Chapter 2

It was an odd feeling on the drive home. At one level it had felt dangerously close to how Andrew had been with Allison Page five years earlier but yet he was even more sure that it was a necessary moment for him to wake up and realise where he was heading. He couldn’t keep on trying to ratchet up the taboo or excess. There was precious few places to go, other than jail, left for him. Helena’s words cut through him. Would he ever be happy with a simple, ‘normal’ sex life? As he drove up to Cambridge he felt happy and calm. He and Meredith had pushed each other, and Helena had been a willing accomplice as well. Catherine this year was going to be much less intense. And he was intrigued and excited to see how he would feel over the course of the year about that. Andrew was looking forward to seeing her that night. Which was all well and good but it was not the right time of the month and he had to wait until Wednesday. But what Andrew did realise was that he needed to dial it back. Stop getting caught up in the pressure to outdo the last act, outperform some unattainable goal. The whole weekend felt like it had been really worthwhile. Being able to talk to Jim and Freya, Freya on her own and Helena had resolved many things in his mind. He was much calmer.

Tuesday night at the OTC Jack and Andrew spent the whole night getting ready for the weekend out at Stanford Training Area, a place universally loathed by the whole Company. Somebody tried to explain the meteorological science behind frost hollows but it still wasn’t completely clear to him. What was abundantly clear was that Stanford was situated in such a feature. The temperature, and particularly the ground temperature, was markedly colder than the surrounding area. Now this wasn’t the high Arctic, but it added a degree of misery to the whole proceedings beyond what you expected from rural, southern Norfolk. As 4^th year students and with three full years in the OTC, all of their time was spent working with the junior cadets. It was interesting, annoying and more than a little humbling, to realise how little most 1^st year cadets knew. Now that didn’t stop them thinking they knew it all, but when you are the one trying to get 12 Freshers into a semblance of order it brought it home how this was you just a couple of years earlier.

Jack had quietly made it known that he was considering the Regulars and was spending time with different officers on the Permanent Staff. He was from north of Birmingham, his parents lived on the Staffordshire, Derbyshire border at Uttoxeter. It was an area of England Andrew knew nothing about. Just as there was the concept of flyover country in the US, for him it was ‘drive through’ country. There were two possible local regiments for Jack, the Staffordshire Regiment or the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment. And no, that regiment did not have to suffer Robin Hood jokes, not at all. Hmmm. So Jack was going to spend two of the training weekends in the winter doing regimental visits to both his local regiments. It was a lower key but still important recruiting campaign by them.

Wednesday night was the first time Andrew had to put his new resolve to the test. He and Catherine walked over to Cindies as normal but once they had their drinks they headed to the dance floor and he just tried to make more of an effort. It is a noisy, sweaty disco full of drunk and trying to get drunk students. So he didn’t know what making more of an effort meant. Maybe it was as simple as not taking their situation for granted. Sure they knew where they were going to end up but he didn’t have to be a lazy arse about it. So of course when Andrew got Catherine back to his room he was guilty of completely overcompensating. And do you know what? It was great. He had a cute, athletic 19 year old in his bed and it was time to stop mailing it in. And it was lots of little things, fucking through her first orgasm and hanging on until she came a second time. The same when eating her out. Less of an emphasis on him, and much more about her. Sure she was afraid to let go but Andrew figured the best way to deal with that was spending all night trying to crack her resolve. The things he had to do...

“Someone was pleased to see me tonight. Is this what I can expect the first time after Aunt Flo leaves each month?”

“Definitely. But you were looking awfully cute tonight and I thought you deserved to not just be told that but shown it as well.”

“I can feel it for sure.”

They kissed for a moment or two.

“You seemed on great form tonight. Is the course going well?”

“It is, but it is more that I had been worrying unnecessarily about some things and I got a lot sorted out at the weekend. I am away next weekend and then there are careers evenings through until the end of term. Trying to figure out next year had been weighing on me. You are just the lucky beneficiary.”

As for the weekend with the OTC? Andrew hardly paid attention to the training because there was a troop from a Royal Engineer squadron at the Training Area as well. They kept themselves to themselves because they were an EOD squadron. EOD was Explosive Ordnance Disposal, these were the men that were involved in bomb disposal. Because they didn’t interact with anyone else there Andrew didn’t get a chance to talk to any of them. But he was guilty of not paying much attention to anything else when they were around. It seemed to be an occupation where. Andrew’s first thought was you had to be mad. And of course it was not like that at all. In later years he did get a chance to talk to some EOD officers and they were serious men who did a dangerous job. But between unexploded ordnance left over from the War that was still being uncovered as well as the threat from terrorist bombs from the IRA, it was not a job where you were going to be sitting around with nothing to do. From what little he could see they were working on the stabilisation of bombs buried in the ground, obviously training for the disposal of German bombs rather than Irish ones. But as a way to distract him from another weekend in Norfolk it succeeded.

The course was moving on at its usual fast pace but relentless studying kept Olivia and him on top of the material. When he returned from Istanbul he would have the first significant milestone of the project, only 5% of the overall mark but still, where he had to make a presentation on his project to other students in the group, his supervisor, and probably some of his post-doc researchers, as well to any interested members of the faculty. It was only 15 minutes, 10 minutes of a presentation with a few minutes for questions after, but it would be the most people Andrew had ever presented to, up to that point. There were 2,200 people in the audience the night he was in the orchestra for Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony but he was one of more than 200 on stage. It was only later when he was in Paris that he realised that he had forgotten the audition scene when modelling. His presentation was well attended but there were not more than 50 people there. Plus he got to wear some clothes. The progress meetings with Professor Upshaw were going well. As with all world-class experts he had a way of unnerving lesser mortals that always had Andrew on his guard. He knew he could easily talk for 10 minutes on where he was with his project, his issue might be to keep it under 10 minutes. The project was going well.

Andrew had no classes on a Friday afternoon which was just as well as he had a long day of travelling ahead of him. The last flight to Istanbul left around 5.00 and with a four hour flight and a three hour advance of the time would get him into Istanbul just before midnight. So he had to be at Heathrow with enough time to check in and clear security. Flying was a hassle, even in those days when there was still security but you could at least keep your shoes on. An hour on the train to King’s Cross, more than an hour on the Tube out to Heathrow and then another hour of fucking about before finally being able to sit in the departure lounge and relax. Andrew had become cautious and had no project notes with him, some of what was in his notebooks would have him in a police station all weekend explaining himself. Instead he chose the module with the thinnest and lightest textbook and sat and worked away, both at Heathrow and on the plane. He had packed light and with only his smaller backpack as carry-on luggage. He was also flying business class so was seated at the front of the plane. In many ways it was the one day to day thing that he indulged with the money. Sitting further back was torture and he always flew business. He had space and nobody bothered him, although he was unusually young compared to the rest of the tired business types that were in the compartment with him. But his studies absorbed the time, as they usually did.

Once through immigration control he could head straight out, no waiting at luggage carousels for him. His only stop was at a bureau d’change to convert some Pounds to Turkish Lira. Andrew had no idea how much everything cost and so converted more money than he would when he was in Paris for instance. But with that quickly completed he could escape the terminal. When he and Ara saw each other they managed not to run into each other’s arms, clichés were avoided, just, but there was a spring in both their steps. She looked wonderful and moulded into his arms. For a moment the rest of the passengers flowed round them as they stood there, an island of hugging and kissing.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Ara led them out to the taxi rank and they cabbed into the centre of the city, not very far as the airport was just to the west of the city centre.

“There is a bit of a change of plan. I did not realise that I am not allowed male visitors in the dorm, you aren’t even allowed to visit never mind stay the night. So we have a reservation at a hotel that I found out about. They are much less fussy about the paperwork than most places.”

Ara explained that nearly all hotels were strict about identification and would not allow unmarried couples to stay. But like she said water will always find a weakness. 15 minutes later they were outside the hotel, right in the heart of the tourist area of the city. Andrew was amazed as Ara slipped a Turkish bank note into their passports and they came back absent the banknote. It was like something out of the movies. He was trying not to be too much of a country bumpkin, although he was not sure he was succeeding. Their key in hand, they climbed the two flights of stairs and along the corridor to the room. As the door closed Ara was once again in Andrew’s arms.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Arabella Lindsay? Bribing desk clerks.”

Ara giggled and kissed him again.

“I was given extensive instructions by an American student last week. She used this place when her boyfriend came over to visit. I think it is passed on word of mouth from visiting student to visiting student. We are registered in the hotel ledger, and with the authorities if anyone comes and checks, as a married couple.”

He laughed.

“So Mrs. McLeod, is this our honeymoon?”

Ara must have been taking lessons from Suzanne as she bit her bottom lip and looked adorable.

“No, this is just a dirty weekend away. This is all about giving me something to survive the long cold Turkish nights until I get back to Britain.”

She giggled.

“So no pressure.”

Their clothes were dropped were they stood and he chased Ara to the bed. But she spun him round, grabbed a pillow off the bed for her knees and knelt before him.

“Time to drain you first I think. I want a good long fuck, floating on a sea of endorphins. Come here.”

Being one not to argue with a lady Andrew submitted to a blowjob. Life was tough. Ara was a complete beginner at blowjobs, he had never asked but he might have been the only person she had ever done it with, or rather to. But it was nothing to do with technique or prowess or anything like that. It was looking down at Ara, seeing the intense concentration on her face, seeing her wanting to do this, for her own pleasure as much as his. She didn’t look up at him like Suzanne or Helena, but she didn’t need to. This was Arabella Lindsay on her knees in front of him giving him a blowjob. Andrew ran his hands through her hair and she looked up briefly, caught his eye and then winked. 0-60 literally in the blink of an eye. Once he had finished drying to drown her Andrew stumbled back to the bed before feeling Ara wrap herself round him from the back. She leaned in and started whispering in his ear.

“I have been horny for you all week. I have come three times today already but I need so much more. Remember all those stories I read at school. I need a knave tonight Andrew, a rogue who demands everything and takes even more. I need you to ravish me.”

A long pause.

“I need you to plunder me.”

Andrew felt something being pressed into his hand and knew it was a condom without even looking. Oh the recuperative powers of youth. He stood up almost dropping the condom in his haste to get wrapped up. Ara was smiling smugly at his frantic fumbling. Taking a second, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply and was able to get himself safely wrapped. Ara was by now lying on her back, come hither not just in her eyes but across her whole body. Andrew walked round to the end of the bed, grabbed her hips and flipped her onto her stomach. He smiled as ‘eek’ squeaked out from her. The heights and angles were all wrong but he didn’t care. He pulled her to the end of the bed, bent his knees to adjust their heights and was balls deep in one thrust. Someone was very turned on. Andrew leant forward and it was his turn to whisper in her ear.

“Someone has let their mouth run away from them. Time to pay the price.”

He should have been getting used to women manipulating him for their own ends. No frightened eyes, no shudders, nothing. Ara turned her head, smashed her mouth against his and retorted.

“Less talking, more doing.”

It was Meredith at the start of 3^rd year, Ara needed to get laid. She might not have a ton of sexual experience but that night she was hot to trot. However hard Andrew fucked her, however much she orgasmed as her nipples rubbed against the comforter, she didn’t back down. His back was killing him, his knees were killing him and frankly his pride was taking a dent but still she wanted more. He was desperately trying to stave off his orgasm but all too soon the final dent to his pride happened and he pulsed endlessly into the little bulb while trying not to squash Ara flat beneath him. The condom was abandoned on the floor for later and Andrew slumped back onto the bed, Ara beside him. Finally the synapses of his brain reconnected and he was capable of thought, and then speech. He looked over at Ara and she had this blissful smile on her face.

“You really are an overachieving big git, aren’t you? Where did that stamina come from? Everything I was doing to make you come and you just kept going. Oh Andrew, that was.”

She never got to tell him of his magnificence because he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. After a long snog she hauled herself up onto his body and looked down at him.

“I was upset at myself for coming so soon. I thought you wanted and needed more.”

“What? You crazy Scotsman. My whole body aches, in a good way but it still aches. I was close to calling for mercy.”