Chapter 15 #2
Evie didn’t stay long enough to hear the rest of what her mum had to say, but she’d heard it all before.
She grabbed her jacket, slamming the door behind her, making sure the whole house vibrated.
Fuelled by pure rage, she ran all the way to Ginny’s, cursing her mother, knowing full well that Ginny’s mum would let her use their Breville.
Despite ringing on Ginny’s doorbell numerous times, there was no reply.
She sat on Ginny’s doorstep in the hope that she’d reappear, but after about ten minutes, she gave up and walked over to Ed’s house.
It had been ages since they’d seen each other, and Evie was really missing him. It took her a good twenty minutes to walk to Ed’s house from Ginny’s. She rang the bell and waited, and she was just about to leave when she heard someone walking towards the front door. The door opened. It was Paul.
‘Who do we have here, then?’ he said with a wry grin. ‘Well, if it isn’t the lovely Evie. Come in. Come in. Ed’s not in right now, but please come in and wait.’
‘Umm, don’t worry, I’ll come back later.’ Evie smiled awkwardly and started to turn away.
‘He won’t be long. He said earlier that he wouldn’t be late. We’re going to have a bit of a jam when he gets back. He’s been working on some new material. He’d be cross if I didn’t insist that you stay.’ Paul opened the door wider, the wry grin still on his face.
She bit her bottom lip, trying to decide what to do. She didn’t have any other options currently, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know Paul. It couldn’t do any harm to just wait for ten minutes or so.
‘Thanks. I’ll come in and wait if it’s no bother.’ she relented.
‘No bother at all.’ he said, ushering her through to the sitting room, the same smile plastered all over his face.
‘Fancy a drink?’
‘No, I’m fine thanks.’ She replied as she sat down.
‘You don’t mind if I carry on, do you?’ asked Paul, pointing at the guitar propped up in the corner of the room.
‘No, go for it.’
Paul started to play his guitar as Evie stared out the window, wondering how much longer Ed would be.
It seemed odd being in the same house as Paul without Ed or the usual hangers-on.
Plus being sober. Evie didn’t think she’d ever seen Paul without a drink in his hand or a spliff between his lips.
He always looked quite cool, but that day, in the harsh daylight, he just looked old.
She watched as Paul’s yellow nicotine-stained fingers whizzed all over his guitar.
She could definitely see where Ed got his musical talent from.
She glanced at the time: nearly 2p.m. She hadn’t even had any lunch yet, and she was starving. Ed surely wouldn’t be much longer?
‘Do you play, Evie?’ enquired Paul.
‘No. I just like music in general. I wish I had a musical talent like you and Ed.’
‘I’m sure you’ve got some other special talents.’ Paul licked his top lip showing his yellowing teeth and Evie immediately pretended not to notice or indeed hear what he had just said. ‘Well, I could always teach you the basics of playing the guitar if you ever wanted to learn, you know.’ he added.
‘Oh, I’m fine, thanks. How much longer do you think Ed will be?’ she asked, swiftly changing the subject, slowly pulling her skirt down to cover her knees, feeling uncomfortable with Paul’s change of tone.
I’m sure he won’t be too long now.’
‘I don’t want to intrude. I might just go.’ Evie stammered.
‘Stop stressing. Here, have a beer. It will chill you out.’ Paul said forcibly, as he opened a couple of cans of Foster’s.
‘It’s a bit early for me, and I haven’t had any lunch yet.’
‘Well, just sip it. It will pass the time until Ed gets here.’
‘Umm, ok. Thanks.’ Evie said, reluctantly taking the can.
Paul took a big swig of his beer and then ran the tip of his tongue over his top lip suggestively, looking straight at Evie as he did it.
Evie took a little sip from her can, feeling the bitterness of the beer burning the back of her throat as she swallowed it.
This whole situation didn’t feel right to her.
Even being back at home being shouted at by her mum seemed preferable to this.
She couldn’t put her finger on it but for the first time ever Paul unsettled her.
Evie wasn’t sure if it was telepathy or just good timing but within a minute or so, she heard a key in the door, and in came Ed. She was so pleased to see him that she nearly knocked him off his feet as she rushed towards the door to greet him.
‘Woah, that’s a great welcome.’ said Ed, as he greeted her with a big kiss. ‘How did you escape your mum?’
‘We had a row, and I walked out.’ She explained.
‘I see good old Uncle Paul has been looking after you.’ Ed remarked, noticing her beer.
‘I always treat the ladies well. You know that, Eddy boy. Do you fancy joining us for a beer?’ he said.
‘I might later, but right now I’m starving. Have you eaten, Evie?’
She shook her head. ‘Not yet. That was what the row was about. Mum wouldn’t let me use the Breville.’
Ed frowned. ‘What’s up with that woman? I think we’ve still got one in the back of the cupboard. Let me have a look.’
It didn’t take long for Ed to locate the sandwich maker, and they were soon happily eating delicious ham and cheese toasties together at the table in the living room.
Evie was so relieved to be away from Paul and she’d purposely left her beer behind too.
Although she enjoyed a drink with her friends, drinking in the middle of the day with a grown man didn’t seem right.
They finished off the toasties and then Ed made them both a steaming hot chocolate, which they took upstairs, leaving Paul with just his beer and guitar for company.
They laid back on Ed’s bed and just enjoyed being together once again.
Evie closed her eyes and snuggled up to Ed, feeling relaxed for the first time in ages.
‘Evie, your mum phoned to see if you’re here.’
The sound of Paul’s voice, jolted Evie awake. She couldn’t believe that they’d both fallen asleep.
‘Did you tell her I’m here?’ Evie anxiously shouted back, mouth dry, wishing she’d drunk her hot chocolate as she looked at it cold on the bedside table.
‘No, of course not. Said I haven’t seen you in ages.’
‘Ok, thanks for that.’
‘She sounded properly pissed off though.’ he added, his voice getting quieter as he wandered away from the bottom of the stairs.
Ed yawned and stretched next to Evie. ‘I suppose you’d better get going. Where are you going to say you’ve been?’ he asked.
Evie sighed. ‘I’ll say I went window shopping. I can’t say I was at Ginny’s. My mum may well have phoned there as well, although she was out earlier when I called round.’
‘I do hope I wasn’t the second choice to hang out with today.’ Ed said playfully, running his hand through his tousled hair.
Evie rolled her eyes. ‘You know Ginny’s house is closer than yours, you dingbat. That’s why I tried her house first.’
‘I’m only sorry I wasn’t here earlier. I can think of loads of things we could have got up to this afternoon.’ Ed says as he pushed Evie on his bed with a forceful and passionate kiss.
‘Don’t.’ She tried to object, unlocking her lips from his. ‘I really want to stay here with you. But this really isn’t helping…’
Ed slipped his hand under her top and began kissing her with more and more urgency. Needless to say, she didn’t leave Ed’s house for at least another forty-five minutes. They slipped downstairs, greeted by the sounds of Paul playing guitar and singing the same lines over and over.
‘Uncle Paul, Evie’s leav—'
‘Oh, don’t disturb him on my account.’ she said, trying to sound as though she was being polite, when in reality she just didn’t want to have to see Paul again.
‘He’ll be annoyed if I don’t let him know you’re leaving; you know how much he likes having you around.’ Ed grabbed Evie’s hand to lead her to Paul, leaving her no chance to protest.
They walked through to the back room and Evie waved and mouthed “goodbye” to Paul, who had stopped singing and was busily rolling another joint.
‘See ya, Evie. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.’ He grinned, and she faked a grin back.
She made a swift exit towards the front door and gave Ed one last kiss as she left to face her mother as she would still be fuming from earlier and the fact she’d stormed off and had spent the whole afternoon out.
It also looked extremely unlikely that she’d be able to make it to Mark’s New Year’s Eve party, as her mum would certainly punish her for today.
She’d have to try to make amends and get Dad onside.
She could usually talk her dad round, as she’d always been the apple of his eye.
Her mother and her, however, had never been close.
It’s as if she resented her daughter’s youth.
When her parents had first met, her mother was a natural blonde with aquamarine eyes and an hourglass figure.
Her dad had always said that he’d had to fight off many an admirer to finally get Felicity to himself.
She was still an attractive woman, but family life seemed to have sucked her dry. She never let herself have any fun.
They’d met at the local dance when they were both seventeen, and since that day, they’d never been apart.
Felicity had never been a girl’s girl. She had two much older brothers and her older sister Maureen, who was a bit of a religious nut.
Felicity adored Evie’s older brother Phillip but she always bemoaned that it was having Evie had ruined her figure.
‘Sorry, I didn’t ask to be born.’ was always Evie’s staple reply, much to the irritation of her mother.
A mere twenty minutes and Evie was back home again.
An all-time record. It was amazing what an afternoon with Ed could do for a girl’s energy levels.
Evie pushed the garden gate open and walked up the path.
She reached for the spare key, which was always kept under the flowerpot outside their porch, but it seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
She rang the bell and waited for her mum to let her in, but she didn’t come to the door.
Evie sighed and sat herself on the doorstep.
There was no point ringing the bell again – she had realised that her Mum was definitely inside, definitely knew that she was here and was definitely ignoring her.
Evie brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, trying to protect herself from the cold December evening, Thankfully, her dad returned a little bit earlier than normal from work, although her whole body was practically numb at this point.
‘Evie, what on earth are you doing outside in the cold?’ Her dad frowned, taking his coat off and gently draping it around his daughter’s shoulders.
‘I had an argument with Mum, and she’s locked me out.’ She said as she wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand as her dad’s coat enveloped her like a warm hug.
‘I’m sure your mum wouldn’t have locked you out on purpose. There must be a logical explanation why she hasn’t answered, her dad said, who never thought the worst of his wife. He opened the door, ushering her into the warmth. ‘Put the kettle on and make some tea to get yourself warmed up.’
Evie went through to the kitchen. The kettle was still warm, so her mum couldn’t be too far away.
She busied herself while her dad called out for his wife.
With no sign of her downstairs, her dad sprinted up the stairs.
Evie listened to his footsteps and could tell by the different creaks that he’d gone straight to their bedroom.
She heard her mum’s raised voice being softened by her dad’s hushed tones.
Evie made herself and her dad a cuppa, remembering to add two sugars into his favourite mug, which she’d bought for him a few years ago for Father’s Day, emblazoned with “World’s Greatest Dad”.
She sat at the table, drank her tea, enjoying the feeling returning to her fingers and toes. Ten minutes later, her dad came back downstairs. He took a seat opposite his daughter and had a big swig of his tea.
‘Thanks for this. You even remembered the extra sugar.’ he said gratefully. ‘Don’t let your mum know; I’m supposed to be on a diet.’ He added as he winked at his daughter.
‘Your secret’s safe with me.’ she replied with a furtive smile, happy that he wanted her onside. ‘Where’s Mum?’ Evie asked. She didn’t want her dad to think she had listened in in any way, even though she couldn’t hear what was being said.
‘She’s got one of her migraines, you know, the ones that keep her practically bedridden.
That’s why she didn’t answer the door when you rang the bell.
’ her dad explained, and Evie thought sadly that he genuinely believed his own words.
‘We’ll talk later about what happened earlier because right now I want to change out of my suit and have some dinner.
I’m starving. I don’t think Mum had time to sort out any dinner, but we could pop down to Wimpy if you fancy? ’
‘I’d love that. We haven’t done that for ages.’ Evie said, as she stood up and put her empty mug in the sink. ‘I’ll just change into some warmer clothes.’
Evie popped upstairs to grab her new black and red stripy mohair jumper, and as she did so she glanced briefly through the crack in her parents’ bedroom door.
Her mum was propped up in bed, reading the latest Jackie Collins paperback.
She clearly didn’t have a migraine, as Evie had suspected, she was just sulking after today.
Just an excuse not to have to spend time with Evie and her dad.
Well, sod her, Evie thought. They would have a nice meal out without her.
And Evie had decided that she would broach the subject of Mark’s party.
She was sure that she would be able to talk her dad round without her mum being there.