Chapter 15

I woke up before dawn, seeing from Julie's alarm clock that it was almost seven o'clock. I slipped out of bed quietly so as not to wake Julie and Vee, and threw on some clothes, using the glow of the streetlights through the curtains to find everything. By the time I was dressed, Julie had rolled over - still fast asleep - and was cuddling Vee for warmth and company.

I presumed that her period - now in its third day - was still making her feel uncomfortable, and considered making her a fresh hot water bottle. But, as she was now against Vee, I decided that she'd be fine, and it would be better not to risk waking her. I wasn't going to be away long.

I knew that I'd have to tackle the problem of 'two's company, three's a crowd' before very long; although Julie had made me promise to keep Vee happy by giving her the sex she wanted, I felt that her presence was now badly restricting the time that I had alone with Julie.

And, being a man, I had absolutely no idea how to help Vee become less dependent on us.

I decided to try to talk to Sian sometime. I didn't want Vee going back to the bad old days of short-term sexual partners, but I didn't want to have to devote too much of my time to satisfying her needs. She wasn't the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but she had been a very good friend to us, and I certainly wasn't going to just drop her. She was a nice kid at heart, and deserved some consideration.

I quietly closed our bedroom door behind me, nipped downstairs and let myself out the front door, to quickly phone Sheila from the box on the corner, and to thank her for everything she had done for me over the weekend.

The rain had stopped, but there was a cold wind, and not too much sign of the sun coming up.

Adrian answered their phone in a rather sleepy voice; he said that they had only woken up a couple of minutes earlier.

I thanked him for putting up with me.

"No problem, mate, always nice to see you. But bring Julie next time, please!"

"Yes, of course I will. Is the Boss awake?"

"Yeah, here she is. See you!"

Sheila and I had a quick chat; I told her that I was keeping the surprise for Julie until I could actually deliver on the deal, and she agreed not to let the cat out of the bag until I had let Julie sample the new and improved Gustav.

"And thank you for letting me be the first to play with him!"

"No, thank YOU for putting me in touch with Dr Baxter. Are you okay after all that? I was quite worried that we might have overdone it."

"Well, I did have Twin cuddling behind me and two hot water bottles on my tum, so I kept warm, but I am a little bit stiff this morning - but nothing like as stiff as you were!"

I laughed at her pun.

"And I'm jolly glad that a) it didn't go to waste, and b) it went down afterwards. Gustav's a little red and tender this morning; no, not the wounds, but the rest of him that got inflated a little over the correct pressure. It's a bit like that first night I met you, when I didn't think I could possibly get it up for a fourth time, but I did and he was scarily stiff!"

"Don't! You'll get me all excited, and as we haven't yet showered, we're going to be tight enough on time to get to our nine o'clock lecture without any more distractions!"

"Oh well, thank you again, and we'll see you before long. Our love to you both!"

"And to you - kiss Julie for me, please!"

The pips sounded, the callbox wanting more money if we wanted more conversation. It was too bad; I had no more change.

"Will do - got to go, see you soon, darling girl."

"And you, darling man!"

The line went dead, and I went back to the flat to put the kettle on. I was a little surprised that no-one else was up and about, but then it was still only a few minutes after seven o'clock, and it was still pitch black outside, if you discounted the street lights. And there was another two weeks yet to go of the days getting shorter before the Winter Solstice.

Despite the coldness of the telephone box, Gustav had developed a partial erection while talking to Sheila - no surprise after being reminded of what the two of us had been up to - and I wasn't especially comfortable.

When I took the tea round, I begged a couple of Disprin from Vee, who asked no questions, and I quickly dissolved them in water and swigged it down.

Julie was much chirpier than she had been the evening before; she told me that she had slept much better with me beside her.

I had a good look at Gustav while I was washing and finishing dressing; apart from the tenderness I had described to Sheila, he seemed fine. The scabs seemed undamaged, and I had no problem restraining my curiosity. Poking them would undoubtedly hurt, and also increase the risk of infection. They were best left alone.

Julie knocked on the bathroom door - well, she tried to turn the handle and come in straight in as usual first - and expressed surprise that I had locked the door. I mumbled something about not being awake, but she was more interested in sitting on the loo for her morning wee.

Then she threw me out while she changed her tampon - even after all this time together, she still didn't want me looking at her when she was doing that, in case I was disgusted.

I'd tried telling her that I thought of her as my very best friend, but she was still incredibly defensive about the mechanics of menstruation. She knew that I had fucked my sister in the shower at the end of the summer holidays, while Jen was bleeding, but despite that, she felt that I shouldn't be exposed to such things.

I loved Julie so much that I would happily have changed her tampon for her, if I had been sure that I wouldn't have hurt her. I didn't have the same feelings about Vee, I was quite happy to leave her to her own devices. Surely that was a sign that I genuinely loved Julie, and that I'd do anything for her? I was worried that she felt so insecure about my love for her that she pushed me away when she was menstruating.

Mind you, I didn't like her being around when I was sitting on the toilet; the noises and smells were something I tried to keep to myself. I knew that everybody's shit stinks, but I still felt that my darling was fragrant compared to me! I most certainly couldn't fault Julie on trying to protect me from her less attractive bodily functions.

I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil before I set five places at the table. I tried not to think too much; I clearly needed to up my game with Julie before very long.

The whistle of the boiling kettle brought the others in.

Over our cereal and toast, Sian and Malcolm told me that they had really enjoyed their walk on the Saturday, despite getting soaking wet.

"Where did you go this time?"

"Oddly enough, not very far! One of the girls lives in Bridgend, and she took us down to the coast at the Aberthaw Power Station near St. Athan, and we walked from the car park along the cliff path to the Atlantic College at St. Donats, and then back again. It was very different being by the sea, and damn cold on the exposed bits, but really exhilarating!"

"He's being kind! It was an amazing feeling when we turned round at last and the wind wasn't blowing in our faces any longer!"