Educating Laura Ch. 04

Ali squirmed, trying to hide her sudden increased interest. "Really?"

"Oh, aye! We know she's a right goer, and looks like our man Richie's given her a good spanking for it!"

Ali tried to disguise how much her interest had risen. "Or just because he wanted to. He would."

"Aye, you're right, he wouldn't care. Just get off on her across his lap, all wriggling..."

"Can't blame the guy." Ali was now visualising such a scene very vividly. Only not involving Richie. "I bet he'd only do it if she wanted it, too..."

"Yeah. He's a good lad, with those he respects. Not that he'd do that kind of shit to the people he didn't. He'd be more subtle! But anyhow, it seemed to make her extra sensitive there. And me finally getting some, it was so good..."

Andy looked up into Ali's eyes, still nervous of her reaction. Until her smile and snuggling closer to his body alleviated his anxiety.

She liked how he looked, shy through those long dark eyelashes. Suddenly younger, somehow. She supposed, he was about four years older than her, but if you discounted his years inside, then his life experience was younger. But that seemed unfair -- it must just be a different life...

"I'm so glad you had a good time, pet," she said, hugging him close. "Any more dirty details you can give me?"

"Ya nosy wee thing! Aye, well, I get her on her back, and then she throws her legs over my shoulders cos she's lovin' it all deep and hard..."

"Mm. You're making me wet just thinking about it."

"Ah, you're a right dirty cunt too, aintcha?" Andy dialled back. "I mean cunt in the best way."

"I know you do. Yeah..." Dirty was a word Ali could embrace. Perverted, even.

"Kinda wish now I'd asked you out before Jude did. But..." He shrugged, one-shouldered, seeing as he was still lying in Ali's arms. "I wasnae yet in a place to. Still sortin me head out, coping with freedom. London. A job."

"Eh. No regrets really, here, neither. I needed some time being single -- never really had been, in my adult life. And I needed time to recover." Ali blew air towards one of Andy's untidy curls. "And I don't regret Jude, really. Just because it didn't work long-term, it wasn't bad. But yeah, I was possibly a bit too dirty for her."

Filthy bisexual. Kinky as hell. Neither had fit well into Jude's earnest feminism.

"Aye? I reckon I can cope. Or have fun trying."

Ali grimaced. "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"You might not want me, when you know."

"I know you like women, love. If I'm one of a few men to ever float your boat, that's OK by me."

"Not that -- though thanks for not caring. And for not being all creepy, fantasising about it. I really do like some men too, you know. Not many," she admitted. "But when I do, I do, don't you worry about that..."

"So?"

She hesitated.

"You can't have done worse shit than me, growin' up. No record."

"No record just means not caught! No, sure, nothing too bad, just a bit of teenage shoplifting with the girls. Amazing how easily make-up and nail varnish fall into a pocket..."

"Huh. Easier than beers or Buckfast, for sure."

"I grew out of it. Stopped hanging round with Kerry's gang..."

"Anyhow, what was you wanting to tell me?"

"I wasn't. But... Oh, fuck it. I'm a domme. Dominatrix. Sadist. I get off from having someone under my control, making them scream in pleasure or pain, begging to come, that kind of thing..."

"Uh-huh." Andy wasn't wholly surprised. "I'm guessing that's not me -- not that screaming wi' pleasure sounds bad..."

"Exactly. I'd happily do just what you'd like to do, with you. Just... there's clubs I sometimes go to. Parties. It's like a hobby I'm really into, I guess."

"Huh. So basically, what you're saying, you'd like me, and some playing around?"

Ali's face, lowered away from Andy, was beetroot. A tiny nod.

Andy knew Ali was a determined city girl. He himself planned to get his degree, then work at activity centres in the countryside, avoiding towns as much as possible. London life invigorated Ali -- he'd seen her embrace it since the nervy woman had started work with him, growing into a confident cosmopolitan. It choked him, despite knowing its advantages -- employment, entertainment, company. He escaped to green spaces as often as he could. Failing that, the river.

It wasn't like they'd ever be a match for the long term. Though longer than Jude's four months, he hoped. Friends with benefits seemed like an excellent idea, if such things included Ali and maybe Laura occasionally as well.

"Eh, we'll need time apart, if we're both staying here. 'Sides, some of that might be the sort of thing I'd like watching..."

Ali gave a startled glance.

"I like watching. Two girls -- what's not to like?"

Ali glared in disbelief. "The beating and red lacerations and bruises and crying, maybe?"

"I dunno, up to a point it's sexy? I've seen videos. You go up to a point with it, keep it sexy, not just torture, right?"

"I suppose. Though reality is a bit different to porn."

"Innit, just. But if you like women, you like kinky shit... You really need to talk to our young Laura..."

"Laura?"

"She does women, you know. Given half a chance."

"I know that. She said. Implied, anyway. But, other stuff?" Ali was now thinking about Laura with far more intent than she had ever let herself previously. After all, there was only one more week to go...

"She's very interested in the ideas, how to, what's the word? Induce various responses. I said, about the marks on her arse. She let Richie play about with her, but he says he's not doing any more until he's done a lot more reading on safety and knots and that -- you know what he's like."

"I can imagine! He's probably ordered some reading material already. So you know what she's into, from Richie?"

"And her. Let's just say she really liked being held down, taking it hard, or being eaten out with an arm over her mouth to keep her quiet..."

"Nice. Was that you, munching?"

"No, sadly. She was lying on top of me while Rich got on with it. Then she asked me to fuck her -- I wasn't going to say no! She sucked me to get me ready -- so good -- then she was in front of me wriggling her cute wee arse, gagging for it. I grabbed her bum a bit, slightest bit pink from Richie, her tits all covered in love-bites, he held her down -- man, she was just so into it! 'Hold me still,' she goes..."

"Anyone would think you're advertising the girl."

"Me? Bollocks! I'm no marketing-type cunt. But, right, she likes women, she fancies you, she wants to learn about sadomasochism and bondage and stuff, and you know about all that... We can't leave her disappointed! And you do fancy her a bit, right? I tell you, she's got the most glorious wee tits.

Ali chuckled. "You make a strong argument. I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much! And she's enthusiastic with her mouth, you say?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"I do feel rather obliged to pass on some education, now you've drawn the issue to my attention..." Ali attempted to hide her eagerness behind formal speech.

"Good. I guess we've got this week -- well, the clearing-up weekend. I'll try to wangle just the four of us staying into Sunday."

"Is Richie wanting me, too? Cos it's not like I don't like the guy, looking at him in his shorts, but I don't want to..."

"I doubt he'd be bothered either way. He likes watching, too, he says. He's been enjoying Laura since coming here -- he never had, before. I reckon, if you don't mind him being in a tent with us, he'd be fine with being told to look but not touch with you."

"Woah. Right. Educating Laura. Wasn't there a film called that? Whatever. Roll on this weekend."

"If it all goes to shit, we never have to see them again."

"Mm. That would be a shame, though, wouldn't it?"

"Aye. That Richie's a bastard, but he's a good cunt. Laura's a good lass, growing in confidence. Just as well you wasn't single at the start of summer -- she'd have been way too shy to consider anything with you."

Reserved and mistrustful, Ali thought, which was slightly different, but, admittedly, same result. She smiled. "She's a sweetheart, isn't she?"

"So's you. You need your sleep, right. Let's see if I can still sleep in a shared bed -- it'll be nice not having to strictly keep hands to myself, with you. See you in the morning."

In due course, Andy yawned. "Six hours until we need to report for duty. Any plans?"

"Leisurely brekkie somewhere? Actually, what I'd really like is to sort my hair out." She tugged at the blondish locks with their bleached tips. "SuperCuts should be able to do it. Jude thinks any non-natural hair styling is a tool of capitalism or the patriarchy..."

"Or both? You want to go back to the short spiky look?" He recalled Ali's makeover after starting the job.

"Yeah. And the bleached blonde. I don't care what you think!" she snapped, suddenly fierce. Previous partners hadn't liked her choosing an 'extreme' style. Ever-jealous Helen had punctuated her opinion with a fist.

"I think it's your hair, what you do what you want with, love." He added, "I look forward to running my hand through it."

"Even with hairspray and gel and other tools of consumerism on it?"

"I doubt you buying hair products is going to affect the capitalist economy significantly. Besides, it's not like I grow out a full serial-killer beard." He reached for an electric razor and started trimming, using the wardrobe's mirror, until he was clean-shaven. "Jude's an admirable person in many ways, but she takes the hair-shirt eco-warrior thing too far, if you ask me."

Ali laughed weakly. "It was mostly why we split up."

"Not to do with Sam?"

"Well, me not wanting to 'overthrow the cultural hegemony of monogamy' with her was part of it. Funny, really, seeing as I've never been too bothered about monogamy! It's a kink thing: it's sexual and it isn't. Different." She glanced at Andy again, awkward.

"I really don't think I'm bothered. Honest, love. I'll say, if that changes, but if you're daft enough to stay with me here, we'll be wanting to take it all slowly, anyhow, right?"

"Exactly. See how it goes. I'll try to treat you right."

"See how you deal with being in a cramped space. I'm used to it."

"Have you not seen Jude's flat? Junk two feet deep on most of the floor! To be honest, I might have more space of my own here... Thank you so much for the offer -- and you. I'm not just taking you on for a place to live, honest."

He squeezed her tighter. "I know, pet. You know, having you in my bed just to sleep with seems like unimaginable luxury. Getting your body might make me brain explode!"

"I'm counting on it, love. Now, where's the nearest caff?"

Mario's served them well.

Andy was getting only a bit nervous Ali might not be back on time, when he saw her coming up the stairs.

"Hey. Nice hair."

Ali ran her hand through the bleached spikes. "Thanks. I feel like me again, y'know."

"I remember you getting it done, the first payday you had at work."

"Mm. I had bad roots when I first moved down, didn't I? Hadn't had money for a while thanks to... Anyway, things have been good, here." She sighed. "Even Jude and all."

"I've got a lot of time for Jude, even if the woman is a mad lentil-weaver hippy."

"Exactly. And permanently stressed. I admire all she does at the centre, for the kids, for so many people. Just couldn't be with her. I wish Sam the best of luck, you know. I'm just not sure either of them can meet each others high standards."

"Or their own," Andy observed. "Don't worry. You meet my standards, and well over. Whether "I" meet my standards... that's a whole nother question."

"I'll grab my stuff. We'd better head. Tell me, is there more dirt I should know? Come on, giz me all the goss."

Andy looked embarrassed. "There was a bit of canoodling Laura talked me into, in the cook tent t'other day. I say talked, more like she just took my face an' I didn't object..."

"Like I care! You didn't lead her on or anything, did you? No promises of love and relationships?"

"No! Though, on relationships... She was telling me to man up and speak to you, getting as bad as that man Richie..."

"Oh, god. He's going to be so fucking smug..."

Andy shrugged, suppressing a smirk. "Hey, like with gobby kids, that can be dealt with. I can push him in the river. Wanna help throw him?"

"I've got a better idea." Ali grinned, a sight Andy loved. "We could persuade Laura to shag us instead of him one night..."

"She just might, aye. Somewhere where he can watch. Though I reckon he gets off on watching people fucking as much as doing it himself."

"Win-win, then, innit? Hold that thought!"

Andy would, indeed, hold that thought as he drove back to Wales for the last week of the camp.

But as they walked back to the youth centre, Ali continued, "What I meant was, is there anything else I should know about you if I'm daft enough to move in? If you've got a drug habit you're damn good at hiding it. Do you knock girls about when you get drunk? Do you get drunk? Run up big gambling debts? I don't know!"

"You do. I'm just the quiet cunt you've worked with for the past year. I've got no debts. No savings, neither, mind you. Food might be a bit scarce in the run-up to pay day. Nae drugs. Never really did: a fool's game. I don't get off me face no more. Even if I did, I'd not end up in a fight. I know when and how to dial it down, now: back out, not get involved. And I've never hit a lady, much less a girlfriend. I might have been a wee shit, but I wasn't that much of a cunt."

He eyed Ali, whose shoulders had suddenly relaxed. "Your ex, before Jude. They hit you, aye?"

"Only the once," Ali replied grimly. "Well, twice, because the first time could have been an accident, but second I walked out, stayed with a mate, picked up my important stuff next day. Sofa-surfed while job-hunting for something in any other city, got this one. She kept trying to find me and get me back, you see. She was gutted. You see why Jude seemed so attractive..."

"Jude's no' an unattractive woman. Especially when out of those terrible dungarees. Shut up! I've seen her in a swimsuit, is all."

"Fair enough. But it might be time for a not-unattractive man, instead."

"If you say so. Only one thing -- ah, you'll think I'm right daft --"

"Go on."

"Aye. Right, thing is, right, I'm kinda fond of my wee place. Proud, even. And I always dreamed... one day..."

Ali tried to look encouraging as Andy spoke to a spot high up on the wall.

"I wanted to bring a woman home, have her in my bed, have her agree to be my girlfriend..."

"Wahey! Mission accomplished!"

"That's not quite what I meant by 'have her'. Just... would you mind if we waited until we're... home, again? I know, I'm quite mad. Outwith my wee senses..."

"I kinda get it. OK. You mean, no fucking until we're back next weekend. Uh-huh. But that's

all I'm ruling out, right? You'd better remind me what I'm waiting for. Come on."

After checking around that no-one he recognised was about, Andy co-operated with the great big snog Ali initiated. Not quite enough to outrage public decency -- a struggle in Bermondsey in any case -- but it was certainly what any public swimming pool would class as 'heavy petting'.

__________________________

That Sunday evening, we packed our last cohort of underprivileged youth into their tents and settled round the fire.

I cracked open a bottle of wine; Andy savoured a cigarette.

"Last week! Did you think you'd last this long, Laura? Younger kids, thank fuck."

"More bed-wetting, less criminal records," I agreed. "Sorry, Andy."

"Nah, you're right. I was a wee gobshite scrote, me and my mates. We'd be pickpocketing you all and trying to sell off the vans..."

It was obvious that Ali had had a good weekend. The girl wore her moods on her sleeve, all the time. Which made them infectious for the rest of us. Whereas her gloom had weighed us all down for the first couple weeks, now she was happy, bouncy, and uplifting us all.

I guessed she hadn't spent the night at Jude's, possibly that she'd found a new place to live. But it wasn't until the Tuesday that she let slip it was Andy's home she'd stayed in.

And I knew that Andy's place was only one room. I couldn't resist sniping, "You've spent the night in Andy's bed, then, eh?"

"Ha-bloody-ha." She didn't deny it. I wasn't going to quiz her, because she'd only turn her questions back on me.

Not that I'd mind comparing experiences. It was about time Andy had some fun.

Pete came down for the last few days, arm still in a sling but otherwise able to function. His extra pair of eyes was handy -- this lot were extra mischievous to make up for being the last! Also, it meant he could accompany Jude in one van with half the kids at the end of the week. Sam and Andy took the other, the canoes and bikes on a trailer behind.

The plan was for as much of the camp to go in the vans on those trips as possible, then Andy would drive back immediately while Ali, Richie and I packed up most of the rest. We'd stay one last night, then hopefully all fit in the van on the way back to London.

Andy was quietly content, too. He'd been making more deadpan jokes over the last few weeks, following Richie's example, but he was definitely more chirpy this week -- for reasons he didn't specify.

Whenever no kids were nearby, he'd hint about Ali and myself, casually referencing possible things she and I might do. I supposed him having a scurrilous mind shouldn't have been such a surprise, seeing as I'd had a threesome with the guy. He was pushing the idea of me getting together with his friend, possibly-future-girlfriend, with a ridiculous amount of glee.

Since she'd shaken off her melancholy and revealed her sly sense of humour, I'd liked Ali more and more. She could win me over on personality any time, though as I'd seen her lithe body in a swimsuit, she hardly needed to.

Then she'd had that haircut, on the weekend, with her flopping spikes bleached a stark blonde. Suddenly she looked striking, stern, and totally gorgeous. My groin tingled, just looking at her.

Though her being queer was a good start, I still had no evidence she might be actually interested in me, other than Andy and Richie's stirring. Four or five years older was still a gulf, especially when the younger isn't yet half-way through uni. But if she also fucked men -- as Andy assured me she did, I suspected now with personal knowledge -- then surely, in some combination, the four of us could have a good time?

"Hi Andy! You made good time! How was the journey?"

"Apart from Sam scraping up a vintage Roller with the trailer on the South Circular, you mean? Nah, the chap was really good about it, swore the dent was probably already there. Kids were OK, didn't lose any.

Saw them off, dumped the stuff out the van, turned round. Treated myself to a Maccy D's at a services."

"So you've eaten lunch -- if you call McDonald's 'food'! We were thinking, we couldn't face any more meals involving baked beans or potatoes, so we were going to eat at the pub. You in?"

"My treat," Richie cut in, before Andy could argue.

"All right. Let's pack up the van with everything except what we'll need for breakfast," I suggested.

"And hot drinks. One gas burner and cylinder should be enough," Andy agreed.

The large gas hob was scrubbed thoroughly and stowed on a seat in the minibus, two cylinders of gas squeezed in front of it.

"We don't need the cook tent any more, either, then. Even if it rains, that wee burner can go in the entry of the staff tent."

"Oh, yeah!" The cook tent was large, needed scouring to remove a summer's worth of grease, and would be a pain to put away. If we could pack it away that day, that would save us a couple hours the morning after.