Chapter 44

Julian and Andrew had to push each other to keep their focus on the last three days of work. They were all for small businesses and so we were done in half a day at each of them. Mid-afternoon on Wednesday they were finally finished.

“Wow. I never thought I would be so glad to stop making money.”

Julian was spot on.

“I know, it is the tasks we are doing. Think about the two of us when we are coding. We can go three hours without moving from our chairs or even talking. If we didn’t have to change the album we would never get up.”

They laughed, but it was true.

“The thing is it holds our attention. We are sitting there, thinking about nested functions or whatever, but we are fine.”

“Yeah, I am looking forward to getting back to our program and see if we can move it forward.”

“Would you mind if Leslie came and looked at it for us. She has a good business brain and I thought that if we had a fresh pair of eyes give it the once over it might nudge us in a specific direction?”

Andrew looked at Julian for his reaction.

“I have no problem with that. We are stuck on that part of it. If she can help us start to move it toward a kind of business that would be great. She has to come to my place though. My parent’s reaction when a woman turns up will be hilarious. We should warn her but not them. My mother will be all over her.”

Andrew was pretty sure that Leslie would be up for pranking the Strongs.

“Once we get back to school we will set it up. I am going to take a total break from computers for a week I think. How about we do some coding next Wednesday. Maybe two days back to back so that we can leave everything set up at one house?”

Julian thought this was a good idea, and even better offered his house up for it. No Rowan. Excellent.

“Andrew, Black Sabbath are playing a gig here in a couple of months. Do you think that your folks would let you attend?”

Sabbath in concert. Wow.

“I don’t know. I have never been to a gig before but then again, I have never asked. My guess would be they wouldn’t care on a Friday or a Saturday but I doubt I would have a chance during the week. Let’s find out when and if we are lucky and it falls on the weekend then I will ask. It will be great to see them even without Ozzy.”

They headed home and Julian said he would call Andrew that night once he had found details of the gig. Andrew was lucky. Black Sabbath were playing in the city centre on a Friday night in May. Once again, Andrew wondered at the level of parenting going on as they didn’t seem bothered with him going to the gig once they knew that Julian was going as well. No one could ever accuse them of overt interference in his life. Andrew thought about what some of his friends were having to endure. HIs parents were fantastic compared to them. Still.

Thursday at 9.50 Andrew was standing in front of the Scott Monument on Princes Street. He had no idea what Mary wanted to do for the day but as long as it involved getting out of the wind he was fine with it.

“Andrew, hi. Come on let’s go somewhere. We’ll freeze outside today.”

A sensible woman.

“Good morning Mary. Where do you want to go?”

They had already started walking.

“There is a little café on the corner of the square. Let’s get out the wind and plan a little.”

So they ended up sitting in a small café trying to figure out what to do. Now Edinburgh has plenty to see and do. A lot of it is outside though, the Castle, Calton Hill, the Gardens, the Royal Mile. Most of the touristy stuff has you outside a lot. Maybe on a better day?

“What do you want to see? All the typical tourist stuff? What do you have to do a book report when you get back home?”

Andrew admitted he sounded pretty scathing.

“Hey, knock it off. I have about a month left here and I haven’t seen much. I head back to my class and they ask if I visited the Castle and I say no? They’ll think I am the laziest git ever. So indulge me. Doesn’t have to be in depth but I would like to do the tourist trip down the Royal Mile. Start at the Castle and see how far we get. Although a slightly nicer day would be better.”

Andrew saw her point, enough with the attitude.

“You’re right. So a day in the Old Town. What else? The Gardens with some shots up to the Castle? Calton Hill? We are wrapped up pretty well. What do you want to do today?”

“Hold your horses. I want to talk about the two key trips, okay? They are both historic Andrew. Dad got me interested in history and I want to see some of the key places in Scottish History. Old Town Edinburgh is one. But the other is more complicated. I want to go to Glenfinnan and see the monument to the Jacobite uprising. And yes, I know it is in the middle of nowhere. Do you think we can get there, and back, in a day?”

Where was his father when you needed him? Glenfinnan? Really?

“I know that it is out on the west coast somewhere. Beyond Fort William I think. Okay, we can go and see.”

Mary looked excited about this.

“It will be a long time on the train if we can make this happen. Come on then.”

They paid and left. Mary grabbed his arm.

“Thank you, Andrew. I have asked my host family if I could go there, hoping that they might offer to drive me but they just dismissed it as impossible. You just said come on.”

“We are still at the mercy of British Rail. Calm your jets. Let’s see what they say.”

15 minutes later they were in the booking hall talking to a bemused lady behind the counter about getting to Glenfinnan.

“Glenfinnan is on the West Highland Line. Let me see. There are four trains a day from Glasgow Queen Street. The first one leaves at 8.05. Mallaig is 5 hours 15 minutes. Glenfinnan is 4 hours 35 minutes.”

She was mumbling under her breath to herself.

“Okay. You could get there about 12.40 in the afternoon.”

She went back to mumbling.

“Return leaves Mallaig at 4.08. Glenfinnan at 4.42. Queen Street at 9.20.”

She spoke clearly again.

“You would have about four hours there. Return is at 4.42pm and you get back to Glasgow at 9.20. You would be on the 10pm train to Edinburgh that gets in at 10.50. In the morning there are trains at 6.00 and at 7.00. The seven should get you in on time but if there are any delays then you will miss the Mallaig train. Best to take the six.”

17 hours not including the time to get to and from the station. Bloody hell.

“Thank you for your help. That is a long day. We will need to check our schedules.”

Mary looked miffed.

“Why don’t we book it Andrew? I have the money all saved up.”

“Mary, it is west of Fort William. I have been to Fort William with the folks. It took us about three hours. So Glenfinnan is less than four hours. Dad is a history nut. I think I can convince him to take us in the car. We have to put up with him there and back but he is full of useless facts about Scottish history. He will keep us amused for most of the journey. It will be a 19 hour day on the train if you factor in getting to Waverly and then home at the end of the day. We can swing by and get you and drop you off and it will take eight hours of travel and still let you have four hours at Glenfinnan. We can also stop in Glencoe on the way home. Let me ask him tonight, okay?”

Andrew was smothered in New Zealander.

“Oh Andrew, that’s fantastic.”

He tried to warn her that his dad still had to say yes but he didn’t think she heard a word. The rest of the day they froze. They went back and climbed the Scott Monument and had to hold onto their hats when they got to the top it was so windy. Andrew had a new roll of film in his camera and took pictures for Mary so that she had a record of her trip to Scotland. Once they got down from the Scott Monument they trekked over to Calton Hill and explored up there and took further photos. Shots back over the city as well as down to Leith and the Forth.

It was more of a fun day than Andrew had been expecting. Mary was funny and kept him laughing the whole time. She was also frighteningly well informed about Edinburgh and Scotland and embarrassed him on more than a few occasions by knowing a lot more about Scotland than he did. It seemed like he knew more about the French, Russian and American Revolutions that he did about Scotland. Mind you that had been the focus of his History classes at school for the last three years. At the end of the day they were cold and tired but the day had been fun.

“Will you please call me tonight and let me know what your dad says?”

She sounded so desperate.

“Yes, I will call and let you know. Same time, same place tomorrow?”

“Nope.”

Shit not again, Andrew’s face fell and he started to blush.

“When was the last time you were at the zoo Andrew?”

“The zoo? When was the last time I was at the zoo?”

Mary nodded at him.

“Eh, probably six or seven years ago. Why, do you want to go?”

“Hell yes. Chance to see some Northern Hemisphere stuff. Come on it will be fun.”

So Andrew was talked into visiting Edinburgh Zoo for the first time in who knows how long. That night he explained to his father that Mary wanted to visit Glenfinnan and would he be prepared to spend all day Monday or Tuesday driving them all the way across Scotland. Then Andrew realised that his father had no clue who Mary was. Oops. After he had explained who she was his dad was scarily up for it. He immediately went off to find some obscure book from his den detailing Andrew didn’t know what. He tuned him out at that point and went off to call her. When Andrew let Mary know that it was a go, he had to hold the phone away from his year she was squealing so loudly. His dad wandered back with a book for Mary to borrow. Bloody hell. Andrew might just let these two sit in the front seats and jabber away all day. He would bring a textbook and sit in the back and study. Yes, he knew. Bah and Humbug.

But it also occurred to Andrew that his father was keen and excited about the trip. In a way that he was never normally with Andrew. What Andrew couldn’t figure out was whether his father was still being deliberately remote with him or it was just another example of his father and him not connecting. If only Andrew made more of an effort...

Friday was another bitterly cold Scottish day with the wind blowing strongly. What better way to spend it than traipsing all over a hill looking at African animals freezing. It was an odd experience. The day was fun and Mary was bouncing around like Tigger after some candy floss. Her mood was infectious and they had a blast, most of the time. But a part of him looked out at several of the enclosures and wondered about what he was viewing. The herd of Zebras look cold and miserable. They were bunched together in one huge lump. This may be normal behaviour on the savannah but it sure looked like they were trying to huddle together to keep warm. They were just one of the groups of animals who looked uncomfortable, cold, too crammed in. By the time Andrew left he was ready to give zoos a miss for a while. Lions should not be in a small pen in Scotland. He had not realised he had been getting ever more tense over the course of the visit. When they left the zoo he could feel some of that tension bleed off his body. It was about 4.00 and Mary looked over at him.

“Do you want to come over and have something to eat Andrew? It is only a ten minute walk to the house. There is plenty of food. Otherwise I am going to be there alone all night.”

Thinking nothing of it Andrew nodded.

“Sure. I’ll call the folks and get them to collect me around 8.00. Does that work?”

They had started walking as they were talking.

“Why not tell them 9.00? It is the school holiday after all.”

Remember what Andrew said about giving women a stick to hit him with? Hmmm. Mary was right it was only a ten minute walk from the zoo to where she was staying. It was probably only another 10 or 15 minutes to Julian’s house. Andrew called home and asked if he could stay for dinner. His father was blithely unconcerned about that but had to be convinced to collect him. Eventually he said yes. Andrew gave him the address and asked him to be there around 9.00.

It was good to warm up at last and gradually the layers came off. For the first time he got to see Mary’s body without being bundled up in winter coats and scarfs. The layers of outerwear had not flattered her in the slightest. She was much more petite than he had thought. She was willowy thin with delicate curves. Andrew tried not to stare. She walked through to the kitchen with a smile on her face. Andrew trailed along behind her.

“Your host family won’t mind you have someone over to the house?”

“They have never really raised it. It has been pretty lonely here. I have been here six months and you are the first person I have brought here. You know how our terms are completely out of sync with yours so I didn’t get here until five weeks into term. It made it difficult to get to know people because everyone had already sorted themselves into groups. I have found the school to be very snobby. I have not really connected with anyone while I have been here.”

She paused here for several seconds and Andrew looked to see if she expected him to respond somehow. She was just organising her thoughts.

“I have wondered if it is because I am a Maori.”

He didn’t really know what to say to that.

“I can’t really answer that Mary. I have no idea. Have people said things to you?”

“No, it is more the exclusion from stuff that gets to me. It has really spoiled the trip in some ways. I was homesick at Christmas. The hosts haven’t helped. They are friends of friends of Dad’s. I think they felt they had to let the daughter of a New Zealand diplomat live with them but nobody has been very welcoming. The two girls are two faced, pleasant enough here when they are being watched but they ignore me at school. That’s what makes being dragged to their hockey so bloody annoying. They could care less if I was there or not.

“I am sorry to go on but it has got to me after a while. That is why I was so rude to you when we first met. I expected everyone here to be unkind. Then you accepted my apology and were so nice to me. It restored some of my normal good nature I think. The last couple of days have been so relaxing compared to the rest of the time.

“Do you have any preference for dinner? I am a reasonable cook. Chicken and pasta sound alright?”

“That is fine. I eat chicken a lot. And I do have a healthy appetite so don’t skimp on the pasta when you make it.”

She laughed and started prepping the chicken. Andrew sat on a bar stool in the kitchen, sipping some tea. They chatted away in a light casual manner. Mary would bump against him occasionally as she moved about the kitchen. Once the chicken was prepped and in the oven they had 30 minutes before the pasta needed to be started. Mary led them back through into the family area and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. Mary looked over at Andrew and bit her bottom lip.

“Andrew, do you not find me attractive?”

“What, why do you say that? What have I done to indicate that?”

Andrew stammered his reply. After her concern about subtle racism at her school he was worried that she thought he was the same.

“It is not what you have done, it is what you have not done. Do you not want to kiss me?”

She looked over at him with an alluring smile. His thoughts were trying to catch up to the situation in front of him.

“Mary, I don’t go around forcing myself on women. I am also young and inexperienced and am totally useless at reading signals, if there are signals to be read. I had no idea that you wanted to kiss me. The thought is extremely appealing I just never presumed that it was something you wanted.”

Andrew was trying to sound under control but was blushing like a stop light.

“Sorry Andrew, I should not have assumed that you understood my designs upon you. That is why I wanted you to stay longer. Did you not get the flirting in the kitchen?”

Andrew shook his head looking dumbfounded.

“Damn, I am going to have to work on my game.”

By now he had realised, belatedly, that Mary liked him. Remembering Leslie’s multiple admonitions he stretched out his hand.

“I apologise for being a bit slow on the uptake. If you will allow me make it up to you.”

With a big smile Mary launched herself into his lap. At New Year with Kenzie Andrew had woken up to her in his room and the whole night he had been playing catch up. She had set the pace not just physically but also emotionally, he had been overwhelmed. Now though it was early evening, the lights were on and, most importantly, he had some experience and therefore some confidence.

Andrew was sitting at the left hand end of the couch. Mary had her back against the arm rest with her legs stretched out on the couch in front of her. His left arm was supporting her back and his right arm was across her lap resting on her hip. Andrew leaned in and their lips touched. At first the touches were gentle, almost tentative. But quite quickly Mary started to get into it. Her arms were around his neck and she was pulling him into her. Her tongue became active with demanding darts into his mouth. Andrew resisted the temptation to follow her pace. He kept his own actions slower and more deliberate. He started caressing her hip with his right hand and she wriggled closer into his lap. Andrew continued to take a steadier pace with the kissing. Mary was much more aggressive. She grabbed his bottom lip between her teeth and pulled it away from his face. It slipped from her teeth and she flung herself back on him. Andrew smiled inwardly and continued his slower style of kissing. He slipped the tip of his tongue between her lips and she tried to suck it out of his head. Andrew had lit the blue touch paper and this rocket was about to explode.

Suddenly she broke free of him and stood up. She pushed her right knee between his body and the sofa arm and forced him to move over slightly. Then she sat down in his lap and started kissing him again. This significantly increased the pressure on his groin, Andrew was in danger of blowing a load in his trousers the way she was wriggling in his lap.

“Mary, we need to slow down. I am going to embarrass myself if we stay in this position much longer.”

For a second Andrew thought she was going to take that as a challenge but she looked at him with a wicked smile.

“You are a devastating kisser Andrew. You are driving me up the wall with this slow and steady pace. I am trying to rip the tongue out of your head and you are taking it nice and slow. You are trying to stay in control and all I can think about doing is tormenting you until that control explodes. Come with me.”

He was hauled up and led back to the kitchen, confusingly. It was a momentary stop however, to turn the oven off. Then they headed upstairs to Mary’s bedroom. She slammed the door and turned to gaze at him with a predatory smile. She advanced until she was in front of him. Andrew was expecting a kiss but instead she started unbuttoning his shirt. She took her time, remembering to undo the cuffs and then it was removed and discarded to the corner of the room. She ran her hands over his chest appreciatively, before pulling his tee-shirt out of his trousers and started lifting. Andrew raised his arms and helped her get it up and over his head. She grabbed it back from him and sent it flying to the growing discard pile in the corner. She spoke for the first time.

“Andrew McLeod, you fucking dolphin. Look at this gorgeous swimmer’s body. All lean and tight and muscly. Oh my.”

All the time she had been running her hands over his chest and abs tracing the muscles. She knelt down and pulled his shoes and then socks off, all of them adding to the heap of clothes in the corner. She knelt on the floor looking up at him with her face at groin height. She licked her lips and Andrew nearly blew his load right there. She could see him grimace as if in pain and knew exactly what she had done, her smile wicked. Mary rose to her feet without effort and reached down with her hands to undo his belt and open his jeans. Her touch was light. Heavier touches were going to make him explode. She grabbed the waistband of his jeans but hooked her fingers into the waist of his briefs as well. Pulling down and forward to help his dick from escaping the confines of his underwear, she had the whole lot at his ankles in a second. Kneeling down she removed each of his legs from the pile at his feet. She flung the jeans and underwear aside without a backward glance. She was kneeling in front of Andrew. His dick was standing straight out threatening to stab her in the eye. Andrew was afraid to breathe in case he came. There was a near volcanic churning going on in his balls and he knew that it was a matter of seconds until he was spraying cum everywhere.