An unexpected guest
comes to my birthday tea

A Fortuitous Adventure:
or, how I got my first job

by Louise Anne Smithson

Chapter 19

The boyfriend

By the time I came down to join the others for my birthday tea, the assembled group of relatives and friends were already chatting happily. I slipped in quietly preferring not to make a dramatic entrance. Jenny noticed me come in an introduced me to Ken, her boyfriend and the three of us began talking quite naturally. Aunt Carol had to go out for the evening and so only stayed long enough to sing ‘Happy birthday’ to me, with the others and to eat a piece of the large cake containing my name in pink icing, which had been ordered from a local cake shop. Karen and Anne, and their respective partners stayed for a half an hour or so longer, but then made their exits. Anne was going out clubbing with Daniel, and Karen was planning to spend the remainder of the weekend with Jim’s parents. Thus my public appearance as Emily was not nearly so daunting or embarrassing as I’d imagined — at least it wasn’t until half past seven when I heard to doorbell. Clare went to answer it and I returned to my conversation with Jenny.

‘Hello Emily, I’m sorry that I was late for your birthday tea,’ said a voice behind me.

I turned and saw Rob looking a little awkward. He was holding a small package that he offered to me.

‘I’ve only just got back to Shrewsbury, but better late than never. Happy birthday!’

He kissed me on the cheek, and I went nearly as red as he was. I opened the package and it contained a peach coloured teddy with a lace trim.

‘Oo la la!’ commented Clare who was standing nearby.

‘I hope you like it,’ said Rob continuing to blush.

It was nice, but I wanted to die from embarrassment. Thank heavens that Aunt Carol was no longer present.

‘I like it very much, thank you, and I’m pleased you were able to come,’ I forced myself to say, and briefly returned his kiss.

There was an awkward silence during which nobody spoke. I felt as if everybody’s eyes were upon me, and ideally I should have liked my guests to disappear so that I could have a private word with Rob, but that was not possible.

‘Why don’t we all go out for a drink together somewhere in the country?’ suggested Geoff. ‘I’ve got my Dad’s six-seater car.’

‘That’d be ok by me, but what do the girls think?’ answered Rob.

Both Clare and Jenny seemed quite keen on the idea but they turned to look for my reaction, since it was my birthday.

‘I suppose it’ll be alright, but I’d better stick to orange juice as I’m still under age,’ I said.

‘I don’t think anyone would guess that by looking at you,’ said Rob.

---

I quickly put my various birthday presents away in my room, and then we all cleared up the various plates and glasses and loaded them in the dishwasher, before leaving to go out. Geoff had parked his father’s car in a lay-by on the road just outside the drive. As we walked to the car, Clare and Jenny naturally gravitated towards their respective boyfriends leaving me with Rob. Clare was evidently intending to sit in the front seat next to Geoff. Rob and I were next to arrive and he held the rear door open for me and pushed forward the seats to enable me to get in to the back row. He then climbed in next to me. Jenny and Ken followed and filled the middle row. At least with everybody else facing forwards and talking among themselves, Rob and I could have a tiny bit of privacy for the first time that evening, so long as long as we spoke quietly.

‘Sorry if you think that I misled you,’ I whispered under my breath.

‘I did think you were a bit young to be engaged,’ he smiled.

I blushed and looked down at the ring which I was still wearing on my left hand. I moved it to the index finger of my right hand, glad that I’d taken the trouble to manicure my nails and renew the polish on them.

‘There,’ I said showing him my left hand, with no ring. ‘I hope you don’t mind being lumbered with my company this evening,’ I added coyly.

He smiled and gently took my hand.

‘I wouldn’t have agreed to come out for a drink if I’d not been happy to talk to you,’ he answered.

The conversation among the others subsided at that point and so I didn’t respond but let him continue to hold my hand until it was time for us to get out of the car.

---

Nothing much happened whilst we were out that evening. We found an attractive country pub on the road to Welshpool, not far from the Welsh border. It had largish trestle tables in the beer garden and so the six of us were able to sit in a group together. We stayed there for about an hour and a half chatting about a variety of things, telling stories about our different jobs, schools or colleges or else cracking jokes. Sometimes the conversation would involve the whole group and sometimes individuals with their immediate neighbours, but nothing intimate. Everybody seemed to be having a relaxed time and I was treated no differently from Clare or Jenny — just one of the girls, and nobody queried my age. Ideally, I’d have liked to get Rob on his own for a heart to heart chat, and I got the feeling he would not have objected to doing so, but it was not really feasible to do so without attracting the attention of the others.

Eventually, after a second drink, I went to the ladies and Clare decided that she would come with me.

‘Emm, would you mind if we drop you and Rob at the house and I go back for a coffee at Geoff’s place? There’s something I need to discuss with him. Rob should be able to take the last bus into town from the stop near our house.’

‘What about Jenny and Ken?’ I asked.

‘We’ll drop them at her place first, his motorcycle is there.’

This all sounded a little bit too convenient, but, on the other hand, it would at least provide me with the opportunity to say a few words to Rob in private. If nothing else I’d be able to wish him good night, without having to worry what the others might be thinking.

‘Yes, that’ll be fine,’ I replied.

‘Of course you could always invite Rob in for a coffee at our place if you wanted, and then he could get a taxi home. I don’t think any of the others will be back before 11.30pm, and you do seem to be getting on alright together,’ she added with her mischievous smile.

‘Hey, is this some kind of a conspiracy?’ I asked.

‘No, not at all, I was just pointing out an opportunity for you to get to know him a little better,’ she said smiling.

‘I’ll think about it,’ I said, blushing like a stop light.

’I really must learn to stop myself from blushing like this all the time,’ I thought to myself.

---

The group didn’t stay out late. At about ten o’clock Geoff and Clare dropped Rob and myself at the entrance to my aunt’s drive; the house was in darkness. We waved to them as they drove off.

‘Thanks for coming back early for my birthday tea and for the lovely birthday present and card,’ I said.

‘I hope you’ve had a happy birthday,’ he replied a little awkwardly.

‘I have now, thanks also for being so understanding about everything,’ I said giving meaningful emphasis to the last word.

‘Not at all, I’ve enjoyed myself this evening; especially your company,’ he said. ‘Maybe we could meet up sometime for that coffee that I promised you?’

For a moment I was paralysed by indecision. He was, after all, inviting me to do something that I truly wanted; but was I letting myself go beyond my depth? Then I remembered Clare’s advice to me about following my instincts.

‘You could come in for a cup of coffee now if you like. I’m afraid it would mean that you missed the last bus, but it won’t cost you that much more to take a taxi instead,’ I suggested.

‘Alright then, yeah I’d like that very much,’ he replied looking into my eyes.

‘But it might be better if you left before my Aunt gets back at eleven thirty, just in case she gets the wrong idea,’ I said.

‘Why ever would she do that?’ he chuckled putting his arm round my shoulder, as we walked down the drive to my aunt’s house.

Ten minutes later we were sitting in the kitchen together sipping instant coffee and having an extra slice of my birthday cake. At first our conversation was fairly matter of fact, relating to my meeting with Mum and his stay with his sister, but after a while we seemed to run out of things to say. Neither of us seemed very willing to raise the topic which was on both our minds. At last, after a minute or so of awkward silence, Rob ventured into uncharted territory.

‘Emily, you still haven’t said whether or not you would like us to meet up again,’ he said.

‘What to do?’ I asked innocently.

He shrugged his shoulders.

‘I don’t know, we could go out for a meal, or a drink, or go see a film or just go out for a walk together. We could even go clubbing, or whatever else you want to do, just to get to know one another a little better. It doesn’t have to be anything heavy as I’ve to go back to Uni in six weeks and you’ll soon need to go back to school in Sussex.’

This time I plucked up courage and took his hand.

‘Look Rob, before we go any further, you do know exactly what I am and what I’m not,’ I said.

‘I think you made that clear in your email and in any event Clare has told me and Geoff the whole story.’ Then he added, ‘but you can’t always control whom you’re attracted to.’

‘I know what you mean, I thought to myself.

‘So won’t there be ’issues’ for you with your friends or family in going out with someone like me?’

He shrugged.

‘I’ve no idea. There might be, but we’d have to take things slowly and deal with them as they arise. How about for you?’ he asked.

‘Jenny, Clare and her sisters would be cool about it, but I’m not sure how my Aunt or my Mother would react to the news.’

‘You are now sixteen. Do you have to tell them?’

‘I suppose not; at least not to begin with. But I’ve never really had a relationship with either a guy or a girl,’ I continued.

‘I didn’t know that, but I suppose I’d have guessed as much,’ he answered.

‘Doesn’t that put you off wanting to see me again?’ I said.

He gave a little laugh.

‘No, not at all, especially if you continue to look as lovely as you do now.’

I felt a flush of contentment as he said those words. At that moment I felt that I would do anything he asked of me. But I struggled to keep my cool.

‘So it would be just like going out with one of your cousins?’ I said.

‘No it had better not be; I once had a fling with one of my cousins and it caused a bit of a family scandal,’ he answered smiling. ‘But I do understand that you are still very young and so I won’t be putting on any pressure for you to sleep with me.’

As he said that he kissed me on the cheek.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ I replied primly whilst simultaneously picturing what it might be like to sleep with him. ‘In that case I’d be happy to go out with you sometime.’

‘Great,’ he said appearing delighted by the prospect. ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’

‘I’ll be working during the day but I have the evening free.’ I said, feeling a mixture of fear and excitement at the prospect of seeing him again.

---

By the time his taxi arrived we’d agreed to go for a quiet walk round the horseshoe of the river Severn in Shrewsbury the following evening, followed by a coffee somewhere. It would give us both a chance to talk and get to know one another a little better without being surrounded by our friends. We arranged to meet at the bus station in town rather than have him come to collect me at the house as I didn’t want my aunt to know that I was going out with a guy at this stage.

‘Will you be telling Clare and her sisters that we’re going out together,’ he asked.

‘I’ll have to tell Clare and Jenny, as they’ll be bound to want to know where I’m going tomorrow night, but the others needn’t know for the time being, especially my aunt,’ I answered.

‘If Clare knows then so will Geoff, but I’ll ask him to be discreet,’ he said. ‘Maybe we can all go out together as a foursome sometime later in the week.’

‘Perhaps, but let’s see how we get on together on our own first,’ I said, now feeling a little more in control of myself and the situation.

‘Good night Emily,’ he said making to kiss me.

I was on the point of turning my head slightly so that he would kiss me on my cheek, but then changed my mind and turned my lips to meet his. After all, what was the point of taking the trouble to make my lips look so nice if no-one is allowed to kiss them?

It felt wonderful to be kissing him and for a moment I wanted nothing more than to dissolve into his arms and lips, but then I began to feel a stirring between my legs, and in any event his taxi was waiting.

‘Good night Rob, I’ll see you tomorrow night,’ I said, gently pulling away from his embrace.

‘I’m looking forward to it.’

---

I waited outside for a few minutes to watch his taxi drive away and gather my own thoughts before quickly returning to clear up the kitchen to dispose of any evidence of his having been there. I had just finished doing so when Aunt Carol arrived home.

‘Hello Emily, where are all the others?’ she asked.

‘They’re all still out; I’ve only just got back myself,’ I said.

‘I hope they didn’t leave you to come home by yourself,’ she sounded a little bit alarmed.

‘No, don’t worry, Clare and Geoff brought me home and dropped me outside the house. She’s gone for a coffee at his place.’

‘Good, I’m relieved to hear it. Have you had a good birthday?’

‘Yes thanks Aunt Carol, I’ve had a great time,’ I answered truthfully. ‘Six of us went on to a pub, but neither Clare nor I, nor the driver, had any alcohol.’

‘I should hope not, you’re only sixteen and Clare’s only seventeen,’ she replied. ‘But I’m pleased that you are now making some more friends of your own age — as long as they all understand your situation.’

‘Yes they all understand my situation,’ I replied, trying work out in my own mind whether I too ‘understood my situation’.

A few minutes later I wished my aunt good night and went up to my room as I wanted some time on my own to reflect. It hadn’t really occurred to me that once I started living and being treated like a girl I would begin to develop the same desires and ambitions as one, particularly with respect to boys. But it was a nice feeling nevertheless.

---

Just over an hour later Clare knocked quietly on my bedroom door, as I was about to get in to bed.

‘I saw that your light was still on Emmy so I thought that I’d find out what happened after we dropped you off.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked innocently.

‘Well are you going to see Rob again of course?’ she asked in mock exasperation.

‘Maybe!’ I repeated.

‘What does that mean?’

‘We’re going out for a walk and perhaps a coffee together tomorrow evening, to see how we get on with one another, but nothing heavy,’ I said, rolling my eyes.

‘That’s great news! I bet Geoff a fiver last weekend that Rob would be taking you out by the end of this week.’

I love my youngest cousin but she does have this tendency to want to organise other people’s lives.