Night To Remember

The beat of glam rock from the fairground reached into the centre of the maze, and the moonlight illuminated Scottie’s face as he bobbed his head in time to the music. Scottie wasn’t his real name, but he had a Scottish accent, and it had sounded almost exotic when he’d asked her meet him at the maze at midnight.

‘Ma pal’s askin’ yours,’ he’d said. ‘D’you wanna come too?’

‘You make it sound irresistible,’ she’d replied, angry that Kate had been first choice, as usual.

‘He jus’ wants to grab her tits,’ Scottie laughed. ‘I want to talk to you.’

Linda’s parents hadn’t wanted her to go on holiday with Kate, even though Kate’s Dad had promised to keep a close eye on both girls.

‘Don’t worry,’ he’d reassured them. ‘The girls will be in the caravan with us. No harm will come to either of them.’

But Kate’s little brother was afraid on his own in the awning, and begged to come into the caravan. After swapping sleeping bags and feigning annoyance at the disruption, Linda and Kate planned their late-night escapade in excited whispers.

‘Why did you want to talk to me?’ Linda asked, trying to ignore the sound of Kate and Scottie’s friend snogging noisily a mere hedge away.

‘You’re interesting,’ he said. ‘We were watching you both, on the dodgems. Your mate was just looking around for boys, but you were really focused. You saw that guy drop his wallet and you drove over and scooped it up in seconds. You didn’t think anyone saw, but I did.’

‘Did you see me give it back, as well?’ she asked, and he laughed again.

‘Aye. I thought you were a fool.’

‘I’m not!’ she retorted.

‘Sorry, I’m only teasing you,’ he said, contrite now. ‘It’s not a crime to be honest. I wouldn’t have liked you so much if you’d kept it.’

Mollified, she said, ‘You like me?’

‘Aye, I like you.’ He moved closer to her and put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. ‘I’m glad Pauly chose your mate. I preferred you the moment I saw you.’

Linda allowed him to kiss her, and she put her arms around him, shyly, slowly.

‘What’s your name?’ he asked.

‘Sophie,’ she said.

‘Sophie, are you gonna let me do more than just kiss you?’

‘Maybe. Not that much, though.’ She nodded towards the hedge. The loud snogging had given way to panting and whispering, giggling and moaning, and both of them knew what their friends were doing.

In the end she let him unhook her bra and stroke her small breasts. It was quite nice, she thought, and when he started to lick and suck on her nipples she unzipped his jeans. That surprised him. She only had to rub her hand firmly against him through his underpants a couple of times before he pulled away from her, gasping, then groaning softly, looking up at her with a rueful smile.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you … I wasn’t expecting …’

‘It’s OK,’ she smiled, fastening her bra and pulling her tee-shirt back down to her waist. ‘We can do it properly tomorrow. If you want to meet me here again, I mean.’

He nodded and stood up, zipping up his jeans, and reaching down to pull her to her feet.

‘Oh, you dropped this,’ Linda said, bending down to pick up his wallet from where it had fallen on the grass behind him.

‘Thanks, Sophie.’

He held her hand and led through the high hedges of the maze until they were back at the entrance. Kate and Pauly were only a minute or two behind them.

On the late bus back to the campsite, Linda asked her friend, ‘So, did you?’

‘Yeah,’ Kate grinned. ‘I won’t forget tonight, the first time I ever did it! What about you?’

Linda put her hand in the pocket of her denim skirt and her fingertips touched the wad of notes she had extracted from Scottie’s wallet.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’ll remember tonight.’