Chapter Text
There was a gentle knock on the front door. Maisie rushed to the door and answered it.
“Oh hi Michael come in. I’m Maisie, Lor’s flatmate. Take a seat on the sofa and she’ll be with you soon. Do you want a drink or anything?”
“I’ll have a coffee please.”
“How many sugars?”
“Just two and just a bit of milk.”
“Okay coming right up!”
Maisie put the kettle on then knocked on the bathroom door.
“Lor are you nearly done? He won’t wait forever you know.”
“I’m just doing my makeup. You can chat to him while I’m getting ready can’t you?”
Maisie rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“Alright if I must!”
“She won’t be long Michael. I’ll just finish off making your coffee.”
In the meantime Michael had a nosey around the flat. It looked a lot better than the student accommodation he stopped in and that was in Oxford!
Lorelei had finally finished off doing her makeup and then had the pleasure of trying to choose an outfit. She wasn’t sure why she was making such an effort to impress Michael, she just didn’t want to look like she’d just woken up.
Since the weather was fairly pleasant, she decided to wear her flower jumpsuit.
Maisie brought Michael’s coffee in and placed it on the coffee table.
“Thank you. I say, the accommodation here is pretty posh!”
“It should be the amount of money we pay for it each year!”
“Well London accommodation is pretty pricey anyway to be honest.”
Lorelei then walked into the living room. She stared at Michael for a while. God he looked gorgeous. She just wanted to ruffle his hair! She took a deep breath and smiled at Michael. He smiled back.
“Oh hi Michael, what are you doing here?”
“Sorry to impose on you like this without even contacting you but I just wondered if you fancied going out for the day, that’s if you’re not busy or anything…”
Michael looked at the floor and started to blush.
Lorelei smiled.
“I’d love to. Where did you have in mind?”
“How about a trip to the seaside? Margate perhaps?”
“That sounds great, I haven’t been to the beach in a while!”
“So I’ll see you later then Lor?”
Lorelei was just in the middle of grabbing her handbag, she certainly didn’t want Michael to be paying for everything like last time!
“Yeah see you later Maisie.”
Lorelei and Michael got into the car and he started the car ignition. Lorelei for some reason started to feel incredibly nervous. She grabbed a joint from her handbag and lit it. She saw Michael’s look of disapproval.
“Still smoking those then?”
“Only when I’m nervous. Maybe I should change to nicotine, it’ll probably be better for me!”
“Oh no, nicotine is probably as bad as smoking a joint. Why are you nervous anyway?”
“Well I’m not exactly used to going on dates, I never know how to act…”
“I haven’t really been on that many dates myself so don’t worry about it.” He squeezed her hand and smiled.
The journey to Margate took half an hour at tops and it was a pleasant journey. Lorelei allowed the smoke to fly out of the window. Maybe Michael was right. She didn’t need those to calm herself. She just needed to learn techniques to naturally calm herself down. She knew she was safe with Michael.
Once they parked up, Lorelei grabbed her sunglasses from her handbag and got out of the car.
“What a lovely day. So Michael what’s the plan?”
“Well I thought we’d have a stroll on the beach first then grab a bite to eat, maybe an ice cream each? Then I thought we’d go on some of the rides, that’s if they don’t make you feel sick, then after another walk on the beach in the dark, we’ll have a few drinks and some food then head home.”
“That sounds like a perfect day!”
The car park wasn’t far from the beach and Michael immediately grabbed her hand and held it tight. She smiled widely. She noticed there was hardly anyone on the beach, the joys of going to the beach in the week…
“You look very nice by the way.” Said Michael.
“Thank you, so do you.”
Lorelei soon realised that her shoes weren’t perhaps suitable for walking on the beach but she decided she didn’t care. All that mattered was she was spending time with Michael and it was a wonderful feeling.
“Thank you. You ever been to Margate before?”
“No, we used to go to Wales a lot as a kid though.”
“I suppose that isn’t far from Shrewsbury! We used to go to Southwold as children, my parents and my sister Angela. Do you have any siblings?”
“As far as I know no.”
Michael raised an eyebrow.
“As far as you know?”
“Well to be honest I don’t really see my parents much. And their ideals are a little bit unconventional.”
“In what sense?”
Lorelei bit her lip.
“Uhh on the love front. I mean their marriage isn’t open or anything they just don’t believe in contraception.”
“So sort of hippies and kinda Catholic?”
“Yeah that’s it, they’re Catholic. They’re missionaries, so they travel a lot spreading the word of God and all that shit. I was baptised, went to Catholic schools, even the university I’m at has Catholic ties. They wouldn’t have let me study at university if it didn’t have some sort of ‘Catholic ethos’.”
“What university do you go to? Can’t believe I’ve never asked…”
“The University of London, Goldsmiths College. Initially I studied Theology you know just to please my parents but I could only stand a few weeks, it was so boring! So I changed to English, my parents still don’t know. ”
“That’s quite a prestigious university and the accommodation is quite expensive! How can you afford it?”
“Oh my parents give me money towards it. I don’t hear much from them, maybe a letter a month or a telephone call a month. I don’t mind really, they can be a bit suffocating at times to be honest!”
“All parents are like that to be honest though I can imagine in the case of your parents, all the religious talk rammed down your throat can be a bit of a pain.”
“Like you’d think I’d be used to it since religion has always been a big part of my life but I never understood it when I was little. Like some priests don’t understand that trying to indoctrinate people into the Catholic religion from a young age by ramming it down their throat and insult them when they ask questions about the scripture is not the way to teach people the good of Christianity. And I’m sure there’s good but I just haven’t seen it yet.”
Michael stood silent for a moment. He realised what an intelligent young woman she really was. Behind all the gobbiness and moodiness, there lay an incredibly smart woman. Why didn’t she bring this side of her out more often? It was so attractive!
“So I’m guessing you’re not a big fan of religion then?”
“Not when it’s responsible for taking away my parents. To them, God and Jesus are more important than their own daughter. Just makes you feel a little bit insignificant you know?”
“Is that why you’re a bit, um, how do I say it? Loud?”
“I’ve never felt listened to before so I have to make myself heard. You’re the only person apart from Maisie who actually listens to me, properly.”
“Well I like to think I’m a good listener.”
“You are, I think your problem is, you’re too much of a do-gooder, too nice, you won’t call out on your friends if they’re being unreasonable.”
“So you want me to be like you, too much the other way? Not care about anything?”
Lorelei looked at him in horror. She turned her face away from Michael and walked away.
She never considered herself to be cold and uncaring. Was she? Had so many years without a mother and father figure in her life made her that selfish? Maybe that’s why she only had Maisie as a friend.
She was known in her English class to be very self-assured, knew her stuff but let everyone know she was smart. She tended to belittle people who didn’t agree with her interpretation of a text or didn’t understand an assignment. She thought about all the times she was mean to the people in her class, how she’d hurt them, crushed their confidence and she felt awful. It was like she’d had an epiphany, a moment of self-realisation of her true character. And she hated it.
Michael went up to Lorelei and touched her shoulder tenderly. She turned around to face him and he could see she had tears streaming down her face. Like a fragile child, someone who had been seriously emotionally hurt and completely broken.
“Lorelei are you alright?” said Michael with a sad expression on his face.
She sniffed and rubbed her nose slightly.
“Huh? Yeah you just made me realise what a dreadful person I am.”
Michael touched her cheek and stroked it slightly. He wiped a tear from under her eyes.
“Hey you’re not. What makes you think that?”
“It was for the attention you see. I never got it at home. Well I did when I was little. My father used to be a lecturer in history and my mom stopped at home. Not that I think she wanted to. I mean she’d got brains, she’d been to uni and she committed herself to being a housewife? No way. Then when I went to a grammar school, I was looked after by my Nan whilst my parents went travelling round spreading God’s word. My nan was an extremely devout Catholic, very strict with me, don’t think she was born with a sense of humour.”
Michael laughed slightly.
“My father is a bit like that. His sense of humour didn’t quite match up with mine. I remember when I was younger and I’d listen to The Goons on the radio, do you remember them?”
“Uh vaguely, I wasn’t very old but I remember someone at school in the playground would bring their portable radio and we’d all listen to the show.”
“I used to listen to their broadcasts in the living room and you know how they used to do all those funny voices and my father would be like ‘something wrong with the set old boy?’ He couldn’t understand the humour at all!”
“I don’t think our parents will ever understand the comedy these days. My parents used to laugh over things, I remember when I was little seeing my mom laugh over something my dad had said a few times. I don’t know what happened once I got older, they seemed to take life so seriously after that. Maybe as I became a teenager all the adult problems came to the surface.”
“It’s crazy really, when you’re a kid you can’t wait to grow up but as soon as you’re an adult you just wish for the carefree days where the most important decision you had to make was where you were going to play out after school.”
“Ah the good old days…” Lorelei said with a smile.
Michael enjoyed this side of Lorelei, he got the impression it was a side which didn’t come out very often but he felt honoured she felt confident enough to show a softer side to him.
“Mm indeed. You watched Q5? It’s got Spike Milligan in it and it’s been a big inspiration for the writing of our upcoming show!”
“Oh yes I have, it’s really funny!”
“Ah Spike is a genius. Hopefully I’ll meet him someday and Peter Sellers too.”
“Hey maybe when you’re a famous comedian you will meet them!” said Lorelei with a wink.
He realised they had a lot more in common than he first realised. In terms of comedy but what about her interests? There was still so much more he had to learn about her!
“One day! So what are your hobbies?”
“Surely that was a question you’d ask on a first date?” Lorelei said with a raised eyebrow and slight grin.
“Hmm that’s true but when you’re not an expert in the art of dating women, I don’t know the standard questions you ask a young lady on a first date.”
“That’s fair enough. Well I like swimming, I used to have swimming lessons and I still try and swim once or twice a week. I like my music and singing. I like reading books too and a bit of writing on the side too.”
“That sounds really interesting. I too am into my books and I like going on walks and runs, it’s useful living next to Hampstead Heath!”
After a bit more walking on the beach, they had some lunch in the local pub. Michael had a small pint of ale and Lorelei stuck to cider knowing it was a drink she could handle!
They went on the fairground rides and had lots of fun. She hadn’t had this much fun, well ever.
The weather was a lot cooler now and she appreciated walking near the waves on the beach, feeling the wind blowing on her face and in her hair.
Michael grabbed her hand and his fingers intertwined with hers and he squeezed her hand tightly. It was like he never wanted to let her go.
“You having fun?”
“Oh yes very much so. I love spontaneous days out. I just love being outside in general. When I was younger my mom and dad used to take us up to The Wrekin every Sunday. Been to Carding Mill Valley too. It’s nice living in Shropshire because the countryside there is so beautiful.”
“Oh yes I agree, I always found Shropshire to be very pretty. Went on a few walks as part of school trips when I was at school!”
Lorelei proceeded to sit on the rocks and pulled Michael in her direction. She sat in silence and watched the waves for a while. The rhythm of the waves was relaxing, she leaned her head against Michael’s shoulder, he turned to look at her. What was he to do in this situation?
He put his arm around her and stroked her shoulder.
“You make a nice pillow.” Said Lorelei.
Michael smiled slightly.
“Thanks, I’m glad I have my uses!”
“It’s peaceful isn’t it? Hearing the waves.”
“Yeah then it makes me want to go to the toilet!”
The wind blew sharply and Lorelei’s hair went right into her face, she could hardly see! Michael, being the gentleman that he was gently moved her hair out of her face.
“Thanks.” Said Lorelei with a smile.
Michael had still got his hand on her face. He looked deep into her eyes. He grasped her face and pulled her closer to him.
He pressed his lips onto hers and kissed her slowly and hard. Lorelei couldn’t quite believe it, she responded by kissing him back passionately and running her hands through his hair. It was soft and fluffy, freshly washed.
Michael then opened his eyes and smiled. He started to stroke her cheek delicately.
“So what did you think?”
“Wow. Just wow. Is there no ends to your talents?”
“It seems not!” said Michael, slightly embarrassed.
“Thank you for today.” Said Lorelei.
She caressed his cheek and kissed him softly.
After a few more minutes watching the waves, they carried on walking and headed into another pub for a few more drinks and some dinner.
She began to feel incredibly sleepy. It had after all been a long day.
“You tired?” said Michael.
“Yeah a bit.”
“Shall we head back?”
“Yeah if you want to.”
“Okay then love.”
They slowly walked back to the car and Michael acted on his impulse to pick Lorelei up and put her into the car.
“Wow you are full of surprises today!” said Lorelei.
As soon as Michael put on some music in the car and drove about a mile, Lorelei was fast asleep.
“Ah how cute.” Michael said to himself.
Lorelei was asleep for the entire duration of the journey and only woke up when Michael had parked outside her flat.
“Oh we’re back. Do you want to come up for a coffee?” said Lorelei.