Free Murder Most Fab by Julian Clary Page B

Nothing
less will do.’
    ‘But
isn’t it nice to have money?’ I ventured. ‘It must be lovely to be rich.’
    ‘You’d
think so — but it’s strange how little it matters when you’re unhappy.’ He sat
down suddenly on the grass. ‘Do you have to rush off? Why not sit here for a
bit and talk to me? I’ve got nothing to do at home.’
    I’d
have cancelled a date with Tom Cruise to be next to him for five minutes. I sat
down, already alive to his physical nearness in a way I had never been to
anyone else’s. I inhaled surreptitiously. He had a grown-up smell, a
combination of furniture polish and russet apples. ‘I’ve got nothing to do
either,’ I said.
    ‘What
makes you happy, then?’ asked Timothy, as if he already knew the answer.
    ‘Oh,
well …‘ I was desperate not to say anything stupid.
    ‘Have
you got a girlfriend?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Ever
had one?’ I shook my head, wondering where this was leading.
    ‘Have
you ever been kissed?’ he asked softly, looking away from me, fiddling with a
bit of flint and digging it into the ground.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Would
you like to be? Because I’ve got the strongest urge to kiss you right now.’ He
spoke casually.
    A
delicious shiver ran right down me. ‘Feel free,’ I said. ‘Try it.’ At last he
turned to me.
    We were
sitting close enough for him to kiss me from where he was, but he took his
time. First he smiled, then an arm reached behind me and stroked the back of my
head. He pulled me towards him, his face angling itself to the right slightly
so our noses didn’t bump. Just before his mouth touched mine, his blond curls
fluttered across my eyes like a dragonfly. I shivered as the kiss began. It was
the softest, sweetest feeling. At first his lips brushed across mine from side
to side. Then they pressed against me as he held my head firm. His tongue
darted quickly into my mouth, but once there it began to swirl and wiggle,
cajoling mine into activity too, until they were writhing about like two
lizards having a mudbath.
    He
pushed me on to the rough grass, and in the process slid down to my neck, which
he bit and nibbled, not stopping even when I arched my back and giggled.
Breathless, I opened my eyes and the sky was a brighter blue than it had been
before.
    After I
don’t know how long, he rolled off me and we lay panting side by side.
    ‘That’ll
do you for starters,’ he said, eventually.
    Starters?
I thought. Already I knew that my life would never be the same again. The
implication that a main course might follow was, well, mouthwatering.
    Timothy
jumped to his feet, as casually as if we had been sunbathing. ‘Come on,’ he
said. ‘I’ll drop you home, if you like.’
    Once up
and strolling across the fields, we were again teenage boys who had only just
met. Back in the car I wanted to stroke his thigh or hold his hand, but somehow
I didn’t dare. The only hint of what had happened between us was the wink he
gave me when I jumped out in front of the cottage. ‘See you soon, Johnny,’ he
said with a big, open-mouthed smile.
     
    Later that night I lay in
bed drumming on my lips with my fingers to bring back the electrifying tingle I
had felt on the knoll. I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t stop smiling even when I
did. I woke up with my face aching, my heart fluttering, after blissful dreams
of Tim kissing me, then kissing me some more. He filled my thoughts. I could
think of nothing but him. What would happen next? Had that kiss been a moment
of madness or the beginning of something wonderful? Never having been in a
romantic situation before, I didn’t know the rules. I just knew I wanted
another kiss.
    The
week passed with me dreaming of Tim and writing his name over and over again in
biro on my school exercise books:
    Timothy
Thornchurch, Timothy Thornchurch, Timothy Thornchurch … or ‘TT for JD’, our
initials enclosed in a heart. I was madly in love. I didn’t care about anything
else.
    ‘You’re
looking bright and