Chapter 15

Despite his late hour to bed Andrew was up by 9.00. New Year’s Day was a Sunday and so he walked over to his Grandma’s and walked with her to church. She was going to be the glue that kept his family together so Andrew decided to put up with some organised religion. Her minister was not too bad, but it was the principle of thing. The one thing that you learn early as a grandchild is how proud your grandparents are of you. Andrew went for no other reason than to let his Grandma show him off to her old friends. It was all very generic, ‘isn’t Andrew so tall and handsome’, ‘did I tell you that he is at Cambridge?’, stuff like that. It was harmless but provided a lot of pleasure for his Grandma and would be a topic of conversation for weeks afterwards. After lunch with her Andrew stopped at Julian’s place on the way home. Leslie let him in.

“Great you are here.”

“Happy New Year to you too. What has got you all worked up?”

Over a cup of tea Andrew sat and blurted out everything that had happened the previous evening. What he never expected was there reaction.

“So you had a horrible time being interrogated, poked and prodded by all and sundry last night, you met several members of the aristocracy and on Thursday you are off to Floors Castle?”

At least someone knew where he was supposed to be going.

“You are missing the point. They keep going on about me as if I was doing it on my own. It is the three of us.”

“When it comes to all this crap, Andrew you are on your own.”

Julian was being a big help.

“Seriously Andrew, we know you and we both know that there is no way that you will try and take sole credit, you are more likely to say that it is all our fault and you had nothing to do with it. I have no interest in getting dragged into this. I think that both our Dads are shielding us from some of this. What you have is Barnes and Mrs. Moray singing your praises to everyone. No wonder you are the face of all this.”

“So you guys are not upset that I am being given all the kudos?”

The both looked at each other, smiled and turned back to him.

“No Andrew. Remember we are going to be the quiet Scottish couple living a normal life in Edinburgh. Julian might see some of these people at the Golf Club but that will be it. Sure in 10 or 15 years we may know some of them but right now I can see from your reaction that it is horrible. I don’t want that, not now and maybe not ever.”

Leslie looked calm and resolute as she summed up their reaction. Andrew settled down, happy that they were not upset and almost bitter that they were so happy to leave him to deal with all this nonsense. They had gone off for five days and had only got back at lunchtime the previous day. Their Hogmanay had been more drunken, relaxed and enjoyable than his.

“You disappeared before Christmas Andrew, where were you?”

They had realised it had been nearly two weeks since they had seen each other. Julian was curious.

“I went through to see Nikki and Fran in Glasgow. The two weeks back here had been unsettling and having had another fight with Dad I wasn’t going to spend Christmas with the family, so I imposed on them.”

“I hadn’t realised that things had got so bad, I thought your grandmother was going to fix it?”

“That was the hope, but Dad was still being an arse, accusing me of, well all sorts of things, so rather than get into a fight I just left. That’s when I decided to go and stay with Nikki and Fran at Christmas.”

“Why didn’t you call us? You could have had Christmas Day with us.”

Andrew looked at them.

“You two have your own life now, you don’t need me getting in the way.”

Leslie interjected.

“You would not have been in the way. Why would you think or say that?”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to get to the end of the week and then I am off south again. Based on how this holiday has gone I don’t know that I will be back at Easter. I am going to Spain for part of it and so may just stay there the whole time.”

“Wow, you really are out of whack at the moment, aren’t you? What about all the business stuff?”

“I will come back for that, or meet Mhairi if she is down in London. It is only an hour on the train for me to get there. I am going to keep a low profile on the business stuff, I want to do the right thing but I want to do it quietly.”

Andrew stayed for dinner but headed back to his flat in the early evening after promising to see them before he left. When the phone rang he answered it for the first time since he had returned from Glasgow. It was Suzanne. Rather than drag everything out over the phone they agreed that she should come over the following morning. When Suzanne arrived early the next day they sat and chatted. She was endlessly apologetic but Andrew just waved it off. He really did need to let this go so they could move on and so he told her that the party was as stuffy as she imagined and that she would have hated it. It wasn’t just trying to make her feel better it was true, it would have been painful for her. His resolve to not immediately rush to the bedroom did not last long in the face of the vision that was Suzanne Jenner. She shamelessly employed every trick in her arsenal and Andrew was hopeless to resist. They did put on robes after lunch and do a little studying but dinner was frozen pizza as they never got dressed. Suzanne wanted him to fuck her hard and often. At least three times she was on her hands and knees just waiting for Andrew to grab her hips and plunder her body. It had been more than two weeks and they were horny. They may have had issues to deal with but sure were compatible in the bedroom. As they lay in a sticky mess at the end of the bed Andrew closed his eyes and all he could picture was Suzanne’s glorious body, her magnificent arse, so ripe and so fuckable. Hmmm.

On Tuesday the morning was a repeat of the previous day but after fucking themselves to the point where they needed to have a break for a couple of hours they wandered over and had an afternoon of lighthearted goofing around with Julian and Leslie.

“Where were you last week? I don’t think you ever told me.”

“Christmas was okay, but both mums got a bit competitive about who should be where on which days. It wasn’t a huge deal but it wasn’t painless either. So we went down to Newcastle for four days. Just packed a bag and took some stuff to study and caught the train down. We found a hotel and just lazed about. It was a bit of an indulgence to be honest but we both needed a break from the families. I told Dad, the only one of the four of them that wasn’t being too much of an arse, and we left. They were better yesterday when we went to see them. I suppose it is one of the advantages of having some money, and it also lets them both know that we will do our own thing if they don’t calm down.”

That was what the self-made money gave all of them more than anything else, independence and freedom. The rest of the afternoon was just catching up, talking about nothing, just trying to be normal students. Suzanne was confused as to why Leslie was going over to her parents on her own, but Andrew knew that it was January 3^rd, Faith’s birthday. They grabbed some take out and Julian came over to the flat. It was a great day hanging out with his three closest friends. Leslie stopped to collect Julian but didn’t come in.

Suzanne knew that Andrew was leaving on the early train on Saturday and seemed to be trying to store up orgasms like a squirrel hording nuts in the autumn. She was pleasantly demanding that night and again in the morning. The sex was intense and fantastic but it was even better that they had dealt with their minor fight and Suzanne was once again snuggled up tight against Andrew at the end of the night. But Andrew had not raised any of the topics they had discussed when he first returned and Suzanne had given no indication of raising them either. He would be happy if he could get to the end of the week and not have to deal with, or think about, that. After two days constantly together the two of them calmed down. Andrew went down to the Food Bank on Wednesday morning and was at Tony’s shop at lunchtime. Maggie held the hug for a long time and then sighed as she sat down with Andrew at the kitchen table.

“Just when I think we have our relationship sorted out and stable, you go and screw with my head like you did on Friday. I have said it before, and I am probably going to say it many times in the future, but it is very disconcerting to discover that someone can be that in tune with you. Without being crude, or going into any details, Tony and I have a very healthy relationship. But you are like a can of petrol round our fire. I get so confused and mind-blankingly horny when you start filming me. Then you take your top off, your start painting this fantasy about being naked at the front of a class of teenagers at Cambridge.

“And the thing that makes it okay but even more odd at the same time, is that I don’t want to fuck you, I want to fuck Tony. But you being there beforehand just makes it better, more intense. It is all a big mess. How did you leave so quickly by the way. One minute you were taking pictures the next it was just Tony and I.”

“I grabbed my bag and clothes and practically ran out the back door. I got dressed on the back step and packed up out there.”

“You didn’t!”

Andrew nodded.

“It seemed I needed to make myself scarce in a hurry.”

Maggie laughed, ruefully.

“Well thank you for that. Why don’t I sit with you as you develop the rolls and we can chat.”

“Sure.”

Andrew started the developing as Maggie talked.

“Tony has got Stacey to look after the shop for the rest of the week. We looked through some brochures last night and I booked a place this morning for the next few days. It will be good to get away for four days. It is outside Stirling and we can look at some locations while we are there. I was going to see if you could shoot at least one more model but Tony needs the break. What I did want to ask you was whether you would agree to submit the best of the session with Naomi and see if it could get published.”

Andrew was at a point where he could look at Maggie for several seconds without screwing up the developing.

“Maggie, I don’t think that I want to do that. Just as you were always clear that you didn’t want your photographs to be published, I am the same.”

“I know, I was pretty sure you would say that. Would you let Tony publish them under his name?”

Andrew thought about that as he removed two rolls of developed film from the drum and clipped them up to dry. Did he care? He didn’t know.

“Why does he want to?”

“It is more me than him to be honest. I think that you are a very good photographer and one of the ways to get that validated is to submit pictures for publication. Would you be okay if they were submitted under the name ‘Tony Brown Photography’?”

Andrew mechanically developed the rolls of film as he thought about this.

“Okay, this time at least. But I would prefer future shoots that were closer to your end of the spectrum rather than fully spread like Naomi. I think I would be better with someone just getting started, someone that you need a bit of patience with.”

“I agree completely. Thank you for agreeing to let Tony submit them. I don’t know that they will be picked up by anyone but it will get Tony’s name out there with a known model, even if it was you that was the photographer.”

Maggie stayed as Andrew turned on the red light and started to produce the prints from the negatives. She helped him and when the prints were complete she carefully hung them up to dry. This also allowed her to cast her eye over them.

“We will send you a couple of letters over the term, letting you know how things are doing. When are you likely to be back?”

“Mid-March I think. I have agreed to go to Spain with one of the guys in the corridor at the end of term so I will be away the first week. But Cambridge terms are short so I should be back in the latter half of March I think. I will confirm all that in a letter. What are you going to do this term?”

“The plan is to scout out locations. The thing is that we spent the afternoon in Newcastle in October, were through in Glasgow a couple of times, all through looking for locations last term. I don’t think we are going to be on any trains but most Sundays I think we will be out looking at the countryside seeing where is suitable. We will go to that snooker hall Tony knows, I will phone around and see who rents out motor boats, just work my way through the list of locations. What about you?”

“You heard what it was like when I got back up three weeks ago. One week is like any other. I do have more weekend training exercises this term but other than that it will be the same as term one. My job is my course, I put in a full week and everything else just fits round the edges.”

“Have you thought about doing some photography while you are down there?”

“There wasn’t time, or at least there didn’t feel like time, in term one. I am going to take my spare camera down with me but that is as much for Spain at the end of term as for Cambridge. I have not looked for a camera club or anything like that. There is probably a camera society at the University but my photography is all with the two of you.”

They had been working as they talked and Maggie put the last of the pictures on the drying rack. Andrew cleaned up and then stood with the two of them in the store.

“I could have been in there with you, hardly a customer.”

“You said it would be quiet after the turn of the year. Perfect time to get away for four days.”

Tony nodded.

“Aye. But I am starting the classes next week so hopefully that will start to drive some trade. Where are you off to on Saturday?”

“I am spending the week between two places down south, both guys who are on the corridor. One south and west of London, and one south of London, but I couldn’t tell you where. I have it all written down in the flat. Hampshire and Sussex maybe, but don’t quote me.”

“Why there?”

“They asked is probably the main reason. No that is only part of it. Look, you know what I am like. I don’t need much encouragement to be a geek, and a loner. So I vowed when I started at Cambridge that I was going to make the effort. That is the main reason, yes they asked but it is about me not just sitting studying in the library.”

“You have spent a lot of this holiday in the company of a naked woman.”

Andrew laughed and Maggie whacked Tony on the arm.

“That is true. We had all these talks about our strange friendship. But the two of you are very good at making me forget about the course, forget about other issues I am dealing with, and instead just focus on the beautiful naked woman shivering in front of me. As a distraction from Engineering I highly recommend Maggie.”

They all laughed. With hugs and kisses, and handshakes, all round Andrew left them to close up and get ready for their short break. He would pop in sometime before he left and get the prints that were drying on the racks. When Andrew got back to the flat the heating had been cranked up. But he understood why when he went into the living room to discover Suzanne lying completely naked on the couch. Her air of studied innocence lasted as long as it took Andrew to pick her up in his arms and carry her through to the bedroom. He cavalierly flung her onto the bed from several feet away before stripping in a hurry. Suzanne had carefully dangled a foot within his grasp and squealed with excitement as Andrew pulled her to the end of the bed. She was bent into an ‘el’ before Andrew plunged balls deep in one thrust. It had only been eight hours since they had last fucked but the intensity was as if it had been eight months. Suzanne had her eyes closed and her arms flung wide, nothing but ‘fuck me Andrew’ coming from her lips. It was teenage hormonal sex, incendiary compatibility and a realisation that there were only three more evenings until this was on hold for 10 weeks.