When We Were Young
Chapter 2 – Escaping It All
Aw, thank you for your lovely reviews! I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it This chapter might be a bit of a shock, I considered rating it M but decided it was alright as T, edited a little! I think there will be one more chapter after this, as I'm not one for writing long multi chapter fics. Anyway thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this one as much as the first!
Nikki sat at her desk in her little room in the attic, silent with thought. It had been a week since she'd met Paul in London, and the funny guy on the train, and she hadn't thought about either of them – Paul because she'd closed it up in a little box in her brain, never to be opened, and the boy because... well, Nikki didn't really know why. It had been a week and he hadn't called, so he obviously wasn't into her, but although she didn't really care, she'd been called 'the Virgin Mary' at school again that morning, by none other than Ryan Turner, and she was desperate to make it stop. So a call from a nice boy would have probably cheered her up. Maybe.
Pushing these thoughts from her mind, Nikki shook her hair and stared down at her maths book. But what was the point? She could do these sums in her head – a class of 15 year olds, just starting to learn about quadratic equations? It was ridiculous – when she'd left South Africa they'd been doing trigonometric graphs and differentiation. Oh well.
"Dinner's ready, Niks!" called her dad. Nikki sighed. Great – another meeting with her father, who had, since discovering of her attempt to run away, been overly nice to her, but Nikki got the feeling it was all a facade. He didn't know how to act around her and, although putting in half an effort, was starting to really bug Nikki.
She made her way downstairs in silence and poured herself a glass of water before picking up the plate of chips, peas and sausages.
"I'm eating in my room," she said on her way out of the door. Viktor said nothing, didn't even seem to really notice.
She cleared a space on her desk and aimlessly shovelled the food into her mouth. As she was just finishing, the phone rang and Viktor's voice came up the stairs.
"Niks? It's a boy for you."
Nikki groaned to herself. Why did Ryan have to call her at home to give her abuse? It wasn't like he didn't do it enough at school. He just couldn't leave her alone.
"What?" she asked bluntly, desperate to get it over with.
"You sound perky!" came a different voice.
Nikki frowned. "Who is this?" she asked.
There was a short silence. "We met on the train last week?" said the boy. "Between Guildford and London?"
Nikki couldn't believe he'd actually called!
"Oh, hi," she said. "I hoped you'd call." That part wasn't completely a lie.
She could sense the boy grinning. "Were you now?" he asked.
"Maybe," replied Nikki. She could play at this game just as well as he could.
"So you want to meet up?" he asked. "How's tomorrow?"
Nikki breathed. "Sounds good," she said. "When and where?"
"Guildford station? I'll get the train; it'll get in at 7.30pm."
"See you then," said Nikki and clicked down the phone before he could say anything else.
As Nikki lay in bed that night, she was thinking about the boy. She'd show the kids at school that she was no Virgin Mary – she was just like them and she'd do what it took to fit in. With the thought of being able to lead a normal life, Nikki drifted off to sleep without her usual tossing and turning for hours on end, and, although she couldn't explain why, she felt as though she finally had something to look forward to.
Nikki shook her blonde hair out behind her as she walked along to the train station, earning herself a honk from a white van and a slick look-up from a group of college boys walking towards her. It gave her confidence for what she was about to do and when she reached the station, although it was already dark, she could easily make out the figure with black hair and a rucksack hitched onto his shoulder, waiting for her. She crept up behind him and poked him in the ribs, making him turn round with a frown before he realised it was her.
"Hiya!" he said, looking her up and down and subconsciously tilting his head towards her. "You look different! Now I'd hardly know you were at school, I'd think you were at nursery!"
Nikki heard this last bit and smacked him lightly on the arm. "You're awfully rude, you know," she said as they fell into step next to each other. "Are you always this mean to strangers?"
"Not at all," said the boy. "You, however, are most certainly not a stranger so I am completely justified in poking fun at you. And it's nice to be able to do it to someone who talks back."
Nikki wasn't sure if she should take that as a compliment or not. "Um," she said, glancing at him before walking on again. "So, um, what do you want to do?"
The boy rubbed his stomach dramatically. "I'm starving. I don't suppose you have any food here in town do you?"
"Of course we do," said Nikki, laughing again. "Come on, fish and chips this way," and she pulled him towards the chippy.
The boy bought two fishcakes, a piece of cod and a jumbo bag of chips. As they were leaving the cafe, a group of Year 12s from Nikki's school saw her and wolf whistled. "Ooh, Mary!" they called, the girls giggling. "Who's your brother?"
Nikki ignored them and guided Harry out. "Come on, let's go back to mine. My dad's away for a couple of nights, we'll have the place to ourselves and it's free of jerks like them."
The boy nodded and followed her. He wanted to ask about it but didn't know how and besides, this girl didn't seem to want to talk about it. So he engaged her back into conversation with bad jokes and digs at her school uniform, just concentrating on each minute as it came, and that seemed to work for her as well. So everything was cool.
Nikki listened to the boy's jokes, laughed at them, even shot a few comebacks at him, but her mind was really on other things. She had a point to prove and, although of course she wanted it for herself as well, she was going to prove it, whether they liked it or not. She was a woman now and could make her own decisions.
When they got back to Nikki's, the boy dumped the chips on the table and walked over to the stereo system. "Got anything good?" he asked, searching through the CD collection.
Nikki shrugged. "You'll be lucky," she said, grabbing her fishcake and flopping down onto the sofa. "It's all my dad's stuff. So mostly really crap stuff."
The boy turned to look at her and grinned. "Right, radio it is," he said and cranked it up to a high level. Nikki grinned and pulled him down onto the sofa.
They'd finished most of the chips when the boy got up. "Got any drink?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.
Nikki knew what he meant. "My dad's an alcoholic," she said, walking over to Viktor's drinks cupboard. "Take your pick, he'll never notice."
"Great." The boy grinned and picked up a six pack of beer. "What'll you have?"
Nikki looked at him for a second then started to laugh. Grabbing the beer out of his hands, she went back to the living room and handed him one before downing one herself. The boy downed his two and held out his hand for another. Nikki gave him one willingly.
An hour later they'd moved onto harder stuff and string words together was becoming an effort for Nikki. "You hungry?" she asked slowly, looking at him through her heavily lined eyes.
The boy nodded. "So hungry," he said and leaned over so their faces were inches apart.
"Good," said Nikki, her head spinning. Then the boy pulled her onto him and pushed his tongue into her mouth.
No novice to this, and by this time too drunk to care, Nikki kissed him back desperately, clinging onto him to get as deep down his throat as she could. His body was on top of hers on the sofa and as she ran her hands over his back, now stripped of its leather jacket, he slipped his under her shirt and up north. It felt so good to be wanted, or needed, in this way so Nikki didn't object but responded by tugging his shirt out from his jeans and hastily unbuttoning it. Quickly catching on, the boy shrugged it off himself and his hands went back up to Nikki's chest. Soon they were in their underwear and the boy sat back to survey his prize.
"Nice body," he said. Nikki blushed crimson. "Shut up," she said, reaching out for him. The boy grinned and leaned forwards to kiss her hard and reached up to undo her bra, which she slipped off and it found its way through the air to land on top of the TV.
It didn't last long and afterwards Nikki and the boy lay next to each other in silence on the tiny sofa.
"I'd better go," said the boy at last. Nikki nodded and tried to sit up but her head was spinning so she lay back down again. The boy was wobbly too but seemed to snap back into his jokey persona, but definitely more pronounced than before, due to the large amounts of alcohol he'd consumed.
"Thaaank youuu," he slurred, putting his jacket back on and lacing up his shoes.
Nikki nodded, her eyes, starting to close.
"What's your name?" he asked, giggling at the sound of what he'd said, considering the activity they'd just finished.
"Nikki," murmured Nikki. She didn't ask for his and he didn't give it to her.
"Great name," said the boy. He paused in the doorway, a sunny smile on his face, and struggled to make out the nearly sleeping girl on the sofa. "I won't remember that in the morning."
"Just go," said Nikki, curling up under a blanket. The boy nodded and, still giggling about something apparently extremely funny, like the colour of the walls perhaps, let himself out and let the door bang behind him. Nikki let her mind go, doing her best to forget what had happened, and immediately fell asleep with no thoughts on what had just occurred.
Nikki woke the next morning with a splitting headache. It was already five minutes after she was supposed to have been at school and, although she considered taking a sickie, she thought, 'what would be the point?' and, taking a large Aspirin pill, she got dressed and grabbed her school bag before making her way to school.
Walking the ten minutes to the comprehensive, Nikki's head was throbbing. All thoughts of the night before had gone and she knew she would never, ever think about it again, even if she wanted to. Because she'd forgotten it, all of it, and as far as she was concerned it need never arise again. End of.
The effects of the alcohol were taking their toll and as she approached the doors, Mr Hopkins came out to her.
"Nice of you to join us, Miss Alexander," he said. Nikki groaned. "I'll take that as a "Alright, sir, I'd love to come for a chat in your office," he said. Too tired to argue, Nikki followed him into his office and sat down on a hard backed chair. It felt remarkably good.
"Are you alright, Nikki?" asked Hopkins.
Nikki shrugged. "I'm just a bit tired, sir," she said and attempted a smile.
Mr Hopkins gave her long chat and as Nikki started to look at the clock, 25 minutes later, he realised he'd gone off on a tangent. "Sorry, Miss Alexander. I got carried away."
Nikki shrugged. "No problem, sir."
"So, you promise me you'll work hard? Get your exams and go to a good Uni? You're a bright girl, Nikki, and I hate to see so much potential go to waste. So promise me. Okay?"
Nikki was touched. "I promise, sir," she said quietly.
Noel nodded for her to go but she didn't move. "Sir?" she said slowly. "I think I want to become a doctor."
Mr Hopkins, although surprised, knew she needed his approval. "That's fantastic, Nikki. I'll be here to help you all the way." He held her gaze then walked over to open the door. He tilted his head towards the corridor. "Now, out!" he said with a friendly smile on his face, and Nikki went off to her next lesson with a good feeling, knowing she now had a chance to make everything alright again.
Ah it was so hard to write that sex scene in such a brutal way! I could easily have taken liberties but decided not to, for our younger readers... anyway review!