Authors: Joanna Sellick
‘I’ll call you,’ I smile, finishing his
sentence for him. ‘Thank you.’ I grin and then plant a kiss on his cheek before
running up to my room. I sit on my bed and pull out my phone.
Charlie
gave me the ‘OK.’ So, if you’re still up for it, I’m in.
I send up a silent prayer before I send the
text and lie restlessly on my bed. What if Jay doesn’t reply and I’ve screwed
this up for good? God, I’m an idiot sometimes.
I’m still not sure if going away with him
for a weekend is a good idea, but the more dominant side of me just doesn’t
seem to care. What I’d said to Charlie is true; I haven’t had a friend since
Alex died, except maybe Al at the coffee shop. I can’t lose Jay now, I just
can’t.
My room is fairly small and cramped because
I just leave everything lying around rather than putting anything away, so
instead of pacing around I just wriggle about on my mattress until at last my
phones beeps.
I breathe out a huge sigh of relief at the
reply.
Knew
you couldn’t resist me, Red. Pick you up tomorrow at nine.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Charlie asks me
for the hundredth time the next morning.
‘Honestly, no,’ I reply absently, finding
my toothbrush and other supplies and stuffing them into my backpack. ‘But if I
don’t do it I’ll regret it and I have enough things to regret already, so just
chill okay? I’ll be fine, I promise,’ I remind him.
I had decided to travel light, just a spare
change of clothes, my pyjamas, the essentials and my drawing things. They all
just about fit into my backpack. As for what I’m wearing, I’m simply in
leggings, military boots and a baggy t-shirt with a jacket and coat over the
top. My cream, woolly hat sits comfortably on my head.
A car honks outside and I take that as my
cue to exit, grabbing my stuff before waving goodbye to Charlie and taking the
steps two at a time. Then the doorbell rings and I reach it before Charlie can
even try.
Jay stands on the other side, hands deep in
his pockets, waiting impatiently.
‘Go, go, go,’ I order, spinning him around
and pushing him forward before Charlie can talk to him. Unfortunately, I’m too
slow.
‘You must be Jay,’ Charlie announces
loudly, standing in the doorway with his arms folded, trying to look as
threatening as possible. If I wasn’t currently dying of embarrassment, I would
probably be laughing.
Jay winks at me before turning around and
meeting him with an outstretched hand.
‘Jay Ellsworth, sir,’ Jay smiles
charmingly.
Ellsworth.
Why does that
name ring a bell?
Charlie looks at the out-stretched hand
with distaste before ignoring it. Then, to my horror, he pulls out a walnut and
a nutcracker from his pocket and turns the nut around in his hand. I’m pretty
sure Charlie doesn’t even like nuts.
‘Is that your car?’ Charlie asks instead,
nodding over to the silver Audi currently residing by side of the road.
Jay drops his hand and follows Charlie’s
line of gaze before answering. ‘Actually, it’s my dad’s, sir. I’m borrowing it
for the weekend.’
‘Uh huh. And what does he do?’ Charlie
asks, his voice giving nothing away. I pinch the bridge of my nose and shake my
head, not that either of them notice.
‘He’s just gotten the job as Head of Local
Police,’ Jay tells him.
Charlie nods again before popping the
walnut into the nutcracker. ‘So I assume you fully understand me when I tell
you that if you do not look after Neve, the consequences may not be in your
favour.’ Then Charlie crushes the nut in half before smiling up at Jay.
‘I understand, sir. Rest assured, I will
take the greatest care,’ Jay says sincerely. Although he doesn’t show it,
Charlie seems satisfied and nods.
‘I’ll see you on Sunday,’ he says, crushing
the remains of the nut’s shell in his hand before shutting the door. Jay turns
around to look at me with amusement and I duck my head and pop the boot open so
I can drop my back pack in there.
‘I’m going to kill him,’ I mutter, my
cheeks still burning as I slide into the passenger seat. Jay laughs.
‘Aw, he’s only looking out for you,’
‘He didn’t have to whip out the nutcracker
to do that,’ I point out. ‘Now drive before I go back in there and show him where
he can shove his nutcracker.’
‘Where to?’ Jay asks, trying to suppress
another laugh at my rage and pulling out a map.
I think for a moment. ‘The sea.’
When I was younger, Charlie and I had gone
a couple of times, but that had been years ago. It’s somewhere I have always
wanted to return to, just to sit by and watch the tide.
‘Sounds good,’ Jay grins, pulling out of my
little street.
Now, seeing as neither of us know how to
get to the nearest beach, we are relying on the map and various signposts to
get us to the little seaside town of Hunstanton, a regular tourist attraction
for those visiting the UK or even the Brits themselves who would go down for
the day to visit the beach.
I can’t read a map and since Jay is
driving, he’s pretty useless too, so what should have been a two hour drive
easily escalated into a three hour one. Needless to say, we took many a detour.
But finally we emerge from cityscapes into
country roads until blocks of old fashioned, Victorian houses and cottages come
into view. The best thing about traipsing down to the beach during the middle
of winter is that the place is basically deserted, although it isn’t hard to
imagine the place bustling with people in the summer.
I can almost see the families crowding the
walkway and beach; little kids running around, collecting shells and sand to
hand to their bemused parents. I remember seeing lots of families last time I
was here, children winding up their parents. Those sorts of things used to send
jealously coursing through me but it doesn’t now. Actually, I often find it
amusing to watch everyone else, wondering what their own stories are.
We make our way past the various rides of
the amusement park and down to the beach, climbing over the railings and
dropping from the ledge onto the damp sand. I stand in awe of the view.
‘It’s beautiful,’ I whisper to myself,
looking out at the sea. It seems to just stretch on forever.
‘Come on,’ Jay announces, a mischievous
look in his eye. ‘Race you!’ he challenges before setting off at a sprint. I
laugh at him before breaking into a run of my own. Since my bag is still in the
car, I have nothing to weigh me down so I run like a little kid, waving my arms
around madly and laughing as I go.
Happily, the beach is as deserted as the
rest of Hunstanton so I don’t run the risk of falling into anyone, although the
odd dog walker does give us a funny look as we fly by. A dog even starts
running along with us, only spurring us on faster.
I like to think that I’m fit, given all the
cycling I do, yet my ability to sprint is pushed further as I reach Jay and we
both give it all we have, trying to outrun each other.
We come to a screeching stop at the edge of
the water. Or rather, he does.
My feet betray me and instead of stopping I
end up running into the water, shrieking as the cold freezes my toes and I jump
back out again only to find Jay buckled over with laughter.
‘And that’s why we don’t go into the water
in the middle of December,’ he scoffs, being no help at all.
‘Shut up and help me will you!’ I yell through
my own grin, removing my wet shoes and socks. They sink into the damp sand
beneath me and I decide that probably wasn’t the best thing to do. ‘Ew.’
Jay sighs. ‘You’re hopeless,’ he laughs.
Then, just to make things worse, he scoops me up into his arms and starts
walking back up the beach.
‘Let me down!’ I order, wriggling under his
grip, holding on tight to my shoes and socks. I’ve already been humiliated
enough today, don’t I deserve a break?
Jay ignores me, grinning, and I have to
endure the long trek back up to the concrete ramp before he finally lowers me.
I slap his arm.
‘What was that for?’ he asks, cradling his
elbow, mock hurt obvious in his voice.
‘For being a jer-’
But I don’t get to finish that thought
because Jay then decides to pick me up in a fireman’s lift. Bloody brilliant.
‘Sorry, what was that?’ he chimes happily.
‘Jay Ellsworth, put me down!’ I squeal,
slamming on his back as he walks.
‘Sorry, I can’t hear you,’ he answers,
beginning to whistle instead. I give up on fighting and just let him carry me.
An elderly couple sharing a sandwich on a bench stare at me. I wave back.
At least Jay has sort of good intentions,
and drags me over to the car which gives me a chance to change into some spare
socks and swap my boots for my converse before we set out again.
We grab some lunch and walk along the pier,
Jay nattering on about London and how different it is from here.
‘Do you miss it?’ I ask, tucking into a
burger. Jay ponders over the question for a moment.
‘London, no. But I miss the people there,
its gunna be hard to keep in touch since they’re so far away but we’ll manage,’
he laughs. ‘My brother though, he was not happy about leaving. He’s on his gap
year now and claims he will severely miss the clubs and general nightlife.’
‘Do you have many siblings?’ I continue.
‘One older brother and an older sister, I’m
the baby of the family. My sister lives in New York but hopefully she’s coming
over to visit soon.’
‘Nice,’ I say, impressed. Living in London
was one thing, but I wonder what it would be like to live in New York. I’ve
only ever lived in a small town. ‘What does she do?’
‘She’s a journalist for one of the big
newspapers there, but it means she’s busy all the time,’ he replies wistfully.
‘Hey, what’s with the twenty-questions anyway?’
‘Well, you know lots about me, so now it’s
your turn,’ I point out.
‘I don’t know much about you,’ he argues.
‘I don’t know your music taste, for instance.’
‘Anything with a fast beat,’ I grin. ‘You?’
‘How much would you judge me if I said
Justin Bieber and One Direction?’
‘I would leave.’
We continue firing random questions at each
other and falling into conversations about favourite music, thankfully not
Justin Bieber and One Direction, and favourite all time films. Jay even admits
that he hates scary movies but watches them anyway just so his brother can’t
tease him about it.
I start talking about my passion for art
and how I use it as my own form of escapism. I natter on about a number of my
favourite artists and Jay nods along, making appropriate noises even though I’m
pretty sure he doesn’t know who half the people I’m talking about are.
‘I do have one very important question,’ I
announce as we make our way down to the amusement park. ‘What is your actual
name?’
‘Ah’ Jay smirks, tapping nose. ‘That is for
me to know, and you to find out. Now, I fancy a go on these rides, got the
stomach for it, Red?’
‘Childs play,’ I snort. We pay for our
tickets and meander round, arguing over which ride to go on first and which
ones to avoid. Jay persuades me to join him on the baby rollercoaster which
goes about ten miles an hour around a tiny track which turns out to be
strangely entertaining and we pose dramatically every time we go past one of those
cameras that takes pictures of you on the ride, half the time pulling some
awkward face because you’re going downwards on a large drop.
As pay back for the baby rollercoaster, I
deny him any pleas of going on the water rides. The memory of my soaked boots
is enough to keep me firm on that decision.
As we pass the little market stalls and
tents with goods on offer my eyes land on a delicate gold necklace with a small
carousel charm attached. Enchanted, I pick it up and admire it. To anyone else
it would probably look like a tacky piece of jewellery, what with the cheesy
charm, but I want something to remember this day by.
‘You like?’ The vender enthuses, eyeing me
up like an eagle about to pounce, as venders usually do.
‘How much?’ I grin.
‘Twenty.’ My grin falls. I’m sure that
would be in the budget for most girls at my school, but I simply don’t have
that much money to spend. Begrudgingly, I place the necklace back in its hold.
‘Sorry, I don’t have enough.’
‘Luckily, I do,’ Jay chirps, digging into
his wallet.
‘Hell no,’ I scold. ‘You’ve done enough,’ I
laugh.
‘For you, seventeen pounds!’ The vender
cries.
‘That sounds very reasonable,’ Jay agrees.
‘We’re not interested, but thank you very
much,’ I tell the man as I push Jay away from the stall.
We spend the rest of the day milling
around, even visiting the aquarium at some point, finally heading up to the
cliffs and looking over the sea as the sun sets.
‘If I could freeze this moment, I would,’ I
say softly as we watch the sun fall, bright oranges and purples being projected
across the sky and then reflecting off the water.
It soon falls dark though and Jay goes in
search of blankets and a camping lamp so we can stay out on the cliff without
freezing our butts off. A campfire would have been nice but it’s probably
illegal so we settle for a portable camping heater. Jay really has thought of
everything.
Whilst Jay looks for somewhere to get food,
I curl up close to the heater and pull out my sketchbook, flipping it over to
the page I had started the other day. Jay’s half-drawn face smiles up at me.
It’s almost done, just missing the final
tweaks. Not one to leave something unfinished, I complete the last fine details
and shading until I’m finally happy with it.
‘How do chips sound for dinner? Hey, is
that-’
‘Nope!’ I squeak, slamming shut my sketchbook,
not having heard Jay approach.
‘That was totally my face!’ Jay argues,
putting down the food and trying to wrestle the sketchbook from my hands. I bat
him away and he finally gives up, rolling back on his heels.