Chapter 16

On Tuesday at school, I met up with Kathy at break time and asked if she’d like to go to the regular gang cinema outing with me on Friday. She said yes (of course) but reminded me that I’d have to ask her Dad but did say that she didn’t think it would be a problem. Which is why, at seven thirty that night I walked through the doors of the Roundhill Working Men’s club in Castleford, walked up to the bar, and stood next to the club chairman.

“Evening young David,” he greeted me, “what are you having?”

I knew that he and the club steward would both be OK with me ordering a pint of beer, but I decided to play safe.

“Diet Pepsi please, Mr. K”

“I take it you’re here on a mission then,” he said.

“Yes,” I replied, “er I’ve come to ask you for permission to take Kathy out on Friday.”

“Where to?”

“The cinema, Mike and a whole gang of others will be there too.”

“You know I don’t let her go out with boys, don’t you.”

“Yes I do, but I hoped you might make an exception since you’ve known me for four years.”

“I thought you had a serious girlfriend?” he queried.

“I did sir, but we broke up last week. She met someone else while we were apart for the summer.”

“Oh Sorry to hear that. So you’re going after my daughter on the rebound eh?”

“No sir, it was actually Kathy’s idea. She suggested it to keep the rest of the girls at school from pestering me. She thinks that if they see her as my girlfriend, they’ll not bother.”

“All right,” he said, “permission granted. But be warned. The only bare flesh of hers you touch is her hands, and her lips. Anything else is absolutely forbidden.”

“I understand,” I said with a smile.

“Good, now are you going to drink that silly pop, or do you want a pint like us men?”

“I’ll stick with the Pepsi thanks,” I said.

“Your choice,” he replied.

“So what film are you going to take my daughter to see, David, assuming she agrees to go with you?”

“I don’t know yet, we usually agree as a group. Of course there’s one later in the year I’d really like to take her to see,” I said.

“Which one’s that?”

“It doesn’t have a title yet, “but I’ll be going to the world premiere.”

“You mean like, with the red carpet, flashy women type World Premiere?”

“Yes.”

Then the penny dropped.

“Ah, the one you’ve just been to America to make?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where will that be held?” he asked.

“One of New York, Los Angeles or London,” I replied.

“And you think you might be allowed to take her there?”

“Not her, the whole family,” I said.

“All of us?”

“Yes, the studio will pay for me and whatever guests I want to take,” I said.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that?”

He asked.

“Yes, they’ve already agreed seven places, two of those won’t be used now so I just need to let them know there’ll be ten or eleven of us. They’ll arrange everything.”

“So you get to walk down the red carpet and be on TV?”

“Yes, and my date as well.”

“How the other half does live,” he mused.

I finished my drink, said goodbye to him and set off home, calling Kathy to give her the good news on the way. She squealed at the news. When she finished I told her I’d see her tomorrow at school, and carried on walking the mile back home.

On Friday evening I turned up at Mike’s house at five forty five, ready to take Kathy to the cinema. Naturally she kept me waiting, but when she put in her appearance, she took my breath away. The pretty schoolgirl had vanished and been replaced by a beautiful young woman.

“Wow,” I said, “just wow,” as she entered the room.

She was dressed in a cotton floral print summer dress that reached to just above her knees, and had a square neck that threatened, but didn’t quite deliver on, a glimpse of her small firm breasts.

“You like?” she asked, giving me a twirl.

“I like,” I responded.

“Come on then, let’s go, Mike has gone to pick his date up, so he’ll meet us there”

“Okay, let’s go,” I held the door open and she left the house, followed by me.

As we rounded the corner, she took hold of my hand, and we walked the five minutes to the bus station, hand in hand, talking about nothing in particular. Another five minutes on the bus and we were at the cinema complex, where the gang were all waiting for us.

We settled on Big Momma’s House, a comedy starring nobody we’d ever heard of, but we all decided we could use a few laughs. We’d just made the decision when everybody went quiet, and looked towards the front doors of the cinema.

Cal was walking in, on her own.

Kathy gripped my hand, and I turned and smiled at her.

As Cal reached us, she looked round, saw Kathy’s hand in mind, and looked downcast.

“I guess, I’m not really wanted here anymore,” she said, turning to leave, tears in her eyes.

“Of course you are,” Geoff jumped in, “you’re one of the gang, and just because you and David aren’t going out together any more, that hasn’t changed.”

“I’d just feel like a spare part, especially since...” she trailed off and looked at Kathy and me.

“That’s immaterial Cal, you’re part of this group. David tell her.”

“It’s not really for me to say,” I said, “but I don’t have a problem with Cal staying. Do you Kathy?”

“No,” she said, less than enthusiastically I thought.

I just shrugged.

“No,” Cal said, “I just wouldn’t feel comfortable, I’ll just go home.”

She turned and walked back out of the door, her shoulders slumped.

“You should have warned her you were bringing Kathy,” Mike said quietly.

“Why?” I replied, “She didn’t warn me about Wolfgang.”

“What do you mean?”

“She spent weeks seeing another boy in Munich and carried on conversations with me as though nothing was happening,” I told him.

“Oh shit” Geoff said, overhearing, “why would she do that?”

“When I challenged her, she said she was lonely, he was friendly, and she just fell for him.”

“That’s bad,” he replied.

“No, that’s stupid. If she had told me she had a friend over there, and he was male, then probably, I’d have come straight home and not decided to surprise her. Now she’s paying the price.”

“Did she actually?” He let the question trail off.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.

“Oh come on David, we’re your friends,” he objected.

“Yes,” I replied more sharply than I intended, “and I’m asking my friends to butt out of my business.”

“Hey, sorry man, there’s no need to snap.”

“Sorry Geoff, the nerve’s still raw.”

I turned to Kathy.

“Sorry Kathy, you shouldn’t have had to get twisted up in that.”

“Don’t worry,” she replied, “she’s going to have to get over it and it’s not your fault.”

“But I feel responsible,” I said, “in a way it’s my fault because if I’d come straight home or stayed in LA, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“What?” Ruth asked, “If you’d done that she wouldn’t have cheated on you?”

“I wouldn’t have known about it, we wouldn’t have broken up, and she wouldn’t be so unhappy.”

“So you’re saying that so long as you don’t know about it, its fine?” Ruth demanded.

“No I’m saying I wouldn’t have known about it, and so it wouldn’t have bothered me.”

“Don’t you think she’d have come home and told you she’d found someone else?” Keith asked.

“I don’t know, maybe if I hadn’t gone to Munich, it would just have been a summer fling, and over now. I just don’t know.”

Kathy took hold of my hand and started to pull me towards the doors.

“Come on,” she said, “I’ve changed my mind about the cinema, let’s go for a walk.”

Mike looked over at us with a nervous smile.

“Kath, I promised Dad.”

“Don’t worry Mike, he’ll be safe with me, I won’t let any harm come to him.”

We didn’t take the bus back into town, we walked the mile down Pontefract Road to the Valley Gardens, and sat down in the shelter.

“You still love her don’t you?” Kathy said softly as we settled down side by side.

“Yes, I still love her, I still care,” I replied.

“David, you care about everybody. If you still love her, then forgive her, and go back to normal.”

“I don’t need to forgive her, I already did that. My problem is that I don’t feel I can trust her any more. That and the fact that as far as I know, she carried on seeing him after I left, and doesn’t intend to stop.”

“Have you asked her?” she asked.

“No, but then, she hasn’t told me either, and don’t you think that’s the first thing you’d bring up?”

“Probably. So the first thing you need to establish are her intentions. If she’ hasn’t seen him since that night, and doesn’t intend seeing him again, then at least that’s a step in the right direction.”

“How did you get so wise so young?” I asked her.

She pointed at her breasts.

“These, it comes with being a girl, whereas being dim comes with being a boy.”

“Ah, I see,” I said, deciding it was better not to get into that discussion.

“So you need someone to find out.”

“I could just ask her,” I pointed out.

“You could, but could you be sure that she wasn’t just telling you what she thinks you want to hear?”

“So you need someone who’s close to her to find out.”

““There’s her Mum,” I suggested.

“Whose side do you think she’d be on?”

“Ultimately Cal’s, I would hope. But, she did insist that she pay me back for what it cost for her Munich trip.”

“You paid for that?”

“Yes, smart of me wasn’t it?” I said, with a certain amount of irony.

“You couldn’t have known what would happen. But ask yourself, would you still have done it?”

“No I wouldn’t,” I replied, “or I might have offered to lend them the money.”

“So you could ask her Mum what she’s doing about it, but there’s no guarantee she’d even tell her the truth. Your sister’s her friend, but you have the same problem.

“So there’s no solution then?” I asked.

“No easy one,” she answered, “you’ll just have to ask her, but in a way that doesn’t get her hopes up.”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

“OK, now, I seem to remember that the whole purpose of this arrangement was half to keep other girls off your back, and to give me some experience of being somebody’s girlfriend. How do we go about that?”

For the next thirty minutes I showed her, or at least I showed her those aspects that wouldn’t lose me my best friend or end up with me having to face her Dad.

I don’t know who’d taught her, but she was a good kisser, and by the time we left the shelter, we’d had a fair bit of practice. I walked her home afterwards, kissed her again at their door, and set off to walk home myself.

I arrived just after nine.

“You’re home early,” Mum said as I walked in, “something wrong?”