Librium

by PJ Bayliss

  ‘Peyton was supposed to arrange something,’ Chaise checked his phone and recited the message back to Julie. ‘Crowne Plaza, 26 Stratford Road, booking under Pegasus.’

  ‘She’s quite the personal assistant, this Peyton of yours,’ smirked Julie.

  ‘She’s not mine…’

  ‘No. Apparently not. Just your history?’

  Chaise chuckled. ‘Jealous, are we?’

  Julie gave him a quick scowl before continuing through the roundabout. She gave the wheel a little jerk at the exit to subtly remind him who’s in control.

  Her driving brought Carlos to his senses in the back seat. ‘Whoa!’ he blurted, ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Don’t stress dude, Julie’s just feeling a little off-colour I guess.’

  ‘Huh? Really?’

  ‘Yeah. Green with envy some would say,’ Julie nudged him in the ribs as he giggled.

  ‘Am not!’ she cried.

  ‘I have no idea what you two are talking about?’ said a confused Carlos from behind them.

  ‘I believe she’s curious about Peyton.’

  ‘Oh, yeah. Who wouldn’t be?,’ said Carlos, ‘she’s a fairly interesting girl after all. Can’t you wait until you meet her in person Julie?’

  ‘That’s if I decide to meet her thank you! Anyway, I just like to be a little more informed thank you. I’ve had quite my share of surprises these past few days.’

  Chaise looked at her and noticed how tight her body was with tension. The prospect of Chaise meeting up with Peyton was obviously getting under her skin.

  ‘Look, Peyton and I have a little history, all right? We were neighbours back home and I grew up with her as a friend. I’ve known her for years. Decades maybe.’

  ‘So she’s the girl next door, huh?’

  ‘Yes. I mean no!’

  ‘Sure! Pull the other one will ya?’

  ‘C’mon Julie. What’s burning you up?’ he cried.

  The car came to a halt and pulled off the road at a little brick bed and breakfast on the side of the road. She hopped out of the car and scowled at Chaise, ‘Let’s swap drivers here!’

  She had that look in her eye. There wasn’t any option for Chaise and he calmly opened the door to get out of the car.

  ‘Good luck!’

  ‘Thanks Carl. I’m going to need it by the looks.’

  Julie confronted him at the front of the vehicle to get a few things off her chest.

  ‘I need to know Chaise. Did you go out with this girl or not?’

  ‘Who? Peyton?’

  ‘Yes! Bloody Peyton! You know damn well who I’m talking about, so stop buying yourself time.’

  Chaise grasped onto her forearm to settle her down but she quickly shook him off.

  ‘Okay, okay. Yes. We have been with each other, but that’s all history alright? Nothing serious going on there at all okay? She’s just a friend.’

  Julie crossed her arms. ‘Just a friend you’ve slept with…’

  ‘Christ! Seriously? Why the hell would that bother you? I mean, why? When we’ve both been doing it with our friends?’ He raked his fingers through his hair in frustration, ‘Were you even there the other night?’

  ‘With Tim and Savannah?’

  ‘Exactly!’ He shrugged his shoulders and held his palms outward to her in confusion. ‘What was that all about? You basically started it.’

  ‘That was different…’

  ‘Different? How?’

  ‘When we got together, we agreed that certain things could happen. It was always an open relationship between us.’

  ‘Yes, I know that…’

  ‘This,’ Julie waved her hands to and fro between them, ‘this is not open! It’s closed! You’re keeping it all to yourself!’ tears whelmed up in the corner of her eyes.

  Chaise took in a deep breath and backed up the car. He needed to be calm and collected for his own sake and peace of mind, or suffer at the fury of Julie’s frustration.

  ‘I’m not closed on this subject, Jules. We both agreed that being open was our best way to deal with the fact that we lived in different worlds, right?’

  Julie sniffled and nodded.

  ‘We both knew that one day, one day very soon, it would all come to a head as I went back home to the States, right?’

  ‘Yes. I know, but…’

  ‘And you, with your parents splitting up and wanting to be with your father. How could I foresee that coming?’

  ‘Neither could I!’

  ‘And I didn’t foresee this either!’ Chaise shouted, holding his hand up to his chest.

  ‘This…

  This feeling that has crawled inside me Julie and just…’

  ‘What Chaise?’

  ‘To be honest Julie, I don’t know.

  I thought I could stay in it for our own selfish means. To comfort each other, or whatever you want to call it, but that’s all changed now, hasn’t it? I didn’t expect it to turn out like this with you. I didn’t know this would happen. I just didn’t know…’ Chaise raked his fingers over his forehead once again.

  ‘Know what?’ Julie pried.

  ‘That I’d fall in love with you, okay?’

  Love?

  ◆◆◆

  There it was, finally.

  That magical “L-Word” she’d been seeking from him all this time. Not once had he told her how he loved her. And now it was out there in the open, but Julie wasn’t satisfied either. This wasn’t how she had envisioned him tell her that.

  Not this way.

  Not through an argument at the side of the road…

  She relaxed her shoulders as his confession sunk in. ‘Excuse me?’

  Chaise buried his forehead into his palm and fought back the tears.

  ‘I thought we had agreed that that wasn’t supposed to happen?’

  ‘I know Jules... what can I say?’

  Julie backed off from her inquisition. Chaise’s confession had caught her completely off guard and now she regretted everything that had happened in the past ten minutes. She just wanted to turn back time.

  ‘Oi’ you two quite done yet?’ called Carlos from inside the car, ‘We got to get a move on yer’ know?’

  They looked at each other, knowing that they were far from done with each other, but also in fear of realising that they possibly done with one another.

  ‘He’s right. It’ll be dark soon and we have to find this place we’re staying at,’ Chaise appealed.

  ‘Hmm. We will come back to this later,’ replied Julie, gently waving her hand to and fro between them.

  He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. Then he opened the car door for her to get in.

  Julie hopped into the passenger seat and clicked the seatbelt on. She felt a little better now, but now she just wished she hadn’t accidentally seen the text between Peyton and Chaise earlier that day. The words “Can’t wait until I see you again” were etched into her mind. That confrontation now had to wait for another time.

  Chaise’s phone buzzed once again with a new text. Julie glanced down and noticed Peyton’s name plastered over the screen. She crossed her arms and thought about happier times.

  ◆◆◆

  Chaise didn’t look at his phone for the rest of the trip. Only when he parked the car in front of the hotel entrance did he check it, which was only minutes later, but it seemed like a lifetime for Julie.

  ‘Wow. This is good,’ said Chaise, ‘Peyton has made reservations for a show tonight.’

  There was a slight relief of tension from Julie’s shoulders.

  ‘What is it?’ Carlos asked.

  ‘Antony and Cleopatra. It’s playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre just down the road.’

  ‘Think I’ll skip on that,’ Carlos replied, ‘you two go on ahead without me. I’ll call it an early night.’

  Chaise looked at Julie, ‘Whaddaya think? Up for a play?’ she smiled and agreed, despite wanting to address another particular pressing matter alone with him that evening. />
  Getting ready for the play was a marathon, or so it seemed. The air was thick and disturbed between them, and while Chaise did his best to cheer her up, Julie’s feelings of resentment and jealousy was lodged firmly in her gut.

  She grabbed a dress for the evening and took a long shower by herself where she found the solitude to let her emotions out without him becoming alarmed. She looked at her feet as the water fell to the floor. Nobody could tell the difference between water and tears.

  They found a quick meal in the Riverside Café before the show and watched the various boats and gondola’s travel up and down the river. The couples huddled together beneath woollen blankets, chatting to each other sipping wine. Julie admired how they appeared to be in love, but not another word was mentioned that evening about her roadside argument with Chaise.

  The confession was out, as was his feelings, but Chaise wasn’t one to boldly venture into deep and meaningful emotions. He liked to keep certain things at a distance from others.

  He'd been burnt once before, he didn’t want to be hurt like that again.

  18

  Julie woke up abruptly that morning with an empty gut and deep feeling of remorse. She had suddenly realised that today Chaise was going to be away for several days in Italy and they only had a matter of hours together before his flight.

  She was full of regret for yesterday’s argument and felt stupid for thinking that there were any feelings simmering between Chaise and Peyton. It was a silly notion, but one that secretly consumed her.

  She wondered what time it was and grabbed her phone to check. It was 5am.

  Damn it!

  Now she had to lie there thinking about her future with Chaise. A long-term relationship was never on the cards, or so she thought before his admission of being in love with her. And she didn’t even tell him how she felt either.

  What a bitch she was…

  …why not?

  Could she honestly say that she was in love too?

  Chaise stirred next to her in bed and rolled on to his side. He nuzzled up to her and pulled her in tight like a big teddy bear. His hug was relaxing and took her mind off things, especially with the firmness of his body pressed up against her buttocks and back.

  It felt good. Way too good to disregard in a moment of self-doubt. She pushed back into him as they spooned and then noticed how well they fitted together. They fitted perfectly, like a final jigsaw piece.

  She closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep, but it was no use. There was too much floating about in her mind.

  ◆◆◆

  Last night had been perfect. Almost.

  The café meal overlooking the river was romantic. It was treasured time alone with him, just the two of them alone and with each other’s thoughts. Then the theatre show itself had been magical. He held her hand like a gentleman the entire time and they relaxed with each other’s company. Never once during the evening did a foul thought cross her mind and she knew his full attention was focussed upon being with her.

  It was almost perfect she thought, because there had been no “make-up sex” from that day. Julie didn’t expect it, however, it wouldn’t had gone astray seeing Chaise was about to leave for Italy.

  Thinking about make-up sex turned her on. She always had been a morning person when it came to sex, and Chaise was right there with her, with a full-on morning erection, but still sound asleep.

  Asleep like a baby. For once.

  Quietly she slid the palm of her hand down her stomach toward her navel. It felt so good and her body was willing. Her fingers continued south and she gently lifted her thigh to allow them to venture further. She slid them into her folds and explored her moist sanctuary, taking care not to move suddenly and wake him up. As she rubbed herself up and down she noticed just how erect his penis was, so she carefully grasped it and manipulated him into her inner thigh.

  Chaise’s girth fitted snugly between her, but without any penetration. She felt so naughty with his erection planted between her thighs, but she never considered him as the victim. She was almost doing him a favour by not waking him up.

  Who the hell was she kidding?

  This was possibly the naughtiest she had ever been with him and she may have finally crossed the line by fucking him without him knowing.

  But it wasn’t fucking without penetration, right?

  Let’s just consider it an intimate massage?

  Julie didn’t have much time to consider the alternatives with her indecent climax rapidly building up within her. With a gentle motion, she rocked her fingers like a seesaw with her clitoris lodged between them. Within a matter of seconds, she had drafted up a trickle of lust from her depths, the moisture pooled up beneath her fingers, sloshing about as she pivoted her hardening clit between her pinched fingertips.

  The comfort of his cock was more than enough to quickly bring her to an orgasm and with a guilty clamping of her thighs, she quietly drew her pouring of lust out of her body.

  It was probably one of the quickest yet most intimate of orgasms she’d experienced with him. An entirely different sensation from the relentless pounding she typically received. This was more of a gentle wash from the depth of her soul.

  It was then when she suddenly realised it.

  She loved him too.

  19

  The two-hour drive from Stratford to London passed quickly with Carlos at the wheel. They sped down the M40 as quickly as possible, hugging the right-hand lane to make up time. Frustratingly, traffic became heavier once they reached the M25 and almost drew to a halt at Thorpe Green. From the back seat, Julie saw a large jet aeroplane overhead on its approach to land.

  ‘Why aren’t you departing from Heathrow Chaise?’

  ‘This is a family flight, apparently.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘A family flight. It’s a company plane I believe.’

  ‘You guys have a company plane? Seriously?’

  ‘It’s nothing special. It’s mostly used for freight of our product, but because it is normally shipped by itself, our father saw it as a chance to travel with the product to save cost.

  ‘Oh,’ Julie said with a pinch of disappointment.

  ‘We’re not rock stars yet,’ replied Chaise. ‘We will probably leave from a freight terminal with the rest of the couriers I suspect.’

  ‘Sounds a bit unusual.

  ‘We’re unsure ourselves actually. Apparently this is a replacement. Chaise and I have been on the first that our father purchased for the firm. It was a real treat, something like an old air force craft with full five-point harness passenger seats.’

  His description triggered a vision within Julie’s memory of being strapped down, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was all about.

  ‘I always felt like they were going to toss us out of the back with a ‘chute on whenever we flew on that thing.’

  ‘That was one rough trip, eh Chaise?’

  ‘Too right! Reminds me…’ Chaise searched for a scrap piece of paper in the glove box and quickly jotted down a note on it. He passed it to Julie in the back seat.’

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘My phone number.’

  ‘No, it’s not…’

  ‘It’s the PIN number Jules. Just in case anything happens on our flight.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid Chaise. Nothing’s going to happen on the trip. You’ll be fine.’

  She tried to hand the note back to him but he insisted. ‘Take it,’ he said. ‘I’m not taking no for an answer either.’

  Julie reluctantly took the paper from him and placed it in her pocket. ‘Just for safe-keeping!’ she smiled, but her superstitious mind was now convinced his flight was now cursed.

  ‘I’ll give it back to you when you get back.’

  ‘That’s the general plan,’ he kissed his fingertips and reached back to transfer it to her lips.

  The traffic started moving but they still had a thirty-minute drive to Gatwick. Julie brushed her anx
iety off by returning to her Kindle book. Chaise texted Peyton to let her know how far away they were from the airport.

  His phone buzzed almost immediately. ‘Peyton is meeting us in Naples. She wishes us good luck.’

  ‘Luck? What for?’

  ‘That’s what I asked her,’ replied Chaise who was still holding his phone, ‘I guess she’s just being nice?’

  A moment later Chaise’s phone buzzed and he looked at Peyton’s reply. ‘Oh shit!’

  ‘What?’ asked Carlos.

  ‘You’ll never guess who’s going to meet us at Gatwick!’

  ‘Don’t tell me...’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ replied Chaise. ‘Papa.’

  ‘Your father is going to be there?’ asked Julie. ‘Isn’t that a good thing?’

  ‘Our relationship with our father is not like you with yours. He’s a little… different.

  ‘Why don’t you get on with him so well?’

  ‘He’s a control freak.’

  Julie raised her eyebrows. ‘That explains a few things…’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  Carlos burst out with laughter. ‘Dude, you’re kidding, right?’

  ‘What?’ Chaise shrugged his shoulders, ‘What are you guys talking about?’

  ‘You’re a complete and utter control freak yourself, and don’t even try to deny it.’

  Chaise was puzzled and glanced back at Julie who nodded her head in agreement with Carlos.

  ‘You think so too?’

  ‘Yeah… a little,’ she replied. ‘No. Quite a bit actually.’

  ‘Name one time…’

  ‘Oh! Where do I begin?’ Julie smirked, ‘How about the whole “come home to USA with me” thing?’

  ‘I wanted the right timing to tell you…’