It was now three months since Tom and Carla had started dating and six weeks since I'd first hooked up with Pete.
Tom and Carla were falling deeper in love and spending more time together, though mostly at his place as it was larger and had the spa. When I wasn't away with work, I was spending time at his place too - albeit in the annexe at night and our friendship was growing too.
While I was enjoying the attention, and action, of my FBs, I realised that compared with a BF which I was still looking for, it was akin to local cheap takeaway vs authentic high-end curry: the cheap curry was full of chili heat that gave you a quick, fast burn whereas the high end was full of succulent spices that layered sweetness, heat and sour. And no chili, for this South American plant, was a European introduction to Asia, and I couldn't eat hot curry each night anyway.
In food for my orgasms, Steve was my Chili curry whereas Pete was more of a basic Ham Salad: a dish that was sweet and good for my basic needs that I could consume often, but not particularly varied. Tom's Ham Salad though was like all the products of his Love Shelf: varied and fulfilling as it had the basics, plus his homemade Pesto, olives, fresh basil, and sweet, crunchy baby carrots from the garden.
Though Tom's Christmas Cake...
Last weekend we had done a 15k Sunday run from his house and they had dialled off the pace so I could keep up. In the evening, we finished the day with a post-dinner spa - still clothed, putting a bottle of wine on the poolside. The wine and water had softened our bodies and, as usual, the bubbles had worked their way under our swimsuits and started teasing our tits, causing the nipples to harden and massaging our clits.
This caused Carla and I to get horny and Tom to start bulging at the sight of her nipples, then she started kissing Tom which made us all hornier. When she sat on Tom, I made my leave and headed to the annexe, leaving the door open. I could see Carla on his lap, kissing hard as they started to make love. As usual, this made me wetter, and I stripped off my swimmers and started fingering myself to the sound and sight of them making sensual love with the bubbles energising them. My fingers dove deep and increasingly fast as, distanced, we all neared and then climaxed.
I texted Pete a final time that evening a selfie of me wet, naked, and fingering, saying that if the launch went well, hopefully, we would meet on Thursday evening when I got back from the Pad. My pad needed filling now I thought.
The next morning, I joined them in the main house for pre-work breakfast. The mood was bright, but as the dishes went in the Dishdrawer, mine turned Grey: I was flying down later for Home Cooking is Best. There were two firsts to this launch: we were trying out the new in-house kick stage and Reaction Wheels. Secondly, we would try to catch the falling core with a chopper. To do this, we hired the only S-92 in the country: we weren't keen on the MI-26 which was even larger though!
We had an EcoStar (Squirrel) that would be doing overwatch and recording the attempt. We knew that if things went well, the footage would be on BBC and other channels that evening our time.
During my masters, I had periodically ridden the choppers out to the Bass Platforms and so was Offshore qualified. When we had planned this mission, I was the natural candidate but had to do my re-qual. At least it's a S-92 not a Puma, but still... I had thought, as ditching a chopper isn't something you wish for, but I knew that re-qual isn't much more fun than qualification!
For once, we didn't have the news on the radio.
The anticipation of the launch uplifted me, but the worry about riding the -92 to do the catch came over me.
Just then, Alison Krauss' cover of When You Say Nothing At All came on.
Tom saw me go Dark and came over to me and rubbed my arm, looking at Carla who then came over and we all hugged: Tom and I had our Darks: his was his ongoing love for his Jen, late Fiancé that he sometimes had to reconcile with his growing love for Carla. We knew that group hugs at this point lifted the dark and dripped a deep, sweet liquid into the respective jars on our souls' Love shelves. Love Multiplied, not divided as Miss Voldemort (Carla and my nickname for Kelly, his jealous ex) had thought, in action.
Nothing was said, but it meant everything. The loving group hug and Alison's lullaby-like cover soothed my soul, sending me out of my Dark.
During the mission prep and practices, I had grown close to the -92's pilots as we were similar in age, gender, and status and we trusted each other implicitly. The hotel's Specials were now no longer Special, so we invited the EcoStar crew out for dinner to get to know them better and as they were similar too, we knew they would be good company
The crew were locals, but also female which was unusual. We met at the hotel bar and had two vodkas to set the mood, then headed out, wearing T-shirts, jeans, and no makeup. We were in a happy mood as we got to the suggested The Runway Train. The board said, Mexican Tuesday. I said, "No way, last time that happened, I slapped a guy hard and got rooted hard by another on a bridge."
We heard music playing in the background, but our chatter drowned it out.
Jenna, the -92 pilot laughed and hugged me. Sandy, the EcoStar co-pilot called out, "Table for 5 and 2 large pitchers please!" as we went inside the quiet bar.
The margaritas went down quickly and more followed as the nachos arrived. Initially, we talked shop, then more Margaritas arrived and we got louder and looser. We covered relationships: Sandy and Alex, the -92 Co, had boyfriends but weren't sure that they were long-term; Pilots Jenna and Ani were single. We concurred that the mix of education and careers badly interferes with ability to sustain long-term relationships. I got a Cheers when I said I was single but had recently acquired three FBs!
We saw two local couples looking at us with side eyes. They are wondering where these loud ditzes came from, we realised, knowing that four of the ditzes could explicitly explain what happens over our heads in flight and the fifth [me] knows that isn't Rocket Science, but what is!
More Margaritas and food flowed and we grew louder as we cut loose as I discussed how I'd hooked up with Pete and Kev. Ani asked me, "Tell: what did happen?"
I explained about Mex At The Marina: how, at the peak of merriment, Tom had suddenly remembered his late Fiancé and had slammed deep into his Dark. In desperation to bring him back out, I had slapped him hard on the arm which worked. At that point, the flyers hugged me. I then explained about Steve and the Bridge Root, causing more booze and "Cheers".
I concluded by observing that, "FBs are like a good takeaway, whereas a long-term relationship is home cooking is: takeaways are nice, but not sustaining long-term; quality home cooking is the best. And Tom and Carla are expert home cooks."
Louder cheers and toasts followed.
Just then, we heard Cindy Lauper's Girls just wanna have fun in the background. Sandy smiled slyly and said, "Flying a Chopper is like riding a.. chopper!"
I was stumped by her comment. My knowledge of them is that if you're over water and something above you BANGS, you're fucked and fast. Rockets though..
Ani said, "True: A jet is like being Missionaried: most of the time you just make tiny adjustments 'til he lands you." More booze flowed
Jenna replied, "But a Chopper is like Cowboy: I'm in control, with mostly gentle movements, but sometimes some hard yanks!"
Alex finished, "Ever tried a [MD]-500: It's [turbine] behind you and you always feel it. Bird is hard, fast, rough and you can get soo close up,", she loudly cooed as her hands motioned controlling the chopper and her eyes rolled suggestively, "and you can get it into tighter holes than anything else!"
