Chapter 2

"Ray rang for you. He said could you ring him back before four," Mum told me as I entered the room. I was still dazed from Abi's admission only a few seconds earlier and barely registered Mum spread out on the couch scribbling over some paperwork, let alone compute what she said.

I jerked my head towards her when I noticed her presence and she clapped her hands together to get my attention.

"Ray rang for you. He said could you ring him back before four," she repeated, her eyes bearing into me. "Honestly, you've been in a daydream all week." I ignored the pointed criticism and thanked her for passing on the message. "And don't natter for ages, it's peak rate," Mum warned me as I picked up the handset and dialled Ray's number. His mother answered and passed the phone to Ray.

"Hiya Andy," he said breathlessly – he had obviously ran to the 'phone. "A few of us from German are going bowling tonight. D'ya fancy it?" I hesitated for a moment and he continued. "Four girls, three guys, we want to even up the numbers. And it will take your mind off of Paula." I thought for a moment about Abi, who had achieved that quite successfully, but then wondered if I needed something to occupy my mind from the thing that had distracted me all day, but chose not complicate the matter in voicing this convoluted array of deliberations and simply agreed to meet Ray and the rest of his German class at seven; he promised me that I knew most of them anyway.

"I'm going to seeing Ray later with some schoolmates, bowling," I said to Mum as I put the receiver down.

"Don't be too late," she warned me and I nodded in agreement. While technically I did have a curfew of 11pm, as I had finished my exams I knew I would not get into trouble if I was a little later as long as I was back in the flat by the time Mum got back from the club and didn't get into any trouble.

"I won't. We are just going bowling, I doubt if I will be later than ten or eleven to be honest," I admitted and wanted to speak with Abi, not least so she could explain what she meant at the bottom of the stairs, but Mum sensed my desire to go upstairs and thwarted it with a simple request.

"Make yourself useful and double check my ledger," she asked me and passed me a large book and calculator. I groaned, but she shot me a reproachful glance so I sat down and began working through them. I had done it before and it wasn't an arduous task, just checking that the incomings and outgoings matched her calculations for the month, but it was time-consuming and dull.

It took me forty five minutes to double-check over 500 transactions but eventually I agreed with her total at the end. Abi came and joined us on the sofa half way through and I lost my place when I looked up and smiled at her but only had to redo that page. I could see her playing with the hem of her skirt in my peripheral vision but I did my best to ignore her deliberate distractions and got on with the task of balancing Mum's accounts.

"You know, if you need someone to work in the office..." I started but Mum cut me off.

"You know I don't want you in there," she told me firmly. "It's no place for a child."

I didn't notice the implications of her tone of voice and continued. "I'm not a child," I said indignantly.

"I don't care, Andy, no."

"Well you said yourself I need a Summer job," I suggested to her and she glared at me with an unwavering determination.

"Andy, the answer is no. It's not happening," she replied staunchly, her body language displaying a firm and resolute immovability. I huffed and placed the ledger on the coffee table between us. "Anyway, I don't need an office administrator; I have one but I have to check this for myself. It's called running a business. And taking on and paying staff I don't need is not a good way to run one. The only vacancies I have at the moment are for a few more dancers and for a cleaner. Why don't you go see the new owners of the florist if they have a vacancy as you used to work there."

"A cleaner, you said? Before the club opens?" I asked, a bit too much excitement in my voice and she sighed deeply. Her eyes narrowed at me, fizzing dangerously.

"Andy. You are not working there."

"Why?" I argued my voice raised and my hands gesturing. "Give me one good reason."

"Because you are sixteen and I say so. It's my business, so that the end of it."

It did seem so unfair that she wouldn't even consider me. Instead I had to compete with hundreds of other school and college kids in the area for temporarily employment when there was a ready made job on my doorstep, within the gift of my mother. I searched around the room for inspiration.

"What could possibly be so wrong about it. It's before anyone else gets there, right? It's not as though..."

"I've told you, it's not up for discussion," she shouted over me and I gave another deep sigh. She stared at me and collected her ledger from the coffee table.

"Abi," I continued and Abi looked up from her book.

"Please don-ne drag me into this," she told me firmly and her head shaking.

"Please can we talk about it because you are just dismissing me without hearing me out. Abi, please help me here, as an independent opinion."

Abi looked across and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't want to get involved, but..."

Mum raised her hand and stopped Abi, then looked straight at me. "Don't involve Abi in this," she warned me but Abi continued.

"Perhaps it's better when you're a bit older."

I stared at her for a moment, ignoring the grin on my mothers face. "You're supposed to be on my side," I whined and Abi closed her book.

"Oh, I thought you wanted her 'independent opinion'?" Mum enquired and looked at me.

"I do, but..."

" ... but only when it supports you?" Mum finished for me. I opened my mouth to speak but Mum interrupted "So far, instead of showing that you could work for me in an employer-employee relationship you have just thrown your toys out of the pram. Is this what would happen tomorrow if I spoke to you as your manager?"

"No, that's not what..."

But Mum interrupted. "So why start now?"

"I wasn't!"

"You were, now that's the end of it," Mum told me and I let out a deep breath. It did seem so terribly unfair but there was little I could do about it.

Abi looked over at me and sighed. Andy, you need to think things through before you speak," she said tentatively. "If the club needs an extra cleaner, well in my experience vacancies like that are often snapped up pretty quickly as turnover is quite high so it must have come about very quickly, and this has probably caused a bit of a problem; other members of staff having to fill in or work extra hours, right?"

"Probably." I grunted, shrugging my shoulders as I did.

"So you need to ask, 'I know you don't like me going into the club, but why not let me do it for awhile and see how we go. It'll help you out and I could do with the work; even if it is only for a few days or a week or two. Please think about it'? There is no pressure there and you are much more likely to get the result you want."

Mum smirked as she spoke. "Instead he got on his high horse and behaved like a ten year old."

Abi smiled at me and raised her eyebrows expecting a response, but I slouched into the chair, knowing I had been well and truly outmanoeuvred. Arguing with one woman was bad enough, but two? Well that's not fair, is it?

"On that note, I'm going to make some tea," Mum told us and got up smiling and patted me on the shoulder.

"I thought you might help me," I murmured to Abi in a low voice after Mum had left.

She took a deep breath and gave me a grin. "I just have," she whispered, her eyes twinkling, and with that Abi went into the kitchen to help my Mum prepare tea.

Why was Abi so cryptic?

I was ten minutes early for the bowling, but this didn't bother me. I wanted to run through the days events in my head and sat in the foyer staring into space.

I liked Abi; I liked her a lot but I just didn't understand her. One moment, she is confident, and the next flirtatious and always fun and exciting. I didn't speak too much to her over dinner and felt guilty for it afterwards. I was not upset or angry with her, but I still did not understand what was so magical about her, and that summed up Abi in my mind perfectly. She was perfect, but she was also enigmatic. I could not have predicted the last couple of days in my wildest dreams, but I wondered if I would still like her so much if everything she said and did made perfect sense to me and I could predict her every move?

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Ray bounding in through the red double doors of the bowling alley followed by a few girls.

"How was German, mate?" I asked him as he came up to me.

"Ahh, fine. Sarah and Donna reckon the town hall is das rathaus but I reckon it is a feminine nominative noun. I hope it's feminine not neuter or else I've made a ton of grammatical errors."

I smiled. "In French we only have the two genders"

"Bah, I know! So how was Economics?"

"All right; who's coming?"

"Well Donna, Lisa and Sarah obviously; we came on the train. Just waiting for Jodie, Terry and Jez."

"Jez, that lanky streak of excrement?" I exclaimed and he laughed.

"He always did get on your nerves, didn't he?"

"I saw him earlier. He was, well, Jez. Interrupted a perfectly nice afternoon," I grumbled.

A mixed-race girl stood directly behind Ray and peered round as I spoke. "Jez is all right, isn't he Ray?"

Ray looked at me tensely. "Andy and Jez had a bit of a falling out some time ago. It's best not to, umm, well best not to discuss it," he said tactfully.

The girl stared at me awaiting an explanation and I shrugged my shoulders. She shook her head, "And they say its' women who are the bitchier sex," she replied dismissively.

I chose not to respond and resumed my chat with Ray, "I was thinking of going up to Wendover Woods this week while the weather is good with the Nikon. You fancy it?" I asked and Ray nodded.

"Sure."

"Two boys running around a wood together. Kinky," the mixed race girl continued and I laughed.

"You are welcome to come if you want, it's just a breath of fresh air and some photography."

"Oh. I don't have a camera," Donna admitted and I fidgeted for a moment.

My silence was interrupted by a loud, distinctive voice. "How ya doin' fellas..."

Jez was warmly greeted by some of the assembled throng but I remained seated to stay out of his eye line and looked up at the ceiling. I am not sure I would have agreed to come if it involved spending two hours with Jez which is probably why Ray omitted it during our earlier conversation. I could cope with him in small doses, but any significant length of time, and he would irritate and annoy me. He was a male version of Rhea, only a tad more frustrating and lot less dignified, if that was possible!

"Exam. Fook me. Impossible, right? I got a 'D' at most I reckon."

"Shall we go in?" I asked. "It is seven."

"Andy, where's that bird ya wiv earlier?" Jez shouted, his voice echoing in the foyer.

Ray shot me an inquisitive look. "Well, she isn't here," I replied stating the obvious and gesturing around me with my open arms. "Shall we..."

"I wanna know right, how this fella gets himself this piece of skirt. She's 18, fit as fuck, awesome chick. Short skirt too; and no fookin' knickers. What bird goes out without her trollies on if she's not goin' to get stuffed right. She was fookin' oozing sex. Massive jugs. Welsh..."

"Scottish", I replied instantly and everyone turned in my direction.

Jez grinned as I spoke, somewhat satisfied that he got a reaction from me. "What?"

"She is Scottish, not Welsh. And she told you that, but you probably weren't listening, right?"

"Too fookin' right. No bloke would listen to her; every guy in the park was watching her as she walked. No bra either and you copped a feel as you left. I saw. Everyone did. Anyhow I wanna know how you gets her. 'cos she ain't from school. And if I had a bird like that she'd not leave the fucking bedroom, you know what I'm saying? My cock'll be red raw"

Jez didn't seem to be embarrassed by his candid chauvinism and instead seven pairs of eyes looked at me. "It's probably because of that attitude that you don't have a 'bird like that.' Now shall we, err, go and bowl?"

"Sure," replied Ray biting his lip and then smirking.

It was a Friday night and the bowling alley was fairly busy. Ray had booked but it was a bit last minute and we had lanes two and fifteen which meant I was, thankfully, at the other end of the bowling alley to Jez, who was revelling in his role as the storyteller.

Quite why my non-existent relationship with Abi was so interesting to everyone I did not know and I only really knew Ray and Lisa from the seven other people in the group – although a couple of the others were familiar – but everyone lapped up Jez's stories despite their clear exaggeration.

His one-sided two minute conversation with Abi earlier in the day was morphing into something more considerably significant in the retelling. It was obvious that Jez was stretching the truth to breaking point, akin to a journalist on a cheap tabloid, but he had always liked and revelled in being the very centre of attention and his tale of this model with loose morals was interesting enough to captivate attention – especially when the male subject was someone who had not expressed much interest in the female members of our year group.

"If you tell people you are going out with a super-fit woman, they probably won't believe you and think you are a sad fantasist. If someone else tells everyone you are going out with a model then suddenly it is awesome and you are a stud," Ray told me reading my mind as I tied my bowling shoes opposite the mouthy Jez.

"I'm not going out with her," I told him and a smile flickered across his face.

"Well at least you're not thinking of Paula." I felt a momentarily pang of guilt in how easy it had been to put her out of my mind but shook this from my thoughts as I laughed and looked up at the monitor above us. Why should I feel guilty in moving on with my life? It was Paula who had made it perfectly clear that a long-distance relationship wouldn't work and she was the one that had decided that we must part on good terms now rather than bad terms in a few months time.

"Well I wasn't until someone mentioned her."

"Oh yeah, sorry. You heard from her?"

"No, not for a couple of weeks. We spoke on the phone a few days ago and she wished me well for the rest of the exams but I've not had a response to my letters."

"Letters? How many?"

I looked sheepish for a moment, "three."

Ray shook his head, "What the hell have you had to tell her in just three weeks to put into three letters?"

I shrugged my shoulder and looked out over the bowling alley. "I don't know. All sorts really."

"You so need to find yourself a girlfriend. That's not healthy to keep brooding over her," he said as he got up and patted me on the shoulder.

We had just been set up on the lane computer by Donna who had tapped away at the console next to the chairs and I was the last to go – Donna, Ray, Sarah and then Andy. "So who is she then?" Ray asked as we waited for Donna to catch up and tie her laces.

I sighed. "I'm not going out with her, she is not my girlfriend."

"OK, I get that. Who is she? Is she eighteen? Has she got a boyfriend?"

I thought for a moment. In truth, I didn't know how old she was. "I don't think so. I think she is a little older. She certainly has the confidence and elegance of someone older than eighteen."

"Oooo! Someone's smitten," Donna teased and I glanced over at her still tying her laces.

"Can I just say, Master Ashton that I amazed that you managed to get four girls to come tonight. I mean, bowling shoes hardly ever go with whatever outfit they've chosen and obviously this exposes the narcissistic streak within them," I baited Donna and her eyes widened, staring back at me.

"What's narcissistic mean?" Donna asked Ray

"Vain," he responded and I didn't elaborate.

Donna puffed out her chest and she grinned. "So is she fit as fuck?"

I went red again, and sighed. "Well ... she's"

"'Awesome?'" Donna enquired, smiling as she spoke.

"Well, yeah, OK. She's awesome," I told her, my cheeks still burning red.

Ray raised an eyebrow at me. "Short skirt?"

I thought back. Given it was a summer dress, it technically wasn't a skirt so I shook my head but Ray could see the look on my face and he raised his eyebrows.

"No knickers? No bra?" Donna enquired, her face lit up expectantly.

I sat back in my seat and shook my head. "That is very, very private. I can't answer that."

She smirked knowingly. "That's a yes then. What did you do to find out?"

I could feel myself blushing even more than before but stuttered a reply. "Well if I say she was fully attired you won't believe me and if I say she wasn't you'll want to know much, much more so can we abandon this now? I really don't want to talk about Abi."

Ray was persistent. "Abi? Don't recognise that name. Oh Mum said you came into her shop for stale bread to feed the ducks and you were with a girl she didn't recognise."

"You went to feed the ducks with her? That's quite romantic, really," a small voice from the end of the seat uttered. "No one has ever taken me to feed the ducks."

"Me neither," Donna agreed and Ray shrugged at me. "Did you cop a feel though?"

I buried my head in my hands; I hadn't felt Abi at all, at least not in public but didn't want to get into a conversation about Abi at all. "Can we please bowl. There is nothing to talk about with Abi and me."

"Ahhh ... rejected you?" Ray teased.

I puffed my chest and asked Ray "What makes you think I've asked?"

Donna answered for him barely suppressing a giggle, "because she is fit as fuck, wears short skirts, no knickers, no bras and has massive jugs"

There was a gaggle of laughter and even I couldn't contain my smile. "OK. Fucking bowl" and Donna got up to bowl a six followed by a single.

Ray fared little better with a five and two but Sarah got her ball in the gutter twice. I felt a little guilty when I hit a strike first time out.

"Knocks 'em down, just like with all the ladies," Donna ribbed.

"Are you going to take the piss all night?" I asked playfully, my arms outstretched as I walked back to the seats, and Ray laughed.

"I was thinking of taking a break for a couple of minutes around 9:30 but pretty much, yeah," she replied, grinning.

"Can't you control her?" I asked Ray and he sniggered.

"Come on love," Ray said seriously. "If we continue he'll only storm off home to her." I shot him a pained look but he continued. "Actually mate, why didn't you bring her along?"

"What, and subject her to you lot?" I grinned. "She is way too refined to meet you riff-raff."

Donna and Ray looked at each other. "Come on mate, we aren't that bad. Sarah's very sweet, Donna can be polite when she wants to, and I was nice to Paula."

"You were not. You and Rosie cheated with a marked deck when we played Strip Poker," I replied a bit too quickly and Ray went bright red.

"Rosie always cheated at everything when I played her with Zoe," Sarah added and I remembered that there was a fourth person with us. She was being quiet at the end of the seats and hardly saying anything as Donna and Ray teased me. If I was her, I would have felt a tad isolated.

"Well that was Rosie's idea," Ray responded quickly and Donna looked at him, her arms folded. "Anyway, you weren't complaining at the time."

I had an instant memory of a naked Paula in my bedroom surrounded by a nearly-naked me albeit with an almost fully-clothed Ray and Rosie. It was the first time I had ever seen her naked and it was a powerful, erotic memory that at the time had induced plenty of frantic teenage masturbation.

"Dreaming about Abi?" Donna taunted, trying to guess my thoughts. "So why didn't you bring her?"

"Can't, she's working" I replied abruptly without thinking.

"On a Friday night, where does she work? In a bar? Supermarket? Where?" Donna asked.

I saw Ray's eyes flash and Paula disappeared from my mind in an instant. Not many of my friends knew about my mothers' business and certainly didn't publicise it, but as my best friend he obviously knew, especially given the fact that he had been party to the naked girls in our lounge a few years previous. "You don't mean..." he started and I interrupted him with a steely glare.

"Ray." I said firmly, my eyes unwavering and firmly warning him to be careful what he said.

"What?" asked Donna innocently, looking at both Ray and me in turn.

"You are joking, aren't you?" He asked. "You are joking? Please tell me you are joking."

"I didn't say anything!" I stammered in a response. "And neither will you."

Ray thought for a split-second and tilted his head, eyebrows raised. "Well that explains, quite a lot!"

"Explains what?" asked Donna impatiently. "Will one of you tell me?"

"Nothing," I told her and she looked at Ray imploringly. "It's your turn"

"Ray, tell me!" Donna demanded.

I stared at Ray and he shook his head. "Nothing. It's your turn," he said sullenly.

Donna stared back at me and got up. I shot Ray a look asking him to keep quiet but it didn't register.

"Does your Mum know?"

"Will you shut up?" I whispered firmly at him.

"OK, but that's totally mental and a bit cool. I hope you know what you are doing."

"Right, I am not going out with Abi. Understand that. I am not doing anything."

"At least she should take your mind of Paula," he told me and I sighed in resignation.

Donna was trying to listen in on our hushed conversation, and therefore scored a measly three. Ray did barely any better before Sarah managed just one. I tried not gloat after my turn but a "spare" wasn't bad at all.

"You are very good at bowling." Sarah told me as I sat down at the opposite end of the bench to Ray and Donna. They had cuddled into each other whispering intently and it was not difficult to notice a closeness between them. Paula and I had always been careful to ensure our public displays of affection and closeness did not isolate or embarrass anyone we were with, but Donna and Ray did not seem to appreciate that they were ignoring Sarah and myself.

"I used to come most weeks. Sister was on the bowling team until she got thrown off and she used to come to practice so Paula and I tagged along, but luck helps," I told her and she sighed.

"I very rarely come bowling. It's quite expensive for Donna and Zoe isn't allowed out very often. And me and Lisa prefer football, it's cheaper."

"I would have come if you asked me," I told her and she gave a wry smile.

"But I hardly knew you, did I?"

"You were in my Maths class?" I corrected her. "In Year 8 and 9? Used to sit behind Zoe and me."

She smiled. "Well yes. Apart from that. I could hardly ask you to go bowling with me?"

I hummed, choosing not to answer her question. "And I know Zoe fairly well, she was at Grove House with me. We were good friends. I know she isn't fond of bowling but you know, I'd have happily have gone with you."

Sarah give me a slightly pained look and we returned our attention to the bowling.

Donna and Ray improved their throws to register a nine and eight respectively so when Sarah got up I followed her.

"Here, I'll show you" I said and picked up a different colour ball. "You appear to be struggling with the 12lb, try the 10lb."

She smiled and nodded, her long straggly light brown hair moving gently as she did so.

"Put the ball down for a minute. When you bowl, your left foot should be next to the centre dot here," I told her pointing towards a little mark on the wooden floor, "and your right foot just behind your left foot, like this."

I demonstrated without a ball and she watched. She tried it and I told her to "bend her knees but keep her body straight and then release the ball."

She practised it again but her arm was a jerky movement not a smooth sweeping bowl.

"Here, shut your eyes for a moment," I told her and she froze. "Trust me." I went behind her and told her to bowl and when she did guided her hands in a smooth motion with my right hand and used my left hand to steady her, placing it on her stomach.

"And again," I told her and gently moved her arms with her motion.

"Try it," I told her and stood back and watched as her ball rolled perfectly and hit a strike. She turned round, beaming.

"He doesn't miss an opportunity, does he?" Donna asked Ray. "Feeling up poor Sarah too."

Ray smirked. "Well, he has a reputation to uphold. We best not tell Abi."

I picked up my ball and held it up. "Best not to try and wind me up when I have a 16lb ball in my hand."

I didn't hit a strike but a spare wasn't too bad and I sat down, comfortably leading.

"Thanks," Sarah said and put her hand on my knee.

"You're welcome."

Donna seemed to enjoy teasing me all evening although I didn't really mind. I seemed to have acquired a reputation, albeit temporary and unfounded, for being good with the fairer sex. I wished it were true, but knew it wasn't and I suppose Donna did too or else her baiting wouldn't have been funny.

Sarah and I got on very well. I doubt if even a week ago I would have had the confidence to engage in such conversation with someone I barely knew but it was as if my alter ego who had been dormant for the previous sixteen years had decided to take centre stage for the evening. I suppose, when Donna and Ray kept telling me I was a charmer, I started to feel supremely confident, not to mention what the divine Abi had done to my confidence earlier in the day. I behaved as Donna and Ray expected with Sarah and instead of Sarah feeling uncomfortable with my approachable and chatty demeanour, she seemed to warm towards me and was funny and talkative all evening.

Meanwhile, Ray and Donna were clearly an item – or at least going to be – and in between the joking and sniping they practically ignored Sarah and I for large parts of the evening. If I had not have been there Sarah would probably have been a gooseberry, but this probably explained why Ray was so keen for me to come. In all the years I had known Ray, he had never been inconsiderate, even when he was with just Rosie and myself, and I did uncharitably wonder what delights Donna was promising him for later in the evening!

We were all done by 9pm. I had bowled a fair few strikes and posted three respectable scores – 155, 163 and 141. This was easily enough to beat Ray, Donna and Sarah although Sarah posted 135 in the final game which was a very good score, especially for someone with her experience and was leading up until the final frame.

As a group, we ambled over to the bar in the corner of alley to get lemonades. They would not serve us alcohol as we were too young and were not stupid enough to ask, although I really fancied an ice-cold IPA on the warm night.

My love of beer came from the weeks away at my father's house. He was an active member of CAMRA and he began to introduce me to proper beer and I found I enjoyed it, especially on a warm day but Mum would only buy it for me occasionally and I was too young to get served away from the flat (and not stupid enough to try).

The cool lemonade quenched my thirst nicely and I sat down at the table.

"We saw you touching Sarah up," Jez started from the other side of the large table and Sarah blushed.

I laughed, "I was not touching her up"

"It didn't look like that to us," a short boy next to Jez replied.

"Well, I didn't, I was showing Sarah how to bowl"

"It didn't look like that to us either and Sarah definitely had a smile on her face," Donna added and Sarah gave her friend a push on the shoulder.

"Come on mate, we all saw the hands a-wandering," Ray told me, and Sarah and I both blushed.

"He did that earlier with that Scottish girl."

"Her name is Abi," Donna told him and he nodded. "And we don't know if she has a boyfriend but they are not going out. Or so he claims."

"Can I have her phone number then?"

I laughed and looked at him. "She'd eat you alive."

"Well that's a chance I am happy to take," Jez joked.

Donna giggled and Jez quickly moved the conversation onto his winning score. This suited me fine and I said nothing to interrupt his ego in full flow. We chatted as a group for 20 minutes or so, and I noticed Donna and Ray leaning into each other again. They were holding hands and not making any attempt at disguising or hiding their attraction to each other.

Sarah slipped out from her seat as she finished her drink. "You OK?" I asked her and she nodded.

"I'm just going to ring Mum," she told me. "She likes to come and pick me up."