I was reading TwylamarieWilson's "A Short Rant about My Underwear" on Lit the other day, and it got me thinking about when I was introduced to some of the fetishes that appear in my stories.
This is a reflection about one year of my early adulthood, around 20 years ago. Some of it is true but I have built on that to make a cohesive story. This first part is designed to set the scene and is very vanilla...The sauces and pickles will come later on...
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it...All characters are over the age of 18. I love feedback so please let me know what you think.
*****
I'd won a place at York University in the summer. I was to read Geography.
My mother seemed less than keen on me going so far North to study, she wasn't a confident driver, so anywhere outside Surrey was a long way away to her...
I should explain. I'm an only child, and my parents had only had me when they were both well into their forties. There was a yawning generation gap between us that meant most things I saw as part of youth were alien to them. My mother had received a strict Catholic education at a nunnery, and whilst she had sat her Accountancy exams, she'd never left her family's bosom until she married my father.
My father and mother's marriage was not a great success. I was never told of the reasons for the break up. Aged eleven, I went away to stay with my cousin for a week's holiday down in Folkestone, and when I got home, my mother told me Daddy had moved out. When I asked her what had happened she was evasive. It was many years before I found out the gory details.
I was numb for a while. Whilst my relationship with my father wasn't close, after his departure, our small semi-detached home was sapped of all joy. My mother became obsessed with money and making ends meet. I think that made me a rather withdrawn teenager. My head was always in a book to escape our dull life, and my friends I kept at arms length.
Once I got into the 6th form things started to change. My year group doing the same subjects were a varied and interesting bunch. I started going out more, and took a Saturday job to finance a burgeoning interest in clothes and music and of course I started wondering about boys.
My 18th was celebrated in April, and like every year since my father had left, it was a non event...my mother's only interest in me was to nag me about revising for my A levels.
I was still a virgin, but my friend Carol, who was a year older than me, was determined to celebrate it properly once exams were over and the summer holiday came. She booked us a week in an apartment in Paphos, and my mother grudgingly agreed it would be good for me to travel.
Carol seemed on a mission for us both to get laid from the moment we arrived in Cyprus. There were lots of boys our age in the complex, but most were boorish privately educated dicks.
Faced with endless childish pranks, from drunken overgrown teenagers, I felt completely out of my depth. Almost every evening I made my excuses and left the doubles bars before things got stupid.
Some mornings Carol was in her bedroom when I awoke, some she wasn't. She appeared on the beach, usually hungover, in the afternoon.
I arrived back in England virgo intacto, whilst Carol arrived back probably nursing an STD or two. Our friendship had been strained by her selfish antics, so we drifted apart for the remains of the summer.
***
Shortly before going to York, she rang and invited me over to stay for the weekend. Her parents were away in Greece and she had the run of the place. Carol's parents were much better off than we were, their house even had a pool. That Saturday we donned our bikini's once more, as it was unseasonably hot, and lazed in the sun.
After sunset, with pizza and beers we set up camp on the couch in front of their large TV.
We watched Big Brother, and with the heavy sexual undercurrent on the screen, Carol inevitably turned the conversation between us to sex.
"So are you still a virgin Jane?"
"Carol - please...I don't think that's any of your business."
"Oh go on Jane, stop being such a prude. You always shy away from any intimate talk. You can't go round with a finger up your bum all of your life. Loosen up..."
"I..."
"Would it help if I told you a bit about my experiences?"
"Well..." I was so out of my depth I didn't know what to say. Part of me was intrigued to know what Carol had been up to, but I was so embarrassed at my own inexperience...
"OK so it sounds like you are in two minds about that. Let's save that for now and start at the beginning then," she said standing up, "Hang on, I'm going to fetch a rug.'
She disappeared for a few moments. The evenings were cooling off - it was September - and we were only in T shirts and shorts.
She reappeared with a large tartan rug, sat down close beside me and then draped it over our legs.
"So I'll go first. I expect you to answer honestly, and in return when you ask me something I'll do the same. Question 1 : Have you ever kissed a boy?"
"Of course I have," I felt I was on solid ground there at least.
"Who and when was the last time?'
"It was Phil and you know - it was at the end of year party."
"OK so your go."
"When did you last kiss a boy then?"
"Last weekend. A lad called Simon. He came to clean the pool."
My look of shock made her giggle.
"Just kidding, He's an old friend. We hooked up when I got back from Cyprus..My turn again. Have you ever kissed a girl - and I mean properly...?"
I suspect my mouth fell open with shock, but I managed to stammer out "No.. no I..haven't..."
"Would you like to?"
"That's two questions. My turn...so tell me have you ever kissed a girl?"
"Of course I have. My turn again, would you like to kiss a girl?'
I could feel my colour rising. I picked up my beer and took a large swig.
"I don't know..."
"OK we'll leave that for now then. Your turn."
I stole myself to ask the question that was now on my mind. "So who and when did you last kiss then?"
"That's two questions, but shit I don't mind answering two or we'll be here till Christmas. It was Patsy - you know Patsy who left school last year. She came over last week and, well, one thing led to another..."
"You mean..?"
"Yes I mean. We spent the night together."
"What!! Here?"
"Yes, dummy, here, where else? Does that surprise you?"