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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