Liking Paula
Disclaimer: All sexually-active characters in this work of fiction are aged 18 or over.
Paula was a friend of my mother's. We'd moved in to the street a few doors down from her and her husband Phil, a technician at the local Army base. Looking back, she was quite something - late 20s/early 30s, with long, straight honey-blonde hair, a trim figure with not over-large breasts and long, slender legs. I was what you call a slow developer; girls were just other people, and she was just another adult, although one whom I found it pleasurable to be around even as an awkward early teenager. She always made me feel welcome, and never spoke down to me - even encouraging me to use her first name, never Mrs. Baker, which would have been considered more socially acceptable.
By the time a few years had passed, we knew each other quite well as she often popped in to see my mother - my dad worked as a cruise ship steward, and was away for more than half the year. Mum valued the company, and her and Paula often spent the evening cackling away over the exotic cocktails that Paula introduced Mum to. I was in my last year of school by now, an only child just past 18, and was beginning to see Paula in a different light. I'd caught snippets of their late-evening conversations, and it appeared that Phil and Paula had something of an adventurous life, both outside and inside the bedroom (although most of this went completely over my head). They were utterly devoted to each other, but there were hints now and again that they were not by any means completely monogamous, and that this was fine by both of them. They'd both seen a lot more of the world than we had, as Phil had been posted to numerous foreign Army bases during his time in the service, and they had apparently married quite young.
I wasn't anything special to look at; maybe five feet ten inches, a little bit tubby but not excessively so, and I couldn't see past the end of my own arm without my glasses, so they were ever-present. I wasn't big on sports, being clumsy and awkward. I preferred libraries to gyms and sports fields, and didn't really do socialising. I spoke to people as I needed to, and not for pleasure. Paula, however, was different; again, she spoke to me as an equal, and she would listen to me prattle on about my interests with an air of fascination. I was something of a teenage geek, interested in computers, science and technology, and fantasy novels. Paula didn't read much, due to mild dyslexia. As Phil had an early home computer, something I could never have afforded, I was regularly invited round to play games on it and use it to see if we could help Paula with her reading skills, something I took as a solemn duty and indeed, I believe to this day we did exactly that.
It was during one of these sessions that things took an interesting turn. My mother had asked me if I could go round to Paula's after dinner one night, as she needed my help with some recipes she wanted to learn. I had no problem with this, and knocked on Paula's door shortly afterward. She opened the door wearing her customary cooking clothes, jeans and a baggy knitted jumper with a somewhat stained apron over the top.
"Hi, Daniel, come in," she said. "Come through to the kitchen, you can help me with tomorrow's dinner for Phil." I followed without hesitation. I noticed how her jeans highlighted the soft curves of her bottom, but immediately put that out of mind as it wasn't appropriate, was it?
She was making something with pasta that I hadn't seen or heard of before, maybe Italian or Greek - I don't remember the specifics now. I asked her what help she needed, and she said just with the general instructions - it was quite complicated and she couldn't make sense of it all. I was happy with this, and we set to work together.
Paula was drinking a glass of the same red wine which went into the dish. She offered me a glass, and I accepted, feeling quite privileged. It was a rich, full-bodied wine; I knew less about wine then than I do now, which is to say very little, but I knew I liked it, and it didn't take long before I'd emptied the glass, which she promptly re-filled.
"How's school?" she asked. "You're not far off your exams, are you? What subjects are you taking?"
"Fine," I replied. "I'm doing Physics and Chemistry, as well as English and Maths. I like the sciences, I get good results but I'm not as good at the other two, they're boring so I don't feel like trying as hard as I know I should."
"Not Biology, then? That was my favourite."
"No, I did that a few years ago but dropped it to do Physics."
"That's a shame." She paused. "So what about Human Biology? You know about girls and boys, I take it?"
"Oh, we did that when I was 12," I replied. "That was compulsory, except for the kids from religious families. There were videos, very bad animations and some fairly dull mechanical explanations."
"So what did they tell you?"
"Well, you know, when a man and a woman love each other..." I felt a bit awkward and didn't understand why she was asking.
She took a big mouthful of wine. So did I; it was starting to have its effect on me. I found myself a bit more confident than usual, and I felt all warm on the inside.
"You know that's not actually necessary, don't you? Love? It's nice, and when you have it there's nothing better, but you only really need to like the other person. Not even that, if I'm honest, but you have to start somewhere."
"I didn't know that, but it sort of makes sense. Animals don't love like we do, do they?" I offered. She nodded, and drank some more wine. She gestured for me to do the same, and I did, although sparingly.
"Is there a girl at school you like? Maybe one who likes you?" she asked.
"Not really. Maybe. Yes - there's one, Gwen, but - she's different from the rest. They don't seem to look at me like a normal person. I don't join in with their nonsense, maybe that's why."
Paula put her wine down and looked at me for a moment. "So have you seen a girl naked?" Of course I had - on paper. Everyone knew the school pornography supplier who'd been in the year above mine until he was kicked out. Thanks to him, most of the boys were at least passing familiar with basic female anatomy.
"Yes, but not really. Just in nudie mags." Paula laughed. "Is that what they're calling them now?" She shook her head, her amber tresses re-arranging themselves over her slender shoulders in new and interesting ways. "Maybe, maybe tonight you'll get a treat. Stay here until I shout, then come and find me." With that, and a wicked giggle, she took off her apron and went upstairs.
I suddenly felt very alone. Alone, and nervous. A feeling, at once strange and familiar, grew at the lowest point of my torso. What was going to happen? Did she have some better magazines or books to show me? Surely that was all she meant, wasn't it? I heard movement above me, then I heard her call my name. "Yes!" I half-shouted, and tentatively went up the stairs, when I heard her call me again, more quietly this time. I followed the sound of her voice into what turned out to be her and Phil's bedroom. Plainly decorated, nothing extravagant, opening the door fully revealed a bigger-than-double bed in the middle and a simple white wardrobe either side. Looking back at me from beneath a blue patterned duvet was Paula, belly down but propped up on her arms in the centre of the bed, her clothing neatly folded on a chair across the room.
