Swap With Me

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN 

Emily phoned Jessica. 'I've just spoken to Scott . . .'

'Didn't I say at the pub, you need it bad, Em. What did he say?'

'I'm to take a taxi to St Katharine's Dock to meet him.'

'Oh, I've been there. It's a marina near the Tower of London. Smart boats.'

'Hope I'm doing the right thing.' She paused. 'After he treated me badly . . .'

'Darling. Listen. You like him. Now you got to teach him to make love to you properly.'

'I THINK I like him.'

'Yeah, but sex is important. I seem to recall he couldn't satisfy you the first time?'

'Hmm, yup, at his flat.'

'Exactly. Show this man where your clit is.'

'I'm trying to be serious, Jess.'

'You've got to give it a go. If you don't try, you'll never know.'

'So you think I'm doing the right thing?'

'You have to spend time with him, find out if he's the one. At first, everyone puts up a front, you know, at the beginning of a relationship . . .'

'Like an act, showing their best side.'

'Yeah. We all do it, including you and me. The thing is, it takes time to know a person. Sometimes it turns out the man you didn't like to start with, is the man you fall in love with. And that could be Scott.

'Personality. Sense of humour. Yup, I know all that.' said Emily. 'Sex is important too, right?'

'I can't imagine a love affair without sex, great sex.'

'Nor me, Jess, and that's another thing which I'm not sure about. He hasn't blown my lights out yet.' 

'If it were me,' said Jessica, 'I would be gagging for it. In fact I am gagging for it. Haven't done sex for a while.'

Emily wanted to ask Jessica a question, too personal to take lightly. She wondered if Jess would be offended. Emily took a deep breath to give her the courage to ask.

'Jess. A question.' Emily hesitated. 'Have you ever done it with another girl?'

'Wow, where did that come from?'

'Been meaning to ask that for some time.'

'When I was twelve I romped around once with another girl the same age, on her bed. Just two of us girls finding out what it was like to press lips together.'

Emily said nothing. Jessica was the bold one and would say something.

Jess said, 'is this why you're all mixed up over Scott?'

'Maybe.'

'You want to try it with me?' Jessica's question hung in the air. 

'Can we?'

'Could be weird.'

-O-

Scott waited at St Katharine's Dock for Emily to arrive. He had told her to get a taxi straight away to meet him because he had something to show her. It hadn't occurred to Scott to go over to Emily's flat, on her territory, in her comfort zone. The automatic response had been come to me, show me how much you care, how much you want me. Was this a selfish response, he wondered? Was he subconsciously controlling her?

There were a few other people at the dock tending to their boats, cleaning and polishing, and spending time on their decks with friends. It was late afternoon and the weather wasn't looking too good. Dark clouds were on the horizon in the west. He knew most of the weather and winds came from there, and Scott estimated half an hour before the first drops of rain.