Greg and friends go on holiday

[Brian]

"So that's where I'm at now. No girlfriend, no holiday, and the prospect of a week stuck on campus with nothing to do. Sorry, I guess I've just bored you to tears," added Greg to the unfamiliar Physics student to whom he had just poured out his heart in the Priestley bar of the Guild of Students. "I just needed someone to talk to really. Sometimes a stranger is the best person to confide in, and you were in the right place at the right time. Thanks for listening to me."

French and German language student Greg picked up his beer glass, drained it, and made to get up and leave the other guy, who had introduced himself as Mark, to his own devices. Mark had listened in silence to Greg for some twenty minutes with just occasional sympathetic noises and nods of his head as Greg had told him about the way his ongoing disagreement with his girlfriend Sharon about their living arrangements and financial circumstances had suddenly erupted into a serious row right after they had both finished their summer student exams. Just the previous evening Sharon had ended up telling Greg to pack his bags, go back to his own student flat and get out of her life. The week's holiday by the sea which they had planned to take together was cancelled, Sharon had left the city this morning and returned to her parents' home, and Greg was left licking his wounds back at his own digs with the prospect of a summer spent on his own.

"Wait, wait!..." said Mark, putting his hand on Greg's arm to stop him getting up from his seat. "You can't bend my ear for all that time and then walk off without hearing what I've got to say in reply!"

Greg sat back down and listened with increasing enthusiasm as Mark outlined his proposal.

***

"Well, he's not exactly punctual, this bloke you've found, is he?" remarked Jim as he took Mark's bag from him and added it to the other guys' luggage in the back of the hired minibus. "Did he understand we were supposed to leave at eleven?"

"Yes, I made it clear," replied Mark. "I told him to be here by ten-thirty. I wish I'd got his phone number off him. Well he's got mine. If he hasn't got in touch in five more minutes we'll just have to go without him, I guess." Mark frowned in frustration, then added: "Damn, he seemed a nice guy and he was really enthusiastic too. Maybe his girlfriend has made up with him again or something, but he could at least ring and let me know."

Jim nodded then addressed the other lads who were milling around by the minibus in anticipation of their imminent departure. "Okay guys, we're going in five minutes. I take it everyone's bag is on board. If anyone still needs a pee or anything, now's your last chance!"

All seven friends were students at the city's university. It was the end of the summer term, the exams were finally over, and in celebration partly of this and partly of Mark's birthday which would be the following day, Mark had organised a six-day visit to a holiday camp down on the coast. The original group had numbered eight which would fit neatly into two of the camp's chalets which Mark had duly booked, but one lad had dropped out at short notice. Mark's chance encounter in the Priestley bar the previous evening with the friendly Greg, who was conveniently at a loose end for the coming week, had therefore been a welcome piece of luck.

Mark's mobile rang and six guys turned and listened as Mark took the call. "Hello? ... Hi Greg, yeah it's Mark. Where are you? ... No, we're still here, but we're about to leave. ... Great! Okay, we'll wait. But hurry up, alright? We'll be too late for the welcome at the camp if we don't leave pretty soon. ... Alright, we'll see you shortly. Ciao."

"Is that our room-mate then? Is he on his way?" This was Derek, Mark's best friend, who would be sharing one of the two booked chalets with Mark and another guy called Ken who had become friendly with Derek a few months before. It was a friend of Ken's who had let the group down by dropping out, so Greg would be sharing with them instead. The other four students, Jim, Stephen, Rob and Jonathan, had strong friendship bonds amongst themselves and were therefore booked into the other chalet.

"Yes. He's overslept," replied Mark. "Must have overdone the beer with me last night: he did seem a bit plastered by the time he went home."

"He is hurrying up, isn't he?" said Jim. "We should be setting off now."

"Yes, he's in the bus on the Bristol Road right now. He'll be here in minutes." Mark observed Stephen, who had heeded Jim's warning about it being the last chance for a pee, rejoining the group outside as he said this. "I'll just nip in and use your toilet as well, okay Jim? All that beer I had with Greg last night is still having its effects!" And he trotted indoors.

Mark was just re-emerging from Jim's house and checking his fly was done up when everyone's attention was drawn to a young guy dressed in a red and white striped top and light blue jeans who was running up the road towards them. He was carrying a sports bag over one shoulder and a bottle of water in the other hand. As he approached the group by the minibus he slowed down to a walking pace, drained the last of his water from the bottle and tossed this into a rubbish bin on a lamppost, and then walked shyly up to the waiting students.

Mark was with him in an instant. "Hey Greg! Glad you made it, I was worried. You all set? Give your bag to Jim here."

"Hi Greg, I'm Jim. Nice to meet you," said Jim as he smiled at the newcomer and took the sports bag from him, adding it to the other bags in the back of the minibus and shutting the back doors.

Mark introduced him to Derek and Ken. "We four have got one of the chalets," he explained as Greg shook hands and smiled at them. "And this is Stephen, Rob and Jonathan," continued Mark as he pointed out the other lads in turn, "who will be sharing with Jim."

"Sorry I'm late. Nice to meet you all," said Greg to everyone as he completed the hand shaking. "I don't know what happened, I must have gone back to sleep after the alarm clock went. I've had no time for any breakfast or anything, just grabbed a bottle of water, threw my swimming trunks, toothbrush and some spare clothes into my bag and dashed out here. Still, I'm really looking forward to this break. Nice of you all to let me come with you."

Everyone smiled, taking to the new lad at once. Mark filled in: "Yeah, I guess Greg can do with the break as much as all of us. He's feeling pretty low after his girlfriend kicked him out, but we'll do something about that! There's loads of fun to be had at the camp!"

"Well, get in everyone. If we leave now we'll still be in time for the welcome lunch. Let's go!" said Jim opening the front and side doors of the minibus. The eight lads piled in and Greg found himself seated between Mark and Ken, with his other room-mate-to-be, Derek, on Ken's other side. Jim was driving, and the three lads who would be sharing with Jim were seated together in the back.

"You say you didn't have any breakfast, Greg?" asked Mark as the minibus set off and everyone relaxed in their seats.

"No, but I'll be okay," replied Greg. "What I most needed was water to get rid of the hangover from last night, and I grabbed that as I went out. Did you get a hangover too?"

"No, I don't usually get them," replied Mark. "But we certainly overdid the beer, didn't we? I was up in the night weeing all the time. It was a good evening, though. We had a really good chat, you and I."

"Yeah," mumbled Greg in reply.

A sudden shadow had crossed Greg's face while Mark was speaking as if an awkward thought had entered his mind, but whatever it was was put on hold as Mark leaned over and grabbed a colourful brochure which was on the seat behind next to Rob, tossing it onto Greg's lap. "Here you are, Greg. This is where we're going. The activities are listed on the centre pages. See what you fancy doing," said Mark.

"I'm going to go on the high ropes and zip wire," volunteered Ken. "There's a group going for that this afternoon after the welcome."

"Yeah, I'll come with you for the high ropes, Ken, it sounds fun," added Derek. "And there's donkey rides on the beach if we want to play at being little kids," he continued. "Or swimming and diving in the pool. Snorkelling in the sea. Canoeing on the river. Or just hanging out at the bar and soaking up the sun. I can't wait!"

Greg opened the brochure and started looking at the illustrations. The troublesome thought entered his mind again as the minibus joined a main road and picked up speed, but Derek, Ken and Mark were all leaning over and pointing out their particular enthusiasms which were lavishly illustrated. Greg touched his groin gingerly under the magazine, ascertained that the uncomfortable twinges, of which he had suddenly become aware as they had set off, were disconcertingly genuine, and then tried to block them out again as his new friends pored over the brochure on his lap. If he really needed to go to the toilet, he would at least have to wait until they had covered a reasonable distance. Asking for a stop within minutes of starting out would hardly look good in front of all these guys he hardly knew.

"What do you reckon, Greg," Mark was asking him. "How about you and I set off upstream with the canoeing group this afternoon since it's good weather today?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," replied Greg in a concerted attempt to turn his attention away from his uncomfortable bladder and onto the day in store. If he was going to have to ask for a stop at some point then so be it, he thought, but he would have to wait for a suitable interval to pass in this journey first if he wasn't going to come across as a total wimp in front of these guys. He and Mark started looking together at the page of the brochure which described canoeing up the river and discussed this for a while.

But later on when Derek looked across at Mark and started asking him about something about a Physics exam which he had just been discussing with Stephen in the back and which meant nothing to Greg who was a language student, Greg fell silent again. Holding his pee in was taking some serious effort, he realised, and at some point he knew he really would have to get out for a leak. Hopefully some of the other guys would need to as well, he thought, as he glanced anxiously out of the window. With a start he noticed that a motorway service station was imminent and in a moment of deliberation he considered leaning forward and asking Jim if he could stop there for the couple of minutes it would take for him just to sprint inside and let it all go in the toilets there. But Jim was at that moment joining in with the discussion about the Physics exam in which various guys in the minibus, including Jonathan and Stephen in the back, had evidently all taken. Discarding his momentary thought of interrupting Jim, Greg watched the busy service station pass by to be replaced by the miles of monotonous road as they sped further towards the coast. "Doesn't anyone else have to pee?" he wondered as he glanced anxiously at some of the other lads who were discussing their various answers to some exam question.

Five minutes later his inner concern about how long he would still have to hold in his pee was suddenly interrupted as he realised that Mark had turned to him and asked him a direct question about whether he, Greg, also had issues with unfair or unclear questions in his student exams and everyone's attention was suddenly on him. Greg pressed his thighs together, adjusted his seating position uncomfortably, and replied: "It doesn't really apply to me. I don't get exams so often as you lot do. It's essays and continuous assessment in my department. Say, how long is this journey going to take? Are we stopping anywhere?"

Greg was fully aware that this sudden change of subject would come across as unnatural, but his situation was becoming a touch serious. Now, just half an hour after they had started out, the task of waiting for an opportunity to pee had become an effort which demanded his continuous attention.

"Only about an hour and a half if we don't get held up," replied Jim from the front. "Best press on because we are supposed to arrive before one-fifteen if we're not going to miss the welcome and the lunch."

"Yeah, let's not miss that," came Rob's voice from the back.

"What are you complaining about anyway? If you'd been on time we wouldn't be in a hurry now," added Ken to Greg.

Mark had spotted that Greg was looking unhappy and hastened to lean across him and admonish the lad sitting on his other side. "Hey, go easy on him, Ken. Greg's upset about his girlfriend."

Ken scowled slightly and looked away again. Mark looked back at Greg and reiterated the subject he had been discussing with most of the others and now wanted Greg to take part in. "Greg, I wasn't particularly talking about exams. I meant how does it work for you in Modern Languages if you feel you aren't being fairly assessed. Can you appeal your marks or anything?"

With everyone's attention squarely on him, Greg shifted position again, adjusted the crotch of his jeans under the brochure on his lap, and gave a brief reply which mentioned the appeals system under which students could ask for a second opinion under certain conditions. He could feel the tears pricking the backs of his eyes as he held the pee back and he was starting to realise that he would need to get them to stop pretty soon before he was completely out of options. "How has this got so bad so quickly?" he wondered to himself as he rounded his reply off, massaging his groin uncomfortably as he strained to hold on.

Stephen, in the back, immediately picked up on Greg's answer. "Right, and that's what we should be doing with that unfair question...". He started up a lengthy spiel, interrupted occasionally by others in the minibus, about which academics in the Physics department they should be approaching with their complaint.

Greg swallowed and prepared to confide his problem with the one person in the minibus with whom he currently felt at all familiar, the friendly lad to whom he had poured out his heart the previous evening. Greg squeezed his thighs tightly together, shuddered slightly and then tapped Mark on his arm. Mark turned back round from looking at Stephen and smiled at Greg enquiringly.

Greg spoke quietly, well aware both that he was interrupting a discussion in which Mark was involved and that what he needed had not been well received by the others when he had asked about stopping a minute earlier. "Mark, I need to get out for a quick pee," he said. His hands were trembling slightly in his lap under the brochure as he felt the situation, now that he had voiced it, get suddenly much worse. "I'm bursting, actually," he added truthfully. "I need a stop as soon as possible."

Mark's smile vanished. He looked into Greg's watery eyes, sensed the pent up tension in the lad's body next to him, and realised that Greg was probably not exaggerating. As Mark wondered how he should reply to him, given that they were on a major highway on which stopping was illegal, the brochure suddenly slipped off Greg's lap and landed on the floor. Greg bent jerkily down to pick it up again, but it slid out of his hands again and landed on Ken.

Ken swung round and stared at the language student whom Mark had befriended, sitting next to him. "Butter fingers," he remarked. "What's got into you?" He handed the magazine back to Greg who ignored him, leant forward and addressed Jim.

"Um... mate? Any chance we can stop for a quick pee? Could you just stop at the side of the road for me? I'll be two minutes." The others had all stopped talking when Greg had dropped the brochure and were staring at him, but his question to Jim went unheard by most of them for the moment above the general traffic noise.

"No, not here on the motorway," replied Jim at once. "I'd get booked for stopping here. I was hoping not to have to stop anyway because we're a bit late. Best wait till we arrive at the camp, okay? Not much more than an hour till we're there."

Ken immediately snorted with amusement and filled in what had just been asked for the benefit of those who had not heard this exchange. "He wants to stop for a piss already! Hah! Tie a knot in it, Greg, for goodness sake!"

"It won't be long, Greg, we'll be there soon," said Derek. Derek's voice was kind and his manner much more gentle than Ken's, but his message was just as unhelpful.

From the back came a sarcastic "Did someone forget to have a wee before setting out?" This was Jonathan.

"Heh, heh!" hooted Ken.

Greg was speechless with humiliation at Jim's blunt refusal to stop and the amusement which his request had caused. He sat there mortified as the titters died down and the subject of the Physics exam was taken up again by Stephen who had been engaged in an ongoing disagreement about it with Derek. Only two or three of the lads had appeared to be cruelly amused by his predicament, one of them being Ken next to him, but it was enough to make Greg cringe in embarrassment. Far more pressing, however, was his genuinely urgent need to relieve himself. If the subject was over as far as Jim and the others were concerned, it certainly wasn't for Greg. Constantly pressing and relaxing his thighs, as he had been doing for several minutes, was not something which was going to work indefinitely. And the discomfort was acute now. He knew he would wet his pants if they didn't stop for him pretty soon.

As the horror of this thought rooted more firmly in his mind, and as he tried to organise his thoughts about what he should do now, Greg felt Mark's hand touch his arm. Blinking his watery eyes, Greg turned to him. His right hand, no longer concealed by the holiday camp brochure, squeezed momentarily in his groin as he focussed on the face of the guy to whom he had poured out his troubles the previous evening. "We'll be there before you know it, Greg," said Mark. "You can go to the toilet as soon as we get there. Hey, think of the canoeing we're doing this afternoon! Have you been in a canoe before, by the way?" At least in Mark's face there was no hint of the unsympathetic amusement that Ken and Jonathan had shown, and the touch on Greg's arm was friendly and supportive, but Mark was nonetheless implying that he agreed with the others that Greg should just hold on until they arrived, and that was not what Greg needed to hear.

"Yeah, I've been out in canoes and kayaks before," replied Greg. "Look, Mark, I don't actually think..." he began. He was out of options now and if anyone was likely to be sympathetic to his desperate situation it would be Mark.

But Greg did not get the chance to say what he wanted to because Mark immediately leaned over him and addressed the lad on Greg's other side who had by now got over his giggles about Greg's request to Jim a minute earlier.
"What about you, Ken? Aren't you coming with us on the river?"

"Nah, canoeing's boring. Me and Derek are doing the high wire today. Are you blokes trying that on another day?"

Mark and Ken continued to discuss the camp's activities across Greg who was seated tensely in between them, Derek was still in debate with Stephen about how to appeal the unfair Physics question, Jonathan had got over his amusement and was now in a separate conversation with Rob, and Jim in the front was concentrating on the road which had become markedly busier as they headed nearer to the coast. Greg broke out into a cold sweat as he realised that his moment had now been lost and he was going to have to broach the subject of his desperate need to go to the toilet all over again with all the ridicule that this would surely attract.

As the others talked on, Greg considered his situation. How was he going to insist that they stopped when stopping was actually illegal as Jim had pointed out? Was there another service station coming up like the one they had passed some half an hour ago? Greg had no idea. As he stared anxiously out of the window, completely ignoring the conversation between Mark and Ken to either side of him, he could spot no indication of any such service area, and this motorway was unfamiliar to Greg. In that case could he really not wait until they arrived, he then wondered to himself: that was surely the option which would result in getting this holiday with these new friends off to a good start, since everyone had now evidently forgotten his pathetic request to stop the minibus at the side of the road. Surely he didn't need to remind them all over again of the fact that he badly needed a pee?

As soon as Greg considered that question he had the answer clearly spelt out to him by a sudden, almost overwhelmingly insistent urge to let it all out. He rammed his hands into his groin, squeezed his thighs tightly together and shuddered in what his body was emphatically telling him would be his last successful attempt to stop all that water he had drunk on an empty stomach that morning from squirting as hot piss straight into his pants, all over his jeans, the seat, and probably over Ken and Mark next to him as well. Greg gasped involuntarily as he strained and then leaned forward to speak to Jim. He was unsure how his toilet need had got this urgent so quickly, but the options which he had just been considering to himself had suddenly run out. "Get out of this minibus and pee right now," his bladder was telling him, "or do it in your pants!"

The other lads' voices died away as Greg spoke to Jim. "I'm sorry, I've got to go to the toilet. Could you stop?"

Jim sighed. "I think there's a service station down here somewhere. About fifteen, twenty minutes maybe. If you promise to be quick I'll pull in there for you, okay?"

"No, I can't wait! Could you stop here at the side of the road? Please, mate! Please!" Greg accompanied this desperate plea with a gasp of agony as he strained to stop the flood escaping.

"No, sorry, it's illegal here and highly dangerous. I'll stop at the services." Jim's reply was calm but authoritative as he overtook another lorry on the congested highway. Jonathan snorted with amusement. Ken laughed out loud. The others just stared at Greg.

Greg's desperation was focussing his mind on any solution to his crisis, no matter how ridiculous this might be. "Open that window then!" he yelled at Derek who was seated next to the glass.

Derek stared back at him without moving to comply with this extraordinary request. Hoots of laughter erupted from Ken and a couple of guys in the back.

Greg was single-minded. If the others still thought he could and should wait until they at least arrived at a service area twenty minutes down the road, then he needed to disabuse them of that notion very quickly. "No, open that window!!" he shouted again, and then, apparently discarding this idea of pissing out of a window as impossible, he uttered the dreadful words which he hoped would convince Jim that he really had to pull over. "I'm gonna piss myself!" This was perfectly true and Greg knew it: if they did not stop for him right now, he was indeed going to wet himself. What he needed to do was to make that clear, never mind the cacophany of laughter from several of the others as he said it. "No, I really am gonna piss myself!" he repeated.

Jim was as yet showing no signs of heeding Greg's desperate request to pull over so, with no other option, Greg began to bombard Jim with pleas to stop. "Pull over, please, mate!... Oh please, mate!... No, I'm gonna piss out of your window then. Please mate, please! Pull over there, I'll be two minutes! Please!!" Greg grunted loudly in agony, then repeated "I AM gonna wet myself! Please!"

Ken howled with laughter. Rob and, particularly, Jonathan were sharing his amusement. Derek and Stephen had serious expressions on their faces but were staring at Greg just as much as the lads who were enjoying his predicament and yelling with laughter. Mark leant forward and spoke quietly to Jim who nodded.

As Mark and Jim had a hasty consultation about Greg who let out another moan of pain, Ken started a rythmic, chanting chorus in which he was joined by Jonathan: "PISS YOURSELF! PISS YOURSELF! PISS YOUSELF!..." Rob giggled and shared in their puerile humour. Greg ignored the chanting and laughing and moaned loudly again, this time however partly out of relief as much as pain as he spotted that his desperate pleas and Mark's intervention with Jim had resulted in the minibus starting to slow down and Jim indicating to pull over onto the hard shoulder.

"Oh this is hilarious!! Hee hee!!" This was Rob's voice called out over the continued "PISS YOURSELF!..." chanting from Ken and Jonathan. "Holding his crotch! Look at him!!" he added, unnecessarily confirming what all the others could already clearly see as Greg, one hand kneading himself desperately between his legs, leaned right forward to look with Jim for the spot at the side of the road where they would be stopping.

Jim glanced for a final time in his rear view mirror as he slowed down ready to move over onto the hard shoulder. Then suddenly he swore under his breath, switched the indicator off and flipped the gas pedal back down with his foot so that the minibus accelerated back into the traffic stream. "Police. Damn!" he said.

"What are you doing, mate!?" gasped Greg desperately as he banged his knees together, squeezed his crotch again and refused to believe the evidence of his eyes and ears for a moment. "Stop!!"

Jim was looking in his mirror again. His face was grim. "Oh damn. Police car behind us. They've seen what I was doing. They know I was about to stop illegally!" The chanting from Ken and Jonathan died away and various lads turned anxiously round in their seats to look through the rear windows at the squad car which was right behind them.

"Don't look at them!" warned Jim. "Just act normal please. I'm hoping they'll leave us alone. Oh damn, that'll be an on-the-spot fine if they pull me in!" He was continuing to monitor the rear view mirror and bringing the vehicle back up to a speed which was near, but still comfortably under, the motorway speed limit.

"I don't think they'll stop you, Jim," said Derek. "Just keep driving normally till they lose interest."

"Stephen, turn round please!" said Jim sharply, ignoring Derek. Stephen was still looking out the back at the police car. "If they see you looking at them they'll be even more suspicious. I don't want to get pulled over!"

After an anxious half minute, with everyone's attention on this new problem and Greg, who had stopped pleading and gone silent, forgotten by the others for the moment, the patrol car was seen to pull out, overtake them, and head off at speed into the distance. "Phew, I think we got away with that," said Jim after a moment's silence. Then, remembering why they had been about to stop, he added: "Greg, this motorway is literally crawling with police patrol cars. I'm going to come off at the next junction a mile ahead and stop for you there instead. Alright?"

Greg made no reply. For the moment only he knew what was happening to him, and even he knew it only vaguely, his mind numb and almost unable to contemplate, let alone come to terms with, the awful fact of the matter. As his now half-full bladder continued to empty itself steadily and silently the hot pee now gushing and continuing to gush through his underwear and soaking into his steadily wettening jeans, Greg tried but failed to come up with an answer to Jim's now completely superfluous statement about leaving the road at the next junction. The creeping dread in his mind, that the fact that he was totally and uncontrollably wetting his pants would shortly no longer be a secret from any of these lads, turned into an abject certainty as everyone's attention now turned towards him. As he felt the warm wetness now even finding its way down his legs and into one of his socks despite his seated position, in addition to being all over his groin, on the seat and dripping onto the floor, Greg knew that the game was up as he sensed everyone looking at him. He was still peeing, completely unable to stop, totally helpless now that the dam had broken. And now he was the centre of attention. The half minute during which the awful secret that he had lost it and was catastrophically wetting his pants had been just that, a secret, was over. Now, as he sat there still helplessly wetting himself, the dreadful news was about to break inside this vehicle full of lads whom he hardly knew.

As everyone waited in vain for Greg's reply to Jim, it was Mark who broke the silence. "Jim, I think it's too late." Mark, despite the bond he felt with Greg, had suddenly moved away from him a moment before as he felt a slight warmth at the side of one of his thighs, realised the seat was wet and quickly taken action to avoid getting damp from whatever it was. A glance at his new friend's jeans was sufficient to ascertain what was happening.

Ken, sitting on Greg's other side, squeaked "What the...!!?" and also shifted instinctively away from the lad to whom he had recently been chanting "PISS YOURSELF!", pushing into Derek on his other side, as he realised to his rapidly escalating disbelief that the bloke was actually doing exactly what Ken had been chanting. "He's DOING it! He's wetting his pants! He's PISSED himself!!" Ken's voice was screeching in astonishment as he moved sharply right over onto Derek's side to avoid a rapidly spreading wet patch on the seat he was sharing with the hapless Greg.

A buzz of amazed shouts echoed round Greg's ears but he blocked them and everything else out, covered his face with his hands, and felt the still emptying bladder continue to wetten himself all over his lower half. He was unwilling to reply to any of the shouted remarks and questions that were now being directed at him from various people. After all, there was nothing he could say to anyone which would help the situation which had become plain to all. He was wetting his pants, there was nothing he could do about it, and that was that. Greg's hands pushed harder into his temples and he resolutely ignored everyone and everything around him, concentrated on his feelings as the intense bladder-relief surged through him, felt the sopping wetness round his groin and under his backside cool down, and felt his peeing very gradually dwindle and come to a stop as finally there was just no more to do, then he merely continued to sit there with only himself and his intense relief for company and no-one allowed to disturb him.

A few minutes passed. Greg was still resolutely ignoring the continued screeching hoots of laughter from Ken and Jonathan, still avoiding anyone's eye as he sat there in his pee-sodden underwear and jeans. But gradually he started to respond as Mark gently rubbed his neck and back, murmuring "It's alright, it's alright," to him. Lifting his head to look at Mark, Greg read compassion in the eyes of the lad who had listened to him for hours just that previous evening as he had unleashed his feelings about Sharon and the end of his affair with her.

The compassion which Mark was showing was in shrill contrast to that of the lad who had been seated on his other side. Ken had by now climbed into the back with Rob, Stephen and Jonathan, pointedly holding his nose as he did so, and was now loudly describing to Jonathan how he, Ken, had only just avoided Greg's pee in time. Jonathan was laughing, though the other two in the back were now showing signs of distaste for the way Ken and Jonathan seemed to be enjoying the state Greg was in and how it had happened. Derek, who reached across the space that Ken had vacated to add his support to Mark's by giving Greg a comforting rub on his shoulder, was even more forthright than Stephen and Rob at one point, snapping "Oh shut up, Ken!" when Ken made a remark about never having seen an adult bloke wet his pants before. And Greg, despite the fact that in his mortification he was still trying to block the others out of his consciousness, managed to register that only Ken and Jonathan seemed really hostile, and Derek and particularly Mark were being downright nice to him. These two, along with Ken, were due to share a chalet with Greg, and if they could neutralise the cruel hostility that Ken was showing right now then maybe the situation could be saved after all, Greg thought, as he accepted the gentle back-massage which Mark was continuing to give him and tried to relax in his wet, clammy jeans for the rest of the journey.

When the minibus finally drew up at the huge holiday camp complex and was directed to a parking bay by the officials who were supervising the arrival of dozens of other holiday campers, Greg started to regret his decision half an hour before not to grab his bag from the back and change into clean clothes. He had decided against it partly because he wanted to go straight to his chalet on arrival and take a shower before putting on his only change of clothes for the week, and partly because he did not want to attract more cruel comments from Ken and Jonathan in the back. The downside to this decision, as Greg now realised, was that he was going to have deal with what was evidently a welcoming photo-session in his soaking wet jeans. Other groups of young people who had arrived at the same time were having their photo taken with staff members in fancy costumes in front of a huge billboard depicting the name of the holiday camp. And already, before Jim had even switched off the engine of the minibus, a male camp official in a silly white cockatoo outfit was descending on them and speaking through Jim's open window.

"Welcome, lads. I'm Matthew, I'll be in charge of all your tours and activities in the week. I hope you have a great week here. Now do you all want to line up for your group photo before I tell you about everything that's in store for you this week?"

Jim opened his door and got out, opening the side door of the vehicle to let the others out and replying: "Hi Matthew. Is there any chance that one of our group can just nip to his chalet for a quick shower and change first? We've had a slight mishap."

"He wet himself! He PISSED in his pants all over the seat!!" Ken, despite several more admonishments from Derek in the latter stages of their journey, had still not calmed down and was evidently keen to fill Matthew in with the details. As Matthew in his cockatoo costume responded by looking slightly nonplussed at Ken's remark, Jonathan added "He just couldn't wait any more, he peed himself all over the floor of the van!" to Ken's account, accompanying this information with a finger pointing at Greg who was sheepishly clambering out after Derek and holding his hands in front of his groin in a fruitless attempt to conceal what had happened. To his chagrin he could see that a neighbouring group of several guys and girls had overheard Ken's and Jonathan's loud explanations and were looking inquisitively in his direction.

Matthew followed Jonathan's pointing finger and looked at Greg. His face, which had been plastered with a radiant smile when he had greeted them, was now registering some embarrassment. "Oh," he said. "Um... well, I'm awfully sorry but the chalets aren't ready until two o'clock. They're still being cleaned after the previous campers who left this morning. We're supposed to give you the welcome and lunch now and you get your rooms after that."

More campers were arriving in more vehicles. Matthew looked at Greg again, this time altering his embarrassed expression to one of sympathy. He had registered that the bloke looked really upset and was trying to conceal a vast wet patch which stretched all over his groin and partly down his legs. "Hmmm, tough luck mate," he said, giving Greg a supportive wink. "Tell you what. Come over to the billboard now, all of you, for your photo, and you, mate, can stand so that my cockatoo feathers hide your wet jeans in the picture. That's if you promise to smile, alright? What's your name, by the way?"

"Alright," answered Greg. "It's Greg." He attempted to smile at Matthew as required but suddenly found himself so overwhelmed by this support from someone he had never met that he almost burst into tears. Blinking these back, and ignoring a loud remark from Ken to Matthew that he, Matthew, would need to hold his nose if he stood by Greg, a remark which Matthew also completely ignored, Greg and the others followed the guy in the big white bird costume onto the stand in front of the photographer with her camera.

As they posed for the picture, Matthew stood strategically in front of Greg and wrapped his arm round him. Greg managed a genuine grin through the white costume feathers in time for the picture to be taken.

Matthew then addressed the group. "Before you all have your lunch you need to register which activity you want to take part in this afternoon. I assume you've all read the brochure, but today it's a choice of high ropes and zip wire which I will be supervising myself, canoeing on the river, donkey ride on the beach or the table tennis tournament. Or otherwise you can spend the afternoon at the bar, in the pool or just relaxing as you please. For those of you who choose the canoeing, that group leader has asked me to state that you should turn up wearing sensible footwear and clothing which you don't mind getting wet, so that means..."

He was interrupted by a loud "Hey, Greg, you don't mind getting your clothing wet do you!?" from Jonathan and a squeak of laughter from Ken. Immediately Matthew looked mortified at having inadvertently provided material for Greg's friends' cruel and childish humour, glanced apologetically at Greg in his sopping wet jeans, remarked "Nice friends you seem to have here, Greg," and continued with his instructions.

When Matthew had finished Mark stepped up to him and spoke quietly. "Matthew, is there any chance that one of the chalets might be ready earlier? Greg can't really go into lunch like that."

Matthew nodded his understanding and picked up his mobile phone. "I'll see what I can do," he replied.

Forty-five minutes later, as a freshly showered Greg sat on his bed wearing the spare T-shirt and sweatpants which he had packed, still trying to come to terms with what had happened and wondering how he was going to start enjoying this holiday, he heard the door of his room open. Mark entered with a tray of wrapped rolls, sandwiches and cakes. "Here you are," he said, setting the tray down on the bed and sitting down next to Greg. "Matthew's been brilliant. He's got the catering staff to pack some lunch for you and me to eat in our room since we didn't think you'd feel like joining the hordes in the main dining room just now. I can do with a bit of peace and quiet myself, to be honest."

"Oh cheers, mate," replied Greg gratefully. "You're right. And I'm starving!"

"I've also booked us both on the canoeing trip for this afternoon," continued Mark, handing Greg a filled roll and taking one for himself. "I think Jonathan's coming on that one with us too, but don't worry, I don't think he's quite as obnoxious when Ken's not around. Ken's doing the high wire walking with Derek."

As Mark and Greg ate together in the privacy of their chalet they chatted easily together. The subject of Greg's girlfriend, or more accurately now ex-girlfriend, came up again naturally as Greg had talked about her in detail the previous evening, but now he seemed more keen to forget about her and talk about their coming week in the holiday camp which Mark thought was a good sign. He even seemed to have pretty much forgotten about wetting himself just an hour and a half before, and Mark felt that Greg would manage to enjoy himself this week after all. Mark also felt confident that he and Derek together would be quite able to stop their other room-mate-for-the-week, Ken, from giving Greg any more of a hard time about his accident.

The two lads chatted so easily together as they finished their lunch on Greg's bed that an hour passed by without their even noticing it. Then suddenly the door of their room opened and Derek poked his head in. "Hi, you two still here? You know the activities are due to begin shortly, don't you?"

Greg beamed at Derek who smiled back at him, delighted to see that the lad had cheered up after wetting his pants so drastically earlier on. "I'm game," said Greg. "Mark's registered me and him for the canoeing, but you're doing something else, aren't you Derek?" He and Mark both got up from the bed ready to get themselves ready to join Derek and head out.

As the three lads left their room, after each having a quick precautionary pee in their en suite toilet, and headed for the camp centre, Derek filled the other two in about what had been going on. "Most of the others have discovered the bar already," he said drily. "I had one beer with them, but some of them have got matey with another lot who were sitting near us at lunch, and they're all on about their fourth bottle by now I reckon. Rob and Stephen have both had a few, and both Ken and Jonathan are downright plastered. Maybe we should encourage them out before they get so drunk they can't make it to their activities!"

As he was speaking they were rounding a corner and coming into sight of a crowded bar. Sure enough, Ken, as loud and obnoxious as any of them had ever seen him before, was standing in the centre of a large group which included Jonathan plus a whole host of unfamiliar young campers and regaling them all. His loud voice was audible to Mark, Derek and Greg before they even entered the bar. "...and he says 'open that window, open that window!' And then he goes 'I'm going to piss myself, open that window now!' And Jim won't stop the minibus, and he's pleading with him, saying 'no, I'm really going to wet my pants!', so Jim HAS to stop for him!" At this point Jonathan butted in, talking just as loudly and drunkenly as Ken had done. "And then suddenly Jim sees this police car coming up behind, so we can't stop after all, then the next thing we know, Greg's pissed his jeans and there's this huge puddle all over the seat!" Ken chipped in: "It's almost all over me too, I was sitting next to him!"

"Oh, great!" muttered Derek to his companions. As Greg realised that the conversation in the bar was about him he instantly stopped in his tracks, unhappy about being reminded of the morning's disaster and positively mortified that it was now being related to all and sundry in the camp. Derek turned to Mark who had stopped with Greg. "Right, I'll go and get the pair of them out. This is really going too far!"

The fact that Ken was friendly with Derek and respected him evidently had its effect because, under the watchful eye of Mark and Greg, Derek succeeded in intervening in the group and leading both Ken and Jonathan away. Both lads could be seen nodding at Derek, draining their beer bottles, and following him out. Within a minute they had all joined Greg and Mark.

Ken leered at Greg. "Hey Greg, we were just talking about you,..." he began with a snigger. Jonathan squeaked with laughter.

Derek lost his temper at this point and spoke menacingly and emphatically. "Right, that's enough! If either of you two tease Greg any more during this holiday, I shall purposely see to it that your bags get packed and you return straight home. I mean it. I am not joking! I will not tolerate another word from either of you whatsoever about what happened this morning. Is that understood?"

The stunned silence with which both drunk lads received Derek's words was broken by Mark who weighed in. "Well said, Derek. And I will also see to it that you both really do shut up about it or else leave this holiday camp. We are perfectly serious. If you mention Greg's accident again you WILL be on your way home! I organised this holiday for all of us, and I will terminate it for you just like that if you don't both BELT UP! And Greg is my guest here. He's also my friend. Show some respect!"

Ken continued to look completely stunned. He had never heard either Derek or Mark speak like that before. Jonathan, unsure where to look, blew out his cheeks and made no reply. Mark slipped his arm round Greg's waist in support. There was a silence of some ten seconds amongst the five of them as the message apparently sunk in to both Ken and Jonathan.

Finally Derek spoke up, his voice now more evenly modulated. "Well, now that we've got that straight, it's time to be heading for the activities. Right Ken, Matthew's high wire group is meeting by the pool in five minutes. I think you three are supposed to assemble in the car park for the canoe outing, isn't that right Mark? We'll see you guys later. Come on, Ken."

The canoeing turned out to be a fairly tame paddling exercise in two-person kayaks up a well-behaved river and under the instruction of a friendly young woman called Judith, who was in turn assisted by an older man called Frank. Since some of the group, including Jonathan, had never set foot in a canoe before, the first half hour after their arrival at the canoe depot was taken up by some rather basic instruction about how to fasten the tuilik which each person had to wear on themselves and around the opening of the kayak where they sat to prevent them getting wet, plus how to steer and what to do if the canoe rolled over.

Since both Mark and Greg, who were sharing a boat together, were familiar with kayaks and knew these basics already, they were able to use this instruction time to continue their chat from the previous evening and at lunchtime today in their room, getting to know each other even better. At times they looked on in some amusement at the hamfisted attempts of Jonathan and the other lad in his boat as they tried to follow Judith's patient instructions and get their kayak launched correctly. All the while Greg chatted on and listened, his morning's disaster in the minibus once more firmly out of his mind as he warmed further to his new friend.

The sedate paddling up the stream was punctuated by one amusing incident at a point where Judith had made them all gather round in their boats on the water as she pointed out some nesting birds on the bank. She was startled to be interrupted by Jonathan who suddenly blurted out that he was desperate to go to the toilet and needed to get out of his canoe immediately. Since neither he nor the lad he was sharing with had much control over their vessel, Judith and Frank had to jump out of their own boat, haul the pair of them to the bank and then help the trembling, desperate Jonathan out of his kayak.

In front of the entire group of guys and girls in their canoes, and red in the face with embarrassment, Jonathan simply turned away and sprayed a powerful jet of urine all over the riverbank. As he turned back, and stumbled awkwardly back into his boat, the wet stain on the crotch of his jeans where he had leaked in his urgency was blindingly apparent to everyone as the sunlight showed it up. And his boat-mate's loud question "Is that river water running down your jeans or what!?" as Jonathan tried to step back into the boat was answered, to general nervous laughter, by another guy: "No, he just couldn't whip it out in time!"

Judith interrupted the laughter and further embarrassed Jonathan in front of everyone as he settled himself back into his kayak with the lad who had pointed out his leakage to everyone. "If anyone else needs the toilet," she said, "then could you please tell me before it gets that desperate because the bye-laws require us not to disturb the wildlife in any way and certainly not to pee on the bank or in the river. There are toilets back at the inlet downstream if anyone needs them. You only have to let me or Frank know!"

Mark caught Greg's eye and grinned at him, punching one hand with the fist of his other hand a few times. Greg grinned back, remarking in a voice which was loud enough for only Mark to hear: "That should shut him up about what happened to me. He obviously had too much beer!"

Jonathan was very quiet on the journey back to camp after the kayaks had been returned. The wet stain on his jeans had only partially dried and was still perfectly obvious to anyone who glanced at his crotch. He seemed about to slip away to his chalet without saying goodbye to Mark and Greg, but Greg walked up and touched him on his back. "See you later, mate," he said, making eye contact and smiling. "Take care, man." The score was fully settled between the two of them now, Greg felt, and it was time to forget about their little accidents and enjoy their holiday.

When Mark and Greg returned to their chalet there was still no sign of their room-mates Derek and Ken. But as Mark was boiling the kettle ready to make a pot of coffee for himself and his new friend, their door suddenly opened. First through the door was Derek, followed closely by Ken whose jeans were totally soaked, all down the legs and on both the front and the back. Without speaking or even looking at either Mark or Greg, he plunged straight into the en suite bathroom and slammed the door.

"Well, that's some entrance," remarked Greg to Derek after a moment's silence.

"What happened? Did he fall in the lake or something?" added Mark.

"Something," replied Derek drily.

There was a pause. Ken could be heard swearing to himself. A clatter on the bathroom floor was evidently the buckle of the belt of his jeans. Some more thuds on the floor suggested that he was stepping out of his underpants.

"Don't tell me. He's wet his pants?" asked Mark.

"Got it in one," said Derek. More swearing could be heard from the bathroom. The sound of the shower door sliding on its runners preluded the noise of the high-pressure shower being started.

Greg and Mark exchanged glances. Greg was shaking his head in disbelief. Mark was widening his eyes at Greg, an amazed grin on his face.

The kettle boiled. "You making coffee?" said Derek. "Let's have a cuppa and I'll tell you about it."

As Greg and Derek sat down comfortably on Greg's bed together and accepted their cups of coffee from Mark who joined them, leaning comfortably against his friends' backs and sipping from his own cup, Derek began. "We were out there in the woods and Matthew had us all kitted out with the safety harnesses and everything. Ken was being his usual brash and pushy self, and still really obviously intoxicated with all that beer he had in the bar. Anyway, he made sure he was first in line, so Matthew took him up to the start of the course first while the rest of us waited our turn.

"Anyway, Matthew's up there with him, Ken's all trussed up in his harness, and suddenly he says he needs to go to the toilet. We can all hear him say this down below, you know how loud he talks. Anyway, Matthew tells him to just get on with it because he's all kitted out now and they can't just come back down for a wee. And so Ken starts off along the high wire, and suddenly it's like it's started raining in the woods. Except it's not rain. We all look up, and Ken's just stopped there on the wire above us and he's pissing his pants and it's all just raining down onto the ground where we are. I can tell you, I was so embarrassed for him I really didn't know where to look!"

"Phew. So what happened next?" asked Greg.

"Well, Matthew leaves him to it for a bit, and the pissing just goes on and on. Oh God, how embarrassing! I can't think how much beer the silly idiot must have drunk. There were girls with us as well as guys, and no-one knew what to say. Finally Matthew goes up behind him and asks if he's finished peeing, but Ken just lets another great rainstorm out. I was just looking up at him and hoping the nightmare was over, but then there he was weeing in his trousers again, and it's all just flowing down through the legs of his jeans straight onto the ground. I didn't know where to look!"

Mark blew out his cheeks. "Crikey!"

"Anyway," continued Derek, "you wouldn't believe it but eventually the piss did actually stop pouring down and we could all look at each other again without dying of embarrassment. Matthew ushers Ken along the rest of the course, sends him back to the rest of us, and takes the next person as if nothing had happened. He handled it pretty well. Very professionally."

"Yes, Matthew seems like a good guy," confirmed Greg.

"Yeah, I think the only person who really ended up embarrassed was Ken," agreed Derek, "because Matthew just pretended it hadn't happened. And the rest of us had a pretty good time on the high wire course."

"What did Ken do then?" Mark wanted to know.

"Well, he went very quiet after he'd finished his turn on the wire. And he didn't want to go up again for a second go like the rest of us did. I've never seen the lad as sullen and quiet as that before. He didn't say anything to me just now at all. And I guess I didn't really know what to say to him either," admitted Derek.

"Poor Ken," said Greg. "I know how he might be feeling."

Derek looked at him. "You don't have to feel sorry for him you know. I'm appalled at the way he's treated you since... er ... since this morning."

"No, I DO feel sorry for him," insisted Greg. "He's probably pretty upset."

"Oh!..." began Derek as another thought occurred to him. "Matthew did actually mention something to me about it after we'd all finished, come to think of it. He says there's a laundry facility with coin operated machines in block F on the other side of the pool. He thought both you and Ken might need it." Derek looked at Greg again, adding hastily: "But he was really discreet. Don't worry about anything. He just thought you might like to know."

The noise of the shower in the bathroom stopped and the sound of the sliding door was heard. Greg nodded, got up and walked purposefully over to their shared wardrobe. "Yes, it is useful to know. Thanks," he replied to Derek as he extracted Ken's sports bag which presumably contained a change of clothes if Ken had given any thought to his packing, plus Greg's own plastic bag in which he had deposited his soaking wet jeans, underwear and socks from his mishap in the minibus. "I'll see if I can help sort Ken out," he added to the other two as they watched him walk over to the bathroom, knock cautiously on the door, then open it and go in.

Ken, who was drying himself after his shower, looked up instantly and shrank back into the shower cubicle as Greg entered and shut the bathroom door behind him. "Hi, mate, how's it going? You alright?" asked Greg in as friendly a voice as he used to anyone. Ken had hardly spoken to him directly at all and had merely teased, taunted and talked loudly about him that day, but Greg knew that Ken was vulnerable now and needed help and support however obnoxious he had been earlier.

"What do you want?" muttered Ken in a low monotone. He was holding his towel defensively round his waist as he looked up apprehensively at Mark's friend.

"I thought you could do with a bit of help here," replied Greg. "I've brought your clothes-bag so you can change. And I'm just off to the laundry with my own wet things, so I thought I'd take yours with me."

He deposited Ken's bag on the floor in front of him and then picked up a soaking wet pair of jeans and an equally sodden but still colourful pair of cotton briefs which depicted the Disney characters Donald Duck and Goofy across their front. Both of Ken's garments left wet stains on the floor and the Disney underpants dripped slightly as Greg picked them up, but he used a small dry patch on part of Ken's jeans to wipe the floor clean before dropping them into the plastic bag with his own pee-soaked clothes.

"Do you need your socks washed too, Ken," asked Greg gently.

The lad nodded his head wordlessly as he held the towel even tighter around his waist. Greg deftly picked up two soaking wet black ribbed socks from the floor next to Ken's shoes and added these to the bag.

"Now, is there anything else you need, man?" asked Greg, looking Ken squarely in the eye. "Do you need me to lend you any clothes, or do you have enough spare for now in your bag?"

"I'm okay," muttered Ken. His voice was almost a whisper. The contrast with his normal volume could not have been more stark. "Thanks," he added.

Greg reached out and touched Ken's bare arm as he stood there shivering slightly. "You're welcome, Ken," he said. "I guess I'll see you later. I'll buy you a drink if you like. Now you take it easy, okay?" And with that Greg exited the bathroom with his and Ken's wet laundry, shutting the door gently behind him.

"Is he alright in there?" asked Derek.

"A bit upset, I think," replied Greg. "He'll be okay though, I guess. Well, I'm off to do a bit of washing. See you guys later."

[zsrh2002]

Thanks for posting! I am glad I have found the new version of the board. Thanks to TTYN for keeping things going. Hopefully the content was saved from the old board.

[Tytn]

Thanks for posting! I am glad I have found the new version of the board. Thanks to TTYN for keeping things going. Hopefully the content was saved from the old board.

Um... err.. some of it... at some point... er

[Fred]

Well written and with lots of potential.