Chapter 27

Tuesday 30 August 2022

Larissa awoke early in the morning cuddled up to Landon, almost face to face. Landon’s erection was poking into her leg, and he was looking at her sheepishly. She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it. I like it touching me.” She wiggled so it was tucked into her leg better. “We’ll just leave it there. Thank you for making my friend happy.” She kissed him gently. “I think that dealing with Alison has brought many challenges to your heart.”

“It certainly has,” Landon said, “but they’re actually less challenges than I had in the important ways. And much better benefits! But you ... how much we both owe you! In so many ways you’ve completely transformed her life for the better, but especially in here.” He touched her heart between her breasts, and left his finger there, looking at her breasts.

“It’s fine by me,” she said, smiling at him. “If it’s OK with Alison.” Gently, Landon’s finger drifted up to her nipple, and he circled it, teasing it with his fingernail. Very nice.

“Alison says your friends say that you have the heart of lioness,” he said, thoughtfully. “But I don’t see that. I look at you and see a meerkat. You’ve got a ceaseless energy, an utter altruistic commitment to the community, and people so easily underestimate you.” Then he smiled. “Other people will see other things, of course, and I know they’re talking about your fearless bravery. But it’s always seemed to me that it’s not that hard for a lion to be brave, cause what can hurt them? But you ... you’re always punching above your weight. That ... that’s something special. I heard from students at my old school you know, the public school. They were talking about it so much even I heard about it. They could tell, you were something very different, but in way they could hope to be. You inspired them. A lot of those kids are going to be paramedics.”

Larissa’s tears were flowing now. That was something really special he’d given her there. “Thank you,” she managed to get out.

Alison was behind Landon, and she slid over his legs, and slurped his dick up. Landon spasmed in surprise, so Larissa grabbed his head and kissed him passionately. She could feel Alison working hard down below. It didn’t take Landon long, and he came nicely. Larissa stopped kissing him and pulled back to let him recover. Alison wriggled up so her head was between Landon and Larissa and grinned. “Breakfast, thanks. Did you enjoy that?” Landon groaned, and Alison chuckled. Then she kissed Larissa passionately. Larissa could taste Landon in her mouth, and she explored Alison’s mouth with her tongue. Oh, this was good, and then she realised that Landon had his hand between Alison’s legs, and she was responding. Oh wow, that’d be sweet. She grabbed Alison’s hair and held her head tight, and that was enough, Alison came while Larissa was kissing her hard.

“That was a lovely way to wake up,” Larissa said, when Alison was with them again. “Thank you for that. I really love how you’re going about your lives.” They shared a lovely three way hug.

“Are you three done?” Layna asked, from behind Larissa. “It was lovely to watch, thanks.” She hugged Larissa from behind, sliding an arm around underneath her and holding her tight. “I’m nervous about today, cut off from from communicating with my heart. Today, I’m just going to sing a song, but you’re the one facing the music. Stay strong, and do the right thing.”

Larissa rolled and rested her face against Layna’s face. “Thanks. And good luck on the guitar.”

“Well, I have two days to do nothing but practice. But no one will notice - it’ll all be about Isla. For multiple reasons. But can you get up? Alex’s replacement is downstairs with him.” Alex had gently turned Jayla’s invitation down - said he was a married man, but thanks - and decided to sleep downstairs.

Alex’s replacement was a short man with very pronounced muscles named Dyunh. He stuck carefully to Larissa’s shoulder as she led them through university towards her first lecture. She had quite an entourage now - two police, new ones, Dyunh, Alison and Landon, and Jayla. She was running a little late because of the time taken to figure out a protocol for all of them travelling together, but that was sorted now, though she couldn’t hurry through the corridors either. But finally she was at the room. Dyunh looked in the room first - he was a super energetic close in security guy, and there was no question at all that he was a bodyguard. Then he cleared her to enter.

“Hey everyone,” she called out. “It’s great to be back. I’ve missed you all so much.” She had everyone’s complete attention. “So I come with friends today. Let me introduce them all to you. This is Dyunh, my bodyguard. I also have Illya and Kyria here, the two police officers guarding me today. I’m sure all of you would just love to know why I have that security on me. I’m afraid you’ll just have to wonder, sorry, it’s one of those ‘if I tell you then,” things. Hopefully it’s just for this week. Also, I have my really good friend Alison and her man Landon visiting from USA today, and Alison has her own security person with her. Some of you might have seen Alison when I ran into that shooting in USA back in May - she helped me.” She saw the recognition in their eyes. “I’m sorry that I’m such a circus this week. And thanks for thinking of me, but I’m going to have to sit up the back this week.” They laughed for that, since they’d left her favourite seat open for her. “But today, I believe, I’m out the front?”

“Larissa!” The lecturer said, “welcome back! It’s lovely to see you again, and yes, you’re telling us all about your sabbatical in Townsville.”

Right, it was a good thing she’d prepared this presentation last week, given the craziness of the last few days. She stood out the front, and the police stood at the door, while Dyunh sat in her normal seat right at the front. He was scarily attentive. She could see the other students looking at them occasionally, as she showed them the facilities she’d had, the work she’d had to do, and what she’d learnt. And how much fun she’d had - she could see how jealous they were. She was still answering questions when her time ran out.

She snuck into her tiny office, well, ex-cupboard, that they’d assigned her for her research project. She only got it because it was too small for anyone else, but she’d always felt snug in it. It was time for her call with Isla and her mum, and she had just enough space for Kyria to sit on the desk beside her computer. She started the meeting up, and Anna was already waiting to join.

“Larissa, is there any hope that Isla will come back home?” Wow, she’d launched right into that.

Larissa frowned, thinking how to answer that question. “Yes, there is some hope. There’s always hope. But it’s far from certain, that’s for sure. One important question for you is what are your red lines? What is it that Isla can decide to do that mean you don’t even want her to come home?” Anna was thinking about that, frowning. “Once you’ve decided that, the implication is that you’ll be happy for her to come home if she does anything else, whatever it is. Even if you don’t agree with it, like it. But I think, from what Isla said, you’re demanding that she agree with you about everything if she’s at home, and demanding that she is at home.”

“Well, she has do her part for the family.”

“Sure. There’s always obligations, a price to pay. But what happens if she chooses not to? Will you disown her, cut her off?” Anna clearly didn’t like those questions. “We certainly don’t want for you to have to ask those questions, but I have to warn you that you might. But it depends how Isla is thinking, and I haven’t spoken to her since we talked yesterday.”

Then Isla appeared on the zoom call.

“Hello, mum, Larissa. Sorry, I had connection difficulties.”

“Hello Isla! It’s lovely to see you!”

“It’s nice to see you too, mum. How are you doing?”

“Pretty stressed. We’re worried about you. Are you doing OK? Thinking right?”

“Yes, mum, I’m doing well, I’m actually very busy today, so we may not have time to talk until tomorrow after this.”

“What are you doing?”

“Things that are fun. I’ll be doing some singing.”

“Oh, Isla, must you do that?”

“Yes. I must do that. I’ve never understood why that’s such a problem, but it seems that it is.”

“We’ve let you sing, Isla, and play on your instruments, but that’s all you ever want to do. It’s fine to have that for a hobby, darling, and you’re impressively good, but that’s not what really matters, given your station in life.”

“What is my station? A pretty face, a perfect social host, and a baby making machine?”

“Is that so wrong?”

“Nah, mum, that’s you, It’s fine for you, that’s what you want. But it’s not what I want. Does that matter?”

“But that’s what maintains our lifestyle. Your lifestyle,” Anna said.

Isla shrugged. “So what if I don’t care?”

“Isla!” Anna said, scandalised. “You can’t want to live like the other girls live.” That sentence dripped with condescension.

“What if do? What if I just want to be happy?”

Anna looked confused. “You have everything, Isla, or at least you can. How can you not be happy?”

“Mum! It’s not just about having everything. What’s the point of having shit when my world is burning up?”

“Isla! There’s nothing wrong with your world! You have the absolute best of everything, a lifestyle everyone else envies.”

“Right. All that coal. But at least we have the best of everything.”

“Where did you get that rubbish from?” Anna asked sharply. “This is why you belong at home, Isla, where you don’t get all this stupid stuff in your head.”

“Yes. Heaven help me if I get crazy ideas in my head. Better to stay home and just go crazy.”

“Isla! Don’t say that!” Anna was really upset for that. “Look, we love you, and we want you to be at home, and happy. Tell us what you want, and we’ll get it for you.”

“Good luck with that,” Isla said. “Larissa, where do you get respect?”

Larissa shrugged. “At the school of hard knocks. Paid for with pain and heartache.”

“Mum, get me some of that.”

Anna looked pained. “Isla, you’re supposed to be at the Deaf Association board meeting for lunch today. That’s where our respect comes from. I’m guessing you won’t make that now. I don’t know how we’ll explain that.”

“No mum, I won’t be making that. Not that anyone will really miss me. It’s not like I ever do anything more than grace all those poor people with my presence, instead of actually doing something for them. Anyway, why don’t you tell them the truth?”

“Isla! We don’t parade our problems in front of the world! It’s just not done.”

“I suppose you’re lying to everyone, pretending it’s my time of month.” That was a telling hit, Larissa saw. “Mum, the news will leak out sooner or later. Might as well face it. But I can tell, you’re not really listening to me. Mum, if I’m going to live, I’m going to live on my terms. It’s your decision whether you want to be part of that life. I love you, but I don’t like any of the rest of it, and I won’t do it anymore. That’s what last weekend taught me, the other girls, and Larissa, there’s a big world out there full of opportunity and challenges, and I want to be part of it. I’m sorry that’s a choice that you don’t like, but you have to decide, is it a choice you can accept, or not?”

“Isla,...”

“Sorry, mum, I’m out of time. Larissa will let you know when I can talk to you again. Bye.”

She was gone; her plane was about to take off.

Anna gave Larissa a hard look. “This is all your doing!”

“Maybe I contributed a little. If I did ... No, I’m not sorry. I certainly didn’t want to disrupt your family in this way, and I am sorry for contributing to that a little, but Isla was not in a happy place. You have to accept that, right?” Anna frowned. “At least she’s talking to you, and she said she’ll talk some more, and that she loves you. That’s good, I think, since as far as I can tell, you didn’t give her anything.”

“Larissa! We give her everything!”

“Yes, I know that’s what you want in your heart, for your beautiful daughter to have everything. But you don’t give her adversity, pain, romance, heartache. Did you have those in your life as a teenager?”

“I did, yes, but it wasn’t fun. The world is a scary place, you know.”

“Yes, it is. I know. Anna, if you love Isla, and want to be part of her life, you need to listen to her.”

“I’m trying!”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it me, as an impartial listener. I ask myself, what does she have to do for you to listen to her? Would you like me to send you my recording of this so you can listen to it again?” Yes, she did. “OK. I’ll do that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, and we can talk a bit more about how to get Isla home. Bye.”

She shook her head, and looked at Kyria. “That’s really sad.”

Kyria gave her a wry smile. “All the money in the world wouldn’t have made me stay in that place from the day I turned eighteen. But you tried. I hope they’re paying you well for that.”

“Hardly. That’s why I have you, because if I don’t succeed at sorting that mess out, her husband might ... anyway, I’m talking to him later, you can listen to that too.”

She had a couple of lectures, more circus, and more tweets of photos of her with her escort. But she wasn’t missing out on her life. She saw Julian and Joe and waved to them.

Then it was time for her to talk to David again. Kyria was listening again, and Dyunh and Illya stood in the doorway so they could as well.

“Hi David.” He looked pained as he always did when she used his name. No doubt he thought she should give him more respect, but she wasn’t going to.

“Hello Larissa. We don’t seem to be making much progress with Isla.”

“No.” She sighed. “But the positive thing is that at least she’s planning to keep talking. Though she did say she loves her mum. Not so good, I worry about that now that I’ve thought about it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Yesterday, she was angry. She would never have said that. Today, then, she’s not angry, but she’s not interested in coming home.” She grimaced. “You’ll have to make real meaningful concessions to get her interested in that. At least, that’s how I read it. What do you think?”

“What I think is that you scared my wife by talking about Isla never coming home, and how we’d want her not to. What were you thinking?”

“You know, that’s not what I was trying to achieve, and I’m sorry that didn’t work. I was trying to get her to see that you do want her to come home even if she does things you don’t like, makes choices you don’t agree with. You’ll have to do that if she’s going to come home. But perhaps that wasn’t a useful way for me to go about that. I’m sorry. I wish I was better at this, but I’m not. I just got landed here because I said I would try to help Isla. At least you can say that you’re not paying me.”

David didn’t think that was funny at all.

“We have another problem today. My media manager just got asked, ‘Where is Isla?’ and ‘why am I interested in you?’ I sure hope you haven’t spoken to the media.” The menace was back.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to suppress either bit of news. A photo of me was trending on Twitter yesterday, looking like I was being arrested by about twenty police, like a mobster, because there were paparazzi waiting for me when we landed. Jackie, a journalist I know, called me to ask about the picture, and I no commented her. I’ll send you the message thread. Today, I have a police escort around campus, and other students are tweeting that. I’m a celebrity here anyway, and I’m back after three months away, so I’m guaranteed to get tweeted. And we also tweeted the photo of us at the weekend. People will start connecting the dots. I can’t do anything about that.”

“Why do you have a police escort?”

“Because of you. You’re damned scary, and Lisa decided that she wanted me to be safe.”

“Lisa?”

Damn. She shouldn’t have named Lisa. Or Jackie, really. She’d have to be more careful and disciplined. She took a few deep breaths.