I was working away from home at our London office pretty regularly these days, and I often stayed with friends while I was down south.
Over the next two days I had a series of meetings, and I had arranged to stay over at Christine and Geoff's tonight.
Chris and I had a very good relationship and had been great friends for years, but it is true there had always been a slight undercurrent as well, I found her very attractive and I was sure the feeling was mutual. I always looked forward to her greeting hug and her kiss goodbye, and for years we had been flirting gently, squeezing past each other in the hallway or making slightly provocative comments.
Most of the time things were pretty straightforward, of course and I had helped them both with a few business problems, and chatted about all kinds of things. The naughtiest point in our relationship occurred about two years ago. I had been staying in their spare room and she had left a rack of washing in front of the radiator, complete with a line of her panties and bras. She came in to collect them as I was putting my stuff on the bed and I made some not-very-witty comment about enjoying finally getting a glimpse of her knickers. She laughed and threw a pink thong at me, which I tucked under my pillow and said I would save as they were my favourites now. Chris blushed and snatched them back, but she was still smiling.
(And I could not help noticing a flash of pink when she bent over to feed the cat the next day).
I had started out liking Geoff pretty well too, he was very sociable and seemed friendly, but the more I got to know him the less keen I had become. He seemed a bit selfish to me, but I have always been a bit judgmental I suppose. I stayed on good terms for Chris's sake but actually I had seen much less of her for the last two years or so as she had been pretty involved with Geoff and I had generally become a bit more restrained with her. I did not want to cause any friction with the two of them and I had gradually developed the feeling he was not too keen on me. I have to say it was mutual, he was still as welcoming as ever and quick to give you a drink. But he did not seem to be doing a very good job of supporting Chris, either financially or emotionally, in my view and although he seemed to dote on the kids at some times, at other times he was very short with them. However I wished them luck and genuinely hoped it would pan out for them both.
I had been through a few problems of my own in the past and did not want to make things any more difficult for Chris.
Last time I saw her was a couple of weeks ago, she had put on a bit of weight and had seemed a bit down when I had seen her in town. And so I decided I would drop by and see how things were going, maybe I could cheer her up a bit. I could not get her on the 'phone so I left a message saying I was around and might drop by the day after tomorrow.
I played with the kids for a while, as Chris got the dinner ready, and chatted to Geoff as she put them to bed. The food was brilliant and we had some excellent wine, we had a fine natter about all our old aquaintances, I had begun to feel a bit guilty about my hasty opinion of Geoff. But as the evening wore on he continued drinking heavily and became a bit more loudmouthed and finally downright rude and condescending to Chris. She was at least as well-read and intelligent as him and yet he twice made boorish comments like "Oh just shut up, you know nothing about it".
I have never been a big drinker and neither had Chris, so we had both switched to coffee. I suppose that the more sober I became the more drunk he appeared to me.
As soon as there was a lull in the conversation, I diplomatically (I hoped), said how tired I was and I if it was not too rude I could do with getting to bed. I heard a bit more muffled swearing from Geoff through the bathroom door, but by the time I was in bed his loud snores were echoing across the landing.
I tried to settle down, but I felt angry and upset at his behaviour and anyhow the noise of his snoring was quite loud. How the hell could Chris sleep with that racket in the same bed?
After a while I got up to tiptoe to the toilet and relieve myself of some of the wine and coffee I had consumed. I stood there trying to decide whether I should flush the loo (and risk waking them up) or leave it unflushed (and risk them thinking I was a pig) when I heard a sound from down the stairs. I opted for the no-flush option and went out onto the landing. I heard it again, a small sound that could only be sobbing, coming from downstairs. For a second I thought it might be one of the kids, but I knew they had an attic room on the top floor and Chris and Geoff had both said many times what sound sleepers they were.
There were no lights on but I crept into the living room and saw Chris curled upon the big armchair, lit by the embers of the dying fire. She was wearing a pair of loose white cotton Pyjamas that I remembered her bringing back from India years and years ago.
"Nice PJ's I said. " I see you are getting your 50 rupees worth of wear out of them"
"Actually I almost never wear them anymore, chatting about India tonight reminded me they were in the back of my cupboard" Chris smiled weakly. "What are you doing up?"
"Too much coffee and the sound of the beachmaster did me in" She had studied marine biology and I had once read a paper she has working on about elephant seals, I knew she would get it, she always did.
She giggled quietly, "he is a bit loud isn't he?" for some reason this was hysterically funny and we both started laughing , but still desperately trying to keep quiet, of course this just made it even funnier and soon my eyes were watering and my side were aching.
"So how are you doing Chris? " I asked when I could speak again.
" I am too fat to fuck" she muttered.
"What"?
"You heard me, too fat to fuck, no longer attractive, and no bloody use" to be exact.
