Anything for Him

by L. K. Chapman

  Later on, when we went to bed, I decided to ask him about something that had been troubling me.

  ‘Jay, you told me that Mark stood up for you when kids at school were giving you a hard time?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘well, kind of. I could handle it myself. All he did was try and get me away from situations before I got so wound up I ended up getting myself expelled or something.’

  ‘Right,’ I said, ‘what I don’t get is that you made it sound like Mark went out of his way to sleep with Sammie because he knew it would hurt you. If he cared about you, why would he want to hurt you?’

  ‘Jealousy,’ Jay said, ‘or maybe he did it out of sheer spite. He liked it better when I was miserable; it made him feel like I actually needed him.’

  ‘He’s not like I expected,’ I said at length.

  ‘Mark?’

  ‘Mm.’

  ‘Why?’ Jay asked, ‘what did you expect?’

  ‘Well, the way you described him, I thought he’d be a bit more… a bit more… a bit less nice.’

  ‘Nice?’ Jay said.

  ‘Well, yeah. I mean… I don’t really know him. But he just doesn’t seem the type to—’

  ‘Don’t be taken in,’ Jay said. ‘Mark’s manipulative. He can act all sweet and innocent when he wants to, but believe me, he’s just out for what he can get.’

  I didn’t question him further. I closed my eyes, and as I drifted off to sleep I considered Jay’s words, and how at odds they seemed with the shy, quiet man that I’d met.

  I met Mark on Sunday, in a little cafe called The Apple Tree. It was painted lime green on the outside, with a carefully crafted air of eccentric carelessness on the inside; mismatching tables and chairs, antique frames containing photos of various animals in tiaras and an extensive menu of coffees and loose leaf teas. It was one of Leanne’s favourite places, though when I arrived I wondered why on earth I’d suggested meeting Mark there. He’d arrived before me, and looked rather out of place at one of the window tables on his own, sipping coffee from an oversized yellow tea cup. When he caught sight of me he stood up to greet me, then seeming not to know what to do with himself he clumsily sat back down again.

  ‘I said I was going to get the coffee,’ I said.

  He grinned sheepishly, and showed me his half-empty cup. ‘I massively over-estimated how long it would take to get here.’

  I laughed. ‘You haven’t been here before then?’

  ‘No.’

  I sat down opposite him. ‘I forgot how… trendy this place is,’ I said, ‘we can go somewhere where the tea comes in bags if you’d rather.’

  ‘No, it’s cool,’ he said, ‘I like it here.’

  I went and got myself a coffee, wondering how I was actually going to do this. I wasn’t prepared for how nervous I felt. One wrong move and he could discover I knew Jay, and not to mention the whole plan being ruined, he’d think I was crazy into the bargain.

  When I sat back down, Mark looked at the bruising on my face.

  ‘It’s looking much better,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve put makeup over it.’

  ‘Oh,’ he said.

  I struggled to think of something to say, but my mind was blank, and we spent an uncomfortable minute or two in silence.

  ‘I was surprised you came back to see me the other day,’ he said eventually. ‘I thought you wouldn’t want to go back to… where it happened.’ He paused a moment. ‘I’m glad you did, though.’

  ‘Well, you can’t spend your whole life being scared,’ I said. ‘If I didn’t go out anymore, they’d have won.’

  ‘That’s easy to say,’ he told me, ‘but I’d understand if you felt frightened. I would be. I think you were very… brave… to come back just to thank me.’ He looked a little flustered. ‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘that came out sounding really stupid. I meant it as a compliment.’

  ‘I know what you meant,’ I said, ‘and thank you. That was a nice thing to say.’

  We fell into silence again for a while. I could see Mark was finding it difficult to relax, and to be honest, I wasn’t finding it much easier. It began to dawn on me that to achieve what Jay wanted was going to take weeks, months. I couldn’t believe Mark had been taken in when I asked him out, God knows how I was going to keep this up for long enough that he would really open up to me, have feelings for me.

  ‘Did you make that, too?’ Mark asked me, pointing at my necklace.

  ‘I did,’ I said. I’d purposely worn a piece of my own jewellery as it had interested him before, and I held the necklace out to him so that he could look at it.

  I watched his face while he examined it more closely. It was a luxuriously wide metal necklace, looping round my neck like a collar, and he took quite a bit of time to really study it.

  ‘I like how the fastening is part of the design,’ he said, which took me aback. He was right – I’d deliberately put the clasp at the front, tried to make it look interesting, but I wouldn’t have expected him to notice. Leanne sometimes said things that suggested she had given my creations more than a cursory glance, and my dad had always been interested in my jewellery, but nobody else was really that bothered. They’d say it was cool, sometimes, but Mark had really looked at it, and actually thought about it.

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘I like to try to do that. I think the whole thing should look interesting, not just one part of it. It’s kind of fun to take the bit that most people would think of as ugly and then make it… like… the star, I guess.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Mark said, ‘I totally get that. I…um… I take photos of old industrial stuff sometimes. You know, like old factories, or weird old bits of machinery.’ He let out a nervous laugh. ‘It’s not as pretentious as it sounds.’

  I laughed too. ‘You’ll have to show me sometime,’ I said.

  …

  It ended up being a lot more fun than I expected, talking to Mark. He knew a little bit about all sorts of different things, and when I spoke he really engaged with me – asking me questions, wanting to know more. He told me that he worked in IT support, which he found boring. He had a degree in IT and business, and he even mentioned briefly about the village he grew up in – Tatchley. I felt a shiver through my body when he said it – as it confirmed in my mind beyond doubt that he really did know Jay; that he had grown up with him, spent his childhood with him, in the tiny little village.

  ‘How did you get into making jewellery?’ he asked me once we were both on our second cup of coffee.

  ‘It was because of my dad, I think,’ I told him. ‘When I was growing up he was always mending stuff and making things in his little workshop at the bottom of the garden. I loved how he could take some old thing apart and fix it, and put it back together again. He started teaching me about what he was doing, and I think it was when he taught me how to solder that I realised I really loved working with metal, so I started making things out of it. Usually jewellery, but I’ll try and make anything, really. Whatever takes my fancy.’

  ‘So you’re self-taught?’ he said, ‘you’ve never done a course or anything?’

  ‘No. I don’t think I’d want to. I don’t really do it much now, anyway.’

  ‘How come?’

  I stirred my coffee absently. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I got a job, my own place to live. Things just kind of, overtook it.’

  ‘Mm,’ he said. ‘I think you’ve got a real talent though.’

  I laughed. ‘Mark, please—’

  ‘I mean it.’

  ‘It would be nice if there was some money in it,’ I said, part joking, part serious. I’d thought about trying to make a bit of money from it in the past, but it had never seemed feasible, and since my parents had died I’d given up on the idea completely.

  Mark sat up, suddenly particularly interested. ‘You’re trying to make a business out of it?’ he asked me.

  ‘Not… not really a business, no.’ I started to feel embarrassed. It seemed silly to talk about my jewellery as an actual busi
ness. ‘I just used to sell it online occasionally,’ I explained, ‘mainly to justify making more, if I’m honest. I…. there was a time I considered trying to get more serious, have a website and stuff – make myself a kind of brand, but… it never really happened.’

  Mark considered this for a while. ‘Well, if you want a website, I can help you make a website,’ he said, ‘any online stuff, I’m happy to get involved with. I can help you have a think about how to promote it as well, if that would be useful.’

  I stared at him, astonished. ‘Really?’

  ‘It’s not that big a deal,’ he said casually. ‘In fact… would you need photos as well? Of the jewellery?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Well then,’ he said, ‘you’ve come to the right place.’ He grinned, and I couldn’t help smiling back as he excitedly counted off his relevant skills on his fingers. ‘Websites, business, marketing, photography,’ he said, ‘I’m pretty happy to get my teeth into any of those, and you’ve brought me an excuse to do all four.’

  I laughed. ‘Mark, that’s so kind, but I can’t ask you to do that. Besides, I really don’t do it much anymore. I’ve still got all the stuff but…’

  ‘Just have a think about it,’ Mark said, ‘the offer still stands.’

  ‘Mark… I… I can’t afford to pay you, or anything—’

  ‘I’m not asking you to. I’d enjoy doing it. It feels like a long time since I’ve had an interesting challenge.’

  ‘Is that what you like? Challenges?’

  ‘Yes and no,’ he said, ‘but getting an income from something you’ve made, what could be better than that? I’d love to start my own business, I’m just waiting for the right idea to come along.’

  ‘Yeah?’ I said, ‘well, look, I will give it some thought. It’s… it’s really exciting.’

  Sammie

  17

  Most of the night Sammie worried about the picture she’d mistakenly sent to Mark. A couple of times she almost contacted him, but she couldn’t think what to say, and resolved that she would get up early and talk to him at the bus stop. He was nearly always the first one there, while Jay was generally the last, so it should give her at least a few minutes to explain her error to him.

  Sure enough, when she got there Mark was already inside, sitting on the bench with his back against the wall, reading a book. His two sisters sat the other side of the shelter to him, giggling over something together. Sammie plonked herself down next to Mark, glad to be out of the drizzling rain. The bus shelter was rather more elaborate than the usual transparent, plastic affairs full of adverts that you got elsewhere. It was a proper little three-sided building, with a pitched roof and a wooden bench inside, which helped it blend in with the rather more select surroundings of Tatchley.

  Mark glanced at her, and she could see he wasn’t happy. He closed his book and shoved it into his school bag. Then he turned to his two sisters. ‘Could you leave us alone for a minute?’ he said, ‘I want to talk to Sammie.’

  The two girls stared at Sammie, their dark eyes wide.

  ‘But it’s raining,’ one of them said.

  Mark sighed in exasperation. ‘Go and stand under that big tree down the road,’ he told them.

  Reluctantly the two girls stood up, and after another curious look at Sammie, they wandered off. As soon as they were out of earshot, Mark fixed Sammie with a piercing glare.

  ‘Why did you send me that?’ he asked.

  ‘It was an accident,’ Sammie said, ‘it was meant for Jay. I don’t know what happened—’

  Mark narrowed his eyes. ‘I don’t believe you Sammie. I think if I was sending pornographic pictures of myself, I’d be pretty careful who I sent them to. I don’t think I’d send them to just anyone by mistake.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Sammie said, ‘it wasn’t pornographic, it was just a laugh.’

  ‘That’s not how it looked to me.’

  ‘What would you know about it?’ she snapped.

  ‘Is that what he’s getting you to do now? Send him stuff like that?’

  ‘No,’ Sammie said.

  ‘You know there’s nothing to stop him showing it round the school, don’t you? Or putting it online.’

  Sammie’s stomach clenched. Even though the only picture Jay had was just of her in her bra, she’d been using her arms to push her breasts together and give herself better cleavage, and the picture she’d ended up with could hardly be described as anything except sexual. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

  ‘You’d better hope not.’

  She looked up at the road as a car went past, throwing up a spray of mucky grey-brown water that landed not far from their feet. ‘You’re being ridiculous,’ she told Mark, ‘it was just a laugh, why are you making such a big deal out of it?’

  Although she was desperate to ask Mark whether he’d tell Jay about the message, she couldn’t bring herself to, and all day she was on edge. But Mark simply avoided both her and Jay, and spent time with some of his other friends – a luxury he had that her and Jay didn’t.

  After school, Sammie went to Jay’s house again and they spent another couple of hours in bed, playing and exploring each other. Jay didn’t try to push her to have sex, but it was obvious he wanted to and she was glad that he was so keen.

  ‘I loved the picture you sent me,’ he told her.

  Sammie tried to smile, but the thought of her conversation with Mark made it difficult. Jay didn’t seem to notice though.

  ‘Why didn’t you send me more?’ he asked.

  ‘I… my mum phoned me,’ Sammie said quickly, ‘about the meal we were supposed to be going out for. Then it felt a bit weird after I’d just spoken to my parents.’

  Jay laughed. ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘Send me one later, though. Once you’ve gone home and I’m missing you.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Sammie said.

  ‘I spent ages looking at the one last night,’ Jay said.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘It really turned me on.’

  Sammie finally managed to smile properly. ‘You might get one later,’ she told him playfully, ‘if I think you deserve it.’

  When she got home she didn’t immediately do as he asked, she waited until she was going to bed, and sent him a couple of pictures as she got changed out of her clothes.

  Im not goin 2 b able 2 sleep now, Jay text her back.

  Sammie giggled to herself, and quickly typed a reply.

  I wish i cld come and sleep in bed with u, she told him.

  So do i. Ur makin me really want 2 hav sex wiv u. i cant stop thinkin about it.

  Sammie looked at the words for a long time. She still felt a bit frightened, but a sort of boldness had come over her after sending the photos. At the weekend, she told him, while your mum is at work. We can do it then.

  The next day at school the plan became a little more elaborate. Sammie suggested that they could meet up and go into town on the bus on Saturday, where they could hang out for a bit and have a sort of date together, and then after that they’d go back to his and have sex. She could see Jay didn’t understand why she wanted to make it more complicated, but he was happy enough to go along with it. The real reason behind her suggestion was that she wanted to go into town with him to buy some condoms, but she was scared if she told Jay the truth he might try to talk her out of it or say it wasn’t necessary. He’d never mentioned anything about contraception before, and it was pretty obvious to her that he had no anxieties about having sex with her without being careful.

  The whole morning at school they were filled with excitement about their plans, and Mark was largely ignored as they spent all of break time entwined with each other, whispering about the weekend.

  The day seemed like it could hardly go any better, until towards the end of lunch when they were walking back to the school building, and a couple of the boys from the bus stop who’d teased Sammie started making comments again. Sammie wasn’t on her own this time, and walking hand-in-hand with Jay, whi
le Mark tagged along behind, she didn’t feel all that bothered about what the boys were saying. It was stupid, playground stuff, and with Jay’s hand in hers Sammie could hardly care less. She thought Jay felt the same, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

  The fight started before she really understood what was happening. All she knew was that one second they were walking along ignoring the taunts, then in a flash Jay went for one of the boys, taking him so much by surprise that even though he was larger than Jay, Jay had him sprawled out on the ground in a second. Mark quickly stepped in to try to break it up, but not before the boy’s nose had been bloodied, and other kids formed a circle around the pair, the chant, ‘fight, fight, fight!’ filling the playground and drawing everyone towards them. Sammie held her hand over her mouth as she watched what was going on. Jay was so intent on causing more injuries that Mark could barely hold him back, and the look on his face frightened her. She’d seen something similar once in her parents after Alfie had died, when they used to scream at each other. A look like they weren’t in control anymore – like whatever normally kept them together, held all their feelings in, had gone, and she had no idea what they would be capable of.

  The fight was over in just a few short minutes. Jay was pulled away from the other boy by a teacher, and even though for a while he still struggled and swore, he thankfully realised that the game was up for him and calmed down a little. The boy on the ground, whose name was Dean, got unsteadily to his feet. There was blood all down his shirt, and he looked at Jay and said, ‘he’s fucking mental. He needs locking up.’

  For the next hour or so lessons were off for Mark and Sammie, as they found themselves explaining, along with some of the other kids, what they had witnessed, so that appropriate punishments could be doled out.

  Sammie had never particularly been involved in school discipline procedures before. She’d rarely got in trouble herself at her old school, and she was surprised how official everything was. She had to give a statement about what she’d seen Jay do as though she was being interviewed by the police. She tried to play it down and emphasise Jay had been standing up for her, explaining, a little shyly, ‘he’s my boyfriend.’