Barry stood up and urged his girlfriend to do the same thing. He kissed her passionately and let out a groan as his penis began to harden. ‘Shall we go upstairs, have a lie-down on the bed and play some records?’ he asked.
Stephanie stared into Barry’s doleful brown eyes and ran her fingers through his thick dark hair. He looked irresistible today in his navy Sergio Tacchini tracksuit and she knew the girls would be all over him like a rash in Spain. Steph held Barry’s hand and, without saying a word to him, she led him up the stairs.
As Pam had predicted earlier, Linda’s tongue started to loosen by the time she had drunk beer number three. Christmas was less than eight weeks away, and as Pam and Cathy discussed who would cook what this year, Linda butted into the conversation. ‘Had a bit of agg in the Trades last night, I did,’ she said, cockily.
Giving Cathy an ‘I told you so’ glance, Pam turned towards her younger sister. ‘You didn’t get yourself nicked again, did you?’
Linda shook her head. ‘Nah, nothing like that.’
‘Spit it out then. What you done now?’
‘I had a row with the treasurer. He said I was pissed, but I weren’t, I swear I weren’t. So I abused him and he barred me.’
‘What? Barred you for good?’ Pam asked, hopefully.
‘I dunno if I’m barred for life yet. My mate Sue’s brother is on the committee, so he’s gonna have a word in the week, see if he can sort it out for me.’
‘So, what did you say to upset the treasurer then?’ Cathy asked Linda.
‘I can’t remember exactly, but I think I called him an old cunt.’
Pam looked at her sister in horror. She hated the C-word. ‘You can’t go round calling people terrible words like that, Lin. No wonder the poor man barred you.’
When Cathy burst out laughing, Pam glared at her friend. ‘Don’t encourage her, Cath. I mean it.’
Slurping her lager out of the can, Linda began to giggle. ‘I only told the truth, he is an old cunt.’
Stephanie was incredibly nervous as Barry unclipped her bra under the quilt cover. He had touched her breasts before, but he had never actually seen them in the flesh. ‘You’re so beautiful, babe,’ Barry groaned, as he put his mouth around her right nipple.
Stephanie winced. The last boy Tammy had got off with had sucked her nipples and she had said it was great. Steph disagreed. Barry seemed to be sucking hers too hard and, instead of feeling any pleasure, all she felt was pain.
Even though they had been going out for over a month now, nothing sexual had taken place between them, and as Barry wriggled out of his Y-fronts and put Steph’s hand on his rock-hard penis, Stephanie felt her whole body freeze. She had never seen or touched a willy in her life before, and not knowing what she was meant to do with it, she decided to squeeze it and hope for the best.
‘Nah, don’t do that, babe,’ Barry said, grabbing her hand. He threw the quilt to one side and began wanking himself off. ‘Do it the way I’m doing it,’ he urged her.
Looking at Barry’s penis standing upright, Stephanie glanced at her naked breasts and began to freak out. This was all too much too soon. Not only did she feel stupid because she obviously didn’t have a clue what she was doing, she also felt way out of her depth. When she pulled the quilt back over herself and burst into tears, Barry stopped masturbating and put a comforting arm around her. ‘What’s a matter, babe? We don’t have to do nothing if you don’t want to, you know.’
Not wanting to admit that all she knew about sex was what she had learned from idle schoolgirl gossip and graffiti on toilet walls, Stephanie thought of the best excuse she could. ‘I can’t do it, Barry. I would if you weren’t going away to Spain, but I think if we do it, it’s gonna make me miss you even more. You don’t mind, do you? Can we just get dressed and have a cuddle?’ Stephanie wept.
Barry had never felt so frustrated before in his life. He wanted Steph badly, but he would never force himself upon her, even though a small part of him wanted to. ‘You get dressed, go downstairs and pour us both a drink, babe. There’s beers and cider in the fridge,’ he said, sensibly.
‘Ain’t you coming downstairs as well?’ Stephanie was worried her naivety might have put him off her and that he might have second thoughts about their relationship continuing.
Not wanting to admit that he needed to finish off masturbating, Barry smiled. ‘I’ll be down in a minute and I’ve gotta nice surprise for you. You go pour the drinks and I’ll see you down there in a tick.’
Stephanie felt incredibly stupid as she awkwardly chucked her clothes on and ran down the stairs. Her thirteen-year-old sister wasn’t frightened of having sex, so why was she? Perhaps she had something wrong with her and she would die a bloody virgin.
Barry thought of Steph’s breasts as he shut his eyes and brought himself to an orgasm. He really wanted to take the memory of their first sexual encounter to Spain with him to give him something to think about in the long dreary months ahead, but he knew that wasn’t going to happen now. In a way he was quite pleased that Steph seemed so prudish, as if she had turned out to be a nymphomaniac, he would have had far more to worry about in his absence.
Wiping the evidence of his little activity off his sheets with a piece of toilet roll, Barry put his tracksuit back on and took the two little black velvet boxes out of his bedside drawer. He had spent forty out of the fifty pounds that Steve had given him on this little gesture, and he really hoped Steph liked it.
Stephanie was sitting on the sofa feeling guilty and dreadfully sorry for herself when Barry walked in the room. She took a large gulp of cider and handed Barry a can of lager. ‘I’m really sorry, Bal. You ain’t got the hump with me, have you?’
Barry knelt down in front of Steph and placed one of the velvet boxes into her right hand. ‘I could never have the hump with you. Now open that.’
Stephanie gasped with glee. ‘Oh it’s lovely. What is it? Is it a locket?’
Barry shook his head and snapped open the other box he was holding. He took the gold pendant out and placed it next to Steph’s. ‘See what it is now?’
‘It’s a gold heart!’ Stephanie exclaimed.
‘It’s a heart broken in two pieces, but when you join ’em up they fit together. I’m gonna wear mine every day in Spain to remind me of you, and I want you to do the same in England. It’s like a broken heart, ain’t it? And that’s what ours will be while we’re apart. But every time you feel sad, I want you to remember that when I get home, that heart will fit together again, forever.’
‘Oh Barry, that’s so romantic.’
Barry took the pendant from Stephanie’s hands and did the clasp up around her neck. ‘You’ll never be able to forget about me now, babe, will you?’
Stephanie let out a tortured sob. ‘I will never forget you, Barry, not ever.’
At six a.m. on the Monday morning, Stephanie was glued to the bedroom window as Barry helped Jake carry the suitcases out to the waiting taxi.
‘Please come down and say goodbye properly,’ Barry shouted up to her.
Totally distraught, Stephanie shook her head and sobbed like a baby. Her tortured breathing was steaming up the glass window and she rubbed it with the sleeve of her dressing gown just to get one last proper look at the boy she adored so very much.
‘Pull yourself together and go down and say goodbye, Steph,’ Angie urged her. She was rather enjoying her sister’s heartbreak and wanted to watch Steph mug herself off in full view of the street.
‘I can’t make myself look a fool – and I’ve got my pyjamas on,’ Stephanie cried.
Angela leapt out of bed and handed Stephanie her black