As those of you who have read my ABOUT section will know it states that this blog is – “The works of Robin Riedstra unedited, unchecked, unkempt and totally untamed. Read them if you dare travel through the grammatical jungle.” So I thought I should give you a sneak peek at roughly the first 5,000 words prior to editing. Typos, grammos, and the occasional just plain wrongo, all there. I think you’ll still have plenty of fun reading it. Will post a link when the editing is finalized and the book is live on Amazon.
What happens in Book Club… is unashamedly Commercial Fiction for Women. I am a woman, I write stories that I’d like to read. So if you hated all things Bridget Jones, Pride and Prejudice, Devil Wears, Jane Eyre, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Wuthering Heights, and Sex in the City… For the love of your sanity read no more! What Happens in Book Club… opens at the end of Gwyn’s book club’s meeting about Fifty Shades, it is awkward to say the least and the women decide that they need a year of classics to cleanse their minds. But unfortunately this doesn’t help Gwyn, who now seems to see sex and sexy sexing in every text she reads. Mr Rochester, Mr Clerval and Mr Bingley never looked so good… and so bad. 😦
Warning: Contains a sexy silver fox and my love of my hometown Sydney is very apparent. Think of it as Sex in the SYDNEY. Lol.
What happens in Book Club…
It was over. We all stared at each other in awkward silence. The dirty deed had been done, empty wine glasses sat on the dingy bar table between us and we did not quite know how to move forward from this point. There needed to be empty shot glasses lined up as far as the eye could see for the women in the book club to be able to meet each other’s gazes again.
‘I think now that Fifty Shades is done we should cleanse our loins with a classic of some sort,’ Selene finally broke the silence. She was the leader of our little book club. Bright red lipstick, slick black hair, and dark brown eyes. If she would just wear a short black dress instead of business suits, she would fit right in on the set of a Robert Palmer video.
‘I think about a year of strong women is in order,’ Mac agreed vigorously. Her face was almost as red as her hair. She dabbed absentmindedly at a wine stain on the frilly long sleeved blouse she was favouring of late. It must be another pirate phase or failing that Shakespeare?
The rest of us still just stared at our hands too embarrassed to look at one another. Some had flicked through Fifty Shades and only read the sexy bits, desperados; some had flicked past the sexy scenes, prudes; and others had stopped reading because the sentence structure made their brains hurt, snobs. Either way, Fifty Shades had stirred up something inside of us that nobody wanted to name or discuss. Our book club was usually so boisterous that we disturbed other patrons. Thank God we knew how to drink, otherwise we would have been far too much bother. Instead, we were welcomed each month. Well, at least our wallets were. However, that once a month shrill disturbance at the Longie had been practically a whisper this evening. We should have drunk more wine. All that was on the table between us was a few empty glasses and E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey standing erect in the middle of them. It almost seemed to pulsate and call out to people, ‘Look what these naughty girls have been reading.’
‘So, Pride and Prejudice?’ Selene asked.
There was a general murmur of agreement before everyone but Selene, Mac and I fled the scene.
‘Well, that was awkward.’ I finally found words.
‘No shit, Gwyn,’ Mac slumps back in her chair and drains the remains of her seventh wine glass.
‘What was up with you?’ Selene clearly does not have a bad case of loving me this evening. ‘We rely on you to say inappropriate things at poorly positioned moments to lighten the mood.’
‘To be honest after reading about a lot of sex I don’t want to talk about it, I just want to go out and have it. Just a lot less rapey.’ Unfortunately, as a boring schoolteacher, reading about a bunch of erotic sex was about as close as I was going to come to… well… cumming.
‘Perfect. Why didn’t you say that?’ Selene challenges me. ‘It would have opened up a whole lot of conversation.
‘I don’t want to talk about sex with those women!’ I am utterly aghast. ‘They’re old enough to be my mother.’
‘Actually,’ Mac has apparently appointed herself as my fact checker, ‘only seven of our members are old enough to be your mother.’
‘I just wasn’t feeling it today,’ I mumble into my hands.
‘I’m feeling something.’ Mac has managed to un-potato sack herself and is sitting bolt upright, breasts stuck out as if attempting to push their way out of her pirate shirt into her intended target’s hands.
‘You were quiet tonight ladies,’ the barman flashes his perfectly white teeth at us. As he collects our glasses, he pushes a strand of blonde hair away from his eyes. His electric blue eyes run a warm current up my spine. ‘I missed your laugh red.’
Mac dissolves into giggles on the spot.
‘Yours too red.’ He is looking at me. I feel like I am being struck by lightning as he focuses the full force of his charisma on me.
‘First week back at school,’ I purr. Every man has a sexy schoolteacher fantasy. ‘Those kids are running me ragged.’
‘She isn’t really a red-head,’ Mac throws water on our moment and it fizzles out. ‘I am.’ Dear God, are her breasts growing.
His tractor beam shifts from me to Mac and she meets it head on with her laser green eyes. Ugh, of course she will win. Damn those green eyes. All I can shoot back at him is a poor imitation of his own, much more spectacular, blue.
‘I’m sure I’ll find out one day,’ he flirts back, then walks back to the bar leaving Mac with a wink to keep her warm.
‘He’s so hot,’ Mac swoons back into her chair hugging her wink to her chest.
‘He looks like a lost Hemsworth brother,’ I sigh.
‘Forget that!’ Evidently, Selene is still not happy. ‘You better bring your A Grade Ditz routine next month. Your weird humour always makes them open up. And that is what we are here for. Info.’
‘Sorry,’ I frown at my hands. ‘It’s Maureen’s fault.’
‘She wasn’t even here’ Selene rolls her eyes at my seemingly poor excuse.
‘Yeah, but she’s so wild. She would have put a firecracker up this evening’s arse… and… well… I’m just horny,’ I confess.
‘We’re all bloody horny,’ Selene explodes.
A silver fox businessman at the bar looks over at us.
‘Get a bloody vibrator,’ Selene is clearly still unimpressed with my excuses.
Hemsworth from behind the bar stifles a snicker.
This is not my night.
Selene sits for a while fuming until she finally calms down. ‘Sorry. I’m just frustrated. We’re only running this book club so that we can find out what women want so we can write a great book, but tonight we got nothing! How does that help me get published? I’m just so frustrated. I want to write Fantasy, but nobody wants to publish fairy stories, so we try to write something people want but the people aren’t speaking to us. This should have been a slam-dunk. That book was so popular. They should have been gas bagging away like nothing else telling us what worked. But no. It’s just… I mean… I’ve gotta head.’ She kisses Mac and I on the forehead and says, ’emails tomorrow girls,’ and then vanishes.
‘I’d like someone’s head,’ Mac drools. She has somehow managed to get her hands on her eighth glass of wine whilst Selene and I argued. The tip of her delicately upturned nose is already starting to turn a far too merry shade of pink. It is going to be a long night.
* * *
‘Did Hemsworth see me throw-up?’ Mac is looking at me with such pleading eyes as I strap her into her taxi that I find it within my heart to lie to her.
‘No.’
‘Did he see me trip over?’
Yes, it was at that point that he called you this cab.
‘No.’
‘Good.’ Mac smiles for a moment and then starts to cry.
I smile sympathetically at the driver before standing up, closing the door, and rapping the taxi on the roof to let him know he is good to go. I stand back, breathe in the fresh night air, and stretch out my neck after the strain of carrying Mac to the cab. I cannot be mad. Half the time it is me.
The North Sydney Street is practically empty at this time of night. Wednesday nights are not known for their wildness in these parts. I am sure Coogee would be off the hook right now but it is nice and peaceful here. I need a taxi of my own but it could be a long while. A miracle, a yellow glowing beacon comes swinging around the corner like a golden gift from the Gods, hooray, I am saved from waiting for hours for cab never to arrive and eventually walking home.
I go to put my arm out to wave the taxi down but I am beaten. The silver fox from the bar has just exited the bar and already has his arm out waving down the taxi.
What an arse hole.
The taxi pulls up and he opens the door then pauses and stares back at me. He has the most amazing blue eyes that I have ever seen. His perfect lips break into a grin and he calls out to me.‘Care to share a cab?’
I do not know where he is going but I do know that this is probably my last chance for a cab and so going a few minutes out of my way to drop him off is probably worth it. Besides, there are worse ways to spend an extended cab ride than gazing at that perfect mouth. Then again, my mother did tell me not to get into cars with strangers.
Well I guess that decides it then.
I nod enthusiastically and charge forward.
* * * * *
I stare out at a sea of bored faces. Fifteen-year-old boys and girls are sitting slumped in their chairs as if I am their cult leader and have just given them a spiked communion. Me teaching Geography is definitely one of the signs of the apocalypse, so there is probably some truth to this metaphor.
‘I’m bored,’ whines a girl wearing more eyeliner than I actually own.
I want to yell at her, ‘It’s only the first week back, how can you be bored already? There are no boring subjects, just boring people!’ But I do not.
‘Well of course you’re bored,’ I respond with a sniff, ‘this is Geography, I’m not a miracle worker.’
The class giggles in response. Always a good idea to humour the teacher.
‘Seriously Miss, this is so stupid, when am I going to have to know about coastal management?’ Eyeliner questions me with a pout from her highly glossed lips.
Mental note: bring sunglasses to class, gloss is back in, big time.
Mental, mental note: I love gloss, buy more… and put some glitter on that list. And tampons, ugh, my lower back is killing, I’ll be needing them soon.
I try not to let out a sigh. I felt the same level of What the fuck is happening to our society? when I was asked why we had to study The Removalists last year. Apparently, domestic violence just is not an issue anymore. I take a deep breath to calm myself so that I avoid giving an impassioned speech that will only proceed to alienate the student, a feat I did not manage last year. I still remember the parent phone call after I had reduced their seventeen-year-old daughter to tears with current domestic violence incidents in the news. Making kids cry is not cool. I proceed to attempt to meet her needs in a way meaningful to her.
‘Tell you what,’ I bargain, ‘we get through all our work for the week today and we can watch an interesting show instead of working on Friday.’ Ah, the evil genius of the teacher, using media and celebrities to make points that our lame selves cannot. They will get educated quite happily if I tell them they are not learning.
A general murmur of agreement comes from the class and the previously roofied class turns into a class on speed. It is my turn to slide down in my chair in a rohypnoled state. I stare at the clock. I have an important chat date with the girls at 3:05pm. It is important, it is tradition… it is habit. We always have a chat catch-up at 3:05pm. It is the one thing I can rely on. I may spend my rent money on shoes, I might forget my own phone number, I might even forget that I am a non-smoker and have a few cheeky cigarettes on a big night out… okay, a few packs, BUT, I know that every weekday, like clockwork, I will have a flurry of emails from the girls at 3:05pm. Easy for me, it is the end of my school day, but how the girls manage to schedule it in everyday is a miracle to me. A miracle that I am not going to question. I am just thankful that my high flying Executive Assistant pal Selene and my Banker buddy Mac can make time for a cretin like me.
TICK
The minute hand moves from 3:03 to 3:04.
‘Okay guys, time to pack up.’
A flurry of noise and activity erupts that makes me believe that perhaps I have just announced the end of the world. This may explain why the students are constantly bringing stashes of food to class. Always better to be safe than sorry.
‘Remember to put your chairs up on the desks,’ I yell over the thundering storm.
‘Miss,’ a tall boy I always have to remind to take off his baseball hat, complains as he no doubt will every single lesson, ‘No other teachers make us do this. It’s so Primary School.’
Ouch, the ultimate insult. Unfortunately, I happen to like cut and paste, and glitter, so would make a most excellent primary school teacher.
‘Yes, and that is why I have got the cleanest floors out of everyone,’ I dutifully give out my standard response. ‘If you make it easier for the cleaners, they’ll treat you right.’ I finish it off with a wink and the lanky boy blushes a bit. Oh dear, another one. I will have a week of being stalked followed by months of being called a lesbian. Oh what fun. I hope that he is more creative in his toilet graffiti than the last kid. A picture of a stick figure with enormous boobs with my name written next to it is just so last season.
The bell goes and without awaiting any instructions, the students run for the hills.
I open up my laptop. Our group email has already started.
Selene: How’d you end up?
Mac: Drunk, but thankfully managed not to embarrass myself and got home in one piece.
Selene: Sure you did.
Mac: Seriously I did. Ask Gwyn.
Me: I had sex.
Selene: We need to meet now.
Mac: What the fuck?
Mac: Bullshit!
Mac: You lie!
Mac: Yeah we need to meet.
Mac: The Usual?
Mac: Come on guys, you’re killing me. The Usual?
Mac: 5pm?
Mac: Guys!!!!!!!
Selene: Chill out Mac. It’s been like 5 fucking seconds, not everybody types as fast as you do.
Mac: Shut up mole.
Selene: Game on mole.
Me: You’re both moles. See you at 5:30pm.
Mac: Fine. 5:30pm. You better be on time.
Mac: None of this 154 minutes late shit.
Mac: *15 minutes
Mac: Any details to share in advance?
Mac: Who was it?
Mac: Did I speak to him?
Mac: Guys?
Selene: See you at 17:30.
Mac: You girls suck!
* * * * *
When I arrive at the Usual, Selene and Mac are already sitting at our usual table. Nice and close to the dark timber bar and a high table with high stools so we can semi stand and not have our thighs go all squidgy on the seats. It may be our Usual but we are not animals, we still want to look hot. Just not actually utilise that hotness to its full potential. Mac is tapping at her wristwatch with a frown whilst Mac is staring meaningfully at the ornate, silver watch hanging around her neck. I am only five minutes late but clearly she and Selene got here early in anticipation. How did they get out of work early for this? Why did they get out of work early just for me?
‘Sorry I’m five minutes late,’ I say dumping my over-seized beige, faux-alligator skin handbag on the corner of the table.
‘Seriously, you’re the first one to get off, how can you be the last one here?’ Mac is not happy with even a five minute tardy. Selene comes across as the uptight one but deep down it is Mac. She adjusts her frilly pink blouse and squints those green eyes at me. I swear she knows her eyes are special so she uses them as a weapon as much as possible.
‘Apparently she was the last one to get off,’ Selene smiles into her wine glass. I laugh in return. Sensible Selene is here customary black business suit. How many of those things must she own? At least one hundred and fifty.
‘Oh shut up you two,’ Mac is frustrated. ‘So, details? Who was it? Was it Thor?’
Ahhhh, now it makes sense, she is worried that I have been getting my hand on the God of Thunder’s hammer.
‘Come on, spill.’ Selene as always is simple, direct and to the point.
‘Ladies, chill, at least buy me a drink before violating my privacy.’ Two sets of eyes stare at me. One set green, the other brown, but identically unimpressed. ‘Okay, at least let me buy myself a pint before you start in on me.’
I spin to get up and nearly clash with an unfortunate looking bar tender.
‘Hey Gwyn,’ he is like a puppy, practically panting, ‘a customer ordered a pint and then decided they wanted something else, so I thought I’d bring it over to you. I know it’s your usual.’
I thank him for his generosity but assure him he really should not put himself out on my behalf. He stares at me with big cow eyes, which let me know that it is far too late for that.
I turn back to Mac and Selene.
‘We need to find a new Usual.’
‘No,’ there is no arguing with Selene. ‘You made your bed, now you lie in it.’
‘How is this even my fault?’
‘You shouldn’t have flashed him,’ Selene responds flatly.
‘But I was drunk, it was late, we should have moved onto a new location by then. I clearly remember saying that we should leave. I know that you never stay at your local to disgrace yourself.’ I plead.
‘I’m more interested in hearing how you disgraced yourself last night,’ Mac butts in, ‘and with who.’
‘Do you remember the Silver Fox?’
Two heads shake no at me.
‘There was a hot older business man, really good suit, amazing smile, dimples? He was there with a bunch of other suits, and stood at the bar.’
I am met with shrugs.
‘Well, him.’
‘So, not Thor?’ Mac asks.
‘Not Thor,’ I respond slightly frustrated. ‘Mr Grey.’
‘What?’ Selene is looking at me incredulously.
‘You know, like in the book.’
‘Oh my God!’ Mac is staring at me aghast. ‘You didn’t read the book. He doesn’t have grey hair.’ Not reading the assigned book is Mac’s equivalent of swearing in church. I am a little stunned by the attack.
‘I know,’ I raise my hands trying to placate her rage, ‘I read it.’ She is still glaring at me. Clearly, she does not believe me. ‘I just thought it was a funny play on words. And he was all hot and businessy and we’d just been reading about all hot and businessy so I thought…’
‘Why not fuck an old man?’ Selene interrupts bluntly.
‘He wasn’t old! He was one of those just going silver guys, still young and fit.’ So fit, so hot, strong body, abs that you could carve a mountain with, so fucking hot. Hard body pressed up against me, lips mashing, tongues touching, hands gliding along skin, hot mouth running along my neck, hands clutching at my thighs, buttocks, lips teasing nipples.
‘Are you still with us?’ Mac is waving her hands up and down in front of my face.
‘Sorry, I was just having a flashback.’
‘A flashback?’ Selene is frowning at me with her WTF face. ‘You went to war last night? With the Grey Man?’
I nod slowly and my crotch twinges at the memory.
‘Sexnam,’
‘Sounds intense,’ Mac is leaning forward, eyes bright with anticipation for details.
‘I’m now suffering from PTSD, Post Tremendous Sex Desire.’
‘That’s hot,’ Selene says.
‘That is hot,’ Mac gives a confirmation on that.
‘He really loved my hair,’ I can still feel his hands running through my hair. ‘He said he has a thing for gingers.’
‘You’re not a real ginger,’ Mac’s rebuttals come virtually automatically these days.
‘My hair might be fake but my orgasms certainly weren’t.’
‘Orgasms?’ Selene picks up on the plural.
‘Oh yeah, multiple orgasms.’
‘I need a vibrator,’ Selene always knows just what to say.
An Irish backpacker sitting behind us swivels around with his best attempt at a suave grin pasted onto his sweaty face.
‘Ladies, have you ever heard of an Irish eight-pack…’
‘No!’ Selene’s word is final.
* * * * * * * * * *
‘Have you read it?’ Mac is looking at me accusingly over my pint. She seems to be attempting to coordinate her drinks with the colour of her bronze sequined top. A new level of fashion obsession even for Mac. Is she into disco now? I have only just got used to her pirate princess look.
‘Read it?’ I am slightly offended, ‘I’ve taught Pride and Prejudice!’
‘So you’re definitely prepared to speak at tomorrow’s book club meeting?’
‘Of course!’ Our routine, pre-book club, book clubs are not usually so hostile. ‘Why are you getting so sassy? Save your arguments for the Longi. We don’t want to taint our usual hang out.’
‘By flashing our tits at the barman?’
‘It was my bra!’
‘Settle down girls,’ Selene has had enough of our bickering. ‘They should be thankful to see Gwyny’s B cups. But, to be totally honest, you were awfully quiet last month. It kind of stuffed up the whole vibe of the evening.’
‘I’m sorry. I was just embarrassed. I already told you, I just didn’t want to discuss sex with those women. They’re old.’
‘Too embarrassed to talk about it but not too embarrassed to fuck about it,’ Mac spits out.
‘Woah, what is your problem?’ Sure Mac is feisty, and she loves our book club, but this is ridiculous. ‘Have you got your period or something?’
‘Ohhhhhh,’ I can see Selene shrink down as if she wishes to duck for cover. If it is true it will snap Mac right out of it, if it is not, there might just be a catfight in our Usual.
‘That is so insulting,’ Mac sniffs loudly then breaks into a grin, ‘but yes I do.’
I nod understandingly and we touch hands.
‘Let me get you a nice Sav Blanc and we can talk about Pride and Prejudice further.’
‘You going to bang a Darcy this month?’ Mac asks as I am walking away. I shake my head and laugh. She is too cheeky sometimes.
I sidle up to the bar. The middle aged bar manager puts a pint in front of me. I may be just a tad too predictable.
‘I’m grabbing a drink for Mac too.’ He slaps a white wine next to it. Well, at least I am not being predictable on my own. ‘I should get one for Sel whilst I’m here.’ He stares at me, no automatic response for Sel. She seems more strict and proper than Mac and I but deep down she must be the wild one. After all, she even changes her drinks. ‘I think she’s favouring dirty martinis this evening.’ He raises his eyebrows at me and I cannot resist winking at him, ‘That’s right, dirty.’
When I return to the girls the bar manager is still blushing.
‘What did you say to him?’ Mac asks indignant.
‘He does have grey hair,’ Selene says. ‘She probably put the hard word on him.’
I snort loudly as I try to repress a laugh. One fuck a month ago and they are still banging on about it. We need to get laid more often.
‘So?’ I ask, getting us back on track, ‘Do we love it or hate it?’
‘Love the idea of having a good shag with a sexy businessman,’ Selene helpfully answers.
‘But not with the bar manager at our Usual,’ Mac responds.
‘I know, don’t shit where you eat.’ I am resigned to the fact that we are not going to be doing our regular pre-bookclub discussion this evening. I will be needing a lot more pints.
‘Or flash your tits at your food.’ Mac does not miss a beat.
‘Okay. But is it alright if from time to time I flash my bra at a side salad or something?’
‘You do what you need to do to get us free drinks,’ Selene says with a wink. ‘Meanwhile, I’m not feeling Darcy.’
‘Me neither,’ I agree, ‘but you can’t say that. The ladies will flip. Particularly the older ones.’
‘I’d like me a slice of that Wickham,’ Mac is bobbing on her seat as if she is grinding to sex music. ‘He’s a bad boy but you know he’d be good in bed.’
‘What about poor old Bingley?’ I ask, ‘He’s a nice guy.’
‘He’s totally whipped!’ Selene nearly spits out her dirty martini in horror. ‘Seriously if he was alive now he’d be living in his parent’s granny flat with his tragic sisters.’
‘No.’ I shall defend my sweet natured Bing. ‘He’s a good boy, he’s just a bit Cinderellee.’
‘That’s not a word,’ Mac interrupts.
‘Oh, it’s a word!’ It should be a word. ‘He’s all dominated by his wicked stepsisters.’
‘He doesn’t have wicked stepsisters.’
‘I’m using creative license!’
‘Whatevs,’ Selene says flatly, ‘he’d be a fumbler in bed.’
‘I think Mrs Bennet gets a bad rap,’ Mac muses thoughtfully. And with that, we are back on track. No more sex talk, no more teasing over silver foxes with strong arms, pulling me into him, my nails digging into his broad shoulders, spreading my legs as wide as I can eager to have all of him inside of me.
‘Sexnam?’ Selene is staring at me, Mac is nowhere to be seen. ‘Mac was so engrossed in her thought about the novel she failed to notice you’d departed.’
I start guiltily.
‘Has she gone home?’
‘No she’s just gone to the can.’
‘Sorry.’
‘It was that good, huh?’
‘Yep,’ is all I can utter in reply as my vaginal muscles contract as if searching for the Grey Man’s cock.
Selene pats my hand sympathetically.
‘I really do need to get a vibrator,’ Selene says as if thinking aloud.
Mac comes rushing back across the bar looking really excited.
‘Girls, I have had the best idea!’ Her face is flushed with her own brilliance. ‘Instead of hiding the fact we don’t like Darcy, how about one of us admits to it. You know, get the ladies really fired up. Add some spice to our meeting.’
‘Great idea,’ I nod. ‘Last month was so quiet that we could use a good shake up.’
Write or Wrong 