Just Friends 
============

Bradley Stoke
=============


Chapter One
===========

 "I'm sorry. I just don't believe you. And if I can't believe 
you, why should I trust you? How can I commit to you in 
a relationship?"

Sophie had to admit that Malcolm had a point, but one far 
too dangerous to concede. She sipped from her glass of 
Argentinean white and placed it on the bench in front of 
her just inside the shadow cast by the sunshade. She 
pursed her lips and glanced around at the other couples 
enjoying the late evening sun on the patio of the Black 
Swan. Were their conversations as tense as those between 
Malcolm and she?

"It was only the once, Malcolm," Sophie pleaded. "I 
needed the money. It was very tempting."

"You see, I don't think it was just the once," Malcolm 
continued.

"Why do you say that? Surely once would be enough? I 
told you about Cum Babes International. Why should 
there be any more?"

"I just don't believe you. It just doesn't hang together. All 
those years between when you dropped out of college and 
when you did your Accountancy course at Kingston, it 
sounds like there was more than just odd-jobs and dingy 
bedsits."

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked, knowing full well 
from previous conversations exactly what he meant.

"There's the lifestyle you managed to afford. The drugs 
and clothes and nights out. There's the fact that I don't 
believe you'd necessarily have done just the one video. 
And then," and here Malcolm lowered his voice, so that 
no eavesdropper could hear him, "there's what you're like 
in bed."

"In bed? I thought you loved me there best of all. You 
said I was the best."

Malcolm sipped his glass of wine. He was clearly 
flustered. "You are so much better than any of my other 
girlfriends, and admittedly there were not that many 
before you, that you're in a league of your own. Some of 
the things you do!" Malcolm lowered his voice still 
further "Your skill at, you know, fellatio and anal and 
fisting and all that. The orgasms you get. And how loud 
you shriek when you come! It's just not natural."

"It's because I like sex that I was tempted into making 
that video," Sophie protested.

"I don't believe that your boyfriends at the time, or the 
ones you've told me about, were likely to give you the 
aptitude you've got."

"I'm a natural. I don't need training."

"I'm not stupid, Sophie," Malcolm said with a frown. 
"I've seen a few pornos. I'm not totally ignorant. I can see 
what you could have got up to. And when we're together 
in bed, it's not like I'm with someone who once, from 
innocence and greed, was tempted to give the odd 
blowjob in front of the camera. It's like I'm with someone 
who's done it all and knows all that she ever needs to 
know."

Sophie gripped Malcolm's hand tightly in her own. "It 
was only the once. You have to believe me."

Malcolm frowned again. He was breathing quite heavily. 
The tension from this conversation was upsetting him. 
"We're not living together. Yet. We're not committed to 
getting married. Yet. But if we do make the next step?"

"I do so want us to, Malcolm," said Sophie with urgency 
in her voice and eyes.

"?if we do, we need more trust. We need to be honest 
with one another. And I'm not sure we have that."

"Oh, Malcolm. It just takes time!"

"We've been seeing each other for nearly six months now. 
I've never ever had such an intense relationship with 
anyone as I've had with you. Yet I feel I scarcely know 
you at all. You only begrudgingly tell me anything about 
your life before I met you. If I hadn't seen the cover of the 
video in that second-hand store, would you ever have told 
me about Cum Babes International Number 12? How am 
I to know you weren't in all previous eleven titles?"

Malcolm was shaking. His wine was mostly untouched 
and his gaze was wholly unfocused.

"Why does it upset you so much?" Sophie asked, 
squeezing his hand.

Malcolm shook his head. "It just does. It's the trust thing. 
I so want it to work for us. You're the best thing in my 
life. You mean more than the accountancy firm, the house 
in Richmond and everything else. I don't want to lose 
you, but I sometimes think there's no choice."

"Don't upset yourself so much. Finish your drink. We can 
go for a meal at that Italian restaurant. Or the Thai one. 
Come on, love!"

"It's no good!" said Malcolm standing up. He slipped his 
jacket back on. "I'm too upset. It's not working this 
evening. It's best I leave you. I'll phone you tomorrow."

 "You sure?" asked Sophie anxiously, gazing up at 
Malcolm as he straightened his tie and slung the bag 
holding his laptop over his shoulder.

"I will. Don't worry. It's just, I don't know, anxiety and 
everything. I'll ring tomorrow morning."

Almost distractedly, Malcolm pecked Sophie on the 
cheek, avoiding the attractions of her slightly opened 
mouth, her tongue twitching between the deep red lips 
and her perfect white teeth. He then strode off, not even 
turning his head back, out of the patio towards the pub 
car park where his BMW company car was parked. 

Sophie watched him go with a sigh. She decided against 
running after him. He needed to calm down and her 
previous attempts at comforting him in these situations 
had not always been successful. Anyway, she rather 
relished the opportunity of sitting alone with her own 
thoughts and reflections.

Malcolm would phone back tomorrow. There was no 
doubt about it. Sophie understood Malcolm too well after 
all these months to have any doubts.

Sophie picked up her glass of wine, regretting at that 
moment she'd given up smoking and therefore had no 
cigarette to light up to calm her nerves. She sipped her 
wine while scanning the other drinkers in the pub patio. 
She was glad that her eyes were hidden under the 
sunshade. Most of the people here were like Malcolm and 
her: couples or groups of men and women, mostly in their 
late twenties or early thirties, still in their work clothes 
after having finished a day in the office. Ties were pulled 
down, sleeves rolled up and jackets laid to one side in 
concession to the English summer. Just ahead was a bend 
of the River Thames, too narrow in this part of London to 
carry more than a few barges and tourist boats. A few 
swans paddled by under the shelter of the decorative 
shrubs planted at the river's edge.

Then, ambling into the patio, and not seen for so many 
years, was Justin, still with Ashley, around whose bare 
waist he wrapped a protective arm. The couple was 
recognisably the same, despite the intervening years. 
Justin was rather less the rake-like figure she once knew. 
Clearly, he was eating better than he used to. Perhaps this 
was Ashley's influence. She had also filled out a bit. 
Rounder shoulders, a fuller waist, but still nothing to be 
ashamed of, and a dimple on each elbow.

The first time Sophie met Justin, all those years ago, his 
cheeks were much more accentuated and his eyes 
betrayed a kind of naked vulnerability. It was in a coffee 
shop, one of the countless coffee shops in Wimbledon 
where she lived at the time, one where the coffees had 
Italian names and the service was painfully slow. She had 
just been in the loo as a result of a false alarm. She 
washed her hands but, despite all the fruitless straining 
and struggling, she still felt the nagging need for a shit. 

She looked at her eyes in the loo mirror. The pupils were 
still quite tiny and her face had a fatigued expression, as 
well it ought since she'd not slept for such a long time. 
The drugs were taking ages to wear off. Even though she 
was no longer feeling high as such, they hadn't yet 
subsided enough for her to need sleep. 

It wasn't as if she hadn't been in bed though. It hadn't 
taken long for the informal post-shoot party at Lance's 
flat to disintegrate into an unplanned orgy. After all, 
Heinrich, Natasha, Juanita and the others were all fully 
acquainted with each other on the set. After a few drinks, 
lines, snorts, spliffs and, in Natasha's case, a surgically-
clean hypo, it seemed the natural way to end the day. So. 
Plenty of bed but not a lot of sleep. And didn't she know 
it! And her arse knew it most of all.

Sophie knew that when she did finally recover, she'd 
sleep for well over her apportioned eight hours. Anyway, 
there wasn't another shoot for several days and that would 
be a cinch compared to the rim and ring epic in which 
she'd been performing the last few days. It would be 
nothing but facials. It might leave a nasty taste in the 
mouth and the possibility of a stomach ache, but at least 
her anus would have time to recover.

When she emerged from the loo, she saw that someone 
else was sitting at the table where her mocha was waiting. 
She tottered over unsteadily on the impossibly high heels 
she still wore and lowered herself into her seat. The heels 
added several significant inches to her height, but didn't 
disguise the fact that Sophie, like most women in her line 
of work, was actually rather short. In her case, only just 
over five foot tall. Shortness had the advantage of 
enhancing her apparent breast-size. It also made the 
attributes of any male co-star seem that much more 
splendid than they already were.

Sophie composed herself opposite the man at her table. 
He was, of course, the same Justin now looking for a 
place to sit in the Black Swan. She reflected that she was 
rather overdressed for a coffee shop on a Thursday 
morning. She'd dressed for the shoot in a leather jacket, a 
tight micro-skirt, and a revealing blouse that was 
designed to accentuate her already prominent bosom. Her 
long blonde-streaked hair was tied back in an untidy mess 
of clips and bows. Huge hoop-like earrings brushed her 
shoulders whenever she turned her head.

"Who're you?" she asked Justin in a voice as unsteady as 
her posture. "What d'you do?"

Justin nervously introduced himself and explained that he 
worked in a technical capacity at a City-based financial 
company. He worked shifts, including weekends, which 
was why he happened to be off work on a Thursday.

"I'm new to London," he said apologetically, with a 
diffident smile that stretched the tight skin of his thin 
face. "I don't know that many people."

Sophie nodded her head. She'd not really listened to 
Justin with that much attention while scooping yet more 
sugar into her already very sweet mocha. 

"I bet you can't guess what I do?" she slurred.

"Er? prostitute?" Justin asked, with an apologetic smile.

"Prostitute?" echoed Sophie with alarm. 

Fuck! Is that what she looked like? Of course, she'd never 
stoop as low as that, although she'd been tempted before 
she was sure how much she could make in the porno 
business. In those early days, she'd not quite judged how 
low she needed to go to subsidise her studies at the 
University. That was when she was still a student, of 
course. 

"No fucking way am I a pro!" Sophie said when she'd 
recovered her composure. "I don't know how pissed off I 
should be at you for making that suggestion."

"I'm sorry," said Justin, his face reddening from 
embarrassment but a warm smile still on his face. "Not 
that I'd think any the less of you if you were."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just a job, isn't it? Prostitution. It's nothing to 
be ashamed of, is it?"

"Yeah, well," said Sophie, sipping her mocha. "I'm in 
films, I am. I'm a fucking film star."

Justin was impressed. "Wow! What films have you been 
in?"

"You probably haven't heard of them," said Sophie.

"I don't know. Films are one of my biggest interests. I go 
to the cinema two, three times a week. There's not much I 
don't know about the movies."

"Oh yeah," sneered Sophie, with a wicked grin. "I bet you 
don't go to the cinema to watch Fellowship of the 
Rimming, Cunts & Quims Volume Three or The Sex 
Fiends."

"Er? No. Are they the sort of films you appear in?"

"Straight to video. No general release. Never likely to 
make either the National Film Theatre or the Odeon. You 
know the kind of stuff?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah. I do."

"You seen much of it?"

"Not that much. Some. Not a lot. And never in a cinema."

"So, what d'you think, Film Buff Barry? Are they the 
kind of movie you'd rate? What d'you think Jonathan 
Ross would make of them, eh?"

"Not very high production standards," Justin mused. "At 
least, not the ones I've seen. Not very complex plots. 
Acting's not up to much. But that's all shit, isn't it? That's 
not what the films are about. You can't talk about porno 
in the same way as other films, can you? It'd be as stupid 
as having a go at Teletubbies for being repetitive. Or 
complaining about the special effects in South Park."

Despite herself, Sophie was actually rather enjoying her 
chat with Justin. He was trying so hard to be non-
judgmental about what she did for a living. It was quite 
sweet, really. And he was a change from the people she 
usually hung around with, who were sometimes not really 
that bright. It was also good to talk about sex films with 
someone who wasn't in the industry. However, her 
interest increased when the conversation strayed away 
from films to the challenges of living in London and 
finding an affordable place to stay.

"Well, money ain't a problem for me," sniffed Sophie, 
pulling a cigarette out of its packet. Although this wasn't 
the first cigarette she'd had since meeting Justin, she only 
now remembered her manners. "Here, you want one?"

Justin hesitated, but then nodded and took the proffered 
cigarette.

"You smoke?" Sophie asked as she lit the cigarettes.

"Not really," Justin replied. "Well, not tobacco."

"Dope?"

"Well, yeah. A bit. Not a lot. Sometimes."

"Got any on you now?"

Justin looked around the place with slightly frightened 
eyes. He looked down at his now empty cup of Grande 
Americano and nodded his head. "Some hash. Only a 
couple of grams."

"Well, that's enough, isn't it?" Sophie said with a smile. 
"Hey, let's go to the park and roll up. A spliff would set 
me up well."

"Would it?" wondered Justin.

And indeed it did. 

After an hour chatting on a park bench where the 
conversation became mysteriously more amusing as the 
influence of the morning spliff took affect, Sophie's 
whole day became preoccupied in entertaining her 
innocent companion. Sophie was actually rather enjoying 
the fact that Justin was someone who didn't work in the 
industry and with whom she could talk about other things 
than drugs, porno and money. She imagined that if she 
had a brother then this would be what it'd be like to spend 
a day with him in South West London.

Sophie and Justin wandered around central Wimbledon 
sampling the record shops, the department stores, the 
clothes and coffee shops, pleased to discover so many 
areas of mutual interest. They both liked Radiohead and 
the Chemical Brothers. They both thought The Godfather 
was the greatest film ever made and that Return of the 
King was utter wank. They both enjoyed The Sopranos 
and Alan Partridge, but couldn't get a grip on Friends or 
Frasier. And neither of them had been to Ibiza, although 
they'd both wanted to.

It seemed natural for the day to stretch into the evening, 
and, after a meal at Pizza Express and a few pints in the 
pub, to wander into a nightclub that Sophie was able to 
get in for free. Sophie was rather reluctant to admit to 
Justin that this privilege was a result of sexual favours 
that, together with Lara and Carol, she'd once granted the 
nightclub manager. She wasn't sure where the reluctance 
came from. She was open about what she did for a living, 
and enjoyed entertaining Justin with accounts of the 
embarrassing and amusing incidents of a porn star's life. 
What was the difference between discussing the mess 
resulting from loose bowels and anal sex, and admitting 
that she sometimes used sex to gain entry into generally 
exclusive areas? Perhaps it was because she'd have to 
admit that her rise through the porn industry involved 
sexual promiscuity that did not have the excuse of 
providing masturbatory entertainment.

"This is fucking great!" yelled Justin, through the noise 
and flashing lights of the nightclub, at Sophie who was 
dancing opposite him. "This place is awesome!"

Sophie smiled, as she swivelled on her bare feet. She'd 
left her shoes along with her handbag and coat in the 
cloakroom. This wasn't the first time that Justin admitted 
that his experience of nightclubs hadn't really been 
anywhere near the top of the market. And the lines of 
speed they shared were helping them enjoy the music and 
atmosphere that much more. Sophie wished she had some 
E, but she wasn't in the mood for hunting out dealers.

Soon, Sophie and Justin were standing outside the 
nightclub. It was a little chilly, but at least it wasn't 
raining. Justin had a broad smile on his face.

"Wow! That was a fucking great day!" he enthused. "I 
didn't expect anything like this when I went into Costa 
Fiorenze this morning. Thanks. I've really enjoyed it."

"It doesn't have to end now, you know," said Sophie with 
a smile.

"Well, I've got your number. I can phone you. We can 
meet up again some day."

"Don't be fucking soft! I mean we can go back to my 
place. I don't live far from here. Just a couple of streets 
away."

"For coffee?"

"If you like," said Sophie, with a grin. "But you don't 
have to talk fucking euphemisms with me. I'm a fucking 
porno film star. I sucked ten men off at once in Cum 
Babes International Volume Three. Your cock'll be so 
fucking sore you'll have to bandage it for a month."

Justin blushed. At first Sophie thought it was just a trick 
of the street lamps. Did people really blush like that? It 
actually did change the colour of his skin.

"I don't think I can. Or more to the point, I don't think I 
want to."

Sophie was annoyed. "What the fuck you on about? It's a 
perfectly reasonable thing to do. Are you a virgin? Or are 
you some kind of homo?"

"No, I'm not gay. And I'm not a virgin, either. Though 
compared to you, I almost feel I am. No, it's not that. It's 
that I do want to see you again, but I don't think it'd work 
if I... if I... if I made love to you. I think I'd prefer it if we 
were just friends."

"Just friends?"

"Yes. Just friends."

"Have it your own way, then," said Sophie, who was 
more annoyed at this sexual rejection than she'd imagined 
possible. After all, it wasn't as if Justin was such a great 
catch. What could be seen of him wasn't exactly 
competition for the male porn stars Sophie was 
accustomed to. Gangly, awkward, skinny. Nothing that 
would get him past the first audition. 

She spun round on her heels and strode off towards her 
apartment without turning back her head. The impotent 
arsehole didn't know what he was missing. Anyway, the 
sleep that Sophie had been denying herself so long was 
catching up with her and its prospect was very appealing.

Nevertheless, Sophie was actually rather pleased when 
the phone rang a couple of days later and she heard 
Justin's voice. She hadn't quite forgotten him and an 
evening with Sylvia and her husband, Geoff, had more 
than made up for the missed opportunity of sex. She had 
rather enjoyed her day with Justin. Perhaps this was what 
was lacking in her life: knowing someone who she didn't 
fuck or with whom she'd never fucked. Perhaps there was 
something in the idea of being just friends with someone.

Sophie was reflecting on the oddness of the situation 
when she met Justin at a pub near the cinema where they 
were going to see the Cohen Brothers film he'd enthused 
about. When was the last time she'd ever met anyone a 
second time without having had sex with them? It didn't 
matter whether the person was a man or a woman, all her 
relationships were predicated on sex. And it didn't matter 
whether that sex was in the bedroom or under the harsh 
glare of studio lights. It was always sex. 

In fact, Sophie was quite pleased at the end of the 
evening when she agreed to meet Justin another day and 
no mention at all was made of the two of them spending 
the night together. How weird! Perhaps that was what 
friendships were meant to be like. There weren't many 
men she'd spent an evening with and not had sex with. 
And most of those were in the days before she had a film 
career. These days even her female friends were also her 
lovers. 

A few weeks later, Sophie felt much more comfortable 
with her relationship with Justin. They would chat about 
everything. They reminisced on childhood. They shared 
jokes and observations. Sophie even let Justin tease her, 
which was something she was normally very guarded 
about, although he teased her more on her size than on 
her source of income. Sometimes, however, Sophie 
couldn't help wondering whether Justin was gay and that 
was why it was possible for them to maintain a non-
sexual friendship.

Except, of course, that he wasn't gay. 

This Sophie was partly convinced of after talking to male 
porn stars who also worked in gay movies. Not all of 
them did so merely because the money was better. Some 
men had a definite preference for male company.

But the real clincher was Ashley.

And here was Ashley, still with Justin all those years 
later. It was Ashley, in fact, who spotted Sophie sitting 
alone on the patio under the sun, rather hoping that she'd 
not be noticed.

"My God! It isn't! It is! Look, Justin! It's Sophie!"

"Goodness me!" said Justin, adjusting his eyes to the 
gloom of the shade. "Sophie! How are you? It's been 
ages!"

"I'm fine. D'you want to join me, you two?"

"Well, sure, Sophie," said Justin with a smile. "But aren't 
you with someone?"

"I was. But not now. Come on! I could do with the 
company."

The three of them sat together and exchanged life 
histories. Ashley and Justin had both gained promotion 
and more responsibility in their own careers and were 
very impressed by the huge turn-about in Sophie's career.

"Don't you miss the money and excitement?" Justin 
asked.

"Not really. It's not something I'd have been able to keep 
up forever. I'm over thirty now, after all."

"Bloody hell!" said Justin, still grinning with evident 
pleasure at meeting his old friend again. "So, you are! 
Over thirty! Grim, isn't it? Growing old and everything!" 
He stood up. "Look, your glass is empty. What do you 
want to drink?"

Sophie was then left alone with Ashley while Justin made 
his way to the bar. She was relieved that Ashley seemed 
genuinely excited to meet her, which was in such acute 
contrast to the first time they met all those years ago. 
Surprisingly, it was Ashley who was the most 
enthusiastic of the couple, eager to fill Sophie in on the 
lives of people whom Sophie had never really known that 
well and on the benefits of the life of domestic bliss she 
and Justin were enjoying. She was especially happy that 
Sophie was herself looking forward to settling down with 
Malcolm.

It was so different in the Star and Garter when they first 
met. Indeed, when she arrived, late as usual, she didn't 
expect to see Justin sitting with anyone. Normally when 
Sophie met Justin he would be patiently working his way 
through a newspaper crossword or playing solitaire on his 
PDA. He'd got resigned to Sophie's unreliability, which 
was just as well as there were times when Sophie didn't 
make the appointment at all.

Today, however, Justin was sitting next to someone else 
and a woman at that. Compared to the buxom, peroxided, 
heavily made-up women of Sophie's normal 
acquaintance, this woman was decidedly plain. Her hair 
was short, her clothes were rather ordinary and 
functional, and she even wore glasses. She wasn't 
unattractive, though. It was just that nothing proclaimed 
her beauty in an obvious way.

"This is Ashley," said Justin, who was squeezing the girl's 
hand. "We've been seeing each other for about a week 
now. And when I said I was going to the pub, she asked if 
she could come along. You don't mind, do you, Sophie?"

"Of course not," said Sophie with a barely contained 
snarl. "Why should I?"

She sat down on the seat opposite Ashley and glowered at 
her while Justin stood up to buy the drinks with the 
twenty pound note Sophie forced into his hand. 

Ashley was nervous. She smiled shyly.

"So you're Sophie? Justin's friend. He's told me about 
you," she said. "Not a lot, but he said you work in the 
media."

Sophie pulled a cigarette out of a packet and lit it. There 
was nothing about her casual clothes that announced 
which aspect of the media she was associated with, but 
Sophie didn't intend to leave Ashley uninformed for long.

"Media? Yeah, that's right. Media."

"That must be really exciting."

"It is," agreed Sophie, blowing smoke out of her mouth 
and not caring that it got in Ashley's eyes. "Especially if 
you like fucking as much as I do."

Ashley swallowed and ruffled her brow. "Sorry? Did you 
say??"

"Fucking. That's what I do. Fucking! I'm a fucking porn 
star. The real fucking deal. Didn't Justin sweetie tell you? 
I fuck for a living and get paid for being filmed doing it. 
And you know what?"

"No?" asked Ashley in a low voice.

"I fucking love it! It's fucking great! And Justin didn't say 
a word?"

Ashley shook her head and looked distinctly 
uncomfortable. Her eyes flew all around the place, partly 
towards Sophie and partly towards Justin at the bar. This 
was not a situation she wanted to be in.

"Justin didn't say anything?" Sophie persisted. 

"He just said the media," said Ashley in a low voice.

"Yeah. I star in porn films. The type you see in basements 
in Soho. Busty Babes Eat Each Other. Anal Excursions. 
Blow Job Honeys. You ever seen any of them?"

"I can't say I have."

"It's not simulated. It's the real deal. Two cocks front and 
back. Spunk all over the face. And most of all, I like 
doing girls."

"Girls?" wondered Ashley, looking at alarm at Justin, 
who was returning with glasses of beer and wine.

It was Sophie who spoke to Justin as he sat down, clearly 
aware from Ashley's face that the conversation wasn't 
exactly going well.

"Shame on you, Just," said Sophie. "You never told your 
little sweetheart what I do for a living."

Justin bit his lower lip. "I wasn't sure that you'd want me 
to."

"Why should I be bothered? It's what I do. And fucking 
with girls is what I like doing most. Strap-ons and dildos, 
fisting and fingers, I love it. Do you like it, Ashley? Is 
that what you'd want to do?"

Ashley looked down nervously at her drink. "I've never 
thought about it."

"Y'ought to try it, sweetie," sniffed Sophie. "I can give 
you a lesson if you like."

"Lesson?"

"You know. Bit of girl-on-girl. That appeal to you? I 
won't charge you."

"Sophie!" Justin blurted. "What's going on? You're not 
usually like this! What's got into you?"

"Don't be soft, Just," Sophie continued, blowing out 
smoke through her mouth. "Bit of fun never hurt anyone. 
What d'you think, Just? You wanna join in?"

"I thought we were friends, Sophie. If I'd known you 
were gonna be like this, I'd never?"

"Never what?" Sophie asked with a sneer.

"Never, you know, never have come out to see you this 
evening with Ashley."

"What? Would you keep me your dirty little secret, lover 
boy?"

"No, it's not that. It's just? it's just?"

"Oh! Don't mind me, Justin. Don't fucking mind me. 
What about you, Ashley? What do you think, eh?"

Ashley gripped Justin's hand in hers and glared back at 
Sophie. This act of proprietary ownership troubled 
Sophie, but she pretended to ignore it.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know," she answered. She looked at Justin, who 
was distinctly uneasy but gripped her hand rather more 
tightly than before.

The conversation continued in this vein. Sophie taunted 
Justin for his reluctance in telling Ashley what she did for 
a living, fantasized what it would be like for Ashley to 
have sex with her, and made some unkind comments 
about Justin's sexuality.

"In all the time I've known him he's been like some poof. 
Is he like that with you, sweetie? Or perhaps he's got no 
prick to speak of. Have you and Justin fucked together?"

"What a question!" said Ashley angrily.

"Don't be a prude! You haven't, have you? He's fucking 
impotent, isn't he?"

"Well, actually?" began Ashley tentatively, and then she 
thought better of what she was about to say. "Look, 
Sophie. It's obvious you don't like me. What I do or what 
I've done with Justin is really not your business." 

"Well, really!" said Sophie affronted.

"Come on, Justin!" Ashley commanded, standing up with 
her glass of wine still mostly untouched. "This is not 
what I was hoping for when I agreed to come out with 
you."

"But I?" said Justin, still holding his pint of beer. 

"Leave it!" Ashley commanded. "We'll go to another pub 
if it's a beer you want."

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" asked Sophie in mock 
sympathy. "Don't you want to know what Justin's friends 
are like?"

"That's not it," said Ashley aggressively as she sidled out 
of her seat and buttoned up her jacket. "It's not what 
Justin's friends are like. It's what you're like. I wasn't 
expecting anything like this at all. Justin told me that you 
and he were just friends."



Chapter Two
===========

To begin with, Sophie's decision not to see Justin again 
gave her a warm sense of vengeful satisfaction. After all, 
if she was such an embarrassment to him and his prissy 
girlfriend, why should she waste her time? She didn't 
return Justin's calls and the one time he spoke to her on 
the phone she made a feeble excuse as to why they 
couldn't meet. 

Despite herself, however, it was with increasing fondness 
that she remembered Justin and their innocent nights out 
at the cinema and the pub. She rather missed his 
friendship. 

It wasn't as if she had no active social life without him. A 
girl like her could fill every minute of every day with 
some kind of fun. She somehow missed those innocent 
goodbye kisses where there was no expectation that her 
vagina or anus should take more punishment in addition 
to what it had already received as part of her normal 
working day. It didn't matter if she was socialising with a 
man, a woman, several men or mixed company, the 
evenings always ended the same way. A few lines, a few 
spliffs, perhaps something stronger, and, when 
sufficiently relaxed, on the bed, on the fireside rug, in the 
kitchen, penis, dildo, fist or fingers thrusting in her 
orifices. And then the familiar scent of semen, vaginal 
juice or urine, dripping down her thighs, her face or her 
breasts. In many ways so rewarding, but also curiously 
empty and predictable. Here was the love and affection 
she craved, but where was the companionship and 
friendship she also needed?

It was during a shoot for Bang Busters Volume Four that 
she exhausted the final crumb of satisfaction she'd got 
from terminating her friendship with Justin. She'd already 
spent an hour or so on the film set, in which time she'd 
fellated two men and had both of them ejaculate onto her 
face, along with a third man who'd previously been 
fucking Lara. Perhaps it was the sour taste of semen. 
Perhaps it was the slightly fetid taste of raw genitalia. 
Perhaps it was the soreness in her anus that was much 
more pronounced after being fucked face-on while sitting 
on her co-star's lap. It couldn't have helped that at the 
same time her mouth was gobbling an erect penis and her 
hand was pumping a third penis.

Then suddenly she lost all heart for it.

She wasn't sure whether the film director noticed this 
sudden collapse of enthusiasm, but it was obvious Doug 
did, as he thrust into her from below. And Michael 
hastened his ejaculation as he also detected Sophie's 
waning excitement. 

But when Sophie unexpectedly burst into tears and 
awkwardly disengaged herself from the amorous 
company with whom she shared the film set, it was clear 
to everyone that something had snapped.

Sophie staggered over to the sofa where, only moments 
ago, Julia had been fucked by Doug and Angelo. The 
camera trailed her, perhaps uncertain whether Sophie's 
tears were worth recording, but the director was more 
sensitive and bade the filming stop.

"What's wrong, Sophie?" he asked her, putting a 
comforting arm around Sophie's bare shoulders, which 
heaved with her sobs. 

"I don't know!" she wailed. "I don't know! I just sorta lost 
it!"

"You're not the only one who's lost it!" moaned Doug, as 
he stroked his shrivelling, but still glistening, penis.

"Come on, Sophie," cajoled the director. "We've got 
everyone in place. It'd be a shame not to finish the scene."

Sophie looked over at her three male co-stars who were 
tugging and pulling at their semi-erect penises in the hope 
of them retaining something of their past glory. They 
smiled at her, clearly eager to resume their amatory 
activity from where it had been interrupted. Michael, with 
whom Sophie had spent the previous night, waved at her 
with the fingers of his right hand.

"I'm not sure I can," Sophie moaned. "It's not like me! 
I've lost it! I'm just not enjoying it!"

"Well, you don't have to enjoy it to finish the scene, 
love," the director continued. "I won't be able to pay you 
full whack otherwise."

"I know. I know," Sophie moaned. "Can't you edit it a 
bit? Use more of Lara and Julia and less of me?"

"Yes, of course we can, love. But that means we'll pay 
more to Lara and Julia and less to you. Do you want 
that?"

Sophie hesitated. She'd always told herself that she only 
ever did it for the money. Each filmed action, often 
identical ones to those she'd do for free with the same co-
stars away from the camera, was worth money. It was 
foolish not to perform when just a little bit of anal or 
urine made such dramatic differences to her pay packet, 
and took such little time to film. But the very thought of 
putting Michael's penis back into her mouth, where the 
taste on her tongue was still so vivid, was enough to 
make Sophie retch. Her chest heaved involuntarily, 
shaking her well-proportioned breasts, while a dribble of 
creamy sperm regurgitated into the back of her throat. 

Sophie coughed.

"Are you feeling OK?" the director asked. "Are you 
well?"

"I had my check-up last week," said Sophie 
automatically, before recognizing that the query was 
occasioned by her current discomfort. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm 
fine. I guess I'll just have to forget the bonus, won't I?"

"'Fraid so, love," said the director sadly. "If we paid it 
you whatever happened, it wouldn't be worth anything, 
would it? 'Course we could make it up for you if you join 
Lara with the woodmen in the afternoon shoot. What do 
you think?"

Sophie considered this with a frown. She shook her head. 
"No. Can't do it. I'm just not in the mood. The idea's 
making me feel a bit sick, actually. It's really weird. 
Maybe it's something I ate."

"I didn't know my spunk was as bad as that!" joked 
Michael rather sweetly.

Sophie smiled. Michael and Doug were good sorts. It 
wasn't them that was the problem. It was something else. 
It was something to do with the aching hollowness that 
was opening up in her like a void. Something like how 
the previous night she couldn't be bothered when George 
suggested he join Michael and she to make an amorous 
threesome. Instead of agreeing like she normally would, 
she simply said that Michael was all the man she needed, 
which wasn't strictly true but certainly added extra 
passion to his lovemaking.

After leaving the film set, Sophie wandered aimlessly to 
the grounds of a nearby church, where she sat on a bench 
with a cigarette and her thoughts. What was wrong with 
her? Now she was so distant from the sight of cock and 
camera, her earlier aversion seemed ridiculous. 

She picked up her mobile phone. She needed someone to 
speak to. And the person whose saved number she chose 
was Justin.

The same Justin, of course, who was now returning from 
the bar of the Black Swan carrying three glasses of wine 
for Ashley, Sophie and himself. Justin laid out the drinks 
and sat down with a grin.

"Isn't it wonderful," said Ashley to Justin, "Sophie getting 
into accountancy and everything?"

"It's really quite unexpected," agreed Justin. "We had no 
idea what had happened to you. I thought you'd gone to 
California where they make most of those porno movies. 
You know, where you can be filmed outdoors in the nude 
all year long."

Sophie shook her head. "No chance. The weather's 
tempting. And the money, too! But I just didn't have the 
spirit. And you? What're you doing these days? Still 
systems admin?"

"Well, more admin than systems, really," Justin chuckled. 
"Promotion to management makes all jobs seem just the 
same. But I'm still working for the same firm."

The same firm, in fact, where Justin was working when 
Sophie phoned him up on her mobile phone outside the 
church.

"Sophie!" he said with surprise on recognising her voice. 
"I didn't think I'd ever hear from you again. After that 
time with Ash, I thought, well, I don't know what I 
thought, but anyway? How are you?"

"Fine. Fine," said Sophie automatically. And then 
remembering herself. "Well, actually not fine at all. 
D'you wanna meet up this evening?"

"This evening?" Justin wondered. "Well, I told Ash?"

"I'd really like to see you, Justin."

"Oh. All right! But you won't mind, will you, if I don't 
tell Ashley. She got real upset that last time. In fact, she 
often mentions you. And not in a nice way either, I'm 
afraid. And I don't think it's just 'cause you're a porn star 
and everything."

"Whatever!" said Sophie. "I just want to talk."

And what Sophie most wanted to talk about, and this 
wasn't what she'd expected before she met Justin, was 
Ashley.

Justin sat opposite Sophie in the Queen's Head and 
nursed his pint in his hands. Sophie was dressed modestly 
in sweater and jeans and looked rather less like a porn 
star than the barmaid who served them. She puffed away 
at her cigarette and drank her vodka and lime rather too 
quickly.

"Why all these questions about Ash, Sophie?" Justin 
asked. "You only met her the one time. And you didn't 
get on that well, either, if you remember. What's the 
reason for this?"

Sophie looked down at her manicured nails sadly. "I 
dunno. I don't know at all."

"If you're so keen on finding out about Ash, why don't 
you speak to her yourself?"

"Do you think she'd want me to?"

"No," said Justin thoughtfully. "I don't think she would at 
all. But it might be better than asking me all these 
questions."

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right there."

And so it was the following evening that Sophie pressed 
the buzzer for Ashley's flat in the huge Victorian house in 
Fulham. It was obvious even through the crackle of the 
intercom speaker that Ashley neither expected nor 
welcomed the sound of Sophie's voice.

"What do you want?" Ashley asked, not unreasonably, 
when she'd established for sure who it was that was 
visiting her.

Sophie wasn't sure what to say. She just somehow wanted 
to make it up with Ashley so that she and Justin could 
return to the same status of friendship they'd known 
before, but that would sound feeble.

"Just to visit, you know. Chat and that. Can I come up?"

"Well, since you're here?" Ashley conceded with a sigh. 

Sophie heard the low whine of the door's catch as it was 
released. She pushed the heavy door open and headed for 
the staircase and Ashley's flat on the second floor. She 
knew she was on the right floor, sure enough, as Ashley 
was standing outside the door to her flat in a tee-shirt and 
shorts, with espadrilles on her bare feet.

"So, this is where you live?" asked Sophie as she 
followed Ashley through the open door. 

It was a smaller flat than hers. Only one bedroom. The 
furniture was more modest and well-worn. The television 
and stereo were functional at best and certainly not the 
best money could buy. And although the flat had the 
homely untidiness of a place where visitors were not 
anticipated, it had none of the sheer recklessness with 
which Sophie abandoned ashtrays, clothes and bed sheets 
in her more luxurious and select apartment.

"It mightn't be much, but the mortgage is crippling!" 
Ashley remarked sadly.

She wandered over to an armchair that faced the 
television and gestured to Sophie to sit on either the sofa 
or the other armchair. Sophie sprawled onto the sofa, 
pulling her sandaled feet off the ground. Like Ashley, she 
was dressed rather plainly in a tee-shirt and shorts, but 
her clothing was designer label and conspicuously 
expensive.

"Now you're here, would you like some tea or coffee?" 
Ashley asked.

"Coffee. White. Two sugars," said Sophie, as Ashley 
retreated into the kitchenette that made up one third of 
her living room.

The two women chatted amiably for a few minutes, with 
Ashley directing the conversation and Sophie colluding 
with her in keeping the topics innocent and unthreatening. 
It was just the sort of chat two work colleagues or two 
neighbours might have. However, it served its function of 
helping the two women relax in each other's company. 
Sophie could see that Ashley was slowly revising her 
opinion of her as she plied the charm that had served so 
well in furthering her career in adult entertainment. 
Sophie was more than just a woman who fucked for her 
pay cheques.

"I've seen that film with Kevin Spacey, too. I thought it 
was crap, though," said Ashley. "I suppose you saw it 
with Justin, did you?"

"Yes," Sophie admitted, aware that conversation was 
beginning to steer away from more trivial matters.

"Was that before or after I started seeing Justin?" Ashley 
asked.

"Before," said Sophie. "I've only seen Justin the once 
since I met you that time. And that was to find out where 
you live."

"And is it true what Justin said that you and he haven't 
ever??"

"Not once."

"You know, I just don't understand that. I mean, him and 
me, well, we do it? you know? we do it all the time. 
How can someone like you who, you know, who does it 
with everyone?how??"

"What don't you understand?"

"I just don't think it's possible."

"What?"

"For you and he to be just friends. It doesn't make sense."

"Why not?"

Ashley sipped at her coffee and crossed and uncrossed 
her long bare legs. 

"Before I met you," she said, "when Justin mentioned 
you, I kind of suspected you were his ex or something. I 
mean, it's not unknown for people to be just friends, but it 
doesn't usually last for long if they're both, you know, the 
opposite sex or sexually compatible or whatever. It's 
quite nice for people to be friends and everything, but you 
kind of expect that?. But, anyway, I was quite touched 
by it. Justin's a fairly straight kind of guy, in both senses. 
If anyone could have women friends who were just that, 
you know, just friends, well, he'd be the one most 
likely?"

"Yes?" Sophie asked, as she glanced at her handbag 
where she stored her cigarettes and wondered whether it 
would be too rude to light one up.

"So, I thought maybe you'd be a bit like Justin, you know. 
Perhaps you were someone not interested in sex with 
men. Maybe you were a bit, you know, sexually reserved. 
But I didn't expect you to be some kind of sex film 
actress. I knew such women existed, but I never expected 
to meet one in real life. And it just doesn't make sense. 
How can someone whose career is having sex with men 
be just friends with my Justin? It's not as if he's not 
interested in women or anything."

Ashley looked towards Sophie expectantly, as if 
expecting her to have an answer. Sophie was struggling 
between her need for the consolation of nicotine and her 
uncertainty as to why she was even here. What was she 
expecting to achieve? Did she even know why she'd 
come all this way to Fulham? 

"I guess it's because we were just friends that I've come 
all this way to see him," said Sophie. "It's not something 
I've got a lot of, you know, friends who're just friends. In 
my line of work, there's not a clear dividing line between 
sex and friendship. Or between sex for love and sex for 
money. It all gets a bit mixed up and screwy. And I guess 
what I liked about my friendship with Justin, and I don't 
think I really appreciated it as much as I should, is that is 
exactly what it was. Friendship. And the fact that he's a 
bloke and I'm a woman is sort of not the issue in my 
circles. It'd be almost the same if he'd been a woman, you 
know. After a while, you get so used to having sex with 
different people you sort of don't think about people in 
any other way."

Ashley frowned. She looked compassionately at Sophie's 
shaking hands. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing a ciggie wouldn't help," Sophie said.

"I've got an ashtray. I don't smoke myself. Well, not 
cigarettes, but sometimes, Justin and me, we share a 
spliff."

Ashley got up, opened the window even wider than it 
already was and placed an ashtray on the glass-topped 
table in front of the sofa. Sophie felt much calmer with 
the first infusion of nicotine and blew out a cloud of blue-
grey smoke while flicking the end of the cigarette in the 
ashtray.

Ashley sat on the sofa next to Sophie and leaned forward, 
resting her elbows on her knees.

"I'm not a prude, Sophie," said Ashley. "At least I hope 
I'm not. People have to make a living and some people 
make a living from the sex industry. It's a livelihood and I 
guess people choose the career they're best suited to. 
You've made your career by starring in sex films. I guess 
you must be very good at it, you know, having sex with 
different men?"

"?and women," Sophie reminded her.

"?and women," Ashley conceded. "But I still don't really 
understand this thing about just being friends with 
someone. I mean, I'm friends with Justin as well as being 
his? as well, you know? It's not like it's incompatible, 
friendship and sex, you know."

"Not incompatible so much," admitted Sophie, "but it's 
different for you. All your friends are just friends and 
nothing else except for Justin, whereas for me only one of 
my friends was just a friend?"

"And you miss that?" asked Ashley.

Sophie puffed at her cigarette again. She didn't actually 
want to say yes, (that would sound soft), but she nodded 
her head.

"And is that why you were so, you know, so rude when 
we met in the pub?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Were you kind of jealous of me for taking Justin away 
from you, was that it?"

"Well, I'm not sure I'd say 'jealous' exactly."

"Whatever," Ashley said conciliatorily.

The two women sat silently on the sofa, Sophie puffing 
away at the last inch of her cigarette and Ashley 
massaging her forehead agitatedly.

At last, Ashley lifted her head up.

"So, Sophie, is the only reason you came to see me 
because you want to make it up with Justin and be just 
friends again? That doesn't really make much sense. Why 
d'you bother seeing me, alone, like this? Is something 
else bothering you?"

Sophie stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and 
pushed it forward an inch or so. She turned her head 
round and looked Ashley in the face. What should she 
say? What was bothering her? She decided to mention the 
time she'd lost her enthusiasm for sex at work and just 
couldn't carry on, when suddenly the whole exercise 
seemed repulsive to her, and how it still remained 
repulsive. She spoke to Ashley, because she knew no one 
else, no one anywhere, who she could talk to about how 
she had somehow lost the stomach and inclination to have 
sex under the gaze of a film camera.

"Well, there is something else?" she began, thinking that 
she'd somehow be able to say all she wanted to in a few 
sentences.

But she was wrong. She was still talking an hour later, 
Ashley only interjecting occasionally, as Sophie 
described her life in the adult industry. She described the 
film shoots where she'd drunk urine. The occasions she'd 
fellated more than a dozen men who then proceeded, one 
by one, to ejaculate over her face. The dildos that had 
penetrated her anus. The strap-ons she'd used to inflict 
similar punishment on both female and male co-stars. The 
often wilder group sex she'd had with her co-stars off 
camera and the pot pourri of drugs she enjoyed in their 
company. And as she described and enumerated these 
occasions, she wasn't sure whether she was boasting, to 
say to Ashley, look what I've done, wouldn't you like to 
have the same problems as me?

Sophie looked up, her eyes streaming with a thin trickle 
of tears just as a similarly thin sliver of snot trailed out of 
her nose. Ashley had a confused expression on her face, 
as she supported Sophie with an arm around the shoulders 
and held ready a paper tissue in her free hand. Her eyes 
burned with a strange excitement, while her face also 
expressed compassion and something that was neither 
envy nor pity, but an unsettled mixture of the two.

Ashley was quite pretty really. Not porno-pretty, but 
pretty in a kind of normal, non-porno way. She had bright 
brown eyes, which sparkled quite endearingly now she'd 
taken off her glasses. She had a broad face that filled out 
like hamster-cheeks when she smiled. She had lips that 
were naturally thick, with no collagen enhancement, and 
her tongue licked across the top of her teeth seductively 
as she moistened her lips.

So, it was quite natural for Sophie to return Ashley's 
friendly supportive arm with a friendly cuddle of her 
own. Just as it was natural for Sophie to place a hand on 
Ashley's bare knee and to pull her face towards hers. And 
just as it was in the normal and expected course of things 
for Sophie's open mouth to lock against Ashley's and for 
the two of them to join tongues and lips in passionate 
kissing. And, as the rhythm of Sophie's sobs were 
replaced by a rhythm of a different kind as her passion 
built up, there was nothing unnatural at all as both she 
and Ashley divested one another of their clothes and gave 
each other much more vigorous and erotic comfort.

Sophie had made love to women many times in her life, 
and for her Ashley wasn't very special. She was clearly 
uncertain and gauche with regards to making love with 
another woman, although it also excited her much more 
than it upset her. But Ashley wasn't the first woman 
Sophie had introduced to Sapphic love. She'd even done 
so on a film set, which must surely be the least romantic 
place imaginable for this to happen. Nor was Ashley 
especially accomplished as a lover. Practice in sex, 
especially with those who were themselves well-
practiced, could never be matched by enthusiasm, 
however great. And Ashley's enthusiasm was certainly 
considerable, although more was expressed through her 
excited eyes than by anything she said.

  "I didn't believe that making love with a woman could 
be as rough and physical as this!" exclaimed Ashley at 
last, as she lay on her back with Sophie's teeth still 
nibbling her clitoris.

Sophie could only nod. 

There was much that Ashley could learn about sex with 
women, and it was obvious that she wanted to find out 
more, but Sophie decided that whoever it was who would 
be her future teacher and guide in the ways of lesbian 
love, it wasn't going to be her.

As they lay on Ashley's double bed, the moonlight 
shining through the thin cotton curtains, Sophie swore 
softly to herself. Shit! Whatever it was that she'd intended 
to achieve when she decided to meet Ashley it hadn't 
been this. Again, just as she always did, she'd let sex 
determine how she behaved. She was incorrigible and 
there was no hope for her.

She looked at Ashley's naked body nestled against her, 
the lips curled in contented sleep and a slight bruise just 
coming up on the inside of her left thigh. Ashley was a 
dear, and in the normal course of events Sophie could 
imagine seeing her again. But Sophie had no need for 
more lovers in her life. 

That wasn't what she wanted.

So it was then that she decided to change her career. At 
the time she had no idea that this meant enrolling for a 
course in accountancy. In fact, her thoughts focused no 
further than moving to a smaller cheaper flat so she could 
survive for a while before she found a new direction for 
her life. She knew she'd have to break loose from her 
friends and acquaintances otherwise she'd just be dragged 
back into making sex films, and this was what she 
decided she didn't want to do. 

And now, several years later, here she was, every link 
with her previous life severed. She'd successfully made 
the change. At first, she still saw some of her old friends 
in the porn industry for the companionship they offered, 
both sexual and otherwise. She even occasionally 
relented and let herself be filmed in a porno, but she did 
so reluctantly and only for the money that was so easily 
earned. And she did see more of Ashley and Justin. She 
even agreed to collude in Ashley's game of deceit, which 
was to never tell Justin just how affectionate the two 
women had been that evening. But the deceit wearied her, 
so when she rented the flat in Wood Green she used that 
as an excuse never to make the trek across to South West 
London. In any case, it troubled her that on the one hand 
the couple was talking about marriage, whilst on the other 
Ashley expressed in the odd thoughtful smile or overlong 
stare that she still hoped for a reprise of their evening 
together.

"It's so weird seeing you again!" exclaimed Justin, 
shaking his head as if this might throw off his incredulity.

"Yeah, it is," said Sophie. "And did you get married in 
the end? Are you married now?"

"Yes!" said Ashley, holding up her ring finger, which 
Sophie had, of course, already noticed was properly 
adorned. "We sent you an invite to your old address, but 
it must have not got to you."

"And you're getting married too?" Justin asked.

"Yes, I think so," said Sophie. "Malcolm. He works in the 
City. It'll be strange committing to someone like this. It 
sort of puts a line under everything else."

"It needn't, of course," said Justin. 

"It needn't what?"

"Things don't have to stop just because you're married," 
Ashley agreed. "You can be committed to your partner 
and still have a fuller sex life than with just one person."

Sophie blinked. What was Ashley saying exactly? "I'm 
sorry. I don't quite understand."

Justin smiled. "Of course you do, Sophie. You understand 
better than anyone. Ash and you. Ash and me. The only 
thing missing was the three of us together. I don't know 
what I was thinking about in those days, but since you 
and Ash got it together, she always talked about being a 
bit more adventurous?"

"Yes," agreed Ashley. "It took a bit of courage at first, 
but it's easy for couples to meet other like-minded 
couples on the internet. Justin didn't want to at first."

"Yeah," Justin continued, squeezing Ashley's hand. "It's 
one thing you and Ash doing it together. I sort of half-
expected it anyway, so I wasn't that surprised when she 
told me. It's another to do it regularly. You know, have a 
polyamorous lifestyle."

"Polyamorous?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah," said Justin. "You know what it means?"

"Of course," said Sophie. "But you and Ashley, I just 
never thought."

"We've been doing it for years now," Ashley said with an 
enthusiastic smile. "There are a lot of us. And there's 
always space for more!"

"I had no idea you led a lifestyle like that. It's a total 
surprise to me!" said Sophie truthfully.

"So," Justin said, leaning forward over the bench, 
clasping Ashley's hand tightly in his own, "when we saw 
you, we were so excited. Now, we have a much more 
open lifestyle, a bit like yours used to be when you made 
all those porn videos, it seems a perfect opportunity for us 
all to get to know each other again, only this time a lot 
better and more intimately."

Sophie looked across the table at Ashley and Justin, 
whose faces were expressing hope and anticipation. 
Sophie could see behind them the other people in the 
patio, people who'd been working in the office all day 
and enjoying the evening sun. There came a sudden rush 
and thunder of wings as a swan launched itself into the air 
along the flowing River Thames.

Sophie smiled. "So, you'd like me to come back with you 
so we can have sex together, only the three of us?"

"Yes!" said Ashley. "Please say yes! I've so wanted to 
make love to you again after all these years."

"Is this what you want, Justin?" Sophie asked.

"Of course," he said, not a hint of doubt in his voice. 
"That's what I should have done all those years ago. I just 
don't know what was wrong with me."

"So, what do you say, Sophie?" asked Ashley. "It's only a 
short distance to our flat?"

Sophie coughed. She looked at Justin. She looked back at 
Ashley. She smiled at them, warmly and affectionately. 
Her mind was made up.

"I don't think so," she said at last. "I think I'd much prefer 
it if we stayed just friends." 







