by Nikki Ashton
“For not asking questions.”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready. Now come on, otherwise all the booths will be gone, and we’ll have to sit on a table in the middle. That’s the worst place you can sit.”
“Why’s that?” I asked as I pressed the screen of her phone to get to Amber’s number.
“Because,” she sighed. “That’s where the football team sit.”
As I put the phone to my ear Alannah’s words sunk in. Dread and excitement swept over me in equal measure at the thought of seeing Adam Hudson again.
10
Adam
Practice had been so bad that Mr Jameson had kept everyone back, not just me. We’d split into two groups and he’d made offensive players work against each other and defensive ones work against each other, encouraging us to try new passes and moves that our teammate would have no idea about. To be honest it was a fucking disaster, and Lenny Kowalski, Ellis’ back up as keeper, fell awkwardly after trying to save a shot from Tyler who played left back. At first, Lenny seemed okay, but within minutes his wrist was twice the size it should have been, so Mr Jameson decided to drive him to casualty and practise finished earlier than expected.
“I need a double cheeseburger with chips right now.” Kirk rubbed his stomach. “It’s been almost three hours since I last ate.”
We all ignored him and filed into TJ’s through the old-style revolving door which Tony the owner had rescued from some fancy hotel just outside Manchester. As usual whoever was ahead of the line stopped walking so that the doors stopped revolving, and Tyler almost shit his pants. He got claustrophobic and we all thought it was fucking hilarious that he had a mild panic attack each time. Tyler hit whoever was in front of him around the back of the head and they passed it on until it got to the culprit, who tonight happened to be Dylan Fuller our centre back. The fact that Tyler was too stupid to realise if he only took the lead it wouldn’t happen every single fucking time, only added to our enjoyment.
Once we were inside, a couple of year tens who were sat at one of our tables, looked up and saw us. One was a cocky little shit and waved, but the other knew what was good for him and snatched up his food and moved. As we approached, giving off some pissed off vibes, it wasn’t long before the cocky kid did the same.
We all fell onto the red vinyl chairs and I lounged back in mine, looking around for a waitress, only for my eyes to fall on Alannah, Amber and fucking Sarah. What the hell was it about that girl that she wanted to be getting in my fucking face all the time. Hadn’t I warned her that life would be so much better for her if she stayed out of my way? As I watched her, she studied some sort of notebook, occasionally scribbling in it, while Amber and Alannah chatted. They were still wearing their training gear from practice, but Sarah was in a tee shirt and those fucking tight jeans, with the hoodie she’d had on in class folded up on the seat next to her.
When she leaned forward her hair fell in a curtain and my blood prickled with the need to go over there and draw it back over her shoulder just so I could see the look of concentration on her face. My fingertips drummed on the table as I shifted in my seat and tried to deal with opposing needs that battled inside of me.
I needed to touch her.
I needed to break her.
“Are there no fucking waitresses here today?” I grouched and reached for the salt, spinning it around on the pale blue Formica table. Anything to stop my fingers from itching. “We’ve been here ten minutes already.”
“No, we haven’t.” Ellis frowned and looked over his shoulder. “Becca is on her way anyway.”
Becca, Tony’s wife sashayed over to us in her too high shoes and too tight 50’s style uniform. When she reached us, she leaned over the table and smacked a kiss on Kirk’s cheek.
“Mum, please don’t,” he groaned as he wiped red lipstick away.
“I missed you this morning, seeing as I had to come in and receive the delivery with your dad.” She laughed to herself and then sighed.
“Mum, me and my friends do not want to know what you and Dad got up to once the delivery arrived. Just please don’t let it have been on this damn table.”
When Becca grinned, we all shuddered.
“Okay boys, the usual?” She looked at us all in turn, waiting for us to nod. “Kirky, you want to double up?”
“Please, Mum, I’m starving.”
Becca popped her pen behind her ear and then walked away. I looked around the table and grinned as each one of us, except for Kirk of course, watched her arse swing. She was most definitely a Hot Mum, not quite as hot as Tyler’s, because she was pure fucking wanking material, but hot all the same.
Even thoughts of Tyler’s Mum couldn’t distract me for long, so while the rest of the lads pulled out their phones and started to scroll through whatever social media shit they were interested in, I shifted my chair a little so that I could see Sarah’s booth without either her or the lads realising that I was watching. To anyone else I was keeping an eye on the counter to see when our food was ready, but I knew it was the petite blonde who had my attention.
Sarah was talking to Alannah and showing her something in her notebook. Whatever it was, Alannah grinned and clapped excitedly. Amber wasn’t as interested, but when Alannah turned to her and pointed at something on the page, Amber pointed at herself and then jumped up and down in her seat with a gleaming smile. As the girls began to laugh, something darkened in my heart. I fucking hated the fact that Sarah had done that for them.
I’d broken them and she was putting them back together.
Sarah then got up to go to the ladies and pushed the notebook between Alannah and Amber, who continued to read it with their heads close together.
“Hey, lads,” I said and pushed my chair back. “I vote we have some fun and go and sit with Amber and Alannah.”
Each of them turned to look towards the booths and without another word, Kirk, Ellis and Tyler stood up. Dylan made to stand too but I pushed him back down with a firm hand on his shoulder and without a word passing between us, he stayed where he was. As we walked over to the booth, I wasn’t sure what I planned to do, but I knew whatever it was I wanted to mess with Sarah’s head. If that meant messing with Alannah and Amber too, well so-fucking-be-it.
When we reached the booth, I cleared my throat. “Excuse me girls, mind if we join you?”
Alannah groaned and Amber shrank back in the seat.
“What do you want, Adam?”
“Now now, Alannah, no need to be rude. Scootch up why don’t you.”
Kirk snorted out a laugh as I flapped a hand at Alannah, acting all girly. When she didn’t move, I sighed and picked up Sarah’s backpack and hoodie and dumped them in the next booth. I then sat down and used my thigh to push Alannah along.
Amber scrambled to move too, and as each of us got into the horseshoe shaped booth, she was pushed closer to Kirk’s rock-solid body where he sat next to the end. Finally, we were all packed in with barely any room to move.
“We’re going to have to fucking take it in turns to lift our burgers,” Tyler moaned as Ellis elbowed him in the ribs accidently.
“If you let us get out,” Alannah suggested. “You’d have more space.”
“You’re fine,” I said close to her ear. “It’s been a while since we spent time together.”
She shifted uncomfortably and grasped her neck which had a blush creeping up it. “Leave me alone, Adam.” Her voice was pleading, and a better man might have felt sorry for her; but I wasn’t even a good man, never mind a better one.
“I’m not ready to do that, just yet.” I wiggled my eyebrows and reached for a chip from her plate and slipped it into my mouth.
Alannah gave another desperate groan and dropped her head into her hands.
“What’s going on?” Sarah was back.
She stood at the end of the table and looked at each of us but settled her gaze on Alannah.
“Alannah?”
“They just shoved their way in
.”
I sat back and surveyed the discomfort that slowly washed over Sarah at the sight of us all crammed in at their table.
“W-where’s my stuff?” she stammered as she pulled her arm up to her chest and began rubbing the inside of her wrist.
“Oh sorry,” I replied taking a sip of the Tango which had been in her spot. “I put it in the next booth. There really isn’t space for all of us.”
“But I was here first,” she said as she glanced over to where I dumped her belongings. “We were here first, and that’s my drink.”
“Please, Adam,” Alannah said and pressed her hands against my arm. “Let us out.”
I didn’t budge. “No. You and I are going to eat together.”
“Excuse me, can I get out.” Amber’s voice was quiet and her stare remained fixed to the table.
When Kirk didn’t respond, Sarah placed both hands on the table and leaned closer to me. “Let them out, Adam.”
Her tone was harsh, but her voice quivered on my name.
“We’re just having something to eat, Sarah, that’s all. Now if you don’t mind, our food is about to be served, so run along.”
Everyone turned to see Becca approach us with a huge round tray full of food.
“Why the hell did you move?” she asked as she flicked out a stand and placed the tray on it. “You never sit in a booth. Oh, hi love,” she said as she glanced at Sarah. “You looking for a table, because I’ll be with you in a second.”
Sarah shook her head. “No, we’re just going, aren’t we, Alannah?”
“Oh, okay,” Becca said.
She started to hand out all the dishes as Sarah waited for Alannah to respond. I saw the determination on her face and there was no way I was going to let her win. This was my fucking Battle of Austerlitz. I slipped my hand under the table and dragged a finger up Alannah’s thigh and whispered it over her crotch. Her leggings were so thin I could feel the lips of her pussy and I smiled when she tensed her thighs and pushed them together.
“Alannah,” Sarah said insistently.
As I started to rub her, Alannah let out a little sigh. She pushed her hips forward and I knew then she wasn’t going anywhere. I’d won.
The feeling that gave me should have been epic, I should have been beating my chest that I was the big man who’d made a girl act on his command just by touching her between her legs. The feeling of victory wasn’t there though, instead was a huge ball of nothing. Emptiness and boredom sat at the pit of my stomach and began to fester as I continued to study Sarah.
“I’ll come with you,” Amber said to her and then looked at Becca as she said, “Excuse me, Kirk. I’d like to get out.”
“Move, Kirky,” Becca said and prodded Kirk. “The young lady needs to get out.”
As Kirk moved, I glared at Amber knowing she’d used Becca being there to her advantage. Fucking sneaky little bitch.
“Alannah,” Sarah said again.
Before she could answer, I moved my hand up to the waistband of her leggings and pushed it inside and into her knickers. I quickly entered her with two fingers and smirked at how wet she was before I’d barely even started.
“That’s everything, boys,” Becca announced. “Girls, you sure I can’t get you anything else.”
“No, thanks,” Sarah replied and smiled at Becca before she turned to leave. “Come on, Alannah.”
“Sarah, leave her,” Amber said. “Just get your stuff and I’ll give you a lift home.”
Sarah looked at me and I shrugged. She shook her head and turned away, snatching up her stuff and following Amber out of the place.
Our table overlooked the car park and once I saw Amber and Sarah get into Amber’s crappy old Fiesta, I quickly pulled my fingers out of Alannah’s hot pussy.
She gasped and whipped her head around to face me. She’d been close to coming, I could feel it the way her muscles clenched my fingers, but Alannah’s pleasure wasn’t something I cared about.
I looked at the lads who weren’t interested in anything but their food and then I turned to Alannah and put both my fingers in my mouth and sucked on them. Red crept up her neck and cheeks, but I knew she found it a turn on because her already heavy breathing grew ragged as she watched me. When her mouth parted I leaned in close.
“You can go now,” I whispered. “I need to eat my burger.”
“But—”
“Kirk,” I snapped. “Let Alannah out would you, she needs to leave.”
Kirk groaned and with his burger hanging out of his mouth, got up once more. Alannah shifted rapidly around until she could swing her legs over the edge of the bench and then stand up.
“You’re a bastard,” she hissed, tears welling in her eyes. “Why couldn’t you just leave me alone.”
I grinned and then ripped at my burger with my teeth and ignored Alannah’s quiet sobs as she almost ran out.
“Pass me the ketchup, would you.”
Ellis pushed it along the table towards me and as I moved around to get some more space, I noticed the notebook that Sarah had been writing in and showing to Amber and Alannah. It was a series of scribbles with words like scarecrow, floor sweeper and pop and lock. While I had no idea what it all meant, I didn’t care because I had something that belonged to the girl who was starting to haunt me and I wondered if there was any way I could use it to bring her down.
11
Sarah
I was sure that Adam had wanted to see me break down and cry in the café. But he had no idea the shit I’d gone through, and him pulling off some pathetic mean boy routine was not going to leave me in a heap on the tiled floor.
I was mad, no doubt about it, but more at Alannah for falling for his stupid tricks. I wasn’t sure how he’d got her to stay, but I guessed he must have had something hanging over her. He was putting pressure on her somehow, and even though I liked Alannah, we were new friends and it wasn’t up to me to tell her what to do.
Amber had dropped me home, which was dark and empty because Mum had decided to work late because she thought I was going to be out. Once I’d done my homework I went to bed. I didn’t want to be up when she got home and making small talk about how my night with my new friends had been. What would I say, oh it was great until this hot football player who hates the sight of me manipulated my new friend to dump me?
Alannah didn’t turn up for school the next day, which worried me until I bumped into Miss Daniels in the corridor and she told me that Alannah’s mum had called in to say she had a stomach bug so wouldn’t be in for the rest of the week. She offered to find me another buddy for a few days, but I declined the offer. I really didn’t want to spend another day having awkward conversation with someone who didn’t want to be babysitting me.
School wasn’t great. No one really made an effort to talk to me in class, but at least I had Amber at lunch. She started to come out of herself a little bit more each day and by Friday had told me all about her brother who was at Uni in Plymouth, and that she was going to Nottingham to study nursing.
Now it was the weekend and I was about to walk into the Starline Dance centre to enquire about street dance classes. Helping Alannah with her cheer choreography had made my chest ache with the need to dance again, and I didn’t want to waste that feeling. For far too long I’d allowed Mr Mills’ actions to impact on me. I’d hidden who I was and allowed myself to be swallowed up by guilt and shame of something that I’d had no control over. Now was time to take one of the first steps to being me again.
“Can I help you?”
The small woman, pulling her hair up into a bun and wearing tight yoga pants and an oversized cropped t-shirt which had ‘Born to Dance’ across the front, didn’t look to be much older than me, but I guessed she must be Clarice Kitchener, owner of Starline Dance Centre.
“Hi, sorry to bother you, but are you, Miss Kitchener?”
She nodded. “Yeah and who are you?”
“Sarah Danes,” I replied and held my hand out to her.
Clarice shook it and then went back to pushing loose strands of hair into the band on top of her head. “So, what can I do for you, Sarah Danes?”
“I was wondering if you do street dance lessons, because if you do, well I’d love to join.”
She scrutinised me with her head to one side. “You do street dance?”
“Yes. I actually teach it as well, but I’ve haven’t danced in a while so would love to just get some practice in.”
“What level do you teach at?” Sarah’s tone wasn’t exactly confrontational, but it was straight and to the point as if she didn’t actually believe me.
“I have a level three diploma in Dance Instruction. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing ran a summer program, so my dad enrolled me as a birthday present.” I wasn’t sure why I’d told Clarice about my dad enrolling me, it didn’t really figure in the conversation. Saying it made my stomach ache with longing for him. The need to speak to him hadn’t lessened over the year, it had become more intense.
“You spent a whole summer learning to teach dance?” she asked, her tone now disbelieving. “Not lying in bed or watching Netflix.”
“No. I spent it learning to teach dance.”
I swallowed hard and forced back the tears, which threatened to spill over my lashes. It had been a big sacrifice from Dad and Mum. Not only had it cost them a huge amount of money, but they’d forgone their summer holiday that year.
That Dad’s last summer was spent working or sitting in the house and dodging the British summer rain, was one of the pieces of guilt that I carried with me. Maybe that was part of why I’d stopped dancing, or maybe it was simply that I was dragged down so deep into despair that I just didn’t find the joy in it any longer. But I was ready now, I wanted to dance again.
“It must have been hard work, attaining the diploma in a summer, it usually takes a year.” Clarice crossed her long, sinewy arms across her slim chest and tilted her chin. “You have the paperwork with you?”
