Peer Pressure (25 page)

Rob, meanwhile, made his way over to Katy, who had returned to the kitchen doorway, her arms crossed as she watched her only child humiliate herself.

“This is disappointing,” she stated, although she didn’t look at Rob when she said it, keeping her eyes fixed on her daughter. Rob shrugged and tried to walk a fine line between being annoyed and amused.

“Not to her.”

“I can’t believe my daughter is shitfaced at our first ever garden party.”

Searching for something comforting to throw into the situation, the best Rob could come up with was:

“At least she’s outside if she throws up.”

Katy sighed, before turning to Rob and whispering in his ear.

“Should we cut our losses and get everybody out of here?”

Rob shook his head.

“I don’t think it will come to that. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

That was when Laura screamed out,

“Speech!!!!”

Katy, Rob and indeed the entire guest list all turned towards the table, where the scream had come from, to see Jodie slowly stepping up onto one of the garden chairs, Laura clapping and cheering her on. Katy’s heart, already somewhere in the pit of her stomach, somehow managed to sink even further, now residing somewhere in her gut. She turned and walked back into her kitchen, with the resigned statement:

“I need a cigarette.”

Clouds had begun to roll in, making the sky turn a dark hue of grey, a color that reflected Katy’s mood at this point. Katy was about to reach into the back of the cupboard to retrieve her secret stash of cigarettes, when she felt Rob’s hand on her shoulder.

Outside, Jodie tried to maintain her balance on the plastic piece of furniture she now stood. The alcohol in her system was beginning to take on a less logical attitude and as she looked out upon the gathered guests, she began to imagine she was accepting a major award, an Oscar or an Emmy perhaps. She quickly gave herself the once over, making sure she looked as good as she thought she looked. Unaware she had some leaves stuck to her back from earlier when she had lost her balance and fallen off the park bench.

“Okay, Okay, I didn’t write anything down, so bear with me.”

The guests moved slightly uneasily, wondering just what stupid crap was about to come forth from the girl. As it happened, Jodie paused for a good twenty seconds before continuing, partly because she found it hard to focus and partly because she was looking for her mother amongst the guests and spotted her coming just as she appeared back in the kitchen doorway. Jodie smiled,

“Mum, this is great, I love you. And don’t worry I’m not as drunk as you think I am.”

Sean turned to gage Katy’s reactions. However, Katy could tell what was coming next, as Jodie continued:

“I’m much,
much
worse!”

Susan and Mary laughed, followed a few seconds later by Laura, who was still sitting down at the table, beginning to look a little worse for wear. Sean couldn’t help but keep looking over to Katy, who just stood still, her expression unchanged. She was determined to keep her cool, happy to try and pass this one off as a youthful folly on her daughter’s part.

“But seriously, the garden looks great. Only you could have pulled this off.”

At that moment, Rob appeared in the doorway behind Katy, slowly wrapping his arms around her waist and lightly kissing the back of her head. A gesture that, for Katy, was one of moral support and affection, a gesture that said

‘Don’t be upset, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.’

For Jodie, however, it was like a final slap in the face, a gesture that said,

‘You lost. Look at them, it’s over. Not only that, you’ve screwed up everything else too!

Do something, quick!’

And so, without thinking, she blurted out,

“I’ll bet Dad couldn’t have done this, right?”

This is when Katy’s expression finally changed from stern disappointment, to hurt surprise. Where had this come from? Jodie hadn’t brought up her father in five years and even then he was only mentioned in passing. Katy suddenly felt embarrassed, not just for Jodie, but also, ultimately, for herself.

Digging up the past had not been part of the plan for tonight’s festivities, but suddenly it was out there. Katy gently stepped forward and addressed her daughter.

“Jodie, I think that’ll do.”

Jodie, however, couldn’t help but continue, her mouth now way ahead of her head.

“No, seriously, he’s a dick, right?”

Katy stepped forward again.

“Jodie, get down off the chair and settle down.”

Jodie wouldn’t relent.

“Why can’t you just agree? We don’t owe him anything, do we?”

“It’s not as simple as that, Jodie.”

“It never is, is it?” replied Jodie, with a real bitterness in her voice. It was this tone that finally gave Katy enough reason to turn and say:

“Okay folks, I think the party’s over.”

Jodie stepped down off the chair and strode over to her mother.

“Why won’t you just say he’s a dick? You never say a bad word about him, why is that?”

They stood face to face for a moment, almost as if they were sizing each other up before a fight. Katy stood her ground, and allowed her eyes to do the talking.

Jodie, drunk or not, could read her mother like a book and it didn’t take long for her to work out that this was a sore point and definitely the wrong time for such melodramatic behavior.

The mother/daughter staring contest was as good as cue as any to the other guests that perhaps it was time to leave. Susan and Mary took the opportunity to make a run for it and quickly exited the garden, heading off up the street. Gillian and Colin slowly made their way up the garden path, heading next door, while Sean slowly walked over to the table to see about Laura.

Katy and Jodie, however, barely noticed it had started raining and just stared at each other. Jodie finally relented and looked over her mother’s shoulder, finding focus on Rob who was standing behind Katy. His eyes met hers. Jodie may have been looking for some hint of support, but all she could see staring back at her was disappointment. And it broke her heart.

“Oh God,” was all she could muster, before she pushed past her mother and ran towards the doorway. Rob stood to one side, letting her past. Katy stayed where she was for a few seconds then she turned and headed back inside.

Confident that World War Three wasn’t about to break out, Sean felt it was safe to try and do something about Laura, who was slumped in her chair, and looking very much as though she was asleep. He nudged her shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

Laura flinched and looked up at Sean.

“Just for the record,” she muttered, “I am
so
over you, got that?”

“Understood,” Sean nodded.

Laura then looked around the empty garden, now barely visible through the rain, smiled, and said,

“This was an awesome party, did I miss something?” before passing out, her head landing somewhere between the cake and the table’s edge.

Jodie had run straight up the stairs, as fast as her legs could carry her, slamming her bedroom door before turning to study her reflection in the mirror that hug on the back of it. The rain had flattened her hair, while her make-up was fairly untouched, the wonder of waterproof mascara. Her top, on the other hand, had become see-through, so she quickly whipped it off and was just about to turn to grab something from her wardrobe when her door opened.

Jodie had expected to see her mother, or maybe even Laura, but instead she was met with Rob. Their eyes met, briefly, before Rob quickly turned his head away in embarrassed shock. Jodie wondered what he was doing until she realized that she was standing in her bra.

“Shit! Sorry, Jodie, I just...” Rob outstretched his arm, holding up a towel, but unable to look up at her, “...I told your mother I would bring you a towel.”

“Oh, I see.”

She held out her arm to take the towel, but instead took Rob’s hand. Rob, still not looking, could not have suspected what would happen next, as Jodie pulled him into her room and quick as a flash, using her other arm, closed her door again.

Rob didn’t have time to react, before Jodie stepped forward and kissed him flush on the lips.

His natural reaction was to step back, trying to break off from her, but Jodie moved with him. The kiss lasted all of three seconds, before it came to a very abrupt end. It was just as Jodie tried to get her tongue to touch his that he managed to out-maneuver her and darted to the right, taking a few steps back.

“Whoa, whoa, what the hell was that?”

“What?” replied Jodie as sweetly as she could.

Rob stepped back again and held his arms up, almost as if he was trying to fend off an attacker.

“Listen, Jodie,” he said, “I think you’ve got the wrong idea here.”

Jodie was mortified, but not for the reason that a rational person might have been. It wasn’t through embarrassment, but anger at herself.

“Oh God, did I do it wrong? It was terrible, wasn’t it?”

Rob tried to get his head around it. He wasn’t sure what Jodie’s intentions had been, but he was pretty sure that she should have understood just why this was a bad idea.

Apparently, however, she hadn’t.

“What? No, it wasn’t terrible. I mean,” Rob felt like he was drowning, “no, wait, it
was
terrible,” then being strangled, “but not in the way you...I mean...shit!”

Jodie shook her head, trying to comfort him, even bringing her hand up to touch his face.

“It’s cool, don‘t worry.”

Rob moved his head, and pushed her hand away.

“No, it’s not cool, okay? I only came up here to give you a towel.”

Jodie cocked a suggestive eyebrow at him and smiled as seductively as she could, adding,

“Are you sure about that?”

Rob had had enough and stood up straight, with as serious a look on his face as he could.

“Positive.”

Jodie stepped back and leaned against the wall finally beginning to grasp the weight of the situation, not to mention the potential damage she may have just done.

“You
are
, aren’t you?”

Rob sighed.

“Jodie, I’m with your mother. I’m sorry if you got the wrong end of the stick, but,” and then he said it, “I love her.”

It was the bombshell, the three words that Jodie had never wanted to hear.

“You...love her?”

“Yes,” he replied, almost as though he had surprised himself.

Jodie brought her hand up to her head.

“Oh God, I feel dizzy.”

She sat down on the edge of her bed, draping the towel over her shoulders.

“You’re drunk, you weren’t thinking straight. It’s okay.”

Jodie shook her head, her voice beginning to quiver, a faint hint of tears in her eyes. She brought her head up, a look of desperation in her face.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re just a kid.”

There was a long silence. Jodie tried to piece everything together, but the alcohol denied her that clarity.

Rob, who was feeling just as confused kept his gaze on her and smiled, breaking the silence with,

“You look a lot like your Mother, do you know that?”

In the end, though, it was already too late.

“I feel...” she said, grasping for the right words before finding, “...so stupid.”

Jodie then stood up, grabbed a sweater that was hanging off her chair and made a move for the door. As she moved, she nudged her bookshelf, causing a couple of books to topple onto the ground.

Rob didn’t try to stop her, fully aware that she was trying to outrun her own embarrassment. She opened her door and disappeared into the hallway. Rob sighed and rubbed his head. Then he heard the front door slam.

He stood up, walked over to the bedroom window and peered down into the street, catching only a brief glimpse of Jodie as she ran up the road, before turning a corner and vanishing into the night.

“Fuck!” he said, quietly, before turning away from the window and heading for the door, as he did, his feet kicked the books that had fallen from the shelf. He picked them up, recognizing the cover of one in particular. It was Jodie’s copy of
‘Jude the Obscure.’
Rob smiled to himself and quickly leafed through the pages.

As he did, something dropped out of the middle of the book. Rob bent down and picked it up. He didn’t mean to be nosy, but he could see that it was a letter and that the letter heading was from Brushwood Academy. He unfolded the letter and it only took a few seconds for its contents to register.

“Where’s Jodie?” Katy was now standing in the doorway.

Rob didn’t know what to say and he didn’t want to make the day worse for her but the letter in his hand couldn’t be ignored.

“Rob, what’s going on?”

Jodie had been walking for two hours, soaked to the bone in the now drizzling rain. Not that she would have noticed, her mind was elsewhere, unable to focus, unwilling to accept that there was no going back. Whatever attempts at seduction she may have had in mind for Rob had disappeared, along with her self-esteem. What confused her above all other things, however, was how she felt when she leant in and kissed him — nothing, nothing at all.

True, she was drunk, but still she was sure she should have felt something. How could it be that this was the man she had been obsessing over for the last nine months, and the spark that should have been there wasn’t?

Maybe it was the rain.

Jodie, unable to come to a suitable conclusion, decided to try and focus on her current problem and figure out where she was going tonight. She couldn’t face going home to the wrath or, even worse, judgment of her mother and, God forbid Rob, who would both, no doubt still be up waiting for her when she finally came back.

She could hardly go to Laura’s, considering she was just as paralytic as Jodie was, if not more so. She rummaged in her pocket and took out her mobile phone to check if any messages had been left. There were three - two were from her mother asking where she was and to come home immediately, the last, however, was from Sean and simply read