One of those social gatherings that occur occasionally that you’re really not a part of but decide to attend anyway. More like a moon orbiting an outer satellite than a major planet closer to the star. Still after not deleting the invite I figured that they’d be quite a few old acquaintances that would be in attendance that it’d be good to catch up with them.

The function room was crowded with some of the overspill frequenting the main bar and I was happy that I had decided to return to the big city as I’d already had fun catching up with old friends from more than a decade past. The birthday girl’s brother, who had been the instigator of my invite, had roared loudly when he’d seen me and broken off from the group he was with to hug me tightly and drag me over to the bar where we polished off three shots of Malt Whiskey in quick order.

“Damn!” he repeated once again, “Never thought you’d turn up, Jimmy. Never thought we’d get you down from that mountain!”

“How could I refuse when the invite was so personal and sincere, Jack?” I answered with my own look of feigned sincerity.

“Sure we’re saving the trees by using Facebook,” he replied.

I grinned, “We won’t mention the number of power stations working to capacity to keep all those computers and I-phones running.”

“I see time hasn’t dampened your recalcitrant nature.”

“I see time has dropped a dictionary in your lap!”

Another shot was imbibed and the Jack returned to his group while I wandered about the throng making small talk with vague acquaintances and much more satisfying dialogues about futures and memories with my old friends. Still, as always, I felt removed from the proceedings and was happy to circulate through this solar system like a rogue planet.

I gravitated towards a corner of the function room, an elevated section that I assumed could be quickly converted to a stage, half a dozen tables and chairs were placed upon it with only five or six people sat there. I sat down and looked out across the crowd, my mind plotting orbits and paths as the individuals weaved through the whole. Numbers were rattling through my head and I was only vaguely aware as a blonde woman in a mid-length red dress rose from the seat nearest me and headed down into the main area. She became part of my mathematical equations as she slipped around groups and nodded to friends, threading her way through the crowd. Even before she was halfway across the-is ‘galaxy’ I knew she was bound for the toilets. I smiled to myself as the variables reduced with her progress and my prediction became more and more certain.

“Jimmy, the stargazer, isn’t it?” said a low voice from beside me.

I reluctantly dragged my gaze away from the blonde slightly annoyed that I wouldn’t see if my prediction would come true. But the voice that had issued from beside me was too strong and sultry. A brunette, with a short bob, in a black dress sat at the table vacated by the blonde sipping at a glass of white wine. I stared at her face, my eyes drawn to her light red coloured lips, trying to place her. After a few moments I replied, “You’ve got me... I am Jimmy the stargazer though most in my circle prefer the term astronomer.” My hind-brain was unwilling to give up a name to go with the face but a tiny alarm bell was ringing telling me to be wary. “And you are?” I asked.

“I don’t suppose we had that many conversations... possibly none actually but I see-” her eyes flicked towards the crowd as she lowered her glass in the general direction of her friend, “- that you’re still a predator!”

“The blonde?” I shook my head, “No, not really, you wouldn’t... believe me. I admit she is quite attractive but predatory thoughts hadn’t entered my head... not till you put them there!”

Now it was her turn to shake her head, the bob barely moving as she did so, “Not the walking gland you used to be?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I never was?”

The music from the main area cranked up a notch along with the general hubbub of conversation and I only just heard her say “Not in the slightest”, she took another sip from her glass as I swivelled on my chair and sat facing her.

I looked across the room, a few familiar faces in view but none reminded me of my present company but from her demeanour and what my memory was allowing me I knew that in some way I had offended her in years past. If I hadn’t been predatory concerning her blonde friend I was definitely feeling so about her, whether she liked me or not. “Would you mind if I moved closer?” I pointed to my ear, “One thing age has affected is my hearing or maybe it’s just that nowadays I think they play music far too loud... I must be getting old!” I said loudly.

She smiled for the first time albeit a cautious smile and nodded her assent. I picked up my glass of whiskey and weaved my way between the tables to sit on the opposite side of the table from her with my back to the crowd. “The thing is,” I began, “I was never quite the lothario people thought I was!” I could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe me, “Don’t misunderstand me, I wanted to be but I wasn’t, I just had a good... or bad maybe, publicist.”

“Really?” she answered incredulously.

“Really!” at a closer distance the face was becoming more familiar and I believed that she was a friend of a friend from a decade past and considering the present gathering it was a safe bet she was in the medical profession, “You remember my brother... well, I think he wanted me to live the life he wanted... ironic really!”

“Ironic?”

“Aye, turns out he was Gay the whole time!” I answered with a smile.

“Michael was Gay! I don’t believe you. I mean... I heard he was living with that Irish girl... Philomena.”

“He did, a phase I think they call it” I replied enjoying the shock on her face and having definitely narrowed down where we knew each other from.

“Still... from what I know, you weren’t exactly shy in your efforts to get into nurses uniforms!”

“That’s true but definitely not with the success I am attributed!” I chewed on my bottom lip as my memory got closer to her identity.

“Still don’t remember me?” she asked with a sense of righteousness.

“Not quite... fancy giving me any clues?” I asked in vain already knowing her reply.

She shook her head and lifted her glass to her lips once again as I lifted mine. I swilled the alcohol around my mouth slowly as I pondered the woman in front of me. Her face was very familiar as was the expression she wore which wasn’t the type of look I ever wanted to be responsible for on a woman’s face. “Hmmm... now I’m sure that I haven’t ever offended you... at least directly as I’m sure I would remember unless I was completely smashed so I’m guessing I upset a close friend?”

Her face in general gave nothing away but I was sure that her eyes narrowed in response to my question. It was at that moment I sensed the return of the blonde and craned my neck around to look. Having been cast in the role by my mysterious inquisitor my eyes quickly roved up and down her frame taking in the slim (too slim for my general taste) hips and large bust that I suspected had been augmented by artificial means whether silicon or padding I had no idea. “Hi, I’m Jimmy,” I offered.

I watched her eyes as they darted to the brunette and responded to an unseen expression, “Jimmy the arsehole?”

“Probably, though now I’m figuring I preferred ‘Jimmy the Stargazer’!”

“Need any help?” she asked her friend.

“Oh, none whatsoever, Emma,” I heard the reply.

“Well give me the nod and I’ll dislocate his arm” she offered before turning away. I paid more attention to her retreating figure this time, appreciating her arse as it wiggled within the dress. A smile played upon my lips as I wondered if that was her natural gait or if it was for the benefit of ‘Jimmy the Arsehole’.

“Yep, definitely prefer Stargazer to arsehole,” I said as I turned back to the brunette, “even wanker or tosser is preferable.”

To give her credit there was no guilt or embarrassment on her face. I took my time studying her face and once again a slight smile played upon her lips not bothered to be under close scrutiny. Her dark brown eyes gave nothing away as I imagined the couple of laughter lines about them invisible. A tiny hint of white hair marred the obsidian darkness behind her left temple. I left it there in my mind's eye and lightened her colour to a dark brown. Idly I swilled the remains of my drink within the heavy tumbler as she lifted her wine to her lips.

Her lips!

I motioned a waiter over and ordered another pair of drinks without asking her hoping for a comment as I emptied my own and placing it on his tray. She remained silent. It was the lips, coated in a more youthful, libido driven fiery red lipstick that forced the memory from my skull, not the name yet but that would be along shortly but I knew who she was and what I had done.

The sins of youth made me smile and the memory of the friend I had wronged stirred the 'snake' below. It was ironic that the woman in front of me was so much more my type than her friend from a decade ago and even back then when I remembered her scowling at me afterwards from across crowded rooms I wondered what it would be like to kiss those angry lips.

“Does the light dawn?” she asked sardonically.

“Harlesden... A house party just down from the Fisherman’s arms, I believe.”

“And?” she said with no hint of a smile.

“Allie... that was your friend’s name... Jane.”

We ceased our conversation as the waiter returned with our drinks, our eyes focused on one another’s as I handed over a note in payment. I suspected he could sense the atmosphere between us even for those few brief seconds.

“You took your sweet time about it,” she continued before raising the fresh glass of wine to her lips.

“Ahh, the memory isn’t what it used to be. As for Allie and the wrong I did her...” I paused wondering if it was worth putting my case.

“You’re really going to try and defend yourself?” her eyes widened in astonishment.

“Well, that’s the thing, the crime I was accused of... although no-one ever actually told me what I had done-“

“You’ve got some front!” interrupted Jane.

I let out a long sigh and raised my glass to my chin, rolling the cold surface about it, feeling my stubble flatten beneath it as I inhaled the peaty fumes from the amber liquid. “What is it they say in Hollywood films, a man has a right to face his accuser!”

“Well, J’accuse!” she said in a very good French accent, triumphantly folding her arms.

“Hmmm... you’re a fair minded person.” I didn’t wait for her to agree (I’ve never known anyone till backed into a corner not agree), “I’m sure you’ll hear me out.... Well, it was a very enjoyable party over in Harlesden, for the life of me I can’t remember whose it was but I was there with my brother and his fellow class-members as well as a few friends from up north. And in the garden I ran into Allie... damn but she had long hair... anyway from the get-go my motives were dishonourable but one thing I wasn’t and very, very rarely am was dishonest. I was completely up front about my intentions.”

"Very upright of you but it sounds like hypocritical misogynism to me!" she interjected.

"Hypocrisy, probably, but in my own opinion I've always been the opposite of a misogynist though I suppose all male chauvinist pigs think the same. I love women and often would say I'm in awe of them. I think you're amazing, maybe the only criticism I have is why as a sex you let men get away with walking all over you . Maybe you are the fairer sex, but the weaker sex, I don't think so." I took another sip of my drink giving Jane an opportunity to step in but she lifted her glass, swilling the pale liquid around as she pondered my words. "Personally I've always hated all kinds of -ism from sex to race, never thought I could afford to be racist, there were a few women knocking about the neighbourhood as well. Although I'm by no means a devotee of Political Correctness. Actually the best description of my philosophy would be Buddhist without all the fat fella's!' A genuine smile crossed Jane's lips which she quickly covered as she raised her glass.

"Now where was I? Ahh yes, in the garden, with carnal hopes and Allie! The question that night was my charm against her willingness or reticence? The basics were, I wanted what Allie had and by degrees I attempted to bring us to a mutually pleasurable agreement."

Jane's lips parted slightly showing her white teeth locked together, "Beguilement! A pretty euphemism for wanting to get into her pants!" she said curtly.

I nodded in agreement, "Beguilement, true, guilty as charged, but that wasn't the crime that you've despised me for down all the years, is it?"

She took a breath and I had to stop myself from glancing to her chest; she shook her head, "Despise is too strong a word, I think."

"Now who’s trying to be polite? I reckon while you were still at the Royal and I was knocking about and more so after I moved down here, whenever you saw me chemical castration was foremost in your mind!"

"Not always chemical." I couldn't help but wince.

"Thinking about it, you know that I left Allie's virtue intact that night. We'd had fun and no harm done and then we'd returned to the Nurse's home and you were there with her best interests at heart and, to be honest, probably right though I didn't thank you for it but I hope I was gracious in defeat when you sent me packing with my tail between my legs. But the story doesn't end there; the night actually wasn't over for me... I-"

The lights brightened in the bar as the last song ended. "Ho hum, pig's bum and this night is over, maybe in another decades time we'll meet again and continue where we left off."

I stood and finished my drink. Jane remained seated staring up at me, "Really? You don't want to..." she searched for the words, "...finish your defence?"

"Well, in my eyes I was never guilty, we were just victims of synchronicity and even if I felt comfortable inviting you back to my Mom and Dad's house I'm sure you would refuse!"

Jane grinned "You still live with your Mom and Dad?"

I smiled back, "I live up seventy-eight hundred feet up a mountain on Tenerife normally but it's a little far to head back to my bed tonight. I'm even more sure if I had my own place you'd be less likely to accept an invitation from a... misogynist hypocrite in need of gelding!"

She nodded in agreement and finished her drink before rising. We both entered the crowd and nodded goodbye to each other and I was pleased to obtain a genuine smile from her. I found Jack and his sister wishing them all the best and refusing his invitation to go back to their family home to destroy a bottle of Macallan; crying off that I was still getting over my jetlag, although I'd been back in the Smoke for three days.

I wasn't sure why I had said no but I reckoned the conversation with Jane had raised some ghosts from the grave who didn't want to be quietened. I stood outside the bar pulling my Dad's borrowed great coat tight around my shoulders, berating myself that I hadn't accepted my Mom's offer of a scarf and already regretting not taking Jack's invite as they pulled away in a couple of Taxi's. I'd forgotten or just become un-acclimatised to the UK's cold weather. I looked up and down the street, the eastern skyline dramatically changed from my last visit with the top of the brightly lit Shard disappearing into the cloud canopy. The astronomer in me cursed the City's light pollution turning the same clouds that prevented me seeing the stars a sickly orange.

"Synchronicity?" asked a voice from behind me.

"Aye, it's a bitch!" I turned to look at Jane immediately envious of the multi-coloured scarf she was wrapping around her neck.

She tilted her head to the group of people she was with including the blonde from earlier, "A bunch of us are staying at a hotel around the corner, maybe we could continue our conversation in the bar if you're not in a hurry?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "You trust me to behave? Remember I was always only after one thing!"

She grinned in spite of herself, "People change and I think I'll be safe enough in the bar, they have security."

"I'm sure you will be though I don't necessarily agree with your first statement" I replied. We walked away from the Shard and past the Tube station that would take me home and would be closing within the hour. I almost made my excuses at that point till I caught the look in the blonde's eyes that took me back to the very same expression that Jane had worn outside Allie's room all those years ago. Whether to prove her wrong or right I don't know but I decided to play it out.

The hotel bar was well lit and only one other couple was still drinking when the five of us stepped in. The heat was instantly stifling and we all divested ourselves of our outer layers before ordering drinks. The blonde, whose name I re-learnt was Emma, sat between me and Jane in a poorly feigned casual manner. Jane was obviously annoyed by it but too polite to say anything but almost laughed when she saw the grin on my face at her friend's obvious action.

"So, Jimmy, what do you do?" asked one of the two men.

"On the whole I lay on my back and stare upwards!" I replied giving him my stock answer.

Jane laughed, "He's an astronomer, Rob."

"Not exactly going to change the world with that, are you?" sniped Emma.

"No but I might save it!" I shot back to laughter from all but my detractor, "Of course the odds of me seeing an object of ELE magnitude are roughly thirty million to one!"

"Ellie?" asked Rob.

"Extinction level event... Coffee please" I added as the waiter appeared to take our order gaining a raised eyebrow from Jane which I returned in equal measure when she ordered a whiskey.

I was sure that Emma had not wanted to benefit me when she sat between the two of us but for the first time I was able to appreciate Jane's body and in particular her stockinged legs as her black dress slid down the sheer material encasing her thighs. The conversation rolled around the table for a good thirty minutes and Jane's legs continued to distract me though she played it well as by the time Rob called it a night and dragged a very reluctant Emma away and woke the other member of our party from a drink induced slumber I had no idea if Jane was flirting with me, teasing me, testing me or was simply unaware that my eyes were continually being drawn to her thighs.

“Emma’s very protective,” I stated.

“It’s what friends do,” replied Jane.

“Until Rob took her away and I then realised they were a couple I thought maybe she was protective for other reasons!”

“What? That she fancied me? I suppose it’s possible because by general definition she is bi. Although with her it’s more mono-sexual” answered Jane.

“Mono-sexual?” I queried.

“She... loves people and their sex doesn’t come into it, truly someone who loves a person for who they are and not what they are and as far as me... well I think you’re actually more her type!” explained Jane.

I looked down the corridor leading to the lifts, “Damn! I let her get away. Though, she did put me in mind of you protecting Allie.”

“I guess I can see that,” Jane signalled the waiter, “Two coffees, please.”

“I’m sorry, Miss, but we really need to be closing the bar. If you want further drinks you can order them from room service” he stated.

“Excuse me but the lady really doesn’t want a reprobated like me up in her room, do you reckon you could just do us one last order... we’ll turn off the lights when we leave, honest” I implored.

“One last order?” he asked.

“Big tip in it for you,” I offered.

“Okay then,” he replied and turned away.

“That was generous of you, Jim... seeing as you are not a resident you’re not allowed to pay!”

“Oops,” I answered guiltily.

“The price for explaining synchronicity?” she asked.

“Hmm... synchronicity for coffee. Fair enough.” I twisted on the couch so I was facing Jane, she moved about as well lifting one of those long legs up folding her left, now shoeless foot beneath her right knee. I managed to keep my eyes on hers. “As I lay looking up at the heavens one has a lot of time to ponder the mysteries of the universe, you see everything about us is chaos, just very, very slow moving chaos. We live on this planet that circles a star at just the right distance with just the right conditions that gave rise to Deoxyribonucleic acid molecules-“

“DNA,” interjected Jane.

“Yes, DNA and Mitochondria without which life as we know could not exist and all this is really just coincidence or synchronicity. Of course synchronicity is the occurrence of two events or objects in the same place at the same time or not. A stellar flare at the beginning of life on this planet may have ended it there and then or may have been the kick-start it needed.”

“You are going to get to the point where this has anything to do with the way you treated Allie that night?” asked Jane adopting a serious tone although her eyes were smiling.

“This has everything to do with how I treated Allie, but it wasn’t my behaviour that night was it, that did it?”

Jane reluctantly shook her head and I watched as her teeth gripped her lower lip. The waiter returned at that moment with our coffees and I pulled a ten-pound note from my wallet which made him very happy. “You didn’t have to do that,” Jane said as he disappeared.

“Nope I didn’t, anyway...” I added a sugar to my coffee and stirred in just a hint of milk, “...after I left you and Allie that night I was still somewhat wired and headed down to my brother’s room where he and our mate Danny...”

Jane looked at me closely, “What is it?”

“Sorry... Danny was... well he was a good mate and now he’s gone... dead, died a few years back, still hurts somewhat to remember him” I took a gulp of coffee. “So in the room the three of us polished of a bottle of whiskey... we use to do that far too often and so the next morning.”

“The next morning,” stated Jane.

“Aye. The day of the crime?” I offered and Jane nodded, “I was in a car outside the Nurse’s home headed back up north seriously hungover and I’m fully aware how much it must have hurt Allie.”

“So you knew?” asked Jane leaning forward.

“I was sat in that car. My head throbbing, leaning against the window when I saw two or three girls walk out of the building, I was barely aware of them and it was only as the car pulled away that my brain told me who I had seen even though it had been only a few hours since I was closer than touch with her. By the time I looked back the car had pulled away around the corner. I should’ve asked them to stop but I didn’t...in hindsight even after a few minutes I knew that I should’ve.”

“She couldn’t believe it, you know. She really liked you and...” Jane let out a little laugh full of irony, “and you saw right through her.”

I bit my own lip as I remembered the day and the possible glimpse of hurt I’d seen on Allie’s face. “Synchronicity or just bad-timing... it’s a bitch!”

“Why didn’t you tell her, later, the next time you saw her?”

“Why? Because of you!” I replied unbelievingly.

“Me?” replied Jane raising her voice.

I laughed and I saw her eyes go cold like they had been at the beginning of the night. “Whenever I saw her next she was generally with you or her friends have you any idea how scary you could be? Getting the ‘dead-eye’ from across a room no matter how much of an insensitive bastard you are is bloody intimidating!”

Jane actually blushed, “I...err...”

“Not your fault, just-“

“Synchronicity?” she cut in.

“Yep!” I agreed, “Do you remember seeing me in the Goldsmith’s Arms a while later?”

“Not sure.”

“Well, I was at the bar with another Emma, Emma North I think.”

“Maybe, yes... Emma North was gay!” she looked at me incredulously, “You didn’t?”

“No, I didn’t even if she wasn’t gay then... I’m thinking my batting average sucks. But, well...” it was my turn to blush, “she really quite fancied me and I didn’t fancy her and being an eejit I was trying to let her down easy by saying I wasn’t really into sex.”

“Should’ve said you were gay,” she offered.

“These days I would but back then I guess I wasn’t so comfortable with the term or maybe less cynical, anyway you lot walk in with Allie and I end up having to explain about the bad blood that you, especially, are so obviously displaying in my direction.”

Jane burst out laughing and when she calmed she said, “Now that would have been a conversation worth listening to!”

“Synchronicity, and when you add it all up if I had stopped the car or maybe you had left me a little space that I could have explained myself to Allie maybe, just maybe we could’ve got together and you’d be visiting the two of us at Pico del Teide .”

“Maybe? Honestly, I don’t really think you were Allie’s type anyway...she ended up marrying a copper... just like her mom.”

____________________________

I’m sitting cross legged on the bed, my cock hard and erect sticking up between us as I gently take hold of Jane’s shoulders and push her away from me. Her lips break from mine and her eyes open looking back into mine as she sits before me, the smile on her mouth fading as she sees my serious expression. “What?” she asks quietly.

My cock aches as my hands slide down her arms and take hers in mine. “Tell me... what did you think of me just a few hours ago?”

Guilt spreads across her face and her eyes drop away for a moment before returning to hold mine, “You were a bastard.”

“I still could be. All just a ruse to get into your panties?” my eyes flick to the discarded clothes spread all around us.

“True... but people change,” her fingers clasp mine tightly before I interrupt. “People can change their minds.”

“Are you sure this is what you want? What was it you said? Beguilement, have I beguiled you?”

“You have. Are you really going to walk away at this point with that?” she asks her eyes glancing down to my erection.

“If you say ‘no’ I will.”

I watch her smile broaden as she rises on her knees, the whisper of her stockings reaching my ears and moves forward straddling my own. Her hands slip up my arms and entwine around my neck as I feel the heat and the dampness of her slit slide over my swollen glans. “No” she whispers as she slowly descends, our eyes closing as we join, “no, you’re not going anywhere...mmmm... who’s to say that I wasn’t thinking of this moment when I saw you sit down at the party... maybe back outside Allie’s room I had an ulterior motive for protecting her virtue?” I moaned deeply as Jane’s pussy fully engulfs my cock.

“Who’s to say who beguiled who?” she mutters as she begins to rock back and forth.