The Very Best of Friends

Authors Note: This is my entry into the 2016 Nude day contest. It is slow to start but has elements of both heterosexual and lesbian sex. I understand that long stories are not for everyone but if you manage to read all of this epic effort, please vote and comment. Thank you. ~ellie

*

Joanna pulled up in front of the pretty little riverside house and got out of her car. She grabbed her overnight bag and the bottle of wine and nibbles she had brought with her then took a deep breath. She loved these women; they had been there for her when no one else was, but she always felt like the poor cousin in a Jane Austen novel. She wasn't as sophisticated, worldly or intelligent as these women. They all had great careers, great wardrobes, and great figures while she always felt like the frumpy old spinster cousin that got invited along as an act of charity.

She had a career if you could call it that. She managed an office for a small electronics firm. She was paid well, and she liked the people she worked with, but she wasn't climbing any corporate ladder like her friends or mingling with the rich and famous. Well not exactly. She smiled thinking of Melanie, who would no doubt be waiting inside for her arrival with a drink in hand and a story about her latest love affair.

A small red car sped down the street towards her, and she stepped up onto the curb as it braked hard and pulled up behind her little blue hatchback. Carla was always rushing somewhere, Joanna thought.

"Hey there gorgeous," Carla said stepping out of her car and grabbing her small bag from the rear seat.

"Hey yourself," Joanna laughed and waited so they could walk in together.

The door was unlocked, and Carla barged in ahead of Joanna, calling out, "Hey bitches, the party has arrived!" The other women in the room all turned and cheered the announcement as Joanna walked in quietly behind Carla and took her food into the kitchen.

The small group of women had come together as friends back in the exclusive all girl's boarding school they had eventually graduated from. They had drifted apart and come back together over the intervening years for a variety of reasons. More recently though was their thirtieth high school reunion. While they may not have hung out as they used to in a large group like this they had all stayed in touch and in rediscovering their bonds two years ago they had embarked on renewing their ties with an annual pyjama party to remind them of how they met.

It was strange to think of this group of women coming together at all. They had each come from such different backgrounds. Country girls sent to the city for a proper education, girls whose parents were absent from their lives due to work commitments and those whose parents travelled a lot, were roomed with girls on scholarships or those who had special circumstances. She smiled thinking of her shy thirteen-year-old self, arriving at the big city school for the first time and meeting the girls who would become her lifelong friends as she looked around the room.

"Hello my Darling," Melanie came to hug her. As always the hug seemed to last longer than necessary as if Melanie needed to cling to something real and grounded in her crazy life.

"Mel, I'm so glad you could make it after all!" Joana returned the embrace. "I've missed you, and I wanted to get your advice on something. A dilemma of sorts. We'll talk about it later, though, tell me everything that's happening in the world of a Logie-winning actress," she laughed.

"I haven't won one yet!" Melanie exclaimed grinning widely.

"It's only a matter of time," Joanna said with positivity. "You're fabulous, and you know it."

"And that is the very reason you have remained my very best friend for so long," Melanie laughed. "With you, I always have my very own cheer squad."

"Like you need it," she pulled a face. "OF the women in the group Melanie had remained close, sharing in all the highs and lows of her life. Particularly over the last three years.

"Someone Pour me a drink and let's get some music pumping," Carla said loudly moving to the stereo and picking out an eighties compilation. Rick Astley filled the room, and Melanie pulled a face at Joanna.

"We just got Rickrolled," she groaned. Then she opened a bottle of champagne and started pouring drinks. Joanna moved around the group chatting to individuals as they started to relax into the evening once again talking about the perils of boarding school and the bitches who made their lives miserable there.

"Okay girls, Joanna said she had a dilemma she wanted to talk about, let's all put our Dear Dolly hats and give her our undivided attention," Melanie announced as they sat around the dining room table after dinner picking at cheese and fruit board as the wine continued to flow.

"Well," Joanna prevaricated wishing Melanie hadn't announced that she had a problem to the whole group. "Justin is getting married!" she smiled at her friends.

"Wait isn't he gay?" Tricia broke through the words of congratulations from the rest of the table.

"So?" Donna asked. "I do floral arrangements for all types of weddings."

"It's not legal, is it? I mean not yet," she suddenly unsure of her audience. "I know you can do it in other countries but not here." They'd grown up in a world where homosexuality was far from accepted.

"It'll be a civil service," Joanne smiled. "He's in love and living the life he always dreamed of up there on the reef. The wedding is just making it complete he says."

"Well that's wonderful Darling, so where is the dilemma?" Melanie scrutinised her friend knowing there was more to this story and wondering where her invitation was. Having no family of her own she had adopted Joanna's family. They were as close as sisters, and she had always been part of any big event Joanna and her family celebrated. As well as any crisis in her friend's life.

"He sent me an invitation, but I'm not sure I'm reading it right, not that it matters I don't think I can go," Joanne admitted. "I would have to organise time off work around June, which is always hard to do at the end of financial year. Not to mention that Michael and his new bride Barbie will be there," she said disappointedly.

"Like hell, you won't go," Melanie said abruptly. "That bastard and his bimbo Barbie shouldn't stop you from going, if anything it should make you want to go more. You know Justin would want you there more than that arsehole."

"Justin said he would understand if I felt awkward about going," Joanne said softly looking down at her hands to hide the fact that she hadn't told the whole truth about that. He had said as much in the note that came with the invitation but for an entirely different reason.

"What? Now that he's marrying into big money you're not good enough anymore and that shit of a man he calls his father is?" Carla was livid. She had been through a tough divorce herself and became incensed anytime she heard of women in their age bracket being screwed over because they weren't as glamorous as their younger counterparts.

"I'm sure it's not like that," Kylie said rolling her eyes. "Not every man is a bastard, and not all children treat their mother badly. Justin's always been wonderful to Jojo."

"Well if the dilemma is whether to go or not, then consider the problem solved because you're going," Melanie said adamantly.

"Hang on a minute. Maybe we don't have all the facts yet. I'm not passing judgement until if find out where, when and why you are considering not going," Elizabeth said. "Do you have the invitation with you?"

Joana nodded guessing it was easier to show them why she was reluctant to go rather than tell them. She stood and walked over to where she had left her handbag taking out the stiff green envelope and passed it to Melanie wishing again that she hadn't told the other girls that she had a dilemma. Sitting back down at the table she wondered if maybe it was better to get everyone's opinion, some of them were prudish, and no doubt would react the same way she did. She took a large gulp of her wine as Melanie read the invitation and accompanying note to the small group of friends.

"The invitation itself is addressed to Joanna McCarthy and friend and looks pretty bog standard. Getting married on an island I have never heard of, accommodation and flights provided by the fathers of the grooms," Melanie read.

"That sounds snazzy, I'll go if you don't want to, gosh knows Paul and I need a holiday," Donna offered.

"I'll thumb wrestle you for it," Tricia laughed.

"Rock, paper, scissors," Donna countered hopefully flexing her thumbs and remembering countless times she had been bested in a battle of the thumbs.

"Stop that, Joana is going," Carla grumbled at her friends. "This is her son. She raised him without much help from that bastard, and she has to be there when he gets married."

"Not a great time of year but do-able," Melanie passed the card for others to look at while she opened the note. She scanned it quickly before clearing her throat and looking at Joanna. "Oh I see, but he wants you there, he thinks you would be lovely. I think you would be lovely," she looked at her friend with a soft expression. "He always was such a sweet boy," Melanie spoke directly to Joanna ignoring the curious glances from the other women who realised the real dilemma lay in the note Melanie held clutched against her chest.

"If you are going to read that out-loud I am going to the bathroom, I already know it by heart and my bladder is bursting with all this wine tonight," Joanna flushed and left the table noting that the other women had given Melanie their full attention.

"Dear Mama Bear, As you know, Tom and I are devoted to each other and have been for some years now, so this is just the next logical step. I am so excited and can't believe how much I want this day to be as perfect as possible which includes having you there at my side to give the groom away so to speak. The thing is, and you know there is always a thing with me, we want our ceremony to be representative of us, not our families or our friends in the city, so we have decided to hold it up here near the underwater observatory. The island you see on the front of the invitation is owned by Tom's Uncle Harry, who is a naturalist. We spend all of our free time there and have created a beautiful space in which to dwell and make our lives out here on the reef. I've become a naturalist too as nothing man-made is allowed to be brought onto the island to preserve its pristine environment. No bags, no shoes, no sunglasses, and no clothes. I understand that this might be very confronting for a Mama Bear like you, but I adore you and think you are beautiful and can see no reason why you wouldn't be there for my nuptials. I hope you can find it in your heart to do this for me, but I will understand if you decide not to attend. Tom and I will come down and have a special celebration dinner with you after the honeymoon. I hope that that is not necessary, though. With all my love, The baby bear."

"Naw, could they be any cuter with each other," Kylie said watching Joanna come back to the table. "I am going to put together a diet plan that works for you, my lovely. I will help you shed a few kilos' not that you need it, and we will all join boot camp with you so even if someone can't get there, you will have the rest of us to motivate you. By the time the wedding rocks around, you will be looking so amazing the men will watch you instead of the bridal party, well the straight men anyway," she laughed. Health and fitness were her life, so she immediately offered not only her services but those of their friends.

"I'm going to be fifty next year I don't need to be parading my nakedness around in front of anyone thank you very much," Joanna said blushing.

"Why not? You've got a better figure than me," Tricia said. "I'd have no problem becoming a naturalist for a day. It's not like you will be the only one, everyone will be naked so it won't be a big deal."

"That's easy for you to say, you're a nurse. You're used to seeing people naked. You probably wouldn't get excited if Jon Bon Jovi walked in here and stripped for us," Elizabeth said empathising with Joanna. "We have to face the facts that we are getting older and what Justin's asking his mother to do is just unthinkable for the average woman at our age."

"I'm getting pretty tired of hearing about people in our age bracket or women of a certain age. What happened to being as young as the person you're feeling?" Carla laughed embracing her recent metamorphosis into a cougar. "Let's get you a toy boy to play with, and then you will feel so sexy you won't be worried about going to this little shindig."

"Oh Carla I love you, but I'm not interested in dating someone half my age or dating at all at the moment. I'm happy doing my own thing. I'm too old to make the big compromises you have to in relationships," she said with a small laugh.

"I think you should take Kylie up on her offer of a diet plan, and I have a friend, well a friend of a friend, who run boot camps with us," Joanna encouraged. "Even if you decide not to go it's going to make you feel great and give you a ton more energy than you have now. Trust me I've been letting Kylie feed me all manner of nasty fungus and whole foods for years now, and I feel great."

"I guess it can't hurt to try that," Joana said hoping that one compromise would be enough to make the others see that she wasn't unreasonable.

"I'm up for boot camp if everyone else is," Donna said, "My middle-aged spread is spreading way further than I would like it too."

"It can't hurt to think about it," Melanie said encouragingly. "I'm in as long as it's not out in some random park. I get enough bad press without having someone take a random pick of me in lycra just to hazard a guess that I am too skinny or too fat or to point out all my flaws for the fun of it."

"I'd say you were exaggerating but after that last article I read about you, I can see how they twist a story to make it seem newsworthy," Elizabeth said. "Okay, I'm in, at least once during the week and maybe a Saturday morning?"

"We can do it here," Joanna offered. "The river is so nice in the mornings, what days suit everyone. I'm sure this guy I know will happily do a boot camp with six of us or even the whole eight," she raised an eyebrow at Tricia, who did shift work and had problems making dates at the best of times.

"I can't promise anything but if I could be a flexible number I will try my best to make it when possible," Tricia nodded.

"Great, I'm gonna call my friend right now before any of you back out," she laughed.

"Joanna it's late, you can't call them now," Joana protested wondering how agreeing to accept some nutrition advice from Kylie had her signed up for boot camp. She couldn't think of anything worse.

*****

Matt was driving home from a date when the music cut out in the middle of one of his favourite songs and his phone began to ring. He still hadn't got used to the controls on this new car, and he glanced down at the steering wheel making sure to answer the call and not cut whoever it was off.

"Hi, Matt here," he said loudly into the dark interior of his car. He glanced at the display screen which showed the number wasn't on his phone or at least had no name ascribed to it.

"Matt, hey, it's Joanna," she paused for a millisecond letting him jog his memory before continuing. "We met the other day at the open house on Darling Street? Your friends ended up buying it I believe. You gave me your card and said you were starting a new business," she rushed on.

"Oh yeah, your Billy's mum. You want to go for a late night jog or something?" he chuckled realising the woman had obvious had a little too much to drink. Not that he minded older women, quite the contrary. He remembered her as a well-dressed real-estate agent who was very flirty and pretty good looking. He smiled imagining she would be a wild one in bed.

"No, not quite, I'm not even sure I could make it around the block at this point," she laughed easily, and he could hear other women in the background teasing her about being around the block once or twice at her age.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this late night call Joanna?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Well, my friends and I were wondering if you would like to run a boot camp for us a couple of mornings a week, including a Saturday morning if possible. There's eight of us, but you would probably only get five or six of us at a time," she said.

"Are you shitting me? Hell yeah, that would be freaking awesome," Matt almost shouted. He had found once he had completed his degree and decided to strike out on his own that the current market was saturated with personal trainers, and he would have to be creative with getting his business started. Word of mouth was always best, but he had to get more clients than he currently had to get those reviews and references.

"Well aren't you enthusiastic," she laughed. "Okay well can we book in the eight of us for next Saturday morning?"

"Sure but give me your email address and I will email you some recommendations tomorrow," He said thinking quickly and not wanting to leave them for a week where they might find someone with better references to engage. "It might better if one or two come each morning this week so I can give them a fitness test and tailor a program to their needs. Just because you all come to the same boot camp doesn't mean you have to do all the same workout."

"Okay well, send what you want I'll chat to the girls about it and get back to you on Monday," Joanna said. "This is going to be fun for us, so don't make it like a big chore or anything, we all have jobs to go to after boot camp." She began to worry about what she had gotten her friends into at that point.

"It will be fun, trust me," he chuckled. "I just want to start off on the right foot that's all."

"Alright," she said sceptically and gave him her email address. "Thanks, Matt." She wanted to be supportive of Matt because of his friendship with her son, and she knew how hard it was to start a business, but she realised that she may have been a little hasty with her phone call.

He ended the called with a wide smile maybe things were starting to look up for him. He'd been trying to change his stars, as his grandfather used to say, since the old man died several years ago. He left school early and rather than engaging in a formal apprenticeship he had taken up labouring jobs on construction sites. It was there that he had met Steve, a bricklayer with a straight talking point of view of the world and everything in it.

Steve had made him appreciate how much his grandparents had given up to raise him while his mother succumbed to the delights of drugs and alcohol. It was Steve that told him not to be a mug and to go back to school and study rather than end up a broken old man who lived every day in pain because he couldn't get a better job. Working construction was hard on the body.

As a young man, Matt enjoyed the heavy lifting and hard work of labouring, his muscles grew and his tan deepened, and he became popular with girls for the first time in his life. They didn't care if he was smart or not they cared that he could sweep them off their feet. He had worked hard and played hard treating his grandparents as hotel keepers rather than family. That was until Steve started commenting on his life and the choices he was making. In a way, he became like a surrogate for the father he had never had. His grandparents had down the best, but the absence of his parents had left a gaping hole in his life.

It was always within a normal conversation that Steve would bring up issues and foibles, Matt was making. He neither criticised nor lectured. He just talked about himself or some guy he knew often laughing and making light of some incident or another that seemed somehow to mirror what was going on in Matt's life. As time went on the younger man found himself engaging with, the older man and seeking his advice.