The Decoy Date

Chapter Two

Charlie Ramsey, she'd just kissed Charlie Ramsey; Imogen Jones was not an impulsive person she thought about every action, every repercussion, every consequence; yet she'd just stood up to her mother and kissed a complete stranger, who it turned out wasn't a stranger. Charlie Ramsey was a blast from the past she'd left behind and never wanted to visit ever again, they'd gone to the same school from the ages of eleven to sixteen and it hadn't exactly been the best days of her life. In all honesty school had been hell for her and she was glad when she got to university and could start afresh.

Glasses, the fact she actually did work and being overweight had made her an easy target for bullies, Charlie Ramsey or 'Rambo' as everyone used to call him wasn't the main culprit but he was always there in the background with his gang of lookalike cronies. They always found something to mock her with and the school hadn't done anything to help either. When she'd finally escaped at sixteen she thought it would finally be over, but college had been nearly as bad with some of the usual suspects from school following her there.

When he'd bumped into her outside the coffee shop he'd looked familiar but she couldn't remember where from and then when he'd said his name she just had to get out of there, away from all the horrible memories that were now flying through her mind. She'd suppressed them a long time ago, locking them away and burying them deep inside herself, never to see the light of day again. Nevertheless here they were, resurfacing and opening old wounds time hadn't quite healed.

Completely lost in her thoughts she walked straight past The Bookcase – the book shop she co-owned with Jess – only to be called back by her friend who was swinging in the doorway. Imogen trudged back past the neighbouring shop windows and through the door Jess had vacated, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as her best friend tried to hide her laughter.

"How was your coffee?" It was only now she realised she hadn't even got to drink her cappuccino, it was coating the pavement further round Regent's Park Road.                                                                   

  "I didn't get to drink it. A guy walked into me and I spilled it all over the path."                                       

"And he didn't offer to buy you another?" Jess looked at me shaking her head, manners were a big thing for her, she believed men should hold doors open and throw their coats over puddles for women to walk over, she was really old-fashioned in that sense.

"Well . . . we were too busy kissing." I avoided looking at her until I'd said the whole sentence otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it out, when I finally turned to her she stared open mouthed and eyebrows raised in surprise. Imogen was never impetuous, the fact she'd finally refused her mother's date organising had been a shock to Jess, but kissing a stranger was a step even further.

"Was he fit?" An image of Charlie from this morning popped into her head, she hadn't had the chance to digest anything about his appearance, panic had took control of her and made her bolt straight out of there. However thinking back now she took in his dark brown tufty hair, shorter now than when she'd last seen him at school; he'd lost the boyish good looks that made all the teenage girls swoon, but he was still handsome and the thin layer of stubble concealing his cheeks made him even more attractive. Facial hair always seemed to get her heart racing, she didn't know why. Those deep blue eyes were the same unfathomable pools as they had been thirteen years ago, they were striking yet soft, capturing her every attention, not willing to let her go.

And the kiss, the kiss had been one of those that made you forget everything around you; only you and the other person in the whole world. She hated to admit it, but it was the best kiss she'd had in her life and one of the people she hated most in the world had set her alight with it. Jess stared encapsulated as she described what he looked like and how he had pulled her into his body and held her so close to him. Imogen's heart rate increased as she recounted the softness of his lips turning to urgency and then softening again, the way his hand moved to her neck to pull her in closer so he could kiss her deeper. Why did he have to be such a good kisser?