Chapter 37

Early in the New Year Toby went back to work and a couple of weeks later the flat was once more brought back to life when the twins and Emma returned to Bristol to resume their studies. Just after they got back, Toby found a long letter from Amber when he came in from work one evening. Although it upset him just a little when he first read it through, it was something that he had known for a while was likely to happen. He learned that at last, on New Year’s Day, Amber had finally got engaged to a Harvard graduate called Richard Lester. Toby had been hearing more and more of Richard in her letters for quite a while, thus it was no great surprise.

After supper Toby, Andrew and Emma sat around and reminisced about all the fun that they had had with Amber at “La Retraite”. Natasha, who of course didn’t really know all that much about her, because she only went over to Northolt a few times, was most interested to hear her story.

‘One thing that I do worry about,’ said Toby, ‘Is what is going to happen to Amber’s relationship with her girlfriend Imani. I wonder what Richard knows about it.’

‘Girlfriend,’ repeated Andrew, perking up immediately, ‘Girlfriend as in Amber and Emma type girlfriend?’ and holding up his hands he did the scissoring gesture.

‘Oh yes,’ nodded Toby affirmatively, ‘Imani is her room-mate at Radcliffe. Hang on, I’ve got a photo of her somewhere.’

He went off to his bedroom and came back a minute or so later and handed Andrew the photo.

‘Wow, will you look at that!’ exclaimed Andrew and whistled, ‘Imagine her and Amber together naked. The contrast in their skin colour would be absolutely amazing.’ He handed the photo to Emma whose eyes widened as she studied it.

‘Goodness me,’ she breathed, ‘How did that get started Toby? Do you know? Tell all.’

‘What’s this all about?’ demanded Natasha, taking the photo from Emma.

‘Well,’ began Emma, ‘It’s a long story. Do you think it will be OK if we tell Tasha everything do you think, Toby?’

‘Oh yes, I don’t think Amber would mind now to be honest. Sadly, by the looks of things, I don’t believe that we will ever see her again anyway,’ he sighed.

So Emma settled back and told Natasha the whole story right from the beginning. The boys, who had only previously heard the early part of it in abbreviated form, were as fascinated as Natasha obviously was.

‘So you see, Tasha, Amber always said that Emma basically saved her life and she absolutely adored her for it,’ added Toby as the story came to its end.

‘Oh. I have missed so much,’ complained Natasha, ‘It all sounds absolutely amazing. So is Amber a lesbian or what?’

‘Obviously not,’ said Emma, ‘Any more than I am, but she definitely likes girls as well as boys.’

‘So what did the scissoring feel like exactly?’ Natasha wanted to know.

‘Kind of like our yonis were kissing each other. It’s absolutely wonderful,’ explained Emma, a somewhat wistful expression on her face.

‘Yonis,’ repeated Natasha, ‘That word’s from the Kama Sutra isn’t it? We’ve never used it but actually it sounds rather sexy now I hear it out loud. Yonis. Mmmm.’

‘Oh, and watching them do it was spectacular,’ enthused Andrew, his eyes sparkling.

‘You let them watch?’ asked Natasha, looking at Emma, her eyes like saucers.

‘Well, except for the first time we did it, which was when the boys went to an organ recital at the Cathedral, we were always together as a foursome. If we wanted to do it again, which we really really did to be honest, we didn’t have much alternative,’ explained Emma with a grin.

‘It cost us though,’ said Toby, ‘They made Andrew and me do a sixty-nine on each other and swallow our results before they’d allow us to witness the sacred ritual.’

‘Worth every single gulp,’ laughed Andrew, ‘Toby’s right though, I don’t think that I have ever seen anything quite so erotic.’

‘Oh ... My ... God,’ breathed Natasha, ‘You lot are absolutely disgraceful. I’m so envious, I can’t begin to tell you,’ she subsided in fits of giggles.

‘So how did Amber start with this girl then?’ asked Andrew, gesturing at the photo.

‘Well, they got to be really good friends quickly as soon as they started rooming together. After a while they began talking about pretty much everything. When Amber asked Imani if she had a boyfriend at home she admitted that she’d decided when she was twelve that actually she only liked girls. She said then that she had never found one to actually play with though. Amber wrote that by then she was missing making love with somebody so much that she asked Imani if she would like to try doing it with her, to see if she actually liked it. So she did and she did.’

‘Oh that’s so cute,’ laughed Emma, ‘I forgive her for being unfaithful to me in that case.’

‘Yes, me too,’ nodded Toby gravely which caused much mirth.

Andrew looked at his watch.

‘All this reminiscing has taken ages,’ he said, getting up and walking over to turn on the television. ‘It’s almost time for my programme.’

‘I’ll go turn the heater on and run the bath in that case,’ offered Toby and the girls moved into the kitchen to finish clearing up.

Toby had been noticing the appraising looks that Natasha had been giving Emma surreptitiously as the tale about Amber unfolded, particularly the part about the scissoring. Knowing Natasha as well as he did, he knew what would be uppermost in her thoughts when they came into the bathroom. With that in mind he ran the bath and undressing speedily he got into the shower cubicle and washed himself as quickly as he could. Thus when the girls arrived they found him briskly towelling himself dry.

‘What’s all this?’ enquired Emma, for it wasn’t normal procedure at all.

‘I think,’ he said gently, ‘That this evening you two could well do without me.’

‘Oh, Toby,’ breathed Emma, ‘Do you think that Natasha wants to try a scissor with me?’

‘I know that Natasha wants to try a scissor with you,’ said Toby firmly, ‘Just look at her face.’

Natasha blushed furiously as Emma turned to look at her.

‘More to the point though,’ continued Toby, ‘Do you want to scissor with Natasha?’

‘Oh ... My ... God ... I would absolutely love to scissor with you, Tasha,’ said Emma enthusiastically, ‘I have been so missing physical intimacy with another girl since Amber left. I didn’t realise it until it stopped, but I really do like it an awful lot. I didn’t have the nerve to ask if you’d be interested though. How long is it since we last made love with each other?’