this meeting and you saying things like that?"

"I'm divorced and unattached."

"O... K," she said.

"I decided to meet you because you meant something to me once even though you broke my heart. After you left me my relationship with my father went downhill and I married Pierre on the rebound. He was an even bigger bastard than you. After his umpteenth affair I left him 2 years ago and came to work back in the UK, The divorce hasn't come through yet, but it will."

"So there you have it."

"I'm sorry it didn't work out for you."

"Don't be. I've got a good job, and I'm still young."

And she sat still and silent.

And I didn't know what to say, so I said the unthinkable.

"Do you want to try again?"

Meredith just looked at me. The wait until she spoke seemed to be interminable.

"Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me."

"I don't know."

Abruptly she got up and leaving her drink virtually untouched looked down across the table at me.

"I need time to think. I'll ring you."

And then she turned and disappeared into the night.

For the next few days I waited on tenterhooks for the phone to ring, but when it did, it was never Meredith calling and by the weekend I had given up hope that she would phone. Finally early on the Friday evening, four days later, she rang.

"OK let's give it a go. I'll meet you back at the Woolpack later if you've nothing on."

"Give me a time."

"Eightish as before?"

"See you then. Bye."

"Bye.

6

It was a pleasant evening and we sat in the garden. This time Meredith sipped her drink as we talked. Unusually she did most of the talking. She was laying down the ground rules. She told me that I would have to woo her all over again and since she was a married woman there would be no sex of any kind until she was divorced and even then there would be no guarantees. If I was happy with that she would be happy to go out with me and see how things went. She looked at me.