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Some hours later the party was in full swing if still a little light on personnel. Emma became increasingly aware that although nobody had actually said anything to her all Jack’s friends were looking at her very differently from usual. Especially Sam.
Sam was one of Jack’s closest but newest friends, at five feet ten inches he was almost as tall as Jack but where Jack was fair and rangy Sam was dark and stocky. He had unruly almost black curly hair which he always said had mind of its own and so he had long ago given up trying to persuade into any particular style, now he just kept it short. His eyes were a soft velvety brown with tiny flecks of gold and black around the edges of the irises which could only be seen if you looked really closely.
They had met when Jack had gone to college the previous year and, discovering they had similar interests and mutual friends, had become firm friends. Everyone else at the party so far had been friends with Jack since primary school, with the obvious exception of Emma who had met Jack only since she had started at secondary school and become increasingly friendly with Fiona.
There was Tommy, short, wiry and always full of mischief. Of the whole gang Tommy was the one most likely to get into trouble if there was trouble to get into, and even sometimes when there wasn’t. At the ripe old age of eighteen he was yet to discover the limits of his abilities with regard to the intake of alcohol and therefore always got far too drunk far too soon and invariably said the wrong thing to the wrong person. On this he and Jack were uncannily similar. Fortunately they always had Eddie.
Eddie was tall and broad and although he too was only eighteen he was much more sensible than both Jack and Tommy would ever be, even put together. He was also much tougher, and could always be relied upon to get any or all of his smaller and less handy mates out of any scrapes they managed to get themselves into.
From Emma’s point of view she loved them both dearly. She felt a real need to mother Tommy and knew she was always totally safe with Eddie around.
Then there was Paul, who could, on occasion, display the most hilarious sense of humour, but most of the time was far too intense for Emma’s liking, he quite often gave her the creeps. However he generally left her well alone and so on the whole she didn’t really mind him, as long as she never found herself alone in a room with him!
As none of the others had girlfriends, Emma and Fiona were the only girls at the party so far. Fiona had her eye on Eddie, and had done for quite some time, even though she knew he wasn’t particularly interested in her.
“I think I’ll work on Eddie tonight.” Fiona whispered in Emma’s ear stirring her from her thoughts.
“Why bother, you know he doesn’t fancy you!” Emma knew her argument was pointless but as a good friend she felt the need to try.
“Yeah, but girls seem to be a bit thin on the ground tonight so if I play my cards right I should be in with a chance.” Fiona grinned excitedly at Emma.
“You really fancy him so much you’re willing to let him use you like that?”
“Yep!” Fiona replied with an even bigger grin.
“Good luck then girl, I hope he’s everything you expect him to be.” Emma said shaking her head slightly to register her disapproval.
“Thanks.” Fiona wandered off to start work on Eddie and Emma went back to her musings.
Her gaze settled once more on Sam, who, as far as she could tell, hadn’t taken his eyes of her since he’d arrived almost half an hour earlier.
There was something about Sam which troubled her greatly and yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. He was always really nice to her, in fact, of the whole bunch he was the one she found it easiest to talk to, whatever the subject. He also shared her passion for debate, or more often argument, and would thrash any subject out with her any time she fancied a fight. It was a passion which, unfortunately for Emma, Jack did not share.
Sam was the member of the gang who was, when it came to the ladies, very definitely the gentleman. It was a quality which, at just sixteen, Emma found really quite amusing. Being too young to fully understand just how refreshing being treated like a lady could be. She would eventually learn. Yes, she liked Sam very much but still, something about him unsettled her, when he looked at her like he was right now it made her heart beat a little faster, it was almost as if he frightened her, even though she knew this to be untrue.
It seemed Sam had noticed Fiona’s swift departure and decided to come over to talk to her. She couldn’t help but smile as he sauntered across the room towards her.
Emma and Sam talked happily for some time before he finally decided that his glass needed refilling and wandered out to the kitchen, leaving Emma alone to go back to considering her thoughts.
She really did like Sam, though she sensed there was something behind the smile, something he maybe wanted her to know, she just could not work out what it was, after all they had discovered very early on that they could talk about anything to each other. Well almost anything anyway.
She was still not sure whether she was ready to trust him with her secret although she longed to be able to tell someone who was more on her wavelength, someone who may be able to offer her some useful advice.
She had, regretfully, confided partially in Jack but he had been unsympathetic and not a little bit weird about it, so she was no further forward but she was at least thankful she had not imparted the whole of her secret to him. Yes, she decided she definitely needed to have some sort of talk with Sam. Although she was equally sure that tonight was not the right time for it.
Again she was stirred from her thoughts but this time it was Jack.
“D’you want another drink babe?” He asked waving what turned out to be his already opened bottle of Miller Lite in front of her eyes.
“Yes please, I’ll have another beer.” Emma smiled with relief, she had been beginning to think that after the events of earlier in the evening Jack was, after all, going to turn out to be one of those ‘got what I came for’ types, as he had hardly spoken to her since his mates had arrived.
But as she gazed up at him, with her naive sixteen-year-old adoration, to see him grinning back at her with that wonderful glint in his eye she knew she had been wrong to doubt him. When he said he loved her he meant it even if he wouldn’t say it when anyone else could hear.
As he headed out to the kitchen to fetch another bottle for her she knew with absolute certainty that this was to be the man she would marry, even though he would never understand romance, would never buy her flowers, would never remember which chocolates she liked, or more importantly hated. In fact, with time, she would realise that he would never really know her at all. But by then it would be too late.
“There you go Babe, one beer. Don’t say I never give you anything.” Jack grinned as he sat down beside her on the sofa and hauled her legs up over his knees.
“Thanks, can I have a cig too?” She requested with a smile after taking a swig of beer straight from the bottle.
“Course Babe.” Jack fished around on the floor by the side of the sofa and produced a packet of Marlboro Lights, a box of matches and an ashtray. He gave Emma a cigarette, took one for himself, lit his own and blew out the match.
“Thanks.” Emma said again but this time with a much more sarcastic edge to her voice.
“Oops…sorry Babe.” He replied with a chuckle and a shrug. And with that he lit another match.
Emma had long since given up being annoyed about this sort of thing. He did it all the time. Had she been older and a little more experienced she might have realised that this trait of his could cause all sorts of difficulties later. But being young and charitable she put it down to forgetfulness, that’s what he said it was, and she had no reason to doubt him. After all she was only just sixteen, and he was almost eighteen – practically an adult.
The party was beginning to get much louder, somebody must have mentioned it in the pub as all sorts of people had started to arrive. Some of whom Emma had seen before but most were total strangers to her, it wasn’t until the following morning she discovered that most of them were total strangers to Jack too. But he didn’t seem to care. In fact he was in such a good mood the house could have come down around his ears and he would still have been smiling. But that’s teenaged boys and sex for you. A consequence of which Emma had little understanding but managed to be no less delighted with just the same.
Nobody slept that night, the party went on until dawn, and when finally at around seven o’clock in the morning the last stragglers were packed off home Jack went to bed leaving Emma to clear up. Fiona had apparently got her way with Eddie as the pair were blissfully ensconced in Fiona’s bedroom. “Finally got what she wanted” thought Emma to herself as she began collecting beer cans and ashtrays.
She found herself thinking about Sam again. He had enjoyed the party, at least he seemed to be happy enough each time Emma had come across him. But something was bothering her about how he had been when he was leaving.
He had looked at her in an odd fashion. There had been something in his eyes which she could not quite figure out. Almost a sadness she had thought, although why he should be sad she could not say, he certainly hadn’t said anything to that effect.
But it was more than that. When he had said goodbye he had kissed her and given her a hug just like they all had. But he had held her for a little too long and kissed her a little too hard. She couldn’t understand why or indeed whether he had meant to or not. He had, after all, been drinking all night. It was just that, unlike some of the others, no matter how much he drank he never appeared to be out of control. This fact in itself only served to make her wonder about him even more.
Anyway, she was much too tired to think about this anymore now. And having ensured that, if Jack’s parents arrived back early, the house only looked like a small bomb had gone off she decided to go and climb into bed with Jack, not that he noticed, comatose as he was, he didn‘t even flinch. So she wrapped one leg around him as she snuggled into his back and fell into a very contented sleep. She decided that sixteen was a good enough age to be.
Read Chapters 5 & 6 from Monday 5th June
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