Chapter 12

Their swimming the next day was slower than normal and Andrew quickly showered before they returned to the flat. This time he knew Suzanne was going back to bed as she crawled back into it before he even left. Andrew stopped at the bedroom door and looked back at her, to find her in a pose of seductive innocence that was cruel for someone having to leave.

“Bad Suzanne.”

Her only response was wonderful laughter still echoing in his ears as he left the flat. Andrew didn’t think they could have chiselled the smile off his face.

“Look at that face. I bet he reeks of sex even after a swim and a shower.”

This was Leslie’s greeting as Andrew climbed into Julian’s car for the trip into town. He tried to maintain a dignified silence but his two friends were in fine form that morning.

“Don’t judge others by your own depraved standards. And anyway, it was two showers.”

Mhairi looked up as the three of them come into the conference room at her office still laughing and smiling away.

“I am glad these meetings keep you so happy.”

Her arched eyebrow gave lie to the phrase and just made them laugh harder. It set the tone for the day. They were in a bright mood, which translated into a decisive mood and they powered through nearly all the proposals. The focus that day was on businesses looking to expand or to get established, rather than research. In all they invested another £235,000. That took them past £1m of investments, a significant milestone and a significant amount of money, at least it felt like it to a 19-year-old engineering student. Andrew phoned Suzanne from the office before they left and she met them on Marchmont Road, laden with bags of take-out for dinner. When they got to Julian and Leslie’s new house both sets of parents were already there, they both had keys to the place. One more black mark against Andrew, as it never occurred to him to give his parents a key to the flat. The spare key to his flat was in a desk drawer in that very house.

That Suzanne was there with Andrew, paired up like they were a couple, engendered a lot of questions over the evening, all trying to be as subtle as possible, and all failing miserably. He worried that she would be uncomfortable but in fact she started to ham it up and seemed to be enjoying the confusion her presence was causing. After dinner they were all clearing up, quick and easy with take-out and Mary and Suzanne wandered outside onto the terrace at the back of the house. He could see them chatting away but Suzanne was smiling and looked relaxed so Andrew didn’t think the cavalry was necessary. Anyway he was distracted by Julian senior at that point.

“How are Jim and Freya doing Andrew?”

“They seem to have settled very quickly into London life. They are regulars at several local restaurants, judging by the way they are greeted, and their work life seems fine, but there is little that they can talk about so that is more based on how relaxed they are in the evening rather than anything specific.”

Mr. Strong looked at him oddly.

“You stayed with them?”

“Yes, for a week during the Easter break. I am staying with them all summer, as I am working in London and they offered one of their guest rooms to me. Freya told me about the job at the Ministry of Defence.”

“I didn’t realise that you were such good friends with them.”

“They have been very kind to me.”

Now was probably not the time to tell him that he was walking Freya down the aisle. They were saved by Brian and Julian joining them.

“Leslie told us that you were working at the Ministry of Defence over the summer. Do you have any idea what you will be doing?”

“I don’t know that the Ministry know what we will be doing over the summer. This is the first year that they have hired so many summer students and instigated a proper program. Before it was more random and haphazard. I get back to London on the Saturday from Kent and I am at Whitehall on the Monday. I joke about having to sit about doing nothing for a week while they sort it out but I will need it just to get all my stuff sorted out I think.”

Turning to Julian he asked.

“When do you start at Ferranti?”

“Next week as well, back to working on power systems. Most of their work in Edinburgh is defence related and I will need clearance. I can only get that when I become full-time. It is one of the things that will be a factor in tomorrow’s talks.”

Andrew looked at him quizzically.

“The computer company discussion. What we realistically need to do to make it succeed. I am torn between getting back into computing or just getting a job and having secure employment.”

Julian snorted.

“If there is such a thing in this day and age.”

The pair of them wandered away from the two parents and sat in the study/office in the house as Julian filled Andrew in on all the goings on this term. They had made an investment in a couple of computer companies back in March and had directed several of the other unsuccessful proposals towards them, hoping to at least capture those individuals with computing skills. What none of them had was someone like Leslie to turn dreams into something that was sellable. Both Leslie and Julian had been involved in occasional calls and one visit with the people running the company. It had rekindled an interest in computing and in programming for Julian that he had not had for more than 18 months.

“I think all I needed was a break. So part of me is debating whether to complete my degree but not go to work in electronics or electrical engineering but rather to return to computing. Between Leslie and Doug we can get the business side covered. I must admit I am torn. But part of my hesitation is because you will not be there. When I was listening to them last month, I realised that I had never coded with anyone else, just you. I swear a couple of times I turned to ask you if you thought they were on the right track. Coding without you would be weird, at least at first.

“And no, this is not some cack-handed guilt trip on you. We all know that you will not be back to Edinburgh to live once you graduate from Cambridge. Sure we will see you all the time but you will not be here day to day. This is part of that realisation. What do you think?”

Andrew stood up and paced as he thought through everything that Julian had explained.

“How do you find working for other people? Is part of your flirting with computing to do with being more in control?”

Julian thought about that.

“I hadn’t considered that, but maybe. There is nothing too bad but sometimes you don’t know why you are doing something. I see that.”

“How will you cope if it does not succeed? Do you think, subconsciously, that you joining will make a difference? Remember we had some low moments during 1982 before we suddenly got the call from the West Germans.”

Julian started laughing.

“Well thanks for the buckets of cold water there.”

He waved away Andrew’s spluttered apologies.

“This is exactly why I wanted to talk to you. I knew you would not pull any punches.”

He thought about what Andrew asked.

“I think I would be okay but with all these things you don’t know until you go through it. I don’t have to have an answer immediately as I am working at Ferranti this summer and am going to finish my degree regardless but it would help with some of the discussions tomorrow to know what direction we are going with these companies.”

They went back out to join everyone else on the back terrace. Suzanne was still chatting away to Mary and Leslie had joined them so Andrew took the opportunity to walk down the long garden to see the shared pasture at the end of the garden. Standing looking at it, it appeared that it was a stranded lot, unable to get any access to a street, so it had ended up as shared common ground with the house next door. If they did ever get a horse it would be ideal, this secluded oasis in suburbia. As Andrew stood there staring out he thought about himself in the same position. Julian was giving himself choices, safe versus risky maybe, but choices nonetheless. As Andrew staring out over the field but seeing nothing he felt a small hand on my back.

“Don’t get all Greta on us Andrew. Come and chat.”

Suzanne had been at the wine while Andrew had been chatting. He leaned down and kissed her.

“Did you survive the interrogation?”

She giggled.

“Mary all but asked me my intentions. Now I can see why you kept all the fathers at arm’s length.”

She did not sound upset in the slightest.

“In fact it was very sweet, she said you looked very happy. It came across as a sort of parental concern rather than anything else. The interesting thing I couldn’t tell if it was concern for you or me. It was fine. What are you doing gazing off into space like this?”

“We can talk about it on the walk home. It is not a big deal, just something Julian told me.”

Andrew took Suzanne’s hand and they walked back up the garden. Despite offers from both sets of parents it was only a short walk and was a lovely evening so they strolled home. He told her about Julian thinking about getting back into computing through a start-up company rather than accepting a corporate job related to his degree. Julian was going to get an electrical engineering degree and go back to computing while Andrew had a computer science degree but was going to be an engineer. Suzanne said nothing, she just let him talk it through. They came back into the flat and joined Pete and Melody in the living room. They were watching some mindless drivel on the TV and switched it off when Andrew and Suzanne came in. Pete was as chatty as usual but Melody wouldn’t look at Andrew. He wondered what was wrong but when she went to the toilet Suzanne explained that Melody had been freaked out by the noises coming from the room last night and had cornered her that morning to ask if she was okay. Andrew laughed, thinking back to Abigail doing the same thing to Helena. Pete decided to pile on, just to make it worse.

“Is there anything you do badly?”

“What?”

“Seriously man.”

Andrew had a long list of failures at most sporting pursuits, especially anything with a bat or racquet, so started to list them.

“Oh shut up, you know what I mean.”

As Melody came back into the room Andrew decided silence was his only option. Suzanne however, had no such restraint.

“You can look at him Melody, he is not a beast. Well he is a beast but in a good way.”

Fuuuuuuck. Andrew don’t know who blushed more, him or Melody. Pete nearly fell of the couch and Suzanne was just sitting there with a smug grin on her face. It was an odd reaction from Melody given that she had been lying there naked, flashing her pussy at them not two nights earlier.

“I promise tonight we will be quieter.”

“Yeah right.”

This from Pete. Melody finally started to chuckle while Andrew just sat there shaking his head. He really didn’t care but was taken aback at Suzanne’s brazenness. It was unlike her to be so, so. Then it hit him. She was being ‘naughty’ in order to get a reaction from him later. Andrew shook his head and parked that until they went to bed. Deliberately changing the subject he asked Pete about the summer and the coming year.

“You have indicated you are going to stay here all summer. What about next year? How did you find living on your own?”

“It had some advantages given my exhibitionist girlfriend.”

Whack expected and duly delivered.

“It was lonely at times, yet it was also peaceful. The two of us could hang out here and I was able to study without a problem, but I also spent a lot of time over at mates’ places just for the chat. If you were here all the time it would be ideal but you are not, not even this summer, so I am thinking about what to do. That seems ungrateful, and I am not, but it did feel too empty at points last term.”

Andrew was not upset, it was not like he had lived there on his own either. More than three quarters of his time in the flat had been with Suzanne, they really did live together when he was up in Edinburgh. And also remembered the nights when he had been on his own. There was peaceful and then there was too peaceful. It was not unexpected.

“I understand. You are welcome to stay you know that but I get that it would be good to have flatmates or a flatmate to chat to every day.”

Andrew’s guess was that the flat would sit empty next year. When they were lying in bed Suzanne looked at him, eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Are you upset at me for talking about us with Melody?”

Her voice conveyed many things, contrition not one of them.

“You know Suzanne it was very naughty.”

He caressed her bum as she looked excited at this admission.

“But it was also blatant, trying to get exactly this kind of reaction from me. You are so bad.”

Andrew swatted her arse gently, just once. Then he slid Suzanne off him and pulled himself to the top of the bed, sitting against the headboard. This was the gentle face to face fucking that he enjoyed. It was the one position that allowed him to kiss without contortions. Suzanne looked confused.

“You are better than such obvious attempts Suzanne. You cannot manipulate me so easily. So your punishment is no punishment. You are just going to have to put up with a gentle fuck and lots of kissing.”

She knee-crawled up the bed and lowered herself onto him in one smooth motion.

“I love how you are always thinking of me, trying to keep me on my toes. But will you promise me something?”

Andrew nodded and kissed her.

“When we return from swimming in the morning you have to leave me a quivering wreck before you go to your meeting. Don’t tell me how, just let me fall asleep dreaming of all the different ways.”

The biting of her bottom lip was unnecessary. Suzanne could feel his dick twitching in her pussy as she described what she wanted. Her grin was breathtaking.

“You are still so easy to manipulate.”

Andrew’s own grin matched hers as they kissed and fucked languidly on the bed. Even their orgasms were languid, if there was such a thing. A gentle release rather than an explosion. They fell asleep a sticky tangled mess.

Their minds were clearly not on swimming the following morning and not long after they got there, both looked at each other and decided to bail. They almost skipped across the street in their haste to get to the flat. Clothes went flying as they closed the bedroom door. In the end Suzanne wasn’t a quivering wreck, but Andrew gave it a damn good try and she forgave him. When he came back into the room after showering Suzanne had thrown the bedcovers back and lay there, naked, tousled and sweaty, caressing her breasts while her pussy glistened with their combined fluids.