August
Elena looked away from the laptop and sighed. The piece she was working on just wasn’t coming together. Next door, Adonye was banging Michelle again. Elena now fully comprehended the meaning of the word because that was the sound of their headboard as it tried to force its way into her room. In a minute or two there would be an unearthly shriek as Michelle climaxed, then it would go quiet for a bit, and about half an hour after that they’d be at it again.
Elena rubbed the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger. This was the life of a graduate student, not enough money to afford decent digs, house sharing with a couple of bonkasaurus’s, or should that be bonkasaurii? She sighed again, Adonye was nice enough but seemed unaware of other people’s need for peace and quiet, bizarre as that might be for the big Nigerian to comprehend. When his friends came round it was bedlam, the music up loud, the smell of dope making its way into every corner of the house. At those times Elena fled for the comfort of the library.
Not the library today, the weather was fine, maybe go for a walk in the park, take a complete break from the work. Allow her subconscious to do a bit of the heavy lifting. She grabbed a muslin blouse to keep the sun off her shoulders. Her skin was pale and burned quite easily but if given half a chance could go a rich honey colour. Her hair got some nice highlights too.
The little white headphones lay on the desk, next to her phone. This was her other technique for blocking out distractions, but she wasn’t in the mood for music. The headphones stayed on the desk, and she headed out into the bright afternoon.
As she made her way down the busy main thoroughfare in the centre of town, she noticed a young woman maybe ten yards ahead of her. Elena caught glimpses of her from time to time. She had a slim but nicely curvy figure and her rear swayed most enticingly. She had a floppy sunhat on, and it was easy to pick out in the crowd.
They were walking at the same pace and she neither came nearer nor pulled ahead. After ten minutes or so the people started to thin out as they approached the river. Without warning the woman looked over her shoulder at Elena. In the shadow of the brim her eyes were big and dark and intense. Elena came to an abrupt standstill and blushed as if she’d been caught at something illicit.
The other held her stare for a fraction of a second and then the ghost of a smile curved her lips and she walked away down a side street.
Suddenly released, Elena almost staggered but collected herself just in time for a cyclist to swear at her as he brushed past, too close and too fast. In this heavily pedestrianised city, such things were an occupational hazard.
“You can fuck off and all!” Elena shouted at his retreating form.
She scowled and turned to walk down the river path. Nabbing an ice cream from the seller beside the boat hire kiosk, she meandered on to the green. By some rare chance there was a free park bench in the shade of the tall elm trees that lined the park: survivors of the Dutch Elm Disease that had torn through the country half a century ago.
The tourists made fools of themselves on boats while ducks and geese prowled the riverbank on the lookout for scraps. They’d already assessed Elena’s potential with beady eyes and found her wanting.
Her gaze drifted left and there, walking towards her on the footpath, was Floppy Hat Girl. Her head was down so that broad brim covered her face, but there was no mistaking either the hat or the entrancing sway of her hips.
‘Look up’ Elena silently urged, and then as she drew close, the brim lifted.
Afterwards, Elena could not say what she looked like as she had been transfixed by the woman’s eyes. They locked on to her for, at most half a second, as she did not pause, or slow down in any way, and then she was gone again.
Elena sat in a daze.
“Do you mind if I sit here?”
She looked up to find a man smiling at her. He was good looking too, shaggy blonde hair, blue eyes and a mouthful of even white teeth. He too sported a hat, a ridiculous pork pie affair that perched unsteadily on top of his head. Elena smiled back and waved her hand at the other end of the seat.
“Be my guest.”
Her lips pursed as he chattered about how he was taking the summer off to bum around England before maybe heading to Italy. He spoke fluent Italian, naturalmente. He was also called Joe, or Joey to his mates, had studied fine arts – yada, yada, yada.
Elena allowed it to wash over her without really taking it in or even bothering to reply. Young men were wearyingly fond of talking about themselves.
She interrupted yet another anecdote. “Do you want to get a drink?”
He was startled, first at being interrupted, and second because he was still working up to the drink question.
“Uh, yeah! Where do you want to go?” he said brightly, after he recovered.
“There’s a good riverside pub about five minutes’ walk downstream.”
Joey peered at the water to see which way it was going.
During the short walk she discovered that his family lived in Chelmsford, his father ran an estate agent firm and drove a high end Jag. His sister was studying chemistry at Manchester and his mates, oh, his mates! Crazy, crazy guys!
She wondered if he shut up during sex and whether she wanted to find out.
The pub was overflowing so she sat on the riverbank and waited for Joey to fetch the drinks.
“What’s your name?” he asked, handing her a glass of white wine.
“Elena,” she answered shortly.
“What do you do?”
“I’m a post grad.”
“Awesome! What are you studying?”
He was all bright interest and Elena found herself warming to him.
“Astrophysics.”
“Whoa!” His eyebrows rose. “Smart girl!”
He was puppyish in his enthusiasm and would be easily wounded with a harsh word. She decided to be gentle.
“There aren’t many women in the field, that’s true,” she smiled, and he relaxed visibly.
***
Back at her room, he was a different animal. She was expecting ‘wam-bam, thank you ma’am’ — and that would have been okay — but instead, he took his time, kissing down the line of her neck to her shoulder as her blouse slipped off.
Joey, wait, Joe, he would be, if this carried on, caressed her sides with his hands as he gently bit the back of her neck. He didn’t know it, but he’d pressed one of Elena’s major buttons, and she arched into him, pushing her arse into his groin. His hands slipped to her hips, and he took hold of them and steered them from side to side. She could feel his erection rubbing against the curve of her buttocks.
She unclipped her bra and shook it off. Twining his fingers in her own, she brought them up to cradle her breasts. He fondled her nipples and brought them to stiff points. Turning her round, he bent and took one in his mouth, nibbling and delicately nipping, and then swirling his tongue round her areolae.
Elena pushed a hand through his thick hair, feeling the rising tide of need, and urged him lower. He got the message and sank to his knees, running his hands up her bare legs to her thighs. She took a step back and sat on the edge of the bed. He scuttled after her on his knees, and she giggled.