Briget

This is a long one by way of warning!

Briget

Hi, my name is Vincent Flaherty but everybody just calls me Vince. Anybody who calls me Vinny I simply ignore. I'm no mafia hoodlum. This story is about my best friend Briget Dougherty and I and how that all changed rather suddenly.

We've known each other forever. I know, I know, everybody says that about their best friends, and I guess it's as true for us as it is for anybody. We actually met on our first day in kindergarten. Where we went to school, preschool wouldn't arrive as anything more than a foreign concept from the big city until we were both in the sixth grade. That was also the year she and her family moved out of town.

You see, we haven't always been best friends, since we were so efficiently separated at that point. Unlike a lot of kids our age though, we somehow managed to keep in touch. I guess it was both our parents' promiscuous allowance of phone usage by us kids that made it possible, or even likely. We even managed to keep in touch from across an ocean, as they were in France for a couple of years when her father was sent over there to head up a new and growing department in his company. Actually, I guess I should say the company he worked for, since he didn't own it.

Anyway, they spent five or six years over there and Briget sent me a couple of pretty cool souvenir goodies for Christmas and my birthdays. In return I sent her some stuff I'd made in woodshop classes at school and some stuff I made on my own. We'd always joked that we were born and raised in Nowheresville, BFE. It was true enough that there wasn't really anyplace I could go to find what I considered a decent gift, even though I had the money. I wasn't lazy after all and I did everything I could to earn a few extra bucks for when I wanted something. My parents were of the opinion that children appreciated things they earned more than those they were just given, so my brother, sister and I earned our allowances with actual work, and any extra we wanted from our neighbors by doing chores for them as well. I at least, I don't think I can say the same for my little brother or little sister, learned the value of a dollar very quickly, and I was never a wasteful type. Most of that money ended up getting deposited in a savings account.

Needless to say, I was shocked when my first Christmas gift of a cute little two drawered jewelry chest was greeted with a phone call with a fourteen-year-old Briget blubbering tearful thanks to me from across an ocean and over forty-five hundred miles away! She loved the fact I'd made her gift with my own hands so much, that I decided that not being able to buy her stuff was actually cool. So it was that the next Christmas followed with a matching Hope Chest and the next birthday with a silver wire wrapped amethyst heart pendent because as an Aquarius and born in February, it was her birthstone, and for her eighteenth birthday with a handmade ring I'd designed and wove in a Celtic pattern with the aid of one of our neighbors out of sterling silver wire, both meant to go into that jewelry chest,. All three of those gifts were greeted with tearful thanks as well. Needless to say, that made me feel good. That became our gift giving tradition. She would buy me interesting little things that made her think of me when she found them, and I would make her things.

Both our lives went along the usual paths for American kids our ages. So it was, that when I graduated highschool I found myself making plans to move down to Florida with a cousin where he was planning to go to college at the university of Florida in Gainesville and I was planning to find a job. Probably doing something in construction or building maintenance or something along those lines. I'd always liked that kind of work and knew enough to get my foot in the door at most places, even if I didn't have any education or certified training. It also helped that Florida is a right to work state, which meant that the unions wouldn't be an issue in getting a job.

Of course, real life rarely takes one's plans and expectations into account. Thus it was, that things didn't go exactly as I'd hoped they would. First of all, my cousin Drew was going to school on a sports scholarship, so that was paying for his schooling and provided a small housing allowance as well. That housing allowance was enough to cover the athlete's part of a shared dorm room, or it could be used instead toward off campus housing. This was the plan I'd agreed to, not knowing that Drew had no plans at all for how to pay the rest of his part of the lease agreement.

Fortunately for me, the apartment complex was meant and set up for accommodating the University Students and was thus subsidized by the state and the college and was therefore far less expensive than a two-bedroom apartment like that would otherwise have been. Also fortunately, the apartment was furnished, although sparsely, so we wouldn't have that expense either. Unless of course we wanted to upgrade anything or add to what was there for our own use. Drew's parents had made sure he had a healthy ten-thousand-dollar safety net in his savings account, and they'd verified that I had the same, though I'd earned every penny of mine through my own efforts, before they'd approve our plan. They figured this would be enough to keep us out of trouble.

Drew of course, not having learned the lessons I had growing up, decided this was a license to live large. He put off finding a job and went immediately into party mode. The only thing saving him was the fact he was smart enough to know that drugs were the road to nowhere and he wanted no part of them. Still, alcohol could and did do its fair share of damage to his finances, as did the women he favored. It seemed like most of them were only interested in what he could get for them, either in status, or what he could and would buy for them. Needless to say, his party fund soon ran out and his safety cushion vanished.

I of course was looking for a job the moment I finished unpacking my stuff, and I found one within my first week of looking. So it was that I was working full time and not doing too badly in keeping up my end of things. Within the first three months of our residency though, Drew was no longer contributing to groceries, paying his share of the utilities or the phone, internet and cable bills. Since the cable and phone bills were in his name, I simply let them lapse. The internet was in my name though, so I locked the account so that no service increases or other purchases could be made from it using my credit information. Drew didn't seem to notice any of this until he got a call on his cell from his coach asking why his home phone was telling him it was disconnected. Then he noticed that the cable service was no longer working as well and he confronted me about it. I laughed at him and told him I wasn't paying for services I didn't want or need anyway, especially if he wasn't paying his share! Those services were in his name after all.

That didn't shut him up for long though. Somehow, he managed to talk his parents into footing the bill for a couple of more months until he could find a job. Then he was making excuses about how little time he had to look for work with his busy class and sports responsibilities. Since I was well out of it, I didn't bother worrying about it either. They harped and complained at him, then at me, to which I replied that I never gave out the home phone number because I considered it his and I'd never had any use for cable TV, so I didn't see any need to pay for them, and that was why my name did not appear on those accounts and I would not be held responsible for said accounts.

They were not happy about this at all, and couldn't believe I had no use of those services. My response was to send them a shot of his phone bill with a text pointing out that all the recorded outgoing calls were to numbers he called, and none to any of mine. Whether they believed I didn't use his cable service for anything other than free programming or not really didn't matter to me. That was between him and them., and that's the way it would stay as far as I was concerned. There was a bit more drama on that subject before everything finally got straightened out of course, but that's not what this story is about so I'm done with it.

When our lease ran out a year later, Drew wanted to move his girlfriend in instead. By this time, I too had a steady girlfriend and she too wanted to move in with me. So, my girlfriend Jackie and I began looking at apartments while Drew and Sheri planned to stay in that apartment. It seemed especially appropriate since they were both students at the University and I wasn't. Jackie was, and on a cheerleading scholarship, but her parents were willing to fund her share of the lease. In my case, by this time I'd established myself well enough in the area that my job was secure and my income enough that I could, if necessary, afford the apartment on my own. I made sure that none of the units we were seriously considering were beyond the point where I could support it on my personal income. That caused a few arguments between Jackie and I, but I refused to back down on that point and she finally agreed it was a good idea. Interestingly, her parents approved of the idea as well. Probably because it would help limit their own costs.

We ended up in a single-story relatively luxurious condominium with two bedrooms, two baths, access to a large pool and gym facilities, a spa and sauna, and a two-car garage. How this place was affordable was a mystery to both of us. As it turned out, it was because the maintenance was far below par. It didn't take long for the maintenance job to become mine once the landlord found out what I did for a living. My pay for that job was free rent, basic utilities and full cable service and internet. This basically meant that all of my income was mine to do with what I pleased. I wouldn't have accepted the job, except that it also came with a company Home Depot ®credit card for use in acquiring needed parts and materials for repairs and service along with a firm promise that as long as I could prove the part or purchase was necessary for a needed repair, I wouldn't be argued with over any purchase. With this guarantee of being allowed to do the job, I was willing enough.

Needless to say, Jackie's parents had no need to know any of this as far as she was concerned. The money was already going directly into her personal bank account and she was paying her share of the rent from there. Now the money was just hers to do with as she liked.

In the fall of that school year, Briget surprised me by announcing that she would be attending the U of F in the second semester after her year-and-a-half-long post highschool graduation hiatus. Her parents had already found her a nice apartment near the university and they were in the process of furnishing it. Once she'd learned I was moving to the area, U of F became her first choice of which school she wanted to attend, and since her parents and grandparents both had been contributing to a college fund for her use all her life, she actually had the funds to choose which school she wanted to go to. So long that was, as her parents and grandparents approved of her course of study. She'd chosen psychology and sociology and they'd approved immediately.

Jackie of course did not greet this news as happily as I did. This is where I learned that she was a high maintenance woman. One prone to jealousy, and moodiness when she wasn't getting her way as it turned out. Within a few months of Briget's moving into town and their initial meeting, she'd broken up with me in an unprovoked fit of jealous rage. She just couldn't understand that a man and a woman could be just friends with absolutely no romantic feelings between them as we both told her repeatedly. But that was the way we were back then. Or at least so I thought... looking back now though...

Briget was only interested in a four-year degree. She had no interest in attaining a Master's Degree or a doctorate. "I'm not in this to make a name for myself, I only wanna help people." Was her way of putting it, and that was just her. Her schooling went as smoothly as could be expected and she had no troubles there.

Like any real human being though, especially at that age, the social life is another matter. We both had the usual relationship successes and failures, though neither of us ever married. We both managed to avoid the pregnancy and STD traps through the simple expedient of never having unprotected sex. We were both adamant on that particular subject, even when subjected to ridicule. When that happened too, we simply agreed we wanted nothing to do with those individuals again and we back one another up on this one hundred percent. It was these things that brought us to realize we really were best friends, and we were people the other could count on.

While she was in school and I was working, I think Briget went through six or seven boyfriends altogether. She commented that none of them had been the kind of people she would want to spend her life with. In the same time, I met, dated and broke up with or was broken up with by three women. Once again, none of them the kind I wanted to make a life partner.

Once she graduated and found a job she liked, she quickly moved into an empty unit in the same condo complex I lived in. This worked out well for both of us because we both already had several friends living there too. Of them all though, the most fun were a lesbian couple by the names of Kelly and Magan. They shared the condo across the courtyard from mine and they loved to throw parties using the condo's lounge and rec room which also gave access to the pool, spa and sauna. Briget had attended several of these parties with me, oftentimes with her boyfriend and or my girlfriend at the time in question, so she was already familiar with and liked by most of my friends there. So, when that unit, a one bedroom with a one car garage opened up, it was inevitable that she would jump at the chance.

Of course too, with my persistence in doing the maintenance job right, I was soon given the right to hire a helper to help keep up with the workload. This had a benefit not only for me and the residents, but for the stockholders as well. This was because the complex's reputation improved with the better maintenance and increased security due to that maintenance, which allowed an increase in the lease rate and made the stockholders more money, which with the improvements my work made, made everybody happier. That along with the other advantages convinced Briget this was the place she wanted to live.

Of course, that maintenance job was only a part time affair I scheduled around my real job's hours. My real job was as a Fire alarm and security installer and service specialist. The company I worked for specialized in everything to do with fire protection and security, from designing and installing fire suppression, detection and alarm systems, to designing and building custom integrated security bar, gate, security and alarm systems. I worked in every part of the operation and my job was never boring because of it. My flexibility also made me an extremely valuable employee that management quickly learned they could count on to get things done. They all knew I would never let office politics keep me from doing my job and they loved me for it. Of course, I wasn't overly popular with the ones who played those kinds of games, but the higher ups knew I was someone not to be messed with because the company's reputation rested firmly on mine and a couple of other like-minded guys' shoulders. If they messed up too badly and we decided to walk, the company would fall apart in no time and they all knew it. The majority of our customers made sure of that.

My stock in the company went up even more when I secured the complex's fire alarm and security accounts for the company. This got me a minor post on the company's board of directors at the age of twenty-five, though I left most of that business to the higher ups and spent my time doing the job I preferred.

Anyway, back to the meat of this story. Now to say that Briget and my relationship was entirely platonic would probably be going too far. Ever since Briget had come back into my life in person, I've been harboring feelings of attraction and of course sexual desire. I am after all, a straight man who knows a beautiful woman when he sees one, and Briget is to die for! She's five foot nine and about one-forty or so, with all the right curves in all the right places. Her hair is light golden brown, mid back in length and she wears it in loose ringlets. She has the biggest brightest bluest eyes in an elfin face, with high cheekbones and a cute little nose, and her body... Her breasts are large and full and round and very bouncy as she amply demonstrates every time she goes braless. and though I never saw her naked in person, I guessed they were probably at least a D or more likely a DD cup. I did see her working out often in the gym, so I was well aware of her washboard abs, rock hard hips and thighs and her perfectly round bubble butt. She could easily be described as muscular, but not excessively so.

I'm not afraid to say I was proud of my own body. I put a lot of effort into maintaining it, though most of that was actually done at work as I always worked hard and avoided labor saving shortcuts that could also negatively affect the quality of my work. Since I also loved to swim, was a certified scuba diver, loved boating and being out on the water and just being outdoors in general, I got all the cardiovascular exercise I needed too. So, I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise what happened next.

* * * * *

We'd both just arrived at my place coming from a little friends' get-together at Kelly and Magan's place. Deciding not to call it a night yet, Briget turned on my rarely used TV and tuned in a Skinimax softcore porn movie. This was one of her favorite things to watch after hours and I never argued. Why argue about watching attractive people making out and getting it on anyway?

She started looking around the room speculatively and I wondered what she was up to. Sometimes she would get into these strange teasing moods that were always fun, but always left me wondering if she was serious or not. But since she'd never followed up on any of it, I'd just assumed it was her having a little fun at her best friend's expense. After all, what were friends for if you couldn't have a little fun with them?

She picked up a bottle of massage oil that Kelly and Magan had given me for my last birthday. That was their go to gift for all occasions. After all, who couldn't find a use for good massage oil? A single could use it to massage a friend or lover or make a friend into a lover after a massage, and a couple could use the oil to massage their partner until they were ready to make it more than a massage. Or they could just use it to enhance their love play! Kelly and Magan were all about life being a series of chances to express oneself sexually, and they firmly believed that as many of those opportunities should be taken advantage of as humanly possible!

"You haven't even opened this yet!" Briget giggled grinning at me, "How long's it been? You know how Kelly and Magan feel about that kind of stuff!"

"I was just recently made single when they gave that to me, remember?" I chuckled, "I figured I'd just save it until one of those glorious opportunities came up! It just hasn't quite yet, that's all."

She just grinned evilly at me. "It is now, I want a massage!"

I grinned right back at her, accepting the challenge in her eyes. "Sure, I can do that. Where do you want it? Should I do your neck and shoulders?"