Free It Started With A Kiss by Lindy Dale Page A

other in the darkness. “This is really
weird,” he whispered. “It’s like it’s…”
    “… The first time again?
Like we’re going back to the future?” Georgie finished.
    Nate nodded.
    Georgie wrapped her arms around his
shoulders. Her lips reached up to meet his as she clung to him,
pressing her body into his, never wanting to let go.
    “ I felt it too. I can feel
it now. But it won’t be anything like that. It'll be much
better.”
    *****
    Georgie had been grounded without an end-date
after the fire-in-the-car episode. Her parents had been so
disappointed by her behavior that leaving her to stew in her room
for an indefinite period seemed the only choice. Well, at least
until they came up with something better. Apart from the odd ten
minutes late for curfew or being caught kissing in the car, Georgie
had always been such a good girl. She was a model student. She
always did as she was told. And because they’d never needed to
punish her before Mr. and Mrs. Bird had no idea how to go about it.
The only thing they did know was that Georgie should not be allowed
to hang out with Nate. He, and his raging hormones, were clearly a
bad influence.
    The decision to keep Nate
and Georgie separate was easier said than done however, and by the
time exams were over and university entrance places submitted, the
pair had devised numerous creative methods to get around the ban,
be it at school, the library or even in the exam preparation
classes. Nobody could stop them from sitting together there. As
long as they were quiet and got on with their work, nobody gave a
fig. The only thing they’d never been able to manage, however, was
to lose their virginity and, while Nate could have his pick of the
girls at school, he wanted nobody but Georgie. His Playboy collection, took
an awful beating during those months. It was lucky to last the
distance.
    The weekend that Georgie was allowed from her
prison for the first time coincided with her parent’s trip to
Queensland. Georgie’s maiden aunt had bought herself a husband in
Indonesia and was having not one, but two weddings — Muslim and
Christian — to celebrate. Every adult in the family had been
invited to see the woman nobody thought would ever marry walk down
the aisle. Georgie was beside herself. She may have been exiled for
the week to Jan and Jock’s, the family friends around the corner,
but she had also been given permission to attend a small gathering
to mark the end of the exams and her school career. When Mrs. Bird
suggested that Georgie should also be in charge of feeding the cats
and checking on the house each day, she jumped at the chance.
Another plan was forming in her head and it involved her, Nate, an
empty house and a single bed. This time, they would have no fires
or cars to contend with.
    On the Saturday night of the party, Georgie
had everything prepared. She’d walked the half block to home during
the day and made her bed with fresh sheets. She’d put a scarf over
her lamp to create mood lighting and she’d dug out the condoms and
candles that she’d packed in her drawer months back, thinking she
may need them some day. She felt a bit odd at having planned the
event with such detail, right down to her knickers, but she wanted
Nate to see how special this was for her and how much she loved
him.
    At ten p.m. that night, Georgie asked the
host of the party if she could use the phone. Then she rang Jan,
explaining she was going to help tidy up after the party but would
be home by twelve — a very plausible excuse, she thought. With a
hug of her girl friends, and the excuse she’d forgotten to feed the
cats and had to do it before curfew, Georgie skipped out the door
and down the road.
    Nate was waiting on the verandah under the
porch light. His big shoulders were silhouetted against the front
door and it made Georgie shiver to think that very soon they would
be in her bed together. She wasn’t nervous at all. Nate knew what
he was doing and he would