Christmas came and went. Steve gave out his presents, his father was delighted with his gifts, the cap was important and underwear, well it’s always useful. Hannah on the other hand, was so excited with her new phone, she really did not expect such a lavish gift, knowing that Steve did not earn a great salary and with the coming holiday costs, she knew he must have sacrificed some of his savings. It was what she needed, her phone was old and the screen was so badly scratched.
“When I send you pictures of Nice, you want to be able to see them properly” Steve said laughing.
The phone was indeed an expensive one, nonetheless welcomed!
Boxing Day continued at home with Hannah having lunch with Steve and his father, but the following day, Steve ate at Hannah’s house. Her parents were a little younger than Steve’s father and he got along very well with them. Her mother was very attractive and dressed quite fashionably and trendy and always seemed to wear a lovely perfume. She had a nice figure to go with it. Her father was not the most handsome of men, but far from unattractive either. He was very slightly overweight and has lost some of his hair in recent years. He always joked that his job stressed him and caused his hair to ‘thin out’, as he put it. He did have an important job though, he was a senior manager at a local iron foundry, but he never discussed his job much and Steve never actually knew what he really did. After lunch, they sat in the lounge and the inevitable came up. Steve’s holiday was on the agenda and naturally, he was full of it. He told everyone of his plans, the details were final and he was ready to go. To Hannah’s surprise, her mother was right behind him and gave the impression that in her younger years, she had been a bit of an adventurer herself, even daring by all accounts. She started telling Steve about some of her holidays and exploits she got up to before she married. It was fascinating to hear about these, they were not dissimilar to some of the things that Steve was hoping to do himself. But it wasn’t wine women and song he was searching for, moreover mountains, beaches and scenery. Hannah’s father Adam, recalled how he fell off his motorbike when he was drunk at nineteen years old. He laughed at himself as he told it, but Steve got the impression that it was the probably the only funny thing he had ever done in his life. Hannah’s mother had “surely seen a much more colourful adolescence” he thought.
Hannah had taken the last of her annual holiday from the hospital and by Monday, everything was back to normal. Before you knew it, the end of January was upon them and the weather was typically cold, wet and frequently windy. ‘The holiday’ had not really been talked about for a few weeks, but it was always at the forefront of Steve’s mind – always. Christmas, as with everyone, had been an expensive time for him and his savings were hit badly. That said, he was still going on his holiday and he was determined to do it as cheaply as he could. Besides, that side of it made it more exciting. Now we were in to February and that holiday did not seem far away at all, in fact quite close now. Hannah suggested that on the coming Saturday, they both went into town and got ‘a few holiday bits’, as she put it. There were a few things to get, shorts, tee shirts, a good pair of walking shoes, in fact there were quite a few ‘bits’. They got the bus into town early on that Saturday and Hannah knew exactly what to get and where from. Typically, she was organised and took Steve by the hand leading him around the shopping mall, going in and out of the different shops. Eventually, it was time for a sandwich, Steve was starving and the nearest burger bar would have done nicely, but she was always watching her figure and opted for a salad bar. He ate quickly as Hannah chatted away about nothing much. He stood up and went to the counter and bought a muffin, he was so hungry. When he sat back down, Hannah was still eating her salad.
“Well, we have most of it now” she said in a hopeful manner.
“I am still not keen on the colour of those shorts” said Steve.
He was far from ungrateful but, well they were light red and light red shorts on a guy is - different. Still, all the things were ready now.
The end of March soon came around and now it was just two weeks away, before Steve started his holiday, or as Steve put it, ‘adventure’. His father was reassuring to him, asking if he had everything and if he had enough money. Friday nights were the only night his father went out to the pub and this week was no different.
“See you later” he said as he went out the front door.
Steve heard the door close and sat down to watch the television. He pressed the remote and as the television came on, his phone beeped. It was a message from Hannah. She was on her way around to his house. He was pleased, they had planned to see each other the next day so this was a nice surprise. It wasn’t long before she was at the front door, Steve let her in and they went into the lounge. The television was still on and Steve was half watching that and half listening to Hannah.
“Hey!” she shouted. “I’m talking to you!”
Without another word, the television was switched off and Steve got up and sat next to Hannah on the sofa. He reached across and kissed her, she was all fresh, her face was pink and still cold from the outside air. He kissed her again and then again. She whispered something in his ear, he smiled and she went upstairs. It was several minutes before he followed her upstairs, but when he opened his bedroom door, his jaw dropped.
Hannah was standing by the bed wearing the racy underwear Steve had bought her for Christmas. He had forgotten about it, but Hannah was wearing it and she did look sexy, really sexy and wore a grin to match. Steve closed the door, turned on the bedside light and turned off the main light making the ambience romantic and Hannah was now on the bed still grinning and curling her finger at Steve, inviting him to join her. Steve looked at her, she was indeed showing herself to him as never before. It was special. He grinned, moved towards her and bent down kissing her on her neck. She reached out to him but he backed away. He took off his trousers, then shirt, he too was feeling the same as Hannah. He went to the other side of the bed and lay next to her. She turned on her side to face him and put her arm around him, pulling him towards her. He responded and kissed her on the lips. The kiss lasted. Then another kiss and another until they were coiling their legs and arms around each other, writhing like eels in a pot. Steve kissed her breasts and nibbled at them, they were quite large and firm. Hannah was groaning and gasping. His tongue was tickling her hard nipples and she was loving it. He kissed her navel and then took off her panties, she lifted herself up to help. He touched her, she liked that and she put her hand inside his underwear, he was ready. He mounted her, and it began. They continued writhing with even more eagerness and quickly fell into a rhythm. Faster and faster, Steve was almost growling with pleasure and Hannah was panting. Groaning, panting and moaning. It became louder and the rhythm faster until suddenly, the rhythm slowed and stopped and they held each other so tightly, squeezing each other’s sweaty bodies and crying out until the pleasure they both felt slowly began to melt away. They lay there for a moment, regaining their breath. Steve rolled over.
He was still panting his breath as he relaxed next to her, looking at the ceiling. It was now so quiet, almost silent in fact, just breathing could be heard. Nothing was said. Steve got up after a few minutes and Hannah pulled a sheet over herself. She knew that was it, there was no more time for this sort of thing, her man was leaving - for a while. She thought about the end of the holiday, when Steve returns, when he gets back. “Will he be different, will he change” she thought. Steve was always honest, a reliable sort, but what would he do if another girl came onto him? She wondered. Steve went to the bathroom and got dressed. Hannah still lay under the sheet naked. She stared at the ceiling, her eyes were locked wide open. Steve looked across at her
“are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes” she said quietly.
“well, you were gazing at the ceiling, I thought you were in a trance – I have this effect” he said, trying to be funny.
She did not react, she continued to gaze at the ceiling.
She suddenly began to think of things she would not normally think about. He looked at her beautiful eyes with long eyelashes, staring up, wide open. He thought about her firm beautiful body, under the sheet. He knew he would miss her so much but the desire to explore was overwhelming, he simply had to go through with it. He knew she was thinking about his holiday, his travelling, his accommodation, possibly entertaining in it? Why would she think like this?
He said “Hannah, c’mon, let’s go out for drink, down the pub”.
“I don’t want to go the pub” she said sharply.
She sat up and with the sheet still around her, stood up and went to the bathroom. Steve thought she may feel left out, after all, recent discussions were all about him and his holiday. He began to feel sorry for her. Did she really think “poor little me, he’s off to enjoy himself, I am left here”? He was wondering about it when she came back out of the bathroom fully dressed and smiling. Suddenly he realised his thoughts were quite twisted “why would she think like that anyway” he thought. She came over to him, held his hand and kissed him.
He did start to feel guilty now, leaving her whilst he went off for a couple of weeks, was he being selfish, he thought. How could he reassure her that this was just a whim, something he had to do and then it would be over and life would return to normal? It was quite sudden, but with these feelings, Steve became aware that Hannah meant much more to him than he realised. He thought about proposing to Hannah, she was for him, he knew that now and that he could spend the rest of his life with her, he knew that too. So, without thinking anymore about it, he told Hannah to sit down on the bed. She frowned but did so without question, looking Steve in the face all the time. He sat down next to her, took her hand and prepared himself to ask the question
“Hannah, before I go on this trip, I want you to know I love you” he said looking directly into her beautiful brown eyes.
He had never told her this before and so she was ready for something, but she didn’t know what. She was about to say something in reply, when he put his finger over her lips.
“Hannah, will you marry me when I come back?”
She was completely shocked. She did not know what to say, what to do, where to look, she was lost momentarily. She still looked at him in the eye and slowly, a smile began to appear on her face. The smile became broader and wider until her whole face was clearly beaming with delight. She suddenly reached out with both arms, it made Steve jump! She put both arms around his shoulders and squeezed him tight.
“Of course I will” she whispered.
The next day was not just another day, it was the day of departure for Steve. A leap into the unknown for him, an adventure was about to begin. He had already packed his bag with Hannah’s help a day or two before, so he only had to put the last few things in his rucksack and he was ready to leave. He had agreed with Hannah that she would see him off at the central bus station in the city centre. His father was at the table eating breakfast when Steve struggled down the stairs with his massive rucksack.
“Jeez!” his father exclaimed looking at this huge back pack being squeezed through the doorway.
“Will you manage that?” he asked.
“Oh yes, I am ready to go dad, really” he replied quickly.
“Well, that’s it dad, I have to get to the central bus station by 10:00 latest, so I’d better go” he said excitedly.
His father stood up, he was happy that Steve was doing this. With both arms held out he walked up to Steve, he cuddled him and patted him on the back.
“Good luck, son” he said in a very serious way.
As Steve went to pick up his back pack, his father said “hold on, I have this for you” and handed him a small white envelope.
“Don’t open it until you are well on your way” he said.
Steve thanked him and waved as he went out the front door. He did not mention his imminent marriage to Hannah. So, that was it, he was finally on his way. He had to walk about two miles to the central bus station and at about halfway, he realised how heavy his back pack was. Eventually, he arrived and found the number 11 gate and quickly put his bag down. At that moment, Hannah arrived. There were about a dozen people all standing, waiting for the bus to go south. Hannah was excited, yet sad but she hugged him so hard, he thought she might never let go!
“I love you” she said and Steve looked around to see that most of the other waiting passengers heard it.
“And I love you Hannah” he whispered back, slightly embarrassed by it all.
They kissed and cuddled for a moment when the embrace was disturbed by the reversing alarm from the bus. It was here and reversing into the bay.
“Here it is, my bus” Steve said, clearly excited by its arrival.
Hannah kissed him once again and he picked up his back pack and slung it over his shoulder, just as an adventurer would.
One more kiss and he waved to Hannah as he walked down the side of the bus. She stood and watched as he showed his ticket to the driver who then took his bag and placed it in the baggage hold of the bus. Steve turned and smiled, he gave one more wave to Hannah and he boarded. Inside the bus it was stale, other passengers were sitting in their seats and it felt a little dirty, Steve sat down by a window about halfway along. There was a hissing sound at that moment and the doors closed. The engine revved and he looked out of the window. There was no Hannah, she had gone. They had said their goodbyes. The bus pulled out of the station into the high street and Steve settled into his seat. “Now, this is it” he thought, he was on his own now. No friends, no mates, work colleagues, nobody he would know. Momentarily, he suddenly felt lonely, but he soon gathered his thoughts again, thinking about the warmer climate he was going to experience for the first time. Still, he would be back in two weeks anyway, wouldn’t he?
The five-hour bus ride from Sheffield to Dover was gone in a flash. Down the motorway, into London, pick up more passengers and then on to Dover. When Steve got off the bus, he thought how new, different and strange it was there. He asked a man walking past the bus station where the port was and how far. He was foreign and had no idea. He asked another and they were also non-English. Eventually, someone did speak English and told him it was about a mile to walk and would take him twenty minutes, so Steve started the walk down to the ferry terminal. The man was right, it wasn’t that far and when he got there, he stood at the entrance and held out his arm to try to cadge a free ride with a truck. He had read about this somewhere, it was a way of getting to France for free. There was one truck after another, hundreds of them and Steve wondered where on earth they all came from. It was over forty minutes before someone did stop to offer a lift, but it wasn’t a truck, it was two men in a car. They introduced themselves as Pete and Adam and although Steve felt slightly uncomfortable with it, they were English after all and it was cold standing there! He put his rucksack into the boot of the car and off they went. After going through the various checkpoints, they were loaded onto the ship. The two men told Steve they were going on to Chantilly, which is just north of Paris and offered to take him on as far as there. He could not believe his luck, if they were kind enough to take him as far as that, he would be nearly halfway! Even then, he figured there was still another one thousand kilometres to go. One of the men, Peter, was quite scruffy looking, wearing a hoodie and was unshaven, while the other was on the contrary. Adam was smart, with nice clean clothes and clean shaven. Steve thought they were an odd pair, but either way, they were friendly. During the ferry crossing Steve went off to get something to eat and agreed he would meet Pete and Adam back at the car. Sure enough, on arriving into Calais, they all met at the car. It was now 7.30 in the evening and driving off the ferry was quick and they were soon on their way to Chantilly.