by Michelle Day
“Thanks James.”
“I’m disappointed Gav, I’m going to have to find a new wing man,” Novak Sighed.
“I’ll always be your wing man, moron,” Gavin replied flicking crisps at his friend.
“Why do you call Gavin wing man?” Kiera asked Novak.
“Because,” Novak leant forward, “We do EVERYTHING together.”
“We’ve had some fairly questionable adventures together,” Gavin chuckled.
“We’ve had loads of questionable adventures,” Novak confirmed “And some very good times, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this guy.”
“Likewise.” Gavin confirmed.
“What sort of adventures, or don’t I want to know?” Kiera enquired.
“How open minded are you?” Novak spoke.
“There isn’t much that shocks me.”
“In that case, we’ve done the usual stuff, you know, threesomes, magic mushrooms, food colouring in the girls showers, things like that.”
“That’s tame stuff,” James put in. “These two are a nightmare when you get them together for any length of time.”
“You don’t join in then?” Kiera asked James.
“Absolutely not, I’m the one who usually picks up the pieces. These two just cause chaos and then stand back looking pretty.””
“We are both fine specimens.” Novak jeered. He reached over and ruffled James’ hair, “James here see himself as the ugly one, don’t you James?”
James knocked Novak’s hand off his head and rolled his eyes. “Compared to you two I am.” He mumbled.
“I suppose you have seen all the goods.” Novak laughed.
“Shut up Novak, I’m still trying to get that image out of my head.” James closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples. “I have no desire to ever see another man naked,” he shuddered. “Ever.”
“Anything I should be concerned about?” Kiera asked.
“No.” both Gavin and Novak hastily replied.
“They’d had a memorable session with a number of girls after a gig one night,” James explained. “I walked into Novak’s hotel room the following morning to find lots of naked ladies sprawled pretty much everywhere, it was a sight to behold. Gavin was draped over some red head stark bollock naked and Novak was still at it with a little blond, again stark bollock naked, not nice.”
“You should have joined in, there was more than enough for the three of us and it was one hell of a night.” Gavin commented.
“I’m far more refined than either of you heathens,” James scoffed.
“You crashed out Gav, I had one hell of a night, and you were a bit of a lightweight,” Novak laughed. “But that is one of the many reason why I call him wing man.”
“Kinda wish I’d known all that before I slept with you,” she told Gavin.
“Would it have made a difference?”
“Maybe, I’d just like to have had a little more background information; you don’t give a lot away.”
“There isn’t really anything to give away, I’m just a normal regular guy,” he told her.
“Uhuh, threesomes?” she questioned.
“Ok so I’ve found myself at one end of a girl while Novak has been at the other end on several occasions, doesn’t mean anything and you of all people know I like sex, it relaxes me. What happened when I lived in Gloucester is history; I don’t do those things now.”
“Only cos you live with your dad and he watches you like a hawk,” Novak said around a mouthful of Doritos .
“That’s part of it,” Gavin confirmed. “But I’m a different person now, you know that and you know why,” he warned his friend.
“Yeah, I do, sorry dude,” Novak shrugged. “Changing the subject, are you two an item then?” he gestured to the pair sitting opposite him.
“Friends with benefits.” Gavin told him.
“Ex friends with benefits,” Kiera corrected. “Gavin felt bad being with me when he wants to be with Angel, he said it wasn’t fair on either of us,” she explained.
“It wasn’t,” Gavin told her.
“You’re young, free and single then?” Novak honed in on Kiera.
“Yes.”
“Hmm, we may have to discuss this further, that’s if you don’t mind Gav?”
“Hey!” Kiera chimed in, “what are you asking him for?”
Novak grinned, “Er, wing man.” He offered as if that explained.
“I’m fine with it so long as Kiera is.”
“I’m very cool with it,” Kiera smiled then licked her lips, drawing Novak’s gaze.
“Hey,” Novak grinned, his expression one of a light bulb suddenly going on in his brain “Do you guys remember that girl I used to date, er Sally?”
James and Gavin broke into a short lived version of Mustang Sally.
“Yeah, yeah, Mustang Sally, damn that girl was fine.”
“What happened to her?” Gavin asked.
“She fell in love, sadly not with me, she’s married now, has a couple of kids, wonder what her old man would think if he knew she liked to be fucked on the outboard at full revs,” Novak laid back on the sofa grinning at the memory.
“This girl was a student,” Gavin explained to Kiera. “Novak is a water ski instructor, she was one of his first pupils, of course, she took one look at the Blond God and decided instead of learning to water ski she’d just like to learn to ride him.”
“She liked to sit on the cover of the outboard motor,” Novak picked up the story “She’d tell me to rev it up while I was between her legs, I’d fuck her on the motor at full revs. The bloody thing used to vibrate like mad so she’d get the full force of the outboard at the same time as wrapping her legs around me, we’d bang as the vibrations got her off and she in turn did the same for me. I would have married that girl,” Novak sighed. “She had one hell of an imagination, completely uninhibited.”
“He was heartbroken when she left him for another guy,” James told Kiera “Professes to have never found another like her to push his boundaries.”
Gavin knew the purpose of this story was to challenge Kiera, as if Novak needed any help picking up girls. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with it but realised that neither of his friends would do anything to hurt the young woman sitting beside him and Kiera seemed to be more than a little taken with Novak, she would more than likely be his ideal match.
The evening disintegrated when James and Gavin thought it would be a good idea to see who could flick Doritos into Novak’s mouth with the most success. Novak being a fast food junkie thought this was a marvellous idea. Kiera on the other hand, had had enough male bonding to last her a lifetime and decided it was time for her to go to bed. This would be the first time she had stayed at Gavin’s house and not been in his bed.
Around three in the morning the boys decided to go to bed, Gavin slept soundly for the first time in ages, happy that he had been reunited with his friends.
Saturday morning dawned hot and sunny, after a quick breakfast the four friends climbed into the Supra and made their way to the meeting place, Pembroke Lodge Car Park in Richmond Park. Gavin noticed Quinn’s Range Rover complete with trailing jet ski parked centrally to the Lodge and pulled into a space a little further down the car park.
“Need a leak,” Novak slid out of the car and headed for the toilets by the entrance of the Lodge.
Angel had spotted Gavin’s car and started to wonder over to say hi while Quinn was busy supervising the order in which the cars would travel. She only made it half way to his car when Quinn called her back.
“We only have a few more people to wait for then we can get going,” he told her.
Angel removed her shoes, put her feet on the dashboard and scooted down in the white leather seat.
Gavin, meanwhile had seen some of the guys from the band he had auditioned for and left his car to join them passing Quinn’s car on the way, he nodded a greeting at Angel and continued on his way.
Novak came out of the
Gents and walked down the passenger side of Quinn’s car, looking through the open window he instantly recognised the girl he had seen in the picture earlier, smiling to himself, he stopped at Quinn’s jet ski.
“Nice piece of kit,” he told Quinn.
“Thanks, it’s only the second opportunity I’ve had to use it this year.”
“Fair weather skier?” Novak challenged.
Angel watched the exchange in the side mirror, studying the newcomer. Exceptionally tall with long, thick blond hair tied at the nape of his neck, a Rip-Curl t-shirt clung to what appeared to be a toned body over Billabong shorts which came to his knee, his large feet spilling out of his flip flops, she noticed the surfer bracelets on his right wrist and an orange faced Doxa watch on his left.
She looked into the deep brown eyes as he passed her window again winking and grinning as he went by.
“Seems like a nice chap,” Quinn commented as he got back into the car. Angel looked away as she heard Gavin’s voice.
“Novak, hold up,” he called quickening his pace to catch up. Already hot and somewhat sweaty, Gavin had unbuttoned his cream coloured linen shirt, he removed it as he jogged to catch up with Novak causing Angel to let out an involuntary sigh as he passed.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked.
“Nothing, just wish we could get going,” she replied but she was watching Gavin from behind her Ray Ban sunglasses.
Once on the road, the twenty cars settled into a hap hazard formation, making occasional stops for fuel. It didn’t take long for Gavin to become bored with sitting three cars behind Quinn’s pimp mobile, deciding to let Quinn see what the Supra was capable of even fully loaded with people and equipment. Waiting for an appropriate gap in the traffic, he dropped the car into third gear and planted his foot on the accelerator shooting past the two cars in front of him and pulling in just in front of Quinn’s car. Quinn pressed his hand on the horn and flashed his lights, grinding his teeth in annoyance; he became more irate when both Gavin and Novak stuck their hands out of the windows, middle fingers extended.
The occupants of the Supra were most amused with their little stunt as were most of the other driver’s of the following cars, starting a trend of overtaking. Glancing in his door mirror then back at the road ahead of him, Gavin’s smile faded when a wasp shot in through his window.
“Shit, wasp, get it out,” he told Novak, who tried vainly to swat it. “Bollocks.” Gavin fidgeted in his seat, the car began to sway. “It’s gone up my trouser leg,” he glanced at the road ahead and spied a gravel lay by, indicating, he moved off the road and hit the gravel at speed throwing up a shower of dust and stone.
“There goes your paint work.” James commented.
Leaving the engine running, Gavin dove out of the car and began to remove his three quarter length trousers. Novak had got out of the passenger side and was watching his friend disrobe with an amused grin as the rest of the convoy pulled in behind the Supra accompanied by cat calls and wolf whistles at Gavin’s impromptu strip tease.
“What is he doing? Quinn asked. “Besides drawing even more attention to himself?”
Gavin had managed to remove his trousers and threw them over the car at Novak. “Kill it,” he told him as he checked his legs to make sure the wasp wasn’t there.
Novak dropped Gavin’s trousers onto the floor and proceeded to stamp all over them,
“I said kill the wasp not my trousers,” Gavin protested as Novak picked up the now dust covered garment.
“It’s not even in there, good job you wore your trunks dude,” Novak laughed as Gavin was now only dressed in his baggy swimming shorts and flip flops. The jeering from the occupants of the other cars had let up.
“I’m allergic to wasp stings,” Gavin explained to the waiting teenagers spreading his arms, shrugging and grinning broadly before grabbing his Oakley shades and getting back into his car.
Quinn’s mood deteriorated further as Angel had begun to laugh at Gavin’s antics, having outright bursts of laughter at some of the more graphic cat calls and loving that Gavin simply shrugged them off with a huge smile as he stripped.
“I can’t believe you find that amusing,” Quinn tutted.
“Oh come on,” Angel chuckled. “It’s a little funny.”
The convoy of fast, powerful cars didn’t take too long to reach their seaside destination where on arrival a group decision was made on the best possible place to spend the day and proceed to unpack their cars amid laughter, joking around and the odd argument.
“Do you want to stop messing around with that thing and give me a hand unpacking the car?” Angel asked, hands on hips.
“You can see I’m busy,” Quinn snapped. “You sort the car out,” he went back to unhitching his jet ski and lined it up on the nearest slip with the other jet ski’s then he went to talk to his usual Sloane crowd.
Angel huffed, grabbed an armful of blankets and marched down to the beach where she dumped them and returned to the car. Pulling the heavy cold box towards her, she braced herself as she prepared to lift it off the tail gate. Holding her breath and heaving the box into the air, she jumped as a strong hand wrapped around the handle and took the box from her. She recognised the watch and the scent of the person behind her.
“Thought you were keeping your distance?” she asked, her back still to him.
“I don’t have the willpower to do that,” he replied. “Let me help you.”
She turned to discover that he was closer than she had thought, she took a step back. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Quinn will go nuts if he see’s us together, he hasn’t stopped going on about me staying at your house, he’s convinced that we’re at it like rabbits.”
“You should have stuck to the story.”
“I did and he almost bought it but he saw the love bite and you apparently have scratches on your back,” she answered. “He saw them in the changing rooms.”
“Ah, that would explain the extra scowls that were directed at me. I don’t care about Quinn and I’m not doing anything wrong by helping you.”
“No, you should go back to your friends.”
“Angel...”Gavin began.
“Please go.”
He saw the pleading in her eyes and let go of the cold box. “I hate this, we’re friends, we should be able to talk.”
“We can talk, just not like this, not when there’s no one else around,” she glanced over Gavin’s shoulder. “Please go,” she repeated, watching him as he walked away and re-joined his friends. She sat on the tail gate of the Range Rover, refusing to move any more items until Quinn helped her.
Within the hour the huge group of teenagers were largely settled, many braving the sea, several barbecue’s had been fired up and were throwing smoke into the air to mingle with the scent of sun cream and the odd whiff of cannabis.
Novak, sitting beside Gavin, grabbed the latter’s battered acoustic guitar and began to tune it.
“You need to take better care of this thing,” he chided.
“I will,” Gavin replied before laying back and stretching himself out in the sun. With Kiera dragging James around the large group of people, introducing him as she went, Gavin and Novak had some time to talk.
“How are you doing Gav?” Novak asked, tiring of the guitar, he laid on his front next to his friend. He had been witness to Gavin’s grief over the death of his mother and the subsequent blind rages that had added to his criminal record.
“I’m fine,” Gavin replied.
“Come on dude, this is me, not one of your college friends, you know you can tell me anything.”
Gavin opened his eyes and looked at his friend. “I’m doing ok honestly, I have my temper in check most of the time, college is good, home life is good. I’m fine,” he paused. “But I still miss her.”
“You always will.”
“I guess. I have this huge empty space inside of me that won’t go away. It’s her birthday today.”
“I know, why do
you think I picked this weekend to come and visit?” Novak asked. “How are things with your Dad?”
“Actually, Dad’s pretty cool, we had one hell of a row a few months back but since then everything has been fine. I think we cleared the air. I said some horrible things told him a few home truths and said some things I shouldn’t have said but hey, it’s all out in the open now, there are still things we need to talk about but they can wait for a bit. He went nuts, I actually thought he was going to hit me, he was that angry. We still argue but it’s different now, he’s begun to treat me like an adult and we are learning to trust each other so long term, I think we’ll be fine.” Gavin told his friend.
“That’s cool, I er, put some flowers on your Mum’s grave, I figured I should do it as you can’t come home.”
“Thanks Novak.”
“No problem.” He turned onto his back. “You were right by the way, Angel is stunning and her boyfriend is a douche, I fully intend showing him up later if I can persuade someone to lend me a jet ski.” Novak told him. “Fucking fair weather skiers, I hate them all.”
Gavin chuckled at his friend’s rant, “Kiera’s into you bud,” he murmured.
“I’d very much like to be in her,” Novak replied.
“I can tell you it feels good, very good.” Gavin gloated.
“I hate that you’ve fucked her,” Novak griped.
“Right place, right time my friend, hasn’t put you off before.”
“Not going to put me off now, she looks good enough to eat in that bikini.”
“Doesn’t leave much to the imagination does it?” Gavin propped himself up on his elbows. “Snap her up before someone else does, these guys will be falling over themselves to get at her now they’ve seen her in two tiny bits of material.”
“I’m sure the old Novak charm will win her over,” he grinned. “So what’s the deal with you and Angel?”
Gavin sat up. “She drives me crazy, she’s under my skin, I cannot tell you how bad I want her.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Don’t know,” Gavin shrugged, “she threw herself at me the other night. She had fallen out with Quinn and was hammered by the time I got to her.”