Chapter 50

Niki


I got a lovely message from Niki when I was home, thanking me for the lovely afternoon, and hoped we could meet up again soon.

We spoke later on. "Would you like to meet for lunch tomorrow?" I asked her.

"Yeth, ok, that would be nithe! I can borrow mum'th car and drive over, if you tell me your addreth" she replied with a bit of a lisp.

"Ah, well if you have a car, I know a place that does a nice carvery....". She liked that idea, so we ended up having a nice lunch, then came back to my place. I made us coffees, and we sat together on the settee.

Before she had a chance to remove her aligners, I leaned towards her, and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. She seemed to be ok about that, and hadn't pulled away, so I gave her another one, but this time took the opportunity to touch her aligner-covered teeth with my tongue. The good news for me is that she didn't seem to be scared to kiss me, although her lack of experience was fairly obvious. I gently pushed my tongue between her lips... well, actually between her top teeth and her lower lips, and touched her tongue. After a little persuading, she let my tongue play with hers, which allowed me at the same time to feel her top teeth, covered in their clear plastic aligners. Whilst not being 'proper' braces, they still felt good, and her protruding teeth were a surprising turn-on.

Being our first kiss, it wasn't long but it was enough. Of course, then she needed to, once again, remove her aligners. Unlike when we were out, when she had put them into her case, and put them back into her bag, this time she just put them in the plastic case, which she left open on the table in front of us, allowing me to have a quick look at them: there's not really a lot you can say about a pair of clear aligners, apart from they are made of thin clear plastic, and are in the shape of her teeth. Her molars seemed to be pretty much in line, her lowers were a bit twisted, but probably had enough space to be easily moved into place, and her uppers, they stuck out a bit! Actually looking at her teeth, specifically her top front teeth, they were fairly long and thin, probably a tiny bit longer than mine, but narrower.

I had also taken out my retainers, and had just put them onto the table, close to her aligners.

"How you getting on with your braces then?" I asked her. "Three days now, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's right. It still feels very strange when I'm wearing them, it's surprising how much you can actually feel them, even though they are very thin". With her aligners out, her lisp had, of course, disappeared.

"Do they make your teeth hurt at all?"

"I was a bit sore on Wednesday evening, when I first put them in, and I felt a bit of tenderness when I had lunch earlier, but otherwise they seem to be pretty ok. I'm guessing you must have had metal braces?"

"Yes" I lied. "My problem was mainly with the bite on my molars, and they said that aligners wouldn't really work for me, but I really didn't mind having metal braces. They made my teeth delicate for the first week... as you say, not actual pain, although I kept myself dosed up on painkillers the first couple of days!"

"Didn't the metal brackets dig into your cheeks at all?" she asked

"They did a bit, but you soon get used to it. I guess that's one thing you don't get with your aligners"

"No, but I did get a lisp, I think its because the plastic kinda fills in the gaps between my front teeth. I guess the brackets don't give you a lisp... what about your retainers?"

"Yeah, I had a bit of a lisp for the first two or three days... I guess it's all about your tongue finding where it needs to be to make the correct sounds".

Needless to say, I was more than happy to talk with Niki about our braces.

Over the next two to three weeks, we met up most nights. She was able to borrow her mum's car in the evenings and at weekends, so could come around to see me. She had dinner with me at home a few times, others I took her out for meal, or we went to the pictures. One evening, Niki, Janice, and her current boyfriend joined us for dinner.

Whilst I quite enjoyed spending time with Niki, as a typical male, I had certain sexual 'needs', which Niki was clearly not ready to fulfil, so I got a bit frustrated. She was ok kissing (and was learning fast). I managed to rub her lovely small boobs a couple of times (through her clothes!), but that was about it. If I tried to do anything 'below the waist' she either pushed my hand away, or said something like "I'm not ready to go that far yet".

Whilst I absolutely respected her for setting such boundaries, it didn't do anything to address my 'urges'. Nor did I think she would be ready to go any further any time in the near future. She needed someone who was willing to 'take things more slowly', something I felt I wasn't wanting to do.

So, three weeks after our first meeting for coffee, I met up with Niki in town, and we went to a simple restaurant for lunch. Niki chose a chicken salad, I went for a club sandwich. We chatted as we ate: the food was simple, but very adequate for lunch.

One we had finished, I decided to say what needed to be said.

"Niki, I need to tell you something... in fact several things... that are very important. Please can you let me say what I need to say...." I said

"You want to split up with me, don't you?" was her instant reply.

"Hmmm, yes, I guess so, but I also need to tell you a lot of very nice and good stuff about you. Tell you what, take a few moments to take in the bad news, then let me know when you're ready. OK?"

Niki picked up her drink, and took a couple of large sips, then sat quietly for a short while. "OK, go on then..." she said - I could see a tiny tear in her eye

"Niki, you are a lovely girl. You are actually quite attractive, you have a lovely face, and a most delightful smile: many people just smile with their mouths, but you smile with your whole face... your mouth, your cheeks and your eyes, and it feels so natural. In fact, it was when I saw your smile that first time we met for a coffee, that I realised how pretty you are." The good news for me is that she actually responded with one of her lovely smiles, which let me see her beautiful protruding teeth, currently without her braces, as we had just been eating.

"Oh, and don't worry about your teeth, or your braces for that matter: anyone who is put off by either just doesn't deserve you. Besides, your braces won't be forever, and I bet you'll look amazing once your treatment has finished". I paused a second or two as I thought what I should say next.

"You don't use a lot of makeup, and what you do use, you seem to apply it with care... I get the feeling that you aren't all that experienced with makeup, because since I've known you, you've actually tried quite a few combinations... but all have looked good on you. Moving down your body, your chest is quite small, and I suspect you want to be bigger, but don't think that: what you have actually looks just great on your body. Not all of us guys like girls with big chests, many of us prefer girls just like you. In addition, you're not at all fat, nor underweight either, which makes you look so good". As I continued talking, I looked at Niki, to make her appreciate how serious I was about what I was saying: she continues to grin.

"I've also noticed that you look after yourself well: for example, unlike some girls I've seen, you don't bite your nails, so don't need to wear stick-on nails: it's obvious that they are your own nails, and you keep them in great condition, and the way you paint them makes them look lovely. You also care for your hair, and it suits you a lot! Your clothes are simple, but they make you look fantastic! Oh, yeah, you also smell nice too!". Niki continued smiling, which is what I wanted - I wanted her to leave today feeling good with herself, and not upset.

"I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that you are still a bit shy, and seem maybe a little intimidated by me, I guess because I'm a guy, and I think you are maybe a bit scared of us guys: don't worry about that, we guys are just as scared of you girls, I think it's just that many of us are better at hiding it, and putting on a very brace face! You don't have a lot of experience of us guys, so that's all to be expected, but you'll get better as you meet more people"

"I think you also put yourself down a lot: you are actually quite bright, as well as having a lot of common sense: we've had some amazing conversations. You have many interests, and have worked very hard to meet me halfway, as your interests and mine are really quite different. But I think we're a little bit TOO different, and that's one reason I think it's better for us to split up: it's not any fault of yours, it's simply that we ARE different". By this time I had gently placed my hands on Niki's.

"The other reason I feel we need to split up is our intimate relationship, or maybe I should say our LACK of intimacy: you clearly do not want to 'go anyway near all the way' yet, and I absolutely respect you for that, and the fact that you didn't just give in: however, I just find that very frustrating, I just need more than you are ready to give at the moment."

"But somewhere out there is a guy a bit more like you, that is more willing to take things slowly with you, and is waiting to meet you. Just don't under-sell yourself, you are a really lovely girl!". I took a deep breath.

"You ok?" I asked Niki.

"Yes, actually I am. No one has ever said anything like that to me before, and I feel...
well, very flattered! Wow! Thank you!"

"I'm still sorry about actually splitting up with you though, we've had some nice times together. But I wanted you to realise that, just because we don't seem to properly work together doesn't make you a bad person, and I wanted you to go away feeling good about yourself!"

"Yeah, thank... at first I was worried you were going to maybe say a few nasty things about me. But you're right, we are different, and I think if we'd just kept going out together, you probably would have said some not so good things about me!" she replied with a smile. I must say, breaking up like this was actually quite pleasant, maybe I should try and be like this a bit more.

"So, now that we've formally split up, would you like a desert? I fancy some ice cream!"

So, that's how my 3 week long relationship with Niki finally ended.

I did think about making this chapter happen a week or two earlier in the timeline, so that Danny invited Niki along too, to meet Jenny, but decided that it would probably piss Jenny off a bit, having a fan-girl tagging along. So, it's happening soon after Danny has split up with Niki...

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Chapter 51

Danny meets up with Ben


I had been over in South London visiting one of our customers for the day. It was just before 5pm, and I decided that I'd get some dinner nearby. I remembered that Jenny and Ben both lived somewhere near I was. I'd got Ben's phone number when we'd met that day at the zoo, so decided to call him, see if he'd like to join me for dinner and a couple of beers. It took him 3 rings to answer

"Hi, Ben, it's Danny here. I used to go out with Amanda, and we met at the zoo one Sunday" I explained, in case he had problems working out who I was.

"Hi Danny... yeah, I'm not gonna forget THAT Sunday too quickly!! What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm visiting a customer just outside Croydon, and I know you live down here somewhere, and I was just wondering if you fancied joining me for a beer and a meal somewhere suitable - I'm sure you must know somewhere. My treat, by the way!"

"Hmm, I do like the idea, but I'll just need to check with Jennifer to see if she has anything planned for us tonight. Otherwise, yes, I'm on!"

"Ok, why don't you call her, then get back to me. I still need to finish up here, so I'm gonna be another 10 or 15 minutes before I'm ready to go"

"Yeah, I'm a 5:30 finish too, so that should work fine. I'll call you back shortly..."

I started logging out of the various systems I'd connected to, spent a few minutes finishing off my notes, and was just about to shut my laptop down when my phone rang.

"Hi Ben!"

"Hi again. So Jennifer is ok with me coming out to play with you, but has also suggested would you like to go out to a club afterwards? Knowing Jennifer, I'm sure she'll be busy arranging someone like Dua Lipa to be your partner for the evening!". I loved the way that Ben always seemed to call her 'Jennifer', whilst everyone else called her just 'Jenny'

"I keep forgetting that Jenny's a pop-star, and lives in a very different world from us mortals. It was a bit like that with Amanda too" I said with a laugh. "But yeah, I'm up for going out to a club, although I won't be able to stay all that late, I have to be back here with my customer again tomorrow. So, you worked out where we can go for a meal then??"

"Well, where exactly are you right now?" he asked me. I told him where I was. "Oh, I know just where you are, you're actually a matter of minutes from where I work. Are you in a car?"

"No, public transport and Ubers seem to work ok for me"

"Ok, wait outside the reception, I'll be there something like quarter to. I'll be in a dark blue Skoda Fabia, if you know what they look like"

"Isn't that the one like a Golf?"

"That's the one, so see you soon"

So, not long after, Ben pulled up where I had been working, and took me into town, and parked, then we walked to a bar. Because I would be going back to the customer again the following morning, I'd left my laptop in a secure area there.

"I thought we could start with a pint, then get dinner....". Over dinner we talked about various things, including braces of course.

"Last time I saw you, you had the fake brackets, what happened to them then?"

"Ah, yes, a bit of a story about that" I explained, and proceeded to tell him about Sandra, the girl I'd met at the party, who'd stormed out on me, accusing me of being a braces weirdo, and 'only wanting to get her into bed because she had braces'. Ben thought it was hilarious.

"So, yeah, I decided it would be a lot simpler to 'finish my treatment' and start to wear my retainers. I mean, they are 100% normal retainers"

"Do you miss wearing the fake braces?" Ben asked me

"Not really. I'll be honest, the first month with them was really great fun, and for as long as I was going out with Amanda, who was just as bad as me in terms of braces, it was ok too. But since we split up, I've not enjoyed them anywhere near as much - it's actually nice to have something else in my mouth for a change. With the advantages that I no longer get brackets making my cheeks sore, and I can actually take them out to eat... and doing THAT with people watching is good fun too! So, you have some fake braces, do you ever wear them out in public?"

"I don't think I'm quite as brave as you are, no, I haven't"

"You should! You really should. Ok, after you've worn them like I have for a few months, the excitement does massively reduce, but the first few times you do it, it's really such fun! You just need to make sure you're somewhere no one you know is likely to be. So, when wearing any of my other braces, I'd go somewhere like Westfield, either West London or Stratford, they are far enough out the way."

Ben asked me about what sort of other braces I had, and I told him. "I'll send you Mei's contact details... just tell her 'Danny sent you', and she'll sort you out. She speaks really great English."

We had finished our main course, and were both having some ice cream, when Ben's phone rang. It was Jenny.

"Right, so the plan is for us to drive to Jennifer's place. From there' we'll get a taxi to Linda's, then off to the club."

"Who's Linda then?"

"I'll leave Jennifer to explain, but don't worry, she's a nice girl."

We finished our meal, I paid, and after quickly brushing my teeth, and putting my retainers back in my mouth, we walked back to his car. From there we drove to a very ordinary part of South London (it didn't look THAT different from where I lived), and stopped close to Jenny's place. To be honest, I had no idea where I actually was! Ben used his key to open the front door, then we went upstairs to Jenny's flat. I was expecting it to be something quite flash, more like Amanda's place, but it actually felt quite pleasant and homely, and more like my place.

"Danny, it's so good to see you again" said Jenny, hugging me politely. She was wearing her long dark-haired wig again, like she had done the day we'd met at the zoo, to make herself a little less recognisable. Every time I saw Jenny, I'll admit that I found her to be very attractive. The first time I'd met Jenny, I had just started going out with Amanda, and now I wasn't, but Jenny was now in a steady relationship with Ben. So any thoughts I might have about Jenny were just going to stay as thoughts.

"Hi Clark!" I responded. It was obvious that she hadn't remembered her comment at the zoo. "You're in your 'Clark Kent' disguise again, I see". She smiled as she remembered the reference.

"I thought it would be a bit easier for us if I went out as me, rather than as 'Jenny from CJD', so yeah, I'm Clark Kent again tonight. Actually, that gives me an idea....". Jenny disappeared, then reappeared moments later, wearing a pair of glasses. And unlike some fake glasses that girls wear that really don't suit them, these actually looked pretty realistic, and vaguely suited Jenny's face.

"What do you think?"

"Well, they certainly look good on you, and you know, they may even help you not look like Jenny" I commented

"They are actually proper glasses, I'm very slightly long sighted, so sometimes wear them if I get tired". The doorbell rang. "That will be the taxi..." she said. Downstairs there was a standard black cab waiting for us. Jenny gave the driver the first address, I guessed it was for where Linda lived.

"You know, Danny, I'm so sorry you and Amanda have split up, I thought you worked well as a couple! Never mind, there's plenty more of us out there waiting to meet you!"

"Including Linda, I believe. So who is Linda then? Clearly not one of CJD. I mean, her name starts with an 'L', not a C, J or D!"

"Well, she is, sort of. Linda is a session musician, but we also know her from college - she was in the year below us. But she's working with us at the moment: I think I told you that, as a result of meeting Ben, I've been writing some 'rockier' songs, as well as our more 'normal' stuff. Well, we realised that we really needed a 4th player in the band for that. So we're rehearsing the new stuff, still writing some new songs too, and it's been really great having Linda with us to help. She's gonna come in the studios with us too, and we're thinking about asking if she'd like to come on tour with us. Oh, please don't say anything about that last bit to her though!"

It wasn't long before we got to Linda's: she was already waiting outside, as Jenny had called her to say we were on the way. Jenny told the driver where we were going to now.

"Linda, this is Danny, Danny, meet Linda!". Linda was pretty good looking. My sort of height (but she was in short heels). Very nice crisp haircut with medium brown hair a couple of inches above her shoulders, with a fringe. Nicely dressed and manicured too. The thing that made her stand out a bit was the inch wide pink streak in her hair, at the front.

"Hi Linda! I'm sorry, but I feel slightly awkward that you've been dragged out to be my partner for tonight"

"Don't worry, it actually makes a very pleasant change for me to get out, we've been so busy rehearsing recently. I mean that Jenny, she's such a slave-driver!" said Linda

"What do you mean, slave-driver? We only did 14 hours the day before yesterday!" joked Jenny. "She's right though, we have been busy recently, so a night off will be rather nice for us!"

"Yeah, it's alright for you two, you two can just sleep in tomorrow. But Danny and I have to work tomorrow" said Ben.

"Bah! Just drink a bit more coffee, you'll be ok! But we don't need to stay out THAT late, I just thought it might be a bit of fun...." commented Jenny

The club turned out to be one of the many towards the centre of London, but not right in the middle. Once at the club, Jenny had a discrete word with one of the security guys on the door, with the result that another guy came out a minute later.

"I guess I probably need to take these off" said Jenny, removing her glasses for a moment. The guy smiled, as he recognised Jenny.

"Come on in, Jenny, always nice to see you!" he said - clearly Jenny had been here a few times before. Being midweek, and relatively early, it wasn't too full.

One advantage of being with someone famous is that you get to sit in the 'VIP Area'. There's nothing amazingly special about it, but there was a bit more space, fewer people, and it wasn't quite so noisy, so we could actually speak without needing to shout. Being the 'odd one out', I ended up chatting with all three of them, although Linda did make a point of taking me away from Ben and Jenny, and onto the dancefloor. Initially the music was quite fast, but after a few songs it slowed down. I was about to leave the floor, when Linda motioned me towards her.

"You think I'm coming out clubbing with a guy, and not having a nice dance with him?" So I put my arms around her, and she put hers around me.

"So, is that retainers or actual braces?" she asked me after we'd been dancing a while.

"Retainers. You sound very knowledgeable!" I replied, phrasing my words carefully.

"Ah, yes. I still have my retainers somewhere" she said, "although it's been a while since I wore them!"

"I'm guessing you had probably braces as a teen then?" I asked carefully. I had to assume that Linda wasn't like me.... or Ben for that matter....

"Yeah, my teeth were a bit of a mess, and I had several different braces... I started off with a pair of chunky removeable ones to help push my bottom jaw forwards". Ah, twin-blocks then, I thought. "It also had a screw thing in the top - boy that used to hurt when it was adjusted. Then I had brackets - like Jenny has - for a while. Then the retainers". So twin-blocks with an upper expander, then simple brackets, then a pair of Hawley retainers! It was fun trying to imagine Linda with all of those braces!

"Which you don't wear any more! But your teeth look ok to me, so it probably doesn't matter too much any more"

We continued dancing slowly. I was looking at Linda, with my mouth slightly open (just enough to let her see the wire of my retainer across my front teeth.) She put her finger to my mouth, running it over the wire. "You look cute with that... I remember my first kiss at school was with a boy who had a retainer!". Without saying anything, she put her lips to mine, then slipped her tongue between my lips, running it over the wire of my retainer. Without thinking, I opened my teeth a little, and her tongue quickly slipped in between them, touched my tongue for a few fleeting moments, and then ran over the plastic of my retainers for several moments. You can imagine the effect this was having on me. She then gently ended the kiss.

"Bring back a few memories?" I asked

"Yes, it did. His name was... Thomas Finkler, we were both 15 years old, I think. I was still in my train-tracks, but he had already finished his treatment, and had retainers, like yours. I seem to remember we dated for a few weeks". Hmm, I would have loved to have met a girl like Linda, with braces of course, when I was 15. Or even 16 or 17 or 18.....

Back at the table, there were some more drinks waiting for us. Jenny had made it clear that this bit of the evening would be on her, which suited me fine, as I had no doubt that a round of drinks here would massively reduce my bank balance. Ok, I was being a bit presumptive that Jenny was well off, but heck, she's a major pop-singer, and it looks like generally she's not an extravagant person. It's interesting, you hear about pop-stars going out on the town, flaunting their popularity, but Jenny seemed almost the opposite: whilst she clearly enjoyed being able to treat a few friends on an evening out, she was doing her best (and apparently succeeding tonight) to keep her privacy!

Linda, as a session musician, was not in the same league as Jenny... but if she went on tour with the group, having worked with them already, I could see her maybe joining them, and taking that step up in the future.

Over the almost 3 hours we were there, we danced all together, and as couples; we chatted, and we laughed... all in all, it was a fun night out. Linda and I got on pretty well, chatting together quite a bit, but I felt that it would absolutely not be appropriate to suggest taking things any further tonight - although it would be nice to maybe meet up with Linda sometime in the future.

At the end of the evening, Jenny even paid for a taxi to take me home, as they left in another one.

Chapter 52

Megan


It was lunchtime, and thus I needed to go and get something to eat. As I walked out of our building, I met Kelsey, who worked up in accounts (and before you start thinking, she's about 5 years older than me, and married!).

"Hi Danny! Off to get some lunch?"

"Oh, Hi Kelsey! Yeah, gonna try that new sandwich shop"

"So how you getting on with finding a new girlfriend then? Didn't I hear that you had met someone online?" she asked. It was clear that the work's jungle drums were working well! I explained that I had split up with my latest attempt (Niki) at the weekend.

"Well, I'm actually meeting my little sister for lunch, nothing special, just a sandwich and coffee... why don't you join us - my treat. She's also between boyfriends... you never know, maybe you'll hit it off. And even if you don't, you get a free lunch out of it!"

I wasn't especially keen on being set up on blind dates, but this wasn't a blind date really. So I thought 'what the heck!'. "Ok then.... so tell me about her"

"Well, her name is Megan, she's 25, and works at an Estate Agents. About your sort of height, quite pretty too, but then I'm biassed, she IS my little sister! Anyway, I'd better not tell you too much, or you won't have anything to talk about, will you?". So she changed the subject, and we talked about something else for the rest of the walk.

"Ah, she's already here.... right hand side, third table, black dress". I quickly looked over and saw a reasonably attractive girl just sitting down. She waved at Kelsey. We stood in the short queue, and finally got to the front, where I asked for a Coronation Chicken Sub, and a medium Black Americano. A few minutes later, with our lunch in our hands, we joined Megan at the table - I had to steal a chair from another table.

"Hiya!" said Kelsey to Megan. "This is Danny, he's one of our technical team at work. Danny, this is my little sis, Megan!"

"Hi Megan, nice to meet you..." I said to her.

I guess this is the point where I need to describe Megan to you all. So, as Kelsey had said, she seemed to be about my height. Nice dark brown - almost black - hair cut almost straight around at just above shoulder height, and parted down the middle. Relatively thick eyebrows, nice eyes, and a nicely proportioned nose that had a slight upward curve at the tip. Freckles across her cheeks and nose, and a rather nice looking pair of lips. All of that I loved: she looked very attractive.

However, as my eyes looked a bit further down, I couldn't help but notice the size of her chest. I like girls with smaller boobs, so anything from a large A to a C is my preference. Now, I can imagine what a D, E or F looks like, but Megan was at lest two or three sizes bigger than that. Yes, Megan had rather large boobs, sufficiently large to worry me.... no, 'worry' isn't really the word. Maybe 'intimidate' would be better. Yeah, I'm just not into 'big girls', their boobs make me a bit nervous.

Beyond that, she was dressed in a smart work dress, which, unfortunately for me, showed three or four inches of her cleavage.

"And you too, Danny" she replied, with a nice smile. She had a lovely voice, but even better, her smile had revealed something else: the wire of a retainer across her teeth. Oh my god, I was now in a huge quandary: if I didn't look below her shoulders, I found Megan to be very attractive. It was just those other two big things a bit further down that made me worry.

Having sat down, I looked at my roll and my coffee: to eat those, I needed to take my retainers out, so I put my hand in my pocket, pulled out my blue retainer case and opened it. Then, trying to be as visible as possible, yet look as if I was trying to be discrete, I removed my retainers, and put them into my retainer case.

"It's good to see for a change that I'm not the only one with braces!" said Megan very clearly, and with no hint of a lisp, as she got her retainer case out of her bag: it was, of course, pink! I watched as discretely as I could as she removed her retainers. Whilst mine were made of clear plastic, hers were a lovely non-transparent blue.

"So how long have you had yours for then? I only got mine about 3 weeks ago"

"Oh, I got these about 2 months ago now.... I'll be glad when I don't need to wear them all the day though!"

"So in about 4 months time then, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, that's right - so I guess you're in for 6 months too?"

"Yup.... So, Kelsey told me you're an Estate Agent"

"That's right. I was actually showing a couple around a property, and realised I could easily meet up with Kelsey for lunch, and catch up a bit with her... we've not seen each other for a couple of months"

"You know, it's odd, there's loads of people at work, and I know that some of them, like Kelsey, are married, but I never think of whether they have parents or brothers or sisters.... so is it just the two of you?"

"No, we have an older brother, Jimmy"

"So you're the youngest then. I'm the youngest of two: I have a big sister too, probably about the same age as Kelsey! I'm guessing that, if you're meeting for lunch, you get on pretty well?"

"We had a bit of a bad patch just over a year ago" explained Kelsey, "but I think we're ok again now"

"Yeah, it can get hard at times, with Kelsey being married and me not..." added Megan

"I can understand that: my sister is married too, with a young girl. She lives up in the midlands, so I haven't seen her for a while, but we do try and keep in touch".

We chatted as we ate our lunch, mainly Kelsey and Megan. Megan was actually very pleasant, and was very willing to chat. Whilst I could feel there was a certain 'attraction' between us, no one said anything about boyfriends or girlfriends or dating or anything like that. It was interesting to watch a couple of sisters chatting over lunch, it wasn't something I saw that often, but I could see that despite their differences, there was a lot of love and good feeling between them.

After finishing our lunch, both Megan and I went to the toilet, to rinse our mouths and put our retainers back in. As we both got back to the table, Kelsey was smiling. "For some reason I'm reminded about school lunches, when the kids with braces took them out before lunch, then had to go to the toilets to clean their teeth and put them back in again" she said. "But, tell you what, Meg, your teeth look really nice now!". Megan took that as the compliment it was to be, and smile at Kelsey.


"So, what do you think about my little sis then?" asked Kelsey as we walked back to the office.

"Well, she's very nice, but there's a couple of things I have a problem with"

"A couple of things? What things?"

"A COUPLE of things" I said, putting my hands about a foot in front of my chest.

"AHHHH, ok, a couple of things!" she said with a bit of a giggle. "Yeah, she is a bit of a big girl, isn't she? I used to be really jealous of her as a teenager, having such big boobs, but these days I think she's a lot more jealous of me, and my rather more normally sized ones. And I don't think you're the first guy who's not quite so keen on her... yeah, you know what I mean.". And that answered my other question, whether they were 'natural: clearly they were.

90 minutes later, Kelsey came down into our office, and over to my desk. "I had a call from Megan" said Kelsey quietly. "I think she rather likes you, so I mentioned about your 'two worries', and she understands, but still asked me to ask you if she could take you for a drink tonight. She promised to 'dress in a suitable fashion' for you." We both smiled at the way she put things.

"So, she's clearly single, what else can you tell me about her?"

"Yes, she's single. She had a boyfriend for a couple of years, and they split up about two or three months ago now. I don't think she's been dating anyone since, so her asking you out for a drink is a big step for her. Look, you both seemed to get on ok at lunch, I think you should meet up with her - probably do you a bit of good too! And if nothing happens, then it's not a big deal. I'm sure you can ignore her 'problems' for an evening"

It was a difficult one. I'd never actually gone out with a girl with such big 'problems' before. Maybe it was time to just confront my fears? I mean, as a person, she seemed to be quite nice, and the REST of her body looked rather good. And not forgetting that she had retainers.....

"Yeah, ok...."

"Ok, well here's her number, just give her a call.... and have a nice evening together!"

So, I grabbed my phone, and went into our small meeting room, and called her. It turns out that, because of her job, she has a car, so I gave her my address, and she came and picked me up. True to her word, she had put on a far less revealing dress: I mean, her large chest was still there, but at least it wasn't >quite< so obvious.

We actually had quite a good time out. She told me that she appreciated that I wasn't too keen on her large pair of 'attributes', and to be honest, she wasn't all that keen on them either: they were sufficiently large that she needed to buy very expensive support bras for them, and even then, they often gave her aches in her back and shoulders - sufficiently so that she was serious thinking whether to have some reduction surgery.

After our evening out, she drove me back home.

"You're very welcome to come in for a coffee, if you like..." I offered

"Yeah, ok, why not...".

Back in my flat, I put the kettle on, to make us both a coffee. Megan was with me in the kitchen.

"I'm guessing that, although we both had a nice evening out, you're not wanting to 'have some deserts' after we've had our coffee" she offered

"No, I don't think so..." I replied

"I understand... in that case, how about a kiss at least - a proper kiss?". Well, I knew she still had her retainers in her mouth, so I wasn't going to turn THAT down, was I?

I moved closer to her, but found my path blocked by... yeah, you know what! "Don't worry about them, I know it's difficult, but just try and ignore them" she said, smiling, and letting me see the labial wires of her retainers over her lovely straight teeth. She leaned towards me, and our mouths met. We both pouted, and let our lips touch, then a second and a third time. Then I felt her tongue pushing softly between my lips, and gently running over the front of my teeth, and my labial wire. Then she pulled it back, inviting me to try the same, which of course I did.

Whilst I have kissed two other girls who wore hawley retainers, this was the first time I had kissed someone who had REAL hawley retainers! As I ran my tongue over her lovely front teeth, she opened her mouth slightly, letting my tongue go between her teeth, where it met with her tongue. The tips of our tongues played together for a while, then she let my tongue into her mouth a little, where I was finally able to feel the smooth plastic of her top retainer plate. I had to be careful, as I didn't want to appear to be 'too eager' to feel her retainers, so I pulled my tongue back, and let her tongue into my mouth, where she was able to feel the smooth plastic of my retainers. As far as she was concerned, my retainers were as real as hers, and I didn't intend to tell her otherwise.

Interestingly, once her tongue touched my plastic retainer plate, it stayed there for several seconds, savouring the experience, then explored other parts of my mouth. Compared with Niki's inexperience, it was an absolute delight to kiss with someone who had clearly practised kissing so much more. Over the next few minutes, our tongues explored each others teeth, each others mouths, each others retainers.

"Well" she said as we finally finished our kiss, "that was interestingly different, I've never kissed someone else with retainers: it was strangely nice!"

"Tell you what, lets make the coffee, and maybe we can try it again...." I suggested

So, we made the coffee, we drank the coffee, and we did kiss again, but I still felt so intimidated by her big boobs. I think she could sense that, so no further mention was made about having any further 'deserts'.

"Thank you for coming out with me tonight, I had a really nice time" she said as she was leaving. "And look, if you ever manage to get over your fears of 'these things', do get in touch, I'd love to get to know you more".

As I sat down, I briefly thought about the last two girls I had met with: Niki, then Megan. they were so different! Niki was very inexperienced, shy and unsure of herself, while Megan was very much the opposite, mature, experienced, and very self assured. But both were equally nice, in their own ways.

Chapter 53

Jenny


For some reason, I didn't sleep too well last night, and today at work had been a little stressful - we'd had some problems with one of our customers that took ages to sort out - so it was good to be home at last. I went to my kitchen, filled the kettle, and put it on to boil. I then sat down on the settee in the lounge area, put my phone down next to me, and closed my eyes for a moment, knowing that I'd hear the kettle 'click' when the water was boiled.

I'd closed my eyes for no more than about 10 seconds, when my phone started to ring. I opened my eyes again, picked up the phone, and looked to see who was calling: it was Jenny, so I answered.

"Hello there, Jenny, you're possibly the least likely person I would have expected to be calling me! How are you? Oh, and thanks for the other night"

"Hi Danny! I'm fine, thanks - and the other evening was my pleasure. Look, I've been doing an appearance in north London, not all that far from you, and I was wondering if you'd like to come out for dinner with me". Well, it's not often that you get invited out for dinner by a pretty girl, especially one who's a big pop star.

"That's sounds lovely! Although maybe being seen out with a guy who isn't your boyfriend could be awkward for you.... I have an idea: would you like to come and have dinner here, at my place? I mean, it won't be quite such fancy food, but you won't risk having pictures taken."

"That's a GREAT idea... and to be honest, I'd much rather have some proper food: restaurant stuff is nice, but can be rather rich. Let me get a taxi, and I'll be with you soon! I know your address."

"Ok, I'll see you soon!". Oh, wow, I was going to have dinner with Jenny! So the next question was what to have: I knew the freezer had plenty in it, I'd actually done a load of shopping a few evenings ago. I pulled out some bags of vegetables, as I knew we'd want some of that, then took a look at what else I had: Ah, yes, I'd got a couple of pieces of nice sirloin steak, that would do nicely. I had just put the meat in the microwave on a defrost cycle, when the doorbell went, obviously Jenny, so I went down to let her in.

"Hey, Danny, great to see you again!" she said, throwing her arms around me.

"Come on up, Jenny". I noticed that tonight Jenny was dressed as the very recognisable CJD Jenny, with short hair, a bit more makeup, and quite flashy clothes. No wig or glasses today. Yeah, Jenny could be really attractive when she wanted to be.

"Ah, yes, of course, you're in an upstairs flat, like me... although I also have the downstairs one for work too!" she commented with a nice smile. "Hey, nice place" she added as I took her into the lounge / kitchen / whatever room, "it feels quite homely..."

"Coffee?" I asked her

"Oh, yes please, black, no sugar". She took off her coat, and sat down on the settee. I made the coffees, took them over and put them both on the small table.

I was about to sit opposite Jenny, when she tapped the seat next to her. "Come and sit next to me!" she commanded. I sat down, and we both took a sip of our coffees. "I brought something along with me, I think you might like it...", and she opened her bag, put her hand inside, then pulled out a clear ziplock bag, that contained a facebow and a red neck strap. I recognised it as the same headgear that Jenny had worn onstage at that Darkest Knights concert.

"Shall I put it on?" she asked.

I nodded eagerly. Jenny without the headgear was sexy, but with it I knew she would look even sexier!

Having put the headgear on, she turned to me and smiled, letting me see her upper and lower metal brackets, and the lovely shiny metal facebow. I guessed that she had done this with Ben, and knew what effect this had, and unsurprisingly, it was having a similar effect on me. Jenny leaned over and put her lips to mine and kissed me. Oh, yes.....

Next thing I knew was that Jenny had temporarily taken off the headgear again, and we had our arms around each other, and were kissing very passionately, as in 'tongues in mouths' and 'feeling braces'

"Jenny" I said, pulling back for a moment, "I'm not really sure we should be doing this. I mean, what about Ben?"

"Look, Ben's not here, and since we all went out to the club last week, I've not stopped thinking about you. I'm just so glad you're not going out with Amanda any more, I can finally do something about the feelings I've had since I first saw you....". She leaned over and kissed me once again, and let her hand start wandering over my body.

I'll be honest, Jenny was head and shoulders above any of the girls I'd met since splitting with Amanda: not only was she as hot as hell, she had braces, and knew that I had a big thing for girls in braces. Maybe it was time to do something about this.... so I kissed her again, letting my tongue run over her lovely metal braces once more. As I did so, I ran my fingers through her relatively short hair. It doesn't take much imagination to work out the effect that this was having on me.

So we continued to kiss, and then we started to touch each other a bit more, initially in quite innocent places like the face and the neck, but then in slightly more intimate places - I don't need to spell it out, I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves!

But my head was in a bit of a spin. Yes, I did rather fancy Jenny, she was an incredibly attractive and fun person to be with. But she was going out with Ben, and this just seemed so wrong! I stopped kissing her and touching her, and pulled back.

"Jenny, give me a moment, will you?". I sat back up and closed my eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath.

No more than 10 seconds later my phone started to ring. I opened my eyes, picked up the phone, and looked to see who was calling: it was Janice, so I answered. Moments later, I heard the kettle 'click' as it switched itself off, after having boiled.

"Hi Janice" I said, noticing that I was, once again, alone in my flat

"Hiya... you ok? You sound a bit dopey"

"Yeah, I closed my eyes and fell asleep for a few moments, and had the weirdest of dreams...."

Amazing! Loved it. You really had me believing it!

You clearly have no faith in the integrity of my characters! As if either Danny or Jenny would even THINK of doing such a thing!

But, yes, it was fun, wasn't it?

In the next episode you'll meet Danny's next girlfriend.....

Chapter 54

Lets go to the pub quiz...


So Janice had split up with her latest guy a few days ago - she'd met him online via the dating app, and things seemed ok for a week or two, then she started finding out what he was really like, so promptly told him where to go: that was one thing I admired about Janice, she was quite willing to do what was needed.

Thus, tonight, like many nights in the past, we were having dinner together at my place.

"I know it's a bit of a walk, but I hear there's a good pub quiz tonight over at The Crown, let's go, it's been a while since we've done a pub quiz together".

"Ok, yeah, that could be bit of fun, although I doubt we'll actually win!"

"Who cares, it's the taking part and drinking that counts!" replied Janice. Yes, that girl has good priorities!

"What time does the quiz start?" I asked

"7:30 I think"

"In that case, we'd better get ready in a few minutes." Luckily, whilst the evening was cool, it was quite dry, and we had a pleasant walk to the pub. We got ourselves some beers, found a small table over to the side, sat down and took a look around. It was a pretty good turnout: over at the front of the bar there was a team of about 8, several teams of about 5 or 6 around the place, and three tables of 4. Plus a team of two guys and a girl on a smaller table next to the door for the loos. We were the smallest team, with just the two of us.

I wondered what the other people there thought about us: most would probably think we were a normal couple, having a drink together: how wrong they would be! The landlord came around, collected our £2 per person entrance fee, explained how the quiz worked, and told us that the prize was a cash-rollover: if we got more than a certain score, the winner would get a bit over £200, otherwise it would be about £40. Clearly the jackpot had been building up for a few weeks now!

So, the quiz started. Unlike many quizzes, where there's several rounds, this one was 50 questions, done as 2 lots of 25, with a break in the middle, to let everyone get more beers! There were some picture questions, which would be referenced later on. There was quite a mix of questions, a bit of history (Janice was ok with that!), sport, news and so on. By halfway, we had about 15 answers out of the 25 questions.

For some reason, as we had been doing the quiz, my attention had been attracted to the girl with the 2 guys. She was quite short, had long blonde (probably bleached) hair currently in two pony-tails to the sides of her head, and a quite attractive face. Her manner was quite 'bouncy', but the way she interacted with the two guys made me think that they were no more than friends. It was as she was, yet again, smiling, that the light caught her face in the right way, and I saw a slight sparkle in her mouth. As I looked at her more carfully, I realised that yes, she DID have metal in her mouth.... braces!

"She's too young for you!" said Janice, pulling my leg.

"Well, she's at least 18 if she's in here!" I replied, "but actually, I think she's a bit older than that"

We worked on the next quiz question - whilst it was a history question, Janice wasn't quite sure if the date was 1817 or 1818, so we put 1817.

"She's probably going out with one of those guys though"

"I'm not so sure, watch the way she's interacting with them...."

Ah, a chemistry question, and one that I definitely knew the answer for!

"Ok everyone, that's the first 25 questions, so time for you all to refill your glasses...." said the Landlord over the small PA system.

"I need the loo" said Janice, and she got up and walked to the loos. However, when she got to the table with the two guys and the girl on, she stopped, and had a quick chat with the girl. Moments later, Janice continued to the loo, and the girl got up, picked up her drink,  came over to me, and sat in the chair that Janice had been in just a minute before.

"Hi, I'm Daithy! You friend thaid I should come over and thay hello!" said Daisy, very enthusiastically, and with a lovely smile, that let me see that she had a lovely set of upper and lower metal brackets.

"Erm, I'm Danny, hi there....." I replied, smiling in a way that she couldn't avoid seeing at least one of my retainer wires. It was only them that I realised that Daisy had just spoken with a lisp! Which meant that she had something more than just metal brackets in her mouth. Apart from her lisp, her voice sounded quite pleasant, not at all screechy like I might have imagined from just seeing her.

"Hi Danny, it'th nithe to meet you!" She continued. "Tho, how you getting on with the quizth then?" she asked me, picking up our answer sheet. Where we didn't know the answers, we'd put notes, in case we got inspiration later. "Ah, yeth, number thixth... that's 1818, not 1817, you're pretty clothe though. And you don't know number twelve? It'th 'yellow and red', of courthe!"

"Yeah, Janice and I aren't all that great at quizzes" I explained

"Oh, I love quiztheth!" she replied "We come here motht weekth, I'm guething thith ith your firtht time here?" As she spoke, I couldn't help but look at her mouth, I so wanted to know what she had inside it!

"Yes, this place is a bit further from where we live" and I explained the pubs we normally go to. "One of them does a quiz that we've been to before, but it's a different style to this quiz"

"Tho, who'th Janithe then? I'm guething from what she thaid to me that she'th not your girlfriend?"

"No, she's a very good friend though, we've known each other for a while now". As I said that, I looked over to the table that she had been sat on, and could see that Janice had returned from the loo, and had joined the two guys there. "So who's the two guys you're with then?"

"Oh, that'th my bwother, Keith, and hith fwiend Wob.". I so wanted to know about what was causing her lisp. Ok, let's try this....

"I'm intrigued, I used to have braces like you have, but I never had a lisp, so I'm guessing you have something extra that I never had...". It was great, as the fact that I wore (fake) retainers made me 'one of the club', allowing me to ask braces questions that would be deemed taboo to a non-braces wearing person.

"Tho you jutht had pwain bwatheth?" she asked. I nodded. "In that cathe, I thuthpect I have quite a lot more than you ever had! Not only do I have thith exthpander and a tongue cwib, I also have tethe Herbtht thingth..." she explained, opening her mouth and pulling back her lips a bit, letting me see her Herbsts. She then opened her mouth a bit wider, and tipped her head back, letting me see the expander and the tongue crib! Yes, that was definitely a lot more than I would have had, if my brackets had been real. Of course, I DID have a fake herbst with a tongue crib on it, and although I didn't really wear it that much, I knew how much the tongue crib affected speaking!

"Yeah, you definitely have a load more metal in your mouth than I ever had!". I was thinking quickly about what to say next. I really wanted to talk a little more about her braces, but needed to be careful what I said, so I appeared as 'normal' as possible. "So which bit is it that gives you that lisp then?" I asked.

"Oh, that'th the tongue cwib: it thtopth my tongue from touching the back of my teeth, and maketh it impothible to thay thertain thounds.". Wow, her lisp was just amazing, and beautiful, and I was impressed with how she didn't let it get in the way of talking. Despite the lisp, it was actually relatively easy to work out what she was saying.

[Ok, so now you know what she has in her mouth, you can imagine her lisp for yourself! I'm going back to normal spellings! - Ed]

"Ah, ok. So, Daisy..." I said, quickly changing the topic, "tell me a bit about yourself, like, what do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a nursery assistant, I work with pre-school children, it's really good fun!"

"Oh, wow, there's no way I could ever do that! So I guess playing with them and that sort of thing?"

"Yeah, leading the play, trying to keep them occupied, but trying to make it a bit educational too, so things like counting games. Or even just encouraging some of them to talk a bit more. It's fun watching them progress too. I love it!"

"I bet they tire you out though?"

"No, not really, I seem to have plenty of energy". I would soon learn how true that last comment would be.. if I were to say 'Duracell bunny', then I think you'll get my meaning!! "So what about you, Danny, what do you do?"

I explained how I did product tech support for the manufacturing products we sold.

"Ah, so no use asking you to sort out a PC problem, then?"

"Well, I probably could but it's not what I do as my job". Just then, the landlord came on the PA again.

"Ok, let's settle down again, for the second half of the quiz...."

"Tell you what" said Daisy, "Why don't I stay with you for the second half, you might do a bit better!"

"Yeah, that's fine with me!" I replied. So I did the second part of the quiz with Daisy as my partner, and Janice stayed on the other table, with Daisy's brother and his friend... I had no doubt that she was taking the opportunity to see if she fancied either of them.

The strange thing is that I had massively underestimated Daisy: she actually knew a LOT of the quiz answers! Unfortunately, there were several questions for which neither of us knew the answer, but she was certainly doing much better than me. At the end of the evening, we were 4th equal, shared with the table Janice had joined. After the quiz, Daisy and I went over and joined them.

"We could have done with you for some of those questions!" said Daisy's brother. "So, back home I guess"

"Well, actually, I was rather hoping that Danny was going to invite me back to his place for a coffee...." replied Daisy, looking sweetly up at me.

"Oh, ok, well I'll see you..... tomorrow... I guess!" he replied


As I walked out of the pub with both Daisy and Janice, it struck me quite how short Daisy was: the top of her head barely came up to my shoulders, which meant she would probably be under 5 ft tall (I later discovered that's she's 4ft 11ins). I guess now is as good a time to describe Daisy in a bit more detail.

Whilst short, her body was in good proportions.. so let's take it from the top... she had long blonde hair, currently in two pony-tails to the sides of her head, which reached well past her shoulders: I suspected it was bleached / dyed / whatever, but I could be wrong. Her face was more round than long, but looked really nice. Her nose looked very normal, and suited her. Some dark makeup around her eyes, and quite bold lip gloss. Of course, her mouth contained a substantial amount of orthodontic metal. Going down further, I would guess that her chest was between a B and a C cup, which again fitted her body very nicely. The rest of her body was nicely slim, making the 'whole package' pleasantly attractive.

Ah, yes, I forgot about her jewellery. Several small delicate rings in her ear-lobes, a thin golden nose ring in her left nostril, and a couple of small rings on her right hand.

As we walked, I felt Daisy taking my hand in hers, which was rather nice.

"So, did you two actually go out with each other at all?" asked Daisy.

"Yes, we did" replied Janice

"So what went wrong then?"

"It seems that we have deep feelings for each other, but can't put up with each other for very long!" Janice continued.

"I guess we were going out for two or three months, then Janice thought we should try living together, so she sort-of moved in to my place. We didn't even make 2 weeks! I mean, she squeezes the toothpaste tube in the middle for starters!". Daisy looked at me with a slightly guilty look on her face. "Not you too??!!!" I said with a grin.

"Sorry, yeah, must be one of those girl things!"

"So, after that, I seem to remember we avoided each other for a couple of weeks, then we bumped into each other at a party, followed by a long talk the following morning" said Janice.

"Do you two still ever... you know...?" asked Daisy

"Oh, definitely, but only if we're both unattached" I replied

"With the one exception" added Janice

"Ah, yes, that one time, which I wish I could be allowed to forget about...."

We continued chatting, as we walked down the couple of roads that lead to my flat.

"I'm sure you'll let me know what you're up to" said Janice as she left us to walk the extra few minutes back to her place.

"Yeah, I will... see you!".

"So which is yours then?" asked Daisy excitedly.

"First floor of this one" I replied, leading her towards my front door.

"It's kinda like our house" said Daisy once we'd got into my flat, "except ours is still a normal house"

"Yeah, the one a couple of doors down is still a house, I went to a party there a few weeks ago" I explained, suddenly thinking about Sandra. "It felt quite odd, recognising the layout, yet not quite recognising it". I was in the kitchen, filling the kettle, then putting it onto its base, and switching it on to boil.

"Lets go sit down for a moment while the kettle boils". I lead Daisy around to the settee, and I sat down, expecting Daisy to sit next to me, but instead she kinda jumped onto my lap, her legs either side of mine, such that her face and mine were next to each other. She leaned towards me, and gave me a gentle kiss on my lips.

Great story so far hopes it continues.

I think Danny has finally hit the jackpot!