Starr Fated (50 page)

“I’d just make
sure you were in the water most of the time, and covered with a
towel when you weren’t,” I smiled coolly. She may not have realised
it, but I was being deadly serious. I didn't like other men ogling
her when she was fully dressed, never mind in a tiny bikini, or
even a close fitting swimsuit.

“Well, I’d
better go and get ready, seeing as you said Greg was picking us up
at six, didn't you?”

She gave me a
final quick kiss before extracting herself from me, and I
reluctantly let her go.

“Yes, he is.
Go if you must, unless you want me to come and wash your back for
you in the shower? Save water by showering with a friend?” I
offered.

“Tempting,
Liam, very tempting. But I think we both know we’d never make it
out for the evening if you did that, would we?”

“I knew you
were a fast learner,” I smirked. “ We need to resume your tutorials
when we get back tonight. I’m afraid we’ve been getting ahead of
ourselves, so we’ve some topics that have been omitted and are in
urgent need of some expert one to one tutelage.”

“I’ll look
forward to that, Professor,” Seraphina whispered.

“Professor? I
rather like that,” I chuckled, amused by Seraphina yet again.

~*~

When I
collected Seraphina for our date, she was wearing a simple V necked
pale pink dress that was gathered under the bust and then flared
out. It was short, but not indecently so. She was wearing nude
colour strappy shoes which made her legs look a mile long.

“You look
lovely,” I complemented her. “Something Abbey concocted?”

“Why thank
you,” she smiled at me. “Not Abbey this time. My whole outfit is
Primani.”

I frowned, as
it was not a label I'd heard of, but she burst out laughing.

“It’s from
Primark. You know, the ultra cheap store, heaven for hard up
students. It’s considered very chic you know. The idea is to mix
cheap high street staples such as Primark, with high end fashion
like Armani. Except I don't have the Armani of course. It also gets
called Primarche, Pradamark – you get the picture.”

I’ve always
believed in buying good quality clothes, so I didn't really approve
of such a cheap outfit, although I couldn't deny that it looked
good on Seraphina.

“Of course
you’d look sensational wearing just a bin bag, Seraphina, but you
don't need to dress like a hard up student any more. We’ll go
shopping and get you a whole new wardrobe, including some decent
work clothes,” I stated.

“Hmm, depends
what you mean by decent clothes. You see, I have a problem with
ridiculous designer label prices. I think they’re outrageous, and
even if I had that kind of money, I still wouldn’t pay those
prices, because in my opinion they just aren’t worth it. And if you
think I'm going to start wearing boring, bland, corporate black
trouser suits and white blouses to the office, you’ve got another
think coming. I don't do boring clothes, in case you hadn’t
noticed. I accepted the Jimmy Choo shoes and the Agent Provocateur
lingerie from you rather than tell you where you could shove them
because I was trying to be nice and gracious, but that does not
give you carte blanche to start trying to mould me or change my
image, Liam, because I'm warning you now, it is not going to
happen.” She stuck her chin in the air defiantly as those green
eyes flashed her warning at me.

“Of course I'm
not trying to change you. I like you just the way you are,” I
hastily protested. “But you said yourself the whole look is about
mixing in some high end pieces with the cheaper rubb… pieces, but
that you hadn't got any. So all I'm saying is that I’d like to
provide you with some of those better quality items. Of your
choosing, of course, although I’d like to think you’d take my
opinion into account.”

“Let me make
one thing crystal clear, Liam. I accept that I know very little
compared to you when it comes to sex, so I’m willing to let you
guide me. But that’s it. You were really pushing your luck with all
the Nike running gear you had sent to me, but in the spirit of
trying to make things work between us, I resisted the urge to send
it all back. You may be used to micromanaging every little detail
of everything and everyone around you, but I will not let you take
over every aspect of my life and make me into someone I am not. I’m
happy in my Primark dress, and you said yourself it looked nice
before you found out where it was from. I love the fact that it
didn't cost me a fortune. So, you can like it or you can lump it,
but you have to stop being such a label snob.”

“Okay, okay,
forgive me, but I thought women liked it when their boyfriend
offered to take them shopping to buy nice things. I didn't realise
it was such a crime.” I held up my hands in defeat at her feisty
attitude. Not that it was going to stop me from buying her whatever
I wanted of course. If I wanted to see her in nice things, then I
fucking well would. I'd just have to be a bit more subtle about
it.

“Maybe that’s
been the case with all your previous girlfriends, but I thought
we’d already established that I'm not like them. I'm not impressed
by money being thrown around, because it means nothing when you’ve
got plenty of it. What does impress me is thoughtfulness, which was
why I was happy when you took the time to pick out the Jimmy Choos
for me while you were away. That’s why I accepted them; you’d
noticed the kind of shoes I like, and that was very observant and
thoughtful of you.”

“Seraphina,
what am I going to do with you? You’ve got me all wrong. I’ve told
you before, I’ve not had a proper girlfriend before, you are the
first. I've never bought presents for any of my previous female
acquaintances, because it was never that kind of relationship.
Look, I’ve worked extremely hard to acquire my wealth, and now I'm
finding it gives me great pleasure to buy you nice things, because
you deserve the very best of everything. I don't mean to sound
arrogant, but it’s all about scale, as you said before. What seems
expensive to you, doesn’t to me, if you look at it as a percentage
of what I earn. I don't deny I prefer decent quality things,
because in my experience, you get what you pay for. I bet by the
end of the evening those cheap Primark shoes will have given you
blisters, whereas the Jimmy Choos would be comfortable to wear all
night. Now come here and give me a kiss, and stop being so prickly
and argumentative. ”

She frowned at
me as she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, before
a smile broke through.

“How did you
know I’ve got some special blister plasters in my handbag for later
on in case the shoes rubbed? Have you been peeking?” As she
laughed, I knew we were back on track. I took her in my arms and
kissed her.

“Just relax
and let me spoil you, Seraphina. It’s fun for me, and it’s meant to
be fun for you too, so surely that’s a win/win situation? Look on
it as bringing me back into the fold of nice, kind, generous human
beings again, hmm?” I rubbed my nose against hers, and then kissed
her sweet lips again.

“I’ll try,
Liam. For you I will try,” she sighed.

~*~

I’d planned
for us to have a nice romantic meal at Silvestre’s near Covent
Garden, but somehow we ended up in fits of laughter, which was most
unlike me. I put it down to Seraphina’s wicked sense of humour.

“Could the
waiter be any more pretentious about the wine or suck up to you any
more than he is?” she whispered, and then burst out laughing
because she saw him trip up, and then pretend he hadn't.

“There were a
couple reasons I picked this place. Firstly, it’s supposed to be
one of the most romantic restaurants in London, but now you can’t
stop giggling. Secondly, they’re meant to have one of the best wine
lists, but seeing as I can only persuade you to have one small
glass that’s rather wasted on you,” I said wryly. It seemed every
time I tried to take her somewhere nice to impress her, things
didn't go according to plan. And yet that didn't seem to stop us
from having a good time.

“Well, I’ve
told you what could happen if I have too much to drink. I don't
think they’d appreciate me getting up on the table here to dance,
so you should be thankful.”

“Surely you
would struggle to dance to this music even if I got you blind
drunk?”

There was a
man wandering around playing a violin in what I assumed was meant
to be a romantic manner, but it just sounded like a terrible racket
to me.

“Are you
disputing my undoubted dancing abilities?” Sera whispered from
behind her menu, just as the man came our way. I caught her eye and
raised my eyebrows, as if daring her to dance.

We both
started laughing, and after that, everything seemed funny, even at
the theatre.

“Les Mis was
very good although it was also rather sad and depressing in parts,
don't you think,” Sera said on our way back from the show.

“I guess the
title gives a hint about what to expect,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I guess
so. The Miserables. The music was totally amazing though. Thanks
for taking me, I’ve had a great evening.” She smiled at me and
squeezed my hand

I never
usually found the time to go to the theatre, so I hadn’t been in a
very long time, but I’d really enjoyed taking Seraphina. We’d had a
great evening together, we’d laughed and joked and it had been a
lot of fun.

Fun. A concept
I wasn’t very familiar with these days, but being with Seraphina
was certainly changing all that.

~*~

When we got
back to Seraphina’s place, I suggested we finish off the bottle of
wine I’d brought over earlier.

“You like your
wine, don’t you? I take it you're a bit of a connoisseur?”
Seraphina commented.

“I know what I
like. Naturally I’d rather drink a decent wine than some cheap
nasty rubbish.”

“I know
nothing about wine, except that it makes me drunk and gives me a
headache the next day.”

“That’s what
cheap plonk does for you. Cheap wine has chemical additives that
give you a far worse hangover. Here, try a glass of this. I think
you’ll enjoy it, even if you don't appreciate the finer points of
wine tasting, which I won’t bore you with. Just trust me that this
is a decent wine.”

“Okay, Liam. I
have to admit that everything you’ve given me to drink so far has
been really good,” she smiled, as she took the large glass of wine
from me.

Of course, I
had an ulterior motive. I hadn't completely given up on the idea of
seeing Seraphina dancing for me, here in the safety of her
apartment. I’d brought my iPod along with me too, just in case,
with a suitable playlist in mind.

We sat
together on the sofa in her lounge, and I think because we both
knew I was staying the night, there was no pressure to rush
anything, so we just chatted as we relaxed and drank our wine.

I noticed a
framed photo on the shelf next to where we were sat.

“I take it
that must be you and your mother?” I asked, as I studied it
closely. It looked to be of Sera when she was about fifteen or so,
with a woman who looked more like an older sister than her mother,
but of course I knew she didn't have any siblings.

“Yes, that’s
me and Mum.”

“I can see
where you got your looks from. She was very beautiful too. I'm
surprised she never re-married, but maybe she had a partner after
your father passed away?”

“No, nobody.
Well, I suppose that’s not strictly true. There was Trevor, our
neighbour. We lived out in the suburbs – we had an upstairs
maisonette, and Trevor lived downstairs. His wife had run off with
another man leaving him to bring up his young twin daughters –
Willow and Fern - on his own. Mum and I used to help him out with
the girls so that he could work, and in return he helped us out
with all kinds of practical things. And I’m sure that if Mum had
given Trevor even the slightest encouragement, he would have jumped
at the chance of a relationship with her. But she never did; she
just wasn’t interested in anything other than friendship. She
apparently never felt the need for a man in her life after my dad
died.

“And this
Trevor – what was he like?”

“Oh, he was
really good to us. He even taught me to drive – that was his job,
he was a driving instructor. He organised his work to fit around
looking after the twins as much as possible, but Mum or I used to
help out if he had to give lessons when they were around. In
return, Trevor got me through my driving test, and he also helped
us with the maintenance of our little old Fiat Punto, nursing it
through the annual MOT check, that kind of thing. I’m still in
touch with him and the twins – he was totally devastated when Mum
was killed. I think he’d always hoped that maybe when I eventually
left home to go to uni, perhaps Mum might have finally considered
starting something up with him, but it wasn’t to be.”

“So you can
drive. I somehow just assumed you’d never had the opportunity to
learn,” I said, as I quietly topped up her wine.

“No question,
if it hadn't have been for Trevor, I would never have learned to
drive, because we certainly couldn’t have afforded lessons. But
luckily, I really took to driving, and I passed my test first time.
It was a sad day when I got rid of Gloria – that’s what we called
our old banger of a car. But when I started uni, I couldn’t afford
to keep her going, and in any case there’s no real need for a car
in London with all the public transport.”

“I suppose not
for someone in your position,” I agreed.

“So, how many
cars do you have? Only you said about not having enough parking
spaces.”

“Only two at
the moment. But as the apartment came with just one parking space,
it was a bit of an issue for me initially, but I've got round it
now.”

I've found
that most problems of this type can be sorted if you’re prepared to
throw enough money at it, but I didn't pass this nugget of wisdom
on to Seraphina.