Jamie Ch 11 12

CHAPTER 11

I woke up at about 9am. All things considered in regards to the previous day, I had slept pretty well. The emotional exhaustion had really knocked me around, though.

Lying in bed for a few minutes, I just stared at the ceiling and thought. I was contemplating and planning what I would do today.

I desperately wanted to see Jamie and make sure that she was alright, but if Blake was still around that could be extremely difficult, to say the least.

I knew it was possible that she wouldn't say anything to him yet, that she would just tolerate what I had told her about and maybe dump Blake later. Knowing Jamie, that had to be an unlikely option.

Maybe they would sort things out between them? Maybe she would forgive Blake and they could just continue their holiday? I knew that was extremely unlikely as well.

I knew it was pretty useless to run through all the potential scenario's in my mind, but thinking about it would help me plan what to do next.

I would have to try to speak to Jamie, I already knew that. If the opportunity didn't appear, I would have to try to figure out what was going on with them, if they were still together after all of this.

If it was clear that Jamie was still with Blake and they were going to stay on holiday, I decided that the best option would probably be for me to leave the camp, end my holiday early and get out of the way. If they stayed together, whatever, I didn't want to see them continuing to go around camp hand in hand.

I also had the feeling that if they stayed together that Blake could end up as a physical threat to me, if he figured out that I had dobbed him in to Jamie. This was another reason why it was a good idea for me to leave if they stayed together. I simply could not get into a physical altercation with him if he did turn violent towards me. Anything incident like that could potentially lose me my teaching job, permanently, as any sort of criminal records for teachers were unacceptable.

With some decisions made and a rough plan of action formed in my mind, I climbed out of bed. I felt a bit sticky so I had a quick shower and walked out of my unit dripping wet. The day was already very warm so it wouldn't take long for the sun dry me off.

I headed off in the direction of Blake and Jamie's apartment. Same plan as last night. Casually walk past and see if there were any signs of life there or if anything was going on. Then I would decide what to do.

I walked across the compound and turned the corner towards their room.

Blake's car was no longer parked out the front of their room. I quickly looked around to see if he had moved his car somewhere else. It was nowhere to be seen. I wasn't sure how to process that.

Changing my walking path, I headed straight up to their front door. The absence of Blake's car had certainly emboldened me. Maybe he was gone? That would be fine with me.

As I got closer to the door I could see it was slightly ajar. Not such a good sign. I slowed down, taking more caution as I approached. I could see the room key sticking out of the door lock. That was the normal sign that somebody had checked out of the resort altogether.

Maybe they were both gone? I walked right up to the door and cautiously called "HELLO??" into the apartment. No reply. I pushed the door open a bit to see in and it was clear that they were both gone, none of their property was left in the room.

"Can I help you?" Came a voice from behind me. I turned around to see it was one of the resort cleaning staff. They always worked clothed, which was amusing.

"Oh hi," I said, flustered. "Do you know what happened to the couple from this room?"

"I was told that they had both checked out, that's why I'm here to clean the room up."

"Did they check out together?"

"Why wouldn't they?" he laughed, stepping up to the front of the apartment to stand in front of me. "To be honest though, I wouldn't know for sure. I was told they checked out first thing and that's all they told me."

"Okay then, thanks" I said as I stepped away from the door and walked back down the steps to the car park.

"No problems, mate." Said the cleaner as he walked into the apartment to start working.

I stood in the car park where Blake's car had been. Something felt really wrong about this. I could not, for all the world, imagine that Jamie would have left with Blake. She was angry at him and she had a lot of pride. It was doubtful that she would continue to put up with his shit.

So where was she? I doubted she was at the resort anymore and I didn't believe she was with Blake. That left only a few options, and there was one in particular that really concerned me.

I ran back to my room, put on a t-shirt and shorts, grabbed my wallet and keys and went out to my car. I climbed in and drove out of the resort.

I headed south, figuring that towards the NSW border was probably the right way to go. Sure enough, after about five kilometres of driving I saw a figure standing beside the road. Getting closer I could see that it was clearly a female, wearing a yellow bikini top and green khaki pants. She was wearing Doc Martens on her feet.

As I drove closer she saw my car approaching and stuck her thumb out, trying to hitchhike. Dressed the way she was, she looked amazing. It was a wonder that nobody had picked her up.

I got close enough for Jamie to realise that it was me driving up to her. She withdrew her thumb and turned her back to the road. I pulled over to the side of the road just ahead of her. There was a dense thicket of Lantana on either side of the road, forming a natural barrier which prevented her from running inland.

She just stood there anyway as I climbed out of my car and walked over to her.

She tried to hold her back to me as I walked around her, twisting around on the spot.

I just stopped moving.

"Jamie, I'm a teacher. You know how much patience I have, even with silly games like this."

She stopped twisting around the other way, and turned to face me, but her eyes were downcast.

I could see that she had been in the sun all morning, her face and shoulders were really red with sunburn. Even though she had been developing a decent tan over the last few days at the camp, with her tanlines starting to disappear, it was clear that this had been no protection against the harsh sun of the day.

I crouched down a bit, so I could look up into her downcast eyes.

"Jamie?"

She burst into tears on the spot. I had enough time to see that her eyes were extremely red as well before she squeezed them shut, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I wanted to hug her close, but I didn't feel that was the right moment for such intimacy. Instead, I just straightened up and stood there in front of her, helpless, as the poor girl sobbed her heart out.

I just let her cry, she had to let it out.

After a few minutes, she started wiping her eyes, with the sobs starting to subside.

"C-can we g-go somewhere?" She stammered.

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"I d-don't want to g-go back to the c-camp or to the t-town where you saw h-him with that g-girl."

"Ok, we'll find somewhere else."

I reached down and gently took her hand, leading her over to the car. I opened the door for her and she climbed in.

"Th-thanks." She said softly as she buckled her seat belt, looking up at me.

"It's no problem, Jamie." I said, then I gently closed her passenger side door and walked around to my side. I climbed in and we drove away together.

The town we drove to was a place called Mulberry. It was essentially the next town south of the one I had seen Blake in.

Jamie had stopped crying soon after getting in the car. She didn't say anything as we drove and I could tell she was struggling to regain her composure. I didn't try to push her for conversation, she just needed to get herself together.

I was just happy that she was with me and she hadn't resisted getting in the car so I could get her out of there. Hitch-hiking had always been a dangerous proposition in Australia, especially for beautiful girls like her.

As we got closer to the town I asked "Have you had anything to eat yet today?"

She shook her head.

"Ok, we'll stop at one of the pubs in town and have a nice lunch. How does that sound?"

"That sounds very nice, Michael." she said softly, and for the first time that day I saw a slight smile in the corner of her lips. I also suspect that it was the first time she had called me Michael since that day under the palm frond. Fine by me, I was sick of being called "Sir".

Mulberry was very much a resort/holiday town which primarily catered to tourists, but it still didn't take long to find the local pub.

I pulled up out the front and waited while Jamie reached into her backpack and pulled out a t-shirt. I was reminded of how sensible she could be. Even though the town was mainly for tourists, there was no way the pub was going to accept her going in with a just a bikini top.

The shirt she slid over her upper body had a Warner Bros. Tweety Pie on the front, with "Hot Chick" written underneath. I don't know if she wore the shirt too much because it seemed a little small and her breasts really stretched Tweety out of all proportion. I had to stop myself from raising my eyebrows at this.

We both climbed out of the car. She got to the entrance to the pub first and then, to my surprise, she reached out her hand to me. Taking her hand, we walked into the pub together.

It was a bit early and they weren't serving lunch yet, so we went to sit in the beer garden in the back of the pub. On the way, Jamie excused herself and walked into a bathroom. I went out to the shaded area and sat down on a nice leather lounge.

Jamie emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later. She had washed away the tearstains from her face and I also noticed that she had removed her bikini top, so the t-shirt was next to the skin. With her nipples sticking out there wasn't much left to the imagination.

She noticed me staring as she sat down next to me. "Sorry," she said "It was just too uncomfortable to wear that under the shirt."

"That's ok, Jamie. I just don't want management to give you any problems with how you are dressed."

"In spite of the last 12 hours or so I think I can handle anything now." she said, very wistfully.

After that little statement it felt like as good a time as any to find out what took place last night and this morning.

"Sorry Jamie, I have to ask, what happened?"

I was worried that she might start to cry in response to this question, but she maintained her composure well.

"Well," she said, in a very confessional tone. "I have to say honestly, that this isn't the first time he's done this to me. The last time though, he convinced me that it was only because he was drunk that he did the wrong thing."

"When was the last time he did this?"

"Just after we finished high school," she sniffed briefly. "The biggest problem is that the last time he did do this it was with the same girl. What you saw going on has convinced me that he has probably been in a relationship of some sort with her all along. He's a prick. I can really see that now."

Her head sank down and she stopped talking for a few seconds.

"Jamie?"

She looked back up at me. "Can we talk about something else for now?"

"Sure," I said. "I was actually about to go and get a drink, what would you like?"

She looked up at me with a nice little smile. "Lemonade please?"

"No worries, don't want anything stronger?"

She shook her head and I got up and went to the bar.

I returned a couple of minutes later with a lemonade for her and a Coke for myself.

"I don't drink," she said. "My biological father was a heavy drinker and it had a really bad effect on him, I don't want to be like that."

"Fair enough" I said. There was a coffee table just across from us and sitting on it was a copy of "Time Off", a street press magazine that covered the music scene. It had reviews, gig listing, etc. I picked it up and sat it in my lap.

"Are you into music at all, Jamie?" I asked. Hopefully this would be a nice and fresh topic for her.

"No, not really, I liked some of the pop stuff that was around when I was in High School, but I only listen to the radio once in a while now."

After flicking in a few pages an advertisement caught my eye. "Hmmm. Seems like Custard has a gig coming up in town soon. Ever heard of them?"

"Can't say that I have?" She observed. "Are you interested in going to the show?"

"They're a great band but I'd have to wear clothes," I noted. "Apart from today and yesterday I haven't done that much lately."

She smiled at me.

"You've really got some bad burns there." I said, looking at her bare arms and legs. "That's gonna hurt tonight."

"I know, I'll have to get some aftersun lotion later."

We just sat there quietly for a few minutes. I was casually flicking through the magazine, not really reading much. She was just staring off into the distance.

I had to go back to the topic again, I was trying to understand what was going on. "So Blake won't be coming back?"

"No, especially if he's worried that I'll actually do to him what I threatened to do before he left."

I shook my head wryly. Blake must have known that he was tempting fate doing what he did but he went and did it anyway.

A question entered my mind. I wasn't sure if I should ask it, but whatever, we had to deal with this sometime.

"Do you want to come back to the resort and stay with me?" I suggested. I saw her eyes widening at that. "Oh, I'll sleep on the lounge and you can sleep in the bed, I wasn't asking you to do THAT."

"To do what?"

"Look, you've just had a break up and I don't want you to think that I would try and take advantage of you or this situation."

This got a warm smile out of her. "You're so sweet." She said. "But no, I couldn't impose on you and your hospitality. You're up here for a holiday, it wouldn't be fair."

"You're up here for a holiday too. It would be unfair to you if yours ended prematurely just because Blake is an idiot."

She shook her head. "I don't think it's a good idea. I'm sure that there is a bus or something that runs though this town that could take me where I need to go."

I didn't want to beg her, but I really didn't want her to leave either. And I wasn't just thinking about my desires either. I wanted Jamie to have a good time, especially after what Blake had done.

"Well look," I said, "Lets just relax here for now and you can make your final decision on what you do later, you might change your mind. Is that ok?"

"That's ok," she said.

We sat in the beer garden for a little while longer. We had some idle chit-chat about fairly mundane things, rather than talk about stuff that could get her upset.

When the bistro opened we went in. Lunch was quite nice and fairly cheap. Jamie insisted on paying for her own meal at the end, but that was fine. With the eating done, we strolled out of the pub, hand in hand again, onto the main street.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know, lets go for a walk down that way" she said, pointing down the street we had driven up.

We walked down, hand in hand. We stopped at a chemist and I went in and purchased some aftersun lotion for her. I gave it to her and she put it in her bag. We continued down the street.

We didn't say much as we walked, I could see that she was lost in thought. I was just enjoying myself holding her hand.

I felt extremely protective of her, but I still couldn't tell exactly where things were going. We came to a halt outside a women's clothing shop.

"Back in a few minutes, wait for me please?" She asked.

"Of course" I said as she walked away into the shop.

I stood outside and patiently waited, leaning up against the wall of the shop in the shade. I knew I was going to have to ask her again to stay, but I couldn't tell whether or not she would. It was so frustrating. I just wanted what was best for her and her personal safety. I wasn't sure if she understood that. After what she had said the previous day, she might still be thinking that all I wanted to do was fuck her. While I certainly had more than a passing interest in doing that, I didn't want to take advantage of her in this emotional state either.

Jamie came back out again after about twenty minutes. She was shoving some stuff in her bag. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Sorry I made you wait."

"That's fine Jamie, did you get what you wanted?"

"I sure did." She said, then "Lets keep going."

We walked further down the road.

I looked ahead and finally understood where she was leading me. We were walking down to the towns "Tourist Information Office". There was a bus stop adjacent to it.

She was planning to leave.

As we reached the door I stopped walking and turned to look at her.

"Look, Jamie...."

"I said that I can't impose on your hospitality," she said, guessing what I was about to say.

"Where will you go, where will you stay?"

"I'm capable of sorting myself out," she said, sounding fairly defensive, "I'm not a charity case."

"I didn't say that Jamie, I just know that you do need some sort of assistance though, do you want me to drive you somewhere? Do you want me to drive you to your parents place?"

"Ergh, no," she said, the distaste registering on her face, "I have some girlfriends who are reliable, I can organise somewhere to stay short term until I get myself sorted out."

"Ok Jamie, whatever you say."

We walked into the tourist information office.

Half an hour later we were sitting, waiting for a bus that would soon arrive and take her back to New South Wales.

I was increasingly frustrated, so I had gone back to reading through the music magazine I had brought with me from the pub. Jamie sat there silently, staring into the distance. She had her ticket ready to go.

The bus arrived. It was an old fashioned one from the 1960's, but it sounded like it was in good shape.

We stood up. She turned to face me.

I took a piece of paper out of my pocket. I wrote my number and home address on it. (Teachers always carry a pen)

She took it when I held it out to her.

"I've really enjoyed my time with you, Jamie. Please keep in touch."

She looked genuinely touched by this. When her eyes met mine, I could see the tears.

"Thank you, for everything. I'm sorry I've been such a pain."

"No Jamie, you haven't been a pain. I really care about you."

She stood closer to me, got on her tip toes and gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thanks, Michael." she whispered in my ear.

She climbed aboard the bus and waved to me as she was driven off.

I waited until I couldn't see the bus anymore. Then I walked back to my car.

CHAPTER 12

I had been back at the resort for a few hours. Jamie's departure had really taken the wind out of my sails. I had decided that I was going to cut my holiday short and leave early in the morning.

It felt like this trip had ultimately brought me nothing but grief. While I had enjoyed my time with Jamie, I knew that Blake had stuffed everything up for all three of us. Staying at the resort would only serve as a reminder of how sour things had ended up. I would be happier at home.

I was watching my video of "Bad Boys", and in all honesty I wasn't that impressed with it. It wasn't my sort of action film. I had the sound down fairly low, not wanting to bother anybody in rooms around me. I was ultimately glad I did have the sound low, because I suddenly heard a gentle rapping on my door.

I climbed off the lounge, checking the VCR clock as I did so. It was 10.30pm.

Nobody bothered me that late. I walked to the door and opened it.

I suppose that Jamie probably wasn't the last person I expected to see at my door, but I was still very surprised to see her standing there.