Andrea

"Keep it safe. For your eyes only. Excuse me rushing you Peter but I did not finish the grading last night, worrying about this. I must go. I'm right behind the eight ball."

Peter did not advance beyond the front hall. He well knew of Andrea's single-minded dedication to her teaching and students. He left a bit confused about the summary dismissal but was also full of anticipation about what he had in his hand.

Peter placed the envelope on the table. He brewed himself an herbal tea and looked at the small artifact that held so much promise and possibly pain. He savored the anticipation of the voyeuristic experience he was about to get, thereby increasing its value to him. He had trouble drinking the tea as his hand shook so much. He had to bring his mouth down to the cup on the table for the first few sips.

He then moved swiftly to insert the drive into the USB port. It was wrapped in a piece of paper that gave Josh's contact details. The loading seemed to take forever. Peter paced around his study as it loaded. There was three files on the drive, a file named simply 'Movie preamble see first -NZ-2016'; another large file 'Movie -NZ -2016' and the other was 'Selected stills - NZ-2016'. Peter was conflicted as to which he should view first, but eventually settled on the still shots.

As pulled up the file onto the screen he was surprised to see only about a dozen shots. He was expecting more. They were all showing Andrea as far as he could see from the thumbnails. As he drew them up to fill the screen he realized they were all art shots.

The composition of the shots were very skilled and Peter soon saw that none of them had either Andrea's face or the second person's, where there was a second person. They had been cropped and rotated to give a dynamic image in every case. There were tits and genitals to be seen for sure, and it was clear from the body type which were Andrea's, but there was no shot that allowed her identification.

Peter weighed this revelation and found it to be generous. If the video was the same Andrea was in the clear. Josh had taken great care in preparing this portfolio.

Only after this analytical assessment had resolved itself, did Peter look at Andrea's and the other's bodies. He found himself surprisingly unmoved by them. All the life classes he had taken came back to him. The conjoining of the bodies seemed remote and without eroticism. Peter felt like weeping although no tears came. His life was at a point whereby the anticipation of the arousal was stronger than the stimulus itself. He asked himself if he was now dead inside. No answer came to him.

Peter looked at the preamble. At the beginning Josh was seen sitting on a deck in a garden wearing khaki shorts and a green rugby shirt looking directly into the camera. He addressed the camera with quite a thick New Zealand accent. Peter noticed he was a good looking lad, and could see why Andrea would have found him attractive. The movie was more enlightening in one regard: it explained what he had seen.

"Andrea this is for you. I have spent much of the last 72 hours editing alone all the tape and photos that were taken on 4th July at our house. I used pretty sophisticated software lent to me by a friend who worked on the Lord of The Rings. He did not see any of it - he's away in Europe. I've used the software before so I was able to work with it effectively. Andrea, I have eliminated all reference to you in all the shots, including both your voice and your face. I have destroyed the source material, including tapes and flash cards from the still camera. I have kept your magnificent body though. Let me tell you putting this together has been a grand pleasure. The others, except Mo who had no interest, have seen it and liked what I did. Phil showed some disappointment because he wanted me to make this pornographic and paste it on the Internet. He was persuaded not to follow down that path. The others were quite content. I hope you enjoy this. "

There was a pause. " Just in case you are worrying I burned your contact sheet and it was not copied. I scrubbed all trace of my work from my friend's computer. I also suggest you may wish to erase and scrub this preamble so the other two files may never be readily linked to you. Enjoy the video. It lasts about 15 minutes."

Peter was very impressed with Josh and his understanding of what had happened. Peter knew Andrea was totally in the clear. Josh had a lot of class. Peter then settled down to watch the movie itself.

Peter's reaction was only marginally more intense than to the still shots. He felt detached. He was saddened. His libido had never been at a lower ebb in the face of what he would have found masturbation material when he was even a few years younger. Peter felt more than old: ancient, empty. Peter went to bed, curled into a ball and slowly drifted into sleep.

Peter e-mailed Andrea: "Can I come over this evening. Its important." He consciously avoided giving any hint of what he had found. A reply came back quickly, "Yes. See you a 7."

Peter copied the video and photos onto a spare thumb drive he had and renamed the files O1 and O2 - thinking "O" for orgy. Peter then busied himself with other matters all day to keep his mind off his own inadequacies rather than the content of what he had seen.

Andrea's face was grim when she answered to door for Peter. Peter gave a cheery, "Hard day?"

Andrea was in no mood for humor. She snapped, "What do you have for me? I could hardly concentrate all day. I feigned sickness to miss a staff meeting. I could not face them all. Please put me out of my distress."

"Bottom line - you're in the clear." Andrea's head fell to her chest and her shoulders curled in as her hands came up to her face. She started sobbing.

Peter closed into her and wrapped his arms around her back, the top of head on his chest. He stayed like this for a couple of minutes as she continued to sob. Peter gently caressed her back up and down, remembering the time he had attempted to run his hand up her back and under her sweater. Andrea had given him a tongue lashing. But she was content this time as he comforted her, staying outside of her sweater.

Andrea straightened and pecked Peter on the lips. It was a first. She reached for a box of tissues, blew her nose, wiped her eyes and smiled, "You must think me a silly minx."

"Not at all. I can understand the relief." There was silence for a full minute as they looked at each other in the eye. Andrea was the first to pull away. "Tell me."

"There are three files. You only need see one. Its Josh explaining he situation."

"What about the others? What's on them?"

"The orgy - there is no other way of putting it. One has still shots, and the other is a video. Josh did a good job of eliminating your face from all of the shots. He is also artistic. Someone could identify you from your mole patterns though." Peter tried to lighten the conversation.

"Could they really?" Andrea paused horrified for a moment but smiled as she realized Peter was making a joke.

"They'd have to know you pretty well already though."

"I recommend you see just one of them - Josh's preamble. Then destroy them."

"Can I see them all? No. No, let me think about this," spoken as she realized there were consequences whatever she did.

"Wait here. Back in five." Andrea dashed off upstairs.

Peter sat down in the living room, his mind with Andrea wondering how she was really doing. After about ten minutes Peter looked at his watch and resolved to give her another five minutes. Then he gave her another five minutes. When Andrea had not shown up he climbed half way up the stairs and called out, "You OK?" There was no reply. He climbed to the top of the stairs and repeated his question.

"In here. First door on the right."

Peter saw Andrea was sitting on the bed dressed in her running gear. She sat bunched over with her elbows on her knees, her clenched fists on either side of her head. As she turned to face Peter he could see a determined look on her face that he knew she had arrived at a firm decision.

"I've decided. I want to see all the files but I am not sure how I will react to them. Tomorrow is a school day so that's out. Let's have a movie night on Saturday. I'll pick you up about six-thirty. I have to see my dad at the care home earlier? Agreed?" Andrea was almost curt in her delivery.

"OK." Peter could see no point in arguing.

"Its decided then. I'm going for a run. Leave the thumb drive on the side." Running relieved Andrea's stress. Peter left the envelope on the hall table.

As they both left Andrea threw a comment off over her shoulder. Peter thought he saw a smile. "Oh, by the way don't forget your toothbrush." Before he had time to answer Andrea was 20 yards down the road.

As the week wore on Peter's mood swung between anxious and erotically charged. He planned the evening and stocked up to meet the possible needs, although he had no idea how the evening would play out. On Friday he knew he was ready for anything, until he received a phone call.

"Peter, I'm not sure how to say this so I'll come straight out with it - I cannot make it tomorrow night. I'd totally forgotten a dinner invitation from Dad's new girlfriend - she's just a good friend, I think. It was made over a month ago and had totally slipped my mind with everything else going on. She called a few minutes ago to confirm. I just cannot duck this one. I'm not sure what its about but could be important. Sorry. Can we delay for one week? I have checked and I am very definitely Ok for then." The words just poured out of Andrea's mouth.

Peter initially had a desperate sinking feeling, and thought, "Shit." But he was not totally thrown. This had happened once before years earlier. "Andrea. I can't say I'm not disappointed, but it sounds as if you do have to go to the dinner party. Lets reschedule for the following Saturday, the seventh I think it is." Peter was always accommodating toward Andrea.

"You're such a darling. I'll make it up to you. Promise. See you on the seventh. Same arrangement, I'll pick you up around six-thirty." She knew what to say. Peter's loins gave a jolt.

"Gotta go - grading to finish." Andrea hung up.

Peter felt strangely energized for the whole of the weekend and the week. He once observed in himself how much he enjoyed the anticipation. He ran through dozens of scenarios from the quite prudish to the most wanton fucking - although he serious doubted he ability to perform. It was all fantasy.

It was no surprise Andrea was twenty minutes late picking him up. As usual she did not apologize for her tardiness. Peter was ready. He's been shopping earlier. A good Merlot, the best Brie he could find, with crackers, and the chocolate cream pastries carefully boxed by the store sat over his toiletry bag and some electronic gear in a supermarket bag. He took his laptop in its separate case. He was good to go.

As they entered her house, Andrea immediately excused herself and went upstairs. Peter unscrewed the wine and placed it on the bench. The pastries went in the fridge. He opened the cheese and arranged the crackers around on a plate.

He wasn't sure it would work, but Peter connected his AppleTV unit to the TV with a cable he had brought. Peter was agreeable surprised AirPlay worked, and he could show whatever was on his computer on the TV screen. Due to his preoccupation with his preparations, at first Peter did not notice the heat in the house, but when he felt that he was almost sweating he checked the thermostat and saw the heat had been turned up to nearly eighty degrees. He almost turned it down, but thought better of it.

Andrea appeared. Peter immediately saw how she had dressed. Peter's eyes latched on Andrea. She had the white sleeveless blouse, slim line skirt, and black stockings. He could not help to look her up and down. "Wow. Nice." Peter then thought to himself "pink bra and white panties on underneath". The evening was beginning to take a constructive shape. His excitement grew.

Peter was suddenly disorientated. A figure emerged from the shadows behind Andrea.

"Meet Josh."

As Andrea saw the tears well up in Peter's eyes her heart sank lower than she could ever remember. She knew she had just betrayed her oldest friend.