What happens in Lock-down

Now there was a word we hadn't used very much in conversations before now. In all of my relationships I have generally avoided it, but with Cassie it was different. I didn't feel the need to hide from it.

"So, am I going to see more of you?" I wondered.

"Are you getting needy Kaz?" She asked with a cheeky grin.

"Not really," I said honestly, "But we've ever been closer, and I wondered..." I stroked her left nipple with my fingertips, making Cassie shiver with the sensation.

"I'm not sure." She said. "There's going to be a lot of work, picking up from where we were before the quarantine, and this draft of the book is nearly ready to go to the publisher - so there'll be re-writes. And I am supposed to start a speaking tour in the new year. But I will come and see you as often as I can ..." a sly smile crept across her face, "And maybe we can lock ourselves down for a couple of days. Because...?"

"What happens on lockdown stays on lockdown." I kissed my sister. "I will make sure that there is plenty of wine, when you do."

"And chocolate, don't forget to get chocolate!" Cassie's hand snaked around my neck and up the back of my head, drawing me towards her.

We kissed gently, our lips meeting softly, for a long breath, then Cass went on, "And of course, there is nothing to stop you coming to Italy and we can find somewhere to lock-down there, too. Marco has a place in the hills near Verona, I can use it any time I want ..."

"Sounds good to me!" I said as I pressed my lips against hers, and we sank down on the bed,

Well I suppose all good things must come to an end. Italy lifted the travel restrictions, and as soon as they did Cassie was on the phone making a reservation.

We had, neither of us, had the virus -- though sometimes we'd had one of the symptoms or another, but because neither of us had had had them all at once or lost our sense of smell or the sense of taste, we concluded that we hadn't had the full monty, so it was time to end our lock-down and for Cassie to go home.

Was I sad? Maybe just a bit, but I was very aware that she had to resume her life, and that life was in Italy where she had her job and her flat, her whole life in fact. And I will be honest, I was looking forwards to having my own life back. We had got along together pretty well, really well, with one significant exception, and that had all been cleared up. But I was looking forwards to having the place to myself again. I won't say that there would be things that I could do again like watching porn on my big screen TV or walking round naked, because -- well, apart from video calls or having to go out of the house, that had sort of became the norm towards the end. I just wanted to be in my space on my own again for a while without constantly rubbing shoulders with someone else.

The English government -- the Scots and the Welsh were intent on doing their own thing - were talking about lifting certain restrictions as well, with regard to meeting up with other people -- not that I was going to run outside and meet up with a lot of people, but it looked like we were starting to come out of the other end at last. Certainly, I was getting more and more emails from my clients discussing how things were going to go forwards or looking for support with existing solutions.

Cass got ready and I took her to Heathrow. It's not a very long drive and the M25 still wasn't up to full speed, but the first part of the journey was quiet, inside the car and out. I put it down to Cass getting her head round the things she needed to do.

Then she said, "I need to thank you Kaz, that was all pretty weird but it was also fantastic as well - you were fantastic"

"Thank you." I was a little surprised by her compliment. "You're pretty special too."

"Do you think your life has changed because of it?" I asked, meaning, I suppose, was she going to shag anything and everything now.

"Apart from our relationship, you mean? No." the response was emphatic. "I'm not sure there will a string of lovers in my life from now on. I have a much better appreciation of sex, but I don't think there're many men I want to share it with."

"Okay," I said, "That sounds reasonable."

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'm the same, I think what we've done and what we've got is one of those things that will always be private, no matter who else I am with."

And that was pretty much it, except that Cas made me promise to come out and visit her so that she could return the favour. I dropped her off at the terminus and got out of there.

Five hours later I received a text from Cassie letting me know that she was home, and everything was okay, she signed it 'l u 3k'. I was back at home myself by then, sitting on my couch wearing just a pair of shorts and drinking a beer, working on a new app solution and watching replays of cricket matches on the telly.

I love my sister, literally and figuratively, and I will miss her ... but not for a couple of days.

Postscript

And still the pandemic rumbles on.

Cassie and I have talked a few times -- there is definitely something strange about nude zoom calls, but they're a lot of fun too - about me going there, but it's not working at the moment. We're locked down, then not locked down and then they say we'll be locked down again. However, confused it all seems, I have a goal, sometime soon Cassie and I will be locking ourselves down in Marco's place near Verona. I have seen the pictures, it's stunning!

THAT image is what is getting me through this.

Take care all, stay safe!