The Pulse Pt. 03

Christine was still staring and licking her lips. I realised that my shorts had got a bit wet and my package was fairly well outlined as well. I flushed red.

"Christine? I asked you a question."

"Oh," she almost had to shake herself out of her reverie, "Yes, Jake's in the same year as me and Ami at school."

"Nice to meet you Jake. We were told that someone could help us with the growbags that we've bought..?"

I mentally groaned before putting on my customer service face.

"That's right. Whereabouts are you?"

They directed me over to their big SUV. Christine wasn't her usual snarky self and Ami had never been much of a talker. Maybe the mother was intimidating them. Whatever it was, I was grateful for the respite.

The mother (grandmother?) chattered away politely and thanked me as I hefted the twenty kilogram bags into the back of the car making the suspension sag. I caught Christine watching me with her teeth biting her bottom lip as I went to pick up the final bag. She quickly looked away when she realised that I'd seen her and blushed a bright red.

This was certainly not the Christine that I knew from school. She was usually cocky and arrogant, always with a quick comeback. She was one of the popular girls that usually hung around with the rugby players. But she certainly seemed to like what she saw of me.

Ami just looked bored by the whole thing but kept glancing at Christine. I hadn't even considered that there might be an attraction there but that almost made sense. She was always around her and never really had a boyfriend that I knew about. Not that I kept track of these things.

I filed the information away and finished loading the car.

"You're ever so kind, thank you," gushed the mother, maybe grandmother now looking at her. She must be closing on sixty plus.

"You're welcome. Have a safe drive back - just remember there's a lot of weight in the back now."

Christine got in the car quickly and Ami gave me a longer calculating look before she got in the back.

Weird.

I started to consider Christine as I walked back to the warehouse. She was a netball player, quite thin with almost no tits from what I could see. Nice long hair and a pretty enough face when it wasn't in resting bitch mode. She had a nice round arse too with long legs...

I shook my head, unable to believe that I was thinking sexual thoughts about such a cold blooded bitch.

The rest of the work day passed much as normal but I managed to spend more time in the warehouse and less out in the sun. I asked Nick if I could get away a bit early and he let me off the last thirty minutes of the day saying that I'd earned it.

I jumped in my car and headed down to the Lido. It was just a quick run down the dual carriageway and then past the street full of car dealerships. The car park was packed and I was again thankful I had a small car. I grabbed my bag and headed to the entrance. I headed through the gate and after paying for my ticket entered the Lido.

The big outdoor pool was full of shouting and screaming people of all ages. Families having fun, kids splashing each other, others queuing for the three different slides that deposited you at different speeds into the pool. The wave machine was on at the moment and people were shouting and cheering.

I shaded my eyes and saw Jamie waving at me from the grass bank. He'd managed to grab some shade and between him, Susan and Tina had managed to save some pace for me.

"Great spot huh?"

"You did good, Jamie. Hey Susan, Tina."

Susan smiled up at me and I was shocked to see that her braces were gone. She was an attractive girl and filled out her bikini very nicely.

Tina had a wide floppy hat on, sunglasses and a lightweight throw covering her top half. She got up and gave me a huge hug.

"It's so good to see you."

"You too, Tina. How are you doing?"

"A lot better now you're here," she smiled warmly at me. "I don't usually come to these sort of places because of, well, you know. But because of the news coverage it's been worse than normal. I think having me here has ruined Jamie's day."

"Nonsense," muttered Jamie. But it must have been bad if my usually positive friend couldn't say more than that.

"Well, you're officially off duty now Jamie so why don't you and Susan make the most of the wave machine?"

They didn't need much urging and I settled down next to Tina. She quickly shuffled next to me and leaned in against my shoulder.

"You didn't really answer my question earlier. How are you doing?"

She sighed, holding my arm and stroking the bicep as she held herself against me.

"Not so great if I'm honest. I haven't slept all that well since the...you know. I keep getting flashbacks and if anyone catches me unawares then I end up jumping a mile. I've been jittery all day and then with guys coming up all the time today, I'm just tired."

"Well you're safe now."

I bent down and kissed the top of her head and she moved herself even closer to me. I put an arm around her shoulders and she sighed contentedly as she finally felt able to relax.

"I do feel safe. I'm so grateful, Jake. You should have seen the way you came through those doors with fire in your eyes. I think my recollection is a bit scrambled as the other guys just all seemed to drop as you came into the room but that doesn't make sense."

"Don't dwell on it Tina. The main thing is that you're alright."

"I am now."

And she squashed her assets up against me as she hugged me again, causing my unruly dick to react in an entirely predictable way.

Baldrick in a dress. Baldrick in a dress. Baldrick in a dress.

After a while the others came back and we had a nice relaxed chat. Tina didn't leave my side once. We eventually convinced her to come into the pool once it got a bit quieter and she didn't get anything like the normal levels of attention with a "boyfriend" in tow.

Unfortunately, I hadn't tried on my swimming shorts since last summer and the bulge had plenty of girls looking. I was so embarrassed that I began to understand how Tina must feel. We both wrapped towels around ourselves as soon as we could and settled down to dry off as Susan and Jamie continued to have fun in the pool.

As we sat there Tina started to get a bit tongue tied. Conversation got a bit stilted until she finally said.

"Did you really say that I looked like a goddess of rock?"

"Yes. Standing there with the guitar in hand like that you had so much attitude."

"A goddess?"

I already knew that Tina liked me. The fact that I'd saved her had obviously pushed that into a degree of infatuation. I wish that I'd been a bit more careful with my words. It wasn't that I didn't like her or find her attractive but I didn't want to send out the wrong signals. I obviously wasn't doing very well at that.

"You're a very attractive girl Tina. You know that."

Her lips curled in a wry smile.

"There's a but coming though isn't there?"

"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea is all. We get on well and I enjoy your company but I already told you that I was seeing someone."

She sighed and looked sadly down at her feet.

I was completely torn. Tina was fun, attractive and we had a lot in common. She was a genuinely nice person with it. And while I did fancy her - I was still male after all - she just didn't get my motor running in the same way as Fiona or Jennifer.

Our friends broke the awkward silence when they got back and Tina announced that she wanted to head home. Jamie looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. Susan picked up immediately that something wasn't right and the two of them headed off.

"Everything alright man?

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What happened?"

"Well, you may have gathered that Tina likes me."

"You'd have to be blinder than a blind thing not to see that."

"Well, while I like her I just don't like her in the same way as she likes me. She's so sweet and I feel really bad not being able to reciprocate but I can't lead her on. I'm not that guy"

"You wouldn't be my friend if you were that guy."

I smiled at him, glad that he understood.

"So, Chemistry cram session at my place tomorrow night?"

"But Biology is Tuesday and Chemistry is Wednesday."

"Right. But we both know that you don't need to work on Biology. But you do need to work on your Chemistry."

I nodded and as I drove home after dropping Jamie off, I reflected that he had pretty much summed up my love life in two sentences.