Playing the Game

Foreword

This story is fiction. Any resemblance to real people, living or deceased, is purely coincidental. Please also note that views expressed by characters in this story are not necessarily shared by the author.

For various reasons I haven't written anything for a while and I am particularly grateful to Randi for providing me with inspiration and for inviting me to contribute a story for the "Wicked Games" writing event. I hope you enjoy it.

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"How will you keep her?"

That was the question Sean Malone asked me when I sought his permission to marry his daughter. It was the late nineteen seventies and times were rapidly changing, but it was the end of an era that required young people to show respect for their elders. As a courtesy I felt it was important to ask Annie's dad for his permission, so we had the traditional conversation.

I never forgot the question he asked me, but I don't remember exactly how I replied. I think I told my prospective father-in-law that Annie and I would both get good jobs after graduating from university and we would be able to maintain a good standard of living. I know I promised him I would keep his daughter happy. He listened to what I said and wished me good luck, but I had the feeling he wasn't particularly impressed with my answer to his question.

While I was planning to marry Annie there were people being killed in Northern Ireland simply for being the wrong brand of Christian. Annie's family was Roman Catholic and she usually went to mass every Sunday. Her dad went to mass twice every Sunday. Even if he wasn't overly enthusiastic about my intentions, it was a relief to know Mr Malone didn't object to Annie getting hitched to me, William Robertson, a Scotsman by birth and a Protestant by upbringing.

I got to know Anne-Marie Malone during our first year at university. She was a redhead, with long hair the colour of burnished copper wire that cascaded over her shoulders and her blue green eyes sparkled like ocean spray in sunlight. Flower power and psychedelic colours were all the rage at the time and she liked to wear bright, flowery dresses or tie-dyed cotton tee shirts with jeans. She was incredibly pretty, with alabaster skin, a sprinkling of ginger freckles, a beautiful smile and an impetuous little laugh that brightened up any conversation. When she looked at me I felt as if an invisible force field held me in its sway.

Annie, as she preferred to be known, had come to Scotland to study social sciences at a lesser known Scottish university. Her parents were Irish, but they had moved to the north of England when Annie was an infant. Her family's home was in a row of small houses in one of those bleak northern English towns in the Manchester area, where her father was a self-employed building contractor. Annie had a younger sister, Teresa, who was still in high school.

To some extent I was in the same boat as Annie, having left my parental home in Glasgow to move across country to Scotland's east coast and study social sciences at the same university. For our first year, along with a couple of hundred other students, we had been allocated rooms in a student residence located on campus. Men and women were accommodated in separate blocks, but there was a shared dining hall and a sizeable common room and television lounge, so we could meet others and make new friends.

Although I was very much under Annie's spell from the moment I first met her, I was somewhat shy, having had little experience of socialising with girls or women. I had two brothers and I had gone to a high school that was boys only, so I wasn't very familiar with the female of the species. My friends were a bunch of young lads who were a bit nerdy or geeky. To be honest, I have to admit when I got to university I was still a virgin.

At the start of that first year at university there was no shortage of guys showing interest in Anne-Marie Malone. She was an Irish princess and she had them hooked with a bashful, downward glance, much like the one Princess Di perfected in later years. Plenty of guys dated her, but none stuck with it for longer than a couple of weeks. From what I heard, she wasn't interested in going beyond hand-holding and some fairly chaste kissing.

I was irresistibly attracted to Annie, but I didn't immediately ask her for a date, not just because I was too shy, but because it was abundantly clear that there wasn't even the tiniest trace of Bill Robertson on her radar. She knew who I was, but she had her sights set on some of the more athletic types. I was in good shape and kept physically fit by playing amateur football for a Sunday League team. I thought I looked okay, but I wasn't a stand out athlete, so Annie wasn't casting any glances my way.

Thankfully, another girl was interested in me and it wasn't long before I started going out with Sheena Wong Hui Ying. Sheena was a pretty Chinese girl from Edinburgh. With long, black hair and distinctly oriental eyes, she was proud of her ethnicity, but she had been born in Scotland and was also unquestionably a Scottish lassie. Like me, she tended towards agnosticism, but was tolerant of others' beliefs and rituals if they did no harm.

I kept tabs on Annie Malone, but Sheena Wong and I got on really well together. We had shared tastes in music and politics and she had a good sense of humour and was a clever and witty conversationalist. All in all, Sheena had a glass half full attitude to life and that rubbed off on me.

I grew more self-confident, knowing that Sheena liked me and she was happy to let me fondle her modest boobs and play with her cute pussy. When we got together I usually fingered her to orgasm and she jerked me off. As an early Christmas present, Sheena gave me a blowjob the night before we returned to our respective families for the winter holiday. She happily swallowed my load when I came in her mouth and I did my best to reciprocate, enjoying my first taste of pussy, which was delightful.

When we met up again after the turn of the year Sheena and I started going all the way. She had previously had sex with a former boyfriend and I suspect she knew I was a virgin, but she didn't ask. Instead, she helped me learn about sex and together we tried to improve our bedroom skills. I thought we were going steady, but towards the end of that first year, after we finished our exams, Sheena broke up with me. She did it as nicely as possible, I suppose.

We had gone back to my room after enjoying an evening out together, listening to a band playing Scottish folk music in the Students' Union. Sheena stayed the night, kissing and cuddling me after a nice session of soixante-neuf and hide the sausage.

After we woke up the next morning she told me she really liked me, but she felt we were just drifting along and our relationship wasn't going anywhere. She had decided to pull the plug on it, so we could both move on. Her decision had been reached before our end of year exams, but she waited until the exams were over to break the news to me. She said she wanted to make sure any unhappiness I might feel wouldn't interfere with my academic performance. She reasoned it was also good timing, because we were about to start summer break and that would help us deal with any bad feelings. I was both sad and disappointed, but I thought I understood Sheena's reasoning.

During the summer break that year I worked in a garage in Glasgow, learning about car servicing and maintenance while staying with my parents and saving money. Working on cars took my mind off my lack of a love life and the weather was good, so I was able to get out and about at the weekends, catching up with some of my nerdy friends from my school days. Most of them had gone to university or college in Glasgow and still lived with their parents. All in all it was an enjoyable summer break, with one major exception.

Sadly, my dear old granny died. My grandpa had died a couple of years earlier and granny never really recovered from losing him. I shed more than a few tears at her funeral, because she was such a lovely woman. My parents inherited her house and contents, but she left her modest savings to me and my two brothers. It wasn't a fortune, but I would be able to use some of it to buy a used car.

My workmates at the garage helped me find a Triumph Herald in good running order. It was a classy looking, four seat, hard top saloon car. There had been one previous owner, who had kept the white bodywork and chrome trim cleaned and polished regularly and it had just over five thousand miles on the clock. All in all, it was better value and more practical than a small sports car.

Very few of my fellow students had cars and when I got back to University that autumn I found having the car made me popular. The three guys sharing an apartment with me happily funded an occasional trip to a country pub. But the big plus point was when I found out I was now on Annie Malone's radar. She sought me out one afternoon when we both happened to be having a coffee break at the cafe in the Social Sciences library building.

"My first boyfriend had a car," she told me. "We used to drive to a place called Alderley Edge to go walking in the countryside and get some fresh air. It's a village in Cheshire where witches and warlocks got up to all sorts of sorcery and black magic hundreds of years ago."

Alderley Edge sounded like an interesting place, but I realised that wasn't the point of Annie's story. I wasn't stupid and I could take a hint, so I asked Annie if she'd like to go for a drive with me and maybe we could do some sightseeing locally. She accepted my offer, we made a date and that's how my courtship of Annie started.

To help with my expenses I worked as a part-time barman in a local pub on Friday evenings. I couldn't take Annie out on those evenings, so she usually went out with her girlfriends. We spent Saturdays together and met up for Sunday lunch after she had been to mass and I had played football.

I was a happy man, enjoying my new status as Annie's boyfriend. I would do anything for her, no matter how inconvenient. Annie 'borrowed' my emerald green football shirt, for example. Worn over a pair of jeans, it became one of her favourite casual outfits. With her red hair she looked great in that green shirt and I suspected I would never get it back.

I was sharing accommodation with three other guys and we usually saved on costs by sharing evening meals together. It started off that way, but I soon found myself cooking separately for Annie and me most evenings. That was okay with me, because Annie wasn't interested in cooking, whereas I enjoyed learning to cook and trying out new recipes. The extra cost of feeding two people instead of one seemed to me a small price to pay in return for Annie keeping me company.

On Saturdays I invariably found myself driving Annie, her best friend Jane Dunbar and Jane's boyfriend of the moment wherever Annie wanted to go. There were trips to St Andrews, Perth and lots of other places. To fund those Saturday outings I ended up working some midweek evenings in the pub. I didn't mind putting in the extra hours behind the bar, because I thought Annie was worth it. She was mine and we were together. We were a couple.

I have to admit my love life with Annie was modest compared to what Sheena Wong and I had been doing. At least I didn't suffer from blue balls, because Annie was willing to give me handjobs. Sadly, despite my entreaties, she wouldn't give me a blowjob and I was permitted only limited access to her bare skin. Things got better after the winter break. We actually got naked together and she allowed me to finger her to orgasm while she played with my cock and gave me a handjob.

I didn't realise it at the time, but it's in human nature to want whatever is denied us and sometimes we pay too high a price. I yearned to go all the way with Annie and eventually, just before the spring break, I asked her to marry me after we graduated. After all, as I explained to her, we were in love with one another and fated to be together forever. Putting a ring on her finger showed our commitment to one another.

"I need time to think about it," she told me. "I'm not turning you down, but it's a big step, so let's talk about it when we get back after the spring break."

Somehow that discussion didn't materialise, but I remained hopeful Annie would eventually agree to become my wife. I was encouraged when we made plans to meet up for a short holiday together during the summer break. It would be the ideal opportunity to show her how much she meant to me.

My friend Jim Mitchell and I stayed on after the end of the academic year. We rented a place together and got summer jobs locally. I ended up working shifts in an industrial bakery, loading and unloading pans of bread into and out of a huge oven over a hundred feet long. It was hard work and I got a couple of nasty burns on my arms while learning how to handle the hot pans properly. More importantly, my pay grade as a temporary master baker meant I earned good money and could save up for my short holiday with Annie later in the summer.

At the beginning of the summer break Annie went to visit her parents and sister, but she had accepted an invitation to spend a month or so afterwards with Jane, staying at Jane's parents' house in Edinburgh. Annie's parents were okay about that, even if her mum was a bit disappointed not to have Annie stay with them for longer. What her parents didn't know was that Annie and I planned to meet up after her stay in Edinburgh. For our holiday together Annie had made me promise to take her on a tour of the west coast of Scotland in the Triumph Herald.

After working overtime and overnight shifts at the bakery, I earned more than enough to pay for all the costs of our holiday. We would be sleeping together and I thought maybe we would end up going all the way when it came to our love life. Annie evidently had good fun with Jane in Edinburgh. She had a gleam in her eye when she met up with me and she seemed 'hot to trot', so I had high hopes and packed some condoms in my rucksack, just in case.

On the first night of our holiday we had a room in a quaint old wayside inn, where we enjoyed a romantic dinner before going early to bed. A great day ended with Annie giving me a pretty skilful blow job. She told me Jane had given her some guidance on technique.

The next day we checked out and got a picnic lunch to take along with us. By lunchtime we had reached the coast and were driving northwards along a narrow road in the middle of nowhere. I parked the car and we climbed a hillside with a stunning view of the sea breaking on the rocky coast and absolutely no sign of any other human beings in all directions.

The sun was shining and it was a warm day with only a slight breeze coming in off the Atlantic. We sat on a travel rug and talked about all sorts of things; how our families were doing, the sightseeing Jane and Annie had done in Edinburgh and where we wanted to drive to the next day. After lunch I packed the leftovers back in my rucksack and we lay on the travel rug, with Annie cosily nestled against me.

"It's so beautiful here," she said. "Will you make love to me?"

"Do you mean..." I started to say, before she swiftly interrupted me.

"Yes," she said. "I want to really do it with you. Right here in the open air."

"Lucky I brought some condoms," I said, reaching for my rucksack.

"No need for those," she replied, grinning. "I'm on the pill."

"Wow! When did that happen?" I asked.

"I went to the health clinic on campus and got a prescription just before the summer break."

Making love with Annie on that hillside was a truly wonderful experience. Lying on my back on the travel rug, I unfastened my jeans and pulled down my underwear. Annie was wearing a sundress and she reached under the hem and took off her panties, then she knelt astride me, carefully positioned my cock and sank down slowly as she gazed into my eyes. It was a magical moment and Annie showed no sign of any pain or discomfort.

Slowly we moved in tandem as she raised and lowered herself slightly and I alternately pressed upward into her and dropped back as she pressed down on me. We didn't last long, but we climaxed together, crying out in ecstasy. Afterwards I noticed there was no trace of blood on my cock, but I didn't think that was significant. I wasn't a gynaecologist, but I knew hymens could be broken by activities other than sexual intercourse.

For the rest of our holiday we stayed overnight in B&Bs, which were usually small cottages, whose owners took great pride in their reputation for hospitality. The bed linen was invariably spotless and breakfast was usually so generous we didn't need much in the way of lunch.

On most days we were fortunate with the weather, it was warm and dry and we slept soundly at night thanks to a combination of fresh, ozone-rich air coming off the Atlantic and the fun we had in bed together. We spent a lot of time with my hard cock in Annie's snug pussy, but she also worked on perfecting her blowjob technique and I showed her my appreciation by licking and fingering her to orgasm.

"The answer is yes," she said, propping herself up and looking me in the eye one morning as we lay in bed after an enjoyable bout of energetic lovemaking.

It took me a couple of seconds to remember what the question was and then I grabbed her and kissed her passionately. When we eventually came up for air she said, "I think we need to visit my parents and give them the news before we tell anyone else." Then she grinned and added, "But right now there's another thing I'd like to do... again!"

The last few days of our holiday were spent driving south towards England and Annie's parents' place. We were in no hurry and stayed in a lovely B&B in the beautiful Lake District for two nights. Annie called ahead from a public phone box to let her parents know we were on our way. There aren't many of those red telephone boxes left nowadays, but back then there were no mobile phones and public phone boxes were commonplace.

Soon enough I found myself being introduced to Annie's parents and sister and we all enjoyed a pleasant chat in the front room of their small house. It was a Friday and Annie's mum served up fish and chips for dinner. I slept restlessly on their sofa that night, knowing I would be having a serious talk with Annie's dad in the morning. I suspect everyone in the family knew we hadn't come all the way from Scotland just to have dinner.

After breakfast the womenfolk promptly went shopping, leaving us men to have our talk, which went the way I described at the beginning of this story. Later, after Annie had spoken with her parents, it was agreed we would wait until the winter holiday break before announcing our engagement to the rest of the world. Annie wanted plenty of time to choose an engagement ring. It was also agreed there would be no cohabiting until after we graduated and got married, which would be in two years' time.

I hadn't expected to be living together with Annie anytime soon and we had already made separate arrangements for accommodation during the coming academic year. Annie and Jane would be sharing a two bedroom apartment and Jim Mitchell and I would likewise be sharing similar accommodation. Of course, that wouldn't prevent Annie and me from sleeping together, particularly at weekends.

A few days after the start of the new academic year Sheena Wong cornered me in the Social Sciences library building and asked if we could go for a coffee. We exchanged pleasantries while we got our coffee in the cafe and found a table. Once we were seated Sheena bluntly asked me if I had broken up with Annie.