Forever Is Over

by Wade, Calvin

This wasn’t fair.

  “This is getting boring now!”

  “You brought it all on yourself, Richie!”

  “That’s where you’re wrong!”

  “How do you figure that one out?”

  Kelly’s friends were coming to join her now, I took it as a positive that she was prepared to continue to argue with me rather than just walk away.

  “I haven’t done anything wrong! Give me one good reason why you and I should not go out on a date?”

  “Because you’re revolting!”

  I knew she didn’t mean that!

  “A real reason!”

  “Richie, if seven legged aliens arrived on the planet and killed off every single male with the exception of you, I still would not go out with you.”

  “That’s not a reason!”

  “Ok. I’ll give you three reasons. One, we had a date arranged two bloody years ago and you didn’t show up!”

  “Hang on! I didn’t stand you up, I cancelled! There was a reason….”

  “Hold on! I said three reasons. Let me finish.”

  “OK.”

  “Secondly, you virtually raped my sister!”

  “Bollocks!”

  “And thirdly, you threw up in the back of her head!”

  “When exactly?”

  “That same night in the bedroom at the Birch’s party!”

  “That’s bollocks too!”

  Not complete bollocks, but I wasn’t going to tell Kelly that! I threw up in her hair on the landing not in the bedroom!

  “How you ever expect me to forgive you for asking me out and then sleeping with my sister, on the very same night, I will never know!”

  I sighed.

  “Look Kelly, how many times are we going to go over this. I DID NOT and I repeat DID NOT sleep with your sister. She was very drunk, she either dreamt it…”

  “Why would she dream of sleeping with you? My god, how vain are you?”

  “Or she slept with someone else.”

  “She is 100% sure it was you.”

  “It was not me!”

  “Well Jemma says it was and I know who I believe!”

  “Kelly, for the hundredth time, I swear it wasn’t! When are we ever going to draw a line under this and move on? Jemma’s moved on.”

  “She hasn’t, she still wishes you were dead.”

  “She’s left school, she’s got a boyfriend, she’s happy. Why can’t you be happy?”

  “I am happy. Very happy. Thank you!”

  “You would be even happier if you were “going out” with me!”

  “I would not. Anyway, how do you know Jemma’s got a boyfriend?”

  “She’s always with some lad from the bank.”

  “Stalking her now are you? Not satisfied with creeping in and bonking her. Now you are stalking her too.”

  “I am not interested in Jemma. I’m just interested in you. The only reason we did not go on a date two years ago, is because your sister broke my brother’s jaw and because he did not want to tell my mother that a girl did it, so he blamed me. I was grounded for a month because of your sister. I had to cancel our date, you were upset, Jemma then told you not to worry about it because I was a complete toerag, who had sneaked into her room when she was drunk, slept with her and then puked in her hair, right?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “And I have spent the last two years insisting I did not sleep with her and asking you to give me another chance to take you out. Also right?”

  “Yes.”

  “If I was interested in your sister, why would I spend my whole time chasing after you?”

  “I don’t know!”

  Kelly blushed. This was going well.

  “So what would I have to do now to wipe the slate clean and get you to give me that chance?”

  It was the perfect time to ask, only because her three friends were watching events take shape and I got the impression they liked me. Her friends decided to start setting the necessary tasks.

  Claire Northover chipped in first.

  “What if he came to your door every day for two weeks and sang a song by your window, like they do in films?”

  I didn’t like that idea.

  “I can’t sing!”

  “That doesn’t matter!”

  “That’d be too easy,” Kelly replied.

  Once again though, I took heart. This was Kelly’s opportunity to say,

  ”No, I’m just not going out with him and that’s that!”

  She wasn’t saying that at all, she was giving me hope.

  “What if he had to come and sing at six o’clock every morning for two weeks?”

  Sammy Wickes added with a giggle.

  ”I’m not up at six!” Kelly pointed out.

  ”You could just get up for a few minutes and then go back to bed!” Sammy responded.

  “Still too easy!” Kelly pointed out.

  “What if he was only dressed in Speedos?” Claire Northover suggested.

  “Still not enough!” Kelly replied, “Even if he came at six o’clock every morning for two weeks, wearing Speedos and his Mum’s bra, that wouldn’t be enough!”

  “Good one, Kel!” added Helen Kumar, “Speedos and his Mum’s bra and then on the last day, he could do it naked!”

  “Girls, this is ridiculous!” I moaned but in a playful way. There was a definitely a window of opportunity here.

  Kelly decided at this point to define the task.

  “OK. OK. I tell you what, if you come to my house at six o’clock every morning, for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow, dressed only in a pair of Speedos and your Mum’s bra and sing a different love song to me every day and the last morning you do it naked, I will go on ONE date with you. Providing you do one other thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Apologise to my sister.”

  “What for? She should be apologising to me!”

  “Richie, that’s the deal!”

  Kelly and her mates then all turned and walked off, heading up Aughton Street into Ormskirk, towards the clock tower, linking arms and singing a song. I had it in mind that they sang En Vogue’s “Never Gonna Get It” because that would have been entirely appropriate, but it must have been something else as that song didn’t come out until a few years later!

  “Kelly!” I shouted after her, “I don’t have any Speedos!”

  Kelly turned her head around, her body was still linked to the other girls.

  “That’s not my problem, Richie! If you want that date, I expect to see you in the morning in Speedos and your Mum’s bra. Don’t be late!”

  Jemma

  The Birch’s party was an epiphany for me. If there was one thing in life I did not want to become, it was a clone of Vomit Breath. She spent her entire life either drinking, drunk or hungover and men were used, not as a tool for a relationship, but basically just for their tool. If they liked drink as well as sex, that was an added bonus, but sex was the key. If I had taken Vomit Breath with me to the Birch’s party, her behaviour would have mirrored mine, get drunk beforehand, turn up, strut around like you own the place, getting progressively more drunk along the way, find a random man for sex, throw up, miss your taxi and arrive home at five in the morning, waking at midday feeling like Timmy Mallett had attacked you in your sleep.

  Richie Billingham had taken advantage of my situation but on reflection, I was a more than willing partner and if he had wanted to continue on an orgasmic journey, I would have let him. I was still annoyed with him for throwing up in my hair and in the days after the party, I did everything I could to sabotage any chance he had with Kelly, but the desire to buy a shotgun and paint a target on Richie Billingham’s forehead soon passed.

  With regards to sabotaging Richie’s chances with Kelly, he pretty much did this himself. On the Wednesday night after the party, Kelly came into my room, sobbing her little heart out. She came over to me and hugged me tightly. After Kelly had spent the majority of the Birch’s party loo
king after me, it felt good that I was reclaiming the senior sister role. I stroked her hair.

  “Honey what’s the matter? What’s happened?”

  Kelly stopped hugging to take a tissue out her pocket and blow her nose.

  “Oh, I’m being ridiculous!”

  “Let me be the judge of that.” I said, “Who’s upset you?”

  “Richie’s cancelled our date on Saturday.”

  A wave of relief swept over me. I was tempted just to say, “Good! That lad’s an arse!” but I needed to regain some credibility with Kelly, so for once, I actually thought before I spoke.

  “Why has he done that?”

  “He’s grounded.”

  “Well, can’t you just arrange it for another time?”

  “No, you don’t get it. He’s not been grounded for one night, he’s been grounded for a month! Outside of school, he’s under house arrest!”

  “Bloody hell! What did he do to deserve that?”

  “Nothing! That’s why it’s so upsetting!”

  Kelly blew her nose again.

  “You don’t get grounded for a month for nothing, Kel!”

  Then she hit me with a verbal sucker punch, unintentionally I think, but it hurt all the same.

  “He’s been grounded for a month for breaking his brother’s jaw!”

  “How did he do that?”

  I asked the question but I knew the answer.

  “HE didn’t, Jemma! You did!”

  So much for reclaiming the senior sister role! I felt humiliated.

  “I’m so sorry, Kelly! I was an idiot at that party, but why has Richie taken the rap for me?”

  Maybe Richie wasn’t as bad as I thought.

  “His brother and sister stitched him up. They said he did it.”

  “Do they not like him?”

  “They were annoyed because he stayed at the party instead of going to Casualty with them.”

  “No wonder they were annoyed! If you broke your jaw, I wouldn’t stay at a party whilst you went off to hospital!”

  “I know you wouldn’t but I’m not Jim Billingham, am i? Jim Billingham’s an arsehole!”

  “Kelly!”

  I hated her swearing. Vomit Breath was a foulmouthed tramp. I didn’t want Kelly to be.

  “Sorry, but he is!”

  “Who are you upset with, Kelly? Are you upset with me?”

  “You, Richie, Jim, Caroline, Richie’s parents, everyone really….we have a crap life with Mum and finally something good was happening in my life and now it’s been snatched away. It’s not fair, Jemma! It’s really not fair!”

  I felt like a parent who had grabbed her child’s ticket to Disney World off her and set it on fire. A lot of the time, Kelly seemed a lot older than her tender years, but at this moment, she seemed like a little girl.

  “Kelly, if I can put this right for you, I will. If you want me to go round to Richie’s house and tell his parents the truth, I will.”

  “You would?”

  A cloud appeared to temporarily lift from above Kelly’s head.

  “Of course I would. It’s more my fault than anyone’s that your date has been cancelled. I’ll go around to Richie’s after school, speak to his parents and tell them that I broke Jim’s jaw.”

  Kelly wiped her eyes and then the maturity that she so often displayed kicked in.

  “No, I don’t want you to Jemma!”

  “Why not?”

  If you tell Richie’s parents, they aren’t just going to say “Thanks for telling us!” They’ll call the police. You’ll be in serious trouble. You might be charged with GBH like Mum.”

  Kelly had a point. Throughout our childhood Mum had always been fighting. A couple of times she had to attend court, once she got off on a technicality, the other time she received a suspended prison sentence.

  Social services were involved at one stage and “Tut” came to live with us for a while to provide the moral guidance we were lacking from Vomit Breath. “Tut” spent six months treating our house like a 19th Century orphanage and even Kelly and I were glad when she moved back home. Vomit Breath is horrible to have around but its even worse having her mother as well. Kelly was thinking of me by worrying about police charges, but it was self- preservation too, if I was taken away to a “Young Offenders Institute”, Kelly would be home alone with Vomit Breath.

  “It’s your call, Kelly.”

  “My call is to leave things as they are. I’ll just to have to go out with Richie next month!”

  “OK, if that’s what you want.”

  It must have been the way I said it or maybe my body language failed to mask my disappointment, but Kelly sensed something instantaneously.

  “Jemma, why do you hate Richie?”

  “I don’t!”

  “The other night you weren’t happy about me going out with him and I can tell now you still feel the same. He’s a lovely guy, why can’t you just give him a chance? If it’s the age thing, that’s just daft! He’s less than two years older than me! Mum has dragged blokes back here that are half her age and others who are twice her age!”

  “Don’t use Vomit Breath as your example of how things should be done!” Kelly smiled. Her tear soaked green eyes sparkled. She was and still is so beautiful!

  “I know, bad example! Is that why you don’t like him though, because he’s in the Fifth Year and I’m in the Third Year?”

  “No. There’s more to it than that.”

  “Like what?”

  I have a big mouth. It’s not a good trait, but sometimes, most of the time, I just can’t help myself.

  “When you mentioned the other night that you were going on a date with Richie Billingham, my concerns at that point were all about his age and your age, nothing more than that. I swear.”

  “It’s two years, Jemma! Less than two years!”

  “I know. The age is no big deal but I have other reasons to be concerned now.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t want to go into the details, but let’s just say I have every reason to feel concerned about you dating Richie Billingham, that’s all I’m saying!”

  Sadness returned to Kelly’s face. Sadness with a hint of anger.

  “No, it isn’t! You can’t just leave it like that! What has someone told you about Richie that you don’t like? It might be rubbish anyway! Some people are just born liars!”

  “Just leave it, Kelly!”

  I knew she wouldn’t leave it. I suppose we both knew I would tell her eventually, but I wanted it to feel like she had dragged the information out of me!

  “No-one has told me anything, Kel. I just have my own reasons for not liking him.”

  “New reasons?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me!”

  “NO!”

  “I’m your sister. You need to tell me.”

  I sighed, then got up and closed the door. Vomit Breath was a nosey bitch, I didn’t want her earwigging on our conversation. It would give her ammunition in future battles. I sat on my bed.

  “You won’t like what I am going to say.”

  “I don’t care. Tell me.”

  “OK” I hesitated, “you know at the Birch’s party, someone sneaked into the bedroom when I was really drunk and slept with me?”

  The tears welled up again in Kelly’s eyes then one popped out and rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away.

  “No it wasn’t! It wasn’t!”

  “Kelly, it was Richie!”

  “You’re wrong Jemma! You didn’t hear how he spoke to me that night. You didn’t see the love in his eyes! It wasn’t Richie! I remember, you said you didn’t know who it was!”

  “I didn’t at first! It was only when we were in the queue for the bathroom. I heard his voice again and I knew, straight away, that Richie Billingham was “The Phantom Fucker!”

  “You were really drunk, Jemma. You threw up seconds after!”

  “Kelly, I wish it wasn’t Richie, but it was!”

&nb
sp; Kelly was determined to try to change my mind on this one or at least plant a seed of doubt in my brain. She was like one of those wives who didn’t want to believe their husband was a rapist or a murderer.

  “You think it was or you know it was?”

  “I know.”

  “100% sure?”

  “Pretty much. 99%.”

  “So there is some doubt in your mind then?”

  It was my turn to get annoyed now! I reckon our fathers were probably Italian, I had always had a Latin temperament and now Kelly was getting one too.

  “For fucks sake, Kelly! The only reason there is even the slightest of doubts is because I was so pissed I couldn’t see properly, but it was Richie. Definitely. Same voice. Same mannerisms. He even legged off mid-shag because he felt guilty!”

  “And it was Richie that threw up in your hair too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you got a tissue?”

  I dug a box of tissues from under my bed and passed them to Kelly. She blew her nose hard.

  “Be honest, Jemma. Do you hate him?”

  “No, I don’t hate him, Kelly.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “I just don’t want Richie Billingham to start dating my sister. If you want to, I can’t stop you, but at least you know everything now and you can make a decision based on all the information.”

  Kelly started laughing. Not proper laughing though. The type of laughing women do in the movies when their husband has just died in a car crash but they have some silly flashback about how he used to make dogs out of balloons and give them to little girls.

  “I can make a decision now! Well THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

  “It’s not my fault, Kelly.”

  Kelly put her head in her hands.

  “I know. I know, but there is no decision to make, is there?”

  “I don’t suppose there is.”

  “What about you though, Jemma?”

  “What about me?”

  Kelly was looking at me in a way I had never seen her look at me before. Suspiciously.

  “You snuggled up to him, you kissed him, you even started having sex with him for a bit. Do you want me to keep away from Richie Billingham because you want him for yourself ?”

  “Kelly, if he was the last man on earth and I was the last woman, I would let the human race die out before I’d go anywhere near him.”