Chapter One
(Saturday 12th October 2002)
What's that saying about the best laid plans? Katie wondered. Well, I'm obviously neither a mouse nor a man, but I guess tonight they've gone awry.
Lying there alone in her bed, she chuckled. It was after four in the morning, her big birthday bash was over and she should have been knocking out zeds for England. But she couldn't sleep. And it wasn't a short-term sort of a thing. Oh no, she felt as if she'd never be tired again.
Maybe it was those plans of hers. As hostess with the mostest she had intended to stay sober and in control. She had also intended to stay chaste (for a change!) and to thoroughly tidy up after all of her guests had gone.
To quote Meat Loaf, "Two out of three ain't bad".
Staying sober had been surprisingly easy. Katie had limited herself to one small glass of wine an hour and kept it at that. She had also restricted herself to "birthday kisses" and no more, heroically turning down quite a few bawdy propositions. But, as for the thorough tidying . . .
Her guests had started to drift away around two o'clock, most of them in pairs, no doubt heading off with bawdiness in mind. That is to say, the majority of her guests had started to drift away. Sadly, a handful of stragglers were still in her lounge even now. She blamed that on her housemates who both had boyfriends with them . . . and short-notice boyfriends at that. The rest of the stragglers had sort of adhered to the housemates, clearly intending to keep on partying until the cows came home.
Or, failing the arrival of the dairy herd, until the very last drop of booze had been consumed.
So that was Katie's Saturday morning lined up: vacuuming carpets and washing hundreds of glasses.
Katie wasn't really bothered about the aftermath. Her party had gone as well as possible; there hadn't been any fights, fallouts or overdoses and everyone present had enjoyed themselves. What did a bit of housework matter following a major success like that?
Right now she only wished she'd had a drop more to drink and accepted a bawdy proposition or two.
No, she wished she'd accepted Heather's (relatively) bawdy proposition.
Shit fire and save matches, Heather had propositioned her!
Well, she had as good as.
Sighing, Katie wondered what had come over them in so public a situation.
"I'd rather go for it with you," the black-haired beauty had said, not really proposing anything, leaving her hostess to jump to conclusions. "The yes or no is up to you."
Like on the spot or what!
And what had sweet, innocent Katie said in response? Conscious of her other guests yet tempted in a way she'd never before been tempted . . . tempted in spite of her world-famous straightness . . .
Well, she'd only gone and set up a date with the most rapacious lesbian on campus!
If not the most rapacious lesbian in Europe!!
And the speed with which she'd reacted was even scarier still. Anyone would think that she'd been bi-curious for ages.
Katie sighed once more. If she was being totally honest she had been bi-curious for ages. She'd been hiding it, though, even from herself. She had only ever shared her most secret thoughts with her trusty right hand. Speaking of which . . .
She gently rubbed her groin and, not for the first time alone in that bed, pictured the one female she'd ever let in to her dreams.
If her reputation was anything to go by Heather really was rapacious. She was stunning to look at and fun to be with as a common-or-garden boozing buddy. But there was always a sense of danger about her. And, in Katie's most covert imagination, there was always a sense of the unknown.
Make that a very, very exciting sense of the unknown.
What will she be like on a date? Katie wondered. And who was I kidding when I said we could chat if nothing else? The girl is sex on legs; how could I possibly resist?
Chatting was not an option. Katie knew that. Accepting a date was a statement of intent.
End of . . .
Everyone in the university approved of Heather. Katie firmly believed that. Females were all in awe of everything about her; lots of avowed straight girls openly admitted temptation. And, with the exception of a handful of conscientious gays, the rest of the male student body wanted a tumble with her.
Or two or three . . .
As lucky old Dwayne was no doubt tumbling with her right now.
Katie smiled and kept on rubbing. Heather didn't do relationships; she always made that quite clear. Relationships were out; she had played the field and had had loads of partners, although somehow she avoided the horrid names that a lot of other girls acquired. That was probably because she was relatively hard to get.
Well, she was hard to get as far as guys went, anyway. Legend had it that dozens of guys asked her out on a daily basis but very few got positive answers. Too evidently in a position where she was able to be selective, she seemed to go for a handful of the few, most choice, handsomest men and politely declined the rest.
That was why Dwayne was where he presumably was tonight, of course. Without the slightest trace of doubt Dwayne scored high in the "choice" and "handsome" stakes.
In fact he'd scored in Katie's bed more than once.
Shame he isn't here now, she lamented. Shame they aren't both here now . . .
Not that I'd know what to do if they were!
Rubbing a little more vigorously, Katie mused on.
If Heather's preferences for men were easy to suss, her taste in women was baffling. Katie had seen her out and about with women of all shapes, sizes, colours and ages . . . and, of all appearances, too. She seemed to do the whole range from mannish to drop-dead gorgeous.
And there was nothing reticent about Hev on a date. The difference between being out with a boozing buddy and a soon-to-be bedfellow . . .
Well, it was plainer than plain. Heather was no less than sexually addicted. To her kisses and cuddles were there to be exchanged with abandon. Regularly Katie had heard suggestions that applications of buckets of water were urgently required, to cool Hev's ardour before she lost it altogether.
Not that so many observers really wanted to stop her. No, everyone seemed to be equally as eager to watch as Katie was herself.