Stop! In the Name of Love Read online

  “Oh, you’ve got company,” she said, her fag hanging out of her mouth and the ash about to fall onto the burnt-orange carpet.

  “Hello, I’m Carry Ann and you must be Cheryl’s mother. She didn’t tell me that she had such an attractive mother, Cheryl, really, you should have said.”

  Cheryl’s mother’s attitude mellowed on hearing those words coming from such a sweet natured girl. “Why can’t you be more like your friend ‘ere?” she lectured Cheryl.

  Cheryl sneered at her mother. She couldn’t possibly understand why Carry Ann had just complimented her. All that she could see was a mouthy old bat considered to be in her books, lamb dressed as mutton. But her mother wasn’t that bad for her age. Yeah she had a gob on her but her girdle kept her bulges from showing, her polyester button front dress gave her an hour glass figure and her short hairdo still made her look youthful.

  “Don’t you have some hair lacquer to decant into ya spray bottle?” Cheryl cheekily commented.

  “I came to ask if you had any fags to spare, I just smoked my last one and I can’t be arsed to go down all them flights of steps. Bloody hell, Cheryl. I thought I asked you to clean that makeup off the carpet.” She bent down and licked her fingers and began to rub the stain vigorously into the carpet.

  “Mum, leave it out.” Picking up her handbag and plonking it on the bed, she fished around the contents until she found the packet of cigarettes. She took two out of the pack and threw them at her mother. One landed on her lap and the other on the carpet.

  Her mother picked them up and shoved them in her side pocket. “That’ll need some elbow grease to get that out,” she said, getting up and disappearing out of the room and leaving the door wide open.

  Cheryl slammed it shut and then sat down on the carpet with her back leant up against the side of the bed. Carry Ann dropped her arm down and toyed with Cheryl’s bob.

  “That quilted dressing gown is definitely not a sexy number,” Carry Ann laughed.

  “Am I queer, just like Michael Greene?” Cheryl asked her.

  Carry Ann slid down the bed a little, rested on her elbow and kissed the edge of Cheryl’s ear. “I think the word you are looking for is lesbian and I’m not sure if I can answer that question for you. I’m sure Michael Greene, whoever he is, is satisfied in life, though.”

  “I’m a lesbian?” Cheryl queried.

  “You are the only one who can decide that.”

  “I liked it, the way you kissed me an’ all,” Cheryl said, taking Carry Ann’s hand and clasping her fingers into hers.

  “I’m glad you liked it, I liked it too,” she said, biting her lower lip.

  “How come a good looking gal like you wants to kiss someone like me, anyways?”

  Carry Ann sat up again and looked puzzled. “Don’t you think that you’re attractive?” She got out of the bed and taking Cheryl by her hand, she hoisted her up and waltzed her over to the mirror. Standing behind her, she positioned her arms around Cheryl’s front and began to undo the buttons on her dressing gown. Slipping it off her shoulders and discarding it onto the carpet, she kissed Cheryl’s shoulder. With Cheryl watching her in the reflection, she then slipped one of the shoulder straps down and then the other. The baby doll nighty slipped down Cheryl’s body and crumpled up on the floor. Cheryl was now standing naked for the first time in front of another person. Carry Ann, still standing behind her, kissed her shoulder again. “See how beautiful you are, your silky pale skin; your softness. Before this mirror, stands a young woman who I’m very much attracted to.”

  Cheryl turned around and quickly grabbing hold of Carry Ann’s head, she planted a heavy kiss on her lips.

  Interrupting the cherished moment, Cheryl’s mother called out form the front room. “I’ve made plenty of toast, girls, come and get it.”

  Cheryl dropped to the floor and picked up her nighty. She quickly stepped into it and said, “We had better get in there or the old dear will only come barging in ‘ere nosing around me clobber.”

  Carry Ann smiled at her. Together they left the bedroom and went into the front room to sit at the table. Carry Ann sat down first. Cheryl’s mum brought in three plates and plonked one down in front of Cheryl, then one in front of Carry Ann and then one for herself.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Carter,” Carry Ann said politely.

  “I need the bog,” Cheryl announced, and then ran to the loo.

  Cheryl’s mother picked up the plate of toast and shoved it under Carry Ann’s nose. “Toast, my dear,” she asked. Carry Ann helped herself to a slice and placed it on her plate. “So how long have you been friends with my daughter, then, Carry Ann?”

  “Just a few days, Mrs. Carter. I think she’s a really swell girl to be friends with.”

  “Hmm, I think I’d ‘ave to differ with you on that point,” she joked, buttering her toast.

  Cheryl sat on the loo peeing. To the side of her balancing on the edge of the sink was a hand held mirror. She picked it up and stared into it. Looking at her face, she studied her dark brown eyes, then her perfectly structured cheekbones. Her nose, cute and narrow and her lips pale. She patted down her messed up hair, reshaping it into its bob. “She does ‘ave a point, I spose.” She lifted her nighty away from her tiny chest and looked down inside at her belly and privates. Never having really explored her body before, she began to wonder what it would be like having Carry Ann’s soft skin pressed up against hers. She wiped herself after peeing and then standing up, she looked at herself again in the bigger mirror. She lifted her nighty and looked at her privates, gliding her hand over her lower belly, she hesitated to investigate herself any lower and withdrawing her hand away, she gave up the idea of exploring and went back to join the others at the table.

  “Everything all right down there?” her mother asked, striking a match and lighting her cigarette.

  “Yeah, why shouldn’t it be?” Cheryl answered.

  “You was in there long enough, I got worried in case you might have a dicky tummy or summat.”

  “Mum!”

  Carry Ann snickered, then took a bite of her toast.

  “I got a job waitressing in a café. I start later today,” Cheryl told her mother just as she slurped her tea.

  “You, a job? Now that is a turn up for the books. Now ya can pay ya own way around ‘ere, bout time an’ all,” her mother replied.

  •••

  Later that day, Cheryl was busy working in the café. She wiped the tables down, filled the cake stand, swiping her finger into one of the cream filled iced buns and secretly licked it off. She poured out hot tea for the customers and even managed to take the money at the cash register without making any mistakes.

  In the afternoon, the same group of Mods came in and settled at the table by the window. They turned on their radio and listened to their music and were less of a nuisance than they were the other day. One of them even ordered an iced bun, Cheryl sold him the one that she had tampered with.

  Her first day’s work was over and when she walked out of the door, she shouted ‘good bye’ to Mr. Glenn. He waved to her whilst drying the tea cups with a tea towel. Waiting outside was Carry Ann. She had been to the hairdressers that day and had a beehive updo. She was wearing a baby blue mini dress with an empire waistline that had a white ribbon and a large bow hanging down the front and white PVC calf length boots with a low square heel. She was holding a single red rose in her hand.

  “I thought that it would be nice to meet you after your first working day,” she said to Cheryl. She awkwardly handed her the rose and kissed her cheek.

  The boys in the café saw them and cheered for more action but because the girls couldn’t hear them, they were oblivious to their childish behaviour.

  They strolled along down by the River Thames until they came to a bench. Sitting down, they watched the birds flying overhead and the ducks bobbing in the water ripples. It was a nice sunny day and with Cheryl constantly looking at Carry Ann and Carry Ann smirking back at her admirer, th
ey held hands out of sight of any onlookers. With both girls smiling, the silence spoke for itself.

  “Bernadette has gone out for the evening with her cousin, would you like to come back to my pad? I think that we should be alone, what do you think?” Carry Ann asked her.

  Cheryl nodded her head yes. She knew what this meant and staring out in front of her she said, “Better be makin’ a move, then.”

  •••

  Carry Ann’s flat was in a three storey building. The outside walls were painted white and the main front door a glossy black with a large brass door knocker. Once inside the main entrance way, the black and white tiled flooring covered the hallway and a deep red carpet covered the stairs. Her flat was on the second floor.

  “Bleedin’ hell, you are a posh git,” Cheryl said out loudly and that was before entering the actual flat.

  Carry Ann opened the door to her flat. Cheryl walked in behind her. She gasped loudly. Her breath was taken away by the pure expense that her eyes were laid on. A sage green couch took up the space along the back wall, a triangular glass table with wooden curved legs was placed in front of it and an oblong cabinet with bright orange drawer fronts was positioned on the opposite wall.

  “I’m not rich, most of this belongs to Bernadette, she works for a law firm and daddy is rich,” Carry Ann laughed. She grasped hold of Cheryl’s hand and led her through to a bedroom at the back of the flat. She opened the white panelled door to expose a room that Cheryl could only dream of ever having. The double bed was covered in a white throw with a deep purple throw folded at the bottom of it. The headboard was deep purple velvet and next to the bed was a small white painted wooden side table with a small chrome lamp and an alarm clock. The back wall was painted in the same orange as the drawer fronts in the main room and the other three painted white. The floor was of wooden planks and a large dark purple rug covering most of it. The window ran from one side of the wall to the other and had matching purple velvet drapes.

  “We have a couple of hours before Bernadette comes home,” she told Cheryl.

  On the far wall there was a bean shaped dresser in matching white paint and on top of that a portable record player. Carry Ann chose an album to put on. Cilla Black was now singing in the background.

  Cheryl removed her coat and folded it, placing it neatly on the floor next to the bed. Carry Ann unzipped the back of her dress and dropped it to the floor, kicking it away. She was wearing an off white slip and slowly, she gathered the bottom hem and lifted it up and over her head leaving only her knickers and her boots. She sat on the edge of the bed and unzipped each boot, casting them aside as she removed her feet. She stopped and waited for Cheryl to undress.

  Cheryl couldn’t help but stare at Carry Ann’s breasts. She’d never seen another naked woman and in the space of less than a week, she had been unexpectedly naked in front of this girl, kissed her and was now faced her practically naked body. She hesitated, not sure if she was sexy enough to undress in front of her. She turned around with her back facing Carry Ann and lifted up her yellow dress. Slinging it in the same manner that Carry Ann had, she then ventured to remove her own slip and then her shoes.

  “Come here,” Carry Ann commanded softly.

  Cheryl shuffled over to her.

  “Don’t be scared, Cheryl. This is a beautiful moment,” Carry Ann whispered.

  Cheryl stood in front of Carry Ann. Her white knickers were the only thing blocking her privates from Carry Ann’s now wandering hands. With her fingers clutching at the sides of the cotton material, she gently tugged on them and began to slip them down Cheryl’s legs. Feeling quite vulnerable, Cheryl began to tremble and closed her eyes for fear of not getting this right. Carry Ann then removed her own knickers and kicked them away. Throwing back the covers, she enticed Cheryl to join her in the bed. Cheryl lay down next to her and pulled the covers up to her neck. Carry Ann laughed at her innocence.

  “My sweet, Cheryl, you are so lovely.”

  “I feel stupid if ya really wanna know,” she said, peering out from the top of the sheet.

  “This is your first time, you’re bound to feel a little awkward after all,” Carry Ann assured her.

  Cheryl closed her eyes tight again and waited for Carry Ann to make her move.

  Carry Ann lightly ran her fingers over Cheryl’s belly and then down her inner thighs. Cheryl twitched. Then without any warning, Carry Ann scrambled on top of her and began to kiss her, starting slowly, she kissed her lower lip, then evolved into heavier kissing with Cheryl following her lead and responding coherently.

  Kissing her way down Cheryl’s neck, then chest, then belly, Carry Ann nudged her thighs open. Cheryl was extremely nervous but she wanted this as much as Carry Ann did. “Relax, Cheryl, it’s okay,” Carry Ann said softly. She continued to kiss down between Cheryl’s thighs, stirring uncontrollable emotions in the recipient.

  •••

  An hour later, Cheryl lay on her back, the covers over her body and staring up at the ceiling with thousands of thoughts racing through her mind. Carry Ann had rested her head on Cheryl’s chest and fallen into a relaxed state of mind.

  Cheryl let out a sudden laugh.

  “What? Did I miss something funny?” Carry Ann asked.

  “Oh, no, no, it ain’t like that. I was just thinking, it’s like I ain’t a virgin but I still am. I can’t get me head around it to be honest,” Cheryl informed her.

  “Was it okay? Did you like it?” Carry Ann asked her.

  “Oh god, I liked it all. I liked you kissing me down there and doin’ the same to you. I never knew it could feel like that. My insides, it’s like they hurt but they don’t, like some sort of dance happened down there and now it’s all over.”

  Carry Ann smiled, then lifted her head to kiss her.

  The alarm clock went off and Carry Ann stretched over Cheryl to turn it off.

  “What’s that alarm for?” Cheryl asked her.

  “Oh nothing important but I do think that we should get dressed and just tidy up any evidence around here. I don’t want to give Bernadette cause for concern, that’s all,” Carry Ann said, getting out of the bed and starting to dress.

  Cheryl got out of her side and picked up her clothes, dressing as she went around the room to tidy up and replace anything out of place. She felt odd that she had to do this. To her, her first time should have ended a little more romantically than this but not knowing Carry Ann that well and never having met Bernadette, she thought that this must be normal for girls who like girls.

  “Okay, you have to go now, Bernadette will be home soon,” Carry Ann informed her. She seemed a bit edgy and distant causing Cheryl to feel uncomfortable. Kissing her quickly, she told her to phone her on Tuesday and then enticed her to the front door where they said their good byes and parted hastily.

  Cheryl walked through Knightsbridge, swinging her handbag and wearing a huge smile across her face. Still feeling the lasting tingling effects down in her privates, she gave off an air of fulfilment and even swung herself around a lamp post and sang out ‘You’re my World.’ Her entire being had been thrown into turmoil but it wasn’t something that she felt disgraced with, that was not until she reached her front door.

  “Cheryl, luv, your mother’s not in the best of moods with you. She’s been worried sick about ya. She even went down to the phone box and phoned the café where ya working at. Where the bloody hell have ya been?” her dad asked her.

  “I went out, bleedin’ hell what’s all the fuss about?” she asked him, trying to escape the wrath of her mother.

  “I’ll tell ya what it’s all about, my girl,” her mother yelled from the kitchen. “And I’ll not put up with any of ya porkie pies neither. You shouldda come home when ya was supposed to but no, instead you go gallivanting god only knows where.”

  “I’m old enough to go where I want, I am a working gal now, ya know,” she protested.

  “Cheryl, luv. Just let ya mother ‘ave her say. She’ll get over it by ton
ight. You know what she’s like when she’s upset.”

  “But, dad, why can’t I just go and be myself instead of ‘aving to live by her rules all the time. God it’s worser than bein’ at school.”

  “No such word as worser,” her mother yelled out.

  “No such thing as a free life neither,” Cheryl cussed under her breath.

  “She’s angry ‘cos she missed an episode of Z Cars when she went out looking for you. Just give her a couple of fags, that’ll keep her happy,” her dad said.

  Cheryl leaned over the back of the sofa and kissed her dad on the side of his face. “Thanks, dad. Sometimes I wish it was just you and me. At least you don’t shout ya gob off every five minutes at me.” She immediately took out two cigarettes from her pack and rested them on the arm of her mother’s chair.

  Her mum came storming in carrying a plate of food. “Two rashers of bacon, burnt, and two fried eggs that look like they’ve dried out. You ‘ad better eat it all, my girl, no wasting in this house.” She slammed the plate down on the table, then went back to the kitchen, returning with a knife and fork which she slammed down at the side of the plate.

  “There’s two fags I saved for ya, on ya chair,” Cheryl told her.

  Her mother sat down and grabbed them. “Ya shouldda said, I would’ve grabbed me ashtray on me way past ya.”

  Cheryl leaned over to the dresser, then passed the glass ashtray over to her mum. At least it kept her quiet for the next half hour or so, until she found something else to complain about.

  Chapter Four

  Cheryl lay rested on her bed, her toes wiggling and her ankles crossed, whilst she listened to one of her records, ‘Don’t Throw Your Love Away.’ With her arms relaxed behind her head, she stared up at her poster. “You’re pretty, but not as pretty Carry Ann is,” she whispered to herself.

  She looked around at her belongings in her room and compared them to Carry Ann’s flat. Her old dusky pink bed throw was becoming thread bare, her pillows had lost their plumpness, and her burnt-orange carpet was filthy and needed burning in her opinion. Her dresser was old dark wood, a piece of furniture that had been passed down from her Grandmother, the top drawer always stuck and it smelt of mildew. The curtains never kept the daylight out, they were that thin and the wallpaper had been peeling off the walls for years. She was determined now more than ever to rid herself of this burden.