A voice invaded every corner of the airport terminal with all its harsh urgency, stressing that the remaining passengers for flight 238 were required to present themselves to the relevant departure gate without delay. Kerry sighed in disappointment. She wasn't sorry to be leaving the country, because she had a new job and a new life to get on with. But once she went through that gate, she would be admitting to herself that Paul wasn't coming to say goodbye.
How she wished that she hadn't gone round to his house the previous night and offered to have sex with him. At the time it had seemed to her the only natural way to bring to an end five years of the closest friendship she had ever known with anyone. It had also seemed like the perfect parting gift for Paul, who for those five years had maintained such a healthy interest in her body. She reminded him of that when he started protesting about her suggestion.
"Of course accidents can happen, Paul, but how can you accidentally walk in on me in the shower at least once a week without fail? And why is it always necessary for you to stare at me for at least five seconds before you supposedly realise your mistake? Come on, don't look at me like that. I care for you so much, I'm just glad I can do something for you now and again. I like giving you your weekly thrill. Why do you think you always find the bathroom door unlocked?"
Paul had shaken his head sullenly at all this, but Kerry still hadn't heeded the warning signs. She pressed on enthusiastically with the case she was making. "But now that I'm going to leave for good, a five-second thrill isn't really good enough, is it? How can I walk away never having given you the one thing you obviously long for the most?"
Paul had then insisted that she was completely wrong. He said he valued their friendship far too much, to which Kerry pointedly and eloquently responded by taking her top off.
"But surely you value these as well?" she asked.
That was where it had all gone disastrously wrong. Paul had turned away in horror, apparently aghast to be presented with her boobs. Then, trying desperately to keep them out of his line of vision, he had summarily bundled her out of his house and slammed the front door on her, which he followed up by throwing her discarded top out of the window.
Kerry would later sincerely wish that she had got the message at that point and started grovelling, but at the time she had simply been fascinated by the passion of his reaction to the sight of her boobs. It had led her to think he must have some special fascination with them. She was sure that she could use it to provoke him beyond breaking-point, so she shouted back through the door at him.
"You can run from my boobs but you can't hide! They'll invade your sleep! After all these years of longing, how will you live with yourself knowing that you had the chance to gaze at them to your heart's content but you didn't take it? To stroke them, to taste them, to play with them…I'm playing with them now, Paul. Oh, they're so soft. So yielding to the slightest touch. Open the door and see for yourself."
But she had underestimated him, because the door remained stubbornly shut. And that was how Kerry had now found herself standing alone in the airport, ruing the fact that, instead of bringing their friendship to the beautiful resolution she had planned, her visit to Paul's house had spoilt things forever. She went through the motions of having a last look around the terminal building, but there was absolutely no sign of him. So she turned sadly towards the departure gate, deciding it was time to face her future.
"Kerry, wait!" came an impassioned cry from far behind her. Paul's voice was unmistakable. She swung back round to face him, with her eyes suddenly gleaming.
"I knew you'd never let me go without saying goodbye," she lied.
"I'm not here to say goodbye," was his response.
Kerry looked at him, confused and slightly hurt. Paul started to explain.
"I'm here to tell you that you were right. I should have listened to you. They did invade my sleep, your…"
He indicated what he was trying to tell her by allowing his eyes to gradually slip well below her face, and this time he didn't hurriedly look away in embarrassment as he normally did. There was plenty to see, since it was a hot day, and as such all that impeded his view of her body was a red bikini-top, denim shorts and a backpack.
Kerry smiled at his inability to say the words. "You mean my boobs?" she asked, reaching out to stroke his face softly. "If you changed your mind last night, why didn't you just come round and tell me?"
Paul shook his head sadly. "I thought after throwing you out, you wouldn't want to know."
"Oh, you silly man. The offer was still open. You could have been playing with them all night long if only you'd plucked up the courage. But now it's too late."
"Oh, please, Kerry, don't say that. I've plucked up the courage now. And it's like you said. How am I going to live with myself knowing that I had this chance and let it slip?"
A loudspeaker message with a tone of even greater finality repeated that all remaining passengers had to go to the departure gate immediately. Kerry summoned up the most apologetic facial expression she could manage. "Paul, I want you to have my boobs, but what can I do? You heard that announcement. If I don't go in the next two minutes, I'll probably miss my flight."
"Oh please, Kerry," he implored her, "two minutes is enough time to give me something. I just can't bear for you to go without getting my hands on you somehow."
Kerry's mind was in turmoil. In the past, she'd always been the one that had laughed at Paul's inhibitions, but she suddenly realised that, as much as she wanted to, she had far too many inhibitions herself to let him fondle her bare boobs in front of hundreds of people who were facing in every conceivable direction. But equally, the crestfallen look on Paul's face was too heartbreaking to ignore. She had to quickly think of something they could do that wouldn't make anyone who looked at them bat an eyelid.
She hurriedly slipped her backpack off, and pulled out some sun-cream from inside. "I'll lie down, and you can rub this into my back," she told him conspiratorially. "People do that kind of thing all the time. I know it's not the same as getting your hands on my boobs, but at least it's skin-on-skin contact."
Once she was in position, Paul set about his task with relish. After hours of agonising over lost opportunities, simply being able to touch her flesh was a truly exquisite sensation. The way the cream enabled the tips of his fingers to glide across her back was amazing. However, he soon found his sliding fingers impeded by the strap of her bikini-top. He carefully weighed up the available options for about a quarter of a second, after which he concluded that the only rational thing to do was undo her bikini-top without delay. Soon he was basking in the full splendour of her completely bare back. It was amazing how much difference the disappearance of one thin little strap could make.
"Was that necessary?" groaned Kerry, by now paranoid about the time factor.
"Oh yes, absolutely necessary," he assured her. "If I'm going to do it properly, that is. Most people would do the same."
"Yes, I suppose they would," she conceded. "But hurry up, will you?"