French Awakenings Pt. 10

Mona twigged first. "Did you mothers tell her to wear a wrap to a wrap party?" Deecee and Mike were doing the worst job of keeping a straight face I have ever seen; their chins were shaking, and tears were forming in their eyes with the effort of not laughing. I spun round and grabbed Dominique's wooden spoon, swiping both across their buttocks getting a yelp of surprise and pain from each of them.

"You shits. I believed you, you little turds." I whacked them again. And again, I was sort of enjoying it now. The two of them turned and scooted off like naughty schoolboys, I chased them out swiping wildly at what I had to admit, even in my faux anger were two quite taught and trim backsides. They disappeared into the living room; I was on the verge of chasing them in when Charley called me back. "You know that's what they want."

I asked what she meant.

"You chase them in there, suddenly the door shuts, they apologise, they say how do we make it up to you, in their hive mind they're thinking you succumb to their apologies and the three of you roll round on the sofa."

I walked back in, "Why would they want to do that?"

She gave me an exasperated look, "You're their dream girl right now. You've given them a taster when you helped on set, you've been with Darren, and Luc. I think they figure they're missing out. I think I know where they're coming from too. "

She stood up and took my arm, leading me away from the crowd, pausing to grab Chris on the way she took us into the living room, sending me on ahead. Sure enough Deecee and Mike were there, sitting on one of the sofa's looking contrite.

"We're really sorry, Nicola. Can we apologise? Come and sit next to..." and in came Charley and Chris. Charley stood with a smirk on her lips, "See what I told you? They are transparent." She turned to the two actors, "Go on, you may get your chance later, Now get."

They stood up, looking sheepish, and disappeared, they paused at the door and looked back. Mike asked "Later, maybe?"

I smiled indulgently, "Maybe later. No promises."

The door closed and they were gone.

Charley sat us both down and dragged over a stool to sit and face us. She started talking.

"You two and Jane have really saved our asses these two weeks, and I don't think you realise the influence and effect you've had. We all put our butts on the line for this, I sold my car, took out a bank loan and cashed in my shares, the rest all did something similar, Jamie, Carl and Sandy will all lose their houses if it doesn't work. We've got a lot invested, financially and emotionally, y'know?"

I nodded; we knew that. Chris made agreeing sort of noises. She went on.

"When you started to actually help on set, both of you, you sort of went from being almost like contractors to being part of the team. You Chris, you're not like all the other guys here, you've been with Nicola for like, ever, and when you and Ginny did that scene, you shouted Nicola's name out. The other girls all noticed, and we all think it's the most adorable thing we've been around.

Nicola, you had the biggest obstacle, you found it hardest, but you dived in, and you've made a real contribution. You're seen as a bit different, a bit special. A happy couple that's jumped into the playpen and everyone knows you're only here for a while so everyone wants to play with you."

I reached over and gave Chris's hand a squeeze. I was interested to see where Charley was going with this, it was always nice being told how special you are but there seemed something else going on here, something slightly darker.

The blonde girl took a deep breath and carried on.

"Wrap parties can get a little wild at the best of times, the tension gets released and the reaction can be extreme. This time, because it's our first project and it's been successful it could go atmospheric."

I think she meant stratospheric, but I wasn't going to be 'that' girl, so I kept quiet.

"Add you two as sort of fantasy creatures, everyone wants a piece of you, just to feel the reflected happiness you two seem to have."

I looked over at Chris, smiling. He looked back at me, he seemed about to burst.

"Look at you, everyone's dream date. I knew I married the best girl out there."

I gave him a quick peck on the lips, "And you, every man wants to be you, every woman wants to be with you. Better than Bond."

Charley pointed. "That's it. We all want someone to look at us the way you two look at each other, so just don't lose sight of what makes you two special. Don't let everyone else dictate your relationship, stick close to each other and look out for each other."

Chris stood up and gave her a hug, then took my hand and without a word led me out through the rain to our hire car. He started up and was out of the gate heading towards our villa before he spoke.

We talked about everything we'd done so far, how we felt about what we'd done and where it was going, how it affected our feelings for each other and for what we wanted from life.

I reflected that wanting to move house was a direct result of what we'd been doing and how I'd changed my views on what I wanted and how the main thing I wanted was to be with Chris more, and if anything, I felt closer to him as a result of our adventure.

We arrived back at the villa and rushed in avoiding the rain, I stood to one side getting drenched while he opened the front door. That sneaky part of me that eats all the Jaffa cakes and denies having bought any poked her head up. "Oh, no, Chris, Oh, hun. I'm sorry. Your jacket that I was wearing to keep warm has got totally soaked, we'll have to get it cleaned."

"That jacket that had the suspicious dribbly stain on the shoulder where you fell asleep on me? That Jacket?" He knows me so well.

I tried to carry the subterfuge through. "I really don't know what you mean. Dribbly shoulder? No, it's all rain. Honest."

Nice to see my subconscious distraction techniques were still alive and kicking. I wanted to know what Chris thought and felt, but I didn't. It could be devastating or life changing. I mean I didn't think it would be too dissimilar from my own thoughts but there's always a chance and the grown-up thing to do is ignore it and hope it goes away.

Once we were inside, the jacket was hanging in the bathroom and I had a mug of tea, I couldn't prevaricate any longer and Chris sat me down at the table. The same table he and I had shagged on before all this started.

Chris told me he wanted to make some changes; his business was at a stage where his senior techie could manage the day-to-day operations leaving Chris free to look at other opportunities. He showed me an email from WorldWide Pictures asking for a conversation about something, something, something, jargon, jargon, buzzword at a convenient time on his return from vacation. He explained in words of few syllables that they were interested in learning more about how he'd caught the hacking attempt and whether it was scalable to their operation. They were prepared to pay his consultancy day rate for the initial chat so weren't just yanking his chain. Whatever that means.

Moving house and having an office there would mean he could devote more time to new ventures and spend more time at home. He was definitely buying that motorbike, and I was getting a set of leathers too. I could learn to ride, and he'd buy me a bike, or I could sit on the back of his, but we were going out on two wheels.

He hesitated then carried on, "If I've taken anything from our experience it's that we should enjoy our lives without hesitation. Seeing you have the courage and enthusiasm to be a part of the film crew, helping the performers get ready, then doing the test shoot for Luc, it helped show me you wouldn't be scared at anything we might end up doing and the biggest regrets might be things we didn't do, and I don't mean tonight's party, I mean taking a few risks and living life to the full."

I felt a huge sense of relief, I know we'd had conversations throughout about what was happening but now it was nearly over, and we both seemed to be going in the same direction I had an enormous feeling of wellbeing. I must feed some pigeons.

I stopped singing Blur songs to myself and put my arms around his neck, kissing him softly.

"So, what do we do tonight? Stay in for a bowl of pasta, a bottle of red and Netflix on the laptop or do we take the sweaty socks of mundanity down to the washing machine of hedonism for one final rinse in the detergent of excitement?"

Lucky for me he understood what I was getting at and pointed out the laptop was only on half power so we might run out partway through a film and, rather than risk being bored, perhaps the wrap party might be worth a visit.

"But listen" he said, serious all of a sudden, "We will probably both end up having sex with other people tonight. Not as part of the movie, not as some crazy blow out after getting me out of jail, not to distract someone from work, not even because someone got drunk and was pranked into blowing the Frenchman. We are planning to go there and do it. Are you happy with that?"

Just to prove I could be serious too I poked him in the chest and gave as good as I'd received.

"I'll have you know I have no intention of going there to have sex with other people. I intend to have sex with my husband, if they are very lucky, I may allow some other people to join in, but you are the one that is important, otherwise it's half a film and an early night. OK?"

He seemed quite happy with that solution and ran off to the bathroom for another shower. I considered joining him, but after the bathroom in Bordeaux I didn't want to squeeze into the cubicle here. I shouted over the sound of running water that our new house had better have a shower big enough for three, just in case we had a special overnight guest.

We showered and dressed, Chris wore a pair of black chinos and a grey open necked proper button up shirt, he shaved and splashed on some aftershave that made him smell good enough to eat, I wore the lace up bodice off a top that normally had a blouse underneath it, today I wore it with nothing underneath, a scarf across my shoulders, and a pair of black skinny jeans. I wouldn't normally go jeans and heels, but it felt right.

It was around 8.00pm when we arrived back, Dominique had gone full Nigella and produced a feast of nibbles, deep fried creations of crab and chilli, baked avocado and cheese bites, crackers with homemade mayo and prawns, more madeleines and macarons than you could shake a stick at and in a "let's poke fun at the Americans" move, a tray of tiny burgers. I'm guessing no one took it to heart because they were just fantastic and were being eaten at a rate of knots.

The prosecco was flowing and Deecee was in his cocktail making role, Darren spotted us arrive and shouted across to Chris, bringing him across what looked like a proper pint of proper English beer. He winked and told us he'd spotted it when he'd been sent on a shopping trip by Dominique earlier in the week and stashed a case in his room, it had been chilling for the past three hours so was just about right. I made a beeline for the cocktail bar and ordered myself a white Russian. Of course, there was the obligatory innuendo laden conversation about long hard screws or sex on the beach. I may have played along, suggesting both sounded interesting and I'd be back later to try one out.

Sandy caught up with me, thanking me again for everything we'd done. "Are we going to see you in LA? Will you come out to visit with Janey when she's our Vice President in charge of Occupational Health?"

I told her I hadn't set a date, but Jane's my best friend and I would definitely be out there at some point.

Sandy was a bit pickled, she poked me gently in the left boob, "Don't be a stranger. You've always got a place to stay, my home is your home. Actually, my home is not my home any more, it's Carl's and Jamie's too. But they wouldn't mine. Mine. MIND, I meant Mind." I reassessed things. She was hammered. Carl came swooping in and grabbed her.

"She's been taking things hard; she controls the money side of things, and we were down to about fifty dollars in the bank. We just got the payment clear for episodes one and two and an advance for the next series so we're solvent again. I think she's relieved."

I smiled at him. "I think she's as relieved as a newt. Do you want a hand getting her upstairs, she's got falling asleep with a bucket by the bed written all over her."?

He looked around, "Nah, s' okay, Jamie's on the way over. We got her. But she meant what she was saying, we'd love to see you in LA, as our guest. You know, like.... Normal people?"

I leaned around the almost comatose woman he was holding and kissed him, "Carl, " I told him, "You're about as normal as I want you to ever be, but I'd love to visit you all as my friends if that's ok?"

Imagine that I made a Porn Star blush. (I know, they're erotic artists) He was making embarrassed and happy noises when Jamie arrived and between the two of them, they carried her upstairs. Jamie appeared back five minutes later and explained that Carl was going to sit with her to make sure she was OK for a bit then he'd take over.

We chatted for a bit until he nodded, indicating the other side of the room where Chris was being mobbed by Mona, Charley and Ginny. He didn't seem to be objecting too much but caught my eye and waved me over. I excused myself from Jamie and set course for Chris, only to get intercepted by Mike, presenting me with another white Russian, which I accepted, sidestepped him and carried on.

"Hey Hun, what's occurin'?"

"I thought you could join us, we're going to play a drinking game, Darren's gone to get more beer. Dommy's still in the kitchen, Jane's on a Teams call with Lou Carpenter sorting out her visa application. We need equal numbers. Get Mike, Paul and Jamie over. When Darren gets back with my pint we'll be set. Ah, beer. Sit down Darren, You're the other team captain. Start picking your team. You need two girls and two boys. Can't choose me."

For the first time in my life, I was first choice in a team. Glowing with pride I sat down next to Darren.

Jamie had the good sense to decline, swapping with Deecee. He swore blind he could mix cocktails, as long as it was wine and soda or a Margarita. Best make this one last then, I thought to myself. Then realised it's a drinking game and I've only had one cocktail so far. Thinking ahead I asked for white wine spritzer if he was making, a large one. Young Nicola would be ashamed, I was drinking the drink with the least amount of alcohol, but I'd be grateful later, I was sure.

We ended up with Deecee, Paul and Ginny, Chris with Mike, Charley, Luc and Mona. And so, the game began.

We were all given our game names, the aim of the name of the game was to oh I don't know, all I know is I was Hermione Granger, Darren was Barney Rubble, Chris was Judge Dredd, and I can't remember the others. We had to drink when we got our names wrong unless we were holding the drink in our left hand when we....no, can't remember. I know we scored points for our team and if we had enough points, we could cash them in to make the other team do a forfeit.

Jane finished her call and came to join us, Dominique finished in the kitchen and did the same, Janey went to take over from Carl, who joined us but looked worried, joining me on white wine and soda, so now we were six against six.

We apparently were ready to move onto the next round but needed a Judge. Not Chris, despite being Judge Dredd. Jim and Carol were cajoled into not spending the evening shagging themselves silly and being our Judge and his Queen. I suspect there was a lot of improvising going on, but it seemed to make sense at the time.

We started off with a memory game, we had to repeat a nonsense rhyme back to the Judge. Darren wrote it down, so was excluded from the round so I found myself standing repeating back some gibberish about one hand, a couple of ducks, three brown bears, four fast hares, five sets of veezers tweezers, six sexy singing sisters, seven corpsy corpsicles, eight, eight it's far too late, nine, nine Hammerstein and ten, ten is one and oh and ever more shall be so.

I got as far as the corpsy corpsicles before it went badly wrong, my partner in the round was Luc, so it wasn't entirely fair, and he fell at the veezers tweezers.

The Judge passed sentencing to his Queen who decided working in a foreign language was a disadvantage worth two levels, so it was a tie. We both sat with no forfeit. It went on, eventually one team had to drink half their drink, the other was safe.

There were other rounds, laughter bounced around the room, we all started getting drunker and drunker and eventually the forfeits stopped being drink related, which is how I ended up kneeling in front of Ginny undoing her top with only my mouth and while I had to guess who was squeezing my boobs from behind me. That sort of punishment carried on for a while, Carol and Jim started awarding each other favours from the competitors, mainly involving either getting his cock sucked or her pussy licked, so their intention of not performing with anyone else seemed to stop at games. I wasn't about to try to work out their relationship, and as I was kneeling between his legs while Chris did the same for her I suppose I was in no position to claim any moral high ground.

The game broke up and I found myself sitting on Paul's lap, he was absently squeezing my nipple inside my now unlaced and open top, while I was running a hand through his hair. The numbers seemed to have thinned out a bit, Chris had Charley and Mona sitting one on each thigh chatting quietly, their hands occasionally disappearing inside the waistband of his chinos. Luc and Dominique tapped me gently on the shoulder and gave a raised eyebrow look towards the sofa, I asked Paul how he felt about it, and would they mind if I went over to Chris for now, maybe later?

Paul was entirely up for it and the three of them settled onto the soft white leather, Dommy's top went flying as she lay back with one head on each breast and a hand buried in each set of pants.

I stood behind Chris, leaning forward so my boobs brushed against the back and side of his head I asked, "Would one or both of you ladies like to join us in a more comfortable location?"

Mona and Charley seemed to think that would be fun and we all went up to the bedroom where I'd filmed the scene with Luc and Darren and staked out the bed. I pushed Chris down onto it and sat next to him, unbuttoning his shirt while Charley and Mona heaved off his trousers, pants and socks. Once he was naked Charley set to sinking his cock deep into her mouth while Mona came and pushed her tongue into my mouth, wrapping her arms around my neck. She asked me gently if I'd ever done it with a woman before.

"Not really, I mean, there's been some touching and I did suck on Charley's pussy once but not really."

Charley interrupted herself and looked up, "She did a really good job of it too, as I recall. I'm looking forward to a repeat performance." Then she went back to working her mouth on Chris.

Mona slipped my top off and undid my trousers, taking my heels off and then putting them back on me when I was naked, "Always makes you look hotter, wearing spike heels" she told me.

I knelt up and with the butterfly collection back in my stomach started undoing the buttons on her top, sliding it off her shoulders then unclipping her bra and releasing her tanned, firm breasts. Nervously I leant forward and took her left nipple into my mouth, sucking on it and rolling my tongue across it.

"Yeesss, that's the way." She whispered encouragingly. I carried on what I was doing, closing my eyes in concentration. Her hand slipped gently between my legs and started stroking on my already very wet lips and clit. Part of my mind took a look at what was going on and started analysing it, boobs are nice and soft I thought, her fingers feel nice, probably nicer than a mans in that they were softer and more gentle, plus she knows what she likes, and I probably like the same thing, because I really liked what she was doing.