[alli55]

Ten days last summer


Friday 4th August 2017


“It’s raining hard!” Freya told me as she came into our room.

Worn out by the stress of yesterday’s trip to the hospital, I had awoken much later than everyone else. I could hear the littlies in the main living area of the caravan. It sounded like they were getting up to mischief!

“She’s awake now!” Freya called out.

Dad and Jenny came in to see how I was. They took a look at my foot, and seemed happy that the wound wasn’t weeping or anything. It didn’t hurt anymore, but I remembered the doctor saying not to put pressure on it.

“We’re going to have to take Zack and Gracie out somewhere to let off steam,” Dad told me and Freya, “otherwise they’ll drive us all mad!”

“We were thinking of an indoor soft-play centre,” added Jenny. “That would mean just a lot of sitting around for you two, so we thought, if I take Zack and Gracie, your Dad could stop here with you two.”

“There’s no need for you to stay as well!” Freya told Dad. “I’ll stay with Holly. We’ll be fine! Anyway, knowing those two, you’ll probably need two people to keep an eye on them!”

“You could be right!” Dad laughed.

“You go,” I told Dad, “I’ve got Freya so I’ll be perfectly okay.”

Dad and Jenny agreed, and half-an-hour later the other four piled into the car, leaving me and Freya on our own in the caravan.

By the time Dad, Jenny and the littlies left, Holly still hadn’t got out of bed! She’d been told not to put too much pressure on her foot, and had clearly interpreted that as “I’m not getting up if I don’t have to”! It meant I was waiting on her, hand and foot (excuse the pun), but I didn’t mind. She’d have done the same for me. Most probably!

We caught up with some of our friends on WhatsApp, and I even sent Lottie a gruesome picture of Holly’s foot! But, despite what parents think, there is a limit to how much time we want to spend on social media! Really, there is!

We wanted, no, we needed something to do, so I went looking for possibilities. As I was searching, I happened to look out of the window, and saw Jake walking past. An idea struck me.

I raced outside and called after him. He turned around and came walking back towards me.

“Hi, Jake,” I said, “what are you up to?”

“Nothing, much,” he replied, “we’re stuck indoors. I’m just getting something from the shop. What about you?”

“We’re stuck indoors as well,” I said. “Holly can’t do anything on her foot, so we can’t get out. Do you and Amber fancy coming around and we could maybe play some games or something?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he said, “and I’m sure Amber would love to. When I get back from the shop, I’ll tell her and we’ll let you know. If you give me your number, I can text you.”

He gave me his phone and I added my name and number to his contacts.

“See you in a bit,” he said and headed off towards the little shop by the entrance to the site.

“You might have asked me before you invited them around!” I told Freya. Not because I didn’t want them coming around, but because now I was going to have to get up and dressed. I told her so.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” she replied.

“I can’t just lay in here in my pyjamas!” I informed her.

“Why not?” she asked. “I’m sure they won’t mind!”

“Really? You don’t think Jake might be a bit embarrassed?”

“He’ll get over it!”

By the time Freya’s phone pinged to signal the arrival of Jake’s text, I’d made up my mind that he would have to get over it. I’d got up to go to the loo, and found that, as soon as I stood on it, my foot was tender. I’d hobbled to the loo and back, but I couldn’t face getting up and dressed. Jake would just have to deal with me being in my pyjamas! They were nice, presentable pyjamas, so I wasn’t bothered about who saw me in them.

Freya texted back, and a couple of minutes later there was a knock on the door of our caravan. She went to let them in, and I heard her explain my situation.

“Holly’s foot is really sore, so she’s in bed,” Freya told them, “but we can still find something to do that includes her. Come on in,” she added as she re-entered our room.

“Hey!” I said as Amber and Jake came in.

Amber came over and put her hand on my shoulder. “Holly, you poor thing, how are you?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I told her, “it’s just my foot, that’s all!”

Jake said “hey!” but hung back, not sure where to look or what to do. I gave Freya an I-told-you-so look. She let out an involuntary snort as she attempted to hold a snigger in.

“I had an idea about what we could do,” Amber informed us, “if you want to, that is, Holly.”

“What’s your idea?” I asked.

She pointed to the bag she’d carried in with her, and said, “I’ve brought our Pictionary game, if you want to play.”

“Yeah, I’d love to!” I told her. How did she know? Pictionary is my all-time favourite board game!

Freya smiled, knowingly.

It was to be the twins versus Jake and Amber. I shuffled across to one side of the bed so that Amber could lay the board out in the middle, whilst Freya fetched some of Gracie’s felt-tips to draw with and some paper. She sat at the top of the bed, next to me, whilst Jake and Amber sat at the other end. Jake seemed to be slowly getting over his embarrassment.

As we were setting up, a message popped up on Freya’s WhatsApp from Lottie. Freya told her what we were up to, and when Lottie said she wished she was playing, Freya promised to WhatsApp any pictures none of us could guess to see if Lottie could work out what they were!

We played for ages. With our twin-powers, Freya and I should have had an advantage, except for the fact that Freya can’t draw to save her life! Lottie was kept quite busy trying to identify her strange drawings, but proved surprisingly good at it!

We talked as we played, and inevitably, at one point, the conversation turned to the subject of the mysterious Caitlin.

Don’t believe everything Holly tells you! My drawing isn’t that bad; it’s her guessing! Lottie didn’t have any problem working out what I’d drawn!

When, during a pause in our game as we waited for Lottie to identify my latest masterpiece, Amber began asking Holly what she thought of the others at the hang-out, I knew what was coming.

They agreed that Jack was really shy, and Holly said she liked Tee-Jay and admired how dedicated she must be about her athletics.

“It must be amazing to represent your country,” she told us.

“What about Caitlin?” asked Amber. “What do you think of her?”

“She’s a bit weird!” Holly said.

Amber readily agreed, “Yeah, she’s freaky!”

“I don’t know,” I said, “I think there’s more to it!”

“Like what?” Holly asked.

“Well, her behaviour is strange, I’ll give you that,” I acknowledged, “but I think a lot of it is like a defence to hide behind.”

“What d’you mean?” Jake asked.

“Well,” I continued, “it’s like how she doesn’t want to talk with us unless we’re playing the Truth game. As if that’s a game so it’s not really real-life. Do you know what I mean?”

The others looked blankly at me. Clearly, they didn’t know what I meant!

“It’s hard to explain,” I told them, “but she’s got really sad eyes. If you look into her eyes, they’re terribly sad. I think something has hurt her really badly.”

“Maybe that’s what she was on about when she answered the question about being a virgin,” Jake replied.

“Yeah, I think it …” I began.

Holly interrupted, “Freya you didn’t tell me you had a question about being a virgin!”

“Didn’t I?” I said, with a playful innocence.

“You know damn well you didn’t!” she said. “So, what did everyone say.”

Poor Lottie’s WhatsApp guess was ignored while Amber filled Holly in! It did, at least, enable me to find out that Jake wasn’t a virgin, like I’d kind of suspected.

By mid-afternoon we’d done Pictionary to death, and played cards for a bit as well. The rain had stopped by now, so Jake and Amber said they’d best get back. I thanked them for coming over and Freya showed them out.

We returned to social media for a bit, and I hobbled to the loo and back once more. I’d just laid back on the bed when we heard the others returning in the car.

Gracie came bounding into our room then stopped dead, staring at me.

“Ohhh!” she said to me, “you’re naughty! You’re still in your ‘jamas!”

I laughed, and told her, “I am naughty, aren’t I?”

“Yes!” she said, very seriously. Then she scrambled onto the bed beside me, cuddled in to me and said, “But you’re allowed to be naughty because you’ve got a hurt foot!”

“Aww, thank-you!” I told her and gave the top of her head a kiss.

Everyone came in to see how Holly was and were happy with how her foot looked. Gracie, bless her, kept coming back in to check she was alright! When it was time for tea, Holly hobbled out so we could all sit and eat together.

It was five to seven when Holly suddenly asked me, “Aren’t you going to the hang-out, Freya?”

“I didn’t want to go and leave you,” I told her.

“Go!” she told me. “You’ve been here for me all day, so you go!”

“If you’re sure,” I said.

“Yes,” she insisted, “go and say hello to the others from me!”

I had wanted to go, and now that I had Holly’s blessing, I set off. But when I arrived, only Caitlin was there.

“Hi!” I called.

She looked up and waved. It was a start, I thought.

“Where is everyone?” I asked as I sat down beside her.

“Jack went home today,” she told me, “I don’t know about the rest. I think Jake and Amber might have gone out with their Mum.”

“Oh!” I said.

“You don’t need to stay if you don’t want!” she told me.

“No, I’ll stay!” I told her. “I want to stay!”

“Suit yourself,” she said and went back to her phone.

I sat and twiddled my thumbs, so to speak. She was once more engrossed in her phone. I leant in closer, to take a peek. She seemed to be playing some sort of game.

“What’re you playing?” I asked her.

Without looking up or pausing from the game, she said, “Episode – Choose Your Story.”

“I’ve never heard of it!” I said. “What is it?”

She stopped playing, actually put her phone away, and looked at me!

“You’re a character in a story,” she explained, “it can be a famous story or movie or one made especially for this game or you can even write your own. Your character actually lives out the story, and you make decisions and choices that change how the story goes. It’s really cool!”

“Wow!” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic about something I couldn’t really see the point of. “So what story are you in?”

“‘Path to fame’,” she told me. “I’m an aspiring singer and I’ve been given the opening spot on Demi Lovato’s tour, and she gives me advice and stuff. I have to make the right decisions so I can go on to become a big pop star and then become a good role model for my fans.”

“And have you?” I enquired.

“I’m doing alright! I’ve just been offered my own TV show!”

“Sounds like you’re doing really well!”

She smiled at me, and I returned the smile. I noticed, though, that it was a mouth-only smile, her eyes still looked sad and a little faraway.

“You should download it,” she said, “I can send you the link if you like,” and she pulled her phone out once more.

“Yeah,” I said, “why not?” I told her my number and she punched it into her phone. Moments later my phone pinged. She’d sent me the link.

I had no intention of downloading a game that didn’t interest me at all. But I had what I wanted: Caitlin’s number. I was hatching a plan.

“Thanks,” I said, “I’ll look at it when I’ve got more time.”

“Yeah, cool,” she replied.

We sat for a while, and Caitlin turned back to her phone. It looked like she was about to go back to her game, which I didn’t really want.

So, I said, “How about you bring up your Truth or Dare app, and we answer some more questions, just the two of us.”

“Yeah, cool, okay,” she replied, and tapped the app. When she’d got it on the screen, she asked, “Shall I put it on the adult setting, see what questions we get? We can always change it back!”

“Yeah, okay,” I answered, my eagerness to keep her talking over-riding any concern I may have had about what sort of questions we might get.

She tapped the screen a couple of times, then held out her phone for me to take.

I refused to take it, telling her, “You can ask the questions, and we can take it in turns to answer first. I’ll do the first one.”

“Okay,” she said, “the first question is ‘Do you have any piercings? If so, how many, and where are they?’”

“I’ve only got my ears pierced,” I told her. “I don’t really like how the other ones look, you know?”

“I’ve got two in each ear, and I’ve thought about one in my bottom lip, but I haven’t done it yet,” she said, “obviously, as you can see!”

The next question was the one about what you first notice when you meet someone of the opposite sex, which we’d all answered when we’d first played the game. So we skipped that. Next came a rather strange question.

‘Have you ever worn the opposite sex’s clothing?”

We looked at each other, before Caitlin said, “only things like my friends’ coat or my Dad’s shirt.” I couldn’t think of any time I’d worn anything, unless you count the times when my Dad gave me his jumper to put on when I was feeling cold, so that’s what I told her.

Caitlin read out the next question. “‘Who do you love most and why?’ Oh,” she remarked, “we’ve already had that one as wel!.”

“No, we haven’t!” I corrected her.

She looked at me for a moment before realisation dawned and she said, “It must have been after you went last night.”

“Oh, right, so what was your answer?” I asked.

“My Dad;” she told me, “I don’t ever see my Mum.”

I waited a moment to see if she was going to elaborate further, but it was clear she wasn’t.

“It’s got to be Holly for me,” I said, “being twins and all! We’ve never been apart for more than two days in our whole lives. Sometimes it feels like we’re really one person, just in two bodies.”

“Don’t you ever argue?” she asked

“Sometimes we yell at each other, but it never lasts long, and we always both feel guilty and sorry afterwards,” I told her.

She remained quiet for a moment, looking distant once more.

“What’s the next question?” I asked, prompting her to touch the screen.

When she told me, I almost wished I’d never asked!

It was ‘what do you think about anal sex?’

“Is that …” I began

“… where you take it up the bum!” she finished my sentence by way of an answer.

“Golly!” I exclaimed. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that!”

“Nor me,” she agreed, “but, obviously if you’re a gay bloke, that’s the only way you can do it, I suppose. And some women seem to like it.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. “I’m sure I wouldn’t!”

We continued playing for quite a long time. It became clear that we were quite alike in many ways. Neither of us had sexted anyone, nor sent a naked picture; we were both completely at ease with kissing in public; and both of us were fully in favour of birth control, believing that a woman should be in charge of her own body.

After a couple of repeat questions, and one that asked who, out of the people here, we would most like to have sex with, which there was no point answering since there were only the two of us, we got a question that was much more interesting and personal.

‘Can you tell us about your secret fantasy?’

It was my turn to go first, but there was something I needed to clarify before I gave an answer.

“Does it mean like a romantic dream sort of thing, or is it more like a wild sexual fantasy?”

“Dunno,” Caitlin replied, “why, which one were you going to answer?”

“I could do either,” I said and blushed slightly.

“The wild sex one would probably be more fun!” she said. “If you’re okay with that,” she added.

“Yeah, okay,” I said, feeling myself turning redder. “Basically, I’m in a house that is on fire, and this big hunky fireman rescues me. He picks me up, carries me out of the house, and then, for some unknown reason, takes me back to his place, and we have wild, passionate sex!”

“Wow, that’s cool!” Caitlin remarked.

“Yeah, it’s a dream I have quite often,” I confessed. “What’s yours?”

“It’s a bit kinky,” she warned me, “but in it, I’m swimming in the sea and this cute boy is with me. We begin getting all lovey, and start playing with each other below the water. Then, even though it’s like by the seaside and there’s loads of people on the beach, we have sex in the sea. But all below the water, so no-one can see anything. I get so turned on by the idea of doing that! I told you it was kinky!”

It had clouded over by now, and it looked like it might rain soon, so we decided to do one more question and then call it quits for the evening. The last question was, ‘What’s the worst thing about being your gender?’

Caitlin was quiet, seeming not to know how to answer. I stepped in.

“That’s easy!” I said. “Periods! I hate them!”

She looked at me, then said, “I think it’s not being physically as strong as sometimes you wish you were. Girls just don’t have the same strength, do they?”

I stood up, ready to go. Caitlin said she was going to stay for a bit and play her game.

“It’s nice and quiet up here, no distractions,” she said, before realising that I could easily take that the wrong way and adding, “not that you’re a distraction, Freya. I really liked talking with you!”

I left her engrossed in her game and made my way back to the caravan.

Holly was sitting in bed, reading Gracie a bedtime story. Evidently, Gracie had managed to wangle another night in Holly’s bed!

I left them to it and sat outside with Dad and Jenny until quite late.

When I retired to bed, I made sure that I added Caitlin to my contacts.