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.
Twenty one year old David Murray lived at number 3,
The Close, in Mornington-By-Mere with his parents and older sister Megan.
He was tall, a few
inches over six foot, with Caucasian features, coffee coloured skin and short
brown curly hair courtesy of his father Phil,
who was white and was a child of the Finchbottom Vale and his black mother
Lully who was from Jamaica.
He was a kind and
generous person with a heart as big as a house.
He worked up at Mornington
Field at the second hand book repository, Paige Turners, but on a sunny Friday
at the beginning of September he had the day off and was pondering what to do.
He had the house to
himself for the day so he could have just slobbed around but as it was such a
beautiful day he thought he should get out in the sunshine.
He was still pondering exactly what to do when there was a knock on the
French window, but he looked he couldn’t see anyone at first but on closer
perusal he could see it was Victoria Crockford.
She was
wearing knee length blue shorts, tight like leggings and a kind of short floral
summer dress, scooped down at the front, fitted at the waist and just about
long enough to cover her bum.
“Hello” he said opening the door and looking around
“Where’s your buddy?”
Her “buddy” was Sarah Younger, they 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.
“She’s in Corfu” Victoria replied
“So what brings you here?” he asked
“We have the builders in at home and mum doesn’t want me alone in the
house with the rough workmen in case I get tainted or have my innocence
blemished”
“And she sent you to me?” he asked hopefully
“Not exactly” she replied “I chose you because I knew you had the day
off”
“How did you know that?” he asked
Victoria made it her business to know everything about David Murray because she was in love with him.
“Your Mum mentioned it” she lied
“Do you mind me taking refuge here?”
“No problem” he said “But I’m actually going out in a bit”
“Oh” she said disappointedly
“But you could come with me” David offered
“Cool” she exclaimed
Seventeen year old Victoria
Crockford lived at number 5, The Close, in the picturesque village of
Mornington-By-Mere with her parents and three siblings.
She was small girl, a
smidge over five foot, with delicate features and long strawberry blonde hair
and a large heart and that heart was full to overflowing with love.
And most of that love was directed at David Murray the gorgeous curly haired, dark skinned boy two doors away
at number 3, where he lived with his
parents Phil and Lully and his sister Megan.
David was not
oblivious to the young girl next door but one, far from it, he thought she was
lovely, he always had, but he thought it was a non-starter, not because she was
way out of his league or anything like that, even though she was stunningly
attractive, because he was an equally good looking man.
The problem for him
was the four year age gap, or more precisely the likely reaction from their
parents, after all she was not yet 18 whereas he was four years older and that
had to make a difference especially to her parents.
So when she knocked on
his door seeking refuge from the builders at her own house, her appearance
prompted mixed feelings, he was overwhelmingly pleased to see her, and it was
an opportunity to spend some time with her without her friend in tow, and she
looked really lovely, but she looked so lovely that she represented a
temptation he may not be able to resist.
“You’ll be lost while Sarah’s away,” he said
“You could keep her entertained,” she thought to herself “Please”
“Yes I will” she replied then as if to change the subject she asked
“Could I
have a drink?”
“Of course
help yourself” he replied, “You know where the glasses are”
The glasses
were in the top cupboard and being only five foot tall she had to stand
on tiptoe to reach them and the act of stretching up her arm, raised the hem of
her skirt to expose the curves of her perfect little cheeks in her skin tight
shorts.
When she
had retrieved a glass she turned and glanced at him
“He was
staring at my bum” she thought to herself and smiled,
David
blushed when he realized he had been caught in the act and thought that was a
good time to leave.
“Make
yourself some toast or something” he said “I need to jump in the shower”
He had a
lovely hot shower in the en suite in his parents room, as that was more
powerful than the family bathroom, although a cold shower would have been more
appropriate because of the inappropriate thoughts racing through his brain.
Once out of
the shower he realized he didn’t have a bath towel, so he wrapped what he had
around his waist and walked off across the landing to get a bath towel from the
airing cupboard, which was just inside the door of the family bathroom.
He opened
the bathroom door, stepped through and opened the airing cupboard and took out
a large fluffy bath towel off the top shelf and closed the door which was when
he realized Victoria was sat on the toilet with her shorts and pants around her
knees.
“I'm so
sorry Vic” he said in a fluster “I just didn’t think”
“I am so,
so sorry”
Then he
hurried out of the door and back to the sanctuary of his room where he could
hide his embarrassment.
After
drying himself thoroughly he got dressed for the day and went back down stairs
and walked back into the kitchen to find Victoria sitting at the table.
“I really
am sorry hon” he said “I didn’t know you were in there”
“its ok”
she said understandingly “I’m not cross, it’s not like you haven’t seen
everything I’ve got already”
“When did I
see you before?” he asked
“Sharpington
beach 2003” she replied
“That
doesn’t count, you were only three”
He pointed out and they both laughed
“Nonetheless you are forgiven” she said “So where are you taking me?”
“Sharpington beach sounds good” he said and they both laughed again
“How would we get there?” she asked knowing he didn’t drive.
There was a bus which ran from Shallowfield to Sharpington via
Mornington and every village in between which took over two hours and because
of the time of day it was hardly worth going.
“Good point” he said “We can go there another day”
“Ok” she said rather pleased that they had a future date even though
David didn’t call it a date “That’s a date”
“That doesn’t solve the problem of where should go today” he pointed out
“Well where were you going to go before I knocked on your door?”
Victoria asked
“Well I was going to ride over to Shallowfield, have lunch and the cycle
back”
“Well let’s do that then” she said “I’ll go and get my bike and I’ll
meet you outside”
“Are you sure? It’s a long ride” he said
“Are you suggesting I’m too weak and feeble to ride to Shallowfield?”
she asked indignantly, drawing herself up to her full five foot and a smidge.
“Not at all” he said “but we can pedal slowly if that helps”
Victoria punched him playfully on the arm and laughed before she slipped
out through the French doors.
By the time David emerged from the side of the house pushing his bike
she was already waiting outside.
They set off from the Close and got on to the well-worn path that
followed the southern bank of the River Brooke which flowed to Mornington from
Shallowfield.
They cycled at a sensible pace and as it was such a glorious late summer day that they sat in the beer of the Woodman’s Axe and arrived about ten minutes before the
lunch rush began.
They enjoyed a very
pleasant lunch, and they chatted all the while about everything and anything
except for the one subject they both wanted to discuss which was “them”.
Neither of them wanted
to curtail their impromptu outing but after two hours David reluctantly said
“I think we should
make a move”
It was bitter sweet for David because he loved being with Victoria but
he didn’t think there was any future in it.
“Ok” she agreed reluctantly
David and Victoria
left the Woodman’s Axe pushing their bikes and walked in the direction of the
River Brooke.
When they reached the
River they carried their bikes down the steps to the bank and when they reached
the bottom Victoria said
“Thanks for lunch”
“Your welcome”
“And the lovely
company” she added and reached up and kissed him and David made no attempt to
rebuff her for at least three minutes until he suddenly pushed her away
“I don’t think we
should be doing that” he said
“Why not?”
“Because your mum
wouldn’t like it” David said as he mounted his bike
“I don’t want you to
kiss my mum” she said “I want you to snog me”
“We mustn’t do it
again” he said and cycled off
Victoria quickly got
after him and when she was right on his back wheel she shouted
“But I liked it, I
liked it a lot”
“So did I” he shouted
back
“Then why can’t we do
it again?” she yelled
“Because of the age
gap” he yelled back and then started to pull away
They cycled along at
top speed and Victoria never fully caught him but David never managed to open
up a gap either.
When they were in
sight of St Winifred’s Church spire Victoria had managed to get within a half a
bike length of him, but then disaster struck when her chain snapped and she was
suddenly airborne
“Ahhh” she screamed as
she left the river bank and plunged into the river.
David glanced over his
shoulder just in time to see the splash and pulled hard on the brakes.
He jumped off his bike
and as he ran back along the path he could see her thrashing about and could
hear her yells and as he reached the spot where she went in he jumped in
without hesitation and swam towards her.
She was splashing
around and appeared unable to swim.
He was breathing
hard from the riding as he closed the distance between them and as she
struggled to stay afloat the water splashed all around her.
He swam as fast as he could and managed to reach her in time.
But
that proved to be only half the problem as reaching his initial goal only
brought fresh problems, the first was having to avoid her flailing arms and the
second was getting her to the bank.
He got
a good hold on her, but she was fully clothed so she was heavy, so it was with
some difficulty that he swam
her to the bank.
But as
soon as they reached the bank it was apparent that she could swim as she
wriggled free of his hold and pushed him against the bank and kissed him.
It was
several minutes however before he berated her for faking her impending death.
“I
thought you were drowning” he said crossly
David
pulled himself up the bank with ease and then reached down and pull the featherweight
Victoria from the river and then did the same with her bike.
“I told
you no more kissing” he said
“You
were enjoying it” she said
“That’s
not the point” David said
“What exactly is the point David” she snapped “You like me and I like
you and we both like the kissing, so please enlighten me as to the problem”
“You’re 17 and I’m 21 that’s the problem”
“I don’t care about that” she said
“But your parents will” he replied
David and Victoria walked in silence from the river to the Close, save
for the squelching of their saturated footwear.
When they got within a few yards of Victoria’s house her mum pulled up
in her car.
“Hello Mrs. Crockford” he said warmly
“Hello David, thank you for looking after Victoria” she said and on
closer inspection of her daughter she added “I think”
“My chain snapped and I fell in the river” Victoria replied to her
unasked question “But David came to my rescue”
“Well done David” Mrs. Crockford said
“Victoria makes it sound more dramatic than it was” David said “anyway I
had better go”
“Ok bye” Victoria said flatly
“Bye David and thanks again” Mrs. C said
“Mum, would you mind if I went out with David?” Victoria asked
“Well you’ve been out with him today dear” she replied
“No I mean go “out” with him” Victoria retorted
“I know what going out means dear” her mum said with a wry smile
“So?” Victoria persisted
“Why would I mind?” she asked
“Because he’s older than me” Victoria replied
“Your dad is older than me” she pointed out
“So you don’t mind then?”
“Is he a good man?” Jean Crockford asked
“Yes”
“And you like him?” asked her mum
“Yes”
“And he likes you?” she queried
“Yes” Victoria replied
“Then go and get him” her mum said
“Thanks mum” Victoria said and kissed her
“However I have one piece of parental advice to give you”
“What’s that mum?”
“I think you should go and get changed first” she asked as her daughter
stood dripping on the carpet.
“Otherwise he won’t want to go out with you”
Victoria had a quick shower and then spent half an hour making herself
presentable before she left the house in pursuit of her goal.
David had already had his second shower of the day and was sitting on
the patio drinking coffee when he heard the side gate open and he looked in
that direction to see who would appear and when he saw Victoria appear it took
his breath away, she was no longer dressed as a teen in shorts and a dress top
with converse on her feet, Victoria was dressed as a woman, in a fitted green
dress, that hugged her young curves, and high
heel shoes that took her to the dizzy height of five foot four.
“Hello” he said unable to take his eyes off her
“Hi, I was looking for your mum” she said coolly
“She’s not here” he
replied
“What about your dad?”
“He’s still at work”
David responded
“Ok what about Megan
then” Victoria said
“She’s not here either”
“Oh goody that means
we can snog then” she said and she plonked herself on his lap and wrapped her
arms around his neck and tried to kiss him
“No snogging” he
insisted and evaded her lips
“Go on you know you
want to” she said
“I never said I didn’t
want to” David corrected her
“Then what’s stopping
you?” she asked
“You know very well what’s
stopping me” he replied
“My mum?” she said
“Yes your mum”
“Well I just asked my
mum if she minded me going out with you” She said
“And?”
“And she said go and get him” Victoria replied
“Really?”
“Really”
“Give me a kiss then” he said
“No I don’t think I can be bothered now” she retorted
“We’ll see about that” he said and began kissing her neck and by the
time his lips reached her ear she exclaimed
“Ok I give in” she squealed and then they had the first kiss as a
couple.
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