Chapter 9

 

Chapter 9

 

Now that college was over, myself and Laura began preparations to move into my Mothers house for the time being. Steve had packed his stuff a day after he graduated, he was going with some friends in a house about six miles from my Mums house.

     Then, three days after Steve moved out, I stood in my college room. Laura had two suitcases on her bed and she was slowly filling them with clothes. I had packed mine and it was resting by the door. Now, I was just getting my books and some other things together. I put the books in a bin bag and placed it next to my suitcase, then I went to help Laura pack. For a reason I couldn’t explain, I wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. “Hey, are you ok?” Laura asked me, a little concern in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine. I just want to go home.” I told her then I continued to help pack her suitcases.

     I had past my driving test the previous spring so I decided I would drive back to my Mum’s house. At 6pm, I loaded my suitcase into the back of the car, the car was a red Ford Escort. Then I saw Laura emerge from the reception doors, her suitcases being pulled behind her. Then she came over to me and kissed me.

“Put those in for me please, babe?” She asked, indicated the two suitcases. I nodded and hoisted one of the two suitcases into the back of the car. Then Laura moved around the side of the car and got into the passengers seat. I closed the trunk and locked it with my key. Then I joined Laura and turned on the ignition.

“Ready?” I asked Laura.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She replied. Then I pulled away, away from college, away from part of my life.

     We arrived at my Mum’s house around 8pm, I only had to drive thirty miles but traffic was heavier than usual. I stopped in front of my house.

“Here we are babe.” I said. Laura looked out of her window at my house.

“Oh, it’s beautiful. Your Mum knows how to take care of a house. That’s for sure.” She said excitedly.

     I got out and walked to the front door. I gave a sharp knock on the door. Then it swung open to reveal my Mother on the other side.

“Ah! Your home!” My Mother screamed. She darted forward and gave me a tight hug.

“Hey, Mum.” I said, I was struggling to breathe. Then Laura appeared behind us. To my surprise, my Mother released me and ran to Laura and hugged her too. Laura looked quite shocked. Then Laura and my Mother went inside chatting vigorously and I went to get the luggage and then I joined them in the house.

     I woke the next morning with the sun peeking through the curtains. I looked at my watch, 6:30. Too early to get up. I moved on to my side and cuddled up to Laura’s sleeping body. Then, I began to drift off to sleep with the warm sun on my skin.

“Baby? Baby? You awake?” I heard Laura’s soft voice saying. I opened my eyes and saw her looking back at me.

“My God, what time is it?” I asked her sleepily.

“11:30.” She told me, and I was surprised that I had slept that long.

“Wow. I going to get up. You staying in bed?” I asked. She gave a yawn and stretched her back and arms.

“No, I’ll get up as well.” She said with half a yawn.

     We both went down stairs and found my Mother sitting at the dinning table, she was sitting there with a cup of coffee and some eggs and bacon.

“Morning you two.” She said softly.

“Good morning, Mrs. Irons.” Laura said, I just gave a small nod instead of words.

“Dear, you don’t have to call me ‘Mrs. Irons’, it’s Kate.” My Mother told her, her hands wrapped around the mug of coffee as if it was a blanket. I gestured to Laura to sit down at the table then I left the room and went into the kitchen.

“Babe? Do you want any breakfast?” I shouted to her.

“Yeah, please. Uh, how about some beans on toast?” She shouted back.

“Ok then.” I replied. Then I cooked her beans on toast and did myself two boiled eggs and toast soldiers. Then I took them into the dinning room and placed the beans on toast in front of Laura. The three of us sat there, eating together. Then my Mother spoke.

“So, what’s the plan, you two?” I looked up at her, away from my eggs and toast.

“Plan? Plan for what?” I asked, my speech slightly muffled by a mouthful of yolk and toast. Laura looked up too now.

“For your future.” My Mother said. She had finished her eggs and bacon and now sat there, occasionally sipping her steaming coffee, waiting for my reply. I swallowed the chewed toast.

“I want to go to medical school. I need to do some research on that first to see what I have to do exactly.” I told her. Laura was smiling at me, a wide smile. Laura understood my passion for medicine and she shared my passion so I knew she would back me up, as I would her. My Mother nodded and continued sipping her coffee.

“Is that ok with you?” I asked her, feeling as though she did not approve of my decision.

“Of course! I believe that if you want something bad enough, you’ll get it, but only if you work hard enough for it.” She replied, I felt a little easier about it now. I had my Mother’s approval. She looked at Laura.

“What about you, dear?” She asked her. Laura was silent for a few moments but then she spoke.

“I think I want to be a paramedic.” She told my Mother, this was the first time that I heard Laura say what she wanted to do with her life, to be honest, I had never really asked her. I placed my hand on hers and we smiled at each other for a short while, then we both continued eating while my Mother finished her coffee.

     Just as we finished breakfast and my Mother finally finished her coffee, there was a knock at the door. Me and Laura both got up.

“No, it’s ok, I’ll answer it.” I told her, then she returned to her seat. I briefly wiped my mouth on the back of my hand as I walked out of the dinning room and started for the front door. I reached for the door handle and pulled the door open. I found Nikki in front of me. She leaped forward and tightly hugged me.

“Ah! Hello! I’ve missed you so much!” Nikki said joyfully in my ear. She released me and closed the front door as she stepped into the house.

“Hi, Nikki. You look great.” I told her, and she did look great. Her hair was pulled tightly back in a ponytail and her face was pearly and neat. She smiled at me broadly. She gave a big sigh.

“Look, I’m sorry I would have come round sooner but I’ve been so busy with law school.” She explained.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” I told her and then we both walked into the living room and sat on the sofa. We talked for a while about how she was doing in law school, she explained that she had another year to go until she got her degree. Then Laura came through the door. Nikki stood up.

“Oh, hi Nikki!” Laura said, and she moved closer to Nikki and gave her a hug.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Nikki asked.

“Oh, I’m fine. How about you?” Laura replied.

“Yeah, I feel great.” Nikki said. Then we all talked for about half an hour before Nikki had to leave.

“Right. I really need to go. I’m meeting my boyfriend at noon and I need to get ready.” Nikki informed us.

“Your boyfriend?” I said, a little surprised.

“Oh, I haven’t told you about him did I? His name is Josh and he’s really cool.” She said and got up. She hugged me and Laura and said goodbye then she walked out of the room then a few moments later I heard the front door open then close.

     A year later, Laura had filled in an application to join the paramedic service. It would take about three weeks until she heard anything back. I helped her fill in the application and I really hoped that she would get the job. If she got a positive reply she would have to undergo training before she officially started.

     The previous day, we had celebrated Nikki’s achievement of getting her law degree. Now she was hunting for a job in a small lawyers office to start with, but she hoped to become a prosecuting lawyer. Me, Laura, Steve, my Mother, and to our surprise, even Nikki’s Mum showed her face, Nikki had invited her, but she doubted whether she would actually come. Things had gotten slightly better now between Nikki and her Mother but it would take a lot of work until they completely made up.

     Steve had told us that he had bought a small shop and that he was in the process of starting his own business of selling electronics. He said that it would be a few months yet before the shop actually opened it’s doors. Steve had contributed most of the money to start his business but apparently his parents had contributed at least a quarter of the total costs. Steve planned opening another shop if the shop he had now generated enough money.

     I was looking for universities in London that had a medical attached to it. There were about three that caught my interest. I had researched the London area universities and in order to gain a medical diploma, I had to complete a five year medical course. I had conferred with my Mother, as well as Laura, (who was still waiting to see if she could become a paramedic).

     After two weeks of very careful thought and consideration, I had finally decided to inquire about doing a medical course at St. George’s Hospital Medical School. I called them up and asked a few questions about whether I could get an application form and maybe some information on the place. The woman I spoke to on the phone was very kind and very polite and she told me that she would send an information pack with an application form inside. She asked for my name and full address, then she told me that the documents would arrive in about three days. Then the kind woman hung up.

     Then I waited patiently for the application form. I was very passionate about medicine and I really wanted to be a doctor. My mother had become very encouraging, as was Laura. Then on the third day, the medical school documents came as promised. At the time I was walking from the living room to the bathroom when I was interrupted by a fat envelope that was working it’s way through the letter box. I scrambled to the front door and tripped over my own foot and I dropped to the ground. Pain was covering my left side like a blanket. I gasped loudly.

“Are you ok?” Asked Laura nervously from the living room.

“Yeah, yeah I’m ok.” I replied breathlessly. I struggled to get to my feet, but I managed it, the pain quite unbearable. I looked at the mat that stood at the foot of the door. There my future lay, on the brown fibres that was the mat. Then, a sharp pain pierced my chest, it was not physical pain, instead it was mental pain. The envelope reminded me of the day when my Fathers death certificate had came through the door. It took me a few minutes to recover from this sudden realisation. After I recovered, I wrapped my hands around the envelope and picked it up, then I discovered that my face was moist. I had been crying. Crying for my Father. I tucked the envelope under my arm, as if I was protecting it from the world, then I joined Laura in the living room.

     After I had read through the information I had received, (with Laura reading over my shoulder) I began filling in the application without hesitation. I was writing so fast I thought that the paper would burst into flames in front of my face. Then I sealed it in the envelope that had been included in the pack, then I posted it with a first class stamp. Now I had to wait. But for how long?

     After three weeks, I had three sets of good news over the period of three days. The first was that Laura had been accepted for training as a paramedic. When she opened the letter she screamed so loud that my ears were ringing them she jumped on me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I was so happy for her that I had a sudden urge. It was rather lucky that my mother was out shopping because I grabbed Laura’s hand and took her up to my bedroom where we made love for about an hour.

     The following day, I had a phone call from Steve. His business was now fully up and running. He sounded so excited I thought he’d keel over and have a heart attack while he was on the phone to me. Then he asked if me and Laura would come and see it as soon as we could. We agreed to come down the next day.

     And so we did. I drove to Steve’s shop, it was in the centre of London, about twenty minutes away from my house. Once we got there, me and Laura were greeted by a magnificent building. It was of decent size, about the size of four terrace houses. It was painted a shiny black colour and it had windows that reached from the floor to the top of the ground floor. There were three neon signs plastered along the wall, and there was one standing sign at the kerb. All the signs read: ‘Electro Steve.’ This made me chuckle slightly as I got out of the car. Laura climbed out of the car and quietly exclaimed at the sight that stood before her. I wondered to my self how much all this had cost, I reckoned about £400.000 at least. I locked up the car and grabbed Laura’s hand, then we began walking into the shop together.

     Once we were inside, again we were cheerfully greeted by the wonderful shop. The walls were painted a royal blue and the carpet that laid across the entire shop floor was a golden colour. The walls were lined with shelf and these shelf’s were filled with electronics. Everything from coffee makers to video recorders. The shop floor contained two cashiers desks about six feet from where me and Laura were standing, with two employees standing at these posts. They looked very bored and one of them had resorted to playing with two pencils. Also, the shop floor was filled with large electronics such as televisions, fridges, cookers, vacuum cleaners, computers and freezers. There were two salesman patrolling the shop floor like soldiers. I was surprised at how Steve had achieved all of this, this is his first business after all and already he had salesman. The place was covered by security cameras and I even noticed a security guard standing by the back wall. Then our observations were interrupted by a cheerful voice.

“Laura! Nick! Welcome!” Shouted Steve’s voice. We turned to our right and saw Steve running at us. He had change slightly. His hair was longer and he had a short beard that suited him very much. Then the three of us were stuck in a group hug. The few customers that were in the shop turned to see what the commotion was. Then we released each other.

“Hey, Steve. This place is wonderful.” Laura commented.

“Oh, thank you Laura.” He replied, a big grin on his face. He turned to me.

“What do you think, mate?” He asked me.

“It’s great. I’m a little stuck on how you afforded all of this.” I said with a little laugh. Steve shrugged.

“Well, I have been saving every penny I had since I was about thirteen and my folks helped me out as well. The customers have been spending quite a bit too.” He explained. He was a little hyperactive, he was obviously very, very pleased to see us.

“Well, hey, let’s go into the back, to my office.” He said and escorted us into the back, passing the customers and the staff, all of them now too interested in the stock that stood before each and every one of them.

     When we went into the back, it seemed to me that this day was going to continue surprising me. Steve had to use an electronic key card in order to get into his office. As far as I was concerned, Steve had been quite modest when he had said ‘office,’ it was more of a flat than an office. The ‘office’ was like a living room. I mean yeah, it had a desk and a filing cabinet, but behind this desk was a screen that stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. Steve led us behind this screen and I saw a sofa, a television, a bookcase, a strange panel that contained many buttons and switches and even a small bar. There also was two doors on the right and next to each door was a key card reader. I frowned and Steve noticed my expression.

“What?” Steve asked casually.

“Oh, no. I just wondered what was though there.” I told him. Laura was standing there watching the two of us. Steve pointed to the door on the left side.

“That’s the private kitchen.” He said, then he pointed to the door on the right side.

“And that’s the bathroom.” He continued. Both Laura and I were quite astonished at this.

“Wow, it’s like you live here all the time.” Laura said humorously. Steve smiled.

“I do live here.” He replied. I raised my eyebrows.

“How come?” I asked inquiringly.

“I waiting for my new apartment to become ready.” Steve said with a short laugh. He gestured for us to sit on the sofa. We did so, and Steve moved over to the bar.

“Want a drink?” He asked us both, in that casual tone. I considered his offer.

“Yeah, I’ll have a Scotch, please.”

“Um, I’ll have a vodka and Coke, if you’ve got it.” Laura asked. Then Steve turned around with three glasses in his hands. He gave a glass to me and another to Laura then he joined us on the sofa where we sat talking for what seemed like hours.