Chapter 19

We went and collected Julie from the station in Mum's mini just before lunch. I got Jen to drive, mainly because she was more experienced, but also in case we couldn't park, and I had to hop out to meet Julie.

It also gave me another chance to have a good look at Jen and realise just how much she had matured in the last six months. My sister was now an absolute cracker, in my humble opinion. The man she married would be a very lucky bloke! Jen was confident, outgoing, capable and hard-working. She just needed to find a man worthy of her.

We managed to find and squeeze into a parking space close to the station entrance (even in those days there were definite advantages to driving a small compact car like the Mini), and forked out our tuppences for platform tickets, so that we could greet Julie as she got off her train.

She arrived pretty much on time, so we didn't have to wait very long at all. Her only luggage was an overnight bag, which I took for her. We kissed each other, but it was a bit public to do much more than that. I went in the back seat, and Julie took the passenger seat.

She said she was feeling very nervous about meeting our parents, and she did look quite worried, despite our both telling her that Mum didn't bite. Much.

To change the subject, Jen and Julie spent most of the journey home discussing what they were going to do to Gustav, given the slightest opportunity, over the next couple of days. His understanding of the spoken word appeared to be excellent; I was in some discomfort until I got my jeans adjusted so that he wasn't bent in half.

Jen told her that Mum and Dad had their annual dinner dance the next night, and that we should have a whole evening to ourselves. I had already thought of that, but Jen and Julie seemed to have big ideas for using that time as productively as possible, ambitions which were probably beyond Gustav's wildest dreams.

Julie was going to sleep on the 'put you up' bed in Jen's room; Mum had said that there weren't going to be any 'goings on' in her house, and that she could hear a floorboard creak at thirty paces. I think she was joking about the last bit, but I wasn't completely sure...

I hadn't bothered arguing; I really wanted Mum to like Julie, and there was no point in antagonising her. I realised that she was only saying it because she felt responsible to Julie's parents for looking after their daughter while she was under her roof.

Anyway, I knew there was no chance of Jen grassing me up for anything we did manage behind Mum's back! If Mum thought Jen was going to chaperone us, she was barking up the wrong tree. Jen was much more likely to assist us, egg us on, and even join in enthusiastically.

Getting home, we scrambled out of the Mini and into the kitchen, finding Mum boiling the kettle and opening the cake tin.

"Lunch will be about half-an-hour; wash your hands and have a piece of cake, and it will be ready soon."

Mum realised immediately that Julie was nervous of her, and therefore went out of her way to mother her. She kept talking constantly, so that there would be no awkward silences, and she soon knew more about Julie's family and upbringing than I did.

"And have you got any cousins, Julie?"

"Yes, Mum's sister's children, but I'm currently in disgrace there."

"How did you manage that?"

"Aunt Pat came over on Sunday to talk about arrangements for Christmas, and she came in Uncle Brian's car rather than her own. When I asked about it, she went very red, so of course like a fool I then asked if she'd smashed hers up. Then the story came out."

"They have a farm up on the moors, miles from anywhere. Apparently the previous week, she decided to nip down into the village while Uncle Brian was out because she'd missed something off the shopping list. She drove in her usual way, as if she owned the road, which I suppose she does. On one of the blind bends, she met Uncle Brian coming back from town in the van, driving as if he owned the road. With the sunken roads and high banks, neither of them had anywhere to go. Both vehicles got quite badly damaged, though luckily they were both unhurt. But they said that they are really struggling to convince the insurance company that it was a genuine accident!"

"But why are you in disgrace over that?"

"I couldn't stop myself - I laughed until I cried! I know the way they both drive!"

"Oh dear - let's hope they forgive you before too long!"

From the smile on Mum's face, I could tell that she too would have laughed fit to burst.

Once we'd finished our cup of tea, I started laying the table for lunch, and Jen and Julie took Julie's luggage up to Jen's room. They returned ten minutes later, giggling together like two schoolgirls. I suspected that some more confidences had been exchanged...

Mum had checked with me, and I told her that Julie ate anything and everything. So we had one of our childhood favourites, broiled kidneys on toast with crispy streaky bacon on the side. The best bit for me was always mopping up the rich gravy with the toast, and I made everyone another couple of slices.

xxxxxxx

After lunch, Jen and I took Julie back up to Jen's room to sort out the put-you-up bed; no sooner was the door safely shut behind us than I took Julie into my arms, and attempted to kiss her into oblivion.

It turned into pretty mutual oblivion, and when we at last came up for air, Jen had her arms folded across her chest, and her body language suggested that she was a touch miffed at being left out.

So I let go of Julie, but to my great surprise, and growing delight, Jen grabbed hold of Julie rather than me, and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of my girlfriend, who responded enthusiastically.

When they emerged from their clinch, I tapped Julie on the shoulder, and then did my level best to make my sister weak at the knees. That turned out to be quite a tricky task, as Jen hadn't forgotten any of the kissing tricks that I had taught her. I was the one who staggered as we let go of each other, and had to sit down on her bed. The two girls kissed each other in celebration at defeating me.

We were all breathing heavily and our faces were flushed. Jen sat down on the floor with her back against the door, so that we wouldn't be interrupted, and Julie perched on the bed next to me. It was time to talk.

"Jen, did you have an orgasm with that bloke you said you fucked?"

"Who, Mr Grunt? No, Julie, every time I felt the sensation building up nicely, he would give another grunt, and I'd be so busy trying not to laugh out loud that I'd be starting from scratch again. So no, I didn't come until after he had gone back to his own room, and that wasn't really satisfying."

"So you haven't had a decent come since that weekend you spent with the twins?"

"No, I haven't! And that's been two whole months!"

"God, we'd better do something about that when your parents are out tomorrow night. Now that I'm getting regular loving from Jon, I couldn't imagine going so long without it ever again. There's no way I'm being separated from him next summer holidays; I'm coming to work with you two at the vegetable factory!"

We finally got around to extracting the spare bed from under Jen's bed, unfolded it and put the legs up, and then Jen went to get the bedding from the airing cupboard, and we made it up for our guest.

Then we all trooped downstairs to make Mum (and ourselves) another cup of tea.

Mum was doing some baking, as she had promised; as well as making some shortbread, she prepared a big steak and kidney pie for lunch on Saturday. She was a firm believer in cooking in bulk, and also made a couple of apple and blackberry pies to put in the freezer for the coming week.

Dad liked pies even more than I did; he even loved them heated up again the next day and served with cold custard and a dribble of cream. Sometimes he treated himself to a dollop of ice cream on top as well!

Dad came home at half past four, and I introduced Julie to him. They seemed to get on very well, and he was soon talking easily to her across the kitchen table. I noticed that he wasn't being shy with the shortbread either; it looked as if there wouldn't be much left to go in the tin.

Mum made a quick phone call at six, and then announced that we were all going to the steakhouse for our evening meal. This was a real treat, and I made sure to thank Mum and Dad for welcoming Julie so generously.

As usual, the steak was excellent. With grilled tomato, battered onion rings, mushrooms, peas, and a pile of proper chips, it was a real plateful. Jen insisted that Julie join her in having a special Knickerbocker Glory for dessert; the people who ran the steakhouse knew Mum and Dad well, and had already assumed that Jen would have her favourite!