Martha
and Vikki were both “sweet sixteen and never been kissed” and the girls were
the best of friends.
And
to be perfectly honest they were not really interested in boys, their leisure
time was spent sailing, mountain biking, orienteering, climbing, you name it
and they did it.
Basically
Martha and Vikki were the outdoorsy type.
They
both lived in Dancingdean Hall, Martha in flat D with her widower father Andrew
and Vikki in flat F with her divorced mother Alexandra and their primary aim in
life was to get their respective parents interested in each other so they could
become sisters.
That
mission was finally accomplished at the bowling alley on one Saturday night in
December, which meant they had a proper family Christmas.
The
first one for Martha since she was ten years old and for Vikki it was the first
one ever.
However
while they were playing matchmaker with their parents Vikki and Martha met the
devastatingly good looking Addison twins on the next lane.
David
and John weren’t identical twins but they were clearly brothers and the girls
thought they were absolutely gorgeous and as a result from that moment on their
priorities shifted.
There
was never an argument as to who liked which brother they were instantly
attracted to one each, which was great for their friendship.
The
problem was they had never been interested in boys before and although they
were smitten they had absolutely no idea how to do anything about it.
They
had succeeded in getting their parents together but that took almost a year.
They
couldn’t wait that long with the twins they just couldn’t.
After
they first encounter with them at the bowling they talked about the twins a lot
but that was as far as it went.
The
four of them all went to the same college in Childean and although the boys
were a year ahead of the Martha and Vikki they did bump into each other quite
often, although in truth they were more like ambushes on the girls part.
But
they did say hello and smile and sometimes they even chatted briefly but they
hadn’t secured a date or anything even closely resembling it.
The
Addison family lived in Tower House which was at the Shallowfield end of
Teardrop Lake, or to put it another way at the opposite end from where the
girls lived.
The
Addison’s were an old Teardrop family who were also important to the local
economy as they were one of the largest employers in the area.
They
owned and operated the Addison’s Bakery in Shallowfield and more than two dozen
baker’s shops and an equal number of coffee shops throughout the county.
Simon
at 48, was the Patriarch of the family and managing director of the company.
His
wife Eleanor was two years his junior and was the finance director.
And
they weren’t the only family members employed by the firm, there were more than
thirty in all, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins.
And
among them was Simon and Eleanor’s eldest son, Nick Addison, who at the age of
23 was currently the assistant manager of the Shallowfield shop.
He
was in training to eventually replace his father and was leaning from the
bottom up.
The
younger boy’s, 18 year old twins David and John were still at college but they
would be taking their place in the business when college finished in the
summer.
By
the beginning of April along with their ambushing the boys at college whenever
possible, which clearly wasn’t working, Vikki and Martha had adopted a
different tactic.
Being
the outdoorsy type they would take regular bike rides past Tower House in the
hope of catching site of them but this also proved fruitless as did sailing
their dinghy close to shore and repeatedly past their jetty.
David
was the eldest twin by 6 minutes, he was also two inches taller and more
self-confidence than John.
They
were both athletically built with dark curly hair and blue eyes and although
they were unaware of it Martha and Vikki had not gone unnoticed.
It
was about a week into the month of April that John Addison was walking past the
Shallowfield Lodge Hotel.
It
was early on Saturday morning when Vikki came racing around the corner on her
bike at pace and nearly took him out.
“Whoa”
John said and jumped out of the way
Vikki
screeched to a halt
“Sorry
John” she said “I didn’t think anyone else was up and about this early”
She
was up that early as she wanted to catch an early train to Abbottsford to order
Martha’s birthday present and be back before Martha had even realised where
she’d been.
John
on the other hand was on his way home after an early shift at the Bakery.
He
looked at her beautiful chestnut curls tied in a loose ponytail beneath her
helmet, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were ruddy from exertion.
Vikki
had one foot on the floor and the other on the pedal and his eyes were fixed on
the shape of her thigh and the firmness of her buttock and he was
transfixed.
Then
she caught him looking and he blushed and looked away.
“So
why are you up so early?” he asked
“I’ve
got to sort out a birthday pressie for Martha” she replied
“Are
you catching the train?”
“Yes”
she said and looked at her watch “Oh damn, the train, I have to go”
“Oh
ok” he said failing to hide his disappointment as she pedalled away
“Bye”
she said and as she pedalled off she cursed her luck’
After
finally making some progress she had to leave
“Martha
had better like this present or else” she said to herself
Vikki
was desperate to tell her friend about her encounter with John on the perimeter
road and to recount the story of her catching him devouring her with his eyes,
but that would have necessitated her telling Martha about the circumstances
that brought her to Shallowfield at that time of the morning on a Saturday.
So
she had to keep it too herself.
A few
days later Dave was just leaving Addison’s Coffee shop when he saw Martha
walking the other way, he liked Martha, and he thought she was cute, but he
never got a chance to talk to her when she was alone or when he was alone.
She
was either with her friend Vikki or he was with his brother.
He
saw her on the pavement, she slowed down as she approached the shop and when
she saw him she waved.
Dave
waved back and then inexplicably he blew her a kiss.
She
stopped waving, went beetroot red and turned around sped off.
“Shit”
he said out loud “too far, too soon”
Not
for the first time in his life his self-confidence had got the better of him.
“Bloody
idiot” Dave muttered under his breath as he shuffled along the lane and he
cursed his missed chance.
He
was so distracted as he ambled along berating himself that he didn’t even
notice his brother John coming the other way.
“What’s
up bro?” John asked but David didn’t react and carried on as before.
“Dave!!”
John called and grabbed his shoulder
“Wha…”
Dave exclaimed
“What’s
up Dave?” John asked
“I
blew it” he replied
“Blew
what?”
“I
had a chance to talk to Martha one on one” he said “and instead of asking her
out I scared her off before I could”
“Ah,
I see” John said “I didn’t know you liked her”
“Oh I
like her alright” he said “I like everything about her”
“Really?”
“Yes”
“I’m
crazy about her mate Vikki” John admitted
“So
how’s that going?” David asked
“Terribly”
he said “But I have a plan”
“Good”
“What
exactly did you do to scare her off?” John asked
“Don’t
ask” he replied “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you”
After
running away from David Addison outside the bakery Martha went straight to her
best friend and blurted out the sorry tale and sobbed.
“I
behaved like a silly little girl”
“Don’t
be daft Mar” Vikki said
“But
he blew me a kiss and I ran away” she responded
“How
could I be so wet?”
“It’s
not so bad” Vikki said encouragingly
“He’ll
never look at me again” she said and buried her head in her hands.
Vikki
was desperate to tell her story about meeting John but it would have to wait
until after her birthday.
But
on reflection she thought it probably wouldn’t have made either of them feel
any better.
It
was Martha McShane’s 17th birthday on the 21st of April
and her friend Vikki’s was on the 25th.
On
their actual birthday they were going out to a restaurant of their choice with
their best friend and their parents.
Martha’s
favourite was a Chinese in Abbottsford called the Scented while Vikki chose the
Worsted Viper Hotel in Purplemere, because she liked the name.
It
was a week after Dave had frightened away Martha and a week away from her
birthday that the two girls were walking down the perimeter road heading for
Shallowfield.
They
were on the way to catch the bus to college and talking excitedly about their
upcoming celebrations.
But
when they reached the Shallowfield Lodge Hotel they found David and John
Addison waiting by the gate.
“Hey
you two” David said and they both smiled broadly.
Vikki
smiled back and Martha blushed.
“Can
I walk you to the bus?” John said
“Who
are you asking?” Vikki asked
“You
of course” he said
“Then
yes you can” Vikki said cockily and she and John walked slowly away.
While
all this was going on the normally gregarious David was suddenly
uncharacteristically tongue tied and just kept grinning inanely at Martha.
She
had stopped blushing and was waiting patiently for the invitation which didn’t
appear to be coming so she said
“Yes
you may”
“Wha…
what?” David responded
“Yes
you may” she repeated
“I
may what?” he asked
“You
may walk me to the bus” Martha said confidently
“Thank
you” he said and they walked off behind the other two.
By
the time both couples had reached the bus stop they had arranged to go out on a
date in between the girl’s birthdays at a time and venue yet to be decided.
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