by Audrina Lane
I shut my eyes as I felt his fingers run over my breasts for the very first time, my nipples sprung into life as he gently ran his fingers around them.
“You are so beautiful” he murmured as his lips came back down to mine and my skin touched his, it was magical as all my nerve endings tingled in response. Time ticked by slowly as we kissed and talked and then kissed some more, my fingers running over the smooth skin of his back, his were in my hair.
Eventually we drew apart and noticed it was almost noon so we decided we had better do something for the day. A trip to the pool was in order perhaps the water would cool the heat flaming through my blood. We left his parents a note saying we would be back for dinner later and we had gone to the pool. The pool was fantastic, much bigger than I was used too and the diving board was so high. I watched with huge admiration as James climbed right to the top and executed a wonderful dive. He introduced me to Ian, who was working that shift and also Michael who was in the office.
As we were about to leave I heard a female voice shout his name, James stiffened and turned to see his boss walking towards us. She wore a short skirt suit and she looked amazing as she extended her hand to me as we were introduced.
“Hi Felicity, this is Stephanie. Stephanie this is Felicity” James said.
She was a little older than James but not much, under her piercing gaze I felt a little like a mouse caught in the eyes of a hungry cat.
“We are a bit short staffed on Sunday is there any chance you can fill in?” she asked James.
“I can only do the evening as I have to take Stephanie home that day” he replied.
“Great, see you tomorrow at six then” she responded and then promptly turned and clicked her way across the floor and back to her office.
James seemed subdued as we drove back to his place
“Sorry about Felicity, I think I did mention how awful our boss was in one of my letters” he said.
“It’s ok” I said as I tried to cheer him up by running my hand up and down his leg as the sombre mood was broken. Dinner that evening was great, his parents asked me about school and my plans for the future before we excused ourselves and headed for James’ room to rediscover the taste of each other’s lips and the feel of each others skin. Then we just dived under James’ duvet and once again curled up together to sleep, no nightshirt tonight just my knickers and his boxer’s.
Sunday 13th March, 1988.
We awoke with a start at a knock on the door and his Mum popped her head round.
“Morning James, Stephanie would you like a coffee” she asked.
“Thanks Mum, we’ll be down in a bit” James replied. I tried to hide behind James but it was no good. James turned to see me burning with mortification, what if she thought we had done it, what if she ended up talking to my Mum and mentioning it on the phone, I would be in serious trouble.
“Don’t worry about my Mum, she’s cool about this and I will speak to her and let her know that nothing serious has happened, if that will ease your mind”
“Yes, please” I replied, just before he pulled me into his arms for a good morning kiss.
After breakfast we grabbed our roller skates and headed for the nearby park as although it was cold the sun was shining brightly in the sky. James showed off his immense skills on the wheels and I just tried to keep up and also stay upright as he kept whizzing away and hiding behind trees and jumping out just as I was going past. It was such good fun and took my mind off the fact that very shortly we would be driving back to my place and then not seeing each other for a while.
After Sunday lunch I carefully packed and we were soon in the mini and heading home.
“It’s been a wonderful weekend” James said, as his hand captured mine.
“The best birthday I have ever had” I replied, smiling over at him.
“When I’m in at work later I’ll check my shifts and see when I can see you
again”
“I’ll ask my Mum and Dad if it’s ok for you to stay at ours” I responded. I didn’t want him to have to come down to Ross and stay with Chris. I wanted to share a bed with him once more. Feel his skin on mine as we shared our dreams together. All the way home I kept my hand firmly on his knee or his on mine, not wanting to break the physical connection that the weekend had only served to make stronger.
James managed a quick coffee before he had to be back for work, so once again I found myself standing on the doorstep staring into the red rear lights of his car and wishing he was not leaving. Once in my room I hugged the pillow and relived the magical firsts that I had just shared with James and soon fell asleep.
I carefully put the diary back down my hands were shaking with remembering all those details from the happiest days of my life. I couldn’t deny that having Charlotte was another of the happiest days but when my husband Mark had been killed only three months after the birth, even that was tinged with sadness. Since then I had decided that it was better to be alone than to risk heartbreak for a third time and as Charlotte grew up we became almost as close as sisters. Perhaps she would realise now why I had never jumped back onto the dating band wagon all the years that she had been growing up. I had placed what was left of my heart in a sealed box, afraid to love again as all it seemed to bring me was heartache and pain.
Getting on with the chores for the day I decided to treat Charlotte to a take away for tea this evening, it might cheer us both up a little more.
Chapter 13
Charlotte had been practising her routine almost non stop since her dance teacher had told her about the competition in Birmingham. The troupe was 12 girls, including her best friend Julia, and they were going to be doing their most difficult routine for the competition to the song ‘Umbrella’ by Rhianna. It meant that they had to use brollies as props for the routine. What was even better was that Charlotte had been chosen to perform the small solo section in the middle of the song so the diary remained un-read for the next few days of the week until Saturday dawned.
“Good Luck, sweetheart” I said as she boarded the coach at seven and I prepared myself for possible upset on return if they didn’t get through to the final. I was pretty sure that they would as I had been lucky enough to watch the routine at the school Christmas concert and although Charlotte had told me they had changed some of it since then I waved the coach off and gave my daughter the thumbs up sign, positive they would get through. Having the day ahead without any interruptions was a luxury so I gave Sarah a call and we headed for the Health spa for a day of pampering.
Sitting together in the Jacuzzi I turned to Sarah
“You know I gave Charlie my diary to read” I said.
“Yes, is something wrong” Sarah asked
“Well, every time I go into her room I find that I have to keep reading it myself and my mind is a mess of memories” I replied “I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing” I finished.
Sarah reached out and patted my arm
“I’m sure you’ve done the right thing and I’m sure she’s strong enough to cope with everything you’ve written” Sarah said. She looked down as we both remembered New Year’s Eve.
“After all, it was because of this that you got together with Mark eventually” she finished. I nodded and smiled again, although deep in my heart I knew that Mark had always been the consolation prize.
I smiled and remembered the significant part I had played in getting Sarah and Chris together. I was amazed that they had come through the years and still looked as much in love as they did at our school leaver’s dance twenty four years ago. Their only heartbreak had been the realisation that they were never going to be able to have children, but they had helped me so much when Charlotte had been born and Mark had gone that they were almost like surrogate parents to her and she always knew that she could turn to them as well as me in times of need.
“Thanks for a lovely afternoon” Sarah said, as I dropped her off at home.
“I hope Charlotte’s group has got th
rough” Sarah said.
“Me too, otherwise they’ll be tears before bedtime” I groaned. Sarah giggled
“Well you know where I am if you need to escape” she finished.
As the coach pulled into the large arena car park Charlotte started to feel the nerves kicking in. However once she was in the large auditorium with all the other dance groups the excited noise of teenage voices calmed her nerves. Julia and Charlotte went for a quick walk around to check out all the competition but secretly they wanted to check out all the guys that were there as some of the groups were from colleges.
Each troupe then watched all the others do their routines and Charlotte was glad she wasn’t a judge as the competition was fierce. Charlotte was particularly impressed with the group of guys from a college in Rugby as their acrobatics took an amazing amount of skill. In particular one guy stood out from the rest, he was tall with dark hair and a fantastic muscular physique. She guessed he was around 20 years old.
“Come on Julia lets go and congratulate them” Charlie said, as they headed over to the side of the stage.
“I’m at the mercy of your crush” Julia sighed, as her friend grabbed her hand.
“Hi, great routine” Charlie said as she stuck out her hand at the dark haired guy
“Hi there, thanks” he said “My name’s Mitchell by the way”
“Pleased to meet you Mitchell I’m Charlotte and this is Julia” Charlie said.
As she shook his hand she felt a shock of desire spike through her body and she blushed as he smiled and his green eyes drank her in.
“Come on Charlie, we’ve got to warm up before our routine” Julia said, trying to drag her mesmerised friend away from the gaze of Mitchell.
“I’ll look forward to seeing you dance” Mitch said, as he walked away with the guys from his group. Thankfully their routine was as tight as they had ever performed it before and with applause ringing in their ears they left the stage. She glanced around for Mitchell and spotted him and his mates and he smiled and waved. At the end the groups all assembled around the stage to hear the results, only six would go through to the final and Charlotte grabbed Julia’s hand as they waited for what seemed like an age before their names were called out and they were through. Then she waited and sure enough the college from Rugby also go through which was good news.
As they were waiting outside for their coach to return from the car park Mitchell rushed over to her and handed her a scrap of paper, it had his mobile phone number on it and just the words ‘text me, Mitch’ She hugged herself and watched him run back to board his minibus before she boarded theirs. All the way home Charlotte debated about how soon she should text him, should she do it now or later tonight or tomorrow morning. In the end she decided that a short text tonight when she got home didn’t look too eager but also didn’t look like she was not interested at all.
Watching the bus pull up I spotted plenty of smiling faces so I guessed that they had made it through to the next round. After saying goodbye to Julia, Charlotte bounded over to me and gave me a big hug.
“We got through Mum”
“I knew you would” I replied as we headed towards the car.
“I’ve done lasagne for tea, I hope you are hungry? And you can tell me all about it”
“Yes that sounds great Mum” Charlotte responded as she looped her arm through mine and we headed home.
Once in her room later Charlotte reached for her phone and typed in Mitch’s number and then paused. ‘What should she write?’ in the end she decided to keep it simple and wrote ‘It was great to meet you today hope we can stay in touch between now and the next round, Charlie x’ Then she turned to her Mum’s diary for a few pages before sleeping as she still felt so hyped up from the competition and meeting Mitchell.
Friday 19th March, 1988
It’s James’ turn to phone this evening and I can hardly wait to hear his voice again. This week has dragged by so much but at least I had sent and received another letter and I have my memories of the weekend to relive as often as I liked.
“Hi James” I answered, as his deep voice filled my ears and at the same time sent a tingle down my spine.
“Hi Steph, how’s your week been” James asked.
“Ok, so much course work to get finished” I said
“Keep at it, I know I was pretty lax at school except in subjects that I liked” he replied “So my next free weekend is the Easter one” he finished.
“That’s great news, only two weeks to wait until we see each other again” I breathed. I was positive he could hear the happiness in my voice.
“My Mum says it’s ok for you to stay at ours. You’ll be in my room and I’ll be in the spare room” I replied
“It will save me sharing with Chris, I’d much rather share with you” James said, his voice low so that his parents wouldn’t hear him. I was lucky to have the phone in my room now so I could talk more freely.
“I loved sharing a bed with you” I replied. I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I remembered all that had taken place over our weekend together. It seemed so distant already.
“I’ve got an interview for the Fire Brigade next Tuesday” James said.
“Wow, that’s great news you’d better let me know how it goes” I replied “I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you” I finished. A vision of James in uniform filled my thoughts and I sighed.
“What’s the sigh for” James asked
“Just imagining you in your uniform, you can save me any day of the week” I flirted.
“Well I may need to practice my fireman’s lift next time I see you” he laughed. When we eventually finished our conversation I lay back against my pillows and smiled, my life was fantastic.
Feeling sleepy Charlotte leafed through the next few pages as they seemed to be all about school, exams, homework and apart from her Mum’s usual missing James so much at the end of almost each entry there was not much of interest until she reached the Easter weekend entries.
Friday 1st April, 1988
I woke early and after breakfast I got the spare bedroom ready as I told Mum that I would sleep on the small pull out bed and let James have my room instead. Also I knew that I could probably sneak up the flight of stairs to my room once my parents had gone to bed without stepping on any creaky floor boards. I had already arranged with Sarah that we would meet and go swimming on Saturday and she hoped that Chris would come again as since Valentine’s Day she had not even managed to pluck up the courage to go into the video shop. After that I was not sure what we could do but I was sure that between us we could think of some way to pass the time.
Just after ten I heard a car pull into the driveway and quickly dashed down the stairs to open the door before my Mum could beat me too it. I ran into his arms as he held me close and breathed in the scent of my freshly washed hair.
“Are you a sight for sore eyes” he responded as he bent down for a quick kiss, aware that my parents might spot us
“You too” I replied as I pulled away and he followed me into the house. We wasted some time over coffee and then eagerly headed up the stairs to my room. He pulled me into his arms and we had a proper hello kiss that literally left me gasping and shaking in his arms as we moved the few yards to the bed and sank onto the duvet so that my legs would stop shaking under his fingertips as they travelled the length of my body. Oh the feel of his touch after a fortnight apart felt like heaven as my body pressed against his in such as way that we felt like one.
“Lunch is ready” Mum shouted, so we headed downstairs and then afterwards we walked into town to meet Chris at the video shop.
“Can you invite Chris to come swimming tomorrow as Sarah wants to come” I said, as we walked along together our hands tightly clasped together.
“Sure I can, I like match making” he grinned. We headed through the door of the shop.
“Hi Chris” James said, as I wandered over to the shelves to give them some space to catch up. As I joined the co
nversation, Chris smiled at me.
“We’ve decided to go to the cinema afterwards” James said, pulling me close.
“Sounds great, I’ll give Sarah a quick call later and check she is free all evening too” I replied.
As we left the shop James gave me a sly wink and I realised that he was just as eager to match make as I was. This was going to be a fun weekend, I could tell.
Back at home we watched some television with my parents, feeling it would be a little rude to go to my room too early but by eight I was eager to be in James’ arms again. I was addicted to his touch.
Charlotte was startled when her phone beeped and there was a message from Mitchell “It was great to meet you too, are you on Facebook? As we can talk through that as well as with text, I want to get to know you a bit more, Mitch x”
He had signed his with a kiss too, what did that mean? She replied back immediately with her Facebook user name and then as it was late wished him goodnight as she put the diary down and just before she drifted off a text from Mitch wished her goodnight too.
Chapter 14
The following morning Charlotte woke late but immediately reached for her mobile phone to check Facebook on it, there blinking at her was a friend request from Mitchell Cooke accompanied by a small picture of him looking gorgeous. She immediately accepted the request and then while she tidied her room and finished her home work she waited for the beeps alerting her to messages. There was still nothing when she went down for a sandwich at lunchtime so she quickly phoned Julia for advice, who told her to calm down and just be patient. Her patience was rewarded by a message on Facebook later that afternoon saying Hello and a link to a video clip he had recorded of her groups dance routine from yesterday. Wow he had filmed it; she wished that she had filmed his too.
