If you looked closely at Angela Buckland you couldn’t help but see why she was one of the most popular girls at school.
Her Elphin face had a shape and symmetry that was easy on the eye and her figure was to die for.
Although there were girls who were more classically beautiful they didn’t have any of the character of Angela’s.
Her silky red hair shone and shimmered as she moved her head and her brown eyes bore into your soul when you met their gaze.
As if her unique beauty was not enough she was also athletic, artistic, intelligent and sexy.
I think everyone, boy or girl that ever met her fell instantly in love with her.
But I had been in love with her since before she blossomed.
Despite all the attention though Angela managed to keep everyone of the suitors at bay which led to the rumour that she played for the other side.
I never believed that for a moment and I had known her longer than anyone.
Because Angela Buckland was the girl next door.
And she had lived there since she was three and we had been best friends since the beginning.
So when she was approaching her seventeenth birthday I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to get an invitation we had after all been friends since nursery school.
Having established that Angela was one of the popular group, I was in no uncertain terms not.
I was not athletic, artistic, or sexy but without being immodest we did have intelligence in common and my forte was science, in particular Physics.
So under normal circumstances, friendship and intelligence aside, why would one of the popular girls invite a Science geek to her 17th birthday party?
Anyone not close to her could be forgiven if they were surprised but I was not.
They would have been further surprised when it turned out I was only one of six guests at the party one of those being Angela herself.
Though for me it certainly wasn’t a surprise knowing her as I did she was never a flashy person.
She didn’t want a big flashy party with lots of superficial friends.
So there was just Angela, me and four other guests who were also old friends chosen for their friendship and not their social standing.
Kelly Reed was also one of the popular girls but she started with us in nursery as well and she had no affectation either, her cousin Roy Pollard who was 18, Mark Clench and Susanna Perioli.
The party was at a Chinese restaurant called the Blossom Garden which was Angela’s favourite.
As you would expect from such a great restaurant it was a really excellent meal and as Roy was 18 he ordered wine with meal so as we reminisced about our shared history we laughed until we cried.
As we left the Blossom Garden and got down to street level we had the usual hugs and kisses on the pavement and then Kelly went accross the road to where her Dads car was parked.
Then as Mark, Susie and Roy all lived in the same neck of the woods went off to get the bus and Angela and I headed to the station to catch the train.
As we walked up station approach I said
“I had a really great time”
“Yeh me too” she replied
“Wasnt it great to get the six of us together again?”
“We should do it more often” I suggested
““We” should get together more often” Angela said
“What just the two of us?” I asked
“Yeh” she said coyly
“Just you and the geek?” I asked with surprise
"You’re not a geek” she said defensively “And anyway if you were that wouldn’t stop me fancying you," she said.
"You fancy me?" I asked pointing at myself
"Didn't you know?"
I shook my head
"What about you?” she asked shyly
“Do you fancy me?
“I don’t know about fancying you” I said and she was clearly crestfallen for a second
“But I’ve been in love with you since we were 7 if that counts”
“Pig” she said and laughed before she kissed me softy on the lips which led to the most wonderful spine tingling embrace that seemed to last forever.
When it ended she looked at me with her soulful eyes and smiled the most loving smile.
I returned her smile and wanted to say something fitting for the moment but I was lost for words.
“Wow” she said beating me to the punch
Then she giggled and ran off up the road and shouted over her shoulder
“You’ll have to marry me now”
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