The Decoy Date

Chapter Two

Charlie Ramsey, she’d just kissed Charlie Ramsey; Imogen Jones was not an impulsive person she thought about every action, every repercussion, every consequence; yet she’d just stood up to her mother and kissed a complete stranger, who it turned out wasn’t a stranger. Charlie Ramsey was a blast from the past she’d left behind and never wanted to visit ever again, they’d gone to the same school from the ages of eleven to sixteen and it hadn’t exactly been the best days of her life. In all honesty school had been hell for her and she was glad when she got to university and could start afresh.

Glasses, the fact she actually did work and being overweight had made her an easy target for bullies, Charlie Ramsey or ‘Rambo’ as everyone used to call him wasn’t the main culprit but he was always there in the background with his gang of lookalike cronies. They always found something to mock her with and the school hadn’t done anything to help either. When she’d finally escaped at sixteen she thought it would finally be over, but college had been nearly as bad with some of the usual suspects from school following her there.

When he’d bumped into her outside the coffee shop he’d looked familiar but she couldn’t remember where from and then when he’d said his name she just had to get out of there, away from all the horrible memories that were now flying through her mind. She’d suppressed them a long time ago, locking them away and burying them deep inside herself, never to see the light of day again. Nevertheless here they were, resurfacing and opening old wounds time hadn’t quite healed.

Completely lost in her thoughts she walked straight past The Bookcase – the book shop she co-owned with Jess – only to be called back by her friend who was swinging in the doorway. Imogen trudged back past the neighbouring shop windows and through the door Jess had vacated, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as her best friend tried to hide her laughter.

“How was your coffee?” It was only now she realised she hadn’t even got to drink her cappuccino, it was coating the pavement further round Regent’s Park Road.                                                                   

  “I didn’t get to drink it. A guy walked into me and I spilled it all over the path.”                                       

“And he didn’t offer to buy you another?” Jess looked at me shaking her head, manners were a big thing for her, she believed men should hold doors open and throw their coats over puddles for women to walk over, she was really old-fashioned in that sense.

“Well . . . we were too busy kissing.” I avoided looking at her until I’d said the whole sentence otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten it out, when I finally turned to her she stared open mouthed and eyebrows raised in surprise. Imogen was never impetuous, the fact she’d finally refused her mother’s date organising had been a shock to Jess, but kissing a stranger was a step even further.

“Was he fit?” An image of Charlie from this morning popped into her head, she hadn’t had the chance to digest anything about his appearance, panic had took control of her and made her bolt straight out of there. However thinking back now she took in his dark brown tufty hair, shorter now than when she’d last seen him at school; he’d lost the boyish good looks that made all the teenage girls swoon, but he was still handsome and the thin layer of stubble concealing his cheeks made him even more attractive. Facial hair always seemed to get her heart racing, she didn’t know why. Those deep blue eyes were the same unfathomable pools as they had been thirteen years ago, they were striking yet soft, capturing her every attention, not willing to let her go.

And the kiss, the kiss had been one of those that made you forget everything around you; only you and the other person in the whole world. She hated to admit it, but it was the best kiss she’d had in her life and one of the people she hated most in the world had set her alight with it. Jess stared encapsulated as she described what he looked like and how he had pulled her into his body and held her so close to him. Imogen’s heart rate increased as she recounted the softness of his lips turning to urgency and then softening again, the way his hand moved to her neck to pull her in closer so he could kiss her deeper. Why did he have to be such a good kisser?

“So what was his name?” She froze, she couldn’t tell Jess it had been him; Jess had lived through every harrowing detail of school with her, she’d been the rock Imogen had leaned on, always there for support when things got bad.                                                                                                                            

“I uh didn’t get his name, his ex-girlfriend showed up and got into an argument with him, so I just kind of slipped away without them noticing.” It wasn’t completely untrue, his Ex had shown up and she had slipped away without saying anything.

“Noooo! You sounded like you really liked him, he would’ve been perfect for taking to your dad’s party next Saturday.” She frowned and went back to doodling on the notepad in front of her, Imogen went to help a customer look for a book he wanted but she couldn’t take her mind off Charlie or that kiss.

                                                     *

Charlie had driven home in a trance-like state, the kiss had taken him completely by surprise and he hadn’t expected it to blow his mind quite the way it had, plus it had scared Sarah away, for a while at least. Having almost hit two cyclists, a golden labrador and its owner he finally reached the comfort of the house he shared with two friends on Chalcot Road, the rent was extremely expensive but it was a really beautiful setting, not far from the park or where any of the three of them worked.

As he parked outside his Georgian terrace house, he couldn’t help but recall the kiss and the woman’s reaction after she’d found out his name. Why had she run off so quickly? He’d wanted to find out more about her, maybe ask her on a date but he’d never got the chance. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, there was still something so familiar about her but he couldn’t recollect the name Imogen Jones. They definitely hadn’t dated, he would have remembered if he’d been kissed like that before and he definitely hadn’t seen her at college; his fellow students had all been Goths and stoner arty types, which she certainly wasn’t.

Toby, his best friend from the age of three, was sat on the edge of the sofa watching some quiz show where people had to play a giant game of monopoly, answering questions to move around the board. He had no idea where they were getting the ideas for new television shows from, most of them were crap anyway but as Toby was showing, people watched them. Charlie slumped down on the other end of the sofa, sinking slowly into the leather cushions and sighed as he leaned his head back.

“Barcelona, no it might be Madrid actually!” Toby shouted the answer to the question just asked on the show, Charlie looked at the screen, the quizmaster was some washed up actor who used to be in a soap, but he, like most of the country couldn’t actually remember the person’s name. Toby always got involved with TV quizzes, he got addicted to them and could always be found watching reruns of The Weakest Link or Eggheads on his days off. Nobody complained as he picked up useless knowledge that had helped them win the pub quiz the last five times they’d entered and resulted in Toby being disqualified and not being allowed to take part anymore.

“How was school?” His friend looked at him for the first time and noticed the giant coffee stain that had now dried on his shirt and trousers. “I know we were pretty bad, but we never threw liquid at the teachers; at each other yes but not the teachers.” They both smiled at the memories of school, they’d messed about all the time which had given them legendary status, however now as a teacher himself he realised what little shits they really were. Something triggered in his mind, Imogen Jones, school. Was that where I knew her from?

“Hey, do you remember an Imogen Jones from school?” He asked Toby who had returned engrossed to the small screen when he hadn’t answered the question straight away.          

“Um, maybe, rings a bell but I couldn’t tell you what she looked like. I’ve got my year book from when we left if you want to check in that.” He got up and left the room, thumps echoed through the open door to the hallway from him running down the stairs to his basement bedroom. Five minutes later he returned with a cardboard box filled with books, photos and trophies; they both looked in the top and smiled at each other like children in a toy shop.

“Bloody hell! Look at your hair there.” Charlie pulled a framed photo of Toby off the top of the pile before them, he was standing in front of a cage with a monkey in the background. He must have only been sixteen or seventeen, about the time he started working at London Zoo where he still was; animals had always been his passion and when he got the chance to work at the zoo he jumped at it. They both laughed as they pulled more and more photos from the box, most were of the two of them with Liam, their other housemate and Adam, another friend who made up their foursome. They all looked ridiculous like some floppy-haired boyband from the nineties, each looking more self-important and ludicrous than the last.

“Here we go, Holloway Comprehensive School year book from 2000.” Toby pulled a brown hardback book from the box, it was in great condition not having been looked at in the thirteen years since they’d left school. He flicked through the pages scanning the photos of people he no longer saw and wondered how many of them had children of their own, how many were married or still lived in London. He’d run into a few people from the pictures but most of them would be strangers now anyway.

Good luck message after good luck message passed with each page as he came across the photos of Toby, Liam, Adam and himself. They’d been inseparable at that age, always hanging out together in Regent’s Park, kicking a football around and daring each other to try and buy cans of lager from the off-license. Now they all had jobs, Toby at the zoo, Liam a civil engineer, Adam at the British museum and him at school; a lot had changed in thirteen years. Adam was even dating his little sister Molly, he’d been pissed off at first but came to realise Adam was one of his best friends and that he could trust him to look after her.

More snapshots of his youth passed by and he still hadn’t found anyone with the name Imogen yet, maybe he’d been wrong, maybe it wasn’t school he knew her from. He was near the end of the book and giving up hope when he saw the name he had been searching for - Imogen Jones – right there in black and white. Steeling himself he shifted his gaze to the photograph and everything dropped instantly, his stomach, his heart, his head. He remembered Imogen Jones now and understood exactly why she’d fled so quickly, if their positions had been reversed he would have run like hell in the opposite direction. He’d been horrible to her in school, everybody had; regret sat heavy in his stomach, churning enough to make him feel like running to the bathroom.

“f**k!” He dropped the book to the floor and stood up awkwardly stretching his cramping legs. There was no way he’d see her again and he didn’t blame her, he didn’t want to see most of the people from school but she must have been horrified to run into him again.

“What? Oh that’s Imogen Jones. Why did you want to know anyway?” Toby had picked up the book he’d discarded and began examining the photographs himself.

“I ran into her outside The Roast House, hence my attire. Then Sarah showed up and I freaked, so Imogen kissed me in front of Sarah and introduced herself as my new girlfriend. Sarah freaked and ran off crying, so I introduced myself and Imogen ran off as well.” Toby burst out laughing, Charlie was not used to being rejected by women, he’d never made one so repulsed she bolted off let alone two in the space of five minutes. “I don’t blame her, do you? Everybody made her life s**t, I wouldn’t want to meet me again if I’d gone through what she did.”

“No, she had it bad. Does she still look the same?” Charlie walked over to his friend and peered at the photo again, fighting back a flinch at the pain he must have caused her in his teenage years. He examined the grey-scale picture of a sixteen year old girl, she wore thick milk bottle-bottom glasses, her dark hair cut short in a bob that looked homemade, the ends sat unevenly just below her ears. Her plump face was smiling but it hadn’t reached her eyes, they only conveyed a hidden pain crying out to be noticed and relieved.

“Not really, she’s still got glasses but they’re those black-framed ones that everyone’s wearing that make you look clever and sexy at the same time. She’s lost weight but she’s still curvy, you know in all the right places and warm and ballsy. Amazing lips as well!” His heart raced as he remembered the way she had took charge and initiated the kiss, the way her hands pulled his face to hers then snaked around his neck and held him in place. God he was turning himself on just thinking about it.

“You like her!” Toby smiled coyly at him, he began flicking through the rest of his year book looking up and smiling at Charlie every few seconds. “I wonder where she’s living anyway.” Charlie stood up and fetched his laptop from the bag he’d dropped in the hall on his way through the house, sitting back down on the sofa, he logged onto the internet and brought up f*******:. Toby, wondering what he was doing, got up and hovered by the arm of the sofa watching what he was doing.

Finally he found the Imogen Jones he was looking for, the first one he clicked on was a transvestite from Middleborough who was more of a man than he was judging by the five o’clock shadow in the profile photo. He had clicked on a Welsh supermodel, a female lorry driver from Detroit and a surfing champion from Sydney, before uncovering the woman he was looking for, the women who had kissed him and made him lose his mind.

“She owns The Bookcase book shop, that’s not far from here is it, on Regent’s Park Road I think. She’s literally around the corner. Is that her? Wow she looks good.” Toby took the laptop from him and began scrolling through the photo album, it was made up of snapshots of Imogen and two other women, there were pictures of goldfish and holiday snaps thrown in as well. She looked happy in all of them and he felt a little relief that she’d found some joy since school.

Charlie watched the photos go round on an endless loop and allowed an idea to form in his mind, an idea that would allow him to see Imogen more and make amends for some of his previous misdemeanours. He went about planning for a trip to his local book shop without telling his friend what he was thinking.

                                                             *

“I can’t believe you just kissed him Immie, without knowing anything about him. It’s so not like you!” Imogen glanced over her coffee cup at Jenny Parker, she and Jess had met Jenny at University College London when they all moved into halls together. She was a biology graduate who had gone into secondary school teaching, for which she and Jess got endless laughter from all the stories Jenny told them. The three of them always met for brunch on a Saturday morning, Immie and Jess would open the shop and Jenny would bring the coffee and pastries with her. Jess had already passed on the news of Imogen’s public display of affection.

“Can we stop talking about this please?” She moaned at them, she’d always hated being the centre of attention, that was the reason she loved books so much, she could hide away and escape to another world where she didn’t have a worry or care. The library had been her safe haven at school, she could go there without worrying about meeting any of her tormentors; none of them would be seen dead in the library. Since the age of ten it had been her ambition to become an author, one she’d been working on ever since, although it was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Her friends continued to discuss her actions, so she grabbed another Danish and settled back in her chair trying to ignore their chit chat. She didn’t need to hear any more about it, it was all she could think about anyway, his lips on hers, his hands on her body. She’d even dreamt about him last night, it wasn’t fair, she’d gotten rid of him once why did he have to make a reappearance in her life.

“You were going to show me that book on biodiversity you found the other day, Im. Can you show me now, I’ve got to get going soon I’m meeting my mum for lunch later. I can’t wait.” Jenny rolled her eyes as she stood up to follow Imogen to the back of the shop, she and her mother had the same sort of relationship as Imogen had with her own mother; not a very friendly one. They walked to the back of the shop where the non-fiction section was situated, the shop sold both new and second-hand books which people often donated. They’d received a box earlier in the week with some books from a university that was renewing its library and one book had stood out in particular as something that might interest Jenny, so she’d kept it back just in case.

She handed her friend the used book, it had a red leather hard cover with gold lettering, if it had been of interest to her she would have kept it to herself it was so beautiful.

“Wow, this fantastic.” She flicked through the yellowing pages, examining diagrams and reading small passages to herself.

“Immie, there’s a gentleman here to see you. I think it might be your mystery man from yesterday.” She froze at the mention of yesterday’s incident again, it couldn’t be him, he couldn’t have found her, could he? Her pulse rate kicked up a notch as she made her way back through the shop to the counter. She stopped dead when she saw him, he looked just as good dressed in jeans and maroon V-neck sweater this time. He stood looking at one of the paperbacks they had on the counter and thought he actually appeared a nice person, only she knew the truth of what he could be like.

When he heard her come in he looked up, his face full of remorse and nerves.

“Hi, I wasn’t sure if I’d got the right place.” His voice shook slightly as he scanned the room, he took a step towards where she was rooted to the spot. “I just wanted to apologise . . . for everything. I was horrible to you in school, I was a bastard and I know there are no words that can make that up to you, but I have to try. I couldn’t leave it the way it was yesterday. I’m not expecting any forgiveness but I just wanted you to know I am so sorry for everything that happened.” His voice broke over the last sentence and her heart lurched at the genuine remorse he showed, but how could she believe him, trust that he truly meant it.

“Charlie, what are you doing here?” Jenny walked out from behind her and smiled at Charlie, she walked over to him and gave him a quick hug.

“I came to see Imogen, we used to know each other and I bumped into her yesterday, I just came over to apologise again and see if I could buy her a coffee to make it right.” He looked imploringly at Imogen who was still in a state of shock, she couldn’t bring herself to move or to talk, she still didn’t know how he’d found her.

“You’re the guy she kissed yesterday and hasn’t stopped going on about, Ha. Sorry I’ve got to get going or my mum will be pissed. Talk to you later Immie.” Jenny walked through the door waving through the shop window as she passed, then she was gone and Imogen was left alone with Charlie, where the hell was Jess?

“So what do you say? Can I buy you a coffee, I know it won’t make up for anything that happened at school but at least let me make up for yesterday.” She turned to her left where Jess had reappeared and was smiling at the two of them, she nudged Imogen in the shoulder and nodded her head trying to get her to accept the invitation.

“Jess, you remember Charlie Ramsey don’t you? From school.” The smile instantly disappeared from her face as she looked back at the man who had been one of their sworn enemies since they were eleven years old. She took a step forward and raised her fist landing a beautiful right hook, Mike Tyson would have been proud of.

“Who the hell do you think you are? Coming here apologising, not asking for forgiveness. You made her life a living hell, you’ve got a bloody nerve even walking in this place. You don’t deserve anything from her, you know that!”

“Jess, that’s enough. I think he understands he’s a s**t and he’s lucky he hasn’t got a broken jaw from that punch.” Imogen stepped in front of her friend blocking her from another attack, she was breathing heavily and the rage remained in her eyes as she tried to calm herself down with deep shaking breaths. She turned back to Charlie who was holding the side of his face and stretching his jaw. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say, but what the heck.

“Okay, I’ll go for a coffee with you. I need one after what’s just happened here.”