Seven

Seven

The man’s name was James. But he wanted Edna to call him Jimmy. Or Jim. But definitely not James.
After he had introduced himself, whilst they both dangled their legs over the side of Ventnor pier, Edna felt a glorious rush of some unfamiliar feeling. She was trembling, her heart was pounding. A huge smile wouldn’t leave her face, and her skin – her young, smooth, tanned skin, felt like a warm, silk sheet holding her organs together. The summer breeze coming up off the sea tingled, and her body was more alive than it had ever been. She’d never forget the way this felt for the rest of her days.

Jimmy held Edna’s hand firmly. Edna wasn’t sure if this was to stop her from falling, of from fleeing. But he needn’t have worried. She wasn’t going anywhere without him. So, when he started counting down from ten, Edna knew there was only one way off this pier.

He fell. She fell. They hit the water hard, and the current made surfacing difficult. That blissful feeling of indestructibility had given way to fear, panic and regret for a moment,when Edna thought her foolishness may just have cost her her life, until a hand held her up, and she was able to breathe again.

Once they were back on the beach, Jimmy’s eyes erased all that fear. He was proud of her, he said. How many other lasses would have jumped like that? And little Edna, for that is what she was, swelled with pride, and would have done it all again, if he’d asked her to.
But he didn’t. Instead, he bent down and kissed her.
Edna was so surprised that she didn’t kiss him back – she didn’t know how. But as he walked away from her that day, leaving her where she stood, dripping on the beach, Edna didn’t want him to go.

Edna was infatuated. She’d had her first taste of romance, and from that point on, she’d do anything for more.
Anything at all.