Chapter 1 – Boys will be Boys

Saturday 1st August 2015

Good Nights Club

Glasgow

“Eddie,” I said. “Those girls are not out looking to get hooked up with guys. They’re out for a drink and a laugh with each other.”

“I know,” he replied. “If we can catch the eye of a couple, we might get lucky. Look at the thighs on that one in the blue miniskirt.”

“You’re a randy sod. The only way we’ll be lucky tonight is if we don’t get reported for intimidating people by staring at them.”

“Charlie, neither of us has been with a girl for about two months. I just thought it would be neat if we could get a bit of action before we go our separate ways.”

“In two weeks, I’ll be at uni in Edinburgh, and you’ll be in Stirling starting your apprenticeship. We can both wait and see who has a new girlfriend first.”

“That sounds like a dare.”

“It wasn’t meant to be, but we’ll call it a dare if you prefer.”

He laughed. “We often used to dare each other to do stuff when we were younger.”

I tapped his glass. “We must be careful about decisions after a few drinks.”

“Yeah, I know. Alcohol causes people to accept dares that they might not normally.”

“Well, we’re older now and only have a short while left together. Let’s just enjoy each other’s company.”

“Aw, Charlie, that was so romantic.” He laughed again, probably affected by the amount we’d had to drink. “A dare now would be special, so we should try to think of something.”

“Oops, a vibration in my pocket.” I lifted out my phone. “Excuse me, Eddie, it’s from my Aunt Sabrina … the woman that has the holiday home.”

“Go ahead, mate, and I’ll get us another drink.” He went to the bar and got two more brandy and cokes. I saw him glancing at the party of women we’d both been ogling. At the long table were six attractive young women, but deep down, I knew that both Eddie and I had too much to drink to try picking anyone up. He returned and placed the drinks on the table.

I held up my phone. “Eddie, I’ve got great news if you’d like to accept my aunt’s offer.”

“Has she found us two gorgeous girls to go out with for the next ten days?”

“Nothing so heavenly, but she said we can have her holiday home for a few days if we want, starting on Monday.”

“It would probably cost us a fair bit, even if she gave us a discount.”

“Sabrina said we can have the place free as long as we leave everything as we find it.”

He nodded. “That sounds too good, so there must be a downside. Of course, there would be no girls or parties, but we could live with that if we had plenty of booze.”

“Should I text her and say we’ll happily take up her offer?”

“Yes, go ahead, mate.”

While I had text messages going back and forward, I saw Eddie gazing longingly at the girls in the club. If there was one thing we both liked, it was a nice pair of legs in a short skirt, in black tights or stockings. I read the next message from Sabrina and got lost thinking of how much I’d enjoy having a steady girlfriend again when I settled at uni.

Eddie nudged me. “Is there a problem?”

“Not really a problem.” I grinned. “There’s good news, but there’s a tiny downside.”

“Tell me the downside first, and then you can impress me with the good news.”

“Sabrina said that there’s only one bedroom, but it’s a big enough bed for both of us if we didn’t mind sharing. She said if we preferred, there’s also a sofa bed and plenty of bedding.”

Eddie laughed. “The last time we shared a bed, we must have been about fourteen.”

We both laughed and as I looked at Eddie, I had particular memories of those times.

I said, “We could always see what size the bed was before we decided what to do.”

“I agree.” He nodded. “If that’s the only downside, the rest must be good news?”

I glanced at my phone. “We don’t need to shop for booze. We can help ourselves to her wine, and she said there were bottles of spirits and coke and suchlike, so we’d be fine for drinks.”

“Is Sabrina your dad’s sister, or Harriet … your stepmother’s sister?”

“She’s Harriet’s sister, so she’s not really an aunt. You should remember her because Sabrina gave you a lift home recently.”

“Really?” He grinned and lifted his drink. “Wait a minute, is she tall with long dark hair?”

“Yes, she was over at the house visiting Harriet, and you and I had just returned to my place after a night out. You told me later that if you’d spent more time chatting in her car, you might have gotten lucky.”

“I remember her now, but I was so drunk that night that I can’t remember our conversation. I hope I was complimentary because I remember she looked stunning. I wish we were sharing the bed with her.”

“You can’t remember what you talked about?”

“No, but I wish I could because when we got to my place, I’m sure we sat in her car chatting for a while before I went indoors.”

“It’s a pity you can’t remember, because she loves teasing and talking dirty. One weekend when she visited, she caught me staring at her legs. When Harriet was out of the room, Sabrina winked and asked if it was her or her clothes I was interested in. She nodded at the bulge in my jeans.”

“What did you say?”

“I asked why I would be interested in her clothes, and she said something about me not being like you.” I looked at Eddie. “What kind of thing must you have said when she gave you the lift home?”

He shook his head. “I can’t imagine. I must have said that her dress was nice or something.”

“I know you sometimes mention girls’ outfits when we’re out like you did earlier.”

“Charlie, I’m not even conscious of doing it.” He winked. “I must admit, I’ve always fancied a threesome with a mature woman, and you have too. Imagine if Sabrina fancied some fun.”

“That’s the thing about being friends for so long … we know so much about each other.”

He said, “Intimate knowledge of your best friend can sometimes be useful.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Even if it’s fantasies from years ago?”

Eddie grinned. “Especially if it’s fantasies from years ago.

*

I got home late in the evening to find my stepmother watching the news and the weather.

“Hi, Harriet. Is my dad not here?”

“No, love, he was called out with his truck to recover a car somewhere. How was your evening?”

“Great, and I got a text from Sabrina to say that Eddie and I could have her cabin for a week for free.”

“When are you going?”

“Monday morning. We’ve decided to take our mountain bikes because the cabin is on the edge of a forest near Fort William.”

“That’ll be great. I’ll make a pot of tea if you fancy one.”

“Yes, please, and while I’m thinking about it I’ll list what to pack.”

I was sitting in the living room a few minutes later with a note of what I’d need for the break.

Harriet came out of the kitchen with the tray. “How is it going?”

“Good, I’ll take a variety of clothes, a pair of hiking boots, my laptop, Kindle, and washing kit.”

“Do you think Eddie will take his camera equipment?”

“I’m sure he will. It all packs into one big holdall, so that’s his equivalent to my laptop.”

“I know his apprenticeship is in photography, but has he got anything he prefers to photograph?”

“I think he takes pictures of just about anything, but he told me once that he’d love to get into fashion photography.”

She smiled. “Is that because he likes the girls or their fashion?”

“I would imagine it would be for the girls.” I gulped tea. “What made you ask that?”

“It was something my sister said that stuck in my mind.”

“It’s something that Sabrina said about Eddie?”

“Yes, but don’t worry about it. You know what she’s like … a bit of a flirt who likes to tease.”

“Come on,” I said, and grinned. “We’re talking about my best friend.”

“You’ll remember coming back here with him one evening when you two had been out on the town, and after a couple of drinks here, Sabrina offered him a lift home?”

I said, “Yes, and as it happens, we were talking about that this evening.”

“Did he tell you what they talked about before dropping him off?”

“No. He remembered that she was gorgeous and sexy, but not what they discussed.”

“Apparently, Sabrina complimented Eddie’s long fair hair and said that he could pass as a girl if he was in the right outfit. She said that instead of laughing, Eddie said he’d also have to learn to do makeup. That got the discussion underway, and she told him about Deborah, the mature crossdresser who owns a cabin close to hers.”

“Yes, she sent me a separate text and said I shouldn’t mention Deborah’s gender to Eddie until we were there.” I was confused. “I thought she was just messing about, but it sounds like Deborah is real. What do you think Sabrina was suggesting?”

Harriet sipped her tea. “Apparently, that night in the car, when she mentioned Deborah, your best friend sounded keen to meet her. He told Sabrina that one of his aims was to do a photo session with a crossdresser if he found an attractive one.”

“Well, he certainly doesn’t remember the conversation because when I talked about the cabin, he was delighted that it was offered to us, but he didn’t mention knowing about the neighbour.”

Harriet smiled. “I’m sure you’ll find out this week for certain, but the feeling that Sabrina got was that Eddie was keen to know a lot about the person in the next cabin.”

“Thanks for letting me know. I intend to work on a story for my first week at uni, so if Eddie disappears with his camera, I’ll be busy, but I’ll have some idea where he’s gone.” I laughed.

“Whatever you two get up to, I’m sure you’ll have a great week.”

“We’re looking forward to it because we won’t see each other too often when we go our separate ways. We’re not old, but we’ve been best friends since we were about nine.”

“That’s a long time, sweetie, it’s ten years, and I’m sure you’ll maintain regular contact.”

“The strange thing is that Eddie is going to Stirling, and I’m in Edinburgh, so it’s not a great distance, but we’ll both be concentrating on our studies.”

“Charlie, one of the things I’ve learned in life is that good friends are hard to come by, and even if they have an occasional disagreement, they don’t give up on each other.” She sipped her tea. “Neither of you has a steady girlfriend, so that’s a blessing.”

“Why is that a blessing?”

“You’re both going to the other side of Scotland for a couple of years.” She laughed. “You’re both nice-looking boys, and I’ll bet temptation will come your way.”

“What advice would you give Eddie or me as we get close to leaving home?”

“Charlie, you’re both old enough to know right from wrong, sweetie, so my only advice is that, as long as nobody gets hurt, you experience as many things as you can in this life.” 

 ***

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.