Attachment
Part ONE
It was a gentle summery day...in April, and there were people happily milling about, all in good spirits enjoying this sudden bout of glorious sunshine. This was after all, Yorkshire. More to the point this was England, and all English folk knew only too well to make the most of any glimpses of sunshine, as it is a temperamental little bugger when it wants to be, only venturing out when it feels like it, which was rarely when it was expected and even rarer still on a bank holiday, which made today even more unique, as it was a baking hot bank everyone was happy. Well, nearly everyone.
Amongst the usual sounds you'd hear in a tranquil country village, children playing, the buzz of the patrons at the local pub, pensioners bickering over recipes of chutney and jam, there could also be heard another sound. The dulcet tones of a Miss Debbie Dingle, going ape shit in her garage.
She, was not happy today, oh no. She was one of the few people in the village actually working, as she was currently having a 'cashflow crisis'. Or at least she had intended on working today, were it not for the fact that the delivery of parts she had received the previous day weren't all completely wrong.
"Son of a bitch! When I get my hands on him I'm gonna fucking kill him!" she shouted, with a crash, a bang and a substantial wallop, emphasising the words, 'bitch', 'hands' and most disturbingly of all...'kill'.
"Hey hey hey!" a voice appeared from behind her. "what the hell is going on!?"
Debbie turned around and just glared at the person who had interrupted her little 'outburst'.
"Woah, steady on kiddo, whatever it is can't be that bad, surely?"
"I'm gonna kill him Chas!"
"What!? Who? Why?....can I watch?" she chuckled. To herself mostly as Debbie was in no mood to appreciate Chas' sense of humour at present.
"Daz!"
"Aw, what's he gone and done now?!"
"Well, I stupidly gave him a little more responsibility, as he'd been pestering me for weeks, so I let him put an order in for the parts I needed for work today, only he's gone and cocked it up hasn't he! Everything's wrong, so I can't do a sodding thing now until Monday!"
"Aw, what a doughnut! But hey, look at it like this though Debs, It's a bank holiday yeh?
Why don't you go get yourself off somewhere for the day eh? Forget about the bloody garage for the weekend, and relax."
"I can't afford to go anywhere Chas, it's why I planned on working today." Debbie sighed, chucking her pen on to the desk.
"Well not everything has to cost loads of money does it? Make yourself a butty or two 'n' a drink and toddle off into the countryside somewhere."
"Chas, we live in the countryside."
"Well, I mean to some prettier countryside, that you don't see everyday. Hmm? What about the Lakes?"
"Yeh, but that still means petrol money." Debbie countered.
"Ok ok, but other than petrol, it don't have to cost owt does it? C'mon Debs, go let your hair down a lil'. I tell you what, I'll even chip in towards your petrol if you do, can't say fairer than that. It'll do you good to get out somewhere different, and you never know, you just might enjoy yourself." she added with a wink.
"ok ok! i'll go if it'll mean you stop nagging me!"
"Blindin', right 'ere y'are then, there's twenty. Gotta go now lady, have fun!"
"yeah yeah." Debbie shouted back as Chas scurried off.
Debbie looked around picking up some paperwork for the jobs she currently had in, shaking her head. "Lakes or no Lakes, I'm still gonna kill that prat!"
Half an hour later Debbie was at home with her head in the fridge, umming and ahhing as to what to have on her sandwiches. After poking the cheese and sniffing the ham, she decided that crisps would be the safest option, and chucked a few packets into her bag along with a couple bottles of water and set off.
Just over an hour had passed, when Debbie arrived at her chosen destination, pleased that the weather was holding. How very un-bank-holiday-like. Glad to finally be able to get out of her human sized oven on wheels, she got out and had a stretch. Silently hoping that her right bum cheek would hurry and wake up again, she grabbed her bag throwing it over her shoulder and promptly made her way towards the nearest hill.
As time progressed she found herself starting to relax and enjoy the scenery. It really was quite a picturesque spot, and she was glad she was smart enough to not choose a more well known area, as there were hardly any other people around at all. Which she thought was a blessing considering the mood she had been in. She could quite easily have ended up committing 'Rural Rage' and happy slapping a passing pensioner just for walking too slowly, or for wearing a shell suit. Actually no, the shell suit would have been thoroughly justified, she thought to herself with a little grin.
She looked ahead and saw the relatively steep incline of the hill, and thought for a moment. Looking to her right she saw a more leisurely route she could take, it was just a question of whether she could be bothered to trek up a hill on a day like today. She toyed with the idea of taking the easy route, as that's generally the Dingle way, but felt oddly compelled to tackle the looming hill.
"I bet there's one hell of a view from up there." She pondered.
And so she started to slowly make her way up the hill, totally unawares of the huge impact that that most trivial of decisions will end up having on her life.
Looking back at how far she'd come and then glancing up ahead she concluded she must be about three quarters of the way up, and decided to look for somewhere to have a sit down, have a bite to eat and more importantly find a bit of shade.
The sun was really beating down now, and Debbie had removed her light grey hoodie ages back leaving her with just a white tank top on, and she was still sweltering, the heat was becoming unbearable.
Taking a swig of water, she noticed a large tree up ahead, and set off towards it, as it was the only thing around that she could see that could provide some shade from the sun.
A few minutes later, she stopped in her tracks realising there was already someone sat under the tree.
"Oh bloody typical!" she muttered under her breath. "I don't see anyone for over an hour, but now, in the one shady spot, Woo...another person. Brilliant."
Looking around her, she couldn't see another tree or anything at all remotely big enough, so she carried on walking towards it, and towards...'her', she thought to herself, in a particularly menacing tone
"Maybe if I loiter around long enough, she'll get the hint and just move." She pondered.
As Debbie got closer, she could see that this girl seemed to be of a similar age to her, and that she was too engrossed in a book to have noticed Debbie at all. So she took the opportunity to watch this girl freely, trying to suss her out. She looked a bit hippy-ish, but classier she surmised, with an air of money about her. Definitely privileged Debbie decided.
As far as she could make out, the girl had long dark hair, darker than her own and also loosely tied back, for it was far too warm to have it hanging about her shoulders. She had tanned olive skin, and Debbie could almost believe she might be foreign, as she didn't have the usual pale or pasty skin Brits tend to have. She was attractive too, she imagined how the lads back home would react to seeing this girl walking down Main Street. Yep, she definitely had something about her she conceded.
She was interrupted from her thoughts as the girl started to chuckle to herself, she had obviously got to a funny bit of her book. It was one of those slightly cheeky-cum-dirty chuckles that you hear, very funny and highly infectious, and before Debbie knew it, she'd burst into laughter herself. She couldn't believe she'd done that. The girl looked up sharply in surprise and stared back at her before Debbie managed to clamp her hand over her mouth.
'Shit!' Now she's gonna think i'm a right creepy weirdo!' Debbie thought.
The girl continued to look at Debbie, pointedly looking her up and down.
'Probably trying to figure me out now'. But then she gave Debbie a somewhat amused grin.
'M'kay' Debbie thought, 'Well if that didn't scare her off, nothing will.' Then a thought dawned on her. 'Maybe she's a right creepy weirdo!'.
The girl diverted her attention back to her book, when Debbie started to walk over to her. She could see that Debbie was getting closer, but continued to look thoroughly absorbed in what she was reading. After about 10 paces Debbie had reached the enigmatic girl, whose eyes were still glued to her book.
Looking down at the girl, then up at the sky and back again, she decided to speak.
"Erm...*ahem*..um, you don't mind if I just plonk myself down here too do ya?"
The girl looked up at her with the same amused expression on her face, as she listened to Debbie speak.
"It's just that I um...I've been walking for nearly two hours and could do with a break, and there's like nowhere else with any shade."
Debbie watched as the girl seemed to mull the request over in her head first, before looking around her. 'Cheeky cow!' she thought to herself. Who was she to say who could and could not sit where. Did she own it or something?? Was she Guardian of the Lofty Oak!?. Debbie was getting so carried away with the mini rant taking place in her head that she failed to realise the girl had answered her.
"erm..hello?"
"huh?"
"I said, of course you can."
"Oh...right...thanks, sorry, cheers" she managed to say, getting all flustered. Embarrassed that she'd gone off on one, albeit only in her head.
That amused look was back, and Debbie went a bit red.
She sat herself down as far away as she could manage whilst still keeping in the tree's shadow, which basically didn't leave much room at all really. Debbie opened her bag and grabbed herself a packet of crisps, wishing she'd been able to fix something a little more substantial as she was now really quite hungry, but quickly put that thought out of her head, as she had to settle for crisps. The girl turned to look at her as Debbie happily munched on her Doritos, causing her to stop mid-bite.
"hmm?...Oh sorry, do you want one?" she asked holding the packet inches from the other girls face.
"Um...no i'm good thanks." the girl said as she started to chuckle.
Debbie shrugged and continued to polish off the packet before taking a nice long drink of water. Much better. She sat there for a few moments. 'Now what?' she thought, whilst twiddling her thumbs. After a while she started to hum to herself.
"hmm..hm hmm hmmm hmm naa na 'cos we beloonnng, togeeether noooow, yeah, hmm humm hmmmmmmm" she felt eyes on her again, and looked back at the girl with a sheepish grin, mouthing the word, '...sorry....", then sighed. She was bored, but didn't want to to start walking again just yet.
She looked over at the stranger, trying to peek at her book.
"Whatya readin'?"
"Emma" the girl replied without looking up.
"Oh....good?"
"Of course, it's a classic. Jane Austen, and yes, it's very funny."
"I'll take your word for it."
"Not your cup of tea then?" the girl asked, finally looking up.
"Nah, but then I don't really do books. If i'm not working, I'm knackered from working, and well the last thing I want to be doing is reading a book in my free time. So I doubt I read anything thicker than an issue of Heat magazine."
"I see"
"Anyways, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb ya."
"No no, don't worry about it. I've been sat here reading for a couple hours now probably, could do with a break myself." she smiled as she spoke, putting down her book and turned to sit so she was paying full attention to Debbie.
"So...what's your name then?"
Debbie chuckled, somewhat nervously, although she didn't really know why, but then she returned to her earlier thought she'd had as the girl looked at her. 'Hmm, definitely attractive', she decided, quickly taking a sip of her water.
"I'm Debbie, and you are?"
"Pleased to meet you Debbie." she said warmly. "I'm Jasmine."
"Jasmine eh?"
"Yeah...why?"
"Oh nothing, I was just right that's all."
"Ok I'll bite, what were you right about?" Jasmine asked, intrigued as to where this discussion was going.
"Oh just before, I kinda figured you were a bit of a hippie type."
Jasmine laughed at this, "Oh did you now?"
"Mhm" Debbied replied with a smug grin on her face.
"Checking me out were you?"
"Mm-huh? No no no, nothing like that." she babbled as her face rapidly went red again, before noticing Jasmine cracking up with laughter. She'd obviously just been winding her up. "Oh ha ha, yes very funny." she said, shaking her head, chuckling at herself.
"Well..." Jasmine started, her laughter easing off, " I do have quite a bohemian family I suppose, hmm, I'll give you that one."
"Hah! like I said, hippie."
Jasmine smiled at Debbie, she found her interesting and utterly amusing to talk to.
"So..." Debbie said, getting Jasmine's attention. "what brings you here then? Are ya local? Bit of a trek just to come and read a book if you're not."
"I live about half an hour away, well at the moment anyway, it's only temporary while I finish my studies, then who knows. Oh and I've not come just to read my book, that's just to kill time until I go and do something a bit later. What about you?"
"Oh, I'm about an hours drive away from here, I live in one of the tiniest bloody villages. So dull, it's like one street pretty much and that's it."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, ridiculously small. You won't have heard of it."
"You're probably right, what's it called?."
"Emmerdale, it's not too far from Hotten."
Jasmine, suddenly got a funny look on her face.
"Wha'!?"
"Are you serious?"
"Well obviously, why would I lie about living there?" Debbie paused watching Jasmine's face carefully. "Don't tell me you've actually heard of the place?"
"Yes. I've never been there though, but apparently my Uncle lives there, not seen him since I was 14."
"No way! Who is he?"
"My Uncle Ashley, he's a vicar."
"Hah! Aw man, you're Ashley's niece!? Jesus how weird is that!? Of all the people to bump into today." Both girls chuckled at the unlikeliness of the situation.
"Poor you having a vicar in the family." Debbie mocked.
"Erm, there's worse things he could be Debbie, I'm sure"
Debbie thought for a moment, thinking of her 'family', more specifically, Shadrach. Debbie shuddered at the image of him, then pushed the image out her head as quickly as possible.
"Actually yeah, you're right there."
"Still weird that we should meet somewhere like this though of all places, don't you think?"
Debbie smiled as Jasmine seemed to buzz with excitement at this revelation.
"It's like fate or something."
"Oh you don't believe in all that do you?" Debbie said rolling her eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"Like everything is already fixed, already mapped out for you. 'cos it's all a load of crap you know. We make our own fate, just like that John Connor said."
"You're quoting a Terminator film?" Jasmine laughed.
"Well it's true!" Debbie laughed in return.
"Well I don't agree." Jasmine stated as she stretched out, placing her arms behind her head. Her eyes gazing up into the sky for a moment. "I believe in fate, and I believe that we meet certain people at specific moments in our lives for a reason, so that we can learn something from them, and use that to grow as people."
Debbie sat quietly listening to the girl speak, and then seemed to process what Jasmine had said for a while. Jasmine looked over at Debbie, watching her mull things over in her head. Thinking she could actually see a cog turning in her brain at one point and silently chuckled to herself. Eyes returning to the sky above, leaving Debbie to her thoughts.
"So...are you saying you think we met for a reason then?"
Jasmine looked up into smokey questioning eyes, losing herself in them for what seemed like an eternity when only a mere moment had passed.
"....Yeh. Yeh, I think we did."
Their eyes locked. Debbie's face now suddenly quite serious.
"...and why is that do you think?"
Half smiling, Jasmine replied, " I haven't decided yet."
Another hour or so had passed, and Debbie and Jasmine had been talking about all sorts of things, from commenting on the various sights they saw whilst sat under the tree, to Jasmine reading passages from her book and then back to Debbie having yet another rant about her friend-slash-soon-to-be-possibly-maybe-EX-employee, Daz.
As the girls shared another bag of crisps, Debbie carefully looked Jasmine up and down as if trying to figure her out. She glanced at her bag, where she could see an ipod sticking out. Chucking the rest of the packet at Jasmine, and quickly giving her crummy fingers a wipe, she reached over for it, "Oooh, give us a go! Whatya got on it?"
Jasmine glanced at her, and shrugged, "All sorts really. I'll give anything a try."
Debbie looked up briefly at this, eyes meeting again, and Jasmine half smiled at her, before reaching for another Dorito.
'M'kaay, now is it me or did she purposely mean for that to come out like it did?' Debbie thought to herself, whilst randomly clicking various buttons.
Jasmine hadn't intended on making such a provocative statement in reply to such an innocent question, but Debbie's reaction intrigued her. Debbie broke eye contact, when Jasmine reached for another crisp, suddenly becoming a little nervous and Jasmine thought she could make out some flushing in Debbie's cheeks, and smiled to herself at this, returning her attention to her book.
Debbie fiddled with the ipod to distract herself from her thoughts.
"How the hell do you work these things!?"
Jasmine chuckled, and put down her book gently taking the ipod from Debbie.
"Give it here. Look, just move your finger around like this to scroll, click play to select, click menu to go back and the others are to go forward or back a track. It's not exactly rocket science." she said, handing it back to her, as Debbie gave her a sarcastic grin.
She continued to scroll through the music pulling various faces at the different names she came across.
"Erm..Rod Stewart?!" she questioned raising an eyebrow.
"Hey! I'll have you know there's nothing wrong with Rod Stewart. Besides, that's more of a childhood thing. It...it reminds me of my mother."
Debbie noticed how quietly Jasmine had said the last few words, and how she had seemed to have momentarily gone into her own little world. She wondered what must have happened with her mother, thinking back to her own troubled relationships with her mother and father, Charity and Cain. Empathising with her, she tentatively placed her hand on Jasmine's, carefully watching her snap out of whatever memory she was replaying in her head only to briefly focus on their hands. At this, Debbie gave hers a comforting squeeze, and once again their eyes met.
Debbie felt quite overwhelmed at that moment, and couldn't understand how this person who she'd known all of five minutes could possibly have this affect on her. She then noticed how vulnerable Jasmine looked since mentioning her mother. And in that moment wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around the girl and protect her, from what she didn't know, but it was as if some primal instinct has just been awoken in her.
"Are you ok?" she asked softly.
Again this seemed to jolt Jasmine back to reality and break eye contact. After a moment she looked back at Debbie and gave her a crooked smile.
"Yeh, I'm fine" she said, patting Debbie's hand with her own, reminding Debbie that she had been clutching Jasmine's and begrudgingly yet a little too abruptly, let go. They sat silently for a moment, Debbie unsure of what to say.
"Do you want to talk about her?" she quietly asked.
"There's not much to talk about really. She got sick when I was very young, and died when I was 14."
"God, I.. I'm sorry." Debbie immediately regretted asking, and could see Jasmine was putting on a brave face. 'Bloody idiot, why would she want to talk about private stuff to someone who's virtually a stranger!? Muppet!'
Jasmine looked at Debbie, sensing she was silently berating herself.
"Hey, it's ok. I'm ok, really. Thank you for asking, but there really isn't anything to talk about. I'm ok with it. I just...every now and then it just ...creeps up on you, you know? Catching me off guard. I'm fine now, honestly." She smiled warmly at Debbie, trying to reassure the girl she was ok. Debbie returned the smile, uncertainly at first, looking for any signs in her eyes that suggested she wasn't as ok as she made out, but smiled more freely when she found none.
Debbie decided she should try and change the subject to something hopefully a little lighter, and went back to perusing Jasmine's iPod.
"OK, who the frig is Cigar Ros?"
Jasmine's face looked shocked. "Er it's pronounced Sigur Ros, and what? you've never heard of them?!"
Debbie chuckled and raised her eyebrow at Jasmine.
"Err...why? Should I have?"
"Don't give me that look, and don't knock it until you've tried it!" she smirked, emphasizing the words 'tried it' with a poke to Debbie's thigh.
Debbie was reminded of Jasmine's previous little comment, and for some reason found her mouth had gone dry. 'Nope, it's definitely not me.' She thought.
Clearing her throat she retorted "um...well....if they were any good then I'd have heard of them wouldn't I !"
Jasmine rolled her eyes, "mhm, if you say so. Ok, fine, so tell me then Mr Simon Cowell, what do you listen to, hmm?"
"Oh..very funny. And just what are you implying? I'm nothing like him." She stated in mock anger. "I don't pull my jeans up to my tits for one thing!" she quickly added, promptly sticking her tongue out at Jasmine.
Jasmine sat there half stunned at Debbie's outburst for a moment, both looking at each other, and then as if on cue, they both burst out laughing. Every time one of them would ease off, the other would crease up again only to set the other one off into yet another fit of giggles.
"Oh, s-stop it...it hurts"
"I...I cant help it, y-you-started-it!" Jasmine managed to blurt out in between giggles.
"ok ok, I can do this....hahaha ow-ow-stitch!..haha god-I-can't-breathe" Debbie wheezed, as she clutched her chest, still shaking with laughter.
"N-now. you sound like M-mutley! hahaa" was the last thing Jasmine managed to get out before joining Debbie once again in a fit of hysterics.
"sh-shhh..no no..shh..hHahah, ok ok...s-stop now"
This continued for a few more minutes until their laughter slowly started to subside. They sat there looking at each other, practically beaming as the last little giggles escaped, until they simultaneously seemed to realise how long they'd been staring at each other and sheepishly smiled and looked away. Debbie was the first to speak.
Giving Jasmine a cheeky grin, "So....erm...what were we talking about?"
Jasmine looked up slightly confused.
"Actually, I have no idea. I don't even remember what we were laughing at now." Still looking at Debbie she continued, " I'll tell you one thing though. I've not laughed like that in ages...thank you."
Debbie's head shot up, and she smiled bemusedly at the other girl.
"What for?"
"Well, I certainly wouldn't be having this much fun if I'd have been on my own so, thank you. I'm having a lovely day because of you."
"Oh...well." Debbie was quite taken aback at the sentiment. "It's ok. I haven't exactly done anything though really 'ave I? We're just 'aving a laugh that's all. You don't need to thank me." she said, shyly smiling at Jasmine who returned it with a look of such...what?
She couldn't say, but she was growing more confused as time went on.
Again, she was overcome with feelings upon looking into Jasmine's eyes. What was it she was seeing in them? Debbie had never really had any 'girl' friends, as she never really got on with them. Infact she always seemed to annoy them. But Jasmine was different. Even only having met her this afternoon, she knew this. She knew there was something different about her. Something that intrigued her. Debbie wanted to know more, wanted to know every last thing about her, and even more strangely, she wanted Jasmine to know all about her.
Her, the girl who never opens up to people. 'Always keep people at a distance, if you let people in, you give them the power to hurt you.' That's what she always believed, and she didn't intend on making that mistake. But now in this short space of time, meeting this girl, everything had changed. She wanted to take that risk. To let her in and let her break down her barriers.
"...you listening to me?"
Debbie snapped out of her thoughts and realised Jasmine had been talking to her.
"Sorry? um...no....I mean...what? Sorry. I erm... zoned out for a minute there."
Jasmine smiled, "yeah, thought as much. You ok?"
"yeah yeah, fine"
"Well I just said, thank you, all the same."
"Well, like I said. there is no need. But......um.....ditto."
Once again their eyes locked and in that moment they seemed to see into each others souls.
"Oh bugger."
"Hmm? What's up?" Debbie chuckled at Jasmine's remark out of nowhere.
"Erm...that little laughing fit of ours has made me reeaally need a pee." Jasmine admitted, going slightly red.
"Oops, can't see any public lavs anywhere. You'll have to go behind one of those lil' bushes back there." Debbie replied with a wink.
"Lovely, who needs modern conveniences when you have a bush." Jasmine quipped, as she walked off.
"Have fun!" Debbie shouted over her shoulder.
Whilst Jasmine attended to business, Debbie's thoughts trailed back to the past few hours, and to the girl whom she had started to grow so fond of. Images played back in her mind, Jasmine's big brown eyes looking up at her, the warm smiles, and that laugh. Debbie chuckled, remembering how she accidently cracked up hearing Jasmine laugh.
"God, what is it about you?" she muttered to herself. "I don't like girls, they do my bloody head in." she said in frustration as she leant back against the tree, looking up watching the breeze dance with the leaves.
"So why is she getting to me so much?" she sighed. There was an answer. She knew that, though she kept it at the back of her mind, not wanting to deal with the implications of it all. But knowing all too well that if Jasmine had been a bloke, she wouldn't be having this conversation...with herself.
"First sign of madness that you know."
Debbie jumped at the voice
"Jesus, would you not sneak up on me like that! ....Erm, how long have you been standing there?" she asked trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably.
"Oh not long" Jasmine smirked.
Debbie watched the girl closely trying to figure out if she had just heard her talking to herself, or if she's actually heard what she'd been talking about, neither of which were exactly ideal, but Jasmine's face gave nothing away.
"So...feel better now?" Debbie asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Oh much. It was fun trying to find big enough leaves though I must say."
Debbie pulled a face. "Argh! Cheers for that Jas, just the bloody image I wanted in my head, nice one!"
Jasmine laughed at her, as Debbie shook her head trying to get rid of the mental images she had created. She also became aware of a warm feeling deep inside at Debbie's casual use of her name.
'Jas.'
It had always bugged her when other people had called her that, thinking them ignorant and lazy for not being bothered to call her by her full name. It wasn't even like 'Jasmine' had a bajillion letters in it or something. 'Seven. That's all, just seven.'
'God I really need to get a life', she thought, rolling her eyes at her own meticulousness before looking back at Debbie, watching her playing with her ipod again. 'So, why does it feel so right when you say it?'
"Sigur Ros!"
"Pardon?" Jasmine said, snapping out of her thoughts.
"That's what we were talking about." Debbie said, waving the ipod at Jasmine.
"Ohh, right yeh" Jasmine said, as she sat down next to Debbie.
"Now come on, how the hell are you meant remember any of these names? It looks like a load of gibberish to me."
"It's Icelandic"
"Same difference" Debbie muttered. "Oh these sound imaginative. 'Untitled 1, Untitled 2, Unti.."
Jasmine chuckled, "They do have proper names as well, I think they have Icelandic names as well as the English translation, although I don't know them, oh apart from 'Untitled 3', that's called 'Attachment', but I can't be bothered changing them all again. Here...listen to one before you decide you don't like it."
Taking the ipod from Debbie she spun her finger round, selecting a track called 'Gong'. Pressing play, she handed Debbie the earphones, raising her eyebrows. Debbie sighed, and took them, making a show of inspecting the ear buds.
"Oi, cheeky cow! I don't have waxy ears!" She laughed, playfully slapping Debbie on the arm.
"Just checking." Debbie grinned back, placing them in her ears, before rubbing her arm showing mock hurt.
Jasmine sat back against the tree, watching Debbie's face as she took in the music. Smiling as she could tell Debbie wasn't really sure what to make of it.
"What is he singing!?" Debbie asked a little too loudly.
"You don't need to shout Debs"
"What!?" she half shouted, before pausing the music.
"I said you don't need to shout!" Jasmine replied louder.
"You don't need to shout Jasmine I'm not deaf." Debbie grinned.
"That's what I what I said!"
Debbie chuckled and pressed play again. "So, what is he singing?" Debbie asked again quieter.
"No idea."
"What?"
Jas rolled her eyes, and shrugged over dramatically. Debbie pulled out one of the ear phones. "How can you sing along and enjoy a song if you don't understand it?"
"Well, it's only the same as Classical music or Opera. Not everyone understands that music, but you can still be moved by it can't you? Not all music is written to be sung along to Debbie. That's why there's so many different genres. Different music serves different purposes."
Debbie smiled to herself as she listened to the other girl talk. She didn't know why but she loved listening to her speak. She was sure if anyone else was telling her this stuff, she'd have told them to bloody well shut up already. But not Jasmine. She could listen to her talk for hours. She even went so far as to think that if Jasmine actually started reading the phone book to her, she'd happily sit there with a soppy grin on her face. 'God what's happening to me?' she thought to herself.
"..don't you think?"
'Damn! What had Jasmine just asked her about?' She didn't want to admit she'd just zoned out, again. So she attempted to deflect the question.
"Oh well, give me a bit of Kelly any day."
"Kelly? Kelly who?"
Now Debbie rolled her eyes. "Kelly Clarkson!" she said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh right. M'kay." Jasmine said in a playfully mocking tone.
"Err, you takin' the piss?"
"Who me? As if...I would never dare to mock your love of an 'American Idol'..."
"Hey!" Debbie said, playfully shoving Jasmine.
"I'm sorry, i'm sorry, I guess we'll just have to agree to differ eh?" Jasmine said, with a cheeky grin plastered on her face.
"I'll have you know, 'My Life Would Suck Without You" is a classic! AND you can sing along to it, AND it has a proper name that normal people can pronounce!" Debbie teased back.
They sat together in companionable silence for a few moments, then glancing at her watch, a thought seemed to pop into Jasmine's head and she started to gather up her things.
Debbie's heart sank, thinking Jasmine was about to go. She didn't want their day together to end yet, she was having the best day she's had in months, years even. She desperately wanted to say something, to stop her from leaving.
Jasmine finished packing up her belongings and stood up looking down at Debbie.
A moment seemed to pass between them, and she seemed to pick up on Debbie's nervousness, and a warm smile crept onto her face.
"Come with me."
It took a moment for Debbie to register what Jasmine had said, relief flowing through her.
"Where we goin'?" she asked, slowly getting to her feet.
"You'll see...soon enough." And then she started to make her way further up the hill, Debbie following close behind, wondering what Jasmine was planning. After about twenty minutes of walking, Jasmine stopped and turned around to face Debbie who hadn't been paying attention and promptly walked right into Jasmine.
"Ow! Jesus Jas!" she laughed, "Would you not just stop like that! You alright?" Debbie asked
"Yeah i'm fine Debs, sorry." she giggled. "You could you try looking where you're going in future tho'?" Jasmine smiled back. "Anyway, what I was going to say was, we're nearly there."
"Oh right.." Debbie looked around, confusion on her face, unable to see anything particularly interesting. "Erm..and where is there, exactly?"
"I told you. You'll see." Jasmine smirked. "Right then, do you trust me?"
"Oh not now I don't. First Dingle rule, never trust anyone that says 'Do you trust me?'.."
"Erm...you told me the first Dingle rule was to never get caught." Jasmine argued back. A smug grin spread across her face, when she saw Debbie realise that she'd been caught out. "Aw come on Debbie! Please? You'll enjoy it. I promise"
The truth was Debbie trusted her more than anyone. It was insane. She'd known this girl not even a whole day, yet she knew she'd trust her with her life if she had to. But she wasn't about to tell her that. Oh no, this was far more entertaining, she grinned inwardly.
"Pleeeease?" Jasmine was bouncing on the balls of her feet now.
"Nope"
"Pretty pleeeease? ...with cherries on top?"
"Ugh I hate cherries!"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. She knew Debbie was toying with her, but she secretly enjoyed it, and played along.
"Ok ok, how about....with whipped cream and sprinkles on top?" she replied, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Debbie seemed to contemplate this for a moment.
"On top of what?"
Jasmine's face turned to utter confusion for a moment. "What!?"
"On top of what? Whipped cream and sprinkles on top of what?"
Jasmine looked at the other girl's face incredulously, and burst into laughter again.
"Aw come on Debs" she said half looking out the corner of her eye, regaining her composure.
"We're going to run out of time."
"Oh changing the subject are we?"
"You changed the subject, not me! I just wanted you to trust me."
Debbie smiled at her, and Jasmine looked back with a hopeful look in her eyes.
"Go on then, I trust you. This better be worth it Jasmine."
"Ok, now close your eyes."
"What!? oh no, you never said anythi..."
Jasmine reached for Debbie's hand, her eyes pleading with her, and in the softest voice possible, she said it one last time "...please"
Debbie's heart melted at this, and decided not to play with her anymore, realising that whatever it was that Jasmine had in mind, meant a lot to her. So Debbie nodded, the corner of her mouth curling up into a smile.
Jasmine beamed back at her then whispered her instruction again.
"..close your eyes"
Debbie complied as Jasmine stepped behind her. "Now trust me". Debbie felt goosebumps rise along her neck as Jasmine had leant in closely to whisper the words into her ear.
Butterflies fluttered wildly within Debbie's stomach as Jasmine gripped the girls hips. "Walk forward." she gently instructed.
Debbie's mouth went dry for the second time that day, as she tentatively started to walk forward. "Don't peek...it'll be worth it Debs, I promise."
A few minutes later they reached their destination. "You can stop now, but don't look."
She removed her hands from the girls hips, and Debbie noticed how tense she had become at Jasmine's touch, and relaxed again. She could hear her doing something behind her, but couldn't make out what. She was tempted to peek, and if it had been anyone else she would have, but she didn't want to disappoint Jasmine. 'Debbie Dingle, I do believe you are going soft' she thought to herself.
She suddenly jumped when she felt Jasmine touch her again.
"Sorry Debs.." she chuckled, "I just want to put these back in your ears. But listen, when I tap you twice, only then are you allowed to open your eyes ok?"
"...ok." Debbie was relieved it was only a simple question Jasmine had asked, as she wasn't sure she could get many more words out than the 'ok' she'd already managed.
Jasmine gently placed the earphones in the girl's ears, and returned her hands to her hips. Leaning close, so Debbie could feel her breath on the back of her neck, she made a last request.
"Take one last step forward and then don't move."
Debbie did as she was asked, and Jasmine moved one of her hands further round her waist, as though gripping hold of her. Silence followed for a few moments as Jasmine sought what she was after. Scrolling through the songs, she came to the track she mentioned earlier 'Untitled 3'. She pressed play and placed the ipod into her pocket before quickly placing her other arm around Debbie's waist, stepping closer to her.
Debbie swallowed as she felt Jasmine's body press into hers. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she wasn't about to say anything. Never had she felt so nervous, yet so alive as she did right at this moment. The atmosphere was palpable. She'd never felt anything like this before around anyone, male or female. Whatever it was, she knew she didn't want it to stop.
And then the music kicked in.
Jasmine had made sure the volume was at the highest setting so as to block everything else out. Debbie could feel Jasmine's chest move against her back, and she seemed to be breathing quite deeply, making Debbie aware that she'd been holding her own breath.
The music swelled and grew momentum as she started to lose herself in it. She felt hands move against her tummy, as Jasmine tapped her twice.
Slowly, Debbie started to open her eyes, and what she saw was one of the most amazing sights she had ever laid her eyes on. Jasmine had walked them to the very top of the hill, and they were now stood right at the precipice and had a panoramic view of vast countryside which seemed to be never ending. Below them was the clearest lake, which the now setting sun glinted off beautifully. All the colours took Debbie's breath away. The sunset, it suddenly dawned on her, was why Jasmine had been rushing earlier when she was trying to get Debbie to trust her. She smiled to herself at that thought, that Jasmine had thought to share a moment like this, a moment so special, with her. A person who she had known a matter of hours.
What she saw before her, could only be described as heaven. She was not a religious person by any means, but if she had to try and describe what she thought heaven would be like if it existed, this is what it would be, absolute paradise. She gazed at the sight before her trying to soak up every last inch of it, trying to burn every last detail to memory. The colours, the hills, the ripples in the lake.
Where they were stood made her feel like they were floating above it all, she just couldn't put it into words how she was feeling. So she stopped trying and just lost herself completely in the music.
She felt Jasmine shift behind her, then felt her chin rest on her shoulder as she was given a comforting squeeze. Debbie's heart swelled at this show of affection and the music reached it's climax. She'd never known happiness like this before. She'd never been so overwhelmed with emotions. Every sense full to capacity with beauty, the feast of the vision before her, the beautiful sounds dancing around in her ears, and the touch and scent of Jasmine enveloping her. Taking in a deep breath, she turned her head to face Jasmine who met her gaze with a look of such adoration before giving her a shy smile as Debbie placed her hands over Jasmine's, interlinking their fingers.
As the music was ending Debbie turned back to take another look at the view. Whilst rubbing her thumb across the other girls hand she softly leant her head against Jasmine's, as they stood there together in silence. It was finally Debbie's turn to speak, yet you could barely hear her as she had spoken so quietly.
But Jasmine had heard.
"Thank you" she whispered as a lone tear slid down Debbie's cheek.
