Abbi... Read online

  Mark looked like a wet drip. He was soaking. “The car seemed further away than when I parked it,” he told her grinning as they drove off.

  “Can we get something to eat?” she asked him.

  “Sure. What do you fancy?” Abbi had no idea what she wanted.

  “Anything as long as it’s food,” she said. “I’m starving.” He quickly drove them to a fish and chip takeaway and went in to order. Soon enough he was back with two cod and chips. The smell was heavenly. Within a very short time most of the food was gone. They had completely steamed up the car. You couldn’t see anything and the rain was drumming down harder than ever. Eventually Mark took Abbi home. It had been a good day.

  The rest of the week passed far too quickly for both of them. Abbi had seen Mark almost every day of the summer. She would badly miss him when he left. Abbi thought about him constantly. Mark thought about her all the time too.

  Abbi was getting much better as the days passed. She was out with Mark every day. Jess was helping the situation too. She distracted Abbi from her injuries. Abbi recognised that they were slowly becoming friends. Jess never mentioned what had happened between Mark and herself to Abbi. It didn’t mean anything so there was no point.

  Too soon Abbi and Mark’s last day together arrived. Abbi didn’t want to wake up. That would mean waking up to their last day. She wanted to fall back into oblivion so she wouldn’t have to say goodbye to him.

  It was eight o’clock in the evening and Abbi was just about to leave the house as Mark was going to pick her up. Her mother came into her room and asked, “When do I expect you back?” Abbi paused for a bit.

  “You don’t,” she said quickly. Without even looking she knew her mother had raised her eyebrows. “Look I am going whether you like it or not,” she said. “It‘s his last night here. It may well be the last time I ever see him. I would like you to trust me and let me go willingly rather than making me sneak out.”

  After a second Abbi’s mum said, “I agree. I just worry about you because two weeks ago you were repeatedly stabbed and in hospital. I am sorry I was avoiding you when you were ill.” Abbi looked at her. “I just got so angry looking at you and knowing what some lunatic had done to my daughter so I avoided you and I shouldn’t have.” Her mum held her arms out for a hug.

  Abbi gave her one. “Right I have to go,” Abbi said.

  Jessica popped up around the corner. She said in a low voice, “does this mean your bed’s free tonight and I don’t have to sleep on the sofa?”

  “Yeah sure,” Abbi said smiling.

  “Thanks. You have fun tonight,” she said rolling her eyes. Abbi laughed and said goodbye to her mother.

  “See you tomorrow,” her mum said. “Just be careful okay?”

  “Yes mum,” and she left the house and saw Mark waiting for her.

  “Hi,” Abbi said getting into his car. She gave him a kiss and they drove off towards his holiday home.

  “You feeling okay?” he asked her.

  “Yeah, I’m feeling much better,” she said truthfully. A companionable silence filled the car. Eventually he parked the car outside. She was suddenly very nervous. They both got out and Mark unlocked the door.

  “You don’t have to do this you know,” he whispered to her. She smiled and kissed him.

  “I want to,” she said. Mark opened the door and Abbi stepped through it. When she looked around she realised that rose petals were on the floor. She immediately kissed Mark passionately. “They’re perfect,” she said and kissed him again. He swung the door shut and led the way to the bedroom as they wrapped their arms around each other.

  When they got there she noticed what he had done with the room. There were rose petals sprinkled all over the bed which had silk sheets on it. There were candles alight giving the room a soft glow and there was even a bottle of champagne on ice with two glasses on the side.

  “You make an effort when you are trying to impress a girl,” she said and they both laughed.

  “Only when you’re the girl I’m trying to impress,” he said seriously then he kissed her. He held her face gently as she wrapped her arms around him pulling him closer. He started to kiss her neck and she sighed with pleasure as he worked his way down. He was stopped by her top. She pulled him closer and took his T- shirt off. He pushed her onto the bed gently. She smiled at him as he took her top off her. He threw it on the floor and looked at her incredibly passionately. Her hair was done up in a dark ribbon. He gently took that off her and kissed her once more.

  She touched his face softly as he took his trousers off. He then unzipped her skirt and threw that aside too. They were both shaking. He went to kiss her stomach were her scars were. They were still bruised but they looked less painful. He kissed the first one and she sighed. She had been holding her breath, he could tell. He delicately kissed the other scar.

  Her hands went down to stroke his head while he kissed her body. Then he looked her in the eyes. She kissed him tenderly as he put his arms around her back. He slowly undid her bra. Their kiss got deeper. She looked at him with complete trust as he kissed her again and again and again.

  When it was over she curled up beside him. “We haven’t drunk our champagne yet,” she murmured. He kissed the top of her head and went to the side to get the bottle and the glasses. He sat up next to her pouring their champagne.

  “This is nice,” she said as he gave her a glass. “You really made an effort for me,” she added as they clinked glasses together.

  “Of course I did,” he said gently. She kissed him on the cheek. “Which reminds me”, he said. “I have something for you.” He reached under the pillow and found a jewellery box. He gave it to her and she slowly opened it.

  It had a silver ring in there. She looked at it carefully as she got it out of the box. It was a plain band but it looked like it was real silver. It had been engraved she saw as well. “Together and apart. Love M.” Her eyes were shining and she started to cry.

  “Stop that,” Mark said gently. “This is to let you know that I will always be thinking of you, wherever I am. And to remind you that I love you always.” She held out her hand silently. He put it on her engagement finger. It fit perfectly. “One day I will come back,” he said. “I know it seems so far away but I won’t leave you.”

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I always will do. I swear.” She held him tightly as he made love to her once more.

  After he had made love to her again she fell asleep. As he watched her he thought that she wasn’t really well again. The effects of the attack were still hurting her. He had felt that when he kissed her. Half her mouth was still swollen. She didn’t complain once though. He was shattered but he daren’t go to sleep. If he did he would miss all these moments to be treasured until they met again. He hated leaving her. It was going to be awful tomorrow morning when he did leave. They had both been preparing for it for so long. He knew it would be terrible and it would hurt near to agony.

  He had an early train so he had to be in his car by seven to get to the station. All his stuff was packed so he wouldn’t be in a desperate rush in the morning. He had a sudden thought and slowly got out of bed so as not to disturb her. He looked around the floor for something. There it was. He took hold of the ribbon that had come out of her hair. That he would keep until they met again.

  “What are you doing?” Abbi had woken up.

  “I was looking for this,” he said holding up her hair ribbon. “I want to keep it to remind me of you. Of tonight.”

  “Keep it,” she told him. They both drifted off to sleep soon after, arms around each other.”

  Mark woke up at six in the morning. He only had one hour left with her. He didn’t know if he should wake her up or leave her to sleep. After a minute he decided to wake her up.

  “Abbi,” he said shaking her slightly.

  “What is it?” she said with her eyes shut.

  Mark swallowed. “I’ve got to go soon,” he whispered to her. Suddenly her eyes
flew open as she remembered where she was.

  “How long have we got?” she asked quickly waking up.

  “About an hour,” he told her.

  “Oh God!” She got out of bed wearing nothing but the ring he had given her the night before. That sight made him feel oddly calmer. She came back in five minutes wearing a dressing gown with a couple of racks of toast on a tray.

  “You take good care of me,” he said smiling. She grinned too and the both started eating. Within five minutes the toast had gone. They both curled up in bed together.

  “When I have left,” he started. She looked at him like she wanted him to stop but he carried on. “When I have left I will leave you with the key. You can stay for as long as you want, just post the key through the letter box when you’re ready to leave.”

  Their time together went far too quickly. Before she knew it he was getting dressed. He was at the door his hands around her face. He gently kissed her scars down her face ending with his lips on hers.

  “Please keep in touch with me,” she said. She was crying but she couldn’t stop herself.

  “Of course I will you daft thing. I love you very, very much,” he said softly. “The key is by the champagne in our room”, he said slowly. Abbi’s tears were running freely by now.

  She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him for the last time before he left. “I love you too,” she said.

  “I’m not going to look back at you,” he said quickly. “Because if I do I won’t be able to leave you.” He gave her one last hug and he said quickly, “Bye.” He walked away from her and was true to his word. He didn’t look back.

  When he had driven away Abbi went to the room where she had made love with him last night. She was still crying and she looked by the champagne. Sure enough there was a key. There was also a note to her. She dashed away her tears and read it quickly.

  Abbi

  There is so much I want you to know that I will never get the chance or be brave enough to say it all to you when I leave. I will never ever forget you. I will come back one day, I promise you that. I also promise that I won’t get involved with anyone else while I am not with you. I could never do that to you. I love you so much. I don’t want to leave you. But I have to.

  I hope that your scars will fade. (I know how much you hate them though I couldn’t care less about them. Only the pain that they cause you.) I hope you will be happy. If you feel the same way about me as I do about you it will be the hardest thing you have ever done. Watching me go. I can’t imagine walking out that door and not coming back to you. But it has to be done.

  I will be back one day and we will be together again. Last night meant everything to me and I hope it did for you.

  I love you always

  Mark

  Abbi fell on the floor, crying with the weight of her broken heart.

  An hour later Abbi had got dressed, had dried her eyes and was ready to leave. She wanted to leave the house as soon as possible because to many fresh memories of him flashed at her. Mark had told her that one of his fathers people would come and close the house up for the year in a couple of weeks so she could leave everything as it was.

  Abbi left the house and locked the door. She was about to post the key through the door when she had second thoughts. She pocketed the key. Just in case. His house was only a ten minute walk away from her own and she felt up to the walk so she left. When she got home her mother was up and waiting for her.

  “How did it go?” she asked before Abbi had closed the door. Abbi walked into the living room and collapsed on a chair.

  “It was … fine,” she said. She looked at her own hands and saw the ring that Mark had given her. She curled her hand into a fist so that it caught the light. She knew she would never take it off.

  “Tell me more than that,” her mum said impatiently.

  “I’ve never been happier,” Abbi said. “And I’ve never been sadder.” Eleanor followed her daughters gaze and saw the ring on her finger.

  “He gave you that did he?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Abbi said. She didn’t feel like going into it at the moment. She kept reliving their final moments together in her head. It was like a looped tape that went over and over that she couldn’t stop from playing. She didn’t want to think about him. It was too painful. Her mother evidently got the message because she left her daughter to it.

  Abbi got her phone out of her pocket and checked to see if she had any messages. She hadn’t. She sent a text to Mark simply saying I love you. Within five minutes she was reading a message he had sent to her. I miss you already. My heart is with you. Love you M. Abbi silently started to cry to herself.

  She opened the door to her room and saw Jess asleep. It might be nice to talk to her when she was awake. Also it gave Abbi time to calm down slightly. She shut herself in the bathroom and continued crying silently.

  Chapter 12

  Long Absence

  After their last meeting the months passed. Abbi became fully healthy and went back to work. She tried as hard as she could to not think of him at least several times a minute. It didn’t work. They kept in contact by letters and phone calls but they hadn’t seen each other since that fateful day. Jessica was still living with Abbi. She had got a job as a cleaner of an office block in New Port town which she hated. Jessica insisted on putting some money towards the household bills though so she needed a job. Jessica and Abbi had become friends which was inevitable with the amount of time they spent together over the past few months.

  Mark had gone back for his last year at Oxford University as he had been told he had to. He constantly thought of Abbi. He kept a picture of her in his wallet. She was laughing at the camera with her dazzling smile. The months came and went. His father was very pleased that he had done what he should have and was in his proper place. As far as his father was concerned Abbi was out of Mark’s head. Steve was more sympathetic and he knew that Abbi was never far from his mind.

  One day in early December Steve asked Mark what he was doing over Christmas.

  “Not a lot,” Mark said “Why?”

  “I know that you never stop thinking of Abbi,” Steve said. “With Christmas nearly here you have time off school. You’re not even needed for any meetings with dad. Go and visit her.”

  Mark was silent at that. He could go and visit her, that was true. He had already bought her some Christmas presents. “Go and get the train down to visit her,” Steve continued.

  “Won’t everyone be upset that I’m not here for Christmas?” Mark asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Steve said. “Dad doesn’t care about Christmas, mum will understand and I could do without seeing you moping around looking like death.” Before Steve had even stopped speaking Mark had raced up and went to call the train station to reserve his ticket.

  That was just as well thought Steve because he had planned to spend Christmas with Grace, who lived up in Manchester. If their parents let Mark go for that long, they would certainly let Steve go and see his girlfriend. Especially as they approved of Grace.

  Mark had planned that he would leave London on the 21st December and come back on the 2nd January. That gave him nearly two weeks with her. He would get to spend Christmas and new years with her. He wouldn’t tell her he was coming down to see her. It would be a surprise. The rest of the month crawled by.

  Eventually the morning of the twenty first dawned. It was a freezing day. Steve had been right. His parents didn’t particularly mind him leaving. His father barely even realised it was Christmas. The train journey took ages. It was jam packed as well as everyone seemed to be leaving London for the festive period.

  Finally he got off the train and saw his old car still in the car park where he had left it four months ago. He went up to it and unlocked it. It still worked fine even though it looked quite grubby. He put his suitcases in the boot and drove to her house. He couldn’t wait to see her.

  There was barely any traffic on the roads but Mark had to driv
e slower in case of ice. It felt like it took twice as long to get to her house than it usually would have done.

  Finally he parked outside her house and got out of the car. Her mother’s car wasn’t there he noticed, pleased. He would have her to himself for a while at least. He phoned her on his mobile waiting for her to answer.

  “Hi,” her voice rang out.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  “I’m missing you if I’m honest,” she said. “The hotel has closed over Christmas as no one was going so I’m sitting at home flicking on the T.V as there is nothing better to do. And I‘m bored out of my mind.”

  “I have an idea,” Mark said quickly. “Go outside. I was watching the weather forecast and apparently it is going to snow,” he said feebly.

  “No way,” she said. “It hardly ever snows here plus it’s freezing. Anyway I could look out the window to see…” She never finished her sentence. Mark saw the curtains twitch as Abbi looked outside and saw him standing outside her house. The phone went dead as the door of her house was flung open.

  She ran up to him and threw herself into his arms. She was clinging to him as tightly as she could. He returned her embrace and then kissed her intensely. Abbi returned his kiss and it was a long time before either of them could stop.

  “Surprise,” he whispered as she tightened her arms around him. After a while he let her go and had a look at her.

  “Your hair,” he said quietly. Her long blonde hair had been cut and it was now shoulder length. It made her look so much different than the girl he remembered.