The Flag of Truce

A romantic at heart, she enjoyed a good book on her favorite fireside couch. Her favorite authors included Jane Austen, Celia Ahern, and Oxford authors such as Colin Dexter, and inexplicably JRR Tolkien! At 26 she was already the golf club’s youngest Lady Captain, and her goal was to win the Ladies championship in both Tennis and Golf, as she played both very well.

Far away from the close scrutiny of her mother she let her hair down a little just once, experimenting while in her first year in University. A brief flirtation with a bisexual girl had been fun, and kissing an experienced girl had been enlightening but that had not gone very far. This one event set her thinking about a new path that she could have but didn’t pursue any further. She decided that she was not going to get involved in that scene back in Oxford as she was worried that her family would hear of her behavior and not approve. Once back at home she fell in with all of her mother’s entertaining, and the lifestyle that her father was able to provide, which should have been more than ample for her. But the sense of her missing out on something still lingered under the surface.

Her favourite way of spending time was to skilfully enhance her already substantial wardrobe of clothes and handbags which were collected like trophies, to be displayed in the enormous dressing area of her bedroom. She also devoted a huge amount of time to her shoe collection, which was her pride and joy. Her dress sense was above reproach, always looking up to the minute stylish without flaunting her best assets, those beautiful breasts. She dressed to impress but never to tease by flaunting her best assets.

She was a fan of the latest technology, and loved music. She had the latest iPhone and headphones which she carried wherever she went. Her favorite entertainment was to attend the latest pop concert, and got tickets to all of the high tariff concerts in London, from among her several recent boyfriends. She loved her car, a yellow and black Mini Cooper that carried her to all her engagements.

Her favorite TV program was Sex in the City, and she saw herself just as stylish, sophisticated and urbane as one of the characters in this slightly farfetched soap opera.

She had a string of admirers who followed her one after the other, as an adoring pack of males who seek to mate with the fairy princess. None of them had got past first base, with a chaste kiss their only reward for all the attention they lavished on this beauty. In private she was far more reserved that in public where she flirted at will using all her charms. With those long eyelashes she could depend on, she could win over any guy who was slow to realise what she needed at that time. She tried hard to please her family who were constantly lining up boyfriends for her, and both parents cherished the hope of becoming grandparents some day.

However that was not going to happen any time soon, as she hadn’t met her match yet, that special someone to set her heart thumping, someone whose kisses would enflame a very much dormant but loving nature.

She had skilfully avoided any guy who tried to get too close, or attempt to get any more amorous than she was willing to bear. Her heart had not been touched by true love, or even warmed by just a little passion. The remote possibility of a little heartbreak had just never figured in all of her relatively young life. In fact she was a little emotionally repressed, shunning any seductive touch where possible.

She did admire women who fended for themselves, and made a success of their education, lives and careers. Most of all, she secretly admired and respected a girl from her golf club, who had done so well in her school. That girl was really clever, had her own life, her own apartment, a good job, and was well liked by everyone even though she was more than a little distant with Melanie. Wow, that girl could swing a golf club!

There was something wrong with Melanie’s life however, and she thought she knew what that was. The time was coming to do something about it, but she couldn’t quite pick up the courage, and she didn’t know how to go about it, so she got by with the lifestyle she had.

Chapter 3. The Club Tournaments

Church spires appeared to preen themselves in the sun. A dull wet spring had given way to a terrific early summer in Oxford. University life was in full swing, and Oxford appeared to be buzzing with it. The carved stone faces on the College facades seemed gladdened by the movement of students below them.

The earth in this glorious English county had heated up after a long cold winter and trees were now showing an abundance of blossoms. Lilies, tulips and roses were beginning to show their best flowers in all of the local gardens, especially in the Botanic Gardens which were looking resplendent. The parks and meadows were gently billowing in the light breezes showing off all of the glories of an English summer. The domed roofs of Oxford were looking stunning as visitors were taken along the Cherwell river in the shallow punt style boats, while students abandoned their push bikes to make a dash into their lectures.

Tour guides earned a pleasant living by extolling all of the virtues of this unique English University City to bus loads of visiting tourists anxious to see the glorious newly refurbished Ashmolean Museum, and walk through arched entrances to visit the famous Colleges and Universities. Interested tourists avidly photographed the scenes made famous by the Inspector Morse TV series.

The golfing ladies of Oxford had other things on their minds, however.

Earlier, on the last week in March the Ladies Golf Club championship got under way with Beth Grattan and Melanie Chilcott both entered. Beth thrived on the competitive environment in the club and was well fancied to get all the way to the final. Melanie who was also playing well had high hopes of winning outright. They were in separate parts of the draw so were unlikely to play against one another at the early stages of this competition. They both easily got through the first two rounds, and this drew the attention of the ladies club competition committee who were getting a ladies team together to represent the Club at a prestigious inter-club competition.

The ladies Golf club competitions which were held weekly only drove Beth on. The thought of maybe being drawn against Ms Chilcott, and soundly beating her was inspiring her to play better than she had ever played.

However the powers that be in the Ladies Club had other ideas for Beth. So, what she never contemplated happening actually did happen. They were selected to play together in a representative event against another ladies team for the County Championship, much to her chagrin. She had set out to beat her in any event that she entered, and cherished the notion of this rivalry. She couldn’t quite reconcile herself to being Melanie’s partner and wished that she could find some way to avoid this, given her working relationship with Melanie’s Dad.
As a precursor to naming the team officially, the squad of players headed off early on a Friday morning in Mid May.

They were headed for an overnight stay and two rounds of golf, to familiarize themselves with the competition format that they would be playing. The club graciously set up twin room accommodation for them all in a good quality Hotel close by, not far from Windsor castle where the golf club was based. This part of Shakespeare’s “Sceptred Isle” stood on the side of Windsor Hill overlooking the surrounding county with regal poise. The main tower had raised the Queen’s standard, showing that she was in residence.

When they all got to the Thames side hotel, Beth was shocked to find that she would be sharing a twin room with her rival. She wondered how she could play with her without declaring her competitive streak in some way that wouldn’t be offensive, while at the same time being true to oneself. She was still praying for some form of reprieve as she made her way to her room.

As she got to the first floor hotel room she could hear sobbing along the hotel corridor just before she knocked on the door, and realized there was a problem in her room. Melanie opened the door, and it was obvious that she was upset about something as her eyes were very red. Her hair usually so well styled was disheveled, making her look somehow very young and vulnerable.

She swiftly turned back to her bed, but Beth could see by her slouched demeanor that she was very upset. This pulled on Beth’s heartstrings. Having seen at first hand her rival’s distressed state, she quickly decided that she would have to temporarily call a truce on her rivalry and show some concern for her golf partner. Expecting to hear of some lover’s tiff or a possibly deeper heartbreak she apprehensively approached Melanie’s bed to attempt to provide some comfort for her, but felt a little out of her depth.

She touched Melanie’s shoulder and asked:-
“What’s the matter partner?”
Melanie sprung up from her prone position on her bed to hug a bewildered Beth as she explained:-

“It’s so awful Elizabeth. It is much worse than you think, and so complicated. You see, I am desperately unhappy. I have been living a lie, and cannot face up to my parents and tell them what I really want from life. I am so miserable, but I have no one I can trust with this. I really need a friend right now”

This both surprised and intrigued Beth, who had thought that Melanie was the most self possessed girl she had ever seen, with almost bullet proof confidence, and a seemingly great love life.
“Melanie, call me Beth. Let me help if I can. What can I do?”
“OK, if you really meant that. My parents are visiting tomorrow so I would like you to stay close to me while I try to get up some courage to tell them that I have reached breaking point in my life. I have decided that I cannot go on any longer being their little Melanie, and feeling stifled by them. I need my own space now, to just be myself ”

As Melanie held on tight to her, Beth couldn’t get over the shock of what she was hearing so she tempted fate and asked Melanie
“How do you know you are not just having a crisis of confidence that maybe the right guy wouldn’t sort out? ”

With a forlorn shake of the head from Melanie she explained:-
“Beth, I have tried so hard to find love, with my mother constantly setting guys up for me. I know now that they are not for me even though there have been many who have tried their best to get romantic. That includes one really handsome rich guy who has as many arms as an octopus and is just as difficult keep at bay. All he ever did for me was to give me the creeps!

I have a secret side that nobody knows about, that has been too afraid to reveal itself for so long now, for fear of upsetting my dad, who I really love.
Confidentially, I am not interested in any man as I know now that’s not want I want. I long for a woman to love, who will love me in return. So I am....coming out. I do need my family’s support as I cannot hide what I am any longer. Hopefully we can play really well together and that would bolster my confidence.

To be honest with you although you have only been in the room for ten minutes, I admire you more than to any guy who I have dated for the last five years!”
Beth immediately panicked and froze where she was.

“Don’t worry, I know that you are not really into girls so I apologies if that sounded like I was making a pass at you. I am not. But I do really need your help. I would like my parents to believe that we are close, so that they get the message about no more boyfriends. Would you go along with this idea?”

Beth quickly tried to rationalize what she was being told and reluctantly, out of a sense of loyalty, decided to go along with this suggestion. She hoped this would give Melanie confidence to play her best game when it came to the competition proper.
“OK. I will do it”

As she got ready for bed she couldn't help notice that Melanie’s demeanour seemed to have improved a little, as she smiled at Beth when she slipped into her bed.

Next morning as she showered, Melanie knocked on the bathroom with a plea to get in to use the loo. Beth hastily got out of the shower and grabbed a big towel before giving her the bathroom. Melanie quickly finished in the toilet and got out to give Beth the opportunity to get back in to dry her hair.

As soon as Beth vacated the bathroom, Melanie got into the shower and got ready for the day, which took a lot longer than Beth ever needed. She recalled Beth’s beautiful eyes as she soaped down her body with expensive shower gel. This had caused a stir that affected her breasts which had become very alert to her touch. She quickly got dried and got her underwear out. They had agreed earlier at their home club to all wear a club crested polo neck shirt and blue knee length skirt and both of them finalised their appearance before going down to breakfast.

Beth spotted that Melanie’s breasts were showing the telltale signs of some erotic shower dream as she tucked her shirt into her skirt. As Melanie bent over to get her watch from the bedside locker Beth was very surprised to see Melanie wearing a shorter skirt than her. Beth spotted the sexiest red and blue lace panties she had ever seen, and wondered about who such underwear was intended to tempt.

To bolster her confidence and show a team spirit, Beth in slight trepidation decided to go down to breakfast arm in arm with Melanie. The feel of her up close and the intoxicating smell of her perfume had a surprising effect on Beth. Melanie’s arm around her shoulder and the touch of her hand on melanie’s hip was having a very strange but pleasant effect, which she couldn’t quite fathom.

Melanie gave her a radiant smile as they sat down beside one another to breakfast, and Beth’s heart gave a flutter, and she felt herself blushing slightly. Having selected their cereal from the buffet table, Melanie playfully touched her leg which caused Beth to nearly drop her bowl of fruit as she sat back down. She quickly dismissed this nervous reaction, quickly laughing it off as she settled down to enjoy the Hotel breakfast.

They then headed out on to the golf course with the sun beating down on this terrific part of England. They played well but Beth lost concentration several times as Melanie stretched down to retrieve her golf ball from the hole. The expanse of shapely thigh and one cheek of Melanie’s bottom were on view several times as the round progressed, which was having a very unsettling effect on Beth, who recalled that underwear all too frequently.

Beth could sense that her closeness to her partner appeared to be having a good effect on Melanie’s golf during their second round of golf together and they played really well. When the scores were tabulated over two rounds of golf they were declared to be the best pair of those competing for the Club team, and likely to be picked to play together.

Melanie was over the moon with this news and as her parents arrived on Saturday afternoon she ran over to them holding Beth’s hand to let them know her good news about the team selection. Beth kissed her on the cheek as she was introduced to Melanie’s family. Bill raised an eyebrow at the introduction, and Beth quickly realized that Melanie’s father was in shock. She bid a hasty retreat to give Melanie the chance to discuss things with her family.

As Melanie took them into a quiet area of the Hotel lounge, Beth was worried for her. Melanie had confided that her conservative old fashioned father was not really in favour of any public display by lesbians or even women’s lib behavior, so she was worried about her future allowance if her father didn’t take the news well.

Beth observed from the top of the impressive Hotel landing that Melanie was in earnest conversation with her parents in the foyer. As Melanie explained to them what she was going through, and what she was, Beth could see her mother’s face turned ashen, although she said nothing. Assuming that they would head home to discuss the matter together Beth headed up to her room to get refreshed before rejoining Melanie and the rest of the team for a Club team photo. Packing in her room, she was very worried about her own future if Beth’s Dad didn’t react favorably. She would have a lot of explaining to do when they met next!

What Melanie didn’t expect was the adverse reaction that her mother showed to Beth as she got back to the hotel foyer. She ranted at Beth, accusing her of leading their daughter astray, and blaming her for this unwanted development. Beth could only stare in bewilderment as Melanie’s mother humiliated her in front of two of the three ladies golf team selectors, and the shocked receptionists. Bill quickly saw the hurt in Beth’s and Melanie’s eyes and drew his wife away to their car.

Beth felt that her privacy had been violated, and her good reputation was in tatters. She was fuming as she took the hotel lift back to her room to get her clubs and suitcase to return home by hired Coach to Oxford. She grabbed the head cover off one of her golf clubs and hurled it across the room in a fit of temper, before calming down with deep breaths.

As she got to the coach she immediately noticed a hush from the direction of the team selectors, and realized that they must have been talking about her. Melanie followed her to their seats and grabbed her hand suddenly.
Melanie was very upset as she tearfully sat down beside Beth.

“That was the toughest thing that I have ever done. I know my father has been badly shaken with this news. But it’s done now, so no going back. I am so sorry about my mother’s reaction, which I hadn’t expected. She assumed that there was more to our friendship and humiliated you, which shouldn’t have happened. That was entirely my fault because they assumed you were involved with me and I didn’t deny it. I will explain to her that I was overstating our friendship to get my point across, and ask her to apologise to you”
Beth nodded her acceptance of this course of action. She immediately thought of a problem that hadn’t occurred to Melanie, and decided to raise it.

“Thanks Melanie, that scene did upset me, in fact I was raging because I did nothing to deserve that. You have got to remember that I know your Dad professionally and have a lot to lose here. But don’t worry about me, I am thick skinned and will get over it if it doesn’t work out. There’s something more important that you need to focus on. What are you going to do about somewhere to stay tonight? Are you going home to face your mother?”

Melanie just sat stunned in her seat as it dawned on her that she might not be welcome at home until her mother calmed down. As she nodded a negative and covered her face in her hands she said:-
“O God, What am I going to do?”

“You will have to ring home. You may have to go to a friend’s house or bunk down with me I’m afraid, depending on how the call goes. Anyway say no more until we get away from this coach”. They said no more but Beth noticed that Melanie held on to her hand throughout the trip.

As the Hired Coach parked in a pub parking lot outside Oxford, Melanie quickly got out and rang her mother to try to gauge her mood. Having hung up, she started to cry once again. She tried unsuccessfully to contact girl friends that she could stay with before her emotions took over. Her tears caused her mascara to run and she looked totally wretched.

“That was really bad. My mother was really rotten to me. She said some hateful things, and there is no way that I am going to call her again until she apologizes”