Legacy Of The Past
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‘I thought you intended to try smoking sometimes,’ he remarked lazily.
‘I did … I do.’ Diana bit her lip.
‘You’re frightened,’ he jeered, and she stiffened her shoulders.
‘No, I’m not. Give me one.’
Shrugging, Jeff handed her a cigarette and lit it. Diana drew on it as she had seen other people doing and then began to cough chokingly.
Jeff grinned and pounded her on the back and Diana shuddered.
‘Ugh, it’s horrible!’ she exclaimed. ‘I don’t know how you can.’
‘You must persevere,’ said Jeff. ‘Go on, have another drag.’
‘No, thank you.’ Diana was adamant. She threw the cigarette on the floor and put her foot on it.
‘Hey!’ Jeff was indignant. ‘They don’t grow on trees, you know.’
‘No. Plants,’ replied Diana sarcastically, and Jeff looked furious.
‘Very amusing,’ he said coldly, and stalked off across the dance floor.
Diana was flabbergasted. She had never dreamed he would walk away and leave her. Her heart was pounding rapidly and she felt herself going cold inside.
She knew that all the other girls at the Club envied her her association with Jeffrey Emerson. He was a very attractive boy and could have his pick of the girls. That he should choose her had always thrilled her enormously because prior to the last two months he had treated her like a child. Since she had started at the Commercial College she had grown up greatly and did not realize just how appealing she was with her silky hair and wide eyes. When he had started dating her, her prestige with the others had gone up a lot, and part of his attraction was that he was the current heart-throb.
The music had started again and she saw him approach a slim, fair girl and obviously ask her to dance. Diana felt hurt and angry. How dared he treat her like this? She had a good mind to go home. But she knew she wouldn’t. She would wait and see whether he came back. It was galling, but she couldn’t walk out on him. Not now.
She ordered another coffee and sat sipping it pensively. If he didn’t come back between dances she would have to go home. It would be awful!
She was in the depths of despair, two dances later, when she was aware that someone had joined her. Hardly daring to look round, she gave him a sidelong glance. To her relief, it was Jeff.
Jeff’s face was rather remote, but he said:
‘Do you want to dance?’
Diana felt her hands go clammy. ‘I … well, do you?’
He shrugged. ‘Yes. I’m going to dance,’ he replied coolly.
‘All right.’ She slid off her stool.
The music was slow and haunting now, a love-song being crooned by a current disc idol. Jeff drew her into his arms and put his cheek against her hair. They moved slowly, their arms wrapped round each other. Diana could feel herself trembling and he murmured: ‘Relax.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, aware of herself apologizing for nothing. But anything was better than his indifference.
Jeff looked down at her. ‘Are you?’ he asked.
‘Why did you walk away?’ she murmured, looking anxious.
‘I don’t like being treated like an idiot.’
‘But I wasn’t … oh, Jeff, I guess I am silly at times. Can’t we forget about it?’
Jeff’s eyes softened. ‘All right, Diana. I guess I was as much to blame for taking the huff. Did I make you jealous?’
Diana blushed. ‘Yes, you succeeded in that direction,’ she remarked softly, against his neck, and felt his arms tighten possessively about her.
When the music ended he glanced at his watch.
‘It’s nine-thirty,’ he said quietly. ‘Let’s go, hmn?’
She nodded and went to collect her coat. Outside the air was clear but bitterly cold and they walked swiftly along to the bus stop. Jeff lived at the opposite end of Otterbury, near the secondary school, in fact, but he always saw Diana right home.
The bus dropped them at the end of Evenwood Gardens and they walked up the darkened road towards the second block of flats where the Scotts lived. Before they reached the second block, between the two tall buildings, was a small ornamental garden with flower beds and a bench set among rose trees and rhododendron bushes. The last few dates they had had together had ended on the bench where they said a prolonged goodnight to each other. Although it was cold they still walked through the gardens to the bench, but they did not sit down tonight. It had been raining earlier in the day and everywhere was still slightly damp, but the bushes at least provided a little privacy.
‘Well,’ said Diana, looking up at Jeff, ‘thanks for bringing me home.’
‘It was a pleasure,’ he said softly, pulling her to him, close against his warm body. ‘Oh, Diana,’ he groaned urgently, and his mouth met hers.
Diana slid her arms around him, returning his kiss more responsively than ever. Their minor upset this evening had merely served as an incentive to their mutual attraction for one another and Diana, no less than Jeff, found something infinitely more absorbing in their embrace than ever before.
Diana knew very little about kissing of this kind, not being as old as Jeff or as experienced, but she was aware of a kind of danger not far away. Something about his intense hold on her and the increased tenor of his breathing warned her he was emotionally disturbed in a way hitherto unknown to her. With a feeling of revulsion, she suddenly drew back and swallowed hard.
Jeff fastened his overcoat with unsteady fingers and said:
‘Have you any idea what kissing like that does to a fellow?’ in a tight, withdrawn voice.