“Your fella? If you say so love. How about getting off this mountain before we freeze us bits off. He’ll have to park up by road and we’ve got torches. He’ll not miss us.” She didn’t believe for a second he was actually coming but Emily was on a high. It would be cruel to pop that balloon.
“We must part for now. You go down.”
Brenda protested several times. They’d be much safer in one group, but the Emily was having none of it. The couple had no choice but to agree and they resigned themselves descending alone. Just as they were about to set off, Emily called out to her.
“When you find him, seduce him. Bewitch him as you do all men.”
“Ok, will do, pet.” shouted back Brenda.
As they started down Ted said, “Will you?”
“I might at that, what’s it to you?” Brenda laughed. “Bah, it’s not like his coming anyhow.”
When they got back to the van, there was an empty Ford Fiesta parked next to it. Brenda knew instantly whose car it was.
“Well, I’ll be,” said Ted. “Here he is. Or near abouts. We didn’t miss him on the peak. He’ll be around somewhere.”
“Well, I’m knackered for one. We’ll wait in the van. He’s bound to come back eventually.”
5. The Chase
Neville had been to and fro from this spot all evening. He’d driven there before dark, just to get an idea of the lay of the land and to scout things out. Then it’d been tea-time and he’d had to head back. His mam had wanted him to put some stuff up in the attic afterward which had taken some time. He’d then headed out on the pretence of going round to his mates for some couch co-op gaming. Just as he was getting out of the car at the spot, his mam had called and asked him to get milk from the Co-Op before it closed. The Co-Op was next door to his friend’s, but a forty-minute round trip from this bit of the moors. His mam being his mam, she’d be calling back every fifteen minutes to make sure he didn’t forget. He swore to himself, but he set off back to town. They’d been no-one there anyway. Then he’d had to stop for petrol on the way back. When he arrived here for the third time in nearly four hours, there was a white van parked up in a secluded area, but no-one around, least of all his crush. He got out to go and see if anything was happening off the beaten-track.
He wanted to know what Brenda’s game was. She’d been so helpful with the boots and she’d meant something with all that nodding and winking, though God knew what. It involved Emily in some strange way, but he couldn’t see why she’d be out here of an evening. It didn’t make much sense, but he wasn’t going to let even a chance in a million slip through his fingers.
He’d considered about watching the bookstore, waiting to see if Emily left and then follow her, but then decided that was a bit stalkerish. He already felt bad enough about following her earlier today. He’d been milling around town, having picked up a paper from the news-agent and seen he heading down Park Street. He hadn’t exactlynot been going that way, and his feet had just followed her of their own accord — more or less. And then when she’d gone into the shoe-shop, it had just been curiosity that led him to have a nose in. On reflection, his behaviour was tending towards the creepy. He’d have to watch that. No laying in wait for her outside her place of work was a step too far, though now he thought on it, he wasn’t sure why laying in wait in the middle of a wood in the darkness was any better. No, hang on, he did know – he’d been invited after all. That was it.
As he reached the edge of the trees he heard music coming from up on the peak. Kids, no doubt, they’d be the only one’s crazy enough to hang out up there. He’d been up there at night himself, during his sixth form days — just the once though, it was more a cool kids thing. He’d always been the outcast, at school and at university. He’d watched as each of his friends paired off, copped off and lost their virginity. None of the had ever happened to him. He’d always supposed it would naturally. Now, increasingly, he was coming to the realization that he was going to have to make it happen. If only he knew how. He had to admit it probably didn’t involve buying three-hundred pound boots, but that was more of a positive step than not buying the boots. This year he was determined to at least get an A for effort.
He’d delivered the boots earlier in the day. He’d wrapped them and the note had taken him ages working out exactly how to say what he wanted. He’d put them by the front door step, so they wouldn’t be missed. A player would have given them to her directly. No, he corrected, himself, a player wouldn’t have needed to buy a pair of expensive boots. It didn’t occur to him that a player might not be that interested in Emily in the first place.
He checked his phone. It was well past-midnight. Whatever was supposed to have happened either hadn’t or he’d missed it. He assumed it was the latter. It was the story of his life. He wandered back to his car.
As he got back to the road he saw the inside light on in the van. Brenda was there, as was a man. With anyone else, he’d have naturally said it was their husband. Brenda being Brenda, you couldn’t assume. The van flashed its lights at him. He went over.
“Evening,” he said as she wound the window down. “Seen Emily?”
“Yeah, we’ve seen a lot of her tonight, haven’t we?” Brenda nudged her husband. The way they were smiling suggested some secret, shared joke. If so, it was undoubtedly mucky. Neville didn’t want to think about the possible implications. Several flashed through his mind before he shut them down.
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