Close Observation Ch. 10

A girl answered the door. Ron thought he'd got the wrong house. She was pretty. He could hear talking and laughter behind her in the house. The door opened wider and a young man emerged, next to the girl. He put his arm round her, his hand on her shoulder.

'Hi, is it Ron?' he asked.

'It is indeed,' said Ron. The young man leaned to his left slightly, he was trying to get a look at Emma and Marie, stood behind Ron. The girl was doing the same thing.

'Please come in,' said the young man. Ron thought he was a pretty boy. He had blonde hair, cut in what Ron assumed was a fashionable, hipster style. He looked like what they used to call a 'trendy' when he was in the army. Ron thought that the young man and the girl looked like a couple. He walked behind them into the hallway. He felt attracted to the girl. She had some meat on her, but she looked fit, and she was great-looking.

Ron, Marie and Emma got into the hallway and closed the door behind them. The young man and the girl were nervous and embarrassed. They were looking at Marie and Emma. Ron thought they were impressed. They weren't saying anything, and it felt awkward.

'I'm Ron, these are my friends Helena and Emma,' said Ron. The young man was red in the face, and flustered.

'Hi, my name is Tarquin,' said the young man. For fuck's sake, Ron thought. 'And this is Elaine.'

'Hi,' said Elaine, nervously. Ron couldn't help but notice that young Elaine was looking at Marie and Emma, and she seemed impressed. A door was ajar behind them. The laughter and hubbub he had heard before from further in the house had stopped. He could see the face of another young man (another pretty boy) peering through the gap in the door, looking at himself and at Marie and Emma.

'Do we need to give you the money?' Tarquin asked him.

'No. You can sort the paperwork out with Helena and Emma. I'm just here to watch over things and make sure everyone's ok,' said Ron.

'Can we get the paperwork sorted first?' asked Marie. He assumed she must have been nervous, but she spoke confidently. Ron was reminded of how difficult tonight might turn out to be.

'Certainly... Would you like to step into...?' Tarquin gestured to his left, where a doorway led into a front room. The three of them went in there whilst Tarquin and Elaine went through the door which had been ajar. As the door opened Ron could see the young man who had been peeking out. He was another good-looking guy. He was slim and not remotely imposing. Ron had seen two men so far and was confident that neither would be a problem unless they were holding something sharp.

They didn't sit down in the front room, which was very tidy and looked almost untouched. It wasn't long before Tarquin came back in. He had two envelopes, with Marie and Emma's names written on them. He'd forgotten which one was which and gave Emma Marie's envelope and vice versa. Marie corrected him and they laughed. Ron noticed something in Marie's tone of voice when she spoke to him, and he looked at her. Her eyes were sparkling. He noticed her body language. She was attracted to Tarquin; Ron was sure she was.

'Can you give us a minute?' asked Emma.

'Certainly,' said Tarquin, looking confused. They needed to count the money. Tarquin went out. Marie and Emma counted the wads of notes in their envelopes. They turned away from each other when they did. When Marie had counted her money, she put the envelope in her bag. Emma counted her money then asked Ron if he would keep it for her. He put the envelope in his pocket. Ron heard someone coming.

'Right, let's go and get fucked,' said Emma. Marie snorted with laughter.

Tarquin nervously looked round the doorway.

'All good?' he asked.

'All good,' said Marie.

'Ok. Ladies, would you like to come through and meet everyone?' said Tarquin.

'We certainly would,' said Marie.

Ron thought that Tarquin might well be a nice man, but he was sure that every single person in his platoon in the army would have struck him for being called Tarquin. They followed him into the kitchen.

It was three men and three women, not six men, as he had assumed. This would be nothing he couldn't handle, unless people were holding something sharp.

It looked like the kitchen was where they hung out. It was a large kitchen. It looked lived in, there was stuff everywhere. A couple of people were sitting by a large wooden table set against a wall, one male, one female. Music was playing in the background. The music wasn't to Ron's taste.

Ron suspected that this was the 'in' crowd. They were good-looking, and their clothes looked so ridiculous to him that he assumed they were fashionable. One of the ones sitting down was even more of a pretty boy than Tarquin; he had blonde hair as well. He was very slim. He wore army boots, which amused Ron, and very tight blue jeans with turn-ups. Ron didn't know why young people wore such tight trousers.

Marie walked straight up and sat on the guy's lap. Emma was stood next to Tarquin. She reached out and cupped his crotch. She started to gently rub his crotch.

Ron went and took an empty chair by the table. He took his phone out.

A young girl was sat on another chair close to Marie and the blonde pretty-boy. She was blonde as well (why were so many of them fucking blonde?). She was petite and slim. There was a tightness to her body, she looked fit and toned. Ron thought she was very glamourous. Marie leaned towards her. She made a little beckoning gesture, and the girl leaned towards her. Marie kissed her. They leaned closer together, kissing deeply and touching each other's bodies.

When Marie had walked in and sat on the young man's lap, the atmosphere had changed. Ron thought that it was like these youngsters had suddenly realised that this was for real, this was going to happen. When Emma reached out and cupped Tarquin's genitals, the atmosphere changed again, it seemed to get more intense. When Marie and the petite blonde girl started kissing, Ron felt things go up yet another notch. The room was silent. Everyone was watching the two of them.

Emma kissed Tarquin softly on the side of his face. She was still cupping his genitals and gently rubbing them. She whispered something to him. He gestured back towards the doorway. Emma seemed to lead him by his genitals, she kept her hand there and gently took him towards the door.

'I must insist that no bedroom doors be completely closed or locked, ladies and gentlemen, I need to be able to see in to check things are ok,' said Ron.

'Ok, no problem,' said Tarquin over his shoulder.

Marie broke off from the kiss. She got off the young man's lap. She took the hand of the petite blonde girl and the hand of the young man whose lap she'd been sitting on. He got up from the chair. The three of them went out through the door.

Left in the room were Ron, Elaine, and two other students, one male and one female. The male was tall. He was slimly built. He was good-looking, if not pretty like the other two. He had dark brown hair. One of his ears was pierced. The girl had dark hair dyed cherry red, like Katie's. She was pretty. She had green eyes. Ron thought she might have been the prettiest out of the girls. She was short and petite, her figure was very impressive. She had large breasts which made her jumper bulge outwards. She looked fit but there was a softness about her body. He found all of the female students attractive and wondered why these young men felt the need for professionals.

It was awkward in the room.

'I'm Ron,' said Ron. He looked at Elaine. 'You're Elaine. We've been introduced.' He looked quizzically at the tall, dark-haired young man.

'Hi, I'm Raf,' he said.

'Hi Raf,' said Ron. He looked at the red-haired girl. He thought she was gorgeous.

'Caroline,' she said, nervously.

'Shall we go and...' said Raf to Caroline. He touched her upper arm with one hand and gestured towards the door behind Ron with the other.

'Ok,' said Caroline. They left the room.

'Can I get you a drink or anything?' asked Elaine. She was red in the face. Ron wondered if she was embarrassed about being left there on her own.

'Glass of water would be lovely,' he said.

She got him a glass of water and brought it to him. Ron thanked her. She took a seat on the other side of the table. Ron was looking at his phone. His niece had sent him a short video of a football player making a mistake. Straight after, the camera panned to an old man in the crowd who laughed hysterically in response. Ron thought it was a funny video.

'I'm nervous,' said Elaine.

'Really?' said Ron.

'Yeah. We haven't done this before,' she said. Ron thought her eyes were beautiful.

'No? You haven't been with escorts?' asked Ron.

'No,' she said.

'How does this work, are you all couples?' asked Ron. Elaine smiled.

'We're all friends. We've finished our portfolios today, this is a celebration,' she said.

'What was in your portfolio?' asked Ron.

'We do a series of paintings,' she said.

'What do you paint? Asked Ron.

'It was still life stuff,' said Elaine. Ron didn't know what that meant but wanted it to seem as if he did.

'Nice. Were you happy with yours?' he asked.

'It was ok. If we'd been having less fun it would have been better,' said Elaine.

'I bet,' said Ron.

'I'm not that experienced with all this stuff. I've only been hanging around with them for a couple of months,' said Elaine.

'Ok. Grab yourself a stiff drink, we'll have a wander upstairs and look at what's going on, ok? Don't be nervous. Emma and Marie won't hurt you,' said Ron.

There were different bottles of booze around. She got herself some vodka and put some sort of juice from a carton into it. They headed back to the hallway, then up the stairs. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder blades as they went. Ron could hear stuff going on as they got to the top. He could hear Marie.

It was one of those terraced houses that looked small and narrow from the front, but which went back a long way. They walked across the narrow landing towards the nearest bedroom. The door was halfway open. He took a quick peak in. It was the two students, Caroline and Raf. Caroline was fellating Raf. Ron didn't want to watch them, but Elaine lingered in the doorway. Ron watched her as she watched them. He thought she was aroused by seeing them.

He softly pulled at Elaine's arm, wanting to continue his patrol. She followed him along the landing to another room where a light was on and the door was ajar. It had to be Emma, because he could hear Marie further back. Tarquin was sodomising Emma. They were both applying themselves energetically to their task. Emma was on all fours on the double bed. The bed was squeaking underneath them. He suddenly put his right hand on the top of her shoulder and seemed to renew his efforts, jerking her body back onto him, and thrusting harder. Ron knew when Emma was enjoying herself. He was pretty sure she liked what Tarquin was doing. She wasn't making any noise but there was a little, tight smile on her face.

Ron was happy that things were ok. Elaine seemed to want to stay there and watch for a while. She looked at across at Ron.

'Is she bi?' she asked. Ron smiled.

'Very much so,' said Ron.

They went further along the landing. The next occupied bedroom was on the other side and it was where he could hear Marie. He felt a bit like he had when they'd been leaving the Forward Operating Base in Helmand. He was walking forwards because it was his job to, but he wanted to turn around.

Marie was on her back. The blonde student was on top of her. She had her hands around his waist, and she was almost pulling him against her, and bucking her groin against his violently. Ron saw that energy again, that almost compulsive need she had. She was crying out. He remembered her at work, how confident she was, how aware she seemed to be of her own value, her own importance. He remembered how assertive she'd been with the other staff members and how she'd spoken to them. Now she was on her back and she was being fucked. Elaine asked Ron if this one was bi as well and he said that she was. The other girl, the blonde student, was sat on the bed watching Marie and the blonde guy. She looked bored. She noticed Ron and Elaine in the doorway. She made eye contact with Elaine and smiled.

***

Back in the kitchen, Elaine had another glass of vodka mixed with juice.

'You're not going to join in? Asked Ron.

'I will. We've got three hours,' said Elaine.

'Plenty of time. Did you all put your money together?' asked Ron.

'The guys paid. They're loaded,' said Elaine.

'They seem to be having a nice life,' said Ron.

'You don't know the half of it,' said Elaine. He was trying to place her accent. It wasn't London but it was southern.

'Really?' asked Ron.

'They're famous all over college, people call them the three musketeers. Tarqs and Raf are amazing painters, absolutely amazing. Ethan's pretty good too. Everyone wants to hang out with them,' said Elaine.

'So they're the cool kids,' he said.

'Yeah, everyone kind of gravitates towards them, really. They're popular with women too,' said Elaine.

'I can imagine. Do you like one of them in particular?' asked Ron.

'I like Tarqs. I like everyone though. It's not really about couples. It's like, once you're in the gang, you're pretty much with everyone,' said Elaine.

'Like a Roman orgy,' said Ron.

'It is sometimes! I've only been hanging around with them for a couple of months. I'd never been with a woman before that. There's a lot of stuff I hadn't done before,' said Elaine, sheepishly.

'Well, I have heard it said that university's the time of your life. Looks like you're in for a few years of wild partying,' said Ron.

'I wish. It doesn't really work like that. The guys have got a lot of women who are interested in them. They'll have a girl in their orbit for a bit then they get bored, and they get someone else in. They'll get bored of me, then they'll get someone skinnier in,' said Elaine.

'Don't say that. You're gorgeous! If they get bored of you then fuck them,' said Ron.

'Thank you,' said Elaine.

'Now go upstairs and have some fun' said Ron.

'Ok,' said Elaine.

***

When he went up again, the room Emma and Tarquin had been in was empty. They were next door, with Raf, the tall, dark haired chap, Elaine and Caroline, the young lady with the cherry red hair. They were all on the bed. Emma lay on her back with her legs opened wide. Caroline sat cross legged before her and was reaching forward and fingering Emma's vagina. Emma smiled up at her as Caroline moved her fingers in and out. Tarquin was masturbating himself, trying to get himself erect. Emma beckoned Caroline towards her, and Caroline climbed on top of her. They kissed at they had sex. Ron thought Caroline was incredibly attractive. Her breasts were very large for her frame, but he thought her whole body looked fantastic, and that she was beautiful. Emma looked like she was enjoying being with her. Ron wasn't surprised that she was. Elaine was sat with Raf. He was fondling her impressive breasts, and she was reaching forward and masturbating him.

In the room down the landing, Marie was also on her back, her legs open. The petite blonde girl was greedily licking her vagina. The blonde had her eyes closed and licked energetically. She had a good body; she was thin but not underweight and she had a nice tan all over. The blonde man (Ron seemed to remember Elaine referring to him as Ethan) was leaning over and kissing Marie. They kissed intimately and Marie had her eyes closed. When she briefly opened them and looked at him, Ron thought he could see in her eyes that she was attracted to him. She put her hand softly on the back of Ethan's head. Ron turned away. He went downstairs.

***

He sat in the kitchen for a while. He'd brought his military history book about the battle of Dien Bien Phu. He tried to read it and not think about Marie. He was coming to the end of the book. The imminent defeat and surrender of the French troops seemed to take his spirits down even more than seeing Marie with the student had done.

Caroline came down. She was naked. She'd come to get herself some vodka. She was embarrassed when she saw Ron. She smiled at him, red in the face. Ron looked at her when her back was to him, as she poured her drink. He was jealous of the young men. He thought that the petite blonde was very attractive indeed, but he thought Elaine and Caroline were stunning.

Ron thought about staying downstairs. He couldn't imagine anything kicking off. He wondered if Marie would stay with that guy for the rest of the booking. He didn't want to see that look on her face again.

***

Ron kept reading his book. The French troops weren't able to get any supplies. The Vietminh guerrillas had gathered anti-aircraft guns and mortars which were stopping planes from landing. The French troops weren't getting food or ammunition. It was only a matter of time before they were overrun. Ron resolved that when he was working with Marie, he would bring more uplifting books.

An hour had passed. He thought he'd better go up. Marie had changed rooms; she was now in with Emma. Emma was still with Caroline. She was licking Caroline's vagina. Caroline seemed on the verge of coming.

Marie was on her back. She was having sex with Tarquin. He had raised himself up into the press-up position. They looked in each other's eyes as they had sex. Ron didn't like the look in Marie's eyes again, he thought she was looking up at this scrawny little fucking student like he was a God, like he was a magician. Ron wanted to break stuff. He wanted to break people. He wanted to break Tarquin. Tarquin hadn't done anything wrong though. Marie gasped as Tarquin's penis went into her.

In the other room were Raf, the dark-haired guy, Ethan, the blonde one, Elaine and the petite blonde whose name he didn't know. The petite blonde was sat in the corner at the foot of the double bed. She was observing. Raf lay on his back. Elaine was on top of him. His penis was inside her. Ethan was behind Elaine and was sodomising her. The two young men pumped at Elaine energetically. Ron looked at Elaine's body. She wasn't as slim as the others, but she was fit, and she had large breasts. He thought her body was incredible.

He looked at her face. Elaine wasn't having as much fun as the two men. Her face was red, and her teeth were gritted, because she was in pain. He noticed how forceful Ethan was being as he thrust himself into her anus. He was used to seeing people taking Emma and Vicky like this, but they were professionals. Elaine wasn't enjoying herself. She wasn't making any noise, and Ron suspected that she was having to will herself to keep quiet and not cry out. He thought about saying something. This wasn't his business though. It occurred to him that he shouldn't be watching. He went back downstairs; he didn't look in at Marie and Emma again.

***

Ron didn't fancy going back to his book. He didn't want to feel more depressed. There were books in the kitchen, stacked in a cupboard next to their fridge/freezer. They were big books about art history and famous painters. He passed the time leafing through one of them. He noticed that a large print of one of the paintings in the book, by a French painter, was blue tacked to the kitchen wall on his right. It was a painting of a vase full of flowers.

He didn't have pictures on the walls at his flat. He liked the one in the students' kitchen, and he'd noticed in the bedrooms there had been actual canvasses up on the walls, presumably ones that they'd painted. He thought the paintings and prints made the house more colourful and livelier, and seemed to give the impression of there being more space. He found himself looking through the book he'd taken, trying to find something that would look good in his flat.