This story is based on a true experience. Of course the names have been changed.
All characters are above the age of 18.
Prologue
Pat and Seanie (pronounced shawny) were two Irish lads who had moved to London from the small town of Kilderris where they had been friends in high school.
Pat had gone to hotel school on the west coast and had completed his Bachelor of Administration the previous year. Having worked for almost a year in London as part of his work experience year, he applied for a job in the same five star hotel at Hyde Park corner and was accepted as a receptionist.
Seanie had not gone on to higher education but chose to work in one of the local stud farms with the race horses that the Irish were so fond of. He kept in touch with Pat and they generally went to the pub when Pat was home for a weekend. When he heard that Pat was moving to London, Seanie saw it as an opportunity to broaden his horizons. He was bored with the horses, and with living at home with his mum and siblings, and he craved adventure and entertainment. There was not much to do in Kilderris apart from get drunk in the pub at the weekend.
Whilst Pat had a job to look forward to, Seanie travelled to London with only one bag and a stack of money he had saved from his work at the stud farm.
Now a year later, both of the lads had settled into their jobs. Seanie had found work in construction in the concrete gang. It was extreme physical work spreading the loads of concrete by hand as they were pumped up from the delivery trucks, and Seanie had cried from the pain in his limbs the first two weeks. Now though he had developed muscle mass in both his legs and arms and he looked like a professional body builder. With his straw like dirty blond coloured hair and his toothy grin, Seanie was a hit with the ladies. His charm won them over and he ended most weekends in bed with one or other boozy lady.
Pat in contrast was quite shy with the ladies and at 21 still a virgin. It was not the he didn't have girlfriends, it was just that he never got to go all the way. His last girlfriend had gone down on him, as he did on her, but she broke off the relationship before they could get to the next step. Pat had little self-confidence as his girlfriend Sue was stunning and, he thought, that she was slumming with him until something better came along. The proof was that she dumped Pat for some obnoxious French guy who just happened to be incredibly handsome too. Pat, however, could be very charming and he was quick witted and funny. It just took a little time to get him to show his real self.
Pat had a steady girlfriend Jo (short for Josephine). Jo worked in the same hotel as Pat as a supervisor in the housekeeping department. They met at work. Pat, now a shift leader at the front desk, was checking rooms to see if guests had actually departed when he literally bumped into Jo as she exited a room.
Pat's jaw dropped open. He was mesmerized by this beautiful young woman.
Her skin was like porcelain, smooth flawless and yet radiating a soft glow. Her dark brown hair was cut neatly and short in a bob, but slightly tousled and framing her face. She had high cheekbones and a perfectly defined jawline.
Her blue eyes sparkled with mischievousness and warmth and her slightly bee-stung lips looked eminently kissable.
She was tall and thin, but Pat could not really see her shape as she was dressed in a somewhat frumpy uniform.
Pat stammered "Hello."
"Hello yourself." Answered Jo in the broadest Irish accent imaginable.
"Are you Irish?" Pat asked.
"I am." Replied Jo. "and you?" she asked.
"From Kilderris." Was all Pat could manage.
"Okay. I am from Athbullan in county Galway. I doubt you've ever heard of it. It's in the middle of nowhere." Said Jo. "Now if you'll excuse me I have quite a lot of rooms to check."
"Right-o." said Pat. "Sure I'll see you around."
"Yep." Said Jo, and promptly turned and left Pat standing there in awe.
That was two months ago. Turns out Jo was on work experience from the same Hotel School that Pat had attended. She was 19 years old, two years younger than Pat.
Pat had made sure he bumped into Jo every day and eventually convinced her to join him in the pub one evening with the rest of the Front Office team.
Jo was very careful, didn't drink too much and liked to watch the goings on. Pat was delighted that she came, but he drank a little too much and in his tipsy state confessed to Jo that he had a terrible crush on her. This brought a huge smile to Jo's face as she admitted to really enjoying Pat's company too.
After the pub they headed for the Tube to take them home. Pat shared a one bedroom flat in Finsbury Park with his friend Seanie and Jo's mum had arranged for her to room with an aunt, who was a nun, in a convent by Hampstead Heath.
They got on the Picadilly line and chatted until they were almost in Kings Cross where Jo would have to change to the Northern Line to Belsize Park. Her room was a few minutes from there.
"Well, I have to change at the next stop." She said.
Pat put on a sad puppy look. His heart was in his mouth, and he blurted out.
"Do I get a kiss goodbye?"
Jo threw her head back and laughed. "As you asked me so nicely, yes." She answered.
Jo leaned in and kissed Pat full on the lips as the train screeched to a halt.
"See you tomorrow." She whispered in Pat's ear.
Pat returned to his apartment in Finsbury Park with a huge grin on his face, which just would not go away.
Seanie cried out the minute Pat entered the apartment. "I've seen that look before. Someone got lucky."
Pat tried to brush it off, saying it was only a kiss, but Seanie was having none of it.
"A man is in Luv." He kept saying, misquoting the Waterboys song.
Pat was puzzled as to how he would introduce them, Seanie being the none too discreet builder and Jo that fine and precious china doll.
He also worried about what Jo would think of the apartment, as it was in a very rough area of the city and was very basic with woodchip wallpaper throughout and polyester carpeting designed for industrial wear. There was one bedroom with two divan beds and the lads had an agreement that if one of them was to bring someone home the one of them would sleep on the sofa. So far Seanie was the lucky one, but as he often came home very late, he also ended up sleeping on the couch or on a mattress on the floor with his latest conquest.
But the apartment was cheap, relative to the other locations and it was above a shop, which meant it was relatively warm. It's location in Finsbury Park however was not great as there was a lot of drug dealing going on around the tube station and there was a distinctive mix of Afro-Carribean, Indian, Cyrpiot and of course Irish. That in itself was not a problem, but the gang related crime was rife. Add to that the Reggae club around the corner and the two rivalrous football clubs Arsenal and Tottenham close by and you can imagine weekend nights especially could be tense.
Part 2
Pat didn't need to worry too much. Two months later he had introduced Jo to Seanie and they had spent several days off together at the apartment.
Jo, however, never stayed the night as she was worried that it might get back to her mother that she had not been home for a night. Jo was from a good catholic family and staying a night with a boyfriend before marriage was taboo. Sex was completely out of the question as the catholic church didn't approve of contraception.
And that was according to Seanie the problem.
"The problem with good catholic Irish girls," he said "is that they have barbed wire around their knickers." As he and Pat were philosophizing about Pat's relationship.
Sure, Jo had kissed a lot and even let Pat cop a feel of her breasts. She had even let him finger her on one occasion, but reluctantly at that. Pat felt stymied. Cock blocked as Seanie described it in his ever discreet terms.
Seanie on the other hand had no problems getting laid. His recipe was simple. Go to the pub. Drink a shed load of beer and hit on a woman who also has had lots to drink. It had however delivered some hilarious results as Seanie had brought women of every age and size home, only to say goodbye the following day and never see them again.
As he said himself. "I never went to bed with an ugly woman, but I sure woke up beside some." Seanie's relationships never lasted long as he was all about the hunt and the prize. Pat was envious of the ease with which Seanie went about his 'conquests', but did not have the same idea about relationships at all.
All of this was about to change drastically.
It was Friday and Pat had arranged to meet Jo at her place, and they would go to a local restaurant for something to eat.
When he got there, he waited by the street corner, as Jo did not want the prying eyes of her aunt reporting back to Ireland.
