Three Words: A Novella Collection (16 page)

Ignoring her,
Nate opened the passenger door and spread the bin liner on the
seat, tucking the sides firmly down. He gestured to Georgie to sit.
“That should do.”

“
My hero,” Georgie gushed.

“
Get in the car,” he laughed. “You’re shivering.”

Only with
excitement, Georgie thought. Nate was back and this time, she
wasn’t letting him go.

Chapter 8

People who
believed that Georgie and Nate were inseparable when they’d been
friends were astonished at how much more time they were able to
spend in each other’s company once they became boyfriend and
girlfriend. From the morning after their first kiss, Nate had
practically taken up residence at Georgie’s house. He had spare
clothes in her wardrobe and a wetsuit hanging in the garage. Every
time Georgie’s mother turned around, he was there, helping with the
dishes, doing homework with Georgie or putting the vacuum cleaner
over the living room rug. At one stage, Mrs. Bird declared she was
unsure if they’d gained a boyfriend or a live-in housekeeper.
Whichever, she knew it wasn’t healthy. Georgie should be out with
her girlfriends, not spending every minute with a boy she’d known
since she was eight. It had been fine when they were little but the
way they made eyes across the dinner table these days was no longer
because of some childish stunt they’d planned. There were an awful
lot of teenage hormones on the loose in the Bird household and none
of them were from the new pair of Lovebirds Mr. Bird had insisted
on buying.

For Georgie’s
part, once she’d discovered kissing Nate to be akin to an afternoon
in the company of a huge slab of chocolate fudge, she’d never
looked back. They floated for hours by the edge of the pool, their
hands twining and unraveling along with their lips. They lay on the
cool grass of the front lawn, their bodies playfully tangled like
puppies in a dog basket, a sight that caused Mrs. Longo the
next-door neighbor, to barge in the gate late one afternoon and
demand they stop. Seeing Nate fondling Georgie’s bare stomach was
apparently too much for her sensitive nerves. Georgie had smirked
when Mrs. Longo suggested that if she wanted to watch pornography
she’d take up using the Internet. Mr. Longo had been doing that for
ages. They’d seen him through the lounge room window.

At Nate’s
house, they spent whole evenings on the bed in his room, listening
to music and kissing frantically with one ear to the open door in
case his mother appeared. And as their kisses grew more ardent so
did their need to explore other body parts, with the door shut.
Unfortunately, Nate’s mother never seemed to see it that way. She
designated herself the guardian of Georgie’s purity and could often
be heard stomping along the hall to announce her presence and
stating she didn’t think Georgie’s mother would approve if the door
were closed. They never got to be alone.

By the time
Georgie and Nate reached the age of seventeen, they’d been a couple
for almost two years. As far as teenage romances go, theirs had run
a marathon at the Olympics and was now in training for the next.
Their feelings, far from dissipating as hoped, had escalated into a
deep lustful love and while Mr. and Mrs. Bird thought Nate was a
very nice boy with impeccable manners, they were under no illusions
that Georgie and Nate, if they hadn’t already, were soon to take
their relationship to the final level.

The awful
realization that the children were no longer children hit home on
the day Nate pulled into the driveway of Georgie’s house, a pair of
red and white P plates taking pride of place in the front and back
windows of the car he was driving.

“
Oh my God, Roger,” Mrs. Bird gasped, as she pulled back the
curtains to have a closer look at Nate’s new Corolla wagon. “His
parents have bought him a car. A wagon.”

“
Calm down,” Mr. Bird replied, coming to stand next to his
wife. He could see she was about to collapse. “It’s only a
car.”

“
But it has one of those fold-down seats in the back.” Mrs.
Bird was clearly worried at this new development. Her hand was
gripping her mouth like it was trying to hold in a cry of
terror.

By this stage,
Georgie had screamed through the house in her short shorts and
bikini top and was sitting next to Nate in the front seat, an
adoring look on her face. As her parents watched on, they began to
test out the limits of the handbrake by sprawling themselves across
it, lips locked.

“
Yes, and if they haven’t had sex already they’ll be testing
them out soon enough by the look of that,” Mr. Bird
commented.

“
How could his parents be so irresponsible?”

“
I’m pretty sure June and David bought the car for Nate to put
his surfboard in, not as a shag pad.”

“
Roger!”

“
Well, you’re overreacting. Georgie’s a sensible girl and Nate
would never do anything silly.”

Which was
quite a testimony, for at that very moment Georgie and Nate were
sitting in the front seat of his car, gazing up at her parents
looking through the window and planning how they could manage a
‘sleepover’ in the back of the newly christened ‘Red Devil’ without
anyone knowing.

“
The tickets for
Big Day Out
go on sale on Saturday.
Hole
and
Marilyn Manson
are headlining,” Georgie
said, her mind formulating the most devious plan she’d ever come up
with. Not that she’d ever had a devious plan. Apart from the odd
prank here and there, she did exactly as she was told. “We could
say we have to line up at the box office or we’ll miss out. We’ll
probably have to ‘camp out’ in the street over night. There’ll be a
huge line.”

“
But we can buy tickets over the phone,” Nate justified.
“Dad’s a member at the Claremont Cricket Club. He gets heaps of
offers for events they have at the oval in the off-season. They
already sent him a pre-sale code. All we have to do is ring up and
jump the queue.”

“
My parents don’t know that,” Georgie replied, her eyes firmly
on her mother, who appeared to be having some sort of mini-seizure
in the bay window. “Mum and Dad come from the old school. They
stood behind a barrier for three days to catch a glimpse Roger
Daltrey as he went into the hotel
The Who
were staying at.
They didn’t even see Pete Townsend. And when they got the photos
developed, all they had were shots of the girl’s hand in front of
them.”

“
I thought they met
The Who
?”

“
Only Keith Moon. Mum chased him up the street to get his
autograph. It’s in a box somewhere but that’s not the point. If we
tell them we’re lining up to get tickets, they’ll totally get it.
Then all we have to do is get a couple of tickets in the members
pre-sale on Thursday, pack a bag to make it look like a sleep out,
find a nice place to camp for the night and Bob’s your
uncle.”

Nate’s eyes
twinkled. His arms snaked around Georgie’s body to explore the
smooth skin at the side of her bikini top. “You’re a sneaky thing,
Georgie Bird. I’d never have thought of that.”

Georgie
planted a deep kiss on his mouth. “I know. It must be those
hormones Mum keeps banging on about.”

*****

On the evening
before the line up for tickets, Nate arrived at Georgie’s house at
the designated time. His car screeched to a halt in the driveway,
sending a cloud of dust and ear-bleedingly loud music into the
atmosphere and causing Mrs. Longo to peek from behind her curtains
to check that a terrorist attack wasn’t happening in the Bird’s
drive. Giving the old lady a wave, Nate took the front steps two at
a time, let himself in the door and greeted Mrs. Bird with a kiss
on the cheek. Still uncomfortable that Nate was dashing Georgie
around the town in a car, she had just completed lecturing her
daughter about behaving like a lady and not going anywhere but the
ticket line because the city was a dangerous place at night. Little
did she know Georgie had no intention of going anywhere near the
box office. The only box Georgie intended on being near was the one
that had condoms in it.

Grabbing
Georgie’s backpack and a large basket from beside the front door,
Nate led the way down to the car and tossed it into the back. So
far, their plan was coming together nicely. Confident that the two
sets of parents would never compare notes, he’d told his mother he
was taking Georgie to a midnight screening of the
Rocky Horror
Picture Show
, her all-time favorite movie. He’d crash at hers
after, as it was closer to the outdoor theatre. Nate often spent
the night at Georgie’s — in carefully selected separate rooms, of
course — and Georgie’s mum and dad’s bedroom between them.
Georgie’s parents, being the trusting people they were, assumed
Georgie would be sitting with her other school friends in a queue
that evening, the very same queue that had been featured on that
night’s edition of
Ten
News
. At the time of filming,
it had stretched a block along Hay Street and was expected to be
triple the length by morning. They weren’t overly impressed about
their daughter staying out the entire night, but if the kids wanted
tickets, they supposed there was no other choice. Though why anyone
would want to see that
Marilyn Manson
with the one blue eye
and one black was beyond them. He really was rather creepy.

“
What’s with the basket?” Nate asked, as he lugged the wicker
into the back of the car.

Georgie rolled
her eyes. “Mum was worried we’d get hungry. She’s packed us a
picnic.”

“
With bread made from rocks? That thing weighs a
ton.”

“
That’d be the ten liters of Coke and water and the thermos of
tea. She doesn’t want us to get dehydrated or cold.”

“
Thoughtful. But unnecessary.”

Georgie tossed
her overnight bag in beside the picnic basket. It wasn’t much
lighter.

“
And I suppose you’ve got your hair straightener and your
entire summer wardrobe, in there?” Nate asked.

“
Don’t be sarcastic. It’s a doona and two pillows, if you must
know. At three o’clock in the morning, you’ll be pleased I packed
it.”

Nate took her
in his arms, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose. “This is the
first time we’ve ever been naked together, Georgie. You won’t be
hiding under a doona.”

Georgie
flushed. “What if it’s cold?”

“
You won’t be cold, believe me.”

They walked to
their respective sides of the car and got in. Nate started the car
and Georgie changed the CD before letting her hand rest on Nate’s
knee. He gave her a smile that told her he knew exactly what she
was thinking.

All week long,
Georgie had been imagining this night and every time she had, her
body had responded with that tingle, the one she got in the pit of
her stomach that worked its way down between her legs. Sure,
there’d be so much heavy breathing in the past, they could’ve
filled a steam room, but tonight was going to be different. Not in
the panting and moaning department but in the act itself. Tonight
Georgie was going to show Nate how much she loved him by giving
herself entirely to him. They were going to lose their virginity
together.

“
Where are we going? Georgie asked, as Nate reversed out of
the driveway. Nate had been in charge of scouting a location. He’d
been updating her during the week but was keeping his final choice
a surprise.

“
Not telling.”

“
But I want to know.”

That
mischievous twinkle in his eye, Nate concentrated on the road
ahead.

At the first
set of lights in Roberts Road, Nate turned down the music.
Frowning, Georgie glanced sideways at him. Nate never turned down
the music. The only way to play it was as loudly as possible.

“
What’s wrong?”

He appeared to
be straining to listen. “Nothing. I thought I heard a funny
noise.”

Georgie
focused for a second. “I can’t hear anything. What’d it sound
like?”

“
Crackling. Whistling. I’m not sure.” He cocked his head over
the steering wheel, listening intently. “I think it’s gone
now.”

As Nate took
off from the lights, Georgie reset the volume dial and began to
bounce along in time, her fingers tapping simultaneously on Nate’s
knee. Her body, also switched to high, was filled with nervous
energy, making it hard for her to keep still. “Are you sure you
won’t tell me where we’re going?”

Nate’s hand
left the steering wheel to cover hers. He squeezed her knuckles
tight, letting out a chuckle as she pulled her hand away and shook
it.

“
Ouch! Nate!”

“
Well, stop being so nosy. You’ll find out when we get there.
Can you skip that track and go to the next one? I don’t like it
much.”

Georgie huffed
and pressed the scan button, moving the CD to the next track.
Nate’s hand moved across the handbrake and up her bare leg, coming
to rest at the top of her thigh. His fingers began to play with the
fabric along the hem of her shorts. Georgie wriggled away it and
slapped him playfully. “Focus on your driving.”

“
I am,” he replied, his eyes never leaving the road. “I’m also
focusing on getting you out of those shorts in about ten
minutes.”

Georgie
blushed again. It was one thing to do it; it was another completely
to talk about it all the time.

At that
moment, the Red Devil gave an almighty shudder and slowed to a
grinding halt. Smoke began to pour from under the console making
Georgie cough as it entered the car. Then she caught a flash of
flame.