The Promise Pt. 04

"Take away. I can stand it if you can, my love," said Sam, shuffling her chair sideways to make more room.

"How are we, Christine?"

"Very good, Rod. Very good." She was feeling very good. Three years ago she'd been dumped by a rat and had to count herself lucky to wangle taking over the lease on a council house in the area she thought she'd put behind her. Now she was the mistress of a very young and attractive lover who could help her along a bit. For a while...

In just two days of decisive action she had taken over significant territory in his life. And this was quite clear to him. She couldn't suppress a delight at her own clear-headedness and readiness to act. Well, let's see what turns up before the honeymoon ends, she thought, as she looked round their little group.

"I need to catch up on my education, Rod," she said to him. "Rob's going to prove what a great teacher he is by giving me some expert advice aren't you?"

"Yes. But it'll cost you."

"Saw this geezer, the other night," said Rod to Rob, and over the heads of the women, "Top Topham, blues guy. You ought to come and let me show you some proper music, Rob. Before it's too late."

"Oh, Anthony," said Sam. "Is he still around?"

Rod looked nonplussed.

"Sam and I used to see him when he was in the Yardbirds. Little Anthony Topham. We kind of took him under our wing, didn't we Sam?"

"Well that's one name for it."

"Yardbirds? Blimey." Rod stared at them.

"Maybe, we should go and see him, Chris? Wink, wink?" added Sam.

"Let's all go," said Rob. "I'll leave that in your hands, Rod."

Christine gave him a long look and gradually the corners of her mouth drew up in the 'Queen of Hearts' smile.

Somehow, it hadn't occurred to Rob that Christine could be anywhere near the same age as Sam, who looked like someone's grandmother. But never mind, Rob was also feeling so good that he was fairly unconcerned about anything the world could throw at him.

Meanwhile, her mention of evening classes had put an idea into his head. His need to get to grips with information theory would involve some serious intake of maths and he had thought about the possibility of some kind of course. Now it occurred to him that attendance at a fictitious evening class would give him a chance to have a regular date with Christine.

He and Rod smiled happily at each other, recalling some nonsense from their student days. Life was good. He looked at Christine and wagged his finger at her.

"Smiling suits you. You should do it more often."

"I'm going to."

**********

By Monday evening, Christine was showing the strain, having spent three frantic days in succession with little sleep. She had thought ahead no further than dragging Rob into bed, kicking him out on Saturday and having a bit of a snooze in the afternoon. She started to run a bath and did a quick run round the flat with a bin bag looking for stuff to put out in the rubbish. She remembered something, and went into her bedroom. Underneath the bed there were large drawers for storing bed linen. At the back of one of them was the remains of the pack of Durex she had bought the previous week. She had hidden them there after Rob had returned the day before, from his aborted get-together with Linda, Ell and Carol.

For a moment, she thought about really passing them on to Julie, her daughter. Christine would have had no embarrassment about doing so, but she decided it might be wiser not to have them around at all and dropped them in the bin bag, never to be seen again.

At the same time, she took the strip of photos from the photo-booth out of her bag, placed them in an envelope and put that at the back of the storage drawer. In a while she would get the prints back from the film she'd taken to be developed, the one, she hoped, that would show the large heart shaped mole in Rob's groin. If they came out right, they would be going there too. She produced Rob's diary from the bottom of the overnight bag and smiled at the current week, before putting it in the drawer. She had told him she couldn't see him until Thursday. She thought of the blank space there on the planner. It was going to be loads of fun forcing Rob to fuck her on Thursday and to have to lie through his teeth to do it.

While she had the drawer open, she pulled out a pair of Winceyette pyjamas and placed them on her pillow with a warning to herself never to let Rob catch her in them.

Comfy, though.

Then she went and got into the bath. Hopefully she would be asleep by half ten. She had enjoyed fucking Rob all weekend and she knew she had to 'christen' his room at the university, to mark her territory. But she was exhausted, and looked forward to having the bed to herself. As the hot water started to sooth her weary bones, she thought of Bob, Rob's blues loving new boss, and wondered idly what someone like Bob would be like as a lover. He'd have to be a bit calmer than a neglected man of twenty four. Bob? Who knew what tomorrow might bring?

But Professor. She liked that.

**********

Meanwhile, nearly two hundred miles away, Stephanie was also filling a bag. She was putting her luggage in order, to ease her departure with Randal on the following day. She had had time to think while he had been flying sickeningly through the air at Alton Towers. She and Rob had been like strangers for ages. Maybe, just maybe, this was the moment for them to make a fresh start. She was willing to bet that he'd forget that it was her birthday on Thursday, but she wouldn't make a fuss about it. She'd sort out a baby sitter or a sleepover, and they could try one of these Indian restaurants near the university that he'd been talking about.

She was, of course, completely unaware of the fact that she had just lost some potentially decisive battles in a war she didn't know she was fighting. She had been out-generalled by an adversary of whose existence she had not an inkling, but whom she would have dismissed out of hand if she had.

**********

The End