It was Friday and I had just finished my second week of training at my firm's Northern Depot. It wasn't too bad a chore as it was close to where I used to live when I was a mere schoolchild so I new the area, but it was still a pain.
I was staying in a nearby hotel but I thought that tonight I would venture back into the old area to see what it was like now. I figured that I was hardly going to get recognised, as it had been ten years or so since I had moved away and I was only seventeen at the time. Well it was lucky my expectations were not high, as the place had not changed apart from a new housing estate and a leisure complex on the outskirts. "T'rific." I thought to myself. I was getting thirsty and feeling a bit peckish so I thought I'd stop at the next pub that I came across, grab a pint and something to eat and then head off back to the hotel to pack up for the journey home tomorrow.
It wasn't long before I came across the inevitable family pub/restaurant and it was only a matter of minutes before I was sitting at the bar, pint in hand. I looked around. In one corner sat a couple, there was a couple of lads at bar but apart from a few other drinkers it was fairly quiet.
Well it was quiet for another five minutes until a the doors burst open and in trooped at least a dozen girls, all dressed up in school uniforms. Cackling, laughing and screeching they made their way over to the other side of the bar. "T'rific." I thought for the second time that evening. There was absolutely no way I was going to a peaceful meal now so I resigned myself to having another pint and then disappearing back to the hotel restaurant and calling it an night.
I motioned over to the bartender and he poured me another pint.
"Sorry, Sir." the bartender said."It's not normally like this here, but one of the local girls is having her hen night. They've been planning it for weeks now."
"Guess that's my bad timing then." I regretfully sighed. "Not to worry. I can ogle them for a bit and then head off." Don't get me wrong, I'm not a boring bloke who can't stand fun, but it had been a long laborious week and all I wanted was some peace and quiet.
I was halfway through my pint was I felt two hands cover my eyes and somebody say, "Guess who?"
"Claudia Schiffer?" I replied
"Nope, guess again." came the soft feminine voice from behind.
"Umm, Naomi Campbell." I answered, still none the wiser.
"D'ya want a clue?" she said.
I nodded
"OK, school leaving party, dark corner, you snogged my face off the whole night."
I knew exactly who she was now. "Amanda Stoneman if I am not mistaken." I turned round. A vision of pure woman, dressed in an undersized school uniform greeted my eyes. "Well knock me over with a feather. That was ten years ago now. I am glad you haven't forgotten then." I winked at her.
"No I have never forgot that night Simon Turner." she said and laughed. "But hey, it wasn't to be. So what brings my little Simon back to these humble parts then?"
My little Simon, she always called me that. We had been sweethearts for just over two years when my parents decided to move and there was nothing I could do to stop them.
"Oh nothing exciting Mandy Pandy, just work. My firm's got a place just ten miles away. I've been up here training and thought I'd drive and take a look at old place. Hasn't changed much has it?"
"Mandy Pandy." she repeated. "I see you haven't forgotten either."
And the truth is I had never forgotten Amanda Stoneman, We were Potters Secondary School's equivalent to The Beckhams, so much in love and destined to marry and go on to stardom, fame and riches. Until that fateful day when my parents told me we were all moving three hundred miles away to Sussex for a better life. There was nothing I could do to stop them, or me for that matter, going. Etched on my memory is Amanda Stoneman, crying and sobbing as I waved goodbye from the back of my Dad's car. Still to this day I don't know why we moved but I resented my parents for it and even now they have both passed away, I have never forgiven them.
"So what have you been up too then Mandy? I bet somebody snapped you up the minute I left." I asked
"Yep, unfortunately somebody did. James Lofthouse." she answered
"Lofty? Bloody hell, he must have thought all his Christmas's had come at once. He'd fancied you for ages and ages"
"Well, he married me."
I was gob smacked. Lofty was the geek of all geeks. A nice guy don't get me wrong but not in Mandy's league. I felt a pang of jealousy or was it guilt as that person should have been me. "So how long have you too be married?"
"Next month would have been our eight year anniversary if he had hadn't found himself an internet lover in Australia. But that was three years ago and so I am over him now, not that I was really ever into him in the first place mind"
And for the first time I saw the Amanda Stoneman that I knew and had once loved. Bolshy, blunt and ever, ever so attractive. "Sorry." was the only word I could utter to her.
"Is that sorry that Lofty left me or sorry that you left me?"
I gulped, speechless. I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights, knowing my fate but helpless to avoid it. "The latter." I replied. "There was nothing I could do Mandy, absolutely nothing."
She sighed and nodded. "I know Si, but as I said earlier. I have never forgotten."
I smiled at her and she smiled back. Her hand touched mine lightly and we just looked at each other. The moment was broken by a shrill voice from over the other side of the bar. "Mand! You comin' or d'ya want us to wait."
"Looks like it's time for you to go then Mand." I said.
"Yep it does." she replied. "Here, take my number and when you are up here next call me. It will be good to catch up." She scribbled her number down and left it on the bar. "Bye my little Simon." she sang as she went back to the party.
"See ya Mandy Pandy. And I will call." I shouted after her and she smiled.
I sighed the heaviest sigh imaginable and turned back to my pint. All the memories flooded back from when I first asked her out, to our first date and then onto when we first made love together. Not the best ever, but it meant the most. All these visions clouded by the memory of my family driving away. I looked at the number and thought about calling her then and there, but I ended up talking myself out of it. I shrugged my shoulders. "But hey, it wasn't to be." I thought to myself, repeating Mandy's words of earlier.
I hadn't even noticed the hen party leaving but suddenly was aware of quietness. "Another regret to add to the list then." I thought to myself, as I swirled the last of my pint around my glass and started to drink it.
"Going so soon?" came a voice from behind.
"Did she call the marriage off then?" I replied.
Mandy laughed. "How the fuck could I go on a hen night knowing that you were around. I told them I wasn't feeling to good and would go home. I don't think they believed me though." And with that Mandy sat next to me on the bar. " Well, are you gonna order me a drink or what?"
I motioned the bartender over. "I'll have a coke and whatever the lady is having please."
"Rum and black." said Mandy, and with that the bartender went off to get our drinks.
"So what made you come back then?" I replied as I paid the bartender
"You did Simon. All the old memories came flooding back and to be honest so did all the old feelings. I've never forgotten Simon, never. I've always regretted not saying anything or making them stop leaving with you, and now you being here I couldn't let you leave again." she blurted out.
I looked blank. "What do you mean regretted not saying anything? I don't get it. All my parents said was that Dad had got a promotion and we were moving for a better life in Sussex. I never understood why it happened so quickly but I was only sixteen Mandy. If that's what they told me then that's what I had to believe."
Mandy gulped. " You mean nobody has told you the real reason then"
For the second time that evening I looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. "Mandy, you are talking in riddles."