Chapter 10 — Tristan
Sunday night dinners at the Armstrong house were always an affair. Ever since I’d moved out five years ago, my mother insisted on having me over for dinner every Sunday night.
“It keeps us close, Tristan,” she always said with her crisp, refined diction. And there was no way I could turn my mother down, so I didn’t even try. Instead, I agreed to keep every Sunday from six to ten p.m. free so I could have dinner and drinks with my parents.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it could be; Mum made me and my father promise not to talk about work while we were there, so at least it wasn’t like being in the office all over again. The food was always good, as was the wine and brandy we drank afterwards, and I usually left feeling good about my family and relaxed before the next day’s work.
Until tonight. I was caught off guard in the middle of the soup course. We’d been idly chatting about the extended family, the news, nothing in particular when my mother suddenly declared “Tristan darling, you know you’re getting to be of a marriageable age and I worry about your happiness.”
I coughed on the leek and potato soup, trying not to swallow the wrong way and ended up choking, but damn, what was this, some kind of period drama? “This isn’t ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Mum. I am not in want of a wife.” I mumbled under my breath: “…unless we’re moving to the States or something.”
She laughed and wiped her mouth on her napkin. “To the States, dear? What do you know about the States? And darling, you’re my only child, you’re almost thirty. Time is wasting away and I want to be a grandmother some day.”
“Mum, I’m twenty-six. I have plenty of time.”
“And your father and I had been married for three years by the time he was twenty-six. Isn’t that right, Martin?”
My father looked up and groaned. “Please don’t drag me into this, darling. You know he’s going to argue with whatever you say about this. He should have stayed with the Belington girl; she comes from a good family, has good bloodlines. In fact, she’s practically royalty. However, our son only thinks of himself. Selfish child that he is.”
I had to take several fortifying gulps of wine before I could even try to deal with the conversation. “I am still right here, you know,” I said dryly. “And she left me. I was not the selfish one in that relationship.”
My mother coughed, covering her mouth with one hand. “Don’t look so offended, dear. We just think you’d be happier if you had someone to settle down with. You’re on the board of Directors with us at the company, your position is safe, and you have a comfortable place to live. Don’t you want someone to share it with? Someone you love? All we want is for you to be happy, you know.”
I sighed. “I’m okay, Mum, I promise. I like my life. If there’s someone who comes along and makes me want to settle down, then I will, but I’m not going to go out looking for someone. That’s just asking for trouble.”
My parents traded looks; I knew they wanted me to be with Vanessa. She was the last person I’d been serious about, and they knew her family. Her dad was one of the few investors in Armstrong, so when we broke up, my father was outraged and hasn’t let up since. I knew they’d talked to her about marrying into the family, but fidelity is more important than social status or money. Try explaining that to my father.
Luckily enough, the chef brought out the main course, a braised roast with potatoes and asparagus. It was one of my father’s favorite meals, so at least his attention was on dinner for a while, even if I could feel my mother’s eyes on me for the rest of the meal.
I usually stayed for a while after dinner, but not this time. I cut short our after-dinner drinks, claiming I wanted to get home and get some sleep before work; but really, I was already counting down the minutes until I could get home and talk to Ginny. I’d downloaded an app that would tell me what time it was in LA, and I knew she was working from home that day, even if it was Sunday. With any luck, she’d have some time for me because I wanted to get this shit off my chest and lately she was the only one I trusted to talk to anymore. Even Mike had become difficult discussing these things. My dad did sign his paycheck, after all, so that was to be expected.
Ginny had an uncanny way of calming me down that no one had been able to do before. I don’t know what it was about her, but just talking to her made my day worth it. And I should have seen the warning signs, because I’d been getting the urge to talk to her more and more lately.
Luckily, for me, she was online when I got home, so I settled on the couch with a glass of whiskey and my laptop.
Tristan: Hey there. You busy?
Ginny :P: Not really. I’m supposed to be looking up dates for a case, but the attorney hasn’t emailed me all the info yet, so I’ve got time.
Ginny :P: What’s up?
Tristan: Just came back from dinner with my parents.
Ginny :P: How was that?
Tristan: …
Ginny :P: That good, huh?
Tristan: Pretty much. My mum started in on the whole “why aren’t you married yet” thing.
Ginny :P: Ouch. My parents are happy for me to focus on my career right now, so I’ve been dodging that bullet so far. Was it terrible? Did they have a line-up of mail order brides for you to choose from?
Tristan: You’re funny.
But I was already laughing. It was strange how just talking to her for five minutes made me feel better than I had since my mother had first opened her mouth and let the word “marriage” slip out.
Tristan: Not as bad as all that. Just pulled the “you’re almost 30” card.
Ginny :P: Ah, yes. There is a law, you know. That you have to be married or engaged before you turn 30 or the Feds will come get you. Or whatever you have in England. The English equivalent of the Feds.
Tristan: Apparently my mother thinks so. God. I don’t even want to think about getting married right now. Imagine word getting out that Tristan Armstrong is looking for a wife. It would be a feeding frenzy.
Ginny :P: True. Probably would end up with a lot of drama. Did you tell your parents you’re not interested in getting married?
Tristan: Yeah. Tried to. They think I’m unhappy. My mum does, anyway.
Ginny :P: Getting married doesn’t always fix unhappiness. Sometimes it just makes things worse.
Tristan: True. But they aren’t totally wrong. I have wanted companionship lately, I guess.
There was a pause before the little pencil started moving, and I wondered if I’d said too much. The two of us had been getting closer in the nearly three months that we’d been talking to each other, and honestly, if Ginny were living in England or even anywhere close, I would have made a move long before now.
When I saw her pictures on Facebook, I always spent so much time looking at her smile and the way it lit up her grey eyes. My own eyes usually ended up following the curves of her body and wishing I could be there with her to make her smile. I also wanted to tell her ex-boyfriend to fuck off. Ginny mentioned she had been seeing him around more after the encounter at the club the week before, and all I wanted was to be there so I could protect her. I felt completely stupid as well, because neither one of us was in a position to be anything more than virtual pen pals, nor was there anything I could do about it.
I also didn’t know if Ginny felt the same, and it would be embarrassing if I said something about it only to find out she really did only think of me as someone to talk to when she had time. And fuck, insecurity was not something I was used to, and I didn’t like it at all.
Maybe that was another reason I liked her so much. Because she put me off balance and made me feel different than anyone else ever had.
Ginny :P: I know that feeling. I told myself I needed some time alone after my boyfriend cheated on me, but I’m never really happy being alone, I guess.
Tristan: Nothing wrong with that. You’ve more than proven you can take care of yourself, so wanting companionship makes sense. It’s human nature.
Gin
ny :P: Yeah. It’s just really hard to find someone around here. Everyone my age is interested in drunken hookups and booty calls.
I laughed out loud at that.
Tristan: Those hooligans! LOL. You know, I’m a lot older than you.
Ginny :P: Ya, old man, by a whole three years.
Tristan: Still older.
Ginny :P: What are you saying?
What was I saying? I didn’t know what had possessed me to say that, other than the fact that I wanted her. I couldn’t deny it anymore. It’d been almost three months of talking to her and getting to know her, and the more I did, the more I wanted her.
The little part of my brain in charge of doing logical, reasonable thinking was trying to remind me of all the reasons why this was a bad idea, but I didn’t care anymore.
Tristan: I think about you a lot. When we’re not talking. You’re so beautiful, did you know?
Ginny :P: You told me that when we first met.
Tristan: You remember that?
Ginny :P: It wasn’t that long ago. And it’s not often random guys tell me I’m pretty and then don’t try to get into my panties immediately. So yes, I remembered.
Tristan: Well, I meant it. Not to say that I wouldn’t have tried to get into your panties if I had been sticking around for a while. But it wouldn’t have been in a sketchy kind of way. I’m not an arsehole and I really like you.
Ginny :P: I like you, too. Probably too much considering the distance.
Tristan: Yeah, it kind of sucks. Wish my dad and I were going out there again. I mean, we will, I just wish it were sooner.
Ginny :P: Yeah, that would be nice.
Tristan: There are ways around it, you know.
Ginny :P: Around what? You coming out here again?
Tristan: No, the loneliness stuff. If you really wanted to try?
Ginny :P: Try what exactly?
Tristan: Anything you want, beautiful lady. :)
There. I was leaving it up to her for the most part. I could be fairly dominant when I wanted to, and God, now I was thinking about her spread out for me, her arms cuffed overhead and her body on display… She’d be beautiful.
But I shook the thought from my head. One thing at a time; first I had to see if she was going to respond.
More than five minutes went by with no reply,
Tristan: Are you there? Sorry if I came on too strong.
Ginny :P: No, you’re fine, what were you thinking?
Ginny :P: Flirting with someone online, I mean.
Ginny :P: Or anything else for that matter.
Tristan: Don’t worry about it. We don’t have to. I just think about it sometimes. I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. :)
Ginny :P: No, I know, no pressure. I just wanted to let you know in case you were expecting me to be really good at this or something.
Ginny :P: But I don’t mind trying it out with you. :)
Well, this was certainly not how I’d expected it to go, but I knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth when it came to this kind of thing. I was half-tempted to ask her to get on camera so I could see her face, but it seemed like a much better idea to start slowly, to work up to more. I didn’t want her to be uncomfortable.
Tristan: Okay. Good.
Ginny :P: How does it start?
Tristan: Well, I could start by telling you how much I want to kiss you. How soft your lips looked when I saw you last. Would you let me kiss you, Gin?
Ginny :P: Yes. How would you do it?
Tristan: Soft at first. Mostly like a tease. Getting you prepared for when I coaxed your mouth open with my tongue and laid claim. Would you like that?
Ginny :P: I really would.
Tristan: Would you kiss me back?
Ginny :P: Definitely.
Tristan: And let me play with your hair while I suck my name from your lips?
Ginny :P: God, Tristan that’s so romantic.
Tristan: I’m glad you like it.
Ginny :P: I do like it. You’re very sexy
Tristan: You are the sexy one. Your smile is contagious.
Ginny :P: Thx, that was really nice of you.
Tristan: My pleasure.
Ginny :P: What’s with the my pleasure? What is your pleasure? That phrase makes my knees weak.
Tristan: I would love to make your knees weak. Mine are.
Ginny :P: What? Weak? I make you weak? You’re funny, you barely know me. I could be psycho or something.
Tristan: You’re not and let’s get back to those knees.
Ginny :P: They’re shaking right now. You make me nervous.
Tristan: Shaking or trembling? I could slide my face between them and calm them down. Or make you really tremble.
Ginny :P: Wow, that’s bold.
Tristan: Yes, I’m bold remember? Now lie back and enjoy.
Tristan: My hand on your pussy, on your sexy mound and my thumb dancing across your clit.
Ginny :P: Sounds amazing, but shouldn’t you get to know me first?
Tristan: I do know you, you’re Ginny Peterson.
Ginny :P: So you just know my name and you wanna fuck? Isn’t that kind of fast? Shouldn’t you at least ask me to dinner or something?
Tristan: We had lunch at the beach many moons ago. :) Sorry if I offended you.
Damn! I hope I didn’t scare her off.
Ginny :P: Not offended, just surprised. I’ve never talked to anyone online like that.
Tristan: Sorry, really I am. Forgive me? I honestly don’t want to make you feel bad or anything.
Ginny :P: All is forgiven. What are you doing anyway?
Tristan: Nothing more than talking to you. Cleaned up my apartment a bit. Just relaxing.
Ginny :P: What time is it there?
Tristan: Almost eight. It’s pissing with rain again.
Ginny :P: It rains a lot there? Hardly any rain here. We’re in a drought.
Tristan: So…how’s work?
Ginny :P: You’re probably pretty bored talking about the weather and work, huh? I know you had something else in mind. Sorry. :(
Tristan: Not bored, not a problem at all. I like talking to you.
Ginny :P: About the weather? LOL. I’m sure you wanted a little sexy talk.
Tristan: Sexy talk can wait if you want. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable talking to me.
Ginny :P: Does it bother you that I’m not a sexting type girl?
Tristan: No, not at all. I like you just as you are.
Ginny :P: Do you sext a lot? Like with other women?
Tristan: I have but not recently. And yes, women, no blokes. Or at least I don’t think they’re blokes! LOL
Ginny :P: Bloke, that’s a cool word. How do you know they aren’t catfishin’ you? LOL
Tristan: Catfishin? What’s that?
Ginny :P: It’s when you meet someone online and they aren’t who they say they are. Might be a guy pretending to be a girl.
Ginny :P: Or an ugly guy pretending to be a hottie. They have a show here about it. It’s pretty cool.
Tristan: You aren’t catfishin’ me are you? LOL
Ginny :P: No, you’ve already seen who I am! And I’ve never sexted. And don’t know if I can. I don’t know how well-tuned my sex writing skills are.
Tristan: I bet your sex writing skills are amazing. Shall I?
Ginny :P: I don’t know. I’m kind of nervous. What if it messes things up for us?
Tristan: What if it doesn’t? What if it makes us better? We could try. Tell me, what do you like?
Ginny :P: God, I don’t know, I’ve never told a stranger. Kinda intimate, isn’t it?
Tristan: Very intimate and I’m not a stranger anymore. Mmmm...you feel warm and wet.
Tristan: Your clitty wants to be rubbed as I dip my fingers inside.
Tristan: I’m stroking you, running my fingers across your wet lips
Tristan: While I circle your clit with my thumb.
Ginny :P: Wow! You are good at this. Fuck.
Tristan: Shall I continue?
Ginny :P: Yes. Please.
Tristan: I curl my arms around your thighs, my fingers find your fleshy lips and open them up.
Ginny :P: Okayyy…hold my thighs tight.
Tristan: I can smell your excitement, I suck your clit between my lips.
Ginny :P: Fuck, that’s nice. Mmmmm, feels so good.
Tristan: Mmmm, you taste good. My tongue is running all the way from your bum to your clit…Sucking at both…Licking, sucking, dipping my tongue inside you, flicking your clit as I reach the top.
Ginny :P: Hold on, let me try this. My pussy is wet. Your tongue is amazing.
Tristan: I run the flat of my tongue all the way up and down your beautiful crevice, sucking at every part of you.
Ginny :P: God, you’re good. Suck it. Fuck, I'm so wet.
Tristan: Deliciously wet. Your hips are rocking and I press my face harder against you.
Ginny :P: I'm actually panting. Like IRL.
Tristan: Squeeze your titties together, rub your nipples.
Ginny :P: Ok. Pulling them. Squeezing them.
Tristan: I continue to grip your hips and force my tongue up against your wet pussy.
Ginny :P: It feels so incredible.
Tristan: All of my fingers spreading your lips open. My fingertips dancing and strumming on the inside of your lips.
Ginny :P: Suck my clit again. That was hot.
Tristan: Oh fuck, you're so wet now as I run my tongue up once more and grab your clit between my lips. I'm sucking your clit hard while my tongue is flicking it inside my mouth. It's so swollen. I release one hand from your hip and slide it around your arse. Teasing your bum with my finger.
Tristan: It's so wet there, your cream dribbling down from your pussy.
Ginny :P: Holy shit fuck
Tristan: I push my fingertip inside.
Ginny :P: Fuck shit
Tristan: Oohh so tight. You like your ass fucked?
Ginny :P: TMI random sexy guy. Let me catch my breath. Uhm…you’re really good at this. Been sexting long?
Tristan: Not long enough. I’d love to make you cum.
Ginny :P: You’re about to. I can almost feel you touching me. It’s unreal.
Tristan: Excellent, nothing like a lovely wet pussy, I just want to bury my face in it. What’s your fantasy? I want to make it come true.
Oceans Apart: Book 1 Page 6