It Started With A Kiss (9 page)

Georgie turned. It may have been twelve years
and a lifetime of events in the interim, but from the moment she’d
seen him on the path, she’d known that one way or another, she
would be with Nate again. If it was only for tonight, she’d be
satisfied that a chapter of her life could finally close but if, by
some crazy twist of fate, they ended up together, that would be
awesome too. Either way, she was prepared.

“
I’m sure,” she replied and
led him into the house.

He closed the door behind them and they stood
for a second, facing each other in the darkness. “This is really
weird,” he whispered. “It’s like it’s…”

“…
The first time again?
Like we’re going back to the future?” Georgie finished.

Nate nodded.

Georgie wrapped her arms around his
shoulders. Her lips reached up to meet his as she clung to him,
pressing her body into his, never wanting to let go.

“
I felt it too. I can feel
it now. But it won’t be anything like that. It'll be much
better.”

*****

Georgie had been grounded without an end-date
after the fire-in-the-car episode. Her parents had been so
disappointed by her behavior that leaving her to stew in her room
for an indefinite period seemed the only choice. Well, at least
until they came up with something better. Apart from the odd ten
minutes late for curfew or being caught kissing in the car, Georgie
had always been such a good girl. She was a model student. She
always did as she was told. And because they’d never needed to
punish her before Mr. and Mrs. Bird had no idea how to go about it.
The only thing they did know was that Georgie should not be allowed
to hang out with Nate. He, and his raging hormones, were clearly a
bad influence.

The decision to keep Nate
and Georgie separate was easier said than done however, and by the
time exams were over and university entrance places submitted, the
pair had devised numerous creative methods to get around the ban,
be it at school, the library or even in the exam preparation
classes. Nobody could stop them from sitting together there. As
long as they were quiet and got on with their work, nobody gave a
fig. The only thing they’d never been able to manage, however, was
to lose their virginity and, while Nate could have his pick of the
girls at school, he wanted nobody but Georgie. His
Playboy
collection, took
an awful beating during those months. It was lucky to last the
distance.

The weekend that Georgie was allowed from her
prison for the first time coincided with her parent’s trip to
Queensland. Georgie’s maiden aunt had bought herself a husband in
Indonesia and was having not one, but two weddings — Muslim and
Christian — to celebrate. Every adult in the family had been
invited to see the woman nobody thought would ever marry walk down
the aisle. Georgie was beside herself. She may have been exiled for
the week to Jan and Jock’s, the family friends around the corner,
but she had also been given permission to attend a small gathering
to mark the end of the exams and her school career. When Mrs. Bird
suggested that Georgie should also be in charge of feeding the cats
and checking on the house each day, she jumped at the chance.
Another plan was forming in her head and it involved her, Nate, an
empty house and a single bed. This time, they would have no fires
or cars to contend with.

On the Saturday night of the party, Georgie
had everything prepared. She’d walked the half block to home during
the day and made her bed with fresh sheets. She’d put a scarf over
her lamp to create mood lighting and she’d dug out the condoms and
candles that she’d packed in her drawer months back, thinking she
may need them some day. She felt a bit odd at having planned the
event with such detail, right down to her knickers, but she wanted
Nate to see how special this was for her and how much she loved
him.

At ten p.m. that night, Georgie asked the
host of the party if she could use the phone. Then she rang Jan,
explaining she was going to help tidy up after the party but would
be home by twelve — a very plausible excuse, she thought. With a
hug of her girl friends, and the excuse she’d forgotten to feed the
cats and had to do it before curfew, Georgie skipped out the door
and down the road.

Nate was waiting on the verandah under the
porch light. His big shoulders were silhouetted against the front
door and it made Georgie shiver to think that very soon they would
be in her bed together. She wasn’t nervous at all. Nate knew what
he was doing and he would never hurt her.

Turning the key quietly in the lock, Georgie
and Nate entered the house.

“
I told them I forgot to
feed the cat,” Georgie said, between kisses.

“
What about
Jan?”

“
I said I was helping tidy
up and would be home by twelve. We’ve got an hour or
so.”

Spurred on by the thought that they were, at
last, about to go where they’d never gone before, Georgie and Nate
began to kiss earnestly. As Nate’s hands travelled into her shorts,
her breath sped up in his ears and her chest heaved with it. As he
kissed her bare neck and the spot behind her ear that made her
quiver, Georgie put her fingers to his fly, and undid the buttons.
Then she wobbled, one-footed, as Nate’s hands flew across her body,
peeling her clothes away and sending the vase on the hallstand
crashing to the floor.

“
Shit,” Georgie giggled, as
she stood, pressed against him in a puddle of china, wearing only
the specially chosen underwear.

“
Forget it. Nothing’s going
to spoil it this time. Not even your Mum’s best vase.”

Nate lifted Georgie into his arms and carried
her to the bedroom, avoiding bits of broken china as he went. He
lay Georgie gently on the bed, staring at her as if worried she
might break or disappear, or worse, change her mind. He reached
over and flicked on the bedroom lamp. A soft pink glow filled the
room from the scarf. This was the time. They were ready.

As Nate climbed onto the bed next to her,
Georgie’s heart began to thump harder in her chest. His fingers
traced her body. She felt the heat spread and she kissed him hard,
shifting her bottom so he could remove her knickers. Now, Georgie
was completely naked beside him. His erection was digging in to her
leg.

“
I love you, Nate. I’ll
always love you.”

“
I love you too,
Georgie.”

“
Put a condom
on.”

Nate did as he was told, breaking three
before he managed to get one on. It wasn’t easy with Georgie all
over him while he tried to work. At last, he lay down beside her
again, pulling her eagerly towards him. He moved her hair aside and
kissed her neck, then her jaw, her rosebud lips. His fingers played
in tiny circles between her legs as he spoke dirty words in her
ear.

“
Now Nate,” Georgie urged.
“We’ve waited so long. Do it now.”

Which, of course, was the cue for Samba, the
family cat, to make a grand entrance, hop onto the end of the bed
and relieve himself of a particularly troublesome fur ball. Right
on Nate’s left foot.

“
What the fuck?” Nate
jumped up, shaking his foot. “Samba just threw up on me. Jesus,
Georgie.”

But Georgie couldn’t do anything. She was too
busy having a fit of giggles. Her eyes were watering she was
laughing so hard.

“
Stop laughing. It isn’t
funny.” Nate grabbed a t-shirt from the floor and flopped down on
the side of the bed, wiping his foot. He looked like he was going
to vomit.

“
It, sort of, is. Think
about it… every time we get ready to do the deed, something goes
wrong.”

“
And you think that’s
funny? I can’t take much more. There’s only so much wanking a guy
can do.”

Georgie knew she’d gone too far. She shifted
to her knees, draping her arms around his shoulders and kissing
each one in turn. “Poor baby. I’ll fix it.”

She felt Nate’s body relax against her.

“
How about you go and wash
your foot? I’ll tidy up the sick and we can try again.”

She shuffled from the bed and picked up
Samba, who looked most offended having settled himself for the
night on an armchair in the corner.

“
There’s no point, I think
I’ve lost my mojo,” Nate whined, indicating his sudden
limpness.

Georgie tossed the cat out the door and
slammed it shut. Walking to the side of the bed, she knelt down
before him. “I’m sure I can fix that, too. I’m very capable when I
put my mind to it.”

So she did.

Chapter 10

Georgie lay beneath the jumble of covers in
Nate’s arms, her breathing returning to normal. Beside the bed, a
glow of lamplight revealed a pool of wet pirate clothing on the
floor and a pair of jeans hooked over the bedpost. Snuggling into
Nate’s side, she smiled, still unable to believe he was here. With
her.

“
Wow,” she said, thinking
that the last hour had been possibly the most amazing experience
she’d ever had and when she recouped the energy, she’d like to have
it again.

“
Yeah, wow.”

“
When I said that was going
to be better than the first time, I didn’t expect it to be that
much better.”

Nate’s fingers combed lazily through the nest
of tangles in Georgie’s hair. “I thought the first time was fairly
ordinary actually. You’ve certainly lifted your game since we were
in our teens.”

Georgie leant up on her elbow. “Are you
saying I was crap?”

“
No. But you’ve definitely
improved.”

“
So I
was
crap? If I remember rightly we
got interrupted an awful lot when we were teenagers. I didn’t have
a chance to be good. Anyway, I don’t remember you being that much
of a stud back then.” She punched at the pillow, fluffing it up and
pretending to be upset. Beside her, Nate gave a chuckle and lifted
his arm to cradle the back of his head. From the corner of her eye,
she saw him smile to himself.

“
I had external factors to
contend with,” he conceded.

“
Excuses,
excuses.”

“
Georgie?”

“
Hmm?”

“
What happened to us? One
minute we were in love, the next we were split up. It was so
instant. I always thought we were forever. I felt like my life was
over.”

“
So did I. Plus, I had the
added pressure of being pulled in two directions. I had no idea
what was right. I wanted to be with you but I wanted to make
everyone happy.”

Georgie recalled that last day like it was
yesterday. Mum and Dad had been at one end of the hallway, Nate at
the other. It was like a Mexican stand off without the sombreros.
Nate had begged her to go with him, to travel the world for a year.
Mum had said he was inconsiderate to ask Georgie to give up a
chance at one of the best universities in the country. If he really
loved her, he’d let her go.

Nate squeezed Georgie tighter. “I only wanted
you to see there was more to life than doing what your parents
wanted. You could have gone to Uni anywhere and done anything. You
didn’t have to be tied to them. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“
I think we hurt each other
equally. But what choice did we have? I felt obligated to do as my
parents wanted and you wouldn’t go to Melbourne with me because you
wanted to see the world. The sad thing is I believed that doing
what my parents wanted was the way to be happy and when I realized
they were wrong, it was too late. I rang your house, you know, a
couple of weeks after we split up. I wanted to tell you I’d changed
my mind. Your mother said you’d left the day before.”

“
I had a round the world
ticket and a backpack. I had no idea where I’d end up. I just
wanted it to be far enough away so I could forget you. But I never
could, Georgie. I saw you on every street, in every bar. Every girl
looked like you. Every beach reminded me of you.”

Now, Georgie was crying. Huge blobs of tears
streamed down her cheeks, wetting Nate’s shoulder. “I tried to
forget you too but, without you, all I wanted was to die. I didn’t
eat. I didn’t sleep. I was a wreck.”

“
Jesus, what did we
do?”

“
We listened to other
people instead of listening to our hearts.”

Nate rolled over, his chest partially
covering Georgie’s. He kissed the damp from her eyelashes. “What
about now?”

“
You mean, is it too late
for us?”

In the past twelve years,
she’d done everything she could to make her parents proud. They’d
been devastated after she swapped her vet science degree for
something with ‘no job prospects’ but she’d proven to them that she
could have a successful career. When she’d become engaged to Matt,
who’d charmed everyone including grumpy old Samba, her parents had
been over the moon because she was going to have the kind of life
every girl should have, with a perfect marriage
and
a career. They’d even called him,
‘Son.’

So what about now? She’d dumped her
boyfriend, tossed her job and sold her house. She had nothing but,
clearly, that perfect life was not the life she needed. Was this a
sign? Maybe fate had dealt her this hand because it was getting
ready to bring Nate back into her life.

“
Would you like to try
again?” Nate whispered.

“
I don’t know.”

He leant up on his elbow, his solemn gaze so
like the one she’d seen all those years ago in the wardrobe, when
he’d proposed to her. “Come with me to South Africa. I have work to
do for a few weeks and then I’m off to Mongolia. Wouldn’t you like
to see Mongolia and China?”