Dramatic Affairs

by Fredrica Alleyn

  When it came to the roles of the two brothers, the part of Alan – a lance-corporal, rather dull and introverted – went to Noel; Robin, a dashing good-looking RAF officer – charming and attractive – was, to no one’s surprise, to be played by Christopher. As expected, the role of Ernest Beevers – the socially awkward lower-class but upwardly mobile outsider – went to Damon. As he hadn’t read for any other role this was certainly not a surprise. Michael, the young man who shared a flat with Noel, was to play Gerald, the pleasant good-looking young solicitor, which meant that there was no part in the play for Nicholas Maxwell.

  Glancing across the room at him, Esther could see that Nicholas wasn’t pleased. He had read for the role of Ernest Beevers and also for Alan. Neither of the parts had suited him in the least, but this hadn’t prevented him from making it clear he expected to be in the play. He was frowning now and Theresa, who was sitting on his left, was whispering what Esther assumed to be words of consolation in his ear. The only other member of the company without a part was George Hickey. This wasn’t a surprise to anyone, least of all George. There was no role suitable for him in the play and in any case he’d been promised Lear when Christopher presented his mini version during the tour. Obviously for someone like George this was the chance of a lifetime and next to it Time and the Conways paled into insignificance.

  ‘Right,’ said Christopher briskly. ‘I can tell some of you are rather surprised by the parts you’ve been given, but I can assure you I have every confidence you’re all more than capable of doing excellently in them. I’m sorry there’s nothing for Nicholas and George but later on in the season there will be times when none of us are acting.’

  ‘I’ll be astounded if Christopher’s ever not acting,’ murmured Damon.

  ‘The point of a company like this,’ continued Christopher, ‘is that even if you’re not on stage you’re part of the production. Everyone is equally important. After all, where would we be without the prompt, the props man, the publicity? No, as far as I’m concerned this company has no stars and no passengers.’

  ‘I wonder if he really believes that,’ Esther said to Rosie. Rosie looked a little uncomfortable. ‘It isn’t really true, is it?’ continued Esther. ‘After all, Christopher Wheldon is a star; he can’t change that.’

  ‘Sssh,’ hissed Rosie. ‘You know what he means and I think it’s very sweet of him.’

  Esther supposed that was one way of looking at it, but remembering Marcus she couldn’t help feeling that some of them were being patronised. This didn’t mean she wasn’t still eager to seduce Christopher. His ego didn’t bother her; in fact it was probably his ego that attracted her the most. After Marcus, it would be almost impossible to be attracted to somebody who had no star quality. In any case, Christopher was extraordinarily attractive. Unlike Damon, who was so good-looking in a dark secretive way that one found it difficult to see beneath the handsome mask, Christopher’s boyish charm brought out not only sexual desire but also a streak of maternalism. The combination was irresistible.

  ‘Well, that’s about it then,’ said Christopher. ‘If any of you want to discuss your parts with me then I think tomorrow morning would be the best time. Right now I think we should all get off home. It’s been a long day and you’ve all worked very hard. Thanks a lot and see you tomorrow, ten o’clock sharp.’

  Damon immediately got up from his seat. Esther watched him stride to the far end of the room, pull on his long navy wool coat, throw a maroon scarf casually round his neck, and then, with Ellie close at his heels, he hurried out of the door. Nicholas Maxwell started to move towards Christopher but Christopher deliberately turned his back on him and became very busy talking to Theresa. Rebecca stepped forward and intercepted Nicholas so that within a few minutes the pair of them were talking in an animated fashion together.

  Esther would rather have liked to have talked to Rebecca herself. She wanted to know how Rebecca felt about playing Hazel and whether or not her influence on Christopher would enable them to change roles. She supposed that was very unlikely. Christopher was not the kind of person who would want to be seen to be influenced by anyone. Besides, he clearly had very strong ideas of his own.

  Noel and Michael got up and Noel turned to Esther. ‘Do you want to come back and have a coffee at our place?’ he asked. ‘Rosie’s coming, aren’t you, Rosie?’

  Rosie nodded. ‘Do come, Esther, we can talk about everything. You must be very excited at getting the part of Kay.’

  ‘Not really,’ confessed Esther. ‘I thought I was going to be Hazel.’

  ‘Well, Rebecca thought she was going to be Kay so that makes the two of you equal,’ laughed Michael. ‘Are you sure you won’t come back with us? It must be a bit lonely going back to that house you used to share with Marcus at the end of every day.’

  ‘It’s really nice of you but I honestly don’t mind,’ said Esther. ‘I feel exhausted now. All I want to do is have a meal, a shower and go to bed. I’ll take you up on your offer some other time, OK?’

  ‘Sure,’ Noel agreed easily. ‘Come on, then, Rosie, let’s get going.’

  Esther followed Noel, Michael and Rosie out of the hall and they all called good night to Christopher as they left. He acknowledged with a warm smile but as Esther looked back one last time he gave her a wink and a wave. To her surprise, she was quite excited by this. It hinted at an intimacy that had so far been lacking and gave her hope that her plan for seduction might not be so difficult as she’d begun to fear.

  Once she was home Esther picked up the phone and rang Lydia. She’d promised Lydia that as soon as she knew what part she was to play she’d let her know. ‘Hi, Lydia,’ she said briskly. ‘Guess what role I’ve got?’

  ‘Well, I think I can safely say that I’d put money on it being Hazel,’ said Lydia with a laugh.

  ‘I hope it’s not too much money,’ laughed Esther. ‘I’m to play Kay.’

  There was a long silence at the other end of the line. ‘Kay?’ queried Lydia. ‘Surely that’s not really you?’

  ‘Well thank you very much,’ said Esther. ‘That’s pretty insulting. Thankfully, Christopher has more faith in my acting ability than you do.’

  ‘Hey, there’s no need for that!’ exclaimed Lydia. ‘Only last night you were telling me you wanted to play Hazel. I know Christopher had mentioned Kay to you early on but once you’d read the play through you could see that you were made to play Hazel. Anyway, Hazel’s pretty and blonde and Kay’s not meant to be nearly as pretty. Who on earth’s playing Hazel?’

  ‘Rebecca Leslie.’

  ‘Who the hell’s Rebecca Leslie?’ asked Lydia.

  ‘She’s Christopher’s girlfriend. She’s tall and very dramatic-looking with long dark hair.’

  ‘Well she sounds as though she should be playing Kay then,’ said Lydia. ‘What on earth’s Christopher Wheldon doing?’

  ‘He said it’s very exciting to cast against type,’ said Esther, somewhat defensively. She was quite surprised to hear herself. If the truth were told she secretly agreed with Lydia but for some reason she wanted to defend Christopher’s actions. Also, she felt that perhaps Christopher was paying her a compliment. If he thought she could play Kay then he had clearly seen more depth to her acting than Lydia imagined she possessed.

  ‘Well, there’s no point in arguing about it,’ said Lydia. ‘At least it’s taken your mind off the ghastly Marcus. Tell me, who’s Damon Dowden playing?’

  ‘Ernest Beevers of course,’ said Esther. ‘The only problem is, in the play Ernest is described as a small thin man. Well, Damon’s certainly not small – he’s about six foot two – and, although he’s slim, he’s big-boned. Not that it matters; his reading was terrific.’

  ‘He’s terrific in everything he does,’ said Lydia. ‘I think he’s incredibly good-looking. I wish I was in the same company as him.’

  ‘He’s a bit strange,’ said Esther. ‘I’m not sure why he’s joined us. He doesn’t seem to think very much of Christopher a
nd he spends most of his time making sarcastic remarks in a quiet voice, mainly to Ellie Ford.’

  ‘Ellie Ford!’ said Lydia. ‘My God, I was once in some fringe with her. I think she slept with every male member of the cast and the play only lasted a week.’

  ‘How many men were in it?’ asked Esther with a laugh.

  ‘About two dozen,’ giggled Lydia. ‘No, that’s not true, but there must have been half a dozen. She looks such a girly type, you know all innocent, but apparently she’s a real man-eater. He’ll have his hands full there.’

  ‘Well that’s up to him,’ said Esther. There was no way she was going to admit to Lydia that she too found Damon Dowden extremely attractive. There was no point. Firstly, he wasn’t in the least interested in her and, secondly, she had her sights set on Christopher Wheldon.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Lydia after they’d chatted for a further twenty minutes or so, ‘I must let you go. I expect you’re shattered. I’m sorry if I sounded rather rude earlier; I just hadn’t pictured you playing Kay but I bet you’ll be terrific. Congratulations. Now, you go off and get a good night’s sleep and make sure that you let me know when and where you open. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’

  ‘I’m sure you won’t need me to tell you,’ said Esther. ‘I imagine Christopher is going to make sure the whole itinerary is published in the national press. He isn’t going to bring the classics to the people quietly. There wouldn’t be any point, would there?’

  ‘There certainly wouldn’t,’ agreed Lydia. ‘Keep me informed how it goes, won’t you?’

  Esther promised that she would and replaced the telephone. Somehow she didn’t think she’d be ringing Lydia quite so often in the future. Lydia reminded her of her times at drama school and days shared with Marcus. Now she was moving on. In any case, she had no intention of letting Lydia in on her secret itinerary. No, it would be better if she only rang her friend once a week during the rehearsal period and then, once they were on the road, she wouldn’t need to have any further contact with her until the tour was over.

  Unusually for her, despite her exhaustion, she took the play to bed with her and read the first act through before falling asleep. Deep down she knew, even though Christopher had denied it, that she was going to have her work cut out playing Kay.

  Noel and Michael’s flat was in total chaos. Rosie could hardly get in through the front door for discarded clothes, dirty plates, glasses with small amounts of liquid going mouldy in the bottom, and the almost inevitable overflowing ashtrays. She felt at home at once. This was a typical young actor’s flat. The fact that two of them were sharing it had compounded the problem but Rosie didn’t mind. Luckily, she wasn’t a tidy person herself.

  ‘Let’s see if we can find somewhere to sit down,’ said Noel. ‘Michael will fix you a drink, won’t you, Michael?’

  ‘Sure,’ Michael said agreeably. ‘What do you fancy?’

  ‘Have you any wine?’ queried Rosie.

  ‘Loads of red, but we’re out of white.’

  ‘Red’s fine,’ said Rosie, sitting down on the three-seater settee and nearly sinking to the floor. Either the springs had broken or it was a very soft settee.

  ‘You’ll be great as Joan,’ remarked Noel as she began drinking. ‘You’re certainly pretty enough.’

  ‘Well I hope I’m not as foolish as she’s meant to be,’ giggled Rosie.

  ‘Of course not,’ said Michael. ‘We both think you’re a very intelligent girl, isn’t that right, Noel?’

  ‘Anyone who likes us has to be intelligent,’ confirmed Noel.

  For a while they chatted about the company and their parts but very soon Rosie realised that each of the men had their arms along the back of the sofa and that Noel’s hand was gently stroking the side of her neck. She snuggled up closer to him and, as she did so, Michael began to stroke her arm. She felt very warm and cosy between the two of them and, when Noel started to nibble her ear and blow gently into it, Rosie knew they were going to have a terrific evening. Within half an hour she was following them eagerly into a large bedroom. This was only slightly less untidy than the other room, and was nearly filled by the vast bed.

  ‘Which of you sleeps here?’ she asked with some amusement.

  ‘We take it in turns,’ explained Michael. ‘It rather depends on which of us has someone staying over. It’s also extremely useful for threesomes.’

  There was a short silence as Noel and Michael looked intently at Rosie. Rosie knew this was the moment when she could choose. They were making their intentions perfectly plain and it was up to her to decide whether or not she wanted to enjoy them both. It really wasn’t a difficult decision to make. Rosie thought that most women, given the chance, would be delighted to have two men making love to them at the same time, especially when they were both as good-looking as Noel and Michael. Without a word, she began to unlace the trainers she’d been wearing for rehearsals and then, as provocatively as she could, she removed the baggy tracksuit bottoms that were traditional rehearsal costume.

  She sensed that both men were somewhat surprised by the fact that beneath the sensible clothes she was wearing black, high-cut, all-lace briefs. They too began to strip, but they watched her keenly as she removed the clothes from her upper body until she was down to her black lace under-wired bra. Her pale full breasts spilt out of it and Noel gave a low whistle of appreciation. ‘God, you’ve got a fantastic body,’ he said, his voice thick with desire.

  ‘You certainly have,’ Michael agreed whole heartedly.

  Rosie felt a surge of power at the expressions on their faces. She clambered on to the middle of the bed, spread her arms out on each side of her, and sat looking at them. ‘Right then, who’s first?’ she asked with a grin.

  ‘I don’t know about first,’ said Noel sliding naked on to the bed next to her. ‘What we’d really like is to make love to you at the same time.’

  ‘Providing that’s all right with you of course?’ added Michael.

  Rosie sighed with contentment. ‘It all sounds fabulous,’ she said, taking her glass of wine from Noel’s outstretched hand and draining it.

  Within a few seconds the two men had stripped Rosie so that she was lying naked on the bed between them. Noel was behind her, his erection brushing against her buttocks, while Rosie’s breasts were pressed against Michael’s chest. For a few minutes they lay pressed tightly together, and then both the men moved away from her a little as Noel propped her up on her right-hand side. This lifted her body up, thus freeing her breasts for Michael. Michael cupped them between his hands and then buried his face between them for a few seconds before starting to lick at the underside of one breast while fingering the nipple of the other.

  While he was busy, Noel was reaching round her and slowly gliding his hand along the smooth skin of her slightly rounded belly. He raised himself up off the bed and she then felt his hand going lower until it was playing softly with her pubic hair. He moved his hand in easy circular motions, tugging on the flesh beneath so that it pulled the skin between her thighs, moving it over her slowly swelling clitoris.

  Just as she felt the first tingle of excitement in both her breasts and her vulva, Noel removed his hand and started to pat and stroke her buttocks. At the same time Michael, while still keeping hold of each of her breasts and gently massaging them, started to trail his tongue down the middle of her ribcage until he reached her bellybutton. Once there, he poured the few remaining dregs of red wine from her glass into the cleft and then, as her body jerked, he lapped it up and the whole of her belly quaked with excited anticipation.

  After continuing this stimulation a little longer the two men, moving in rhythm, rolled over so that Michael was lying on his back. Noel then rolled Rosie over until her back was on Michael’s chest. Her head was tucked into his neck, and she felt his arms go round her so that his hands could continue teasing and titillating her burgeoning breasts. Her nipples were already rigid and had nearly doubled in size. Michael’s fingers kept pull
ing and stretching them, although occasionally he would massage her whole breasts.

  Noel arranged Rosie so that her legs were lying directly on top of Michael’s. He then fastened a hand round each of Rosie’s ankles and, as he did so, Michael moved his legs apart. This meant that Rosie’s legs were parted and the sensation that she was being manipulated by the two men in order to give her maximum pleasure was so exciting that she felt herself becoming very damp between her thighs.

  Rosie started to lift her head to see what Noel was going to do but Michael pulled it back again so that she was once more lying with her head in the hollow of his neck. Suddenly, she felt Noel’s tongue on the inside of her thighs, and she drew in her breath sharply. As she did so, Michael pushed her breasts closely together, rubbing them so that the inner sides stimulated each other. Tiny sparks of pleasure shot from her breasts down between her thighs where Noel was making tiny circular motions as he eased his way upwards.

  Rosie’s clitoris felt hot, and she could feel her sex lips were swelling. She gave a sigh of satisfaction when she felt Noel’s hands gently parting them and then, very lightly, he started to trail his tongue around the highly sensitive flesh that surrounded the nub of nerve endings. However, he didn’t allow his tongue to touch it and she started to strain her lower body upwards and move her hips to get some stimulation there, where she most craved it.

  With a soft laugh, Noel pushed her back down so that she was again flat on Michael’s body. ‘Michael likes to feel skin against skin,’ he said seductively. ‘See if you can keep him happy, Rosie. If you keep your body against his he’ll be perfectly happy, won’t you, Michael?’

  Michael gave a murmur of agreement, and Rosie realised they were playing a game with her. A game that would tease and torment her but which only increased her excitement.