21
Chapter 19
Without any trouble we arrived in a cozy French village, where we had rented a big house for the whole group. Since Jess had never brought a boyfriend on the skiing trips, she always had been convicted to sleeping in the living room. Now I accompanied her, she got the luxury of a bedroom, where we had some privacy.
As a member of the group of friends, Chris was joining as well. He was still frustrated about the fact that Jess was involved in a relationship with me and he abominated the fact that Jess was wearing braces, something he still blamed me for. It was clear that Chris and I wouldn’t become best friends, but we didn’t bother each other.
The first day of skiing was great, blue skies and great snow conditions. After the lifts closed, we got a few beers in a pub before we left for our house. Jess took advantage of the luxury of a private bedroom including a bathroom with a bath and left for a relaxing session.
I was joining a few others with some card games, when I heard Jess calling Susan to come to our room. I didn’t think anything of it, until Susan came back, walked to me and whispered in my ear: “Your explanation in the car about braces, seems to have a little different meaning with the Christmas present you gave Jess.” I understood Jess told Susan about the double headgear I had given her. As far as I knew Jess had left it at home for our own entertainment.
We continued our card game and I had my back to the door of our room, so I couldn’t see when Jess entered the room again. Before I even noticed Jess entering the room Chris exploded. I looked around to see why Chris went nuts, when I saw Jess wearing her double headgear. No one had seen it yet, so a lot of us were surprised. Most of our friends were full of sympathy that Jess had to wear such massive braces and supported her, but Chris was clearly not amused about Jess’s braces. Again he blamed me for the braces that Jess wore and in fact, he was right this time. It took soke time for Chris to calm down, but the atmosphere only cleared fully when Chris left for bed.
More and more friends left for bed, even Jess, leaving just Susan and myself. Susan has the privilege to sleep in the living room this year, as she was one of the singles. When I got ready to go to bed, she asked me to have a last drink.
I felt Susan wanted to discuss something, so I quickly agreed, grabbing two beers and plumped on a couch, while handing Susan one of the beers.
“Are you sure you’re not into braces? I mean, you didn’t give her a regular Christmas present, did you?”
I smiled and said: “I knew Jess is always looking for challenges and I knew she just enjoy wearing braces including her headgear. I guess you have seen that as well. I found out, but didn’t tell Jess yet, that her orthodontist is an old schoolfriend of me, so it was quite easy to get the headgear.
I didn’t know she took it with her this trip, so when she showed up wearing it tonight, I was as surprised as anyone else.
I expect she called you to show the headgear in private?”
“Yes indeed, she wanted me to tell me about the double headgear in private and in continuation of our conversation in the car I asked her to put it in, so I could really see how it looked. In fact she hesitated to show it even to me, you know, showing such a humiliating device to your friends is quite hard.
When she put it in, I immediately recognized what you said earlier. She looked so natural wearing the double headgear. Of course it looked strange, but it just suits her.
She said she needed a moment when I returned to the living, so I expected her to take of the double headgear. Little did I know she needed a moment to compose herself to show herself wearing this headgear in front of her friends.”
In fact I wasn’t really surprised with Susans explanation and a could have expected it from Jess. Also remembering the conversation in the car, I started to think that wearing braces might be a little more than only a challenge for Jess. Not that I was disappointed about it, anyway.
Now the topic was into braces anyway, I asked Susan: “I don’t know you as well as Jess does, but I think you have been thinking about braces since we had our conversations back in the car. I bet now you have seen Jess’s headgear, you are questioning yourself what it would be like to have such braces yourself and what Daves reaction would. Am I correct?”
She laughed out loud and threw a cushion towards me: “You are damn right. Now go to bed and give Jess some attention. I need you to leave the room anyway, because I need some sleep for a new day of skiing tomorrow”.
I understood the message and rose from the couch. I wished Susan sweet dreams about braces and slipped into our room, where I found Jess fast asleep wearing her double headgear. Unfortunately she didn’t notice me climbing into bed.
Without any trouble we arrived in a cozy French village, where we had rented a big house for the whole group. Since Jess had never brought a boyfriend on the skiing trips, she always had been convicted to sleeping in the living room. Now I accompanied her, she got the luxury of a bedroom, where we had some privacy.
As a member of the group of friends, Chris was joining as well. He was still frustrated about the fact that Jess was involved in a relationship with me and he abominated the fact that Jess was wearing braces, something he still blamed me for. It was clear that Chris and I wouldn’t become best friends, but we didn’t bother each other.
The first day of skiing was great, blue skies and great snow conditions. After the lifts closed, we got a few beers in a pub before we left for our house. Jess took advantage of the luxury of a private bedroom including a bathroom with a bath and left for a relaxing session.
I was joining a few others with some card games, when I heard Jess calling Susan to come to our room. I didn’t think anything of it, until Susan came back, walked to me and whispered in my ear: “Your explanation in the car about braces, seems to have a little different meaning with the Christmas present you gave Jess.” I understood Jess told Susan about the double headgear I had given her. As far as I knew Jess had left it at home for our own entertainment.
We continued our card game and I had my back to the door of our room, so I couldn’t see when Jess entered the room again. Before I even noticed Jess entering the room Chris exploded. I looked around to see why Chris went nuts, when I saw Jess wearing her double headgear. No one had seen it yet, so a lot of us were surprised. Most of our friends were full of sympathy that Jess had to wear such massive braces and supported her, but Chris was clearly not amused about Jess’s braces. Again he blamed me for the braces that Jess wore and in fact, he was right this time. It took soke time for Chris to calm down, but the atmosphere only cleared fully when Chris left for bed.
More and more friends left for bed, even Jess, leaving just Susan and myself. Susan has the privilege to sleep in the living room this year, as she was one of the singles. When I got ready to go to bed, she asked me to have a last drink.
I felt Susan wanted to discuss something, so I quickly agreed, grabbing two beers and plumped on a couch, while handing Susan one of the beers.
“Are you sure you’re not into braces? I mean, you didn’t give her a regular Christmas present, did you?”
I smiled and said: “I knew Jess is always looking for challenges and I knew she just enjoy wearing braces including her headgear. I guess you have seen that as well. I found out, but didn’t tell Jess yet, that her orthodontist is an old schoolfriend of me, so it was quite easy to get the headgear.
I didn’t know she took it with her this trip, so when she showed up wearing it tonight, I was as surprised as anyone else.
I expect she called you to show the headgear in private?”
“Yes indeed, she wanted me to tell me about the double headgear in private and in continuation of our conversation in the car I asked her to put it in, so I could really see how it looked. In fact she hesitated to show it even to me, you know, showing such a humiliating device to your friends is quite hard.
When she put it in, I immediately recognized what you said earlier. She looked so natural wearing the double headgear. Of course it looked strange, but it just suits her.
She said she needed a moment when I returned to the living, so I expected her to take of the double headgear. Little did I know she needed a moment to compose herself to show herself wearing this headgear in front of her friends.”
In fact I wasn’t really surprised with Susans explanation and a could have expected it from Jess. Also remembering the conversation in the car, I started to think that wearing braces might be a little more than only a challenge for Jess. Not that I was disappointed about it, anyway.
Now the topic was into braces anyway, I asked Susan: “I don’t know you as well as Jess does, but I think you have been thinking about braces since we had our conversations back in the car. I bet now you have seen Jess’s headgear, you are questioning yourself what it would be like to have such braces yourself and what Daves reaction would. Am I correct?”
She laughed out loud and threw a cushion towards me: “You are damn right. Now go to bed and give Jess some attention. I need you to leave the room anyway, because I need some sleep for a new day of skiing tomorrow”.
I understood the message and rose from the couch. I wished Susan sweet dreams about braces and slipped into our room, where I found Jess fast asleep wearing her double headgear. Unfortunately she didn’t notice me climbing into bed.