So for this to make sense it's probably best to start at the beginning.
I grew up in a small town. My family lived at the end of a Cul-de-sac. It was a really tight little community. Our neighbours weren't just neighbours, they were more like a big extended family. The neighbours on the left-hand side were probably the closest in terms of relationships. Mum and dad had known them ever since they moved in. Their son Chris and I grew up more like brothers than friends. We spent more time at the other's house than we did in our own. Our parents treated us like brothers. We shared everything, toys, clothes and bikes. We were always in trouble and up to mischief of some sort or other.
As close as we were, we were also fierce rivals, although I idolised him. We played cricket together although Chris was much better than me. He was the captain and opening batsman, everyone looked up to him. He was the captain of the hockey team and their best player. He was the school dux and the teachers loved him. Me on the other hand, I was the black sheep.
In year three at school our happy little world got turned upside down .The reason? A moving van signalled the arrival of a new family moving into the neighbourhood.
They moved in three doors up the road, it was sort of a big deal at the time because this was the first new family we had ever seen. As the moving truck pulled up we all went down and helped them with the moving and our parents went down with food, and an invite welcoming them into the neighbourhood.
They were a single child family with only one daughter. Her name was Cassandra or as we learned to call her Cassie. She fitted right in with Chris and me, unlike the other girls in the neighbourhood, she was a tomboy and quickly became a regular member of our little club. When I say she was a tomboy, I mean she was tough. She could fight as well as most of the guys in our class.
At first it was a bit weird having a girl in the gang but she forced her way in. Eventually we had no option other than to accept her. Our parents thought nothing of her sleeping in our rooms when we had sleepovers. She ate with us, played with us and of course, fought side by side with us.
The fighting was a big deal for me, my father hated violence, he lectured me long and hard about fighting and how violence solved nothing. At the time it was a big deal for me because a couple of bullies at school took great pleasure in picking on Chris, Cassie and I.
My dad's answer was suck it up, they were just bullies and would get sick of it. Just stand up to them but don't fight back!! That was OK for him, but not me, I have a bit of a stubborn streak, and a bad temper. I was pushing back and consequently got beaten up regularly.
Chris was no fighter preferring to run rather than fight. Not me though, I wasn't backing down. Cassie was more help than Chris; she threw herself in with all fists flying. In hindsight the reason we got picked on was because of Cassie, the other boys were jealous.
Luckily for me, Chris's dad had a different take on life. In a former life he used to be a boxer, Chris hated boxing or fighting so his dad took great pleasure in teaching me. The only problem was my temper and that was exposed when a couple of bullies picked on us I put all the training to good use and beat them both to a bloody pulp. It would have been worse but Chris and Cassie dragged me off them. As I stood up I could see the look of terror on Cassie's face, she was horrified, bawling her eyes out as the guys were trying to wipe the blood off their faces.
I ended up getting suspended for a couple of weeks, but it sure put a stop to the bullying.
Disgusting and abhorrent was how my father described my behaviour, he grounded me for three months. It was nothing but school and straight home afterwards for me, no camping or fishing, and to make it worse he sat me down and I got a lecture like never before. He made me promise never to use violence again. It was a promise I kept throughout my school years. The fact I had beaten the two biggest bullies to a pulp kept them off our backs. So thankfully it was never an issue.
Things changed gradually on the home front. As we got older of course the sleepovers had to change, our parents weren't quite so eager to have teenagers sleeping together. This pissed Cassie off no end, she felt like she had been ostracised from our gang. She had more than a couple of tantrums with her mum and dad, she honestly couldn't see what the problem was. Her folks had to sit her down and give her the talk about boys and girls which was pretty funny when she gave us a laughing blow by blow account of the lecture.
Things were changing in our little world. Cassie was changing, she was still the tomboy, but she was transforming into a very pretty girl and by fifteen I was in love, so was Chris unfortunately. It led to our first real falling out, it was obvious to both of us we both liked her.
The turning point for Cassie and I was when Cassie's dad died suddenly from a massive heart attack, Cassie really struggled with his death she had always been a daddy's girl and she loved him with a vengeance.
We all did our best to console and comfort her, but sometimes she just broke down and cried. One afternoon we found ourselves alone hiding in our tree house, she was in a dark mood feeling despondent sobbing and crying. I was just doing my best to console and comfort her, we hugged and I held her tight trying to get her to stop the crying, as we hugged her face turned up towards mine and we shared our first kiss. I was just trying to console her really, I had long since given up hope of anything more. I think we were both shocked by the instant chemistry. The kiss was amazing and I just about floated out of the tree house. If I was in love before, now I was besotted. You could have tied a hundred pound weight to my foot and it wouldn't have held me down.
Things changed between me and Cassie after that kiss. She was nervous around me and we couldn't talk anymore, try as I might I couldn't get her alone she always found an excuse to escape.
It was heart breaking for me, and it obviously affected her as well. For the first time ever we were actually uneasy around each other. Chris tried to make the most of me being on the outer and make his own advances, but she pushed him away as well and he joined me on the outside looking in.
That's the way things stayed for months, we weren't fighting, we just weren't talking.
The big change occurred following a party at a friend's house. The three of us went together. I had managed to steal some booze and by ten we were a little tipsy, Cassie loosened up and somehow we ended up making out at the back of the house away from everybody. Just as we were getting into it, Chris stumbled on us as we were wrapped together kissing. The look on his face said it all. He was horrified and incredibly upset. His shock quickly changed to anger. The look he gave me left me in no doubt about what he was thinking, I felt Cassie tense up as well, she didn't understand what the problem was.
The problem was she was making out with me and Chris was pissed off. He was pissed at Cassie but he was angrier at me. It took weeks before he would even talk to me. I stopped seeing Cassie to try and mend the rift, not that we were really doing anything anyway. In all the years we had been friends we had never fought like this.
Out fight went on for weeks until slowly day by day we started hanging out again. It was uncomfortable but we were too close to remain at odds with each other. I stayed away from Cassie, which pissed her off. She was pissed at Chris and me for cutting her out of the gang. She stopped talking to both of us refusing to acknowledge us in any way.
Chris and I went back to going camping and fishing while Cassie was left looking after her mum. Inside I felt terrible. It was like a part of me was missing. Chris didn't say anything but I knew he must feel the same way. Now there was this huge rift between all of us and I didn't know what to do to fix it.
Chris surprised me when out of the blue as we were shooting some hoops he mumbled quietly, "Jay if you and Cassie are going to be more than friends, I'm OK with that." We shared a hug, Chris was big on hugs and it seemed like a huge moment.
That was OK for us but Cassie was still angry with me. It took days to get her just to talk to me. She asked why I pushed her away.
I tried to explain that I didn't want to hurt Chris, she didn't understand, and I couldn't explain it because I didn't really understand it either. Eventually, she softened her stance and slowly started to hang around with us again, although when we shared a tent now it was more her and me that shared one.
Our folks eventually clicked onto the fact we were more than friends and the overnighters came to an end, that's when our dating started for real. Cassie's mum was ecstatic, as I was her favourite we were always really close. Sometimes I think I was closer to her than I was my own mother. After her husband died I did all their yard work and helped around the house.
I was no genius at school so I left the moment I turned sixteen. My father was dead against me leaving school, but fortunately when he finally did come around he got on board and worked hard at convincing a mate of his who just happened to be a local electrician to take me on as an apprentice. My grades weren't really good enough, but Brian was good enough to see past the grades, he recognised I could think mechanically and he took great pleasure in watching and helping me develop. I loved being away from school and working it felt great. After six months I brought a car and that gave me freedom, I had money to take Cassie out to the movies. Things were great.
Chris and I drifted apart a little. He was busy finding a girlfriend of his own not that he had any problems with that he had always been the most popular boy in school and the girls loved him.
He was good-looking and athletic and a real charmer when he wanted to be, a real ladies man. He never kept a girlfriend for long he was always dating someone new. He adopted the four f's philosophy find 'em, feel'em, fuck'em and forget'em.
Cassie used to tease the hell out of him about it. We did go on lots of double dates and throughout Chris and Cassie always danced and flirted with each other mercilessly. Chris's dates hated it and I think that's why Cassie loved it. When I got pissed off she chastised me about being jealous and stupid convincing me she was testing Chris's dates, seeing if they were the right one! Secretly I think she loved making me jealous.
She always knew when she had gone too far, for days afterwards she treated me especially well.
When I left home and into my own flat Chris wanted to move in with me, but his father refused to let him leave home until he had finished school. That didn't stop him from staying almost every night at my place though. Mostly because I let him bring his dates around and sometimes they stayed overnight.
