The Travellers Ch. 01

A Fictional story from Skodaw

*

My name is Jack West; I am 22 years old. I arrived in London about three months ago, since then I have found somewhere to live and a job, I started in a local bar a couple of months ago.

I originally come from Chester, but a couple of months ago I took a job in Jersey on the Channel Islands, the job stank and I walked out. The first flight off the island happened to be to London Gatwick, hence my now living in London.

I'm not used to working in a bar, but to my good fortune, my new colleague Kelly has plenty of experience in bar work. Kelly has been travelling the world for the last eight months, her father had been paying the way for the first six months but now she had to fend for herself.

Kelly was a striking sight, she's about 5'7" tall, slim build with the most amazing jet black hair which hangs down her back to just above her backside, She is nineteen years old, and appears to never wear a bra.

"Jeez Dave get with the program will ya!" Kelly shouted across the bar, as usual as was serving to slowly for her, it was approaching the busy time and the queues were growing.

"I'm sorry Kelly; I'll soon get the hang of it with your help." I weakly responded. The night progressed, our shifts covered from ten pm to 6 am, it usually got quieter at around two am.

By around three am, there were only a handful of people left in the bar, Kelly started to clear the tables of the last glasses and I set them to wash in the big washer we had out the back.

Kelly turned to me and told me that she would give me some lessons for the different drinks and what they contained. We were being asked for many cocktails and I had no idea how to mix them, Kelly was left to cope with all of them.

I had no idea what a "Between the Sheets" or a "Singapore Sling" was and Kelly to her credit took the time to show me all these and many more cocktail recipes.

Over the next few weeks, I started to get the hang of the cocktails and all the other things that went along with the job. Another thing was Kelly; she was an amazing beauty. Her hair was always immaculate, not a strand out of place and it shone like a light was above her all-day.

Every night when we finished, we would walk around the corner to the café and have breakfast. Kelly always laugh's at the full English I have, she prefers to have something lighter, maybe scrambled eggs on toast or similar. We would then go our separate ways home until we would meet again at work.

This pattern would repeat itself for the five days a week that we worked, I had no idea what Kelly did outside of work, and we had never had that conversation. I was desperately trying to save money so that I could travel, although it was proving to be quite difficult, what with the cost of renting and everything else.

I was getting ready to leave for work on my first night of the rota; it was a Monday so should be quiet. Just as I was walking out of the door my mobile rang, it was Kelly "Dave, I'm sorry but I won't make it tonight." She explained that she was not feeling to good, but should be better in a couple of days.

In the end, it was four days before Kelly came back to work; she looked awful, I asked her if she was sure, she was ok to work. Kelly just shrugged her shoulders and muttered something that I didn't catch. What I did catch was that she was wearing a lot more make up than she would normally have worn; I swear I could see the outline of a black eye around her right eye.

The night progressed as usual, although Kelly was definitely not herself but I could not get anything out of her, after a few questions, I could tell she didn't want me to push it. I tried to take as much of the work that night as I could. We went to the café as usual next morning; Kelly was dragging out her food, in the end I could not resist any longer.

"Kelly, tell me to mind my own business if you like, but I've noticed you're not yourself, what's wrong?" I asked.

"It's fine Dave really." Kelly responded without looking me in the eye.

"Kelly, I don't call a black-eye fine!" Kelly's hand immediately shot to cover her eye; I could see tears forming.

"Oh god, I thought I'd covered it up." Kelly sniffed.

"Kelly; you did, it's just not normal for you to wear so much make up. Besides you don't need it." I hoped my compliment would brighten her up a little.

Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect and Kelly finally broke down; she told me that she had a row with her boyfriend because he was spending all the money she was trying to save. It ended with him punching her to the ground and kicking her in the ribs as he left the flat.

She had not seen him since; she was worried that he would have gone back to the flat when she was at work. "Well that's an easy one," I said, "I'll just come back with you, make sure everything is OK."

"That would be great Dave; thank you. " Kelly smiled. At last, she was looking a little happier.

We took a slow walk back to her flat, Kelly explained that she had come to London after meeting Simon in Paris, she had then stopped in London but her father had stopped paying the way for her travels.

She had taken the job at the bar to save some money on top of the small allowance her father still gave her, but Simon was treating it like spending money and buying all kinds of useless rubbish with it.

When we reached Kelly's flat she became anxious, worried that Simon may have returned. I told her to wait around the corner whilst I checked. I secretly hoped that he had come back, then I could teach him to hit someone who would fight back.

I rang the bell; there was no answer. I signalled Kelly that the coast was clear and we went up to the flat. Kelly opened the door to her flat and let me in; it was obvious that Simon had been back, the flat was empty, completely empty nothing left at all.

There was a note from Simon, saying that as she was going to travelling that she would not need any furniture!

Kelly broke down again, tears streaming down her cheeks; I could not bear to see her like this. I took Kelly in my arms and hugged her, she was breaking her heart, I told her that she was better off without that sort of person.

Gradually Kelly calmed down, she was now angry with Simon not believing that he would do such a spiteful thing. I started gathering Kelly's clothes; Simon had literally thrown them around the flat. I grabbed her holdall and walked around picking them up, one thing struck me; there was no underwear, nothing, no bras or knickers.

"What are you doing Dave?" Kelly asked.

"Well; you can't stay here, apart from the fact there's no furniture you'll be afraid that Simon might come back." I said.

"So what am I meant to do?" Kelly asked.

"Well I've got a spare room; you're welcome to stay with me until you get yourself sorted out." I offered.

Kelly smiled and nodded her head, we gathered up what little was left and headed over to my flat.

As we got nearer to my flat I realised that I had not tidied up for a few days, there were dirty dishes in the sink and clothes strewn across the floor of my bathroom, I'd been sorting them to take to the laundry.

I was desperately trying to think of an excuse that would let me get in the flat on my own to tidy up a little before Kelly came in, in the end there was only one thing for it.

"Kelly, I wasn't expecting to have anyone visit me today, the flat is a little messed up I'm sorry." I blurted out.

"Dave, its fine, we can soon sort it out between us." Kelly responded, sounding a lot more like the Kelly that I had been used to.

Kelly was great when we got to the flat; she got stuck in and helped me clean the place from top to bottom. When we were done, Kelly asked if there was a laundry nearby, I explained that there was one in the basement of the building. She wanted to wash her clothes, she wanted to remove any traces of Simon from them, I grabbed my washing and we headed down to the laundry.

Once we had the machines going we both sat and chatted for a while, Kelly asked if my girlfriend would mind her moving in. I explained that I had finished with my last girlfriend some eighteen months ago. That just got an "Oh, I see." in response from Kelly.

"I spotted quite a few travel books in the flat." Kelly said

"Yeah, I'm trying to save up to go travelling, but it's not easy." I responded.

Kelly looked a little lost, she then explained that she had wasted the last two months on Simon, her father had reduced her allowance as she was not travelling like she was supposed to be.

He wanted her to return to New York and start with his company. He had agreed for Kelly to do some travelling, he had even agreed to payroll the travel. Now she was going to have to try to save some money herself to carry on.

"Well why don't you get rid of your flat and we can split the rent on my flat, there is plenty of room." I said.

"That would be a big help Dave, if you sure you don't mind a female hanging around, it my hamper your style a bit!" Kelly said with a cheeky smile.

"As long as you don't go leaving your knickers lying around the bathroom floor." I joked. Kelly blushed, which surprised me, but not as much as her next statement.

"Oh, there is no chance of that Dave, I don't wear them!" It was my turn to blush, but it didn't last long, Kelly put her arm around me and gave me a gentle hug.

"Thanks for today Dave, I don't know what I'd have done if it wasn't for you." Kelly said.

"It's what friends are for Kelly." I replied.

To be continued...