Chapter 4 #5
Pea: I was more into indie music, but when AJ asked if we’d like tickets for the Manchester show, I didn’t hesitate.
How many sixteen-year-olds got invited to a pop concert by the star themselves?
How many got to travel with the band? A little voice told me that Mum might have a thing or two to say about it, particularly with the concert falling on a Monday night and almost certainly resulting in a late night, but I tried to ignore it.
One thing at a time. I said yes. Zak dropped the hand he’d been holding.
I turned to look at him, and he smiled, but his eyes were sad, or possibly angry.
I hadn’t worked out all his expressions yet.
Alex: I wanted to grab Pea and do a little dance, like I had when we’d heard Mrs Vine wasn’t coming back to school after her cancer treatment or when I’d won second prize in a dressing up competition at school, but I held it all in. I didn’t want AJ to think I was too much. Or that I was a loser.
Pea: AJ and Zak both smoked, and they’d offered the pack to Alex and me a few times, but stopped after we always said no. But for some reason I decided I wanted one. I asked Zak and he lit one for himself and another for me. That’s when Sebastian turned up.
Sebastian: Pea was smoking and it was so fucking stupid.
It was like she was changing who she was to try to be cool for this boy she liked.
Anyway, I told her Mum and Dad wanted to talk to her.
She asked what it was about, and I just shrugged.
But I think we could both guess that it was about a certain American guy who was blowing smoke rings into the air at that exact moment.
Pea: I spent every weekend at the park, and I always returned at about six for dinner.
It was four at this point. I wanted to know why I was being called in, like a child.
But I knew things would be worse if I didn’t go.
I asked Alex if he was coming, and he said no, he’d stay with AJ and Zak if that was okay with them.
They looked like they didn’t much care either way.
So Sebastian and I headed back to the house, with me frantically munching on a Polo mint to get rid of the smell of cigarettes.
Cathy: Pea came back reeking of smoke, so that wasn’t a great start.
John: Sitting down with her for a talk was Cathy’s idea, and I felt a bit uncomfortable with it. Every generation learns what they need to about relationships and sex, don’t they? My parents certainly never sat me down for a chat like this.
Cathy: I made us all tea, but when I brought it into the lounge, Pea was tapping her foot as if she didn’t have time for any of this.
Pea: I asked them what it was about and Mum looked a bit taken aback.
Cathy: I said we wanted to talk to her about Zak, and about what we thought was and wasn’t acceptable while he was visiting.
Pea: I asked whether this was all about him kissing me in the kitchen this morning.
Cathy: I said that we understood she was sixteen now, and she was likely to start having boyfriends and going on dates, but that it was important to us that she respected us and herself and didn’t move too fast with anyone. Particularly someone who usually lived thousands of miles away.
Pea: I get it, now. It’s hard to imagine your children becoming adults. Often they’re ready for this kind of thing before you are. Back then, I just thought they were being difficult for the sake of it. I said I thought I loved him. I actually said that.
Cathy: I scoffed when she said she loved him. She’d known him for such a short time, and for most of that time they’d been on opposite sides of the Atlantic. This wasn’t love. It was hormones and lust and a bit of idolisation. And I said as much.
Pea: Idolisation? I mean, if it had been anything to do with the fact that AJ was famous, surely it would have been AJ I was interested in.
John: We were getting nowhere. I put my hands out and they both went quiet. I said that we were the parents and she was the child, and even though she might not like that, it meant that we made the rules.
Pea: They’d already told me the rules, the night before.
Cathy: We were entitled to come up with new rules at any point, weren’t we?
The kiss in the kitchen, with him practically naked, had shocked me.
I didn’t want Pea to end up pregnant. I said we needed to talk about contraception and Pea put her head in her hands and started rocking backwards and forwards.
Pea: I mean, who wants to talk to their parents about contraception? No one.
John: I hadn’t known Cathy was going to bring that up.
I asked later whether she thought they were actually sleeping together, and she said she thought if they weren’t, they soon would be.
That shook me up a bit, because even though I knew that Pea was sixteen, I still thought of her as a child, the way all parents do.
Cathy: I said I’d make an appointment at the doctors for her and we’d talk about her going on the pill.
Pea: I mean, it was hugely embarrassing, but I came out of the conversation thinking one thought over and over: Even my parents think I’m having sex. So maybe I should be?
Zak: After Pea left with her brother, I didn’t feel like going on any more rides.
I left AJ and Alex to it and went back to the bus for a sleep.
When I woke up, it was a little after six and I knew I had to turn this thing around, with her parents.
So I brushed my teeth and washed my face and went over there, to the house.
Cathy: We were eating. I invited him to come in and join us, because it seemed like the polite thing to do.
Zak: I was hungry, so I said sure. She led me into the dining room and brought me a bowl of some kind of chicken casserole.
I looked at Pea and she looked down at the table.
I couldn’t work out whether she was mad at me or embarrassed.
Sebastian was telling this long, involved story about something that had happened at college, involving his physics teacher and a battery tester.
No one really seemed to be listening. But I waited until I was sure he was done to speak.
I said I was wondering whether it would be all right to take Pea out on a date the following evening. I wanted to do this thing properly.
Pea: It was like something out of a film, like he was asking my father for my hand or something.
Part of me wanted the ground to open up and swallow me, and part of me loved it.
Mum and Dad looked at each other and I could see they were having a silent conversation but couldn’t work out what was being said.
Cathy: Look, I remembered what it was like to be a teenager. And I knew that if we said no, they would sneak around and find a way to see each other anyway. I thought our best bet was to say yes, but I was conscious that John and I should probably discuss it first.
John: I said yes. I mean, she was sixteen, wasn’t she? We couldn’t lock her up.
Zak: I was a bit taken aback. It was like they’d had a change of heart with regards to me.
I wasn’t going to complain. After dinner, I said I was going to get an early night, thanked them for the food and gave them all a wave.
Pea caught up with me outside. She was barefoot and kept squealing as she stepped over the gravel.
Pea: I wanted to thank him, for coming over like that and trying to make my parents like him. It meant a lot to me. But every way I thought of saying it sounded stupid. So I just stood there in front of him, looking at him.
Zak: She was so beautiful. And she had no idea of it. I kissed her, asked if she wanted to come to the bus, either now or later. I just wanted to be around her. I was high off it.
Pea: I wanted to go to the bus with him more than anything but I knew we had to play this carefully.
Gain my parents’ trust. I kissed him on the lips, just a peck, but he pulled me in and kissed me properly, his hands in my hair.
When we came apart, I said I had revision to do, but I actually spent the entire evening lying on my bed reliving that kiss.
Zak: I was restless. I wanted to go see a movie, or get a coffee, or something other than sit in that bus.
But I couldn’t do any of those things with my brother, and Pea wasn’t free, and who else was there?
I ended up lying on my bed listening to music.
AJ kept throwing things at me, a pair of socks and then a book, which hit me in the head.
I pulled my headphones off, really mad. Asked what he wanted.
He said, ‘I’m bored, Zac-Man. I can’t believe we got to stay in a theme park and I’m bored as shit.
’ I knew from experience that bored AJ wasn’t a good thing.
If nothing was happening, he had a tendency to make something happen. And it was never something good.