She Goes to Town

She Goes to Town

W M James

Copyright © 2015 W M
James

All rights
reserved.

Published by Fairly
Fluffacious Fiction.

Cover design and
typesetting: Fairly Fluffacious Fiction.

Maybury shorts

She Goes to Town

'
Jesus, Legs,
it
'
s not like you to be late.
'

Annette was sitting at the table sipping a cocktail.
Her cheeky pink lips curled up smugly as she set down her
wide-rimmed glass. She wore her hair in a stylish up-do, oriental
pins holding it in place: every single hair
in
place,
of course, because that was Annette.

'
I was starting to think
you were going to stand me up,
'
she went
on, without a pause.
'
But that would mean
missing a meal, and we both know that
'
s
never gonna happen, eh?
'

Despite herself, Tanya felt her cheeks begin to
darken. Nobody could do this to her quite like Annette. Resisting
the urge to roll her eyes, she pulled out her chair and sat. It was
a relief to get the weight off her feet: her thighs were still a
little shaky from earlier.

'
Nice to see you, too,
Netty,
'
she responded wryly.

She glanced around, taking in her surroundings. The
restaurant was filling up steadily, but there were still a couple
of free tables. Of course, Annette would have planned the dinner to
the nth degree, even knowing exactly the best time to arrive: wait
for atmosphere, but get in before the kitchen staff are run off
their feet. Tanya felt a smile well up inside her: Annette was
always a step ahead.

A handsome young waiter arrived with smiles and
menus.

'
Must be two, three years
since I was last here,
'
Tanya mused.

Annette was watching her intently, her eyes
narrowed. It was never a good sign.

'
Legs,
'
she began, her tone speculative.
'
What
'
s going on?
'

Tanya frowned and scoffed, exactly the wrong
reaction: she knew it at once. Give Annette a reaction like that
and she would dig, dig, dig until she got to the truth. She was,
after all, a prodigy, a polymath, a self-taught student of human
behaviour. Oh, and, if that wasn
'
t enough,
she was a gobshite lawyer as well.

'
What
'
s going on is I
'
m starting
to remember why we don
'
t have dinner more
often,
'
she tried. She knew it
wasn
'
t enough of a deflection. Annette was
going to be all over this like a terrier.

To Tanya
'
s surprise,
Annette shrugged and put down her menu.
'
Anyway,
'
she sighed
dramatically.
'
Aren
'
t you going to ask me my big news?
'

'
Shit, Netty, I
'
m sorry.
'
Tanya laid her
hand on her sister
'
s wrist.
'
I
'
ve been a bit preoccupied
lately. Lots of pressure at work and Ben away
…
it
'
s all been weird. You
know I want to hear your news. Please.
'

Annette cocked her head, relishing the moment of
attention. She lifted her cocktail and arched her eyebrows over the
rim of the glass. Very deliberately, she took an exaggerated sip,
making a great show of savouring it. Tanya let her eyes roll this
time. This was
so
Annette.

'
Well, you know that
promotion I've been fretting about for months? I applied.' She
couldn't keep the grin off her face, even though she was clearly
trying to. 'And I got it.
'

Tanya
'
s heart surged with
pride. She sprang out of her chair, hurried round the table and
caught her sister up in a big hug. Annette was, of course, cool as
ice on the surface, but Tanya knew she was fizzing with excitement
on the inside.

'
What does Malcolm
say?
'

Annette wiggled her shoulders nonchalantly.
'
Oh, you know. He
'
s worried about how I
'
ll
find time to cook his dinner. And how will it affect his golf and
all that shit. You know men.
'

Tanya grinned, standing back to look at her clever
sister.

'
Now sit the hell down and
tell me what
'
s going on with
you,
'
Annette demanded, in the manner of
an old-time duellist delivering the coup de grâce.

'
Oh, you sneaky,
underhanded little shit,
'
Tanya replied,
scowling at her sister. Her heart tripped a little. This was her
opportunity to open up about Andy. She couldn
'
t deny she had thought about it, had even hoped it
might come up. Damn sure there was nobody else she could talk to
about her fling. Well, nobody apart from Andy himself. A smile
tugged at her mouth as she made her way back round the table to her
own seat. He was a good friend, so easy to talk to. It was no
wonder they had ended up comforting each other.

Even as she sat down and caught her
sister
'
s eye, she knew it was too late to
be contemplating whether to tell her or not.
She knows me too
damn well
, she realised. Annette
'
s jaw
dropped open.

'
I know that look. Dr Tanya
Gill, PhD!
'
she proclaimed.
'
Do you have a man on the go?
'

Tanya waved to her to be quiet, looking all around
at the other tables. The paranoia from earlier in the day returned,
convincing her that half the other patrons in the restaurant were
people she knew: colleagues, students, friends, alumni.

Annette wasn
'
t finished
though. She placed an elbow on the table and made a fist to rest
her chin on, so that she could stare at her sister.

'
Are you cheating on Ben,
you slut?
'

'
Hush!
'
she exhorted, in a strained whisper.
'
Keep your feckin voice down.
'

The hand that Annette
'
s
chin was resting on opened up and covered her mouth; her eyes went
wide.

'
Holy
—
!
'
she breathed.
'
For real? Tanya, for real?
'

Tanya sighed deeply and reached for her glass of
water. Her cheeks were bright red and she was shaking all over with
adrenaline. In a way, she had been needing to get all of this off
her chest for weeks now. But she couldn
'
t
live with the thought of damaging her relationship with Netty. And,
for the first time, it occurred to her that she was also now
burdening Annette with a huge secret. This would be between them
forever now; and it would be there between Annette and Ben whenever
they were in the same room. What a mess
…
but, still
…

She drew a long drink of the water, letting it cool
her throat.

'
You can
'
t breathe a word of it to anybody, Netty.
'

'
Oh, Lordy!
'
Annette exclaimed, then swore colourfully under her
breath.
'
But, who? What? Where? When?
Details. I need all the details, girl!
'

Tanya made a face, thinking about what she had been
doing with Andy just a short time before.
She
realised she was softly rubbing the tips of her fingers together,
remembering the feel of his erection...
She definitely
couldn
'
t go into
that
level of
detail with Annette. She cast her mind back to the conversation
with Andy at the weekend.

'
Don
'
t take this the wrong way,
'
Andy said, his pretty green eyes sparkling as he favoured her with
his impish grin. God, but he was beautiful! His messy blonde hair
framed a strong, handsome face; his shoulders were broad and
muscular; his chest was deep and powerful. He had such gorgeous
eyes, eyes that had drawn her in for the kiss that started all of
this.

'
Are you talking about your
willy?
'
she teased him.
'
Because we
'
ve already had
the anal sex conversation
, as you well
know.
'

Andy sighed. He loved her jokes, really. She made a
face, not caring.
Maybe he didn't love her
jokes.
He loved her tits and that was far more
important.

'
Don
'
t take this the wrong way,
'
he said again, trying to affect a more serious tone.
'
But, much as I love hanging out with you in our nest
of blankets and in your office
…'

He gestured at their
surroundings. They were, as usual, curled up in the sitting room of
Tanya's house... Tanya's marital home: she cringed inwardly
whenever the thought crossed her mind. This was their rule: their
one rule; their concession to propriety and some sense of morality.
They had never gone,
would
never go, to Tanya's bed.
Andy had never mentioned it, and she had never brought it up
herself. They both simply knew that that was out of bounds. Tanya's
bed was Ben's bed. They couldn't do that, no matter what else they
could do. And so their encounters mainly took place in the sitting
room, in front of the warm flames of the stove, burrowed deep into
mounds of soft blankets. It was weirdly immature and romantic, and
it was sexy and fun and silly. It was perfect.

'
You
'
re getting bored of our little
arrangement?
'
she grinned.
'You want to move on? Find a younger personal tutor to curl
up with?'

Andy glared at her. Well, he pretended
to glare at her, but he was a terrible actor. God only knew how he
was keeping this a secret from Carmen, or anybody else for that
matter.

'I sometimes wonder which of us is the
mature professional in this relationship,' he said archly.

'Uh, less of the mature, thank you very
much,' she rejoindered. 'I am still in my twenties, I will have you
know.'

'By a matter of weeks, wasn't it?' Andy
grinned, warming to the teasing now. She could see where this was
going. It was their pattern: they would verbally abuse each other
for a few minutes, inch closer and closer, then pounce on one
another. She licked her lips. She could feel a stirring even just
from analysing their pattern.

'Do you ever wish it was...' Andy
blushed, stumbling over what he was trying to say. For a moment,
she thought he might not be going to finish his question. Then,
lamely, he added the single word: 'Real?'

Tanya's ardour cooled again at
once.

'Is this about what your friend Ade
said to you?'

'
No,
'
he replied, too quickly. His mouth squeezed shut,
scrunching up at the side.
'
I just think
it would be nice if we went out some time.
'

'
One of your
students!
'
Annette gasped.

The waiter
would
have to pick just that
moment to bring the starters. He gave them both an odd look, as if
he had worked out what they were talking about just from that one
exclamation. Tanya felt herself blushing again. This was just
perfect: just exactly the way she wanted to announce her infidelity
and lack of professionalism to the whole town. Then again, after
what had almost happened a few hours earlier, this was a
comparative relief.
She could still feel him
inside her: it brought a little smirk to her face.

She waited until the waiter had moved away again
before she glared at her sister.

'
Will you keep your voice
down!
'
she hissed.

'
So,
'
Annette said casually. She picked up her fork and
started to crack open her little tartlet.
'
What
'
s he like?
'