The Red Dress chapter seven

 Seventeen year old Lisa receives a surprise visit from Alan Turner, a boy she had met the month before while staying with her friend in Chelmsford. Before he set off for Dunoon, where Lisa’s holiday home was, Alan hadn’t spoken to Lisa, so was unaware that she had got engaged to a millionaire called Nick Corday, who she had met while she was on holiday with her family in The Isle of Man. After Alan phones her to say he would be arriving, Lisa books him into a beautiful room in the hotel which she had always wanted to see. Her only concern was that anyone who knew her would see her going into the room with a complete stranger, and get the wrong impression.
 
 
 











 

     Alan couldn't get over the fact Lisa was actually dragging him through the hall and along the corridor towards his bedroom as fast as she could. He was in for a disappointment when they got there because all she seemed to be interested in was the room itself. After a couple of minutes of looking around, Lisa sat down on the bed and looked up at the drapes hanging over it.
 
     “It's even nicer than I remember it...” she said, staring about the room appreciatively.
 
Alan looked surprised and wondered how often she'd been in the room before. When Lisa saw the expression on his face, she burst out laughing. She thought she'd better come clean.
 
     “I’m sorry; I’ve only seen it in the picture on the hotel website. I’ve always wanted to see the real thing, and now I have, thanks to you. I couldn’t believe it when Gerry told me you could have it at a standard room rate because of a cancellation.”
 
Alan burst out laughing.
 
     “And to think I thought it was me you were interested in Lisa -  not the interior bloody decor!”
 
Lisa looked back at him from the edge of the bed and looked serious for a moment. For the first time in her life, she felt physically attracted to someone, but she had no sexual experience at all, so had no idea how to handle her emotions. For four years, she had been tucked up in boarding school for two thirds of the year, and under her mother’s strict and restrictive control for the rest.
 
.     “And what if it had been you - what do you think would have happened?” she asked.
 
Alan had no doubt what would have happened, but he thought the answer should come from her. He came over to the bed and looked down into her eyes.
 
     "You tell me, Lisa - what would have happened?" he asked as he sat down beside her.
 
She suddenly felt embarrassed and pulled her eyes away from his gaze. He had successfully called her bluff, and she wasn’t ready for it.
 
     “I don’t know - I mean I’ve never - you know...” Her voice trailed off as her embarrassment kicked in.
 
Alan got off the bed and played for time by opening the bottle of wine, surprised at what she had just said. He handed her a glass of wine and sat on the armchair, keeping a safe distance.
 
     “Are you trying to tell me that you’re still a virgin, Lisa?”
 
She looked defensive for a moment and took a gulp of wine as though she was trying to bolster her confidence.
 
     “What if I am?” she said, and stared down at the glass in her hands.
 
Alan wasn’t sure what to say. All the teenagers he knew had been at a mixed day school where most of them were sexually active as soon as it was legal, if not before. He had never considered what it must be like being at a one sex boarding school. His only concern was the fact that Lisa was considering marrying someone she hardly knew. What if they weren’t truly compatible in every sense of the word? It could end up a disaster. In an attempt to change the subject, Alan asked Lisa to tell him about her fiancée.
 
 
Lisa hesitated before answering. Alan had reminded her she should be at home getting ready for her trip the following day. She took another sip of her wine before she answered.
 
     “He's called Nick Corday… He's thirty-three, and he lives in The Isle of Man,” she answered matter of factly, as though she was describing a stranger, which in a sense she was.
 
Alan thought her answer sounded a bit simplistic. He was surprised she didn't show more enthusiasm for someone she intended spending the rest of her life with.
 
     “Isn't he the guy you met on holiday the week before you came to Chelmsford…six weeks ago?'” he asked, knowing he sounded sarcastic by mentioning the short time scale.
 
Lisa looked embarrassed. She knew how it must look.
 
     “Yes,” she hesitantly replied. She was beginning to feel really stupid.
 
The look on her face made Alan realise she was having doubts herself.
 
     “I know I'm probably stating the obvious here, Lisa, but don't you think you're maybe rushing into things a little?”
 
She didn't even answer, and turned away from him so he couldn't see her face.
 
     “Do you love him?”
 
Alan knew he was pushing his luck asking such a personal question, but he wasn't convinced that she loved the guy at all.
 
Lisa looked guilt ridden when she answered him.
 
     “I thought that I did… you're confusing me,” she answered, standing up and putting down her glass.
 
Lisa began to wish that Alan had never come. She had been so sure getting engaged to Nick had been the right thing to do. Everyone had told her it was, but now...now she had seen Alan again, and felt the way she did, she wasn't sure of anything anymore. She turned and faced him defiantly, tears in her eyes.
 
     “You don't understand, Alan. This is what everyone wants, especially Nick. He's the one who wanted to get engaged so quickly. I wanted to wait but he wouldn't have it. Don't you understand? It's all arranged.”
 
     Alan looked at her now in a different light. When he'd met her in Chelmsford, she had seemed so sure of herself, and he had admired the mature way she handled herself compared to other girls of her age. Now, he could see that she was really still a little girl who was trying to please everyone. Everyone that is, except herself.
 
     “Lisa…you have to get to know the guy and find out if you really love him before you can make that kind of commitment--- If you hardly know him, how can you tell if you want to marry him?”
 
Lisa knew he was right, but he didn't know the pressure everyone had put her under when Nick had proposed…over and over again. How could she explain that Nick was not only kind and generous, but also, her only legitimate means of escape from her mother?
 
     “I don't have a choice anymore, Alan. You couldn't possibly understand...” she answered with resignation.
 
Alan reckoned that he could... if she hadn’t been so brainwashed.
 
    “Try me.” he suggested, in the hope she would open up and be honest with him.
 
Lisa took a deep breath. The only other person she had confided in was Nick.
 
     “My mother drinks and has made my life a misery for the last couple of years. Nick is the first person she’s let me go out with---but that’s not the only reason why I'm marrying him. He loves me, and I know that I can love him too. I just need more time… “
 
      Lisa was right, he didn't understand. Alan couldn't believe anyone in this day and age could be so scared of a parent they would marry someone they didn't love just to escape from them. It was like something out of the dark ages.
 
     'You're trying to tell me that you're seriously considering marrying a guy you hardly know… just to get away from your mother?” he asked with an element of sarcasm.
 
Alan couldn't believe anyone could be so stupid. There had to be another reason. Seeing the doubt in her face he continued.  “What is it with this guy? Is he loaded - is he incredibly handsome? What's he got that makes you want to marry him?”
 
Lisa started to panic. Alan was not only making her face the truth, he was making her feel stupid as well. She tried to think of something to say that would get him off her back.
 
     “He's both” …’ she answered simply, as though it explained everything. “But I never meant it to go this far, Alan. As soon as he found out that I was a virgin, he kept asking me to marry him. He just wouldn't take no for an answer...”
 
Alan shook his head with frustration.
 
     “So how come you're going to the Isle of Man tomorrow and announcing your engagement to the guy. Why don't you wait?”
 
Lisa felt more tears of frustration stinging in her eyes. She didn't know why, but she wanted to make Alan understand.
 
     “That’s what I wanted to do … I've tried to explain it to him, but he won't listen.”
 
Alan felt exasperated. It was like trying to speak to a stubborn child. He pleaded with her again, hoping against hope that he could talk some sense into her.
 
     “But surely if you go to The Isle of Man tomorrow you're just going to get dragged in even further. For God's sake, Lisa, you're letting the whole thing get so complicated! 
 
Lisa shook her head miserably.
 
     “That’s why I need to go there and explain how I feel! I have to talk to him face to face, not over the phone or in a letter, he doesn't deserve that. I know that I can make him understand, but only when I get there.”
 
Alan was just about to suggest one phone call could save a lot of heartbreak when Lisa looked at her watch and freaked out when she saw the time.
 
     “I'm sorry, Alan, if I don’t get this bottle of wine back to my mother, there'll be a terrible argument, and she won't drive me to Glasgow airport tomorrow morning.”
 
Alan panicked. Lisa was about to walk out of the door, and he might never see her again. He had to think of a way of making her think things through. He came up with an idea as she stood up and started for the door.
 
     “Look, Lisa, I have to pass Glasgow airport on my way down south tomorrow. I can give you a lift … it's not a problem.”
 
Lisa looked back at him, a confused, questioning look on her face.
 
     “I thought you were here to see Greek Thompson architecture in Glasgow. Why are you going back tomorrow?”
 
They stared at each other silently across the room for a minute before Alan answered.
 
     “I lied…”
 
Lisa stopped in the doorway and thought about what he had just said. Those two little words told her he had come only to see her, and she had been right about him all along.  She shook her head and opened the door.
 
     Seeing she was about to walk out of his life, Alan rushed over and grabbed her arm. He couldn't let her go, not like this… not before he had made her understand what she was doing could ruin her life.
 
     Lisa looked down at his hand and was tempted to stay, but she knew she couldn't. She had been stupid to think anything might happen between them. He was almost engaged, so was she, and their futures were already mapped out. But, if he took her to the airport…perhaps it would at least give her time to explain her feelings to him on the way.
 
     “Okay…” she agreed, and turned to face him, guilty but pleased he had thought of a way for them to see each other again.
 
     “As long as you promise not to start lecturing me again…”
 
     Delighted with her decision, Alan grabbed his jacket and followed her down the hallway and wondered what the hell he was doing. Thoughts of Carla came into his head, but he quickly pushed them to the back of his mind. Whether it was because she was abroad and unable to catch him up in Scotland with Lisa, he didn't know. He had done nothing to feel guilty about, so he couldn't understand why he felt like such a bastard.
 
     By the time he caught up with her, Lisa had reached the front door of the hotel clutching the bottle of wine, her face anxious.
 
    “There's no need to walk me back, Alan, I won't get attacked or anything. It's very safe here, so there's no need to worry.”
 
Alan wouldn't take no for an answer, claiming he wouldn't know where to pick her up the next morning if he didn't walk back to the house with her. The only problem was Lisa was walking so fast Alan had to lengthen his stride to keep up with her. He reckoned her mother must be some scary lady if this was the effect she had on Lisa at half past ten at night.
 
     When they got to her gate, he looked up at the lovely house overlooking the water. With the conservatory running the full width of the front, and rockeries and a winding path leading up to the front door from a gate on the shore road, it looked positively idyllic. Lisa turned and looked up at him, an apologetic smile on her face.
 
     “I'm sorry, Alan… I'd ask you in for a coffee, but I'm already in trouble. You don't know what my mother can be like.  I'll see you tomorrow - okay?”
 
It was more of a command than a question, but Alan didn't mind. He wanted to kiss her good night, but he knew he couldn't because he might end up scaring her off completely.
 
     “It's okay--- I understand,” he replied, which he didn't.
 
     “What time do you need to be picked up for the airport tomorrow?” he asked, feeling tortured at the thought she might have changed her mind.
 
Lisa was already half way up the steps when she answered.
 
     “Half ten okay?” she shouted, without turning round.
 
Alan looked up at Lisa's back as she reached the front door.
 
     “Half ten’s fine,” he shouted back, and watched her disappear into the conservatory of her parents' holiday home...
 
    
 
                                                                       ........................
 
 
 
 
     As Lisa opened the front door, she felt the familiar sickness in the pit of her stomach caused by the fear of not knowing what was waiting for her on the other side. She knew her mother would be awake---she just didn't know what frame of mind she would be in, and whether she was going to suffer as a result. If her mother had been drinking, which Lisa knew she probably had, then she knew what to expect. The experience the year before had taught her to be on her guard.
 
      As it happened, Lisa had good reason to be worried about going home that night. Her mother had polished off nearly half a bottle of vodka while she was waiting for the wine she had asked Lisa to buy. Having no one to argue with, and nothing else to do, she had worked herself into a drunken, bitter state.
 
     Her house was, as usual, spotless and she didn't like watching television alone, so the bottle of vodka had become her companion for the evening. She had tried unsuccessfully to contact Lisa at the hotel to get her to come back early, to no avail. Now, to make matters worse, Lisa was late.
 
     Fiona couldn't understand how Lisa could even think of going out the night before she was going to the Isle of Man to announce her engagement to Nick. She should have been at home getting ready, not messing about with some boy she hardly knew.
 
     Lisa walked through the sitting room and eventually found her mother in the kitchen looking drunk and ready for an argument, so she decided to try and defuse the situation by pretending everything was okay.
 
     “Hi, Mum, sorry I'm late. I lost track of the time…”
 
It didn't work. Lisa looked at the empty glass in her mother's hand, and then at her face. She instinctively knew she was in trouble.
 
     “Where's your new boyfriend?” Fiona slurred sarcastically as she tried to focus on her daughter.
 
She steadied herself by holding on to the work surface with her hands behind her back, and when Lisa didn't answer her, Fiona's bitter vindictiveness took over.
 
     “Wait 'til I tell Nick you’ve been screwing around!  Did you think I wouldn't check up on you?”
 
Lisa looked at her mother in disgust. She was so drunk, she could hardly stand up.
 
     “I haven't been screwing around with anyone, Mum. Why would you think I have?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
 
It was the same every time Lisa was out of her mother's sight for more than five minutes. Her obsession with her daughter's virginity had reached paranoid proportions.
 
     '”I phoned the hotel to tell you to come home over an hour ago and Gerry told me you’d left…So where have you been--- and what have you been doing since then?--- As if I didn't know!”
 
Lisa felt the tears stinging her eyes, blurring her vision.
 
     "I haven't been doing anything, Mum. Honestly, we were just talking!" she cried.

She felt the familiar terror rising from the pit of her stomach. Her mother looked back at her, a sneering look on her face.
 
     “Oh … so that’s what they call it nowadays is it? TALKING! Ha bloody ha! Well, I don't believe you. If you think you're going to the Isle of Man tomorrow, you’ve got another think coming. If you think I'm paying for plane tickets, just so you can whore around whenever you want to - you're mistaken!”
 
Her mother staggered to one side and Lisa thought she was going to fall. She was even more drunk than she'd first suspected, and Lisa realised there was no way she'd be able to drive to the airport the following morning. She silently thanked God for Alan’s offer of a lift.
            .
     “Mum---why don’t you go to bed? Come on, I'll help you.” She pleaded.
 
     “You go to fucking bed!” her mother screeched back at her while she frantically looked in the drawer for the corkscrew.
 
The thought of her mother being drunk and awake while Lisa was trying to sleep, reminded her of what had happened the year before, an option Lisa couldn't even consider. She tried to humour her, knowing where an argument would lead. She picked up the corkscrew, which was actually on the drainer, and started opening the bottle of wine.
 
     “Look, Mum, why don’t I take this bottle of wine up to the bedroom, and help you upstairs. I can lock up and turn off all the lights. We can talk in the morning.”
 
     Lisa couldn't believe it. Her mother agreed, and was actually following her. Whether she was following the newly opened bottle of white wine clutched in Lisa's right hand, or Lisa herself, she would never know but, with the diplomacy of a statesman, Lisa managed to get her mother to bed.
 
    By the time she'd turned off all the downstairs lights and returned upstairs, she could hear gentle snoring coming from the direction of her mother’s bedroom. She looked up at the ceiling as though saying a silent thank you to God, and sighed with relief.
   
    Lisa couldn't believe she'd pulled it off. Her bag was packed, her ticket was in her handbag, and she now had a lift to the airport independently of her mother. If there was any problem in the morning she could just go, and there would be nothing her mother could do to stop her.
 
    She set her alarm clock for eight am, and switched off her bedside light...