Chapter 3

Once Theresa and Carla had finished laughing at me Theresa gave me a smile,

"You certainly aren't predictable Jayne, not yet anyway, now sit down out of the way for a while and let me get some work done."

I sat quietly at the back of the room and watched in fascination as Theresa's photographer personality took over. She always seemed decisive and self assured but somehow once she had a camera in her hands she became much more assertive, almost snapping out her orders as she posed Carla. It soon became obvious that Carla's mind was not on her posing, several times Theresa had to ask her twice to move into position.

"Is something wrong Carla?" she asked eventually.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not in the right frame of mind tonight," Carla replied.

"Is it something you want to talk about?"

"Yes and no, I was going to talk to Jayne later but I think I would like to talk to you both, get another point of view."

"No problem, put a gown on and let's all have a coffee and some girl talk then."

Carla slipped a dressing gown on while I made us a coffee, Theresa was busy downloading her pictures to the PC. A few minutes later Carla and I were sitting on the sofa in the living room with Theresa at the computer desk in front of us. She finished what she was doing and spun the chair around to face us.

I looked at the two of them then turned to face Carla,

"Ok Carla, why don't you try and tell us what's bothering you?"

She hesitated, thought for a moment then began,

"First I need to tell you some stuff about me, it will just kind of help you see where I'm coming from. First of all I'm sixteen, I know you both knew that already but I just want it out in the open so you both know that the other knows ok?"

We nodded, it seemed as though Carla wanted to just talk so Theresa and I sat back and listened.

"Secondly I'm here on my own at university at the age of sixteen because my parents live abroad and because I'm kind of smart."

"How do you mean smart?" I asked quietly.

"Well, it's not really smart, it's just that I have an odd talent, I'm really good with numbers and stuff like that."

I stirred slightly,

"I remember reading something years ago about a twelve year old who was at Oxford University doing a maths degree."

Carla nodded,

"Yeah, well I'm not in her league but I am here doing a degree, I read a lot about her on the internet and she was too young, she never got anything out of being at university and I decided I was going to try and have a 'normal' student life."

"I think that was probably a very good idea," Theresa said, "there's that whole 'school of life' thing that you wouldn't get if you didn't do the normal student things."

I thought back to my years at nursing college, it had certainly opened my eyes to a few things.

Carla's voice brought me back to the present,

"I had a boyfriend at home, I got him to take my virginity when I knew I was coming here, I didn't want to be the only virgin in the university. Since I've been here I've had a couple of dates but I hadn't had sex with anyone; until the other week that is."

I started to say something, I did feel a little bit guilty, I felt I had taken advantage of her the other day. Although I had given her every opportunity to let things happen at her pace I knew she had probably felt pressured and I wasn't really very happy with myself. I started to say something but Carla interrupted me,

"No, don't say anything, I knew what was happening, what might happen, I wanted it as much as you did." She flashed me a smile, "and I did enjoy it, all of it, and I do want to do it again."

"But?" I asked, I could almost feel a 'but' hanging in the air between us.

"But I did go away confused about myself, our talk in the pub helped a lot Jayne but I still needed some time to sort myself out, to work out just how I felt."

"Of course, and you know that you can take all the time you need, we can talk anytime, and I am sure Theresa would be happy to talk to you as well."

"Yes, anytime," said Theresa.

"Thank you, both of you."

Carla looked unsure of herself and then almost visible took hold of herself and carried on talking,

"Anyway, like I said I was feeling confused," she looked at me, "you were bang on in the pub the other night, I was wondering if having enjoyed being with you so much meant I was gay, meant I couldn't have a relationship with a man."

"I'm so sorry," I said, "if I had had any idea I would never have let myself get so carried away."

"Don't be sorry," she replied with a warm smile, "I'm not, not now anyway, but I did do something rather stupid over the weekend and now I need some help."

"Anything I can do I will, and I'm sure that goes for Theresa as well," I said, shooting a glance at Theresa I saw her nodding.

"Thank you, that really means a lot to me."

I moved closer and slipped an arm around her shoulder,

"It must be hard being away from home and on your own like this, if there is anything I can do to make things easier you only have to ask.

Carla turned her head away from me for a moment then replied slowly,

"It's just that, well, I've never been away from home for long before and I really miss having mum around to talk to so I wondered if perhaps you could, you would..."

I felt devastated, having this lovely young girl compare me to her mother was not what I wanted to hear. I was even less happy a moment later when Theresa joined in enthusiastically,

"That's a great idea Carla, Jayne is that little bit older so I am sure she would be a perfect substitute for your mother."

They would have got away with it, at least for a while longer, but the artist in Theresa couldn't resist the temptation, she grabbed the camera and blasted off several shots of my face then collapsed in laughter.

"Oh my god Jayne, your face, that was absolutely priceless."

"You... you," I spluttered, feeling a mixture of relief that they were joking and annoyance with myself for falling for it so easily.

I turned to Carla and assumed a stern expression,

"Let me tell you young lady you aren't too old to go across my knee you know."

"Sorry mum," she said between giggles.

"Did you two plan this?" I asked Theresa.

"No, but when Carla winked at me just now I guessed she was going to try and tease you so I just went along with it."

I tried to glare at the pair of them but their laughter was infectious and I couldn't help myself laughing along with them.

"You really got me there," I said at last, "I suppose it was quite funny so this time I will let you off, after you kiss me and say sorry."

Carla slipped into my arms and tipped her head sideways slightly, I looked deep into her eyes as slowly I leant towards her. Our lips touched softly, just brushing against each other then with a soft moan she pressed closer her mouth opening slightly, her tongue tip flicking gently against my lips. Our kiss grew steadily more and more passionate then I was aware of Theresa tapping Carla on the shoulder,

"My turn."

Carla grinned, gave me a quick kiss and slipped out of my arms. Theresa slid in and a moment later her lips were pressed to mine. Carla was kneeling beside the sofa, sitting back on her heels and watching Theresa and I kiss,

"You two look so beautiful together," she sighed.

Theresa pulled away from me and turned her head,

"So did you and Jayne, I would love to photograph the two of you kissing if you wouldn't mind."

Carla shook her head,

"No I wouldn't mind, how about you Jayne?"

I grinned,

"I don't have a problem but..."

"You want a set of pictures for John," the two of them chorused before giggling and throwing themselves on top of me.

I wriggled out from beneath them making sure to get a couple of very warm kisses on the way and sat back down, this time I took the chair leaving Carla and Theresa on the sofa.

"Was that all you wanted to talk about Carla?" I asked, "or was there something more?"

"No, that wasn't all of it, I'm sorry, I was just getting to the point and then I just couldn't resist teasing you."

I gave her a smile,

"Are you ready to talk now?"

She nodded, paused for a moment then looked at me

"Yes. The other night when we talked in the pub you said some stuff about how I would probably feel confused after we had made love, unsure of myself, wondering if I was gay and so on."

"I remember."

"Well you were right, I did feel all of that. I did some hard thinking over the weekend about you two more than me really."

"Why us?" asked Theresa.

"Because the two of you seem to have already worked this thing out for yourselves, you have a boyfriend, at least Jayne said that was his picture by the bed."

"Yes, that's Alan, it's a good picture isn't it?"

"Mmmm very," replied Carla with a wink as she licked her lips.

Turning to me she continued,

"And I didn't have to spend much time with you to realise how much you love your husband and how important he is to you."

I nodded.

"And yet the two of you obviously also love each other, I could see that when you were kissing earlier."

She looked at the two of us calmly,

"I just couldn't work out how you could do that, or if I could, or even if I wanted to."

She sat back and looked at us waiting for some response. My heart went out to her, she looked so lovely sitting there and I knew I owed her the best explanation I could come up with. I glanced at Theresa and caught her little nod as she encouraged me to answer Carla.