Circle of Friends

Off the back of yesterday's post about what I did in my teenage summers, one thing I've often thought about, but never actually shared with anyone, was my summer friends. Or rather my relationship with them.

I mentioned yesterday that a friend of mine gave me a head's up that VS was actually interested in me, romantically. That prompted me to raise a couple of points about my summer friends: firstly, the age range of people I hung around with was quite wide as a teenager. D is a couple of years older than me,  for example, and he wasn't the eldest guy I hung around with. That's not a big thing now, but it was when I was 13. I also had a few pals who were a few years younger and we all hung around in the same group.

The vibe was completely different from my hometown friends. There was less pressure to conform. You could be yourself without judgement.

So while I was clueless about life, and completely uncertain in my own skin, when it looked like VS was romantically interested, I had both advice and encouragement to make the move. I don't know that I would have had the backup or the courage to do that in my hometown.

Boy of Summer

Someone asked a question earlier about childhood vacations. I have mixed feelings about my childhood vacations. At the time I wasn't hugely fond of them. We had a holiday home on the coast and we spent every minute we could there. It took me away from my friends, and I wouldn't see them for months at a time during the summer.

However, it did mean I had a completely different set of friends. That's where I met D, for example. 

It took me a while to realise that going to the holiday home wasn't a bad thing. And the conversation that arose from the question with other people on the gaming forum reminded me of a conversation I had with USHW about it.

Specifically, I lost my virginity to a girl who lived in the town where the holiday home was. USHW was asking about the details, so I shared the story. I can't recall if I've ever shared it here before, so a quick overview: she worked in one of the town's newsagents, her family's shop, so we met when my summer friends and I would head into town for sweets.

I was young at this stage, maybe 13 or 14. She was the same age - maybe a few months older. We'd often see each other when my friends and I went for sweets and built up a bit of rapport. But over the next couple of years, the people who were my summer friends stopped coming to the coast during school holidays. As a result, trips to the shop for sweets were often solo, so if there were no other customers in the shops, I'd stay and chat for a bit. There might have been the seed of some attraction by this stage.

One day, I arrived for some sweets just as she was going on a break, so she suggested a walk for some fresh air. And that was kinda the start of it, though nothing happened for a while. But I think we both realised there was a spark of mutual attraction.

This became a semi-regular thing as the summer wore one and towards the end of the summer, we swapped phone numbers. A group of us had a party on the beach one evening, a kind of end of season party, that VS (you can guess what the V stands for here) managed to get an invite to (though there wasn't anything to be invited to per se - it was a bonfire on the beach and a BBQ and we had a few sneaky drinks). Regardless, she turned up with a couple of friends.

One of my own friends was there that weekend and he gave me a head's up that I should maybe go for a walk with VS. We made ourselves scarce and, away from the others, ended up snogging. The season ended soon after, we saw each other a couple of times, and that was it for the holiday home until the following spring. We did, though, swap the odd phone call over the winter months.

When the season re-opened, our pattern quickly re-established itself: I'd arrive at the shop as she was taking a break, only this time we'd find somewhere private and snog like teenagers (because we were teenagers), which got more handsy as the season wore on. My summer friends appearances were even more infrequent.

A few months in, around the start of the proper school holidays, VS said she'd plans to go to a house party if I wanted to join her. I didn't want to - my social anxiety went through the roof, but I was being asked to a party by a cute girl who let me touch her boobs. I don't think the party went all that well - I was quiet, I felt out of place as a summer blow-in from out of town, but it wasn't an out and out disaster either.

We cut our losses maybe a little earlier than VS would have liked, but she suggested a few more drinks. She had a bottle of vodka in her bag, though we had nothing to mix it with. VS suggested we raid her family's shop. She had keys. So we ended up in the upstairs part of the shop, on a sofa with a "stolen" bottle of Coke. It's not too long before we're snogging away again and... well, you know how this story ends.

So, yeah, all the talk about childhood holidays has provoked a bit of reminiscing. Really nice memories, in fact. 

Urgh.

Well... I don't know how or why, but I ended up watching the entire first season of that TV programme I mentioned in this post. That's 22 episodes of roughly 45 minutes each. And my initial gut feeling about the programme wasn't wrong. It was awful, but it was moreish. And it wasn't in a "so bad it's good" kinda way. It as genuinely awful.

And then, without knowing, I'd completed the first season and had started the second season. And it was worse. All the supporting characters from season one were gone, and they were the high point: the rookie Roe, the solve-it-all IT/science girl, Tanya (didn't like every procedural have one of these after NCIS had Abby?), the grizzled vet, Mike, the experienced cop, Nina and the knows-everyone ME, Joanne. All these characters (and actors) were just better than the two leads, who had zero chemistry with each other, despite being former romantic partners. And, yes, they were an item again by the end of the first season which was obvious from the start of the first episode despite the lack of chemistry on show. The writing was that predictable.

I'm clearly in the minority here. The IMDB ratings for season 1 never dropped below 7/10 for each episode.  But I don't know how. In fact, looking at it, all the episode scores across all 4 seasons are at least 7 except, tellingly, the final episode. I'm betting cliffhanger with no resolution.

But, yeah, 15 minutes into episode 1 of the second season when it was obvious the better characters weren't coming back, and I clicked "close" with no desire to go back. Now I need something new to watch.

'Tis the season...

I sent a message to KfW2 earlier to see if we can't rearrange our postponed dinner and drinks night from about six weeks ago. My first suggestion was the end of November. I'm wary about getting into December because of Mr KfW2's work patterns (he works in retail) and the crowds.

KfW2 was quick to reply to say she'd check but she thought she already had plans that weekend. I then replied and said that I was essentially free between now and Xmas. And that's true.

G's home this month, I think, but KfW2 is already booked up until the 21st November, so there's unlikely to be overlap. There's likely to be one final work event before the new year, but I reckon it'll be mid-December. I do have a night out with my sister and bro-in-law a few days before Xmas.

And currently, that's it. AM still hasn't been in touch about the night out she suggested a while back. The Crowd (Mrs FC specifically) also mentioned a night out,  but they've been quiet, too.

Oh, maybe I should say to KfW2 that I can also probably do a Thursday night between now and Xmas, given the amount of holiday time I still have to take.

Work it out.

In three weeks time, I have a work trip. Sadly it's the not the same kind of work trip that I did in 2005 and 2010 that involved international travel. But I will be going out of town and staying overnight in a hotel and eating and drinking and the company is paying for all of it. It should be fun.

And in another note, as of about 2 weeks ago, I will not be working a full week for the rest of the year. Depending on how I use the rest of my holidays, I might not even work the second half of December. There's no work party this month, but there could be one in December and, if that turns out like last year, that could mean drinks in CB Pub with, amongst others, Quiet Girl.

Time flies.

Facebook threw up some memories today. GB had posted pictures from about 14 years ago and the very first picture is one of CH and myself looking very cosy together. I wouldn't say she was cuddling up to me, but we are very close.

It's also the first night I recall things not being entirely above board with regards to us being tactile, and what that might mean. Well, probably not the first night. I'm sure our chemistry was established by then, but I can't remember how tactile we were before the night in question. If I remember correctly there was at least 1 kiss that lasted too long and at least 1 incident where her hand was on my ass. I also recall getting quite a few text messages from CH because I was 15 minutes later than I had said I'd be there.

Oh, and separately, that was the night where CC admitted to having a crush on GM. Nothing ever came of that, though. At least not that I'm aware. 

Forgettable.

I started watching a programme on Netflix called "Unforgettable". It's a police procedural about a girl who remembers everything and it's fucking awful. But yet I can't stop watching. I'm only six episodes in and there are four seasons. I want to stop but I just can't. The main character isn't particularly likeable and the programme just doesn't have any real hook or character to it like NCIS, House or Elementary. The show's main character has complete recall but her mum has some kind of dementia which just feels so lazy to me. 

Just one more episode though...

Getting in position.

I was at my sis's yesterday for Sunday dinner. I was also quite drunk by the end of the evening, thanks to some beers and gins. I was not feeling on top of my game this morning when I woke, and I had a semi-remembered dream that involved FA2. Specifically, me having sex with FA2, trying to encourage her to do Reverse Cowgirl.

I'm pretty sure that it was a position that we never attempted in real life. I think I've posted before about trying to get FA2 to share more about what she actually liked in bed, but it was something she wouldn't do. I think every "new" position we tried apart from Missionary was a result of me mentioning it or manoeuvring us into it during sex. And yet even if she seemed to enjoy something we did, she never seemed to want to repeat it.

So, yeah, the dream involved fucking FA2 in Reverse Cowgirl which meant that when I woke, I was feeling groggy due to the alcohol from yesterday and horny as hell. I needed "The Cure" as FA2 called it. Which is nothing more than a fuck.

So after a couple of rounds me "me time", I took the day off. 

Sure bet?

It was after 11 PM by the time I got back into the house from the work event, and I had a good time. It was nice to see Quiet Girl, and I did get a chance to share the family news from a few weeks back. I got chatting to a few people, which kinda scratched the socialising itch that I've had for a while.

Also in attendance was Casino Girl. I've posted about her before here and here. I was up doing some casino stuff and chatting to her. When I returned to our table, QG raised an eyebrow.

"You're getting on well with that girl"

"Eh?" 

"Was she not flirting with you?" 

"I don't think so. She was just being nice. It's her job."

"Hmmm..."

"You disagree?"

"It looked like there was more to it than just being nice."

"I'm not gonna lie, I think she's cute, but she's also married if that ring's anything to go by."

"Ring?" QG looked at Casino Girl. "Oh. I guess not then."

And the night trundled on.

I was a little more drunk by the end than I would have liked, and I'm feeling really lethargic today, but I still had a good time. 

In the balance (cont'd)

Quiet Girl has decided that she will go to the ball*

I'm glad because I'd like to spend some time out of the house. And, just like last week, the pub offers opportunities to meet new people, chat to random people and, of course, Quiet Girl is good company.

I might even share the family news from a few weeks back. I'm not sure she knows. 

 *Work event. 

In the balance.

"Are you still going tonight, QG?" I asked over IM. We'd not swapped messages all week, and my pessimism around her attendance was ramped to 11.

"Mmmmm... TBD"

She followed up with an explanation.

"I had a crappy day yesterday. So I'll see how I feel later."

She's done this before and I was able to talk her into coming out. But I likely won't find out until mid-afternoon.