The Decoy Date

Chapter Eighteen

Oh God! Please leave me alone! Imogen wanted to scream as her mother was suddenly invading every aspect of her personal life and there was no escape. It had only been one night and she was already tearing her hair out, Charlie had stayed for dinner and until nine o'clock but he had marking to do for the next day and she didn't want to keep him hostage with her mother; she'd just been so grateful he'd stayed for as long as he had.

They were sat at the breakfast bar in Imogen's kitchen that 'really wasn't good enough for eating at', drinking filter coffee that was 'too strong' for her mother's taste. She was waiting for Jess to arrive so they could go and meet Daisy for the hen do, but Jess had chosen to be late on the worst possible day leaving her to babysit her mother while her father went for lunch with an old friend. Her mother was supposed to be going for lunch as well but not until later on. Leaving the morning free to torment Imogen.

"Sorry I'm late." Jess bustled through the door and stopped short when she saw Carole sat on a stool holding a china mug.

"Tardiness was always a problem for you Jessica, I see it hasn't improved much since you were sixteen." Jess scowled and opened her mouth to reply but Imogen jumped up and pushed her friend out of the door saying a hurried goodbye to her mother before anything unscrupulous came out of her friend's mouth.

"Hey, I was just about to tell her where she could shove her tardiness." Jess whined as they stomped down the stairs.

"Exactly. You're not the one who has to live with her and deal with the aftermath of a comment like that."

"Where are we going anyway?" They walked onto the street and were met with a freezing gust of wind and a threatening grey sky, they would definitely be getting snow at some point.

"Daisy texted to meet her at Regent's Park but didn't say anything else." They walked up the road towards the park as Imogen detailed what had happened the night before when her mother had made herself at home in the spare bedroom.

Approaching the park, they heard the sounds of lots of people chatting and laughing, along with whooshes and bangs and music blasting out of speakers. When they got through the treeline they were met by the sights and sounds of a funfair and hundreds of people enjoying the rides. Daisy was in the middle of a large group and ran over to the two of them when she saw them.

"Hey! You made it! No Charlie?" She was bubbling with excitement, bouncing around on her heels as her hair and dress were caught in a gust of wind swirling around her.

"He had to work."

"Of course, the schools haven't broken up yet! He's coming later isn't he?" Imogen nodded as Daisy dragged the two of them over towards the rest of the group, she recognised some of her sister's friends from school and waved at Sam who was chatting to his own friends.

"Okay guys, now we can go on the rides, remember just show your wrist band and you'll get on the rides for free, but you still have to pay for food and the smaller games. We're here until about six unless it gets too cold then we'll tell you what we're moving on to." Daisy handed Imogen and Jess a bright orange wristband each and spares for Charlie and Matt for when they showed up and grabbed Sam's hand to pull him towards the Ferris wheel.

Jess looked at Imogen and grinned. "This is fucking awesome. Daisy seriously knows how to organise a do, what do you think first? Dodgems?" Imogen smiled back and walked in the direction of the dodgems, she hadn't been to a funfair since she was a teenager. The two of them enjoyed the dodgems, the ghost train, the Ferris wheel and the waltz as if they were teenagers once again, all their worries and cares were forgotten for the few hours they enjoyed at the fair.

                             *

Charlie turned up at Regent's Park at half past four amazed at the spectacle before him, in the 29 years he'd lived in North London he'd never seen a funfair on the fields in the park and it was absolutely amazing. He smiled when he saw Imogen, she was stood at the candyfloss stall laughing at something Jess said, looking carefree and happy. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, she froze in fear then relaxed when she realised it was him.