Before the Boctor: Tales From Leadworth

The Summer of Roff

In the summer of 2006, a couple summers before the Doctor dropped in unceremoniously and changed Leadworth forever, every day was hotter than the last. The pavement was scorching, and every pool was jam packed with families making futile attempts to escape the heat. I spent most of my days in the library, one of the only air conditioned buildings in Leadworth that year (Clara's fourth raven race of the spring had broken all the aircon, and no one wanted to repair it in this heat while being bodyslammed by them.) I'd been minding my own business, reading all sorts of books about cars and interior design and the occasional sci-fi novel when Jeff Angelo walked into the library. Considering he spent most of his time playing footie and smashing his fingers together on his little gaming pad, I hadn't been expecting to see him there. From the look on his face, I supposed he'd been expecting me to be sitting under some tree on a hill sucking face with Amy. But Amy had gone on holiday to London, so that had been out of the question.

I could practically hear Mels in my head laughing at me for the way I stared at Jeff nervously manoeuvring stacks of books that he clearly hadn't seen since we were ten and our teachers took us to the library and demanded we picked a book out to read. Who could blame me though? Jeff was cute. On the outside, he seemed to have this bold, flashy personality, but anyone who really knew him knew that when it came to the people he really wanted to know, he was as awkward as I was. I didn't really quite feel for him the way I felt for Amy, though. Jeff was the kind of person that you just knew that somewhere out there in the multiverse, you had a life with. Just not this one. Perhaps if Amy had never moved to Leadworth, or if I'd gotten fed up with the Raggedy Doctor Mr Whippy van games, my heart would be set on Jeff. But not in this world. I knew deep down I'd always love Amy.

Amy, who was dating Charlie Duffy.

So maybe it wasn't meant to be yet. I don't know. It's hard to think retrospectively about how I felt about Amy back then because in truth, I haven't thought about those days in ages. None of us have, except maybe for a laugh whenever we have barbecues in the back garden.

But back to Jeff.

Jeff had this sort of boyish charm that drew me to him. I'm not sure what it was about him that I liked so much. Perhaps it was the way that he offered me a second option, the way that thinking about him distracted me from thinking about Amy and the way that my chest would constrict whenever I saw her sitting on a bench in Dukles Park with Charlie. I guess in the end that whatever I felt for Jeff was more distraction than intoxication, an imperfect infatuation that was never meant to last.

I took pity at him at last and asked him what he was looking for.

"Rory!" he exclaimed, relieved to see me, something most people never were. "I'm looking for the bird section."

"Ornithology's in the five-nineties."

"Any good books on ravens?"

"Oh. Clara's ravens again. It's in the Leadworth section, third unit from the left, second-to-top shelf."

"You know this library well, don't you?"

"I spend a lot of time."

"I bet," he said, and left me to my book, my cheeks slightly red. He came back a few minutes later with a large volume on appropriate ways of treating ravens. An absolute essential when you live in a town plagued by racing ravens that like to bodyslam people. He practically slammed the book onto the table I was sitting at and sat on the chair next to me.

I tried to ignore the way my heart was pounding in my chest, but to no avail. I glanced to my side. His hand was only a short distance away from mine. I moved mine closer to his, our fingertips just barely touching. I looked up and he looked away.

"Nice ravens we've got today," Jeff said, biting his lip like he wished he hadn't said a word.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Nice ravens?"

He pointed at his book with the hand that'd been close to mine, resting it awkwardly on top of the book. I glanced at him, my face flushed.

"How're things going with you and Amy?"

"How -- "

"Rory. Everyone knows you have a crush on Amy except for Amy."

"Is it that obvious?"

"My gran knows you have a crush on her. It's been obvious since we were all kids."

He didn't seem to happy about it. You know when your parents ask you if you're doing well in school and you have to tell them the truth that you're not? It sounded like that. Like he was resigned to the fact that I wasn't his.

"But what wasn't obvious," he continued with a gulp, "was that I like you too."

I gaped openly at him. "Tell me you're lying."

"I'm telling the truth."

Something came over me like a rush of warm wind, and it felt like something was pushing me forwards, closer to him. I reached over and rested my hand on top of his before I could stop myself. He looked up at me in surprise, his eyes unreadable. In that moment, I'd forgotten about everything: about my parents, about the sweltering summer heat, about Amy, distant Amy. I'd forgotten what it felt like to be Rory Williams, the boy who was too cowardly to admit his feelings to the girl he'd been pining for all his life.

And then Jeff kissed me. It started out soft and messy. I'd never kissed anyone in my life, much less another boy. His lips felt foreign but they fit so well with mine that I barely registered it. He pulled away and I looked into his eyes, partially in horror of how far I'd let my feelings take me, partially in awe that I could even feel that way.

"Jeff - "

"Want more?"

I nodded feebly, and Jeff kissed me again. This time, he took my head in his hands and held it gently. A chill ran up my spine. It felt electric, us alone in the library, doing what neither of us had ever dared to do. I didn't know how to explain it, but Jeff just felt right to me in that moment. Perhaps I'd been wrong this whole time about Amy; perhaps I'd been holding onto a futile childhood crush and forgetting that there were plenty of fish out there in the sea. It was like altering the course of my life in a single kiss, a moment in time frozen out from the rest of reality. I could choose now where I was going; for once in my life, I could pick myself. I'd follow my own path, become the doctor I'd always wanted to be.

I was Rory Williams, and today I was choosing Jeff.

I kissed him like my life depended on it and forgot Leadworth, forgot Amy, forgot every creeping thought that had been plaguing me.

Jeff pulled away at last, and I took a deep breath, blushing as I looked at him. My whole body was trembling with the shiver of possibility. I could barely think as my mind raced in a thousand directions, each more tempestuous than the last. Jeff smiled at me, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Do you want to go out this Friday?"

I nodded.

I'd just scored a date with Jeff Angelo, hadn't I?

Jeff grinned, kissed me on the cheek, and went back out into the sunlight.

And I, Rory Williams, held back a childish giggle at the idea of going on my first ever date.