Something to Declare by Cyclist

Chapter 11

I am sorry to post two chapters in such quick succession, but my muse has me gripped firmly by the soft parts and is insisting I move the story on. Some questions are answered here, many more are raised.

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He was looking embarrassed. I simply stood and wondered if this was how one usually felt when one’s world ended. He looked at Geoff, and I could see cogs turning.

“Hi, I’m Dave Williams. I work with this young lady at Gatwick, and you are?”

“Geoff Woodruff, I’m sort of her friend…”

Dave guffawed, his big prop’s body shaking with obvious tension. He looked me in the eyes and said, much more gently

“ ‘Sort of…’.oh dear. What do I call you?”

“Steph. Stephanie…”

“Nice and easy for us all then. We need to talk. Is now a good time?”

I looked at Geoff. I wanted him with me, and he saw that.

“I’ll grab Jan and tell them we’ll be back later. Meet you in the coffee shop over the road in a couple of minutes”

I walked over with Dave.

“Sodding hell, St…eph, what do we do? I’ve known you were getting odd for some time, but this is, this is, what is this?”

“Wait for Geoff, please. I want him to hear all of this as well.”

We took a seat in a quiet corner till Geoff arrived, and I sat and composed myself for a minute. I held my coffee cup in front of my mouth for protection and began.

“Geoff, Dave has worked with me for eight years. We are on the same team, both at work and for rugby. I trust him implicitly. Dave, I have only known Geoff a short while, but I feel the same trust in him as I do in you”

Geoff took one of my hands. Dave looked thoughtful.

“Put the cup down, Steph”

As I did so he took my other hand. I looked down and started my story from cold, a cold, miserable male surgical ward with piss on the floor and an old man screaming in the night for his pilot to “CORKSCREW LEFT!!!” and for his God.

By the time I had finished, all three of us were crying. Dave astonished me by picking up my hand and pressing it to his cheek.

“I was so shit scared for you mate. Thought you were going to die. Your play was insane, and your drinking…I wanted to say to you to get help, to see a shrink or AA, shit, anything but lose my best mate. Why didn’t you just talk to me?”

“Like I could just come out with that…”

“Well, it’s done now. What do you want to do?

“Well. I have to arrange a real life test, and then once Sally my shrink is happy-

“No, you silly tart, what do you want to do now? What about the team, work and all? No offence, but you look better now than you have for a long time, and I don’t see you going back into mufti. I don’t think those tits come off for starters.”

I could actually feel my thighs burning with that blush.

Dave was up visiting a cousin, and with a sudden failure of my courage I realised that if I wanted, he could take my stuff back for me rather than Bill and Geoff. I looked sideways at the latter, and realised how much I wanted to keep this man in my life. No, Dave could carry my stuff, but Geoff was getting my address whatever happened. I suggested to Dave that he arrange a team social for when my leave was up, but before we went back to work, and I would drop the bombshell there. Work in its official capacity could wait, but Dave insisted the team should know.

We took out leave, and Dave astonished me by wrapping me in a hug and kissing my cheek.

“Not shaving no more then…..”

He looked past me at Geoff and very quietly said

“Listen, mate, please don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t know you at all, and you seem like a decent chap. But you WILL not hurt her, understand?”

They shook hands, and Dave left, shaking his head. I caught Geoff looking across at me with a crinkle to his eyes.

“What?”

“Remember those long chats we had? How you don’t see how we as a family can be so open and supportive of someone like you? Can you see what’s just happened? One more ordinary human hears your story, and reacts just like we did. You have to start believing, Steph, not just in yourself but in people in general. Those arseholes we met earlier are very noticeable, but they are the minority. Trust your humanity, trust in people, and you’ll be right more often than not. Come over here…”

I cuddled into him and he held me for a while, wordless and still, then lifted my face for another kiss. This one was longer, gentle and so tender I started to cry yet again. He wiped my eyes with a napkin and we stood to leave, shades covering all four red-rimmed eyes. Perhaps as a reaction, the ride back was a lot quicker than the ride out, hitting 25 mph on several occasions, and Geoff was getting out of the saddle in what seemed like an attempt to test my ability. I needed another shower back at the site, and found myself dancing in the cubicle. Once dried, I changed into the green dress and, sod it, one of my new more minimalist bras. I rang Sally as I walked back, and filled her in on developments. She started to make deep panting sounds and croaked

“So, tell me what you’re wearing, bitch…”

before breaking up in raucous laughter.

“Steph, dear, you make me very unprofessional. I had suspected that this weekend may force or help you to face some issues, but this is amazing. Just promise me you will keep your mind in ‘Pause/think’ mode before anything rash. I will keep myself free for any problems this weekend, one way or another. I may have created a green-eyed monster, but she is new-born and vulnerable to nasties.”

We said our good byes and I continued back to the Edifice and Geoff. He wanted to talk, and I had to assure him that I trusted Dave as I would a brother, and he seemed to relax. I had a moment of overdue feminine intuition----the silly sod was jealous of Dave! I was almost shaking with happiness as I pulled him to me and asked him just that. He ducked his head.

“I’m not gay.”

My mood, all the euphoria, crashed, burned and slid down a drain. I very coldly said

“Neither am I, Geoff.”

“No, listen, I’m useless at this, don’t let me put my foot in it please. I meant you are so clearly a girl. I know you aren’t quite the way you should be but what I meant by that is that as far as I am concerned you are a girl and I fancy you cause you are lovely and not because I am gay and want extra bits and I just wanted you to know that you really are a lovely girl and nothing but a girl and your eyes make me want to die and I just want to hold you and touch you all the time and I am so glad you live so near to me and I hope you will let me come and see you or at least that you will come and see me and that we can see how it goes but I really hope it does go and…”

I think I have most of what he said down, but what with the stammering and the blushing, I may have missed some trifling compliments. I grasped what he was trying to tell me, that he wasn’t some oddity that wanted a she-male, that his interest in me was that of a man for a woman and nothing more. I realised that my reaction to his declaration of heterosexuality was perhaps a little premature, but decided that it would make a handy “control” for any future misbehaviour.

The corollary hit me a second later. This man had all but told me he loved me, and I was already thinking of a future together. I started to laugh. He looked a little puzzled.

“What’s tickled you?”

“You realise we are already looking a long way ahead? Think of the working title: Steph’n’Geoff. Sounds like a carpet cleaner!” I started to giggle (practice with Kelly was helping)

He kissed me. I kissed him back, hard.