Fiona and I went at it hammer and tongs for a few weeks after the threesome session with Miss Jones. The excitement bled over into our normal meetings for quite a while afterwards, not that they weren't exciting enough anyway, but the thoughts of our fun with Miss Jones added extra fuel to the fire. Inevitably her partner came home from Kazakhstan, or some equally remote eastern European destination, putting a temporary stop to our fun, and we had to stop meeting for a while. Without really looking for anyone, I met Elaina, who had just finished Art College, and so began yet another relationship with a lover from the world of art.
I met her when I revisited my old art college to see the end of year degree show. For those who don't know how art college's work, the degree show is when the final year students who are about to graduate hold an exhibition of their work. I was struck by her paintings, very dark, brooding, and sexual. When I spoke to her about them, she reluctantly admitted that they were biographical in origin, reflecting her taste for some of the more unusual ideas she had.
We went down to the college canteen and had a coffee together, and just talked for ages. She knew my work and expressed her great admiration for it, and I told her that I found her work very interesting, and I would like to know more about her ideas. She seemed flattered by my interest, and maybe because it gave her an opportunity to talk about what she mostly never talked about, she opened up a bit too much as regards herself. I was very flattered that she chose me to talk with.
We sat at a table in a corner of the room, almost isolated from the rest of the customers. She spoke in low, confidential tones so as not to let students at the other tables overhear her, and in so doing, leaned across the table, drawing closer to me, her beautiful dark eyes looking into my own, just a few inches apart. The whole thing felt very conspiratorial, almost as if she were pulling me into her dark world, excluding all others as she explained herself, and her ideas to me.
Her long dark hair swept down over her shoulders, and fell forward as she leaned towards me, further cutting her off from the others. We were in our own little, 'bubble,' as we spoke. I think just having someone who was prepared to listen to her ideas was a novelty for her and speaking about it openly with a man was exciting her too, so I decided to help things along.
As she spoke, obviously enthused about her work and ideas, I sent her own ideas back to her, but with me in the starring role. She was more than halfway there anyway, and since it was her own ideas, her own needs and desires, it was all the more effective. I just strengthened them a bit and helped her marshal her thoughts.
'You know what, Elaina?' I eventually said. 'I think you should come back with me to my studio, where I live, and explore your ideas with my help.' She looked a bit taken aback, after all, what I was basically saying was, 'Let's go to my place and fuck.'
'I don't know...' she almost whispered. 'I can't just walk out and leave now, with my work on show upstairs. I'm supposed to be in attendance.'
'Yes, you can. If you're serious about all this, stand up and follow me when I leave. This is something you need, and now's your chance. I can help you with it, but I'm not going to beg you.' I deliberately took a firm stance with her because I knew that was what she liked. I could see her thinking, almost hear the wheels turning. I stood up, and not looking back I walked slowly but surely out of the canteen, and out of the building. When I got to my car, I turned to find her lagging about twenty feet behind me, still looking a bit unsure of herself, an anxious look on her face.
'Get in,' I commanded, and she quickened her last few steps to the car, as if she'd finally made up her mind, and got in.
'This is crazy,' she eventually said, as I turned and drove out of the car park.
'Do you want me to let you out of the car?' I said, testing her, my voice neutral giving no clue as to what I wanted. She was quiet for a moment, and I knew she was thinking about her situation.
'N... no, but it's still crazy. I hardly know you,' she said.
'True, but you confided so much about yourself within half an hour of meeting me that I feel I know you quite well already,' I replied.
'And that's crazy too. I open up to a complete stranger within minutes of meeting him. Don't you think that's strange? I've learned to be very cautious about my thoughts, which I normally keep very tightly under wraps, especially with men, but I tell you my most secret thoughts straight off.' She shook her head in disbelief.
'Empathy,' I explained. 'You spoke, I listened, I was interested without being weird about it, and so you trusted me.' She nodded again. 'Now, just trust me a little longer and maybe we'll discover more about each other.' She agreed, and we drove in silence to my studio. If I haven't already mentioned it, I reckon now is a good a time to tell you that while my studio is on the ground floor of an old warehouse, I live in a large upper floor apartment, above the studio, converted to open space, living quarters. What the estate agents would now call a, 'loft apartment.' In reality it's still just an old warehouse, but it suits me perfectly both professionally and domestically.
Being an artist herself, she was very interested in my studio, and strolled round looking at my canvases, and the working drawings, photographs and strange bits and pieces artists seem to collect over the years. I let her roam around, looking and touching things, giving her plenty of time, answering her questions, until at last the subject couldn't be avoided any more.
'You know why I brought you here?' I finally said.