J & P Book 1 - Say You Need Me

Chapter 1 - August 2001

Music had always been the love of Jenny's life. Well, after Joe, of course. That went without saying.

Unintentionally, she was laid on top of her CD player's remote control, and the music suddenly became louder, arousing her from her fantasy. Her thoughts, as they still always seemed to be, were with Joe. In her daydream, his strong, muscular arms had been wrapped around her curvy figure as they once were, and she had been smiling adoringly at him, as he tipped his head to passionately kiss her lips. His face was beautiful, almost like an angel from heaven, and every single touch sent a tingle around Jenny's young body.

"I love you, Joe," she heard herself say. "Do you feel the same way about me?"

"A-ha," was the reply from the tall, dark and handsome boy, as he smiled gently at her. "You know I do, Jen."

Jenny fought to hold back the inevitable tears, which were forming as she sat alone in her bedroom. Where was he now? Why hadn't he told her he was going? Why had he gone? Would she ever see him again?

Now she had to get him out of her head. Before the daydream turned nasty. Before the truth set in, and hurled her against the wall. She had to forget Joe. Perhaps it was, despite all her tears, for the best that he had gone.

She made an effort to consciously listen to the music, but the lyrics did little to console her. "I just can't make it alone..."

The doorbell rang.

At first she was motionless, and just listened to the ring echo through the dark rooms of the large house that she called home. Normally she would have let someone else answer the door, but because her mother and Mike were away visiting relatives, Deny was out, and she was uncertain of Becky's whereabouts, it would be her assignment tonight to let this person into the family home.

But what if? What if it was Joe, stood there on her doorstep, with flowers and an ambivalent gaze, wishing to apologise to her for all of the pain and the torment? Or, even worse, if he had come to terrify her once more?

But there was no way this could be Joe. She felt safe. Joe was, she felt sure, far away, and in her heart she knew that. She just needed to know where he was.

Jenny stood up, turned the volume on her CD player down slightly, and walked to the door of her tidy, warm room. Stopping to glance at the photograph on the dresser, she left the room, gently closing the door behind her. As she stood at the top of the stairs she made sure that nobody else was about, just in case she could delegate the task of answering the doorbell, to prevent the need for her anxiety.

Running her trembling hand along the wooden banister, she crept downstairs, and silently covered the short distance to the front door. Composing herself, she opened the door very slightly, and peered nervously to see who was behind the door, seeking entrance to her home so late in the evening.

There had been no need for panic. It was Lucia, a friend of Becky's.

"Er.... Hi Lucia," said Jenny, a little ashamed of herself for her earlier agitation. "You... The doorbell startled me a bit there! I...I'm all alone at the moment, you see."

Lucia smiled. "I'm sorry Jenny. I was beginning to think no-one was in for a minute. How are you?"

"Me? Oh I'm... I'm fine. Were you looking for Becky? Come on in."

Lucia was a shy, but extremely pretty girl. She was pleasant and gentle in character, nothing like Becky at all, yet they were close friends.

Lucia lived in a house around the corner with two flatmates, all of whom were at university with Becky. They quite often had parties, usually of the wild, drunken variety preferred by students, as Jenny well knew herself from her student days in Birmingham. She'd been to a couple of them, which was how she knew Lucia. Lucia was always the quiet one, while her first flatmate Lenny was shifty and sly, and then there was Lucy.