Mornington-By-Mere is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom
Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock
Hills.
It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque
idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn,
Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.
But Mornington-By-Mere is not just a
quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of the Finchbottom
Vale and there were a number of
cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which formed
the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside and Andy Pike lived at number
10 Brewery Cottages with his parents.
After finishing at
University Andy landed a job on Mornington Field working for Topliss Engineering.
The Mornington Estate
had exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD at the
end of the lease and along with it they also acquired all the buildings and
infrastructure on the airfield itself
as well as 29 houses in the village formally used as quarters for military
personnel.
All the buildings on
the Base had been converted into a mixture of commercial and residential units and
Topliss Engineering were the first company to take up residence.
He
could easily have got a job in a bigger company in one of the big towns in the
county or even further afield but Andy was a big fish in a small pond kind of
guy for two reasons mainly one was because he loved Mornington but more
importantly than that, he loved Sarah Younger and she lived nextdor at number
11.
Andy had loved her
since 2006 when she was 7 years old and he was 13, but it was a protective
brotherly kind of love between them up until the Christmas before last when 16
year old Sarah kissed him under the mistletoe and in that kiss he lost his
heart.
But although he loved
her he knew in his heart that nothing would ever come of it because they were
chalk and cheese, she was petite and beautiful and he was neither short nor
tall or fat nor thin, he was mister average, average height, average weight and
average looking in fact were it not for his shock of ginger hair and steel blue
eyes he would be totally anonymous.
Even if he were never
to win the heart of a beautiful girl like Sarah, Mornington still had
everything that he could ask for.
A good job working for
a generous and innovative employer, a happy family life with his parents and
living in a kind and caring community.
There were also all
the amenities you could want
Dentist, doctors,
chemist, post office and general store, School, a Police presence, bakers,
butchers green grocers, pub and church, a Lord of the Manor, woodland, farm
land, wildlife, countryside a river and a mere.
Near enough
civilization if you need anything but far enough away to feel at peace.
Sarah Younger was a
pretty young girl with black curly hair who was barely five feet tall, dark skinned and was fast approaching her eighteenth birthday.
She was not a fresh
faced English rose like her best friend Victoria, Sarah’s skin was the colour
of burnt caramel.
She and Victoria were best friend since
kindergarten and they had been inseparable from then on, it was a perfect
friendship as they complimented each other.
Although there were similarities, they were both beauties for a start,
their likes and dislikes, their sense of
humour,
but really as individuals they couldn’t be more different.
Victoria was a strawberry blonde,
pale skinned and had no fear whereas Sarah was dark skinned and would tremble in
shadows.
Victoria was an extrovert, precocious, a real Lolita, very confident,
self-assured, and pretty and she knew it, though not in a cocky way.
Sarah on the other hand, though also very pretty, was unsure of it.
She was shy and socially awkward and lacked self-confidence but being
with Victoria made Sarah feel more confident, daring to do things she would
never do alone, she lived her life on Victoria’s coat tails and without her
friend she floundered.
Sarah had lived in the
village her whole life and was off to University in September and she wasn’t precisely
sure what she wanted to do when she graduated, other than be in Andy Pike’s
life.
Andy Pike was the next
door neighbour and Sarah had had a crush on him since she was 12 years old.
He was six years older
than her but in Sarah’s eyes he was fit, in every sense of the word.
It wasn’t unusual for
a young girl to have a crush on an older man in fact it happens more often than
not.
But most crushes
didn’t come to any more than that, crushes, and the likelihood was that Sarah’s
would go the same way as most of the others.
She had dithered about
all summer because of her shyness and lack of gumption and therefore had made
no inroads with Andy whatsoever and she only had eight days in which to get her
man before she went on holiday to Corfu with her family, because she was only
going to be back for one day and then she would leave for Abbottsford for her
first year at Uni.
She had to do
something, Victoria couldn’t help her, she had her cap set at someone else in
the village and even with all her confidence she hadn’t got her man.
She was just going
have to do it alone, and even if she crashed and burned she would at least know
that it was settled and she was going away so there would be no lingering
embarrassment.
However having made
the decision to act, she then had to decide how, where and when.
She couldn’t just go
and knock on the door, she wouldn’t know what to say, and he was unlikely to
knock on hers, so she decided she would just have to bump into him by accident
and take it from there, armed with a few suggested conversation openers
supplied by Victoria.
Sarah had been
rudderless for the last few months of the summer and had lost focus, distracted
by thoughts of Andy and her need of him.
She had always dreamed
that he would be her first steady boyfriend, but that was all it ever was, but
that dream had become increasingly vivid throughout the summer, so she had to
act.
Despite the fact that
she lacked the self-confidence to take her crush a step further she knew she
had to try.
So Sarah had resolved
to take action to get Andy Pike in her life but she didn’t know how to go about
it.
She couldn’t just go
and knock on the door, she wouldn’t know what to say, and he was unlikely to
knock on hers, so she decided she would just have to bump into him by accident
and take it from there armed with a few suggested conversation openers supplied
by Victoria.
She had even had
lessons in flirting from her best friend and she diligently practiced in the
mirror in her bedroom with the lines that Victoria had suggested and rehearsed
the flirting techniques that her friend had shown her, and alone in her room
she used both to great effect but as soon as she saw Andy she knew her mouth
would dry up and her knees would go weak.
Of course the whole
exercise would have been much more successful had Sarah noticed the way Andy
looked at her, and was able to read the signs, then she would have known that
he fancied her too, but she didn’t know that if he had known how she felt he
would acted on his desires, but alas they both doubted, and he hadn’t acted as
she now planned to do.
The omens were good
and the timing was perfect, Sarah was on the verge of leaving for Corfu and
then University and the Pike’s were in Sharpington for the week and Andy was at
home alone.
So she convinced
herself that today was the day because they were off on holiday the next week
so there would be no chance of any post rejection embarrassment or awkwardness
so when she went to bed on Tuesday night she was determined the next day was
D-Day.
She awoke on Wednesday
morning with a great spirit of optimism but when she threw back the curtains
and she saw it was pouring down of rain, her spirits were dampened.
Worse than that it
rained solidly for the rest of the week so all she could do was keep practicing
in her bedroom.
While she was flirting
with her own reflexion in the mirror Andy was rueing the bad weather himself
because the fine sunny days were the only ones that he got to see her and he
knew that her holiday was fast approaching and then Abbottsford University and
she would be away for months at a time.
The rain finally
abated late on Friday afternoon but it was too late for her to do anything, but
the forecast was for a warm and sunny Saturday so she was going to go on the
offensive on D-Day plus 3.
When she woke up on
Saturday Morning (D-Day plus 3) with the sun streaming through her bedroom
window Sarah was in great spirits.
“Todays the day” she
said and leapt out of bed because she was going to take her chance on that fine
sunny day.
Her mum and dad had gone
to Abbottsford to do some last minute holiday shopping but Sarah declined their
invitation for her to join them and gave her mum a list of things she needed
instead, because she had other fish to fry.
Sarah decided on bold
action and put on a bikini, in fact it was the briefest one she owned and it
left nothing to the imagination, the bottoms didn’t even cover her bum cheeks.
Well she wasn’t
feeling that bold so she changed into one that did leave something for Andy’s
imagination.
When she was appropriately
dressed she looked out of her bedroom window, which afforded her a great view
into the Pike’s back garden.
Andy would normally
spend Saturday morning in the back garden of number 10 Brewery Cottages cleaning his pride and joy, his Triumph
Bonneville.
Unfortunately on that
Saturday he had to go into work in order to complete an urgent order, so when
she looked out he was nowhere to be seen.
She rushed downstairs
and ran out into the garden and looked back up to the house and all the windows
were shut and there was no sign of life, so she returned to the house and
sulked.
Sarah checked the
Pike’s garden every fifteen minutes and every time she was disappointed.
So at 11.30 when she
returned to the house she went to the fridge and poured herself a large glass
of wine.
Had Andy had any
inkling of what Sarah wanted, he would not have volunteered to work that
morning.
Andy had loved her
since 2006 when she was 7 years old and he was 13, but it was a protective
brotherly kind of love between them up until the Christmas before last when 16
year old Sarah kissed him under the mistletoe and in that kiss he lost his
heart.
But although he loved
her he believed in his heart that nothing would ever come of it because they
were chalk and cheese, she was petite and beautiful and he was neither short
nor tall or fat nor thin, he was mister average, average height, average weight
and average looking in fact were it not for his shock of ginger hair and steel
blue eyes he would be totally anonymous.
He never imagined for
a second that she was attracted to him in the same way he was to her.
The kiss beneath the
mistletoe on the Christmas before last, although toe curlingly nice, was after
all as a result of too much Christmas spirit in the form several glasses of
Prosecco.
What he didn’t know
was that her over indulgence of the grape, merely enabled her to do what she
had always dreamed of doing.
Because she would
never have had the courage to do it if she were sober.
As she sat on the
patio drinking a glass of wine she began to feel a little light headed.
It was nearly one
o’clock and she hadn’t eaten all day as she was on her second glass of Pinot
and she wasn’t used to drinking.
The last time she had been
tiddly was the Christmas before last when she kissed Andy beneath the mistletoe
which was the result of too much Christmas spirit in the form several glasses
of Prosecco.
She behaved totally
out of character due to her over indulgence of the grape, she took the
initiative and kissed him, and it was electrifyingly good, and she loved it
even if she ended up throwing up an hour later.
The alcohol had
enabled her to do what she had always dreamed of doing, because she would never
have had the courage to do it if she were sober.
She was reliving that
brief but electrifying kiss as she sat on the patio, when she heard a noise in
the garden next door.
She stood up
immediately and went a bit wobbly, so she put the glass down on the table and
said
“I think I’ve had
enough bravery”
And with that she
headed down the garden.
She entered quietly
through the back gate and crept up behind him while he was cleaning his
motorbike.
“Hello handsome” she
said cheekily and startled him
“Oh” he exclaimed “you
made me jump”
“You look very busy” Sarah
said
“Yes, yes lots to do”
he replied nervously as his eyes consumed her beautiful figure.
“It’s a shame having
to work on such a lovely day” she said coyly
“I’m sure there are
more fun things to do” she added as she stroked the hairs on his forearm
“Oh um er well erm” he
stammered and then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Andy was enjoying the
kiss as much as she was but after a minute he suddenly stopped
“No don’t stop” she
said
“I think we have to”
he said
“But it was nice, and
you thought so too” she said
“That’s why we have to
stop” Andy said forcefully
“I don’t understand”
she said with tears filling her eyes
“Well at least now I
know” she said as she rushed out of the gate.
It was still a
glorious day and Andy berated himself for upsetting her, which was not his
intention, he just didn’t want to take advantage of her while she was tipsy.
Andy Pike reached over
the top of the gate and lifted the latch and quietly opened the gate.
He could see Sarah
immediately as he walked into the garden, she was on the patio lying face down on
a sun lounger in her bikini and her shoulders were shaking as she sobbed.
He walked up to the
Patio unnoticed and said
“Hi Sarah”
And she turned and
looked over her shoulder.
“Andy” she said with
surprise and he knelt down on the patio and said
“I’m sorry”
Sarah rolled over and
sat up to face him
“Does this mean you do
want me” she asked wiping the tears off her cheeks
“I’ve always wanted
you” he replied and she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him
“Why did you stop me
kissing you then?” she asked without releasing her grip
“Because I want to
kiss you when you’re sober” he replied
“I’ll be sober
tomorrow” she said eagerly
“I’m busy tomorrow” he
replied
“Oh” she said
forlornly
“I have to pick mum
and dad up from Sharpington tomorrow”
He reassured her
“But we could go to
the Sharpington Day Parade on Monday”
“Really?” she asked
excitedly “like a date”
“No not like a date”
he said
“Oh” she said and
looked crestfallen
“I mean an actual date”
he said and she beamed a radiant smile but then she asked with a frown
“Could we just have a
bit of a tiddly kiss?”
“Oh yes” he said and
he kissed her and this time neither of them brought it to a premature close and
everything in the Younger’s garden was lovely.
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