Chapter 73

Andrew had been at several military ranges, he had stood close to six 105mm field guns as they fired. He had heard the distant shellfire from the impact of the rounds, but this very different. It was a physical thing, they were shoved back by the shockwave. The bomb had been detonated further down the street and had targeted an Army bus. Andrew and Leslie were outside the blast zone and had no injuries so turned and walked back the way they had come. They heard sirens coming from all directions and vehicles from all three emergency services passed them, lights flashing and sirens blazing. It was only later on the news that they learned one person had been killed and most of the Army personnel on the bus had been injured. If they had set out three minutes earlier then who knows what could have happened to them.

The two of them were emotionally numb, as if it had happened to someone else. They walked away neither of them speaking. They found a little café, sat down and drank a coffee and tried to gather their thoughts. Should they stay for the show? Try and get an earlier train home? They belatedly realised they should call home and let their parents know they were okay. They downplayed how close they had been, told them they would be careful and would see them in the morning. They had come down with only one overnight bag between them so didn’t have much with them when they checked out of the hotel and caught the Tube into the heart of the city. When Andrew and Leslie came out it was as if all was well with the world. London is so damn big that there was no obvious sign of any problem. That just added to the weirdness. The rest of the day was like that, just completely normal yet with this feeling of disconnectedness. Andrew was glad to get onto the train and head home. As for Cats? There were cats and singing. Spoiler alert.

Andrew never explained to his parents how close he had been to the bomb, it was one of those things that quickly faded from the collective memory given how many other terrorist attacks the IRA carried out over the next 15 years. It was Andrew’s first experience of the force of explosives though. All the films in the world can’t convey the feeling of the shockwave shoving you like a schoolyard bully and they were nowhere close to the actual bomb. It was one of the things Andrew never forgot, the power of explosives.

School for the first half of that term was mundane. A lot of Andrew’s academic time was like that. He studied hard across a variety of subjects and did not really struggle. Even to him it sounded terribly boastful to think like that but it was true. Andrew never found school difficult and if he moderately applied himself it was easy. He had also managed to escape Latin by agreeing to study another language. But rather than change to one of the other languages offered at the school, and be stuck in some kind of remedial class, he did something different. He really wanted to be done with languages but couldn’t manage that completely but he did escape class. Andrew signed up for conversational Hindi, on a series of Berlitz tapes, which he could study in his own time and the school kept up the fiction that he was still studying a language. Why Hindi? Because it had to be something not taught at the school, otherwise he would be assigned to a class. There was no testing requirement for it which meant that he did as little as possible and focused on the rest of his schoolwork. This allowed him to devote more time to his computer science work in the evenings.

At no point did the most beautiful woman in the year ahead influence his thinking. Not at all.

Maybe for most pupils the classes are not where the drama is at school. It is all the time out of the class where the drama happens. It was that way with Andrew.

Coaching hockey was a great example. Andrew was loving it; McIntosh and Hendricks were great with him and the three of them got on well. Or at least as well as two middle-aged women and someone young enough to be their son could get on. The tryouts and selection for the two elevens produced little controversy and Andrew worked with both teams on the defensive part of the game. On Thursdays he would work with the 1^st eleven for an hour and swap over to the 2^nd eleven. Other than some mild giggly flirting from a few of the younger girls his involvement was unremarkable. Right up until the parents found out.

The first weekend of games saw lots of old acquaintances turn up. Mr. Denofrio, Dr. Jindal and Mrs. Jenner were all there. Andrew kept his distance and worked with the team on getting ready. They won the match and the team was pleased. After the match he helped Ms. McIntosh tidy up before leaving. The second weekend he was helping Mrs. Hendricks with the second team, who were all younger women. The match went off without incident but Mrs. Hendricks had several parents round her at the end. Andrew knew what, or in this case who, was being discussed. He went over and helped McIntosh clear up on the other pitch. He pointed out that Hendricks was dealing with some fall out and so she went over to help her. The school stood its ground with regard to him coaching. Andrew kept well clear of it. He was not sure the parents were fully happy but they became more accepting as they saw that he was there to coach not to seduce their children.

One day, McIntosh had not showed up as the game time got closer. The team, Andrew and most of the parents all kept looking for her to make a dramatic late entrance but there was no sign of her. He would have to get the team organised to start and hopefully she would get there soon. The team knew what to do and the regular eleven were out and ready to go. Andrew could see the opposition coach looking over at the bench wondering who the hell he was.

Andrew rotated the four defenders regularly so that they all played roughly equal minutes even though the sub was weaker than the rest. It kept everyone fresh and involved. McIntosh on the other hand used the other three subs sparingly and as a result most of the forwards played the whole game. This game Andrew subbed the whole team as he would the defence and everyone played relatively equal minutes. It cost the team possession several times but he wanted the whole team to feel part of this. Naïve and not how elite teams played but Andrew wanted this to be a positive experience for the whole team. Half time came and Heriot’s led 2-1. Early, in the second half McIntosh turned up all frazzled. She had been hit from behind in her car at an intersection and been delayed until then. Once she saw that Andrew had everything under control, she sat back and relaxed and let him coach for the rest of the game. Having her there scrutinising him was awkward at first but as he got back into the game Andrew ignored her and focused on the match. It ended up as a 3-3 tie and he was pleased and proud of the team for playing well. Once they headed off to the changing rooms he sat down on the bench beside McIntosh.

“Thank you for that today Andrew. How do you feel it went?”

“Okay, I guess. I probably could have done more in game instruction. I did not help the team enough that way. Other than that it went fine. More importantly how did you think it went?”

“I saw that you rotated everyone. Everyone played, and everyone had some time on the bench. Same as how you run the defence. Do you think it cost us the game?”

“I can’t tell for sure but I see your point. I wanted everyone to be involved and a part of the team. I would change the substitution pattern the next time. There are three or four players that should be out there the whole time and I would rotate the rest.”

“You are learning. I will let you coach the whole game in two weeks’ time and you can show me.”

He was becoming a real hockey coach. Blimey.

Maggie had broken her wrist at the end of the summer. She had been ice-skating with a group of friends and she had fallen and landed badly. So the next photoshoot had been postponed. It also saved Andrew from deciding whether he should do such a shoot while going out with Hannah. Hannah dumping him coincided with Maggie’s wrist finally being out of the cast. The had moved their occasional meetings to a Wednesday because he was coaching now on a Thursday.

“It is good to see you recovered. Did it impact your job?”

“I was worried that I might get fired but it meant I did a whole lot of different tasks rather than just be stuck typing the whole day. I had studied shorthand but it was years ago, that was a tough couple of days while I tried to remember everything. But other than some snide comments from the usual moaning cows it was fine.”

“Did you model at all with the cast?”

“No, it was too distracting. I stood in front of the mirror at home but it drew your eye regardless of how I held it, how I tried to keep it to the side of my body. It was only six weeks and two of the camera clubs were keen for me to model again as soon as it was off. Not being there for six or eight weeks made them appreciate me more when I returned. It is nearly three months since our last shoot and I was thinking that might be the right frequency, not too often.”

“Sure. We are making this up as we go along so let’s try that and see. For the next session I want you to choose the wardrobe and the initial poses. I will call out some moves once you are set but I want you to do a shoot that appeals to you. It can be anything, jeans and a tee-shirt, a power suit, lingerie, pajamas, anything you want. Same with the set. You know what is there. On the couch, standing beside the desk, on the bed, whatever you want. Are you okay with doing that?”

“Sure, but are you okay? You are paying for the session Andrew.”

“I know that but I want it to be different. I don’t know how long we are going to keep doing this but I don’t want pouts and exaggerated theatrics. I want cheeky. I want your face to show ‘I can’t believe you have talked me into this’, ‘I am picking the movies for the next six months’, that sort of thing. It goes back to the idea of this not being a big deal. You are not being forced to do this, you are not going through the motions, you are happy to do this and are having fun for the camera. I know that you love doing this, that it is a turn on for you. What I am trying to do is see if firstly I can create an atmosphere where you show that, and secondly if I can capture that look, that sense, on film.”

Maggie was silent as she thought about that.

“Okay, we will give it a go.”

Andrew then handed over a thick packet of prints from the last time.

“Here are all the shots from the last time. I presume you don’t want to look through them here?”

Maggie shook her head.

“These are for you, can you review these and let me know which ones you think are the best.”

“I will have to be careful these aren’t found but sure. How many?”

“Just your top three. I want to see if my choices are the same as yours and if there is something that we can duplicate again.”

Andrew had spent a couple of late afternoons at Tony’s shop developing the rolls of film. He had an 80% hit rate in terms of prints that were in focus and well lit, which wasn’t bad. There were just under 100 prints in total and Andrew had gone through them selecting the ones he thought were best. Leslie had reminded him that she wanted to see them as well so one evening at her house they spent a bizarre hour in her bedroom reviewing Andrew’s photos of his session with Monica.

“Wow, I heard you talk but wow. It is different to realise my unrelated little brother took all these. Those are some big breasts.”

Which was an odd phrase to hear from Leslie.

“There are more of her back than her front Andrew.”

It was a statement in the form of a question.

“I don’t know how to say this without being blunt, I am more of an arse man than a tit man. I like the way her waist pinches in before flaring at her hips. I had Monica lie on the couch at one point and tried to see if I could get her all in focus when she was stretched away from me. Those were a lot of the shots that didn’t work, that were out of focus.”

The leafed through the rest of the prints.

“Why are you looking at these Leslie? Is there a particular reason?”

Leslie flushed slightly and paused before responding.

“I could never do something like this, not just for you obviously but for anyone. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t find it fascinating that someone has the courage, the confidence to do this. I haven’t met Maggie but I do know you really well. I think I would love to talk to Maggie at some point and ask her about this. When you have talked about the attitude of ‘what’s the big deal?’ it has made me consider that. I don’t know that I am explaining this very well but it is a guilty pleasure. Part of me wonders why I am not outraged at you and part of me is fascinated. I can’t really explain it.”

It was not any clearer for Andrew. Maggie Fife was Andrew’s friend, even although they had absolutely nothing in common they could sit and chat away for an hour without an issue. She was seven years older than Andrew, had left school at 17 with limited qualifications. She was smart if not academically clever. It was through her persona of Monica the model that they had met but if she no longer modelled then Andrew would still enjoy spending time with her. He wasn’t hanging out with her as a way of getting her to model. Maggie liked modelling for a whole bunch of reasons. The main one was money, modelling supplemented her modest wages and allowed her to buy things and do things she would not be able to without the extra money. The other big reason was she had acknowledged that she was a secret show-off and the idea, and the reality, of being a nude model turned her on. The sessions with Andrew also had the dynamic of the differences in their ages and the fact they were friends outside the studio.

For Andrew there was the obvious of he was a teenage boy and a woman was posing naked for him. For most 16 year olds this would be all the motivation needed. But Andrew the nerd also liked the challenge of photographing a model, it was new and Andrew enjoyed the technical challenge. And then there was the feedback loop between the two of them. Andrew loved working with Monica as a model because he knew that she loved modelling. Her evident pleasure was a strong motivator.

When it was time for the shoot both of them were raring to go. When Andrew got the rolls of film developed and printed out and was reviewing them later, he was conscious that the two of them had a connection that was captured on film. Monica had turned up dressed as the sexy secretary. Tony had a pair of fake glasses with clear lens and Monica starting posing in front of the desk.

“I had a terrible time concentrating at work today. I kept imagining this set and how differently I was going to act here tonight.”

Her skirt was much shorter than she normally wore and with all the bending and leaning over the tops of her stockings were constantly being flashed. Andrew guessed that this scenario had been acted out thousands of times by hundreds of models. But it was happening live in front of him. Monica didn’t rush to get naked but she didn’t waste time either. Andrew got at least three shots as she peeled her skirt over her arse and had to stifle a gasp. A 16 year old’s first sight of a thong is a memorable thing. For it to be nestled between two glorious arse cheeks was gasp worthy. Andrew managed to keep shooting and captured one of his favourite photos from the whole session. The look on Monica’s face as her skirt slid down her legs, revealing her thong clad arse. She was looking right into the lens of the camera and Andrew knew she was looking right at him. Andrew took six rolls of 24 frame film, 144 in total. He photographed a beautiful 23 year old woman naked, heavy full breasts, long legs, a magnificent arse. But all the time he was photographing his friend Maggie who he knew was getting turned on showing off for him. It was blazingly clear on her face. When he took the final shot on the 6^th roll of film he let out a large sigh and put the camera down for a moment. Monica came right up to him, just as at the last session and hugged him tight. Moulded herself against him more like. Her eyes were sparkling as she kissed him full on the mouth and there was the faintest hint of a grind before she broke apart and headed to get dressed. Andrew was going to suffer brain damage so little blood was flowing there. 15 minutes later the studio was tidy, the lights were off and the two of them were heading home.

“Thank you for letting me call the scenarios tonight. I enjoyed it. Did you have fun?”

“Stop blatantly dragging your coat for a compliment. Bad Maggie. You know full well I had a great time. I have six rolls of film to show that.”

Maggie giggled and slipped her arm into his.

“Okay I will stop fishing for compliments. We can chat in a couple of weeks and talk about the session. You will have to start thinking about ideas for the next shoot.”

“Patience woman, the last one finished less than half an hour ago. I will develop the film and maybe we can find somewhere more secluded, more sheltered, to look at the prints. Where we can look at them without someone being able to see.”

“Oh so that is your plan, is it? To lure me to some dark and romantic spot where we look at naked pictures of me?”

Maggie knew what she was doing and Andrew obliged with a blush like a marine flare on a rainy day. She giggled again and squeezed his arm.

“I am sorry, that was too easy. Just because it is a good idea doesn’t mean I can’t tease you about it.”

They got to George IV Bridge and with a final kiss they separated and headed home. If ever Andrew needed someone to slake his lusts he needed her right at that moment. He was becoming ever more acutely aware that it had been five months since he had said goodbye to Moira. It was getting unhealthy.

It took several weeks before he really spoke to Katie and Tanvi, one on one. He asked to speak to them, separately, one week and talked to them at lunchtime. They had been fine at hockey, but he wanted to make sure that there were no lingering issues with them. He also wanted to apologise for the way he treated them. The conversations were similar and they were both gracious and funny with him. They also acknowledged that the three of them were doomed to fail and they had managed to end it without rancour. It was all Andrew could hope for. Left unsaid, although he could see it in both their eyes, was the future, especially that year. But Andrew knew he was going to have to approach one of them if he wanted to rekindle something. They had managed to remain friends so he doubted he would pick one and upset the other one but the vibe was definitely there.

Andrew didn’t know if it was a result of his photoshoots with Monica but it was the start of his slutty phase. After the October break, Allison Page one of the 6^th years on the hockey team approached him in the library.

“Hello Andrew. Can we chat for a bit?”

He nodded and she sat down. The small talk was clearly filler and she finally came to the point.