I Never Heard The Comma

For answer, I gently sucked his right nipple into my mouth, and swept my tongue softly back and forth. His cock started to grow under my hand, but we both knew that this story had to be finished. I let him go, and laid my ear on the wet spot on his breast and continued.

"'But I thought you were all tremendous,' I gushed. 'It was such an ....' I paused, trying to find the right word, 'educational performance. I have never seen it acted that way before, and it really made me think. Where on earth did you come you up with that approach? It was quite, quite unique!

"Cynthia swelled so much I thought she would burst. She looked hard at Allan and said 'Well Simon takes most of the credit, of course, but some of the things were my idea, weren't they Allan?'

"Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Richard looking slightly askance at that, but he was obviously too well trained to say anything.

"'Amazing,' I said. 'Simon had better look out, hadn't he Allan? I think we had better go and warn him that someone is after his place as Director' I laughed: Cynthia gave me a very concerned look. 'Oh! There he is now. Cynthia, Richard, we'll catch up later, but now I want to find out where all these other ideas came from.

"I dragged a stunned Allan with me. I'm not sure he could cope with this display of outright enthusiasm!

"Simon saw us coming, and held out his arms to welcome us. Maybe the vicar analogy wasn't so far off, I thought. 'Julie, Allan! I can't tell you how good to have both of you here at one of our little 'après show celebrations'! And, Julie, I do so hope it won't be the last! I meant what I said outside. It would do Allan's standing in the firm no harm at all if the partners were to see such family support.'

"Allan looked at me with an 'I told you so' expression.

"'Did you enjoy this evening? What did you think of our humble offering?'

"I was damned if I was going to let him intimidate me with that glare. 'Well, as I was telling Cynthia, I have never seen such a performance before -- and I have seen the Bedroom Farce a few times over the years. It really was quite ... educational, yes, that was the word I used. I learnt quite a few things tonight!' I couldn't stop myself from teasing him. 'Cynthia told me that some of the ideas were hers,' I mentally pumped my fist as his eyes hooded, and his expression flashed angrily. 'But she said that the real direction came from you: she would never have thought those things without your initial guidance.'

"'You want sycophantic, Allan?', I thought to myself, 'I can do sycophancy with bells AND knobs on!'

"Simon's expression resumed its habitual superior look. 'What can I say, Julie? When I realised we had to do the play for the anniversary, I talked to George -- he's one of my West End actor friends, by the way -- and we both agreed that there was just too much "Yorkshire" in the play: we felt it needed a more up to date treatment to reflect the way we all live down here in the South. Maybe I overestimated the sophistication of our audience, because I don't think they gave it the acclaim it deserved, but I thought it was a perfect allegory for our current lifestyle. Don't you agree, Julie?' his stare daring me to argue with him.

"Allan's expression was priceless -- I wish I could have captured it on camera. It told me that his whole future, not just in the Players, but in his firm, was dependent on my answer.

"'Oh absolutely, Simon! I mean, having Nick being so stereotypically gay rather than just plain ill, was just a masterstroke. That would never have gone down well in Scarborough! And that was just one of the changes! No, if it was allegory of the Pikewell lifecycle that you were after, I would say you got it absolutely spot on!

"'But how did you get your actors to adapt to the new approach? I know Allan has seen the usual interpretation, because we both saw the same performance years and years ago when we first met. I imagine some of the others must have seen it as well. This was quite a change!'

"Simon preened himself. 'Oh, it wasn't easy -- you're right about that! It was why we had so many rehearsals! Once I had explained the premise to the cast, and we had been through lots of role-playing sessions without reference to the script, it all seemed to fall into place! I'm really very excited by it. George was very taken by the direction and wants to discuss it with an agent or two in London.'

"I wanted to throw up in the nearest potted plant, but just about managed to keep a straight face.

"Simon continued. 'You are very perceptive, Julie -- as I say, not many others have appreciated my approach, but I can see that you understand it all. I really shouldn't be surprised, should I? I know that you produce the school plays -- so you, of all people, will have the vision to look at totally different points of view! Mind you, I don't suppose you could put that particular performance on in school!' he smirked.

"'Seriously, I want you to consider joining the Players in some capacity. I would love to work with you on the Direction side, and see if we can come up with some new twists to otherwise relatively staid classics. I am sure we could do something with Abigail's Party that would knock peoples' socks off!!

"'And with so many senior partners in the firm as members, it could do no harm to Allan's chances of promotion to the top table if you were to be co-Director. We will start work on our Christmas production soon, and it would be wonderful to have you on board for that. Think about it,' he finished.

"I looked at Allan, and then back at Simon. 'Well, if tonight's production was anything to go by, it would certainly be an interesting experience to see first-hand how such unique ideas were carried through to production! School plays don't give too much scope!' I chuckled.

"'But seriously, you are going to have to let me sit this one out: the term leading up to Christmas is just too busy for me at school. I have to look after the 6^th Form review, the Lower School Christmas play, and I have just found out that I will be the Acting Head of the department, as our current Head has had to take time out because her mother is seriously ill. With all of that, and my normal teaching load, I just cannot commit any time to the Players.'

"Simon nodded his head. 'I had heard about Martha's mother -- I'm sorry about that, but, if you have to work, we should congratulate you for being promoted to step into her shoes!'

"God, he was a smarmy, condescending git!" I confided to Phil in an aside.

"'I understand,' Simon said. 'Sit this next one out -- I'll explain to the others that you have other obligations that you cannot get out of. It's enough that you are considering it.'

"He turned to Allan. 'I'll see you on Monday, there are things we need to discuss. Now I must go and see to my other guests.'

"Simon turned back to me, and rather than offering me his hand, he pulled me into a hug, and, as he gave me a rather wet kiss on the cheek, he dropped his hands and squeezed my arse. My head jerked back in shock, but before I could say anything he was gone.

"'Did you see that?' I almost shouted at Allan.

"'Oh, don't fret, that's just the way he behaves with the people that he likes. You need to take it as a compliment', he continued, brushing off the whole thing. 'I'm on my way to the top table! You heard him. Everything I have worked for is paying off at last. I said you needed to get involved, but you wouldn't believe me! But now that you're here, and Simon knows you'll be on board............... Oh, how we'll celebrate when we get home!!'

"He was like a dog with two tails, and he just couldn't wait to get back home to wag one of them in my direction! As soon as he reasonably could, he dragged me out or there, marched me back to our house, and upstairs to the bedroom.

"It was almost rape." I shuddered at the memory. "He tore my dress off, threw me on the bed, stripped his clothes off, and while I was wondering why he wasn't wearing any underwear, lunged on top of me. He pushed my knickers aside and thrust himself into me. It was Pikewell Caveman at his most rampant, literally -- I couldn't remember him being this hard for a long time, and that's probably why it hurt so much. He was usually so inept, that it didn't matter whether I was wet or not, but this time, he was so obviously full of himself and his thoughts of being an alpha male, that the testosterone levels had gone through the roof.

"'Shit, Allan,' I yelled. 'You might at least warm me up a little before you act all He-man like.'

"He was so full of his own self-importance, he didn't hear, or at least acknowledge, me. He just ploughed me and ploughed on. Fortunately, his stamina was just as pathetic as ever, and before I knew it, he shot his load into me. He rolled off me.

"'Senior partner, Julie! I told you I would make it,' he crowed, staring at the ceiling. 'YES!' And with that he fell asleep and started snoring.

"I really didn't know what to make of it at all. I had been left, not just high and dry, but dumb-founded and dessicated. Even by his usual efforts, this was pretty damned abysmal. My mind was hopping all over the place. Gallows humour kicked in, and I thought that if you ever wanted to catch Allan 'in flagrente', you would need a bloody high speed camera to do it. More cynical thoughts followed.

"'The bastard really is just using me.' I realised. 'Well, at least he had been honest about that!'

"I got out of bed. Stepping over my torn dress and grabbing my robe, I went down to the sitting room. A large glass of Armagnac in hand, I curled up in the armchair and started thinking.

"After a while, I calmed down. I realised the evening and his performance hadn't really changed anything -- at least for the immediate future. Allan was still being a complete dick-head, but now I saw that he always would be: putting his own career above anything else, and just using me as a means to an end. I hadn't a clue what would happen when he finally achieved his goal -- probably ignore me completely, or treat me as his slave.

"I got angrier and angrier. If tonight had been an indication of his future attitude, he may well end up sharing the Top Table with his actor pals, but he certainly wouldn't be sharing my bed much longer. It was at that point that all of the inertia that had kept from doing anything earlier in our marriage disintegrated. I decided that I wasn't going to be treated like that and if he thought he could, he would be in for an unpleasant surprise.

"I fell back on the advice that I had pounded into David over the years, 'Don't waste your energy worrying about what may or may not happen in the future. If you can, and want to, influence the future, do so: if not, stop worrying, because you'll only give yourself an ulcer.'

"'Yes,' I thought, 'I could probably have some influence on the outcome, but the real question is: do I want to?' For the immediate future, though, I still needed to get David to, and through, University, and if that meant that I had to use Allan for my ends, then that's what I would do. Resolving to find out the following day just where I stood with regard to the house, and any claim that Allan might try to make on it, I went back to bed and the snoring wanna-be Casanova."

Phil and I shuffled around a bit in bed, easing the pressure points in hips and bums.

"Sure you want me to go on?" I asked, as I looked at Phil from the crook of his elbow.

"Oh carry on," he replied, smiling. "Your English lessons must be quite enthralling if this is an example of your story-telling!"

I looked at him, trying to work out if he meant it, or was just being sarcastic. "Mmmm..."

"The next few months just shot past. Allan and I carried on our non-relationship and, truth be told, only really saw each other at weekends. Allan was heavily into his rehearsals, and I could tell when they started in earnest because the 'Player-specific' smell of greasepaint was back -- this time with a few more different overtones.

"I hadn't lied to Simon about the Christmas term workload, and my week-end leisure time was non-existent.

"David started his final year at school, and although he and I chatted together when we could, he seemed more distant than usual. I put it down to the looming A-levels, and didn't push it. His relationship with his father had gone from cold to Arctic, and he always found some excuse to leave the room whenever Allan walked in -- even to the extent of bolting his meals whenever we all sat down together and dashing out with some excuse or other.

"At the beginning of December, Allan announced that Simon was holding a special party after their Christmas performance: it was to be a 'Noughties Party' in honour of the decade that was about to come to a close, and had specifically asked that I be there. 'Simon has had his secretary check the school diary: he knows about the final Lower School performance, so he accepts you won't be at ours, but then he says that there's nothing else on and so he won't take any excuse for your non-appearance.

"'Also,' Allan continued, 'the Firm will be announcing their business plans for the New Year shortly after, and I know that they are looking to expand next year. So you need to be there with me to remind Simon that we are committed as a family.

"Hearing that my usual escape routes had been blocked, I had no real choice but to agree. I couldn't see many benefits of creating a scene and refusing, so I went along with it.

"The weekend before the party, I asked Allan what the dress code was. You know how I always fall foul of the fashion police on my staff at school, so I needed time to prepare.

"'Something a bit risqué,' Allan replied. 'We have to make our mark,' he grinned. 'I heard Simon say that although it was a Noughties party, it should be interpreted as being spelt with an 'a' not an 'o'!' How about that white boob tube and those pink hot pants you wore to that 70's themed fancy dress party the school parents' association organised a few years back?'

"'For goodness sake, Allan! That was nearly 10 years ago -- I'll never fit in those pants and, if I remember, you were practically drooling over my tits all evening.'

"'Exactly,' he said with a lascivious grin. 'Just the thing! Simon and all the other partners will love it. More brownie points! Anyway, I'll bet you that's quite conservative compared to some of the things that they and their wives will be wearing.'

"Alarm bells started going off in my head, and Allan could see from my eyes that I was looking for a way out.

"'Oh no, Julie. You promised. No getting out of it now -- even if your maiden aunt is on her death bed! Which she can't be, as I know you haven't got one! Once you get a drink or two in you, you'll be fine -- Cynthia was telling me that she has got the recipe for a great punch from an old college friend, and apparently, it's a real ice breaker.'

"'What are you wearing, then?' I asked, taking a hit of the whisky I had poured myself.

"'Oh I thought I'ld wear a kilt -- then if people ask what does a Scotsman wear under his kilt, I can show them!'

"I spluttered. 'If you do that, I'm definitely leaving! It's bad enough having to go as some 70's tart without having to cope with you being some brazen hussy as well. Are you really sure I have to go? -- I do have a reputation at school to think of you know!'

"'Yes, you do have to go,' he almost shouted. 'And I know for a fact that a couple of your school governors are going to be there enjoying themselves, so you've nothing to worry about on that score -- you never know, it might even add another dimension,' he smirked.

"My eyebrows hit the roof at that one -- not that I knew many of the governors at that stage, but I couldn't help but wonder just what I was getting let in for, particularly given the tone in which he delivered that last remark.

"The evening came. David had gone out first thing in the morning. He had given me an odd look as he left, just saying that he would probably be staying the night at a friend's house. Before I had time to ask him who, he slammed the front door and was off.

"I spent as long as I could on my make-up -- Allan kept pestering me, and telling me that we were going to be late. When I finally joined him downstairs, he looked at me as though he was appraising some side of beef at the butchers. No 'You look great, darling!' or 'Fantastic, let's go and have some fun'. All I got was: 'I thought the 70's was the era of burnt bras and letting tits hang free -- you would look much more authentic for the times if you took your bra off.'

"'Allan, there is a fucking limit to what I am going to do for this party,' I replied angrily. 'Now, if you really want me to "hang free" as you so charmingly put it, I am not going to ruin this top with mascara and lipstick when I take it off, so I will first have to take all my make-up off, then take off my top and bra, then put the top back on, and then take the time and trouble to put back on all this eye-liner and eye-shadow. Then we can be really late -- even to the point of being past fashionably late. Would that make you feel more authentic?'

"'Christ, Julie, I was only joking,' he stuttered, although the look in his eye gave the lie to that. 'You look fine -- I'll get your coat, and we'll get going.'

"As we walked up the road, Allan seemed determined to lighten the mood: he started telling me some of the more amusing stories about his clients and what they had been up to, and how they needed to be rescued. It struck me that we hadn't talked like that for ages -- almost since we had first started dating. When he was in that sort of mood, he really was very likeable and as we walked up the path to Simon's front door, my foul mood had evaporated, and I was giving myself a good talking to about just enjoying myself, and having a fun time.

"Amelia, Simon's wife, opened the door. 'Julie, how lovely to see you -- and your Twiggy outfit looks wonderful.' I mean, Phil, look at me -- I know I'm not super endowed but even wearing a bra, I've got more than Twiggy ever had. How on earth could she get it so wrong?"

Phil chuckled, cupped my boob and confirmed that the handful he had was certainly nothing like the thimbleful that he would have had if he had ever had the chance of cupping Twiggy's. "If you move just a bit, I should check the other one as well -- I mean, we need to make sure they are a matching pair, don't you think?"

"You know perfectly well that they match -- you can't keep your hands off them!" I replied.

"Anyway, it soon became clear that Amelia's thoughts were elsewhere, because as Allan followed me through the door, she threw her arms around him. 'Daaaarling, I'm so glad you've come, it's been aaaaages since I've seen you.'

"'And to come as a Scotsman -- I didn't realise you had clan connections,' she gushed.

"'Oh yes,' Allan replied, trying to disentangle himself from her arms under my less than enthusiastic glare. 'The connection goes back ages -- the old castle still stands in the Borders, although we don't go to the ceilidhs as often as we used to.'

"This was news to me -- I had never heard of any castle in the borders, let alone any ceilidhs or even a Clan, for that matter.

"'Well, it looks fantastic on you -- don't you think Julie? And, Allan, you have to tell me, is it true about what Scotsmen wear under their kilt?'

"I groaned, and with a glare that had descended even further down the thermometer, let Allan know that his response would dictate whether he was solo or accompanied for the rest of the evening.

"'I don't know what you know, Amelia,' he chuckled, 'but you'll just have to carry on wondering, won't you. Now, where's the drink -- it's cold out there, and I'm sure that Julie would welcome a drink to warm up with.'