Fashion is Our Name Pt. 03

They mobbed me. "Adrian! The poor girl will faint dead away."

"The three of you just make sure our first model is dressed to kill and the star of the reception. I want the guests to remember the valedictorian's girlfriend, not the valedictorian."

"Two more things. First, we should open a smaller shop here in Kingham. It will attract tourists when word gets around, and the Inn will offer gourmet menus for lunch and dinner. The local women in the sewing group will have a place here to display their work, and the village will be pleased."

Molly said, "What has gotten into you this morning? You are spinning off ideas like shooting stars."

I hugged her and said, "I am surrounded by the smartest, most beautiful women in the world, and I have to live up to your expectations!"

They fell on me with kisses. "I have one final thing. I am behind in my studies and finals start Monday. I am going to stay here this weekend and enjoy the quiet and my books. In order to help me concentrate, I have taken a vow of celibacy until after graduation. No sex and no visits to my room, absolutely none!"

They stared at each other in amazement. "He's gone mad! A healthy male with four lovers is turning us down for ten days? Incredible!"

I marched off to my room, leaving them in a dither over my strange behavior and latest string of ideas.

At dinner time that evening, Vicky entered my room smartly and seized my long hair with a terrific yank. "See here, young Adrian, you are the smartest boy in your class. You will poison your brain with this hermit business. Come down with me, and act civilised. You are famous in Kingham, and have a reputation to maintain."

I jumped to my feet, showered her with kisses, and went downstairs laughing at the tongue lashing I had received. Inish was serving and looked at me fearfully. I glared at her and gestured to the rear hallway. She quickly put down the plates in her hands and scurried to the dark recess. I was inches behind and immediately put my arms on either side of her shoulders, blocking escape.

"Please, Adrian..." she started to say, but I covered her with my lips and tongue, doing my best to deliver a forgive me kiss. When I came up for air, she said, "My goodness, what was that for? I thought I was in your terrible bad graces."

"I'm trying to apologize for last night. You provoked me, but I shouldn't have beaten you. Would you consider forgiving me? I promise never to do that again."

Her arms pulled me back in and her lips caressed the side of my head. Her wonderful low voice whispered, "We were both bad. We both have to forgive the other."

Our tongues played for a minute while we mumbled nonsense. Her body felt divine and was making me hard. I backed off, "No sex until after graduation. Only a few scattered kisses!"

"Scattered kisses," she repeated. "I guess we just used up a bunch?"

I took her hand and we headed to the dining room. "Those don't count. That was kiss and make up."

Inish put me at my usual table, with Vicky giving both of us suspicious looks. She brought me a beer and asked, with a stern look, "What have you been up to with Inish now? She is flushed and flustered."

"I told you I was going to apologize and I did. Is that acceptable, your highness?"

Without checking the room, she cuffed my ear and said, "You are still a schoolboy for ten days, so I'll have to live with your acting like one, I suppose."

"Lean down, I have to tell you something."

Her bosom was marvelous to my view. "I am only going to be a schoolboy for ten more days in my whole life. Now kiss me while I tweak your tit."

She did and I did, and she exclaimed, "Devil!" as she walked away with a big smile.

The dinner was a fabulous fish stew with a side salad of local greens and hothouse tomatoes.

Vicky and Inish took turns coming by to inquire if everything was all right, and pulling my hair if no one was watching. The women were feeling scorned. I wondered how much trouble I was in.

I took a plate of rhubarb pie with ice cream back to my room and stuck my nose back into a literature text whose merit was eluding me. At ten, the door opened and two bodies in very pretty short nighties entered.

"You didn't say we couldn't sleep here, you just said no sex. We are getting in there and promise to leave you alone as long as we get our bed warmer."

In moments, they were buried in the quilt, with it drawn up so just their twinkling eyes challenged me to oust them. I was beaten, in the first round. Wait until Nicole and Molly find out. Thank god they had both left early for London on the afternoon train.

I meekly brushed my teeth, folded my clothes neatly, turned out the lights, and was asleep as soon as I was tight with two bodies whose charms I was required to ignore, by my own edict.

The sun wasn't even up on Friday morning when I could feel the suppressed excitement of my bedmates, twitching and wiggling and turning into me when they realized I was awake.

Inish said, "We are going to miss you in London, but you do have to study. We girls need to see a perfect grade card." She had my hand on her breast and an impudent look on her face. Vicky's hand was between my legs, full of mischief.

"This isn't fair. You promised no sex."

They wandered out, giggling. I took a shower as cold as I could stand.

Mary was on duty for the weekend at the Inn. She and I helped get Inish and Vicky organized and out the door for the eleven o'clock train. After hurried kisses, my fine women dashed off.

"Adrian, come in the kitchen a moment. I understand you are closeted with your books, but I am to feed you now and then. What would you like?" Before I realized what she was doing, my back was to the wall and her lips were exploring mine. It was quite a while before she relented. "There! I've heard a lot about your kissing, Adrian, and that was very nice. Thank you."

Her face was pink and her breath coming rapidly. I gave her a tight hug. "Mary, you are a fine loving woman. If I wasn't overwhelmed with four others, I'd be after you in a moment." I touched her lips with mine and went upstairs.

By Sunday evening, I was studied out, and thought I had covered what I needed. I went to meet Molly and Inish at the evening train. Their faces were all smiles. Inish rushed into my arms. "Adrian! You are totally bad. I just about died of surprise at that store!" The station patrons were getting a good view of my new and enthusiastic girlfriend.

I hugged and kissed Molly, who said, "You were right. She is the perfect model for our clothes. Wait until you see her at graduation. She says she is getting back at you by not allowing any advance looks."

We walked to the Inn, arm in arm.

On Wednesday at noon, I was done. My last test after four years of hard work. Vicky and Nicole were coming on the evening train. I sat in the sun out back with notes about my speech, and took suggestions from Molly, Mary and Inish. They said, "These are very talented classmates you are talking to. And their educated, well-to-do parents and relatives. Give them your boots on the ground talk. Tell them about losing and how to recover. Tell them to think about tradeoffs between money and service. Tell them how hard it is to find a life partner. Tell them to charge at the world, with more than one plan, and a thick skin to absorb and conquer failure."

I sat back, surprised. There wasn't four years of university among the three of them. But the practical wisdom overflowed on me.

I said, "Go to your chores and let me write. My head is full of your good advice."

Vicky and Nicole showed up at six, famished. We decided to wait until eight, so everyone could eat together after the regular customers had been fed. Sipping wine on the patio, I asked for news about the project in London.

Nicole found her way to my lap and gave a nonstop recital of how the car park was almost done, the plans for the first stage of remodeling were at the planning department awaiting permits, and the contractor was ready to go to work next week. Her body was in constant motion and I almost got it on with her when I remembered my own orders about no sex. She got the lightest possible kiss.

She kissed me back and asked, "Is it true that you let Vicky and Inish in your bed after direct orders about no visits?" She unbuttoned her blouse and slipped my hand inside. More unfair attacks.

"It was all their doing. They insisted I didn't forbid sleeping, as long as there was no sex. They required a bed warmer, they said."

She nibbled on my ear and whispered, "So you did that and nothing more?"

"It was terribly difficult." She unclipped the bra and gave my hand a full breast to fondle. I sighed and said, "I love you."

She leaned into me and sighed herself. The others told us to follow them inside in a few minutes.

I gave her a proper kiss, and said, "You remember, at the Rye house, the first time we had sex? I didn't know what I was doing and you were so nice to me. I looked into those deep eyes of yours and what I saw there was a woman too young to be my mother and too old to be my girlfriend. At least I thought that is what I was seeing. It only lasted a moment."

"Yes, I remember. We were both so lost without Philip. I was crying and you held me."

"We thought we were alone and abandoned. Now here we are with new friends and lovers. Almost a family..."

The door opened and Inish called, "Dinner."

As we went in, I whispered, "Come with me after dinner, we need to talk."

"Yes."

At dinner, which was festive to celebrate finishing my exams, I said to Vicky and Nicole, "You wouldn't believe the talk these three gave me about my speech. They are so good, I am thinking of sending them up there in the fine dresses to give it themselves, while I sit in the audience with you!

Blushes and gasps filled the room. "Oh Adrian, do not scare us like that. We were just trying to help."

"With lovely Mary, there are now five of you. Ready to pounce on me at any moment. No man can withstand five tough bodies like yours. Are we going up later for a beating?"

Vicky, with a big smile and a twinkle in her eye, said, "I think a regular beating keeps a man in his proper place, even if he is the smartest, handsomest, toughest young devil in the Wolds."

"Actually, you have got me with a bunch of words in my brain for the speech that need to go on paper. Give me a small glass of wine and two hours to work on it. Then come up and we will see to the beatings."

At ten, when they filed in, I was down to the last few words and feeling good about it. I might not be a total embarrassment to my new family and friends. When I wrote my last sentence and turned around, they were in the process of getting naked and applying lotion to their bodies. Calculated and indifferent looks were aimed in my direction.

"I don't think we need to be nice as long as we are under sex quarantine."

"No, not at all."

Two naked nymphs, submerging me in the most glorious fumes, raised my body from the chair and carefully eased me out of my clothes. When they got down to my briefs, I was very hard and thinking desperately about how to get out of my self-induced mess.

"Wait! Can we talk about this? Perhaps there is room for compromise?"

"With only forty-eight hours until your speech, you want compromise?"

I was sinking. Five beautiful, perfumed and naked women surrounded me and I was under a no sex pledge? Good grief, what now?

"Is there no mercy in your hearts?"

"Mercy? He wants mercy after a week of insults?"

I was nudged to the bed, which had been turned down, and propelled into the middle. I landed face down and tried sobbing into my pillow.

Inish sat on me, her moist sex rubbing on my back in a completely lascivious way. "We have to treat him nicely until after the speech. As he has crudely reminded us, he is only a schoolboy for a few more hours. But after that, there must be punishment and reparations. He hasn't said one word about all our efforts on his behalf lately." Her grip in my hair was tight, and the back and forth yanks vicious. Other hands began attacking other places.

I sobbed louder, keeping my head down.

Nicole said, "Since I am playing the mother role, I think we should let him sleep. He says he has finished the speech, so we shall make him read it to us in the morning when he is fresh. If he passes that test, we may let him scrub the kitchen floor."

There were terrible suppressed giggles as they slipped into the bed, snuggling up to me as though nothing at all had happened. I smiled to myself and went to sleep dreaming of my wonderful women and their new careers in fashion.

In the morning, I had a strong cup of coffee and decreed that there would be a good hard run to get the kinks out. Suddenly, there were important chores, and only Inish was out the door with me.

"Hey, model," I said.

"Hey schoolboy," she responded, with a laugh.

I grabbed her hand, as we ran along a wide trail, "Tell me, love of my life, how do I keep four, and now maybe five, beautiful women happy?"

"You are worried about your virility?"

I let that hang out there for a hundred yards or so. I had feelings for her, and she knew it.

"Be careful. My inner beast says I should take you off the trail and have my way."

"If you didn't have so much on your mind, I think you would. Did you mean it when you had Vicky and Nicole tell the store to put me in a girlfriend dress?"

"I did."

"Do we get to talk about what being your girlfriend means?"

"We do. After graduation. That's only one day away." I kissed her hand again.

"You are bad, but I love you."

I sped up and she had to think her own thoughts for the rest of the run.

Still sweaty, I insisted on actually scrubbing the floor when we got back, thinking it was good for the soul and made me think more about the boots on the ground tone of my speech. I wondered how many of my classmates ever scrubbed a kitchen floor. No matter, it was my own penance.

The women could tell I was preoccupied and left me alone. Wanting to cheer everyone up for Saturday's festivities, I arranged a bit of a cocktail party at five o'clock, providing a nice rum punch and some crostini with broiled tomatoes.

"Adrian, whatever has gotten into your head? We are supposed to be tending to you on this last evening before the speech."

I went around and gave each one a warm kiss. The Inn was full, so all of us were being called to the tavern and the dining room to help. Vicky wrapped her arms around me and said, "To think, I wasn't sure I should let you have a room for spring term!"

"To think, I had no idea of beautiful Vicky and her ways of helping a young lodger with rugby, studies, and his love life!"

We touched lips tenderly and went back to work. Nicole nudged me and said, "That was good, she adores you. Told me she would give anything to have a son like you."

I guided her out back and around the corner into the garden. "We didn't finish that conversation. You remember we said we weren't going to lose the good thing we had together?"

She kissed me and said, "I'm not. Are you?"

"No. I love you more than ever. But what about all these other wonderful women? Does that bother you?"

"You are being silly. Do I look unhappy? Am I denying you sex? Am I being jealous around the others?"

We were hugging tightly. I whispered in her ear. "You are too good to me."

"Adrian, be yourself. We love you for your strength, your fine ideas, and for that great thing of yours that makes us happy in bed."

The next morning, the women were pleased to hear that I needed to go to school early, because the valedictorian was part of the procession of faculty and administrators to the stage. They told me that my first glimpse of their finery would be from the stage. I complained and went off.

Knowing the exuberant desire of the new graduates to get their diplomas and enjoy the reception, the school kept the talks from the stage to a minimum. My mind was hardly organized when I realized I was being introduced. The Rector made several remarks about what a fine young man I was, and then turned to me. I almost tripped on my way to the podium and said, out loud, "Settle down!"

I prefaced the speech with a remark that mine was only one of thousands of similar speeches being given around the world, and asking the audience to tolerate what could only be described as the earnest thoughts of a person without, as yet, much life experience.

The warmup sentences calmed me, and I found I hardly had to look at the notes to deliver the rest of the speech. Intensity flowed into me and into my words. A few scattered gray heads were nodding and I finished with a flourish. There was generous clapping, and then a few people stood up, followed by others, and soon everyone was standing and still clapping. I bowed and slowly made my way to my seat so that the handing out of diplomas could begin.

The Compton family was a marvelous sight. The spring dresses couldn't be better, and each had an incredible broad floppy hat with decorations. My aunt, my cousin, my mother and my girlfriend were introduced to dozens of other family members and played their roles to perfection. I whispered to Inish that she was permitted to carefully hug me and be the real girlfriend. The others laughed at us.

About midway through, one of my rugby teammates came up with his mother, who was a duchess. She said my speech was the best she had ever heard, and she hoped her son took it to heart. I blushed and looked at Kevin with apologetic eyes. He smiled broadly and thanked me himself. The duchess went on to compliment the women on their outfits, discovering the London shops they had come from, and the fact that a new company was shortly to bring out related lines. She had purchased a dress from Molly in the past, and was pleased to find that she was part of the new company. We were all smiles when the duchess went off with more than one card, saying her friends would want to know about us.

The Inn was serving a special lunch for parents and we rushed back to help Mary handle the crowd. I served from the bar, and got many comments about the Valedictorian taking his own advice on work and life.

A large sign had announced for several days that the Inn was closing for food and lodgers at three pm and we got the late lunch diners out the door at that hour.

Sitting in a chair on the back patio after two beers and several glasses of champagne, I was a wreck.

They stood around, smiling and making derisive remarks. "It was a fine speech. Almost did justice to his well turned out family."

"Did you notice the men who tried to chat up the model but were chased away by his frowns?"

"He actually whispered to her that she was a real girlfriend and could hug him. Can you imagine?"

"The duchess was very nice. She was more interested in our dresses than his speech, thank god."

Then I was instructed, "Adrian, you are to take a nap. We have invited a few village friends for supper and dancing, and you must be revived by then."

Inish came along and helped me out of my clothes. She was laughing hard as she tucked me in. "Sleep tight, ex-schoolboy."

She woke me with a caress on my neck and a kiss on my cheek. "They said a real girlfriend was entitled to some private time with you and even sleeping with you by myself."

I raised the blanket and she folded herself in on top of me. A very long loving kiss ended tenderly. She said, "We shouldn't make them sleep somewhere else, should we?"

"I'm glad you said that. I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to disappoint if you wanted me to yourself."

She laughed, "We can go for a run, and you can take me against one of the oak trees, can't you?"

"The bark is rough, maybe it has to be you taking me against the tree."