Chapter 5

I had decided that my first official 'date' with Julie was definitely my cue for giving her flowers and chocolates. It would make it just that extra bit special for her.

I even wore a sports jacket and tie in honour of the occasion!

I had declined Huw's generous offer of a good spray from his can of Brut deodorant; Huw seemed to share Stalin's belief in the power of quantity, but I found too much Brut very over-powering, if you'll forgive the pun.

Vee kissed me as she opened the door after I rang the bell.

"Thanks for last night, Jon, I had a really lovely time - I hope Julie will let us do it again. I don't get any wooing and being taken out for the evening from Jeff, though I'm hoping he'll learn!"

"Thank YOU, Vee - I'd love to do it again, and you've given me a lot of confidence to be out in public with a beautiful girl on my arm, and I might even get brave enough to have a slow dance with Julie tonight!"

"That's a great idea - she'd love that!"

She kissed me again, and led me up all the stairs and pointed me into their sitting room on the top floor.

Julie was sitting on the sofa in a lovely dress, and I didn't even need prompting to pay her a compliment.

"Darling, you look absolutely gorgeous - you are so beautiful!"

She leapt up, and came over for a kiss.

"Mmmm, you taste wonderful, and you smell wonderful too. I brought you a little present."

Julie absolutely purred when I handed over the flowers and the box of chocolates.

"Thank you, Jon, no-one has ever given me flowers or chocs before! And you look pretty good too!"

We wandered down the street in the evening sunshine holding hands. It was a moment to savour, not to rush.

The Greek restaurant deserved its reputation for good food. The wine was a little strange; perhaps retsina was an acquired taste. We were too early for the plate smashing; which was probably a good thing.

We held hands again and strolled down to the jazz club. It was quite a bit busier than it had been the night before. The band were just finishing their first set.

We found a table in a dark corner, and I got some drinks from the bar.

"Jon, why is that cigarette smoke in the corner so blue? Is it the lighting?"

"It doesn't actually smell like tobacco smoke to me; I think it's probably something else being smoked."

"Ah."

Julie and I chatted easily while we waited for the band to start playing again, and then sat holding hands across the table and enjoying the music together.

As the time came for a couple of slow tunes, I made my move.

"Darling Julie, would my princess care to dance with a frog with two left feet?"

"My prince, I would be delighted. Try not to dance on my bunions, though!"

I was pretty sure Julie had no bunions, blisters, corns, callouses or hard skin, but I made a note to check later.

Our dance was magical. That was another debt I owed Vee, for giving me the confidence to ask Julie to dance with me.

Even though I can't dance to save my life, the delight of holding each other tight filled me with great joy. I didn't have to move my feet too often, so Julie's toes didn't get too badly trodden on.

"Another dance?"

"Yes please!"

'Last Orders' caught us by surprise. We hadn't even finished the drink we were on, so engrossed had we been in each other. We found our coats and headed for home, arms around each other all the way.

Sian was still up when we got home, though wearing her dressing gown and slippers.

So was Vee.

Why wasn't I the slightest bit surprised to see them waiting up for us?

Sian had the rolling pin in her hand, and she waved it threateningly as we reached the top landing.

"You dirty stop-outs! What time do you call this to come crawling home from the boozer? Young lady, I hope you haven't got drunk and let Casanova here have his wicked way with you?"

"It's so early still, Ma, you haven't even got your curlers in yet! And no, we're not drunk - the food and the music were too good to drink much. And yes, I'm really looking forward to him having his wicked way with me shortly!"

"Come and have a cup of tea first, and tell us about it!"

So we sat at the kitchen table and chatted for a while. Julie was bubbling with the excitement of her first real 'date', and I was really pleased that I had taken all the trouble.

We finished our tea, and both Sian and Vee gave both of us a goodnight kiss.

"Sleep well!"

Either Vee or Sian had arranged my flowers in a vase on Julie's chest of drawers. Julie squealed as she saw them, and kissed me.

"The flowers were such a lovely thought, darling Jon, thank you again!"

The room was warm and romantically lit, and I stopped Julie as she moved towards her wardrobe.

"Julie my darling, can you please teach me how to take your clothes off? Do you need the dress unclipping at the back?"

She squealed again, this time with anticipation. Then she showed me, between kisses, how to help her get out of her dress.

The results were rather similar to the previous evening with Vee, in other words, excellent.

I had to leave Julie's bed far too early on the Saturday morning.

Four nights out in a row had put me behind on many things, and I knew I was working both lunches and both evenings at the pub this weekend.

I was also worn out from broken nights and lots of horizontal gymnastics. I got the girls to agree that the next Monday was too soon for the trip to the porno film fleapit, and promised that we'd still do it, and soon.

We all had a cup of tea and some toast for breakfast; the girls in their dressing gowns and me fully dressed. The rolling pin that Sian had brandished at us last night was still on the table.

As I kissed the three of them goodbye, Julie said to Sian: "I'm just going to see this naughty boy safely off the premises, Ma, and then I'll tell you how he done me wrong last night. Twice. And in the middle of the night. And again when I woke him up about an hour ago."

"Oh goody! I'll put the kettle on again then!"

Julie took me down to the front door, and we exchanged a kiss that was so hungry and passionate that I was tempted to take her straight back upstairs again.

Sadly, reality prevailed, and I kissed her goodbye and left.

xxxxxxx

I got a much less sympathetic welcome from the lads when I got home.

Huw pretended I was a stranger, and said "Can I help you?" when I met him in the hall, and Rhodri just made very rude remarks about dirty stopouts who couldn't keep up the pace drinking with real men.

Doug asked me if he could move into my room, as it was larger than his, and I didn't seem to be using it any longer!

I suffered their abuse for a little while longer, and then went down to the pub to restock the bar before Saturday lunch opening time.

I was knackered. There is no more polite way to put it. Keeping the three girls happy was both physically and emotionally demanding, even if it was great fun, and of course a teenage boy's dream come true. But it was using up a lot of energy, and I really needed a rest.

xxxxxxx

By Tuesday, I could hardly wait to see the girls that evening; I had been working solidly all weekend since I had left on Saturday morning, and I had really missed their company.

I had reckoned that I had almost recovered physically from the previous week, sleeping well on my return from work on Saturday and Sunday nights.

However, my housemates had dragged me out for a compulsory Monday night team drinking session, and that had taken its toll. Maybe going to see the porno film with the girls would have been the better and cheaper option...

Rhodri had made his usual demand that we drink a pint every fifteen minutes, Huw had insisted we go to the curry house rather than the chip shop on our way home, Doug had thrown up outside our front door, and Dave and I had monumental hangovers the next morning, not helped by having to use the bathroom after Huw had expelled the curry in a very noisy and smelly session. Huw was very proud of himself - he described the curry as 'a real ringburner' that was so hot that he felt the spices burn his brown ring as they passed.

I felt rather ashamed of the male sex that morning; we were only juvenile little boys playing with things that affected our bodies, and I realised that I had been spoiled by the much more civilised atmosphere of the girls' flat.

I had written my cheque for May's rent, and made my monthly contribution to the household bills. My bank account was just about holding its own, but I had needed the money earned by four sessions at the pub to remain sufficiently ahead to be able to afford the Pink Floyd concert tickets when they came on sale.

I was now determined that I wouldn't be introducing Julie to my housemates, and I wasn't going to be able to have my sister Jen to stay in the house either - because knowing Huw, he would forget she was there, and charge into the living room to try and fart as loudly as he could, before congratulating himself on the volume, pitch, duration and smell of his fart.