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Operation Fit Bird

By: Northern_One



I decided to publish this story in the Novels and Novellas category rather than breaking it up into separate chapters. It's about sex but it isn't simply one sex scene after another so bear that in mind when reading and commenting. 

I hope you enjoy it and please leave me feedback. All rights reserved, © Northern_One, 2014.

Chapter One

"Am I boring you, Weston?" The voice boomed around the changing room, snapping Will to his senses. 

"No, sir. Not at all," said Will, which wasn't strictly true.

"Good. Then you won't mind telling us all what formation we're going to be using this afternoon then, will you?"

Will looked at the squiggles on the whiteboard on the far wall of the shabby room. He took a deep breath, inhaling the stuffy, sweaty air. It smelled of socks, damp and Deep Heat. "Umm, four-four-three, sir?" he said. It was a guess. The strategies and mechanics of football had never excited him. Mr Fiddler, his PE teacher knew it was a guess. Everyone in the room knew it was a guess.

"Jesus, boy. Can't you even add up? Just how many players do you think make up a football team?" said the man the entire student body knew as 'Kiddy', by virtue of his name, despite the lack of any evidence to support the slander.

Will saw his error. "Twelve, sir?" he said. If he was getting a detention he might as well get a laugh out of it at the very least. The groans from his team mates told him he'd failed.

"Dickhead," someone muttered.

"Dickhead, indeed," said Kiddy. "Clever little shit, aren't you, Weston?"

It was true. Will was a clever little shit. He was also a cheeky little shit, a cocky little shit and a lucky little shit, if various teachers and prefects were to be believed. It seemed, however, as the track-suited bulk of the PE teacher loomed in front of him, that the last of these descriptive little shits had finally run out. 

"You lot get out there and warm up," Kiddy told the others, who duly trooped out of the door towards the freezing quagmire that passed for playing fields at the well-regarded but woefully under-funded school. "You, stand up," he told Will.

Kiddy Fiddler towered over Will. The teacher was a freakish man mountain compared to Will who these days was finding it harder and harder to make the skills he was born with count on the pitch when everyone else had got so much bigger than him.

"I don't like your attitude these days, Weston," Kiddy said. "You're not a team player. And there's no place in my teams for someone who doesn't want to play."

Will, who was having to tilt his head back to make eye contact with the older man glanced towards the open door and the rain-lashed pitches beyond. 

"Look at me, boy," Kiddy said. "I know you want to be out there, showing off, getting laughs, making lads with less talent than you look stupid, but not anymore."

Will looked back at old Kiddy. The teacher couldn't have been further from the truth. Not long before PE had been the highlight of his week, his playground, his theatre even, now Will dreaded Wednesday afternoons and the freezing cold, the merciless tackles from the lads now much bigger than him, the clumsy challenges from the unskilled oafs and the relentless bellowing from the man in front of him. 

"I've tried discipline. I've tried coaching. Nothing seems to work with you, lad. You're a waster," Kiddy said. Will could see thick grey hairs on his upper lip where he'd missed with the razor. His breath smelled of coffee and cigarettes. There was a faint waft of body odour, too, that the cheap deodorant was failing to mask. Kiddy didn't seem to expect a response so Will didn't offer one.

"I've had it up to here," Kiddy said, gesturing really quite high up. "Now, if all you want to do is ponce about and get laughs then we're going to take your audience away. If encouragement and good old fashioned bollockings won't make you think, then we need to try something different. Maybe it's time you were humiliated into applying yourself."

Something lurched in Will's stomach. He didn't like the sound of humiliation. "Sorry, sir," he began.

"Enough," Kiddy said, holding up his hand. "It's too late for you to talk your way out of this. I've been talking to Miss Cookson and she agrees. If you don't respect me, the game and your team mates then we'll take them all away and teach you a proper lesson," he said sternly. "From now on you'll be playing netball with the girls."

Silence filled the changing room. Will wondered if he'd heard correctly. "With the girls, sir? In the sports hall?"

Kiddy had a triumphant smile on his blotchy face. "Ha," he said. "Not so cocky now, are you, stripped of your precious football. Playing netball with girls should take you down a peg or two. What do you think your smart friends will think of that?"

Will bit his lip to keep himself from bursting into laughter. Blood rushed in his ears. He felt his face redden. His body began to shake as he held the laughter in. Surely this had to be some kind of joke. Kiddy was looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Come on, lad. Pull yourself together," he said. "It'll probably only be for a few weeks."

Will realised the teacher thought he was going to burst into tears. He looked Kiddy in the eye again and nodded. "Yes, sir. Okay, sir," he said quietly.

Kiddy stepped back and Will sat on the bench. He looked down at his football boots, hoping Kiddy would think he was contemplating the end of his serious sporting career. After a pause Will looked up at Kiddy. "So should I go now, sir?" he asked.

"That's right, lad. Miss Cookson's waiting for you in the sports hall. Now get over there, sharpish".

Will untied his laces and slipped off his boots. "Yes, sir," he said, barely able to conceal his smirk.

"And I hope you bloody learn something," Kiddy said as he marched towards the greyness outside.

"Me too, sir," Will said. "In fact I'm sure I will."

Will left the changing rooms and began to make his way down the path to the location of his humiliating punishment and paused to zip up his waterproof coat. He peered at the football pitches through the rain but the gloom was too murky and he could only hear Kiddy Fiddler instructing his erstwhile team mates to set off on a stamina-building run round the fields. Shaking his head in disbelief Will pulled his hood up and walked towards the sports hall. He pushed open the door and paused in the foyer, as his eyes adjusted to the brightness and he soaked up the warmth. Trying very hard not to grin too much he set off to find Miss Cookson and report for his punishment.

"Ahh, Mr Weston," the girls' PE teacher said. "Mr Fiddler suggested you might be joining us today. Let's hope playing with the girls for a while teaches you something while you're missing out on your precious football, hmm?"

Asking himself just how stupid these people really were, Will tried to look contrite. "Yes, ma'am, I hope so too." He looked around the hall. The three netball courts were filled with girls from his year. Girls of all shapes and sizes. Girls wearing short pleated skirts and clingy blouses. Girls perspiring gently in the warmth of the hall. Girls. 

Miss Cookson blew her whistle and the games stopped. "Now then ladies. Will here will be joining us for a few weeks until he can show he's earned the right to play in the football team. I trust you'll show him the ropes and teach him what you can."

Will heard more than a few giggles which were cut short by a stern look from Miss Cookson. "Enough of that," she barked. "I'm sure you've seen a boy before. He's here to learn a lesson, not for your amusement." She looked around the hall until she found the girl she wanted. "Julia," she said to a tall blonde Will had seen before but never spoken to. "You can explain the rules to Will and show him the ropes."

"Yes, ma'am," said Julia, appearing before Will and giving him a friendly smile. She had a southern accent. Not a cockney one, just from down south. Will assumed she must be posh.

"And Will," Miss Cookson said. "I'll be reporting back to Mr Fiddler so I don't want any funny business."

"Of course not, ma'am," said Will, finding it all the harder to keep a straight face when Julia winked at him.

"Julia, make sure you keep Will in line please."

"Yes, ma'am," the girl said.

"Good," Miss Cookson said, stowing a stray netball under arm. "Now, hopefully a little dose of humility will serve you well and you'll be back out on the pitch in no time, hmm?" She didn't wait for an answer but put her whistle to her lips and blew. "Okay, ladies. Back to work."

Will looked around the hall and its eighteen year-old occupants and said a silent prayer of thanks. 

"Weird kind of punishment" Julia chuckled as they walked towards an empty net and the wind rattled the skylights.

"I know," Will laughed. "They must think I'm like, 14 or something."

"So," Julia said, one hand on her hip, her mouth in an exaggerated pout, her big blue eyes boring into Will's. "First lesson."

*

"You're such a lucky fucker," said Ant as he punched Will's arm.

Will grinned and rubbed his arm. Ant was exactly the kind of person Will was glad not to have to face on the pitch anymore. Having known one another since Will's family had moved in down the road ten years or so before they'd been in competition one way or another ever since. Whereas Ant had soared vertically and sprouted muscles upon muscles, Will's growth had plateaued early and now seemed to have stopped altogether. It didn't bother him particularly, apart from when being muscled off the ball or on the receiving end of a particularly spirited dead-arm. When it came to dribbling or keepy-ups, Will could still kick his mate's arse anyway. 

Although perhaps no longer able to cut it with his brawn Will definitely had the edge when it came to brains. When he'd decided to study for his A-levels at the traditional, stick-in the-mud grammar school rather than the local college, Ant had deployed every put-down he could come up with to let Will know just what a geeky swot he was going to become at that poncy school. Will had known it was a defence mechanism but, perhaps against the odds, the two remained best mates even now, with Ant earning an apprentice brickie's wage while Will applied to universities.

"When Kiddy told me I honestly thought it was a piss-take," Will laughed. I mean, in what fucking universe is that gonna be a punishment?"

Ant shook his head and picked up the Playstation controller, nodding at Will that they were going to resume play. "Such a lucky fucker," he said again. "I'm out freezing my tits off every day and you're mincing about with a load of fuckin' tarts."

"Kiddy reckons I'm not a team player and need to earn the right to play footy again. As if! I'm so over football. I just get a fucking kicking every week now anyway off some great lumbering oaf. Go! I'm covering you," Will said as he unleashed a volley of machine gun fire as Ant sent his character sprinting towards the safety of an overturned jeep.

"I can't believe they still make you do PE," said Ant, lobbing a grenade. "And wear a uniform. So gay." The grenade exploded, taking out the sniper that had Will pinned down. "Go on then, homo," he nodded at the screen. 

"It's not a fucking uniform, it's a suit and anyway, I'm not complaining, am I?" Will said. "This Julia's fit as fuck."

"Big tits?" Ant asked.

"Not massive. Nice though. Good legs too".

"She taller than you?" Ant laughed.

"Is she fuck. Not in her trainers, anyway."

Ant laughed. "Short arse. Women never go for blokes shorter than them, you know?"

"Bollocks," said Will. "What about Jenny? She's taller than me."

"Yeah, and did you get a shag off her?"

He hadn't. Not for want of trying. "Fair enough," Will conceded. "Neither did you!"

"Nah but I did off Michelle an hour after she dumped you."

Will looked at his friend. "What?" 

Ant looked at him and stuck his tongue out. "Over the bonnet of me dad's Mondeo!"

Will shook his head with an element of exasperation. Fine, that didn't break the code but it was still pretty out of order. Especially as Michelle hadn't let Will shag her once in their two months together. "Remind me why I still hang round with you?"

"My wit and charm," Ant said, then punched his arm again.

"Ow!" Will shouted. "Fucking pack it in."

"Oh give over, you big ponce. Right, we're nearly there," he said looking at the screen intently. "You go right to that bunker then we've done it."

Will reloaded his gun and set off. It might not have been the most important aspect of his life but cracking this mission was certainly up there. Suddenly his avatar was vapourised and the noise of a colossal explosion reverberated around the array of speakers in Ant's bedroom. "What the fuck?" Will shouted as he looked at Ant in disgust. "Nice teamwork, prick." 

Ant blew him a kiss. "What would you know about that?" he grinned.

Friday night had meant a night in the Red Lion for as long as Will and Ant and a few of the others had been able to get served. Before that it'd had been a case of sending whoever reckoned they could convince the bloke in the off-licence that the piss-poor fake ID they were inspecting was at least vaguely genuine to buy a shopping list's worth of booze for everyone else. One way or another they'd usually managed to procure enough alcohol to make the fields behind the church seem like a fine venue for an evening of intoxication. As it was, enough time had passed for just about all of their crowd to be able last a night in the pub without being expelled for being underage. The Lion was the pub of choice for the younger generations and, as usual, it was mostly filled with drinkers of their age, some a bit older, and some a bit younger, gamely trying their luck at the bar. Where you went once you'd hit 23 was of no consequence to Will and his mates but it certainly wasn't the Lion on a Friday night. Who went in the during the week was a mystery but come the weekend it was usually heaving.

The Lion had, over the years, attracted a similar clientele to the one it maintained today although gone were the days when 16 year olds could happily sit at the bar with a pint as if they were old-timers and the low ceilings kept the place thick with pungent weed smoke. Even though the place had been taken over by a landlord who saw licensing laws as more than mere suggestions, the Lion still attracted the young crowd, ever shifting as people got older, left the town, or -- at 23 -- moved on to drink somewhere else. On a Friday night, there was the kind of mingling of ages that wouldn't happen at school and older brothers and sisters could often be found in there. Ant's brother Mark was one of these and he joined them at their table having been outside for a smoke.

"All right lads," he said, pulling a stool underneath him as he sat.

"All right bruv," said Ant.

"Sup Mark," Will said. "How's work?"

"Boring. Thank fuck it's the weekend," he said, toying with his pint glass. "Wish I'd stayed at fuckin' uni now."

Mark had first delighted, then disappointed his family by being the first to go to university, only to decide a regular wage was more appealing a year into his course. Three years down the line, he was still ruing his decision.

"Yeah you always wanted money though didn't you Mark?" Will reminded him.

"Yeah, well," he grumbled, and took a drink. "You decided where you're going yet?" he asked Will.

"Not definitely. Got a couple in mind."

"He's going to fuckin' Oxbridge. Brainy cunt," Ant told his brother.

"Jesus, it's either Oxford or Cambridge, you thick bastard," Mark said. "Anyway, I'm not surprised. You're too clever for this town. Get out while you can."

"I'm not that clever anyway. Brighton, maybe," said Will quietly and swirled his glass. His leaving was a bit of a sore point between he and Ant. Inside Will couldn't wait to leave the dank northern town and see what he could make of himself but he'd never let Ant know that, who seemed to think university would be a three year hiatus for their friendship which would pick up where it left off when Will came home after graduating.

"You heard what this lucky git's doing at school?" Ant asked Mark.

Mark shook his head. "What's that then?"

"He got booted off the pitch for being a cocky bastard and has to play netball with the girls as punishment."

Mark sorted into his pint. "What sort of fucking punishment is that?" he laughed.

"I know!" Ant shouted. "Lucky little shit, you are," he said to Will who shrugged and sat back.

"Might take me a while to lean the error of my ways, that's true," Will said, grinning.

"Such a fucked-up school," Ant said, shaking his head.

"Plenty of totty then?" Mark asked.

"Oh yes," Will nodded. 

"How do you hide your boner?" Mark asked, laughing.

"Ha! You couldn't fuckin' see it anyway, micro cock!" said Ant.

"Working the old Weston charm on any of 'em yet?" Mark asked.

"Only got sent there on Wednesday," Will said. "Give us a chance!"

"I though Julia was the girl for you?" Ant asked.

"For fuck's sake, I only said she as fit," said Will. "I only talked to her for ten minutes."

"Julia eh?" said Mark. "What's she like then?"

"Tall, blonde, blue eyes. Nice legs."

"Big tits?" Mark asked.

Will laughed. "You two are fucking obsessed with big tits. That's the first thing he asked me, too," he said, gesturing at Ant.

"So," Mark grinned. "Does she?"

"Big enough," Will smiled. "She sounds posh. Southern."

"Well that's you fucked then," said Ant. "Out of your league already."

Mark stopped, his glass at his mouth. "Not called Miller, is she?"

"Dunno, didn't hear her surname," said Will. 

"I used to know a blonde lass called Amanda Miller who had a little sister called Julia. She was southern. Fit, too. Mandy Miller," he said dreamily. "Dirty as fuck, she was," he grinned.

"Get in there Willy-boy!" shouted Ant, whacking his friend on the arm. "Get her on Facebook," he said, pulling out his phone. "She got any hot selfies? I could do with a wank."

"How the fuck would I know?" said Will. "I don't even know if it's her."

"Find out," Mark said, pointing his empty glass at Will. "Ask her if she remembers me."

"Why would she?" Ant asked.

"Cos she used to come in Mandy's room after we'd done it and ask us all about it. Mandy used to tell her everything."

"Fucking hell," said Will and Ant together.

"Exactly. Little minx. Just think how much she'll have learned by now. Their dad's loaded, too. Owns a load of clubs and gig venues. They've got a massive mansion out near the country park. Near where all the footballers are."

"Fuck me, Will," said Ant. "You seriously need to get in there." He picked up his phone. "Let's have a look for Julia Miller. I deffo need a wank now."

Mark shook his head at his brother and stood up. "It's your fucking round dickhead. I'll be with the lads," he said, gesturing across the pub. "Later, Will."

"Later, Mark."

Will woke up late on Saturday morning with a significant hangover and the accompanying horniness that, in the absence of anyone else to help him, he would have to take care of himself before he contemplated leaving his bed. He fumbled amongst the detritus on the untidy floor for his iPad and woke the incredible porn machine. On his way to a favourited site he recalled Mark's sordid tales and Ant's eagerness to cyber-stalk the delectable Julia and made a detour to Facebook on the off chance that she was the kind of girl that posted blatantly attention-grabbing photos of herself for all to see and comment on. He wasn't disappointed. Within seconds Will was immersed in a vast array of photos of Julia and her friends. Julia in her bedroom, Julia in her friend's bedroom, Julia in the garden, Julia in a pool, and eventually, just what he'd been hoping for: a half-naked Julia wearing nothing but her French knickers, hand across her tits, pouting for her own camera and now, for the next couple of minutes anyway, just for Will.


Operation Fit Bird



Will awoke for a second time an hour or so later and, having eventually roused himself, showered and dressed, descended the stairs to continue his cyber-research into Julia over a decent breakfast. Less than halfway through the hundreds of photos on her page and long before he had to masturbate over a set of her bikini shots Will had already made up his mind that one way or another, he had to see if she was as hot in the flesh as she was in the photos. "Just think how much she'll have learned by now," Mark had said. Will liked the idea of finding out.

As he cleaned himself up yet again, his phone buzzed as a text landed.

Found her yet? Sexy lil tart isnt she? U gotta tap that dude.

Will grinned. Ant was right. He did have to tap that. There was just the small matter of how.

Wednesday afternoon brought with it all the joys of the previous week. Will gleefully left his class mates after their dinner break and made his way through the wind and rain towards the sports hall and its warm, dry, roofed luxury. He changed alone in the boys' changing room and walked out onto the courts to recommence what Ant was now calling Operation Fit Bird. 

Will waited patiently and tried not to ogle the girls too obviously as he waited for Miss Cookson to decide how he could continue his devastatingly humiliating punishment. Although Will would have said he had a preference for tall blondes with big boobs he was absolutely able to find something in almost all of the girls as they filed out of the changing rooms. They walked past him, some smiling, others ignoring him, and jogged around the echoey space in their white polo shirts and grey pleated skirts. He watched as they practised their shooting or did some stretching and he filled his memory banks with images of nubile flesh stretching, bouncing and bending. He still couldn't quite believe this was supposed to be a punishment and, as a particularly pneumatic pair of netball experts came into view, had begun toying with the idea of a very quick visit to the boys' changing room toilet for some instant relief. A second later Julia appeared and launched a ball towards him which, although he managed to catch it, knocked him off balance making him step backwards against the wall.

"Sorry, was that a bit hard?" Julia asked. Her blue eyes sparkled mischievously in the harsh fluorescent light of the sports hall.

"No, just caught me off guard a bit," Will said, a touch too quickly. He threw the ball back in a gentle arc.

"You'll have to do better than that, Mr Weston," Miss Cookson's voice called out. "The girls won't break, give it some welly! Netball's a fast game. You don't have time for ponderous play."

"Yes, ma'am," Will replied, fielding another cannonball of a pass to his midriff from a grinning Julia. He returned the ball with a stronger throw, trying to make it look effortless. Julia caught it and flung it back even harder than before. The ball hit Will's outstretched finger and ricocheted off and he yelped in pain, causing a good number of the girls to look round to see what had happened. 

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Weston," Miss Cookson sighed. "Do you have to make such a fuss?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, trying to shake the stinging pain out of his hand, whilst off to one side the object of his desires was trying hard to stifle her laughter.

"Perhaps take it slow at first, Julia" Miss Cookson said. "Let Mr Weston become used to the pace of the game."

"Yes, ma'am," Julia said with a smirk in Will's direction and lobbed the ball as slowly as she could.

"Okay girls," Miss Cookson said, clapping her hands. "Two minutes then into your teams. Mr Weston, we'll have you in the 'E' team for now I think.

Will's finger still stung quite a lot but he did his best to mask it. If two minutes with Julia was all he had he had to make it count.

"How's the punishment? Are you feeling humiliated yet?" she asked.

"Well that dodgy pass from you didn't help but I think it might take a while to learn my lesson still," Will said.

"Dodgy pass my arse," Julia sneered playfully. "You ready this time?" she asked and tossed him another easy ball.

Will didn't feel he was creating the best impression. He feared it could only be a matter of time before Kiddy Fiddler and Miss Cookson decided being in the warm with a host of eighteen year old girls wasn't going to sort his attitude out so he had to strike while the iron was hot. Cool and charming, not smarmy or cocky, he told himself as Julia bent to pick up and return a stray ball from one of Will's 'E' teammates. Ignore her legs, her tits, her smile and her hair and don't fucking blow it.

"You have a good weekend?" he asked casually, half-thinking of a way of levering in what Mark had told him.

"Yeah, was okay," Julia replied. "My sis was home from uni so we just did family things. How about you?"

"Yeah, the usual really. Went down the Red Lion on Friday. You ever been?" He was pretty sure he knew the answer. If Julia's dad owned nightclubs and gig venues she had better things to do then visit the Lion.

She shook her head, making her blonde ponytail dance from side to side. "Bit far for me," she said, and tossed him the ball. "If I go out it's usually to a bar or club in town."

Will admired her tact. "Oh right, cool," he said. "Yeah, we go to a few clubs and stuff in town," he said, hoping he sounded more knowledgeable than he was. He was sure the two minutes was nearly up so he chanced his arm. "My mate's brother says to say hello, by the way."

Julia caught the ball and sent it back with a little more force. "Oh right, who's that?"

"Mark Smith," Will told her, making sure he could see her face to gauge her reaction. "He used to go out with your sister I think?"

Julia grinned openly. "Oh yeah, I remember Mark," she said. "That's funny that you know him. How is he?"

Will kept his eyes on Julia's. She hadn't looked in the slightest bit embarrassed at the mention of Mark. He took this to be a positive sign. "He's well. He did go to uni but came back. I've known him for years."

"Oh do say hi from me then," Julia beamed, her chest jiggling distractingly as she hopped to her left to catch Will's rather errant throw. 

"Yeah, of course," said Will. "He said you'd got on well."

Julia laughed and paused for a split second, her eyes flicking away from Will's then back. "Yeah, we used to have some good chats," she said, flinging the ball back at close to what Will perhaps wrongly assumed was full power. 

"Yeah, he did say you used to talk about stuff," Will said, immediately regretting it for being too obvious.

"I bet he did," Julia said, holding his gaze. "I was very curious about things then," she said, grinning.

Will's mind was whirring. Julia was clearly toying with him a little but he felt a thrill that she knew what he had heard about her and that she wasn't embarrassed by it. A surge of sexual energy urged him on. "So does that mean you're not curious anymore?" he asked.

Her reply was cut short by a shrill whistle from Miss Cookson. Julia grinned and bounced the ball as she walked past Will to join her teammates at the 'A' end of the hall. "Still curious, just better informed," she said, turning and walking backwards, her lips in a sultry pout. "You going to Charlotte's party on Friday?"

Will opened his mouth to tell her he didn't know Charlotte but Julia interrupted him. "Add me on Facebook and you'll see where it is. See you around, Willy-boy," she said, and whizzed the ball at him once more. Will had indeed underestimated the power of her passes before but this time held onto the ball, his stomach absorbing the impact as Julia jogged away, leaving Will to decode what he'd heard.

Ant's battered Corsa was opposite the school gates as it was every Friday afternoon, the flimsy panels vibrating audibly with the bass thump from the ridiculously over-powered stereo. Will opened the passenger door, letting out a cloud of pungent smoke and threw his backpack onto the back seat. Ant sat in the driver's seat, a road atlas on his knee covered in spliff-rolling paraphernalia. A fat cone dangled from Ant's lips and he handed it to Will as he sat down. 

"All right gayboy?" he yelled, not looking up from the construction of the next joint. "Close the fucking door, you're letting all the goodness out."

Will took a toke on the joint and handed it back to Ant who passed the atlas to his friend for him to take over. Will leaned to turn the stereo down to a bearable level and received a stern look for his troubles. "How are you, mate? Good week?" Will asked.

"Yeah, not bad," Ant told him as he started the car and set off towards one of their favoured smoking points on the moor overlooking the town. "Had a fuckin' result at work this week," he said, drawing hard on the joint as he accelerated up the rain-slicked road. "A well-fit bird's just started in the office. About twenty two I reckon. Long red hair, nice rack, lovely arse."

"So that's a result is it? Have you got her number or anything?" Will asked.

"Well, no, not yet," Ant admitted. "But she's definitely interested and anything's gotta be better than the usual munters in the office there."

Will took the offered joint back and gripped the door handle as Ant took a corner at high speed. "How do you know she's interested? What's she said to make you think that?"

Ant glanced at him and have him a knowing grin. "Well, she's not said a lot but she's looked at me and smiled every day since she started."

Will laughed. "Fuck me, sounds like she's gagging for it, mate. When you say she's not said a lot, does that actually mean she's not said anything?"

Ant took the joint back as the road straightened out and looked at his friend again. "She said hello."

Will snorted and shook his head. "Pathetic! I tell you what though, I had a proper result on Wednesday."

"Oh yeah, you get a peek at fit bird in the shower?"

"Fuck, I wish. I'm horny as fuck at the moment."

Ant looked at him warily. "Don't go getting any ideas, now."

"Shut up, dickhead. I've got us an invite to a house party tonight. Up for it?"

This grabbed Ant's attention. "At her house?"

"No, some lass called Charlotte. I dunno who she is, she's not at my school but Julia asked if I was going and told me to add her on Facebook so I could see where it is. She lives out near the country park like Julia does. Must be loaded."

"Nice one, fella. You're on fit bird's Facebook, then? Any new photos? Bet you've had a go over all of 'em by now!" He wasn't waiting for a reply. "What's this Chardonnay like? Fit too? Bet she is. I like her already. They love a bit of rough, the posh birds."

Will looked at his friend with disdain. "Ha! You'd better hope so, you fuckin' scruff. And it's Charlotte. She's not a fucking WAG."

Ant pulled into the car park that on a clear day gave a great view of their own town, the expanse of green that was the country park and, in the distance, the excitement and allure of the big city. Today all that could be seen was a fogged-up windscreen and a steady, unrelenting drizzle from the leaden skies. He flicked through his iPod to find a particular Snoop Dogg track extolling the virtues of cannabis, turned the volume back up and turned to Will. "Couple more fatties, home to make ourselves look beautiful then out we go my friend." He took the next joint from Will's hand. "I'm feeling lucky, amigo. Charlene or whatever her name is gonna be a very happy girl by the end of tonight."

Will set to work on the next joint. "Me too, I hope," he said dreamily. "A happy boy, I mean." He looked at Ant, knowing full well what sarcastic look would be spread across his ugly mug. "You know what I mean."

Charlotte might not have been a WAG but her house would have done at least a Championship player proud. Will and Ant parked the Corsa on the road and walked up the gravel drive towards the big mock-Tudor house. A couple of their other mates had been decidedly pissed off to hear they weren't invited to the posh lass's party and would have to settle for a night in the Lion but Will wasn't about to do anything that might show him in a bad light to Julia. He wasn't too enamoured with having Ant there, especially since he'd insisted on bringing a four-pack of Black Diamond cider in a Booze Bonanza carrier bag but he was his best mate, after all, and was the provider of lifts and strong marijuana so it only seemed fair. Will rang the bell and was greeted by a guy about their age who was wearing a pink Ralph Lauren shirt with the sleeves rolled up, had some kind of yacht captain's cap on his head and a glass of white wine in his hand. 

"Yah?" the captain said.

"Permission to come aboard?" Ant asked under his breath. Will stood on his foot to shut him up.

"Oh, hi. We're friends of Julia's," said Will.

The marine enthusiast looked them up and down, his lip showing the faintest hint of a curl, then opened the door. "Come on, then," he said. "Jules is in the conservatory, I think."

"Aye aye, cap'n," the boys said breezily and went inside.

The house looked the same inside and out to Will. Everything looked new and shiny, and had a veneer of trying a bit too hard to be high class, much like the guy who'd opened the door. Disclosure was being piped through speakers in the ceiling, something that caught Ant's attention straight away, whilst Will made a beeline for the kitchen to see if there was anything interesting to drink. Most house parties he went to had a financially-induced drink-what-you-bring policy but he hoped that might not apply here as his own penury had reduced him to a hip-flask of his dad's ouzo.

There were a few familiar faces present, a couple of lads he knew from school nodded at him and a few girls he'd been playing netball with a couple of days before smiled and said hi. It was definitely a different crowd to Will and Ant's usual, though and he looked around for the way to the conservatory and the relative familiarity of Julia. The kitchen, however, waylaid him with its fine selection of wines, beers and spirits and Will spent a couple of minutes making a strong vodka and tonic to give him some Dutch courage and hopefully counteract the slight paranoia that Ant's powerful weed was inducing. 

Will leant against a marble-topped kitchen island and sipped his drink. Ant appeared by his side, carrier bag in one hand, can of tramp-strength cider in the other. 

"I don't know anyone. Been right round the place," he said. "Think anyone'll mind if I skin up?"

"Go for it," Will replied. "I might lay off this one though."

"Pussy," said Ant, laying out his Rizlas and bag of stinking green plant matter. "Where's fit bird then?" he asked Will.

"Dunno," Will said, scanning the crowd. "Haven't seen her. I hardly know anyone really."

"Best get fucked up then, eh?" 

Will laughed. "Spose so!"

The two of them stood by the island, Will looking for a familiar face and trying to look like he was meant to be there, Ant facing the worktop, hands busy. The ship's captain floated past. Will lifted his glass to salute him. 

"Ooh, is that what I think it is?" a big, voluptuous girl with long brown hair asked Ant.

"Sure is," he grinned at her, holding the spliff aloft. "Want some?"

"Mmm, yes please. I'm Charlotte," she said. "Who are you? Are you one of Jules's new friends?" she asked, taking Ant's arm and leading him towards the open French doors and the garden beyond.

Ant grinned at Will over his shoulder and the two disappeared into the dark garden leaving Will alone again. He downed his drink and quickly made another, then headed off to find the object of his desire.

He squeezed past a few people to get to the conservatory. The dimly-lit room was full, much busier than the rest of the house had been so far and Will stopped to peer through the crowd to see if he could find someone he knew, preferably Julia. There was a lot of laughter and a good deal of squealing from overexcited girls, almost drowning out the music. A few couples were engaged in varying degrees of intimacy, Will stood to one side, feeling a bit self-conscious but trying to look as nonchalant as possible and watched a girl repeatedly remove her beau's hand from between her legs as they swapped saliva before she finally gave in and allowed his hand down the front of her leggings. Will grinned to himself, admiring the lad's perseverance and took another swig of vodka and tonic, emptying the glass. He couldn't see Julia so decided another V and T was in order. Not for the first time he thought about what Mark had told him about young Julia. She was probably in a bedroom upstairs. Please not with the captain, Will hoped.

In an explosion of laughter a pair of girls staggered towards him, both clutching empty balloons. The heavily made-up brunette fell against him and collapsed on the ground at his feet, laughing uncontrollably. She lay with her legs wide apart, her silver dress around her waist, while the redhead, equally wrecked on nitrous oxide tried to pull her friend up but succeeded only on slipping on the tiled floor and joining her on the floor. Will pondered the merits of being a gentleman and helping them but, having had a good look up the brunette's dress at her little black thong and down the redhead's top, decided to step aside and let them ride out the high. Maybe he'd come and find them later if Julia was still AWOL.

Back in the kitchen the vodka was beginning to have an effect and Will's inhibitions were lowering. He made another drink and decided to explore in search of, if not Julia, some other entertainment. Wandering into the garden he found various groups of smokers and stopped to speak to one of the few people he knew.

"All right, Danny," he said to one of the lads from school. "Can I pinch a smoke?" Will didn't really like cigarettes but it would give him something to do. 

"No probs, Will," said Danny, offering him the packet. "Who you here with?"

"Just my mate Ant. He came out here with Charlotte. You seen her?" He took the offered lighter and blew smoke into the cool night air.

Danny shook his head and laughed. "No, sorry mate. Knowing Charlotte she'll have got him behind a bush or summat."

Will laughed. "Like that, is she? I'd never met her before tonight. Julia Miller asked me if I was coming so I thought I might as well."

"Ha! Charlotte's a right goer," said Danny. "She gets around enough! Where's Jules then? I haven't seen her all night."

"Me neither mate," said Will. "You're about the only person I know here." 

A girl appeared beside Danny and held his arm. "They've got nitrous in there, babe," she said to him. "Let's do some."

"Shit, sorry dude. Gotta go." Danny winked at Will. "If I see Jules I'll tell her you're here." 

"Yeah, cheers," Will said to the disappearing couple.

Will wandered around the vast garden for a couple of minutes as he smoked his fag. In the dark he couldn't even see where it ended but he could certainly hear the grunting and giggling coming from behind a clump of bushes. Was this Ant getting lucky with the posh lass? Will flicked his cigarette away and crept around the side of the bushes. Slipping into a vodka-fuelled fantasy Will saw himself as a commando on a reconnaissance mission, stealing silently among the shadows to observe his quarry. The noises became louder, the giggling joined by the sound of flesh on flesh. If it wasn't Ant then someone was having a good time, the lucky bastards.

Crouching, Will rounded the shrubbery. A few feet away a garden bench was occupied by a rutting couple, their faces in shadow. The girl sat on the bench, her spread legs straight out, her hands supporting them as her paramour fucked the living daylights out of her. His trousers were around his ankles and he supported his weight on his arms as his bare arse plunged up and down. Each thrust of his hips brought a grunt from the pair of them and, although Will couldn't see their faces, the parted ample thighs told him the party's hostess was getting a right seeing to. Whether the lucky lad was Will's buddy remained a mystery, one quickly resolved when the male half of the duo shifted his foot to gain better traction and inadvertently knocked over a can of Black Diamond cider.




Operation Fit Bird



Chuckling, Will left them to it and snuck away, just as Ant let out an almighty grunt, tailed by a "Fookin' 'ell," that not only confirmed with Will just who was involved in the outdoor action but also that his mate had achieved lift-off and blown his stack. Will walked back towards the house, now in dire need of a romantic dalliance. If that ugly wanker had got his nuts wet then there was surely hope for him.

The atmosphere in the house seemed to have changed in the few minutes Will had been outside. As the alcohol took hold inhibitions seemed to have fallen further. People were dancing in the conservatory and a couple of girls were doing their best to attract attention with a display straight from the local gentleman's lounge. Half the partygoers, female as well as male were ogling and encouraging them as they felt one another up shamelessly and snogged one another. Having replenished his glass Will slipped by the gyrating girls to a dark corner where he could plan his next move. If Julia was nowhere to be found then it was time for Plan B and he'd better work out what that was. He stood watching the show as one of the girls, who he now saw was the thong-displaying brunette who had collapsed on him earlier, licked her friend's neck, up to her earlobe, and groped a breast and a buttock. Starting to feel quite drunk, Will was also starting to feel quite aroused. As obvious and attention-seeking as the girls were being he had to admit they were pretty hot. 

"Like what you see?" asked a female voice.

Will looked to his side. A short girl with cropped blonde hair was smiling at him. 

"Well, I suppose it's..."

"They're such a pair of sluts," she interrupted, sucking her drink through a straw. Will saw she had a ring in her nose.

"Yeah, a bit attention-seeking, aren't they?" said Will, hoping he'd gauged his response right. 

The girl smirked at him. "Worked on you."

"Umm, well, yeah. I mean, you can hardly not notice them," Will said, now pretty sure he hadn't.

The girl laughed and turned to him. "I'm Louise, by the way."

"Will," said Will. "Nice to meet you. I don't know many people here."

"Aww, poor Will," Louise said, slipping her hand into his, much to his surprise. She looked at him. She was pretty, if not beautiful, but had big brown doe-eyes that, with her side-parted hair, gave her a kind of sexy pixie look. "Do you need looking after?"

Will wondered what that might mean, exactly. It looked as though Julia was otherwise engaged so Operation Fit Bird was clearly on ice for now. He glanced at the quasi-sapphic show a few feet in front of him. The brunette girl's head was thrown back as she ground her crotch against the bare flesh of her partner's leg. Will wondered if that thigh was becoming a little damp. Whatever Louise meant it was a chance of something better than a pissed wank back home later on.

"What does looking after mean, then?"

Louise pulled him close. "Wait and see," she said, and lifted her head to kiss him. 

Buoyed by the swift move Will kissed her back, slipping his tongue into her mouth. It was Julia's loss, after all. Louise's tongue was cold from the ice. They kissed harder. Will squeezed Louise's pert bum without her complaining or moving his hand. He felt his cock begin to stir.

"Come on," Louise said into his ear, and led him through the conservatory. 

"I thought upstairs was off limits?" he asked as they reached the foot of the staircase, Louise still leading him by the hand.

Louise gave him a conspiratorial look. "I won't tell if you won't," she grinned.

Will's cock gave him a little tingle, perhaps suggesting he shut the fuck up. He followed Louise's shiny leggings-clad bum up the stairs. 

"In here," she said at the second door on the huge landing, and pulled him into a dark bedroom.

"How do you..." Will began, but was cut off by Louise's wet mouth meeting his again. She shut the door and pulled him towards the double bed faintly illuminated by the moon through the open curtains.

It certainly wasn't the first time Will had gone from nought to tonsil-tennis in single-digit minutes but Louise was working pretty fast, even by drunk-teenager standards. She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him, sliding her hands under his polo shirt to feel his chest as she slowly dry-humped him.

"You work fast," he said, breaking a kiss, finding himself almost stalling for time, such was Louise's enthusiasm. 

She smiled at him, her face pale in the blue-grey of the cloud-filtered moonlight. "Like I said, I wondered if you needed looking after," she said, pulling his polo shirt up and off, then diving for his nipples, sucking them and grazing them with her teeth, making Will gasp. 

Electing to enjoy himself rather than question her motives too much, Will sat her up and pulled at Louise's loose vest, and unhooked her pink lacy bra. Her perky little tits sat high, nipples jutting upwards, and Will rubbed them as Louise ground herself onto his erection. He kicked off his trainers and sat up to kiss her again. Louise responded ravenously, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, wrapping her legs around him. She bit his bottom lip, hard.

"Oww, watch out!" 

Louise grinned. "A little bit of pain makes the pleasure all the better," she said and pinched his nipple.

Will wondered just how drunk she was and whether or not he should be worried for his safety, nevermind her decision-making capabilities. He'd got off with an emo girl a few months back who had been reading 50 Shades and told him she wanted to be his slave. Will, on the other hand, had been hoping for a quick shag and a couple of pints with the lads afterwards so it hadn't really worked out for either of them. His cock, however, was now desperate to be free and Will took the initiative, figuring if he was in charge he could control the tempo and minimise any over-enthusiasm from Louise. He flipped her onto her back and made to pull down the tight leggings. Louise, though, was stronger than her little frame suggested and with her legs still wrapped around him rolled the pair of them back so she was on top.

"Nice try," she said, pressing his shoulders into the bed, now grinding painfully against him. To Will's relief, Louise then began to undo his belt and flies, pulling his blue chinos down to give her access. His cock sprang upwards once released and Louise began rather roughly manhandling it. As she inexpertly rubbed his dick Will found himself caught between enduring the pain Louise was inadvertently inflicting on him in the hope that she changed tactics quickly and risking upsetting her by asking her to stop. He elected for the former and gritted his teeth as she yanked his foreskin up and down. The sensible thing would have been to slow her down and distract her somehow but he felt he couldn't run the risk of missing out altogether.

"Ow," he winced.

Louise grinned and rubbed harder. "You like that, do you?" she asked, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Mmm yeah," he lied. He sat up on his elbows. "Slow down though, sexy. We've got time." He hoped she'd assume she was doing such a good job he was close to coming, rather than she was hurting him so much his hard-on was threatening mutiny.

Louise smiled and they came together to kiss, thankfully releasing her grip on his cock. He sat up, her legs around him, and kissed her neck, then downwards to her firm tits. As he licked and sucked on her hard nipple he heard a contented noise and Louise began to rotate her hips, rubbing herself against his jutting cock. Now freed from her clutch it was beginning to feel good again and Will ran his hand down Louise's tummy and made to investigate further. Louise stopped him by holding his wrist and held his face in her hands.

"Don't you want to?" Will asked.

"Not your fingers," she said and reached for his cock again. "Let's do it properly."

Will smiled encouragingly and kissed her deeply. He'd heard the words he was hoping for. 

Louise climbed off him and under the covers of the bed. Will was a bit surprised considering how forward she'd been so far but as her leggings appeared in her hand and she nestled down into the bed he stopped worrying. He slipped in next to her, cupping a breast as her tongue lashed around in his mouth. He made his way on top of her and tried to ease her legs apart but Louise wouldn't budge.

"You're eager, aren't you?" she asked.

Feeling like he was receiving some pretty mixed signals, Will backed off and muttered an apology. She'd been the one who suggested this, after all, but he knew better than to push when it wasn't wanted. Apparently switching tack once again, Louise pushed him onto his back and straddled him.

"I don't want to use a condom. You don't mind, do you?"

A minor alarm bell rang somewhere in Will's head but his balls were beginning to ache. "You on the pill?" he asked.

Louise grinned and gave a faint nod. "Don't worry".

Will felt her bare slit rub against his cock. He knew he should press her to make sure they were protected somehow but she was holding him and hovering above his swollen tip. He was so close, no way was he jeopardising this now. His balls would never forgive him. Louise lowered herself and his cock nudged inside her. She didn't feel very wet but she kept going nevertheless. Will clenched his teeth as she moved down his pole. She really wasn't wet enough. He wondered how it felt for her.

"You okay?" he asked.

Louise smiled as she began to move her hips. "Mmm, yeah."

He was only a couple of inches in. She was very tight and still quite short of lubricant. Maybe this was just how she was. He'd been with a few girls but was hardly Casanova. He flinched as she allowed another inch inside, then began to quickly rise and fall. Louise didn't seem to be complaining but he found it hard to believe she was enjoying herself much. He should stop her, it didn't seem fair, but a voice in his head told him to shut up. It might not be the best fuck of his life but it was still a fuck. One to embellish when recounting to the lads, he decided. He gritted his teeth and rubbed her tits as she bounced gingerly. At least the extra friction meant he'd come quickly.

"You like how I feel?" she asked, her hands on his chest, biting her bottom lip, in pain, Will presumed.

"Yeah, you feel good," he lied and let out what he hoped sounded like a whimper of pleasure.

"You feel big inside me." 

Will held her narrow hips. She had a great body. Maybe he could make better use of it another time. Right now, he just wanted to come and get this over with. He rubbed her bum, making her sigh. Thankfully, she was becoming a touch wetter as she fucked him and Will matched her movements with slight upward thrusts. His cock was beginning to tingle. The end was in sight. They were moving together, the bed beginning to creak. His orgasm was approaching. Normally he'd have tried to hold back but not this time.

"I'm gonna come."

Louise beamed proudly as she bounced. Her tits barely moved. Will thought sexy thoughts.

"Am I gonna make you come?"

"Yeah, you're making me come, Louise," he assured her, hoping it was what she wanted to hear. Her hips rose and fell, Will concentrating on the end goal and finally, the release came. He grunted as the spunk from his poor, sore cock finally made her pussy properly wet and she at last slid properly and his spurting cock properly filled her. It was probably the least satisfying orgasm he'd ever had and he instantly felt ashamed for allowing her to ride him when she clearly wasn't ready.

Louise climbed off and knelt next to him on the bed. 

"You okay?" he asked again. She nodded. "Cool." Suddenly very keen to be somewhere else he sat up. "We should probably get back downstairs, eh?"

Louise smiled. "Okay."

Will sat up and began gathering his clothes.

"Was I good?" she asked.

Will gave her the best smile he could manage. "Yeah, you're well sexy," he told her, rubbing her thigh. She was hot, that much was true but good in bed, she wasn't. Something told Will he'd just deflowered her. Amongst his mates that would be a coup normally but he didn't feel like celebrating this particular goal.

She smiled back, apparently satisfied. "You go down. I'll make the bed."

Will smiled and fastened his chinos. "See you in a bit," he said, pulling on his polo shirt and stepping into his trainers. He opened the door and light spilled into the room. The still-naked pixie girl waved a little goodbye but Will wasn't looking. He was on the landing, phone in hand, texting Ant to enable a quick exit from the scene of the crime. He reached top of the stairs and almost ran into someone coming up them.

"You're not supposed to be up here," a voice said in mock admonishment.

Will looked up from his phone to see Julia. She was in a figure-hugging black dress, her blonde hair curled around her shoulders, drawing his eye to a rather noticeable cleavage. Hoping he wasn't too red in the face he began to try and explain his presence, willing some plausible explanation out of his mouth. 

"Yeah, umm I know. I was just... err." He should have come clean, explained he'd just struck it lucky -- Julia would hardly be shocked considering what he'd been told about her - but his encounter with Louise had left him feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Everything okay?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, course," Will muttered.

Julia looked at him for a second, obviously not completely sold that everything was tickety-boo, then smiled her dazzling smile. "Have you been here long?" she asked. "I haven't seen you."

Will looked at his watch involuntarily. "Yeah, a while. Probably gonna go soon actually. My mate's driving."

"Oh, okay," said Julia. She actually looked a little disappointed. Will kicked himself for going off with Louise, telling himself perhaps Julia had actually been looking for him all night. A slight unease was rapidly turning into full-blown regret. "You having a good night?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, it's been good," Will said. "I didn't know that many people though."

"Aww," Julia said, and rubbed his arm supportively. "I'm sure you made some friends though?"

"Yeah," Will said awkwardly, just as the bedroom door behind him opened and Louise came out, making Will and Julia look round. 

"I thought you'd be downstairs already," Louise said to Will, taking his hand in hers. "Hi, Jules."

Julia grinned at them both. "Hi, Lou. How are you? I didn't know you knew Will."

Louise giggled. "I didn't until half an hour ago!"

Julia gently punched Will's shoulder. "You dirty dog, Will. You should have said!"

"Umm, yeah, sorry," he stumbled, looking at the floor. "I might go down, see where my mate is. Nice to see you Julia." He looked at Louise who stood next to Julia, her shoes in her hand. "Erm, see you soon Louise." He leant in and kissed her cheek and sprung down the stairs, three at a time, an awkward, prickly heat enveloping him.

"See you on Wednesday," Julia called after him.

Will looked the way he'd come and waved. "Yeah, yeah. See you then." Now desperate to leave, he opened the front door and pulled out his phone to find Ant.

Will leant against the wing of Ant's faded car and watched his friend amble along the road towards him. Ant had a grin as wide as his massive head and had clearly had a more satisfying night than Will.

"What's the big rush then?" Ant asked as he neared the car. "You do know I pulled, right. I was just working up to a bit of bum fun."

"Just open the fucking door," Will snapped. "I'm freezing." 

"All right, no need to get all pre-menstrual about it," Ant said. "What the fuck happened?"

Once in the car, the road atlas on his knee, a relaxing spliff on the way, Will began to tell Ant about his night.

"So let me get this right," said Ant. "You got a shag but somehow you're still complaining," he said as he drove them towards their side of town. "You're such a dick sometimes. You know every hole's a goal."

"It was fucking agony," Will protested. "She wasn't nearly wet enough but started getting the hump when I suggested slowing things down. I didn't want to blow my chance altogether so I just let her get on with it. It fucking hurt though."

"Jesus, you must've been shit if you couldn't get her warmed up at all," Ant laughed.

"I dunno, it was all a bit weird," said Will. "I think it was her first time or something."

"And she just had to have you? Is that right?!" 

Will licked the joint and put it in his mouth. "I'm sparking this. I don't give a shit about your retarded car rules tonight." He ignored the exaggerated frown from Ant and, contrary to the complex smoking etiquette laid out by Ant to all passengers, lit the joint and took a deep toke, holding the smoke in. 

"She didn't give me a lot of choice, mate," Will said and handed the spliff across. "I was watching these two lasses put on a show and she just appeared by my side, held my hand and a few minutes later she was dragging me upstairs."

"Fucking stud," laughed Ant, then, perhaps processing what Will had said, asked, "What show?"

"A sort of lesbo thing. I'll tell you later. Anyway, the worst thing is, though, when I left the bedroom Julia was there. She saw Louise coming out after me so she sussed us straight away."

"Ha ha, busted! Did she get the arse?"

"Well, no. Not really," Will admitted.

"So who fucking cares? She was probably off fucking someone else anyway. You're dreaming, mate. She's out of your league. Has she given you a single signal that she's interested?"

Will thought for a moment, watching the orange haze from the street lights as they drove. He hadn't imagined Julia flirting with him the other day. She'd basically told him she was a randy little minx and then had asked him to the party. Okay, she hadn't exactly been chasing him but he was sure there had been a flicker of something between them. He took the spliff back and elected for some bravado to shut Ant up. "She's bang up for it, mate." He gestured toward himself. "Who could resist this?"

Ant sniggered. "Whatever. Anyway, I had a fucking great time. A blowjob and a shag and she promised I can do her up the arse next time. Told you she'd love a bit of rough," he said, holding his crotch. Ant looked at his watch. "Get a couple in before closing time?"

"Fuck it, might as well," said Will. "Can I ponce a fiver off you?"

"Fuck's sake," sighed Ant. "Get a fucking job."

"Cheers, mate," Will grinned as they turned off towards the pub. 

"So are you seeing Charlotte again then?" Will asked.

"Fucking right I am," Ant grinned. "Dirty and rich, what's not to like?" He yanked the handbrake and with a fizzing sound of skidding rubber on damp tarmac flung the car into the Lion's car park. 

Dirty and rich, mused Will. A bit like Julia. Operation Fit Bird required some further planning.


 

Chapter Two

Will pocketed his phone and stared through the fug and out of the car window at the heather-covered moorland. For once the town below them was visible, freed from its usual shroud of grey and Will's attention was caught by the sun reflecting off a window. Beside him in the driver's seat, joint smouldering between his fingers, Ant laughed at his own joke as he composed another text to Charlotte. The two of them had been pinging messages back and forth ever since the party on Friday and Will, whose own phone remained defiantly silent no matter how many times he checked it, was beginning to feel left out. It didn't help that Ant's brother Mark had invited them to his flat the previous night to help drink the place dry. A mixture of knock-off vodka and duty-free whisky had left him feeling distinctly under the weather today and as if he'd done something very wrong. Will extracted the spliff from Ant's hand, took a few drags and allowed the drug and the view to wash over him once more in the hope it eased his insecurities. 




Operation Fit Bird



"Here, let's have that, Bogart," said Ant.

Will handed the joint back. "You're gonna need to bring a charger the way you're going with that," he said, nodding at Ant's phone.

"Aww, poor little Willy's got no one interested," Ant teased, playfully pushing Will. 

"Shut up, knob head," Will snapped back. It was true, though. On Friday he couldn't wait to escape Louise after their frankly weird shag but now, with his mate apparently well in there with a new girl Will wouldn't have minded some kind of contact with the girl who had been so keen to sleep with him. Not that he was prepared to initiate contact, of course. They hadn't exchanged numbers but will was sure Louise could have asked someone for his. Ridiculous as it seemed, he felt he might have been used. Ant's phone chirruped and he laughed again at the text's contents. Will resumed his absent-minded, stoned staring and contemplated life as an object, simply there to satisfy someone's carnal desires. He didn't think he'd ever treated a girl badly but he was probably wrong. In the past he'd convinced himself that if he'd made it quite clear to girls if he wasn't interested in a relationship and it was just a quick fling then that was him covering his back but maybe that didn't really cut the mustard. The truth was he wasn't really interested in Louise, but that wasn't really the point. Now, if it'd been Julia instead of Louise things would have been different but Will was beginning to lose faith in the idea of he and Julia being a possibility. 

"Looks like I'm on for a shag later, just gotta wait for her parents to go out," Ant said, rubbing his hands together.

"Great, I'm so pleased for you," Will replied glumly.

"Fuck's sake," Ant said. "You got laid on Friday, it's not my fault you were such a crap shag that she doesn't want to know you."

"It wasn't me that was crap," Will said defensively, suddenly chilled by the possibility that Ant was right and Louise's silence was down to his poor performance. He quickly banished the thought and put it down to the weed. She'd been way too eager, it hadn't been him at all. 

"What's your problem, then? You couldn't wait to get out of there the other night now you're moaning she's not hitting you up."

"I'm not. I suppose I just thought she might have been in touch since we had sex and everything."

Ant snorted in derision. "Cos you always make sure you text a lass you've gone with to say thanks?!"

Ant was right. Now he thought about it he might not always have followed up with promised texts or calls the next day or whatever, but still.

"You're just jealous I'm getting some and you're not. Now stop being a pussy and skin up, Bogart."

Will rolled his eyes. "That's not what Bogart means. It's when you hold onto a joint too long."

Ant raised his eyebrows. "Do I look like I give a fuck?" he asked blankly. "Hurry up, anyway. I need to have a shower before I go and see her."

"So what am I gonna do all afternoon?" Will asked petulantly.

Ant looked pityingly at him. "I don't give a shit, I'm getting laid. Have a wank over Julia or summat."

A mild feeling of panic spread through Will's body. This wasn't the way round it was supposed to be. He was the one with the prospects, wasn't he?

Will sat at his desk trying to motivate himself to begin his essay on Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot'. Each time he went to type an opening sentence something held him back. The weed he'd smoked with Ant that afternoon had worn off so that wasn't the source of his inertia. Neither was the self-loathing after he'd taken Ant's advice at face value and knocked one out over that picture of Julia in her knickers. It was a general sense of unease, that he'd done something wrong that was going to come back to bite him. He'd more or less rationalised the Louise business, telling himself he was being stupid, the last thing he wanted was for a girl he wasn't into to be after him so he'd come to terms with the fact that she might have actually used him for sex, pretty much the way he'd used her, in fact. His toes curled involuntarily at the memory of coming inside her but she'd assured him they were protected so he managed, pretty successfully, to park that little worry somewhere in the depths of his mind. Will hoped his problem wasn't that Ant seemed to have potentially met a girl he'd want to spend time with because that would mean he was feeling jealous and that was idiotic. The thing that annoyed Will most about Ant, after all, was the way he seemed to try to hold Will back, putting down his talk of university and finding a life beyond their northern town. For the first time Will was getting a taste of what it was like to be the one left behind and he didn't like it. Over the weekend he'd more or less abandoned any hope of pulling Julia, convincing himself that she was just a flirty girl and was probably like that with all blokes. He was pretty sure that her absence at the party was because she was off shagging someone, as he had been, and he was sure he'd be better off forgetting about her. Of course on the other hand, there had been her suggestive 'still curious' statement and Mark's insider info. Will contemplated another quick wank to clear his mind and facilitate work but, looking at the time, decided it probably wasn't a great idea.

He anxiously gnawed at his lip. 9.30 pm and his essay was due the following afternoon. Unlike Vladimir and Estragon he didn't have all the time in the world and there was something to be done. He jumped out of his chair and did ten press-ups and twenty sit-ups then, panting slightly, his heart rate up, pushed his knuckles into his eyes to try to force himself to concentrate. His vision went black then flickers of light began to appear. It seemed to have worked, as his breathing relaxed and his eyes focused his opening sentence came to him. Just as his fingers touched the keyboard his phone buzzed.

Chase & Status playing Apollo Friday nite. Sold out already. We gotta get tickets. Can u ask fit bird?

Will sighed and threw his phone onto the desk. Yes, Ant. I'll just conjure them up shall I?he thought. His mate was right though; that was a gig they couldn't miss. Just how he was going to get tickets was going to have to wait, much like Beckett's protagonists.

It might have been childish but sometimes a kick-about was still the best way to spend a dinner hour and Will and a handful of lads from his year were reliving boyhood fantasies and trying to recreate various classic goals. Having already scored a beauty after he slalomed through the flimsy defence on the left Will was now somewhere around the right wing, pinging crosses into the box as Danny, who had been at Friday's party, attempted to score with a back-heel. Will was enjoying kicking a ball more than he had in months, until a rather less-talented team mate hoofed the ball over a wall and into the road. As they waited for the ball to be retrieved Danny and Will chatted.

"Good to see you on the pitch again mate! Better than netball, eh?" Danny grinned. 

"Well, yeah," Will replied nonchalantly, wondering to himself how everyone but him saw being warm, dry, and surrounded by girls a punishment.

"Was good on Friday wasn't it?" Danny asked. "Didn't see you after we were outside, though. You find Jules?"

"Yeah, later on I did. Not for long, though. We didn't stay late." Will wondered if his dalliance with Louise was common knowledge but Danny's question didn't seem loaded in any way.

"Yeah, I didn't see much of her, either," Danny said.

"Where was she?" Will asked, hoping Danny might know something useful.

"No idea, mate. Why, you think you've got a chance?"

Will tried to gauge Danny's tone. Was that meant to suggest he had no chance, or was it an innocent question? He reminded himself he'd decided to forget about her and elected for the fake-laugh-don't-be-so-silly response. "Nah, was just wondering," he said, hoping the flush he felt creeping across his face was masked by the general redness from running around a bit. Frowning almost imperceptibly Danny looked at Will for a second longer than he might normally. He looked up and saw the ball had been retrieved.

"Rooney's overhead kick against City?" Danny suggested, standing up.

Will looked at the Tarmac beneath them. "Maybe not. I feel a Cantona chip coming on though," he said, flipping his collar up.

"Nice one," Danny grinned and jogged off towards the ball. "I'll set up the one-two."

Ten minutes later, on his way to hand in his English essay, Will was waylaid by Kiddy Fiddler. 

"I was watching you then, lad," the teacher said. "You really think you're it, don't you? Showing off, chipping goals like you're something special. Well you're not. It looks like you haven't learned your lesson yet so don't expect to be back in my team any time soon." 

Kiddy didn't wait for a response. He turned and made his bow-legged way towards the staff room so didn't see just how happy that made Will.

Despite his decision to put Julia out of his mind Will was finding it easier said than done and as Wednesday afternoon approached he was feeling more and more excited at the prospect of seeing her again. He wasn't quite sure what it was about her that he as finding so alluring, apart from the blonde hair, perfect legs, great tits, sense of humour and so on. In the past Will had done pretty well with girls. He was a good looking lad, in good shape, bright, confident, and, despite perhaps wanting for a few inches in height, was a pretty good catch, even if he did say so himself. He might not always have been the perfect gentleman but he certainly knew bigger bastards but, the more he thought about it, the more he realised that he'd never really been the one to do the chasing, the girls had tended to come to him, one way or another. It was true he hadn't exactly been chasing Julia but he was certainly showing a keener interest than normal. There was just a naughty sparkle in her blue eyes and every time he thought about what Mark had told him about the precocious Julia his cock twitched. As he walked towards the school gate that morning he had felt a thrill and as the clock hands in the library next door to the sports hall crept round towards one o'clock those twitches were becoming more pronounced. 

The novelty of having a boy in amongst them seemed to have worn off for a good number of the girls and Will attracted much less attention now. His netball skills left a lot to be desired, too. He kept instinctively running with the ball as if it was basketball and this habit was starting to annoy some of his 'E' team mates. For Will, on the other hand, the novelty of being the only boy in a veritable sea of girls wasn't something he was going to become tired of anytime soon. Julia was down the other end of the hall and he'd not had a chance to even say hello as yet but Will found he could content himself with his current companions who were, not only young and female therefore of great interest to him, but also of a similar standard when it came to passing a ball around the court and attempting to land it in a net, provided he could control his urge to run.

"Mis-ter Watson," Miss Cookson's voice rang out. "Are you deliberately trying my patience?" For probably the tenth time in an hour Will had set off on a mazy run, bouncing the ball as he went. "Mr Fiddler will not be amused to hear you're disrupting my class too, you know?"

Will looked at the ground as the girls around him groaned. "Sorry, ma'am. I can't seem to remember not to run," he said meekly. It was a genuine apology. Will didn't like not being good at a sport and he was quickly learning respect for the different skills that netball required.

"You'll have to try harder, won't you? Don't expect to excel here just because you can kick a ball well out on the football pitch. Your lesson in humility is taking a while, isn't it? I can see what Mr Fiddler was referring to when he said how cocky you were."

For the first time Will felt less than happy where he was. Much of the hall had fallen quiet and the games of netball had stopped. All eyes were on him as he received his dressing-down. Over Miss Cookson's shoulder, a few feet away, Julia was making a face at him, trying to make him laugh. He glanced at her then back at the teacher. 

"I do hope this isn't for the benefit of the girls, you know. I'd like to think it would take more to impress them than a little clowning around," the teacher continued. Behind her Julia was nodding vigorously. 

"No, ma'am," said Will. "I'm not trying to impress anyone." 

Julia shook her head and mouthed, "Oh no."

Will cursed Julia for appearing now and seeing him red-faced and, at last, humiliated. He felt the last shreds of his credibility drifting away on the femininely-scented air of the sports hall.

"I think you'd do well to keep a low profile," Miss Cookson said. "I don't want to have to speak to you again."

"Yes ma'am. I will," said Will. 

Miss Cookson's whistle blew and as she turned to address the rest of the players somehow Julia's mocking expression fell away in the nick of time to be replaced by a face so innocent it was inconceivable any teacher would be suspicious. That was another skill Will had never mastered. As soon as the games were over a chastised Will scuttled away before anyone, especially Julia, could talk to him. Chase and Status would be playing another time.

Will's confidence had been well and truly sapped. Being squashed like that in front of the one person he needed to impress had left him feeling drained. A series of texts from Ant remained unanswered. The initial inquiries about the gig tickets had morphed into questions about Julia, demands for an additional ticket for Charlotte, and now had descended into insults, threats and an assertion that from now on Will was buying his own weed and getting the bus. 

Perhaps the teachers were right. Maybe he was a waster and a show-off, squandering his talent and potential in return for a few laughs and a reputation as a bit of a lad. Will lay on his bed and contemplated the unthinkable -- turning off his phone, iPad and laptop and doing something constructive. He picked up a Thomas Hardy novel -- one that wasn't even on his required reading list -- and vowed to change. From now on he'd stop fucking about and work hard. He thought about Ant on a freezing cold building site surrounded by mouth breathers and shuddered. That university place wasn't a shoo-in and he couldn't, just couldn't, end up in a shitty job, never having experienced what life had to offer.

The novel was holding his attention, which was a good sign. As he read he began to understand a little better the value of reading widely. Ideas that could have made it into his Beckett essay came to him and he found himself jotting things down for future reference. As the pages turned Will saw a future that didn't revolve around getting wasted with Ant and lusting after an unattainable woman. He wasn't constrained by Victorian norms and ideals, he was an intelligent young man with the world at his feet. Maybe this was what his teachers meant when they talked about losing oneself in literature. University wasn't that far months away. If he could retain this feeling, this mindset, then his exams would be something to relish; a challenge to be tackled and rather than a minefield to be negotiated. Will felt good, better than he had in a long time. Perhaps he could even speak to Kiddy about re-joining the football team. On his bedside cabinet his phone vibrated. He ignored it and went back to the book but the phone buzzed again, reminding him someone was trying to communicate. He could leave it, the phone would be quiet now and he could go back to his book. He hadn't read this much in one sitting for a long time. Then again, a quick break couldn't hurt. Will picked up the phone and slid his thumb across the screen. 

Hey u, hope ur ok. Wanted to chat this afternoon but u disappeared. Miss Cookson can be a right bitch sumtimes. U busy tomo after school? Wana come to mine for a bit? I can pick u up. Xx

Will's academic-fantasy bubble burst. Julia had invited him to her house. No matter how well Thomas Hardy explored love between social classes the chance to experience it for real was too good to miss. Operation Fit Bird was back on.

Thursday felt like the longest day of Will's life. Lessons dragged and his dinner hour seemed more like three. As 3.30 inched closer Will's stomach began to fill with butterflies. He felt like a child, all excited before a big treat and had to tell himself to calm down, that all it was just an invitation to her house, nothing more. When the bell rang at long last, he jogged to the toilets for a check on his hair and a splash of aftershave, top and bottom, just in case.

Julia was leaning against her little white Range Rover as Will came into the car park. Taking none of the same subjects Will hardly ever saw her apart from on the netball court, and even from a distance she looked good, wearing a tailored grey suit with black tights and shoes, her blonde hair in a simple ponytail, twirling her car keys round a finger.

"Hi," she said with a smile as he approached. "Good day?"

Will cleared his throat so as to be sure he didn't croak. "Hi," he said. "Was okay, dragged a bit."

"Couldn't wait to see me, huh?" she smiled.

Will hesitated for a second to try and decipher any hidden subtext. "Erm, well, ya know."

Julia gave him a grin and stood up straight. In her heels she was a touch taller than him. "Shall we go? You wanna drive?" She handed him the keys and walked round to the passenger door. 

The interior of the car was as stunning as the outside and smelled of expensive leather. As Will settled into the bucket seat he realised his hands were sweating. He'd passed his test a year or so before but rarely had the chance to drive. Now he was at the wheel of a footballer's wife's wet dream with the girl of his dreams next to him. Nothing to worry about then. He fumbled about, looking for where to put the key. Thankfully Julia came to his rescue.

"You don't need it. Just press the button," she said breezily and leaned over to fire up the engine.

"Right," he muttered, his incompetence doing little for his confidence.

Julia put her hand on his leg to reassure him. "I've only had it a couple of weeks. Took me ages to work it out, too." She squeezed just above his knee and grinned again. Will grinned back, comforted slightly but now acutely aware of her hand.

"It's a lovely car," Will said once they were safely out of the car park and on their way to the posh end of town. "Smells wonderful."

"Thanks. My dad buys a new one every year. Something to do with tax I think." She looked across. "You smell pretty good too."

Flattered, Will laughed and said, "Thanks. My mum buys that for me once a year, too."

Julia chuckled and fiddled with the car's entertainment system to put on some music. The clearest, sharpest sound Will had ever heard soon came floating from the speakers as Rihanna filled the car. As they drove Julia chatted away, pointing him in the right direction when necessary and told him about her day. Will wasn't sure she had deliberately allowed her skirt to ride up as she crossed her legs but he thought she might well have done. Flirting whilst appearing not to was clearly a talent she had.

"So how come you wanted me to come round?" Will ventured.

"I dunno," Julia said. "Just didn't get the chance to chat yesterday, didn't see you much on Friday, just fancied hanging out. You don't mind, do you?"

"Course not," Will said smoothly. 

"Cool," Julia smiled. "Next left."

The next left led to a huge set of iron gates that swung open as the car approached. At the end of a gravel drive sat the kind of house Charlotte's dad could only dream of.




Operation Fit Bird



Julia's bedroom was roughly the size of Will's house, only with a much better view. Instead of a narrow strip of garden and his dad's vegetable plot Julia's bedroom opened out onto a balcony and took in vistas of a vast lawn, woodland and, to one side, a tennis court. Will had to do his very best not to be overawed.

"Just what is it your dad does?" he asked, rather indiscreetly. He'd been brought up to not trust people who made their money in less than obvious ways, especially if the spent it in highly obvious ways.

Julia laughed and handed him one of the bottles of water she'd brought from the kitchen. "He runs a promotions company. You know, concert venues, nightclubs, that kind of thing."

"Wow," said Will. "He must do it very well."

Julia laughed again. "Yeah, I think he does. Don't worry though, he's dead chilled." She took a sip of water and sat on a sofa facing the window.

"He doesn't mind you mixing with the underclass then?" Will asked, sitting next to her.

"Oh God, don't be ridiculous. We're not posh at all. He and my mum are dead normal."

"Sorry. I guess all southerners sound posh to me," Will said sheepishly.

Julia stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. "Prefer it if I was all cockney?" she asked, exaggerating the accent.

"Fuck, no," Will laughed and ducked as Julia flung a cushion at his head. "To be honest, I'll be going down south soon myself. Brighton, hopefully."

"For uni?" she asked. Will nodded. "Oh, cool. I had an offer from there. Think I'm going to London though."

"Which college?"

"LSE. Economics."

"Wow, right," said Will. "Not just a pretty face eh?" he grinned.

Julia stuck out her tongue and they both fell silent for a few moments making Will wonder if he'd overstepped a mark with his last comment. Julia stared vaguely into space. He didn't think it was an awkward silence but couldn't be completely sure. He decided to chance his arm.

"You know how your dad's into concerts and stuff?" he asked. Julia turned and nodded. "I don't suppose he could get tickets for Chase and Status on Friday could he?"

Julia gave him a cheeky grin. "VIP okay?" she asked.

Will couldn't work out whether she was teasing him. "Really?" he asked.

"Course! How many?"

"Fuck! That's sick! Is three okay? My mate Ant's hooked up with Charlotte you see."

"No probs. I'll text dad now," she said and picked up her phone. 

"Thanks, Julia. I really mean it."

"It's cool," she smiled. "Charlotte's really into your mate, you know?"

"Yeah, I think he is too. I don't think I've ever heard him talk about a girl so much."

"So how about you and Louise?" Julia asked.

Will stiffened and looked away. "Umm," he stalled. "I don't think it'll go anywhere. Just a fling, you know?"

Julia winked and grinned again. "Just another notch on your bedpost, eh Will?"

Will squirmed and took a nervous sip of water. "No, you know what I mean. I was a bit pissed and she came on pretty strong. It just happened."

Julia was looking straight at him. "Just love 'em and leave 'em eh? She's heartbroken you know?"

"Fuck, really?" Will asked. He could hear the fear in his own voice. 

"Yeah, she's been asking for your number, saying she thinks she's pregnant and how she wants your baby."

That gnawing feeling he'd had after sleeping with Louise was back. Oh Christ, why did he let her do it? That was it. He was fucked. Father to a child he didn't want with a woman he didn't like. The town would never let him go.

"You okay, Will? You've gone a bit pale." 

He looked at Julia. Her eyes bored into his. He felt sick. "Fuck," was all he could say. His mouth had gone dry and he fumbled with the lid of the water bottle. Julia held his gaze, not saying anything. The silence in the room was like a physical presence. This must have been why Julia asked him here: to break the news to him before Louise tracked him down. He stared blankly at the bearer of these tidings and Julia looked at him impassively. Will's grasp of time left him as he contemplated his future until slowly, almost imperceptibly, the corners of Julia's mouth began to move, then her eyes, then her shoulders until suddenly she exploded in laughter.

"Oh my God!" she yelled. "Your face! Fuck me, I wish I'd taken a picture!"

Will's mouth fell open as he searched for words. "So... she's not... you were winding me up..."

"Fucking hell, course I was!" Julia fell against him, shaking them both with the force of her mirth. 

"You total bitch," Will said quietly. "Fuck, I thought that was it then."

Julia held his arm for support. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist it. You looked so uncomfortable on Friday night I just had to see how far I could take it."

"I really thought you were for real," Will said, still shocked. "I saw my whole life flash before me."

"Ha! Family life with Louise Cooper," Julia giggled. "Or would it be Louise Weston? God, what a thought!"

"You're fucking cruel."

Julia squeezed his arm harder. "I'm sorry, hon. Will you forgive me?" she asked, fluttering her eyelids.

"Maybe," Will muttered. He slumped back on the sofa then, catching a coquettish look from Julia, finally smiled. Seeing he'd relaxed at last made Julia grin.

"I am sorry. It was pretty funny though. And you really don't need to worry about Lou. She's a bit strange sometimes, especially when it comes to men. You'd know about it by now if she was into you. I think you might have been a fall-back on Friday. She'd got it into her head that she had to lose her virginity before her star sign changed or something like that and the guy she's been sort of seeing didn't turn up so she made do with you," Julia said with another wink.

A variety of emotions were sweeping through Will's brain and Julia's tease barely registered. Although highly relieved he also felt a bit guilty that Louise's first time had been so crap. He hoped she hadn't been put off sex. "I did wonder if it was her first time," he mused.

"Deflowered by Will Weston eh? I bet she's not the first though," Julia ribbed.

Will stared through the window at the sweeping panorama of Julia's gardens. Dusk was gathering and assorted garden lamps were switching themselves on, highlighting key planting, features and paths. It was like looking out at a perfectly tended park rather than a back garden. He replayed some of his encounter with Louise and heard Ant's teasing about the rubbish sex being down to Will, not Louise. Ant was probably right. If she was a virgin Will could hardly blame her for it. He tried to put the whole encounter out of his mind and realised Julia was still right up against him so decided to enjoy the present moment and not dwell on the past. Julia's fingernails gently grazed his upper arm.

"Are you okay then?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned that her prank hadn't left him traumatised. 

He looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. You properly had me going though."

She grinned again, her perfectly white teeth sparkling. "I get that from my dad. He's such a practical joker." Will shuddered inside at the thought of being on the receiving end of one of Mr Miller's practical jokes. With absolutely nothing more than his own prejudices to go on Will had already decided that Julia's dad was an east end gangster made good. "And my sister," she added. "Between them they taught me everything I know." Her eyes twinkled in the LED lights. Will could have sworn her lips pouted just a little more, too. The merest mention of Julia's sister and what he knew about them both was enough to increase his sexual antennae. God, she was a flirt.

Julia leapt off the sofa and headed off across the huge expanse of thick carpet towards a door, ditching her suit jacket as she went. The door, it transpired, contained the kind of walk-in wardrobe Will had seen on TV but didn't think really existed outside of the world of celebrity though a glance around reminded him that seemed to be pretty much where he was. "I've got a dance class at five," she called over her shoulder. "I'll drop you home if you like?"

"Yeah, great," Will called back, as Julia returned, what he assumed was her dancing attire in her hand.

"Cool," she said. "Shame you can't stay longer. Maybe come for dinner soon?"

Will nodded but failed to reply clearly due to the fact Julia had begun shedding the rest of her clothes right in front of him. As if undressing in front of someone she didn't know terribly well was the most normal thing in the world Julia kicked off her shoes and undid her skirt, then wiggled it down to the floor and stepped out of it. 

"My dance studio's on Derwent Road. That's quite near you, isn't it?" she asked, unbuttoning her blouse cuffs, then the blouse itself before dropping it on the arm of the sofa, leaving her in her tights and white, lacy, and very see-through bra. Will cleared his throat and tried to keep his eyes on Julia's, rather than her delicious body as it was revealed before him.

"Erm, yeah. It's not far," he said, feeling a distinct tingle in his boxer shorts.

"Thought so," Julia said, peeling off her tights and dropping them next to the discarded blouse. Her French knickers matched her bra. As much as he tried to stop them, Will's eyes flicked to Julia's crotch. As see-through as her bra, her knickers revealed that her pubic hair seemed to exist only as a minimal line. Too late he realised he'd licked his lips. 

He told himself to play it cool, that Julia was just comfortable with her body; that her undressing in front of him was just so she could carry on talking to him. "You been dancing long?" Will asked, as nonchalantly as he could, whilst he memorised every inch of her athletic form.

"Yeah, years," Julia said as she reached behind her back to unhook her bra, and slipped it off her shoulders, the flimsy lace falling away. Now Will really had no hope of not looking but as Julia stood before him, re-tying her hair into a ponytail, her full breasts unaffected by gravity, she seemed completely unfazed by his eyes drinking in her body. "It's great for staying fit," she said.

"So I see," said Will, unable to resist a flirtatious comment despite his desire to hide just how exciting this really was. He shifted on the sofa to try and hide his growing hard on.

Julia paused for a second and smiled demurely then picked up the blue Lycra leggings she'd brought and stepped into them. "So what do you want to do about Friday?" She asked as she wiggled the tights up her body, her tits trembling with the movement of her hips. "Shall we meet there? We can go to the VIP bar if you like?"

It was taking all of Will's self-restraint to stop him grabbing Julia and satisfying the enormous urges he was experiencing. There was no way she was doing this innocently, she couldn't be. After all, her sister taught her everything she knew. Having considered his options, his cock telling him one thing, his brain another, he decided that yes, she was flirting but no, she wasn't doing it in the hope he'd pin her to the sofa and nail her. He blew his hair off his forehead and tore his eyes from her big brown nipples. "Yeah, cool. I just hope Ant behaves himself. He's not properly housetrained you see."

Reaching for her sports bra Julia laughed. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He'll have Charlotte to keep him occupied anyway so he's not gonna have much time for mischief," she said, pulling the bra over her breasts and so ending Will's little show. Although he could happily have taken in that view for several hours Will felt a tiny sense of relief. The moment had passed. If it had been some kind of test he'd just have to wait for the results. Julia pulled a thick white hoody over her head and slipped on a pair of trainers. Will tried to wish his erection away so his arousal wasn't quite as obvious through the thin material of his trousers when he stood. "Ready," she said cheerily, an eyebrow twitching a little as her eyes flicked to his groin, adding to Will's embarrassment.

The drive back to town from Julia's had done nothing to tell Will what her intentions were. They'd chatted and laughed and seemed to be getting on well but there had been no quick stop in a lay by or down a side street. The flirting was less obvious, too although of course it was dark so harder to tell. 

*

Will had been summoned to Ant's house that evening to report on his ticket search but as the pair of them roamed the digitally-rendered streets, causing mayhem and destruction Ant's sole conversation topic was his and Charlotte's sordid antics. After a blow-by-blow account of the couple's most recent dalliance in her walk-in shower Will felt it was time to change the subject.

"So you interested in hearing how I got on finding us some tickets?" he asked Ant, who was sealing the bottom of his bedroom door with a towel so they could smoke in there.

"Bollocks," Ant sneered. "You never got any."

"If you say so," Will said. "So you'll be staying in on Friday then will you?"

Ant looked across the room at Will. "If you're winding me up...?"

Will grinned. "How does being a VIP sound?"

"Fuckin' 'ell! Off fit bird?"

Will nodded.

"Nice one Willy!" Ant ruffled Will's hair then stopped, and looked very serious. "You get Charlotte one?" he asked gravely.

"Yes," Will sighed. "I got your fucking girlfriend one."

Ant beamed. "Good lad! You can spark this reefer for that," Ant said, throwing the joint, followed by the lighter at Will.

"I'm honoured," said Will.

"Fuckin' should be, too," grinned Ant.

Will lit the joint and sat back on Ant's bed, leaning against the wall. He took a few drags and passed to Ant. "I haven't seen you like this over a girl since Tanya Moreton let you finger her," said Will. "You really into her then?"

Ant smiled and nodded as he held in a lungful of smoke. "She's fuckin mint," he finally said, exhaling. "A good laugh, horny, dirty as fuck."

"What more could you ask for," Will laughed.

"I dunno, we just seem to get on dead well. Have, like, proper conversations and that. And her dad's loaded," Ant added. "I don't wanna sound all gay or anything but I do really like her."

Will chuckled at the irony of Ant's admission but decided not to pick him up on it. For Ant to have much to say about a girl other than whether he'd do her or not was a genuine rarity and he wasn't going to spoil his friend's mood for the sake of pedantry or political correctness. "That's cool, mate," he said. "And you don't think she'd be bothered if she knew you were telling your mates everything you've done to each other?"

"Ha, no she fuckin' loves it, mate. She tells hers to. I don't give a shit. Like I said, she's dirty as fuck! Anyway," Ant said, holding his crotch, "I've got nothing to be ashamed of here, unlike some," he said, raising an eyebrow and kicking Will.

Will made a half-hearted attempt to retaliate then thought better of it. "Whatever you say, winkle cock," he said, and fended off another kick. True love hadn't completely changed Ant, obviously. What he was now thinking of as his poor performance with Louise was still playing on his mind and he didn't want to dredge it up if he could help it. To divert the conversation, and before he'd thought about the implications, he asked, "What's she doing next year? Going to uni or what?"

"Nah, that's the best thing. She's gonna work for her dad so she's not going anywhere," Ant said happily.

Poor cow, Will thought but instead said, "That's cool, mate. I'm pleased for you."

Ant grinned again. "I know. Good, innit?" He passed the joint and stretched out on the bed. "So how'd you get these tickets then? I thought you'd given up on her?"

Will thought about telling Ant about going to Julia's and her impromptu striptease but, for once, he didn't feel like sharing everything about a girl with Ant. If Charlotte was okay with him telling all then that was fine but for some reason Will didn't want Ant knowing as much about Julia. He was still trying to work out just what had happened in her bedroom that afternoon, whether it was a young woman happy with her body and mature enough to feel she could be open and free with a friend or whether it was the sexy little minx that Mark had told him about teasing him outrageously. Whatever it was, Will was going to keep it under his hat to see how things panned out. For now, anyway. He turned to Ant. "We just chatted again, had a bit of a laugh and I thought it couldn't hurt to ask her," he said, hoping that with Ant's current focus being almost entirely Charlotte-centric that would satisfy his curiosity.

"Well, nice one fit bird," Ant said, and picked up the game controller to recommence the infliction of random violence. "A bit of VIP sex'll do me nicely." 

 

Chapter Three

The interminable drag of Thursday and Friday had given Will plenty of time to think -- probably too much - about Julia and what had gone on in her bedroom. She was definitely a different proposition to most girls he knew. Certainly, he thought, no one else he'd met would feel comfortable undressing in front of a relative stranger, for whatever reason. It hadn't been that long ago, after all, that his girlfriend at the time had taken three months to let him see her naked at all, and they'd been having sex for a month before that. Yes, a lot had changed in those eighteen months; he'd matured emotionally and physically and had gained a reasonable, he felt, amount of experience with the opposite sex, but he'd never met anyone like Julia. 

Biology lessons had taught him that girls matured faster than boys and Will had seen that play out in real life -- the childish antics of some of his friends made him shudder even now -- but he'd still been taken aback by Julia stripping off like that. He'd run through so many possibilities of why she did it that he'd only succeeded in confusing himself further although the good number of wanks along the way were an enjoyable bonus. If only his photographic memory for the female form was matched by an ability to remember essential academic information his exams really would be a formality. At 3.45 pm on Friday, as he walked towards the thudding hotbox of Ant's Corsa his latest thinking was that Julia was indeed a tease and a flirt, had a fantastic body she was happy to flaunt, felt comfortable in his presence but quite liked the idea of arousing him in an awkward situation, and had undressed in front of him knowing he'd like it but was both mature and experienced enough not to come in his pants or try and rape her there and then, and also because she wanted to carry on talking to him and it was convenient. In other words, a jumbled combination of most of the thoughts he'd had over the previous 48 hours that left him absolutely no clearer whether he was in with a chance of shagging her. 

"All right gayboy?" Ant said as Will climbed into the car.

"As enlightened as ever, I see," yelled Will, accepting the freshly-lit joint, turning what sounded like a Pharrell track down to a less ear-damaging volume, and relieving Ant of the atlas.

"Fuckin' too right, mate," Ant said, revving the engine and pulling out of a blind junction to the sound of blared horns from other motorists and tortured rubber from his car's front tyres. "University of life, mate. Not like you, you arty ponce."

Will decided not to retaliate but instead inhaled the pungent smoke and watched through the window as the buildings began to thin and eventually give way to open countryside. An example of the disparity between boys' and girls' maturity was never more evident than right here, he thought as Ant hurled abuse at a farmer who had the temerity to hold them up briefly in his tractor. Julia wouldn't do that. She'd calmly wait and then thank the farmer for his generosity when he pulled over to let them pass. She was sophisticated, he thought to himself; open-minded, not hung-up on boring social norms. A free spirit. And very, very fit.