Chapter One
So, there I was sitting in my middle class living room, in my middle class life being bored as hell. I always thought the phrase bored to tears was just a euphemism, but oh no – I was genuinely struggling to fight back tears of pure unadulterated boredom.
Don't get me wrong, usually I was pretty happy with my life. I enjoyed my job, my boyfriend was a genuinely caring nice guy, we had good friends to go out with, and money wasn't so tight that we couldn't treat ourselves every now and again and have some good holidays. All in all Pete & I had it pretty good, and there in lies the problem – Pete was away on business and wouldn't be back for at least 4 or 5 days& I was bored!.
I know what you're thinking – middle class woman lost without her man, but you're wrong. I had friends I could call, people I could see, pubs I could go to, but I wasn't interested in any of it. It all seemed just as boring as staying at home in front of the TV; it all seemed too NORMAL!
I was desperate to do something daring, flamboyant, extreme or exotic but it was all so far away from my normal life I had no idea where to start. I wanted to greet Pete on his return with "you'll never guess what I've spent the last few days doing", & the fact that I couldn't even think where to start was the most depressing of all.
I thought about my friends and who I could turn to for inspiration, but they're all in the same rut as me and I couldn't think of a single likely candidate or potential ally in a wild venture. I thought of the people I work with but they're mostly really nice people with families who gave up wild some years ago when they decided to 'settle down' to a normal life. The only one who offered any hope was a new girl called Cally who'd started a few weeks ago. She always seemed to have great stories of how she'd spent her weekends and never seemed to have a dull moment but I didn't have her number and besides, I'd only chatted to her a few times & wouldn't have felt comfortable calling her out of the blue. You see, I really am just a plain Jane usually and she's such a free spirit, I could imagine her laughing at the very idea of me wanting to join in with her shenanigans.
The next day at work was a Friday which is always my busiest day and the morning whizzed by without me having time to think about anything other than work. It was a bank holiday weekend so I was even busier than usual. At lunchtime I stopped and popped into a local café for a sandwich and a coffee. My food had just arrived & I was engrossed in the crossword when I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Cally standing there. "I'm sorry Cat, I didn't mean to disturb you but I was wondering if I could share your table" she asked very tentatively. My god am I really so scary?
I looked around – the café had filled up since I came in and there were only a few seats left. "of course you can, don't sound so worried, I don't bite" I replied with my biggest, friendliest smile.
"I wasn't worried; I just assumed that you'd be waiting for someone to join you. It didn't occur to me that someone like you would be eating alone".
"Someone like me?" I almost snorted coffee down my nose. "You make me sound vaguely interesting!" I laughed. "It's funny, I was just sitting and thinking last night how I'd like to be more like you. You seem to have such exciting weekends and my life is beginning to seem a little dull right now. I have a whole weekend to fill and I'm struggling for ideas that don't seem mundane. In fact the only thing I've come up with to fill part of 3 days is a trip to Stonehenge"
"What a fab idea, I wish I'd thought of doing something like that"
"Surely you've got a whole weekend full of wonderful things planned" I replied in surprise, "you always have packed weekends with friends in clubs & you're such a lively outgoing person you must have masses of friends to keep you busy?"
"Actually I'm in a bit of a rut myself. I spend most of my time with the same friends in the same club. I have a bit of an alternative lifestyle so it kind of suits me to spend my time with like minded people but it does get kind of dull & repetitive after a while"
As she was saying this I noticed that her normally bright and shining green eyes lost some of their usual sparkle and she suddenly seemed so sad.
"Hey what's up?" oh god, it seemed I'd upset her somehow but I didn't know why.
"Sorry" She sniffed "I've just split up with my partner and I'm not finding it easy to adjust".
"So why don't you join me tomorrow? We could make a day of it and take a picnic; the weather's supposed to be great"
"I couldn't impose on your weekend; I'd feel like a spare wheel with you and your fella"
I laughed at the thought that she felt she would be putting me out when I'd be glad of the company – or was she just politely saying that she didn't want to spend the day with me regardless of how bad she was feeling?
I took the plunge and risked the rejection I felt sure was on its way. "My fella's away on business for the whole weekend so I'm going alone. I'd really appreciate the company. It wouldn't be the same without someone to share it with & I'm determined not to spend the weekend doing the same old things!"
"In that case I'd love to come!" she beamed "I haven't been to the Henge since I was a kid & it's about time I went again" Was this part of her 'alternative lifestyle' I wondered. I thought of her long sinewy frame, elfin features and close cropped hair and suddenly had visions of her in a druid's cloak & I had to stifle a giggle.
The next morning I pulled up outside Cally's flat bright and early so we could get some road behind us before the Bank holiday traffic started to build. I tooted my horn and waited but nothing happened. After about 10 mins I decided to knock on her door and was just climbing out of the car when she emerged. I was completely taken aback by this vision of loveliness that greeted me. The austere work suits had been replaced by a pair of tight denim cut offs that hugged her arse like a second skin, and her long legs were tanned and well shaped and toned. She wore a tight white sleeveless tee shirt which displayed arms that were as tanned and as beautifully shaped as her legs, and accentuated her boobs nicely. I couldn't help noticing that her tits were bigger than I'd realised, but that they must be beautifully formed as they were standing proud without the aid of a bra. This was obvious by the way that her nipples were straining against the cotton of her tee shirt.
With her hair still wet and tousled from the shower and an impish grin on her face she ran over to the car, pecked me on the cheek & threw some bags in the boot. "Hi Cat, sorry I'm a few mins late. I've had problems with my boiler and can't get any hot water – I've just had the coldest shower ever but at least I'm wide awake now" she chortled. I guess that explained the nipples then!
She had the cutest little laugh. "No not a druid" I thought, "more like a beguiling fairy of some description, and possibly a slightly naughty fairy at that!"
"No problem" I said, still coming to terms with how great she looked in this simple outfit, and more importantly the effect it was having on me, "you look absolutely fabulous – are you one of these people who always know exactly what clothes you look good in or do you just look good in everything?"
"Me? Well, I don't know" she stammered, slightly embarrassed "I mean thanks for the compliment, I try to look after my body, but I think I'm too gangly".
"Well I think you look great. Look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to embarrass you, let's get out of here and hit the road, I hope you can read a map?"
The next 2 hours whizzed by. We chatted easily about all sorts of topics, some silly some serious, and soon found ourselves in Andover where we decided to stop for brunch. We sat outside a lovely little café with the sun beating down upon us, munching on hot bacon sandwiches and drinking cool iced tea. The weather was getting hotter and hotter and it wasn't even 11am yet. I leaned forward in my plastic chair and felt my tee shirt stuck to my back with sweat. I'd left my hat in the car and I could feel the sweat running down my scalp into my neck. I was betting that I looked like a beetroot!
Suddenly I started as I felt something cool and damp on the back of my neck. Cally had taken a washcloth from a Tupperware box that she'd brought filled with iced water and was swabbing my neck with it – it felt utterly delicious! "I wish I'd thought to bring......" I started. "Shush. Just close your eyes and concentrate on the cool cloth"
I closed my eyes & did as I was told. Cally refreshed the cloth in the cold water and placed it under my hairline at the back of my neck and squeezed until the icy cold water was running down my back. I let out an involuntary gasp & shivered as she moved the cloth around ensuring that all of the back of my neck was cool. I nearly opened my eyes but Cally stopped me by placing the cold cloth over my face, caressing my skin with cool water, "Mmmmm that feels SO good" I murmured, but I didn't get to say anything else before the cloth was refreshed and placed under my chin and squeezed again. The cold water ran down the base of my throat and down onto my breasts. I could feel my nipples stand to attention instantly from the sensuous strokes of the cloth and the cold water, and then the cloth was moving and filling the area of skin left exposed by the deep V neck of my tee shirt. I was in heaven as this pixy woman caressed the top of my ample breasts with the soft cloth, both cooling my skin & setting it on fire at the same time.
I opened my eyes to find Cally staring intensely at my face.