once upon a time
written by Jo
byron.fergus@xtra.co.uk
Once upon a time there was a young girl called Annie. She lived with her parents on a farm in rural New Zealand. One Saturday, late spring, afternoon she decided to go for a ride on her pet pony, Winnie. She packed a picnic lunch, her walkman, a couple of cassettes and lastly her mobile phone. Her mother insisted she take it with her whenever she went out riding alone.
Annie decided to take a favourite route along a nature trail at the back of the family farm, it led to a nice picnic spot that she frequently visited. At one point she must have somehow taken a wrong turn because all of a sudden the scenery didn’t seem as familiar to her. The foliage seemed to be getting thicker and denser and she began to feel quite weary. She continued on hoping she’d find her way through. Unfortunately her mobile phone was out of range, otherwise she could have phoned her dad, seeing as he knew the surrounding land very well. She found it really odd though, that she hadn’t been to this area before?
Annie became aware of the sound of water trickling and noticed that the surrounding foliage was thinning out. She finally found the source of the water. A magnificent sight was before her. She had come to a clearing beside a pool of crystal clear water. The wild flowers that surrounded it were gorgeous and flowering profusedly. A waterfall was trickling down some rocks, it was like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert. Where had this place come from? She got down off Winnie and led her to the waters edge for a drink. She then fastened her to one of the trees in a shady area with a nice patch of grass to eat. Annie spread herself out amongst the flowers and feeling very tired, stretched her arms out and lay in the sun, listening to her walkman. It wasn’t long until she was asleep.
Meanwhile, someone else was out riding in the same area that day and he too found his way to the same clearing, but on the other side of it. He hadn’t noticed anyone else there, nor did he see Winnie. Feeling rather hot, he decided to take a quick swim, the water was too inviting and he hadn’t brought anything to quench his thirst with him. He stripped off, carefully laying his clothes on a nearby rock, and slipped into the cool water. It felt lovely to glide through the clear water. He swam over to the waterfall and sat under it, with closed eyes, letting the water wash over his body.
It was at this point that Annie began to stir a little. She opened her eyes, surprised that she had fallen asleep. She was sure that some kind of noise had woken her up but couldn’t hear or see anything to arouse any suspicion. She realised how hot she was and seeing as the water was beckoning her, she stripped off and dived into it. The water was so refreshing on her skin, her long dark hair flowed through the water as she glided across it. Something sparkling in the sun caught her eye and she squinted to see what it was. It was then that she saw some clothes laid out on a rock nearby, the belt buckle was the thing that had glistened and caught her eye.
She looked around in horror, realising that she wasn’t alone as she had first thought. She saw him. He was sitting under the waterfall with closed eyes, in nothing but a pair of white boxer shorts. He was absolutely gorgeous. She was sure she was dreaming, this whole afternoon was beginning to feel more like one, that’s for sure! Annie was quickly bought back to reality when she remembered that she was only wearing her underwear. She’d have to move quickly to get out unnoticed. It was too late though, he had opened his eyes and saw her.
He had the most beautiful brown eyes, she felt like she was drowning in them. His smouldering good looks took her breath away… It was then that he spoke to her. ‘Hello, I didn’t realise anyone else was here’ he said, blushing as he attempted to cover himself by slipping deeper into the water. ‘Hi, neither did I’ Annie shyly said. He had a different accent to herself and was very softly spoken. ‘So, do you come here often?’ he jokingly said. ‘No, I’ve never been here before, how about you?’ she curiously asked. ‘Oh, no, I’m just staying at a lodge for a quiet holiday and as out riding when I found this clearing’ he said.
They were both obviously embarrassed at meeting each other this way and the manner in which they were dressed didn’t help the cause. ‘Do you mind turning around so that I can get out and get dressed?’ Annie asked him. ‘Er, oh, sure,’ he said, noticing then that she had been swimming in her underwear as he himself was. He turned around as she swam to the edge to get out. 'No peeking’ she called back at him. He tried not to, but found he couldn’t help himself, she was capivatingly beautiful and her body was gorgeous. He quickly turned around so that she wouldn’t see him looking. Annie quickly got out of the water and was sure she could feel his eyes on her. She hid behind a bush and got dressed as fast as she could. He had gotten out of the water too by then and put his jeans on over his wet boxer shorts. He didn’t have a shirt on yet though.
Annie sat down by the flowers again and he sat down near her. Just then Winnie whined and brought their attention to her. ‘You have a horse?’ he asked, getting up to have a look at her. ‘She’s lovely’ he said approaching Winnie. ‘Be careful’ Annie said, ‘she doesn’t like strangers very much.’ Not that it mattered at all, she was astounded to see that he was standing right beside Winnie whispering into her ear and patting her. She’d never known Winnie to be so calm with a complete stranger. ‘You like horses then’ she asked him. ‘Yeah, I love them, my family has stables at home so I’ve been around horses for most of my life, how about you then?’ he said. Oh,
live on a farm and we have seven horses. I’ve had Winnie for 8 years now and I’ve always entered her in show jumping and dressage competitions’ Annie said.
Annie’s stomach started rumbling quite loudly and she realised that she hadn’t had any lunch yet. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked him. ‘A little’ he said. ‘I’ve got something to eat and drink here if you’d like to share it with me’ she said. ‘That would be grand’ he said. They sat quietly eating and drinking the cool lemonade she had brought with her, taking in the lovely scenery. ‘This cake is lovely’ he said. ‘My mum makes that, she makes the best chocolate cake’ Annie said. After they had finished eating they were both quite full. He laid back on the grass with his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Annie decided to lay back as well, the swimming had taken a lot out of her too. Within minutes they had both fallen asleep. The sound of her mobile phone ringing awoke her and she was startled to see that it was sunset already, in fact it was almost dark! It was her mother panicking, wondering where she was. ‘It’s ok mum’ she lied, ‘I’ll be home soon, ok, yeah, well have a nice time, see you tomorrow then.’ Her parents were off to a 50th in the city and were staying the night over there. She had no brothers or sisters so she didn’t need to hurry back and babysit or anything. She hung up with her mother satisfied that she was ok, she often wondered off like this anyway.
Annie looked over to see if he was awake and saw him propped up on his elbow watching her. She blushed. ‘Everything ok?’ he said. ‘Yep, fine just my mother checking in with me, I didn’t realise how late it was’ Annie said. ‘Do you have to leave?’ he asked her. ‘Oh no, I’m at home alone tonight, mum and dad are away for the night at a 50th birthday in the city’ she said, realising that she was telling all of this to a complete stranger and how comfortable she felt telling him all this. ‘Won’t someone be wondering where you are?’ Annie asked him. ‘Oh yeah, they probably are, can I borrow your phone for a minute?’ he asked. He made a quick phonecall to the lodge telling them where he was but she couldn’t really hear what he was saying seeing as he spoke so softly. ‘Would you like to come back to my place for dinner then’ Annie asked. The words had fallen out of her mouth before she could think about it, what was she doing? ‘I’d love to’ he said. ‘Well we’d better set off now then before it get’s too dark’ Annie said. ‘Ok, I’ll just go get my horse, won’t be a minute’ he said.
Amazingly, Annie found her way out of the clearing, although reluctant to leave such a beautiful place. It wasn’t long til they had reached her farm. They put the horses in the stables and gave them some feed.
It had cooled down quite a bit outside and she decided to light the fire in the lounge. What do you feel like eating she said as they stood in the kitchen. She looked into the fridge and saw some lasagne her mum must have made. He said he liked lasagne so she put it in the oven to heat up. ‘What would you like to drink?’ Annie asked him, ‘I always have a glass of wine with my dinner, would like some too?’. ‘Sure, wine would be great’ he answered. They both ate ravenously and after the dishes were cleared they went into the lounge beside the fire. Annie flicked the television on in time to catch the beginning of Jerry McGuire. ‘I love this film!’ she exclaimed. ‘Oh yeah, it’s one my favourites too’ he said. Annie sat by the fire with her knees huddled up to her chest. She looked so sweet in the glow of the flames, her lips were irresistable, he wanted to kiss them. ‘Do you mind if I have another glass of wine?’ he asked her. ‘No, go ahead, bring it out here, I’ll have another one too’ she said, although she was already feeling quite merry.
They ended up drinking the whole bottle of wine in the end, sitting beside the fire. When the movie finished, Annie was asleep. He carefully lay a blanket across her and placed a pillow underneath her head. She stirred and opened her eyes as he was leaning across her. They looked deep into each others eyes and he slowly lowered his mouth onto hers. He kissed her delicate lips, they were so sweet to taste. She didn’t pull back at all, so he kissed her again. ‘You are so beautiful’ he whispered into her ear. Her head was screaming ‘what are you doing kissing a complete stranger, and under the influence of alcohol’ but her heart was saying ‘I want him.’ He lay down beside her, the only light in the room was coming from the fireplace. He stroked her hair gently and held her face in his hands. She moved towards him and kissed him more passionately, it just felt so right. She felt a warm tingly feeling inside her body that was foreign to her. She'd never gotten this ‘close’ to a guy before. She was actually quite a shy person, and hadn’t had a boyfriend before, even though she was 19 years old.
One thing seemed to be leading to another and she realised that tonight was the night that ‘it’ was going to happen. She had always imagined it would be this wonderful and she was right. He was so gentle and loving with her and she with him. They fell asleep beside the fire under a blanket snuggled into each other. She wanted to melt into him, like a piece of ice on hot concrete.
Annie woke up quite early the next morning, something was tickling her face. She opened her eyes to see him hovering above her face. He was tickling her cheeks with his long eyelashes, giving her butterfly kisses. For a moment there she forgot where she was, then her face broke into a huge grin. ‘Good morning princess’ he said to her. ‘Morning, what time is it?’ she asked looking for her watch. ‘It’s only 6.00am’ he replied. ‘Oh, that’s ok’ she said. ‘About last night…’ she said as he silenced her with a kiss. ‘Yeah….’ He said pecking her neck. ‘Um, it’s just that, it was my first time and um, well thank you, it was the best night of my life, ever’ Annie said. ‘Well, I’ve a confession to make,’ he said, ‘it was my first time too, I don’t know what came over me, oh hang on, yes I do, it was your beauty.’ ‘Flattery will get you everywhere’ she said hitting him with a pillow, laughing. ‘Hey, that hurt!’ he said, pretending to be injured. ‘Oh, I’m sorry’ she said, concernedly moving towards him. He grabbed her and lay on top of her laughing, ‘gotcha!’ he laughed. ‘You…’ she said, once again silenced by another kiss.
‘Do you mind if I have a shower?’ he asked. She showed him to the bathroom and then went to the kitchen to surprise him with a cooked breakfast. As she was serving it up she could hear him calling out ‘I need a towel!’ She yelled out ‘what for, there’s no-one else here, don’t be so shy!’, giggling she handed him a towel through the shower door, taking a peek, well she had too, he had confessed to her last night that he had indeed looked at her yesterday in her underwear. They ate breakfast and cleaned up so that her parents wouldn’t know that she’d had anyone to stay. He offered to go out and feed the horses while she took a shower.
After that was all done they saddled up the horses and set off for the lodge he was staying at, seeing as he had no idea how to get back to it. They had just about reached their destination when he stopped and got down off his horse. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked. ‘Nothing’ he said, ‘It’s just that I don’t know if I will ever see you again.’ ‘Why not’ she asked feeling very hurt. ‘I live in Ireland and I go back later this afternoon, I’m not sure when I’ll be back here again’ he said. ‘Oh’ she said. She felt a lump in her throat and her eyes welled with tears. He lifted her chin up and said ‘oh don’t cry princess, I don’t want to go either, but I have to.’ ‘Last night was the most amazing night of my entire life, I can’t think of another person on this earth that I would rather have been with’ he said, looking deeply into her eyes. ‘Me neither’ she said, ‘I can’t believe that I may never see you again.’ It was so hard to fight back the tears. ‘Never say never’ he said, ‘I may be back sooner than you think.’ ‘Do you mean that?’ she asked. ‘Well my schedule changes all the time, so I could be back here within six months.’ ‘What do you do then that gives you such a busy schedule?’ she asked, realising that she actually knew nothing about him. ‘I’m a singer in a band in Ireland’ he answered. ‘Oh, ok, like Boyzone?’ she asked. ‘Yeah, kind of’ he laughed.
‘Well, I guess it’s goodbye then’ she said. ‘No, not goodbye, just see you in a while’ he said. He took a ring off his finger and gave it to her… ‘I want you to wear this and know that I am thinking of you every time you look at it’ he said. ‘I’ve got nothing to give you’ she said,’oh hang on’, she remembered that she had a necklace on. She took it off and gave it to him. It was a silver chain with a locket, inside the locket was a lock of her hair from when she was a baby. ‘Oh, no I can’t’ he said. ‘No, I want you to have it’ she said. ‘Thank you, it will remind me of your beautiful hair’ he said. ‘I’d better get back home, before Mum and Dad get home’ she said. They kissed again, slowly, trying to make it last forever. Annie fought back the tears as she turned away and climbed onto Winnie. ‘Wait’ she heard him say. ‘I don’t even know your name’ he said. They hadn’t even exchanged names in the whole time that they had been together. ‘My name is Annie’ she said. ‘That’s a beautiful name’ he said. ‘What’s yours?’ she asked. ‘Mine is Shane’ he said. ‘Shane, I like that name too’ she said. He kissed her one last time and then he rode off towards the lodge. Annie rode towards her home as the tears flowed from her eyes. She was so sad to think that she would never see him again, but at the same time happy too. She got home and did all the household chores for her parents. She then sat down and turned the tv on in her room and Video Hits came on. She muted it and rang her best friend to tell her about last night, she was dialling the phone number when she glanced at the tv and to her amazement she saw Shane on the tv singing! She dropped the phone and turned the tv up. She couldn’t believe it, he said he was in a band but she had no idea it was anything well known enough to be on Video Hits. She sat there waiting for the song to finish and see what the band was called. There it was on the screen, Swear It Again – Westlife.
~ End ~
