Forever Is Over (21 page)

“
Let her go, Kelly! Give her the space she says she needs.
”

“
I
’
m worried about her. She doesn
’
t normally act like this.
”

I felt like saying
“
she
’
s acting far nicer than she normally does!
”
but
if Risk was Kelly
’
s middle name, mine was probably Tact, so instead I
responded with,

“
She
’
ll be fine. Just give her some space.
”

This no doubt came across as logical, caring advice but I wasn
’
t being
caring or sensitive at all, my motivation was purely selfish, I wanted
Kelly to myself. Kelly was obviously a compassionate sister and had I
been a compassionate brother, I would have gone into the kitchen at
this point, to see how my brother was doing, but frankly Jim seemed
OK, so he was a long way down my list of priorities. I just wanted to
be alone with Kelly.

“
Do you fancy going for a walk?
”
I asked.

This plan had two motives. One was that it would prevent further distractions and secondly it gave me an opportunity to gauge Kelly
’
s
interest in me. It was a blatant move. I knew it was a move, Kelly,
although only thirteen, was pretty intelligent and I am sure she knew
it was a move too. If she was interested, she would say,
“
Yes
”
, if not she
would make an excuse.
Kelly smiled again and stared right into my eyes. A return to
flirtation, I thought. A good sign! I hoped so anyway, suddenly I felt
nervous. How ridiculous, a man of almost sixteen worrying about the reaction of a thirteen year old girl!

“
OK! Let me go and tell Jemma we
’
re heading out!
”

It didn
’
t seem like an excuse or a delaying tactic, after all she said it
in an excited tone. I was pretty sure she was being genuine, but I was no
expert. If I was a girl and I wanted to fend a lad off, I would make my
delaying tactic sound pretty genuine too. Kelly headed into the study.

I twiddled my thumbs and watched the world go by. At one stage,
Amy Perkins and Eddie Garland went past, Amy leading Eddie up the
stairs. Continuing to have a sense of nervousness and a knot in my gut,
I did a bit of minesweeping of half drunk beer bottles abandoned in the
hallway. As a minute turned into two and then into five, I concluded a
romantic walk was not going to happen. I was even tempted to follow
Kelly into the study and ask her what the hell was keeping her, but once
again my newly christened middle name got the better of me. Making
a scene did not appear to be a good long-term move. I felt like I wanted
Kelly to be around for a long time, not just someone I could French
kiss and window clean her backside. If I started trying to call the shots,
it may put her off me and I didn
’
t want that. Why did she have to go
and check on her sister anyway? I thought her middle nam
e was Risk?
After what must have only been about five minutes, but seemed a lot
longer, especially because I had guzzled four or five half-bottles of lager
in that period and was now needing a w
ee, Kelly emerged looking both
concerned and frustrated. I had already convinced myself that our walk
would not be happening, but Kelly
’
s look was the rubber stamp.

“
I
’
m so sorry, Richie, I
’
m going to have to stay here and keep an eye
on Jemma. She was already pretty drunk before we got here and she
’
s in
even more of a state now. She apparently just poured herself a massive
mix of drinks from the cabinet and necked the whole lot in one, when
that kicks in, she
’
ll be in serious trouble! She
’
s slumped down in there
like a boxer who has had one fight too many, come and look
”
.

Given the way Jemma threw her punches the boxing analogy was
somewhat appropriate. Kelly grabbed me by the hand and steered me
into the study. I
’
m so glad she did because if I hadn
’
t seen Jemma for
myself, I
’
d have just presumed she was making polite excuses. When I
went in there, however, Jemma was sat down with her back propped up
against the wall, looking like someone who had just been given several
thousand volts of electricity from a cattle prodder. If that was Caroline,
I must admit, I would not have left her either. Jim maybe, Caroline,
definitely not.

“
Sorry, Richie!
”
Kelly repeated.

“
Forget it, Kelly. It
’
s not your fault.
”
I re-assured her.

“
Can we do something another time?
”
she asked.

What was she doing now? Brushing me off or asking me out?

“
I can stay with you now, Kelly, it
’
s OK. You may need someone to
grab the other side of Jemma if she
’
s going to spew.
”

“
Richie, I don
’
t want you to stay. Jemma will be OK, I just need to
keep an eye on her, you don
’
t. Go and enjoy the party.
”

I wanted to tell her it was a crap party until the moment I saw her.
I wanted to tell her I wouldn
’
t enjoy the party one bit without her, but
I didn
’
t. I needed to be cooler than that and I wanted to retain some
pride. I clung on instead
to her penultimate statement.

“
Are you serious about doing something another time?
”

“
Of course, I am!
”

“
Like a date?
”

“
Not like a date, Richie. A DATE!
”

“
And your parents would not have a problem with you going out
with someone my age?
”

“
How old are you, Richie?
”

“
Fifteen, sixteen in August.
”

“
Well, I
’
m fourteen next month. We aren
’
t exactly Mandy Smith
and Bill Wyman are
we?
”

Kelly had a point.

“
I know that! I know you haven
’
t got an issue with it, but what
about your Mum and Dad? Your Dad may think Fifth form lads are
only after one thing!
”

“
I haven
’
t got a Dad.
”

Great! My shoulders sagged. Trust me to put my size elevens right
in it.
“
Sorry. Did he die?
”

“
No idea. I have never met him. He
’
s probably better off.
”

That struck me as a weird thing to say. If I had a daughter as
beautiful as Kelly, I would stride down the street with my head held
high. How could anyone be better off without her? This time I couldn
’
t
stop myself blurting something out.

“
You
’
re wrong, Kelly. He definitely isn
’
t better off without you!
”

I was immediately embarrassed I
’
d said it. It was cheesy and
uncool.
Kelly smiled at me, not a flirtatious smile this time, a re-assuring,
don
’
t you be worrying type smile.

“
Come to mine next Saturday, at six o
’
clock. We can go to the
cinema but I
’
ll introduce you to my mother. Then you
’
ll understand!
”

             
“
OK
”
, I replied,
“
whereabouts do you live?
”

“
Wigan Road. At the bottom end, one house up from the Ropers,
near the hospital.
”

“
I
’
ll be there.
”

Maybe I
’
ll get the chance to kiss you then, I thought, those lips
look like they really need kissing. I was starting to feel more than a little drunk.

Out of the blue, Kelly reached up and kissed me on the cheek.

“
I shall look forward to it, Richie! It
’
s been lovely speaking to you
tonight, now go off and enjoy the party! I
’
ll see you around at school
and see you properly at six o
’
clock next Saturday!
”

“
OK. See you Saturday!
”

I blushed, smiled and then shot up the stairs. I needed to join the
queue for the toilet as quickly as I could as my bladder was fit to burst.
I stood in the queue which was about ten deep and cursed that it was
mainly girls in front, which was a pain as they took much longer. I
needed to take my mind off how close I was to peeing my pants so
found an obvious solution by reflecting on my introduction to Kelly
Watkinson. She was only thirteen years old but was far more mature
than some of the girls in my year and miles ahead of most of the lads.
She seemed calm and sensible, the middle name of Risk didn
’
t seem
to suit her at all. Some of my mates would probably take the mickey
about me
“
going out
”
with a girl in third year, but I knew it would be
worth taking any stick to spend time with Kelly. I already felt there was
a strong chance we would stay together for the rest of our lives. Maybe
that was the drink talking but I didn
’
t think so. My future seemed,
for the first time, to have some clarity and that future was with Kelly.
The only problem was, I thought, if I ever married Kelly, I would have
bloody Jemma
Watkinson as a sister-in-law.

“
What a nightmare!!
”
I said to myself out loud. No doubt the rest
of the queue thought I was passing comment on the time it was taking
to have a wee.

“
I think she must either be throwing up or having a crap!
”
responded
the girl in front of me.

If I married Kelly though, I suppose I would just have to handle
Jemma. Every
silver lining has a cloud! Ten further minutes passed with more
thoughts about Kelly and then it was my turn. I ran in, ignoring the
smell and whopped out my semi-erect willy and sprayed as much wee
as I could manage into the toilet bowl. I struggled but I was certainly
not the first of the evening to consistently miss the bullseye. As I was
missing, I remember thinking that girls just don
’
t understand how boys
manage to miss such an easy target, but they should try putting their
finger over a garden hose when it is full on and then try to spray the
whole lot into a bucket. It
’
s bloody hard!

After a very fulfilling wee, I headed back downstairs, avoiding the
temptation to return to the study. I was sure Kelly thought I was pretty
cool and I did not want to soil this impression. I headed to the kitchen
and on reflection, this was the point that a near perfect evening began
to head into a totally different direction.