Where would you like to start?

It was a little before midnight when they got to Aunt Fiona’s house. Dani opened the door with her key and shouted out

“Hey Ma, we’re home”

Fiona came to the hallway to greet them. She was an attractive woman, in her late thirties who usually wore little or no makeup. She was about 5”7’ he guessed and had the same long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes that all the Ellison family seemed to have. Fiona was wearing a long orange cotton dress and was barefoot, she hugged Dani as she walked passed her then hugged Alex tightly and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“Alex my Darling Happy Birthday, how was your day?”

“Great thank you, Fi,” Said, Alex. She always insisted he call her Fi or Fiona when he came over with Clara, which was more often of late. Fiona wasn’t formal and disliked being called Miss Ellison or even worse Ms. Ellsion. Miss or Ms. were bad enough, but anyone who made the error of calling her Mrs. Ellsion got a serious earful.

“Clara sweetie you look wonderful. How are things ?”

“Things are perfect Aunt Fi” Clara put slight stress on the word ‘perfect’ as she spoke to her aunt. Fiona grinned at Clara then turned to Alex and said

“So did you like your present young man?”

Alex didn’t know what to say, Clara blushed and giggled then said to Alex…

“It’s OK, Aunt Fi is cool, you can tell her anything”

Alex looked at Fiona and said “I think she’s the best gift ever”

Fiona laughed out loud “Ha! You’ll do just fine with silky words like that. Come on, come through and sit down”

It was a modest single-story house with two large bedrooms and one small one, a single large rectangular living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Fiona’s room had an en-suite but that was the only sign of luxury. The living room was dimly lit with weirdly shaped candles dotted around the place that gave off a musky scent. There was a TV over to one side with a three-seater couch and an armchair, in the middle of the room was a large round glass coffee table surrounded by bean bags and huge cushions, then at the other end of the room was a small square rustic looking dining table and four chairs.

“Sit down my lovelies, I’ll open a bottle of wine” Said Fiona

“Ah…that’s OK Ma, I’m tired, think I’ll turn in” Said Dani, then yawned not too convincingly.

“You’re keen to unwrap your present then?” Fiona Teased Alex, but Dani poked her in the ribs, so Fiona said “Our spare room has only got a single bed and not a very comfortable one at that. Dani is staying in with me tonight so that you can have the double bed in her room, is that OK?”

“That’s thoughtful Aunt Fi, thank you,” Said Clara

“Clara you know your way around this house, if you need anything like a midnight snack or whatever then just go get it. Have a good night and we'll see you in the morning”

And with that Dani and Fiona went to bed, leaving Alex and Clara standing in the living room staring at each other. After an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds that felt like a lifetime, Clara giggled, “come on” And took him by the hand. They went into Dani’s normally messy room which had been tidied and Clara noticed there were fresh sheets as well. There was a single lamp on a table next to the bed that had a red cloth thrown over it giving the room a dim red glow. Clara sat on the bed as Alex stood nervously in the middle of the room.

“Alex, I’m nervous, are you?”

“Is it that obvious”

“A bit. Shall we just chat? We don’t have to do anything unless you want to” Her sweet smile and kind eyes were enough to calm Alex’s nerves. He took off his sweater and sat next to her in his t-shirt and jeans. Clara still had her big sweater on and jeans on too.

“Clara, are you OK with this?”

“Of course silly, why?”

“I don’t know, just checking I suppose.”

“Alex are you, attracted to me?” She looked at her feet as she spoke.

“Clara, you caught me peeking at you changing enough times to know the answer to that”

“You’re the only man I’ve ever trusted, the only man I've ever...really wanted to do it with, but this is as far as I got with my planning, I’m winging it from here.” her nerves were showing in her voice.

“It’s just there’s stuff I want to ask but…not sure how. This feels a bit weird” He said

“We need to remember what this is about, us learning together” Clara smiled at him and said “Let’s just turn the light out, get undressed and get into bed”

Alex kissed her quickly and said “That works for me”

Excitedly Clara turned the light out and the pair fumbled around in the dark getting undressed, Clara fell backward tripping over her jeans as she pulled them off, knocking Alex onto the bed in the process. They both giggled like kids as they took the rest of their clothes off then jumped under the covers shivering. After a few still and silent minutes, Clara eventually said

“Where would you like to start?”