Chapter 5

The alarm was set for 5.50 on Friday morning, an ungodly time but the train left at 7.00. Suzanne woke Andrew to talk at 5.00 though. They needed to talk before he left and she could go back to sleep in the flat and he could sleep on the train.

“I think we can safely say I have it out of my system.”

Suzanne lay across him as usual. Then she gave him a half-hearted whack.

“The two paddles thing was so typically you. You have me lying on you with the paddle resting on my arse. You pick it up as if you are going to use it and I am craving it and dreading it all at the same time. But no, you throw the damn thing on the ground.”

Her voice lowered.

“And tell me off for wanting it. Just because I was tied up I didn’t get what I wanted. It went right through me. I was disappointed. At you, at myself, I was all over the place. And then I thought I was. I don’t know what I thought actually. I heard the paddle land on the floor but also felt it smack me. I was confused, the sting just jolted right through my pussy. And of course, then you talked again.”

She kissed me.

“I don’t know how you do it. Three days in a row I have had an orgasm that was more seizure than sex. It is going to be an awfully long summer.”

Every trick in her armoury was deployed. There was a hair toss, she semi-hid under her eyelashes and she had definitely perfected the bottom lip bite.

“Will you do that to me again in September?”

Andrew had his mouth open to say yes before she had even finished the sentence. But he caught himself in time.

“No.”

Suzanne’s face crumpled.

“I will do much worse.”

Hugged, kissed, whacked and fucked. A new combination. They both knew what they were going to do that morning, they both needed it and it was not loving and gentle and slow. Suzanne kneeled at the end of the bed, head down, arse up and Andrew fucked her like a stallion covering a mare. However hard he tried to fuck her all he heard was ‘harder’. She was so magnificently sexual and her body for doggie style was without compare. They both loved it and more importantly needed it.

“Send an address or give your number to Leslie. I will call to get it and will write to you as soon as I can. Camp is finished on the 5^th and if you have a number or address by then call me at Jim and Freya’s on the 6^th. Okay?”

Suzanne smiled.

“Yes dear.”

Andrew had to laugh at himself. He was worse than his mother sending him off to Scout Camp. With a final hug and a kiss Andrew got on the train. Since he had been driving or flying most of the year he had not had to deal with British Rail conductors for a while. So he was overdue.

“This is first class.”

There is a joke in there somewhere about British Rail and their idea of first class. Andrew ignored him.

“I said.”

“I heard you, get out the way.”

“Show me your ticket.”

“It is in my pocket. I will get it out when I get to my seat now get out the way.”

Andrew was out of sorts from his farewell with Suzanne and didn’t need this. Before the conductor could say another word, Andrew started walking at him. He had his backpack in front of him and was prepared to use it as a battering ram.

“I want to see your ticket.”

The conductor was walking backwards but not through choice.

“I said.”

“I fucking heard you. Shut the fuck up and let me get to my seat. I will get my ticket out when my hands are free.”

Andrew ignored the rest of his outrage, how dare he speak to him like that, you know the shit. Andrew got to his seat and put his backpack and bag down. He reached into his pocket and threw the ticket on the table in front of him. It was snatched up but Andrew could see the man deflate in front of his very eyes. Full fare, first class ticket to London. For a moment Andrew thought he was going to say something but he dropped the ticket on the table and slipped away without a word. Now Andrew was a big guy and a student but he don’t look like a wino. It always surprised him the vehemence of people who assumed he was in the wrong place and they had caught him. It was the parents of teenage daughters all over again; he was guilty of something, they didn’t know what it was but there must be something.

With his bags stowed Andrew awkwardly shoehorned himself into the seat. Even in first class the seats really weren’t designed for people his size. Looking over he saw a couple sitting opposite him. But rather than carry on the bullshit Andrew also the other side of people. The man smiled, flashed a quick thumbs up and returned to his paper. His wife smiled at the interplay and returned to hers. No fuss. And this was 6.58 in the morning. Nobody needs fuss at 6.58 in the morning.

The journey south passed much slower than normal for him. 19 times out of 20 he would bury his head in a textbook or his notes and would hardly notice the time or the distance passing. But although he had a lot of jottings and a lot of ideas for his 4^th year project Andrew had nothing systematised and most pertinently, nothing with him. So Newcastle gave way to York and to Peterborough before they arrived at King’s Cross around 12.30. He cabbed over to the flat, dropped off all his bags other than his small knapsack which only had a change of clothes. He had told the cab to wait and then it was straight back to King’s Cross for the train to Cambridge. At 3.02, more than a little out of puff Andrew was sitting with Professor Cannon.

“Sorry I am late, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere for 20 minutes. I had to run the whole way from the station.”

Cannon smiled indulgently.

“You were in London?”

“No Edinburgh. I was on the early morning train to King’s Cross.”

His smile faded.

“But you know your result?”

Er.

“No, I am afraid I didn’t get a chance to stop at the Department on the way here.”

Professor Cannon laughed out loud. A worrying sign given the circumstances.

“You went away, not worried about your result. That displays confidence verging on arrogance McLeod.”

While it was true it was a whole other thing to hear your Director of Studies tell you that.

“Well, allow me to be the one to break the news to you. Firstly, congratulations as you are top in Engineering at the College, again.”

There was a pause, just long enough to be unsettling.

“Secondly, congratulations as you are top of Civil and Structural Engineering. Although it was a close run thing. You are a friend with a Ms. Dupree I believe?”

“Yes, she is my study partner and a very good friend.”

“That would explain it. You pipped Ms. Dupree by just two marks.”

Andrew didn’t know whether Olivia was going to be pissed or not. First world problems.

“However, in your defence it was the final project that closed the gap. You were unable to secure a place on the other civil project?”

“There were too many applications for the number of spots available. I did not get picked in the draw.”

“Ah yes, I remember. Was the software project not what you expected? It was noticeable your performance was sub-par compared to all your other work. I was surprised and disappointed at the group marks at the start of the project. You were marked down two, no three points on that phase. The rest was up to your usual high standard.”

Andrew briefly explained the tough group dynamic at the start of the project. As Professor Cannon rightly said it only went away when he could work on his own.

“That is interesting. Well I am sorry to say that those three marks cost you. You ended up second in the whole Department. The young man at Emmanuel beat you again by a single mark.”

Now at one level all this didn’t mean a damn thing. There really was no way to measure yourself against another student at a different College doing a different discipline of engineering. And yet, Andrew was pissed off. At the two clowns who thought he would be an arse and decided pre-emptively to be bigger arses instead. Damn. Professor Cannon watched these emotions play out across Andrew’s face. There was a sly smile on his own face.

“Your project accounts for more than 40% of your final mark next year. 43% I believe. And McLeod.”

Andrew looked at him.

“There is no group work. Just your own work. In all three years here you have been right at the top of the engineering class. 1^st, 2^nd and now 2^nd again. I have nothing but the utmost confidence you will continue your excellent work.”

It could have been a pre-school report card. Doesn’t play well with other children.

The remaining 30 minutes of the meeting ignored the year just completed and the upcoming year as well. Cannon pushed a doctorate pretty hard. Not aggressively, but persistently. It was one of the moments when Andrew displayed social skills, or diplomacy. He had no interest in a life in academia. But managed not to just blurt that out. But they both could have skipped that part of the meeting. Cannon was talking to a wall. But eventually he released him to go and see Professor Upshaw, the head of the Civil and Structural Engineering Department and Andrew’s project supervisor.

Upshaw was quintessentially Cambridge. The last three years, all the way up to the term just completed, were done with. What had Andrew done lately? In Upshaw’s eyes, nothing; it was back to square one. Now that sounds, and was, harsh but doing so well in his courses opened the door for Andrew to get him as his supervisor. It also raised his expectations of him and it was time to demonstrate that he could meet and exceed them. That was Cambridge. You are not special, you are not unique, however well you have done there is someone who has done more, done it better than you.

Graduates of Trinity College Cambridge have won more Nobel prizes than all but four countries. One College. Andrew guessed it depended on the temperament and nature of the individual but speaking personally he found that attitude very appealing. It just made him determined to work hard and not let Upshaw down. 5.00 saw him in the College Bar. Two hours with two separate Professors will do that to a student. He was standing staring off into space, tuning out the world when a smack on his arm nearly spilled his pint.

“Nobody can ignore the world like you can Andrew. It is a rare gift.”

Andrew was surprised to see Pedro there. He finished his last mouthful of beer and got another round in.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“The job doesn’t start until Monday and there is no point going home just to get nagged at. Mama will drag me to church on Sunday, I don’t need to go any other days.”

“That bad?”

“I don’t know if they have always been this religious and I just didn’t see it when I was at school, but every time I go back it seems to be worse and worse. I have a job at the Finance Ministry, the Hacienda. In Spain it is the Ministry of the Treasury. I have a summer job there. It is great experience but I would prefer not to live with my parents. I don’t know what to do next summer, that is for sure.”

“You would not return to Spain?”

“I am thinking about it. With Spain finally having joined the EEC I am considering applying for a job in Brussels. At least for a few years. I want to be able to afford my own place if I go back to Madrid.”

“How would your parents react if you stayed away?”

“Badly probably. I have not fought with my parents, stood up to them. We moved around so much when I was younger and I was not a rebellious child. But they still try to treat me like I am 15. I don’t think they understand me any more than I understand them. One of the disadvantages of being an only child and a well behaved, studious child growing up. It is not like I have become a communist or anything. I am just trying to live my life as I want to live it rather than the life they think I should live. You know what it is like.”

Andrew thought he should introduce Pedro’s parents to Ara’s parents. Their introspection was interrupted by Matt and Navya arriving and they had Olivia with them. He was pre-emptively whacked before she gave him a hug.

“One of these days. Damn.”

And that was it. No drawn out drama. Hit him and get it over with. The five of them went for dinner and sat and chatted away. They had all got Firsts and so nobody was dealing with disappointment. Helena had been awarded one as well and according to Navya who had seen her earlier in the week it was more relief than joy. She had been worried. They all had to pack and leave university the next day, and in Matt and Andrew’s cases they had to be out at the Territorial Army Centre by 8.00 so it was not a big night. Andrew’s room was already empty other than the backpack he had brought with him but the others were still dealing with odds and ends. They all made promises to keep in touch and try and meet up over the summer but for Olivia, Pedro and Andrew that was nothing more than empty talk.

The previous day Andrew had sat on the train as he headed south from Edinburgh all the way to London before heading north east to Cambridge. The Saturday at the end of term he reversed the trip, only this time in the back of an Army truck. Six hours in an Army truck. But at least the seats were padded and it was not too uncomfortable. Oh right. Total bullshit. Uncomfortable slatted benches. And everyone took a turn near the back where it was cold and windy. And you wonder why soldiers drink a lot?

One of the things that stood out from his time in the OTC was how often they practiced assaults. Section, Platoon and Company size assaults. The cynics amongst them wondered why they weren’t practicing fighting retreats because if the whole bloody Soviet Army came over the horizon the British Army would only be going one way. Now that might be ignorant bar chat, or it could be because they were traipsing up Northumberland hills being eaten every step of the way by the dreaded midges. It had rained the previous week and there were puddles and patches of standing, stagnant water, just perfect for the little bastards. And everyone was sure the Army had got confused between repellent and attraction because the repellent seemed to do the opposite. They were miserable. This was Andrew’s last chance to spend any time with Rollie. He started at Sandhurst the week before Andrew returned from West Berlin. Not that they had a chance to sit and enjoy a pint in the Mess but it was important to make the effort before they went their separate ways. But other than chatting to him when they had the chance the week was spent in the field. They had one of the Medical Corps TA units spend two days with them and got some advanced first aid training. Immobilising broken limbs, tourniquets, stemming blood flow, a lot of things that they had done as part of basic first aid were revisited and they got additional training, lots of hints and tips, work arounds. It was hugely practical and most people embraced it and got a lot out of the sessions.

There were four OTCs out at the Training Area, Cambridge had come the furthest by quite a margin. Queens was over from Northern Ireland, the locals from the Northumbrian universities and one of the Scottish ones, Tayforth, which included Stirling, Dundee and St. Andrew’s universities. So there were between 500 and 600 people from all four of them. On the Saturday morning the 58 cadets going to the Sapper camp were packed back into three 4-tonners and had the joy of a nearly seven hour journey back south to Salisbury Plain. This was less of an issue than the journey up as they had spent the previous night stumbling around the hills. Most of the cadets dozed or semi-slept so it was not as bad as it could have been. But it was hardly an inspiring collection of fighting men that dragged themselves out of the back of the trucks when they arrived at Perham Down. But they were at a barracks, there was hot food, a bar and no midges, there was no complaining.