The dance floor was full of people flailing their arms and kicking their heels to the music. Cheryl watched Valerie closely as she moved her body in rhythm to the sound and wondered if she had just planted the seed for her to pursue something that she would never once have thought about.
She remained at the table drinking her Cider and watching the dancers having fun, keeping a keen eye on Valerie as she scanned the room to look for Jeannie. It seemed as though she and Tommy were getting on fine as by now, Tommy had his arms wrapped around Jeannie and they looked like they were in deep conversation. Then just before Cheryl looked away, Tommy kissed Jeannie.
“Nice one, Jeannie,” Cheryl said to herself.
“What’s so nice?” Valerie asked, sitting back down. Her face was glowing from her recent exertion and fanning herself with her hand to cool down a little, she took a large gulp of Cider.
“Oh, Jeannie. It looks like she and Tommy ‘ave made up. I think she may ‘ave told him about the baby by the looks of things.”
Valerie sat upright in her seat and crossed her one leg over the other. Her dress rode up slightly and showed a little more of her thigh. Cheryl once again found herself staring. Valerie caught her again and this time she said something.
“Like what ya see, darlin’?” she asked, making fun of her admirer.
“No, I mean yes, I mean…”
“You mean yes,” Valerie giggled.
“How come we never ended up as friends before?” Cheryl asked her.
“Because I liked you at school. Not like a friend likes a friend but like, how you like Carry Ann,” she informed Cheryl.
“You mean?”
“Yes, I mean…”
Cheryl picked up her Cider and gulped it down in one large swig.
•••
Walking home, Jeannie spoke of nothing else but Tommy this and Tommy that and was oblivious to the flirtatious behaviour that Cheryl and Valerie were now covertly sharing. Just the simplest of glances between them was making either girl feel that something could possibly be happening between them.
•••
It was late and after having left Jeannie at her front door, Cheryl and Valerie staggered into Cheryl’s flat. They were giggly and not very good at being quiet. Cheryl bumped into the table, then Valerie tripped over pulling Cheryl down on top of her. The two girls couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
This woke Cheryl’s parents and a yell of, “Cheryl, is that you making all that racket?” came from their bedroom.
“Yeah, I fell over,” Cheryl called back, trying to muffle her laughter.
“Well bleedin’ keep it down out there,” her mother yelled back.
“Yes, mum,” she said, trying to shush Valerie who was now in hysterics.
She took Valerie to her bedroom and closed the door quietly.
Still snickering, Valerie stepped out of her shoes and then unzipped the back of her dress. Revealing her plunge push up bra and bikini briefs, she let it drop to the floor in a crumpled heap.
Cheryl then followed her lead and lifting her dress up and over her head, she flung it across the room where it landed on her portable record player. She stood in her white lycra bra and hipster briefs feeling slightly awkward.
“Well! We should get into bed I spose,” Cheryl said awkwardly.
Valerie got in on one side of the bed and Cheryl got in the other. Valerie lay facing Cheryl and Cheryl lay on her back.
“Cute gal, hey?” Valerie said, looking at the poster on the ceiling.
“Yeah,” Cheryl replied.
Valerie propped herself up on her elbow and almost overlooking Cheryl, she said, “Should I kiss you?”
Cheryl not wanting to come across as a prude, nodded her head yes. Valerie cupped her chin with her hand and leaned down, touching her lips with her mouth. She closed her eyes and kissed her lightly. Cheryl placed her arms around Valerie’s neck and kissed her back.
“That was nice,” Valerie said.
Cheryl smiled. Although she did like it, that kiss didn’t hold anything close to her first kiss with Carry Ann. The tingling sensation was missing. Valerie was well aware of Cheryl’s lack of enthusiasm and plopped her head back down on the pillow. Still feeling the effects of alcohol, both girls made themselves comfortable and soon fell asleep.
Sometime during the night, Cheryl stirred and found that Valerie had snuggled up to her from behind and had placed her hand over her breast. She didn’t feel ready to take things any further at this point, not because things had happened literally over night with Valerie, the time scale didn’t bother her but because she was in fact still hurting inside from not knowing what was happening with Carry Ann. She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to sleep but it would take some time before she would be able to get back off.
The following morning, they woke up to the sound of Cheryl’s mother vacuuming the hallway. Unaware that Cheryl had a guest, she flung the door wide open and began to vacuum the room.
“Mum!” Cheryl moaned, her voice croaky from tiredness and her head pounding from a hangover.
Valerie sat up quickly. She had removed her bra in the middle of the night and had to hold the covers over her chest.
“Oh, and you are?” she said to Valerie. With her large rollers in her hair and her dark green quilted dressing gown on, she held the vacuum motionless whilst she tapped her foot and waited for an answer.
“Hello, Mrs. Carter. I’m Valerie. I went to school with Cheryl.”
“Yeah, that’s right, mum, she did.”
“Well ya need to put some clothes on, showin’ ya bits an’ all like that. What kind of gal sleeps with no nightgown on,” she said, trying to look elsewhere other than Valerie’s breasts.
“She went to the Workmen’s with me and Jeannie last night. It was too late for her to catch the bus home so I said she could stay ‘ere and catch the bus home in the morning.” Cheryl informed her mother, rubbing her eyes and yawning in the midst of it.
Her mother turned the vacuum off and opened the curtains. Although it was a grey dreary day out, the sudden impact of light effected the girl’s eyesight. But Cheryl’s mother wasn’t one to take notice of such trivial behaviour and clapped her hands together, then said, “Chop, chop gals.” She then turned the vacuum back on and pushed it around the bed, banging it into the metal legs as she tried to push it as far under as possible.
When she left the room, Cheryl clambered out of bed and put on the dress that she had worn last night. It was creased but she didn’t care as she wasn’t planning on going anywhere in particular. “You had better get some clothes on before the old battle axe comes back again,” she said to Valerie who was still sitting up in bed with the covers tightly pulled up around her.
“Do you think she suspected anything?” she asked Cheryl.
“Ain’t nothing to suspect. We didn’t do anything,” she replied without looking at Valerie.
“I should go,” Valerie said softly. She emerged from beneath the bed sheets and slipped her bra back on, then her dress. With her hair being a complete mess, Cheryl gave her a scarf to use as a headband. “Thank you,” she said gratefully. “Will I see you again?”
“Maybe ya can catch me around down at the pub, I frequent there on occasion,” she told her without having to commit to any arrangement.
“I want to tell you summat, please don’t get shirty with me when I tell ya. I knew you’d be down at the boozer at some point. I’ve been going in there every night until you came in.”
“Why were you looking for me?” Cheryl asked.
“Cos I’ve liked ya for years. Even when we was at school but I didn’t know if ya liked girls and if ya did, you wouldn’t like a gal like me, all fat an’ all.” She brushed herself down, then running her fingers through her hair, she tidied it up and then wrapped the scarf around her head. “That’s why I disappeared for the last two years, so I could lose my weight and look nice.”
“I dunno what to say, Valerie. It’s nice
that you did summat like that, but ya need to do it for yourself not for someone else. I ain’t ready for this, not gonna lie to ya.”
“I kind of sensed that. You still have feelings for that girl, don’t ya?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“I think this has been in your head for a long time where as I only really found out about the way I feel just recently. I know I can’t give ya what ya want cos I really do like Carry Ann and I need to find out what happened with her the other day.”
Valerie’s eyes became glassy, her shoulders dropped and her stance relaxed. She felt defeated but she did understand.
Chapter Seven
Cheryl sat at the dining table, swinging her legs. She was reading the latest edition of Rave, a monthly music magazine, when her dad came home a little earlier than expected. She looked up at him and smiled but soon wiped it off her face when she saw that he had a look of concern about him.
“What’s up, dad?” she asked, closing the magazine.
“It’s Harry, Harry Morecombe. He kicked the bucket last night. He wasn’t much older than me.”
Cheryl, shocked at what she had just heard, reconfirmed what her dad had just said. “Harry? As in Harry who ya work with?”
“Yeah, I can’t believe it.” He took his coat off and hung it on the hook by the front door. “He died at home alone. He don’t have any family that I know of, not since his wife Peggy passed away six years ago.”
Cheryl’s mother walked in from the kitchen and seeing his face she asked him if he was all right.
“No, luv, no, it’s shaken me up a bit,” he told her, sitting down on the sofa.
“I can’t believe it, dad. I only saw him last night down at the boozer.”
“Boozer, Cheryl?” he asked.
“How is it that ya seen him down at the boozer?” her mother asked.
Cheryl had just gone and put her foot right in it. “All right, keep ya hair on. Yeah I went in there but it ain’t like I’ve been up to no good. Harry always made sure I was well looked after.”
“He knew you was going in there and he never told me?” her dad questioned her.
“It wasn’t like that, dad. God, I’ll be eighteen in a couple of weeks anyway, what bleedin’ difference does it make?”
“Cheryl Carter, I can’t believe you just spoke to your father like that. I should wash your mouth out with soap young lady, I really should!” her mother shouted.
Not wanting to listen to anymore chastising, Cheryl stormed off to her bedroom, slammed her door loudly and threw herself onto her bed where she lay crying over the fact that a very nice gentleman had gone.
•••
Cheryl and Jeannie had gone shopping and were in Biba looking at black dresses for the purpose of wearing one to the funeral. Both girls had insisted on going to pay their respects and after Cheryl’s dad had finally calmed down, he did agree that the girls could go with him.
“What about this one?” Jeannie asked Cheryl, holding up a plain black dress.
“Nah, it ain’t summat I’d wear,” she answered, sucking on her traffic light lollipop and sneering at the style.
“I ain’t on about you, I mean for me, with my bump starting to show now, I need summat comfy.”
“Yeah, that’ll do. How ya affording to pay for it, anyway?” Cheryl asked her out loud.
The shop girl who was standing behind the till, looked up at them. Although she was a baby faced skinny girl, with mousy brown hair and long false eyelashes, she wasn’t afraid to approach them and ask what all the fuss was about. Jeannie explained to her that her fiancé was paying for her dress and she was looking to try it on. Looking at Jeannie’s bump, with one eyebrow raised she tutted disapprovingly and showed her to the changing room but constantly looked back at Cheryl to check that she wasn’t up to no good.
“Cheeky bleedin’ cow,” Cheryl muttered. Looking through more designs, she found a sweet simple mini dress with a scoop neck edge with a frill and long Bishop style sleeves with draw ties at the cuffs. It was priced at £1.25. She held it up to get a better look at it and to also ponder over whether she should be paying out extravagant cash for a one use garment.
Jeannie emerged from the changing room and gave a twirl. “So, what d’ya think?”
Cheryl gave it a good looking over. “Yeah, it’s good, it really suits ya,” she said, nodding her head as if she was agreeing with her own comment.
After Jeannie disappeared back to the changing room, Cheryl decided to go and try her choice of dress on. It fitted her nicely and now that she had seen it on, she decided that it would possibly have other uses as well as for the funeral and this enabled her to justify spending so much on the item. She came out of the changing room pleased with herself and seeing the Jeannie was already paying for her dress, she casually joined her at the till and waited to pay.
The shop girl handed Cheryl her purchase in a bag and turning around Jeannie gave her a sharp nudge. “Bleedin’ hell, Jeannie, if you wasn’t so far up the duff, I’d lamp you one for doing that.”
“Look,” Jeannie said, her eyes almost protruding out of their sockets.
Cheryl looked over in the direction that Jeannie was staring. Sitting on one of the plush sofas was Carry Ann. “Carry Ann,” Jeannie whispered.
“Are ya gonna speak with her?” Jeannie asked her.
“Too bloody right I am,” Cheryl responded.
Next to the sofa was a hat stand displaying scarfs and floppy hats and as the girls were walking over, Cheryl grabbed Jeannie’s arm and stopped her from continuing any further. She had seen Carry Ann looking over into that direction and noted that she wasn’t alone. She was smiling at someone, possibly a person whose company she enjoyed as her eyes sparkled with life and her cute dainty smile curled up on one corner of her mouth. Then Cheryl caught sight of a long scarf as a woman flung it around her neck. There was a mirror hanging on the wall and Cheryl got Jeannie to pretend to look at some lipsticks in a bucket whilst she stood behind her out of the woman’s view so that she could get a better look at her reflection. She gasped. The woman was the most elegant that she had seen in her entire life. She was tall and tremendously skinny, her hair was cut almost like a boys cut and when she turned around, Cheryl got a full view of her face.
“Oh my god, she looks like Twiggy,” Cheryl said, her voice raspy as she tried to keep Carry Ann from hearing her.
Jeannie immediately plopped the lipstick down that she was looking at and had a good gape in the mirror at this modelesque creature. “Gordon Bennett she does! Maybe it is her, what ya think, Cheryl?”
Cheryl just stared at the amazing beauty, she seemed to be so intoxicating.
“Cheryl!” Jeannie said loudly.
Her voice had caught Carry Ann’s attention instigating her to lean forward and look beyond the coat rack. She immediately recognised Cheryl and Jeannie. Her smile dropped and her eyes became filled with a questioning look about them. “Cheryl?” she asked softly.
Jeannie nudged Cheryl yet again. “Looks like ya busted, then,” she said.
“Carry Ann,” Cheryl said, not knowing what else should come out of her mouth.
“What are you doing here?” Carry Ann asked her.
“Buyin’ a dress for Harry’s funeral. You remember Harry, he bought us drinks down at the pub,” she replied, toying with a scarf on the rack.
“Harry?” she asked, unsure of who Cheryl meant. “Oh Harry, at the bar, Harry,” she suddenly remembered.
“Yeah, well you remember Jeannie, don’t you,” she said, pushing Jeannie in front of her and hoping that it would prompt Carry Ann to introduce them to her friend.
“This is Bernadette, we’re out shopping for a new outfit for her.”
Cheryl immediately held out her hand to shake Bernadette’s. “Nice to meet you, Bernadette,” she said politely.
Bernadette shook her hand and then Jeannie’s.
“Blimey, I thought you was gonna say this is Twiggy for a moment there,” Jeannie
laughed.
“I get that a lot,” Bernadette told them in a French accent. “So how do you all know each other, I feel that I am at a disadvantage?” she asked, looking at Carry Ann for an answer.
“We’ve only recently met, haven’t we, Cheryl.” Carry Ann quickly responded.
“Yes,” Cheryl answered, unsure of whether Carry Ann was going to fill Bernadette in on the fact that they had slept together. She watched Carry Ann closely. She was showing signs of uneasiness which assured Cheryl that she was hiding the fact that there was more to Bernadette than being just a flat mate.
Jeannie nudged Cheryl’s arm. Cheryl gave a hard look to Jeannie and rolled her eyes.
“So, I was meaning to come and see you sometime soon,” Carry Ann told Cheryl.
“When?” Jeannie jumped right in.
“Oh, my. Someone’s a little too eager,” Bernadette said with a huge smile on her face.
There was a pause of awkwardness between them all. The shop girl came over to them and asked if everything was all right. She was assured that it was and once Bernadette had decided that there was nothing more that she fancied in the shop, they all decided to leave the premises. Standing on the pavement, they were surrounded by the usual onslaught of pedestrians busying themselves with their own shopping agendas and cars stuck in a traffic jam with the drivers beeping their horns in frustration. One woman had to step into the road to get around the girls, making a stern comment as she passed by, “Watch it, mate,” she said to Cheryl who happened to stick her elbow out as she placed her hands into her coat pocket.
“Ya don’t ‘ave to get in a tiz, luv,” Cheryl retorted.
“We really must be on our way, Carry, sweetheart. I’m sure that these ladies must be busy too, no?” Bernadette said, looking at her watch.
Stop! In the Name of Love Page 7