"A Ludlow girl?? Oh man ... you're out of your mind, bro, there's no way ..." Samuel commented. Tom had been with almost every girl in town, but he never crossed to the other side of Bluebridge where the better halves were living, let alone Bill Ludlow's daughter. "You don't wanna mess with Bill Ludlow, he's got grip on this town, don't wanna know what he'll do to you if he found out you're messing with his daughter," Ryan agreed.
He wasn't planning to mess around with this girl, though, not really. The moment he laid eyes on her, it was pure attraction. He'd never been attached to anything in his life after his mom left, he learned to mend for himself from such an early age. He explored his sexuality by having casual sex with many girls, but never really have a steady girlfriend before. When he saw Charlene, something inside him felt tamed, withdrawn from his usual wild ways of approaching the opposite sex, it was a feeling he didn't recognize.
His family fell apart after his younger brother died in a drowning accident. Gregory Raven was known to be an alcoholic loser who sold his home and drank himself stupid after his son died, his wife left him for another man. Tom was only 13 when his brother died, and a week shy of his 14th birthday when his mom suddenly disappeared from his life. He didn't quite understand what happened, he just knew that his mother didn't love him enough to stick around and left him with a man who hated him enough that he often beat him up and reminded him of how worthless he was.
He dropped out of school at sixteen, started working odd jobs to survive on his own, slept on people's couches and porches because he couldn't bring himself to go back to the caravan he shared with his abusive dad.
Everyone on his side of the town knew who he was and vice versa. The girls knew that if Tom Raven was fixing their house in the day, chances are, he'll be sleeping on their bed at night. They were more than glad when they see Tom around their house. By reputation, eventually, the girls knew that Tom Raven is not the guy they can expect to commit, but never disappoint when it comes to sex. So when Tom shied away at the sight of Charlene coming into the store, it was a side that his friends never saw before. His face was beaming and immediately followed her into Mrs. Cooper's store. "That's her? Oh wow ... you really are in deep shit!" Samuel joked and laughed with the other boys.
Mrs. Cooper greeted her when she walked in, followed by Tom. "Tom! Oh no, young man! You better go back to where you came!"
He took off his cap, "Oh come on, Mrs. Cooper, I'm just here to help out with the groceries," he said.
"Hey Tommy!" she greeted him.
"Tommy? Charlene ... stay away from him, do you hear me? Your momma's not gonna be happy to know you're hanging out with this boy." Mrs. Cooper looked genuinely concerned.
As she gathered all her mom's orders, Charlene smiled, "That's okay Mrs. Cooper, Tommy's just helping out."
The middle-aged woman shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe the odds of Charlene Ludlow's first time out of her house and bumped into Tom Raven at her store.
"How are you, Charlie?"
That awkward question made Charlie laughed, "I'm fine, how are you?"
His friends were looking in through the window, yelling and teasing. "Are those your friends?" Charlie leaned to look.
"Yeah ... sorry 'bout that," he was embarrassed.
"For the love of God, Tom! If you don't tell those boys to behave, I'll go out there myself and give them a good smack!" Mrs. Cooper was at the end of her wits.
"Yes, ma'am, I'll make sure they be quiet ... wait one second, Charlie," he was at his best behavior, unlike his friends. He went outside to talk to them.
"Country boys! They have no manners! Charlene ... dear, these boys are trouble, especially Tom Raven, a girl like you shouldn't be around boys like them ... they're not good for you," Mrs. Cooper took the chance to talk her out of it.
"He hasn't done anything wrong ... we're just talking," she was almost always smiling pleasantly. When his friends were quiet, Tom came back inside.
Charlene made her payment, Tom picked up the bags, and all the while he couldn't hide the eagerness from his face. There was nothing Mrs. Cooper could do when she caught a glimpse of Charlene's eyes when he looked at him. That boy was easy on the eyes, some say Tom Raven was wasting his good looks to be a troubled country boy in Bluebridge.
They walked side by side with more ease this time, followed by his friends gaze at them until they were far enough away from them. "Why don't you start by telling me where you live?" she started the conversation.
He was prepared this time, even though it means he was risking her to avoid him completely afterward, "My dad lives at the back of the junkyard, near the lumber mill, I stayed there sometimes, but mostly I stayed at my friend's house ... which is also around the slums of Bluebridge ... a place where a girl like you would never visit," he told her somewhat holding his breath.
"A girl like me? That's the second time I heard that term today ... why aren't you living with your dad?"
He took a moment before answering with a somber look on his face, "We don't really get along."
She felt like there was a story behind his answer, but she didn't want to pry. "Tell me, Tommy, what kind of girl am I?" if anything, that term was bothering her.
"Well ... you know, educated, classy beautiful ... don't belong in the slums," he cleared his throat.
"I'm barely out of high school, I wouldn't consider myself as educated ... not yet, beautiful? I don't believe there's no beautiful girl living in the slums ... but then again, nobody belongs in the slums, I think people should work hard and get themselves out of there," she said.
He scoffed, "Smart ... beautiful and smart, that's the kind of girl you are." She didn't reply to that. "How did you managed to stay in for so long that I've never seen you around before?" he was curious.
"Well ... we have a driver who takes me everywhere, and maids who did our groceries, I've just recently got permission to walk to school by myself, and do the groceries, my 17th birthday is coming up and it's only fair that I asked for a bit of freedom," she answered.
Her smooth white skin was glowing under the sunlight, the wind blew her brown hair with strands sometimes tangled over her face. He realized she didn't just look like a princess, she was one. It was a kind of life, Tom had never heard before.
Being dirt poor, he had never known luxury in all his life. He had known the harsh reality of life from being a kid from a family with no means, he knew that labor pays just enough to get by. He had no interest in school, to him, the school was just a waste of time and a waste of money that he didn't have. He had been taking care of himself since he was 4 years old, dressed himself, prepared food for himself, played by himself, slept by himself, to know that there are people who had maids and drivers and not allowed to go out by themselves for 16 years was as foreign as a fairytale for him.
"What do you do for fun, Charlie?"
She took a moment before answering, "I love the movies, we watch movies at home, I love to read, music ... my sister plays the piano, I sing, we have board games at home ... stuff like that, my sister and I used to play hide and seek with the maids when we were little, but ... we're too old for that now."
Tom was half laughing to see how adorable she was when she explained that.
"What?" she didn't think there was anything funny.
"Hide and seek? I'd love to play hide and seek with you," and a lot of other things he had gradually accumulating in his mind.
She laughed realizing how silly 'hide and seek' sounded now that he had mentioned it, "What about you? What do you do for fun?"
Tom pursed his lips and looked away, "I don't think you'd approve of my idea of fun."
She tilted her head to look at him with a grimace, she wasn't sure what he meant by that. "I meant, what do you do around town to have fun ... something that might interest me," she rephrased it.
He took a deep breath, "Okay ... well ... we go out swimming at the lake, me and my friends, ... and then there's dance night every once a month at the community center, everyone in the neighborhood gathered for drinks and dancing, that's where we get to know everyone ... the ladies usually cook and bring food, it's very-boring-small-town-activities, though."
"Really? You know everybody?" she interrupted him.
"Yeah, everybody knows everybody around here ... we also go out camping and fishing every once in a while, I don't like fishing very much but sometimes I go just to be with friends ... you know?"
Charlene nodded, even though she couldn't relate, but the image of what Tom had described was intriguing. Being cooped up in her house all these times made everything sounded interesting. She was being obedient to her father's wishes, but that never stopped her from dreaming of another life that awaits outside of her golden cage.
"Would you like to join us sometime?" he wondered loudly.
"I'd love that ... sometime," she smiled.
When they arrived at the gate of her house, Mrs. Ludlow standing by the gate with both hands on her waist. "Oh no ... that's my mom," Charlie muttered.
Mrs. Ludlow didn't look very happy, her eyes were piercing at Tom. "Charlene ... go inside," she said with a low voice.
"Mom, this is Tom, he offered me to help with the groceries," she tried to explain.
"I know ... you go on inside, I'd like to talk to this young man," she said firmly.
"But mom ... "
"Get inside, Charlene."
Charlie looked at Tom helplessly, but he seemed calm and took off his cap to greet Mrs. Ludlow. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Ludlow," he said with a smile.
"Aren't you gonna introduce yourself, young man?"
"My name's Tom Raven, Ma'am."
She paused for a moment. "You're Gregory's boy?"
He nodded, he knew that was the nail in the coffin for him.
"How old are you, Tom Raven?"
"I'm almost twenty, Ma'am," he said with both hands still holding his cap in front of him.
Mrs. Ludlow nodded, "Listen now, Tom ... I'm just gonna be straight with you, I'm sure you're a nice young man, you have all the time in the world to make a life for yourself ... I'm assuming you don't go to school?"
Tom shook his head and looked down, he knew what he was getting himself into. "My daughter Charlene, has never had a bad day in her life, you know what I mean?" He nodded. "Now, I intend to keep it that way," she added.
Tom didn't have anything to say, he was put in his place. "I appreciate you helped her with the groceries, but this can't go any further than that, do you understand?" she was firm with her words. He didn't respond. "I don't want you coming around my daughter again, Tom Raven, I've heard too much about you to know better, Mr. Ludlow is not gonna be happy if he finds out ... but I'm gonna let it go for now, but I need your word," she insisted.
He took a deep breath and put his cap back on, "Yes, Ma'am."
"Good ... now off you go," she said.
He tilted his cap and walked away. All the things he had done is now coming back to bite him, his reputation had obviously heard by Mrs. Ludlow. He assumed Mrs. Cooper had told her as a warning because she didn't want to lose her most valuable customer over a menace like him. He looked back and saw the massive two-story building, who did he think he was to be dreaming of the beautiful girl who lives in it when he has absolutely nothing to offer her.
*********
"What did you say to him?" Charlene waited for her mom in the kitchen.
Mrs. Ludlow took her apron and put it back on, "I told him what he needed to know."
"Mom?" she whined.
"I heard enough stories to keep you as far away from that boy, Charlene, glad that Mrs. Cooper had given me the heads up about him ... he's slept with half the town is what I heard, he was following you around because you're probably one of the few he hasn't done yet," she warned her frowning daughter. "On top of that, he's Gregory Raven's boy, you don't wanna know who and what that man is."
Charlene was taken aback by what her mom just said, Tommy, didn't strike her as a predator that her mom had assumed. "He seemed like a nice guy, anyway, we were just talking, it's not like we're getting married," she was being defensive.
"Oh yeah, he's nice alright ... he wouldn't have slept with all those girls if he wasn't nice, bright blue eyes, a face fit for a magazine cover, he's a handsome boy, Charlene, and that's all you'll ever get from him ... not for you!" her mother pointed a finger at her. She sighed, nobody ever listens to what she had to say. Everybody always telling her what she can and cannot do, and apparently, who she can and cannot be friends with.
"I told him to leave you alone, and I hope he keeps his words, 'cause your daddy's not gonna like it if he finds out," her mom added.
"Jeez, mom, you didn't have to treat it like a disaster, he was just ..."
"Not for you, Charlene! Now go upstairs and change, and then come back down and help me with dinner."
He was good with his words, but then again, Charlene was not allowed to go to the store again after that day. After a few days, she had accepted that she might never see him again. She walked to and from school with her friends, always looking around to see if she can find a familiar face along the way. But she never did.There are many walk paths to get from one place to another in Bluebridge, most people go by bike or motorbike, the most common was by foot. The only time people go by car was to go out of town, or if you're a Ludlow or the very few upper-class families in that very small town then you get to go around town by car with a driver.She was walking home from school that day, she and her friends Mandy and Kayla took the usual route past the lake near the woods. There were people swimming in the lake, they heard them laughing, jumping into the lake and splashes of water. They were teenagers, a bit older than them, not from their area, sure enough, her eyes w
Despite what her mother said to him, he couldn't resist the urge to see her again. She was the only thing he could think about when she's not with him. He waited behind a big tree, not far from her school, biting on a toothpick with his back and a foot up against the tree and one hand in his pocket.He has a noticeable appearance, other than his visible good looks, he has a presence that distinct him from a crowd. She was starting to get familiar with him that her eyes would easily find him. She had butterflies rushing to fly away from inside her stomach as he was approaching her. She knew when he came to her school that day, he was pursuing her. Something most boys wouldn't dare the soonest they found out she was Bill Ludlow's daughter. He had a devil-may-care attitude that was most attractive to her, yet the minute he was in her presence, he would shrink into an awkward harmless little boy that made it hard for her to believe that he was as bad as the things she heard about
The house was transformed into a party venue. Workers have been working since morning, putting up lights, flowers, setting up tables, inside and outside the house. The lawn had been mowed, tents were hoisted. The kitchen had been cooking non-stop, caterers have arrived with more variations of dishes to serve throughout the night.Her parents had invited 150 guests aside from Charlene's friends. The caterers provided 20 waiters and waitresses to make sure the food and beverages were prepared and served properly. There will be at least 250 people crowding the party. She looked stunning in a white halter neck dress that her mom had chosen for her. She put on some make-up and earrings. She brushed her hair casually because her naturally wavy hair looked gorgeous on any occasion. She finally came downstairs with Mandy and Kayla when it was almost dinner time. The guests were already gathered up under the staircase, having hors d'oeuvres and champagne. They all looked up to see her
Landon emerged from the crowd and came over to where Charlene was sitting with her friends. Inside, the music was playing, and people started to make room for a dance floor in the center of the main hall. "Hey, Charlene ... it's time for your dance, your dad asked me to look for you here and do the first dance together," said Landon, extending his hand to Charlene."Oh, my ... I'm not very good at dancing," she looked at her friends to bail her out, but they were actually encouraging her to go for it."I can help you out with that, don't worry," he assured her.She took his hand and nervously walked inside. The guests were clapping for them, Landon turned her around to face him, they touch palms, and put his other arm around her waist. He put her other arm around his waist, their faces almost touched. She had never been that close to a guy before, she turned her face to her right, and saw her parents smiling widely looking at them starting to sway on the dance f
"Okay ... it's time to get you back home," Tommy said after she finished her second beer."What? No!!" his friends shouted."Oh, come on, Tommy! It's not that late," Charlie whined.He laughed, "It is for you, Birthday Girl," he stood up, extended his hand to her. "Come on, you're not supposed to be here in the first place, you're putting me on the spot here," he said.She took his hand and stood up, "Well, okay, fair enough," she agreed. She felt a little light-headed but managed to walk straight after she said goodbye to everybody."You comin' back here, man?" Ryan asked."Yeah, I'll be back."Tommy put his hands on her waist when she wobbled, "Are you okay?"She nodded, "I'm okay, it's the beer, I guess?" and then she laughed out loud. He lets her go as soon as she managed to steady her walk. "I never drank before in my life, I didn't know it had a really funny side effect, I mean ... I knew but I never experienced it before
The dilapidated cabin looked gloomy amongst the towering elms. He ascended the front steps toward the door, already had ideas of what he was going to do with the steps and the small veranda. He put the key in the keyhole and turned it. It still smelled like old tobacco and wet wood. He entered carefully, the floor creaked, the hinges squeaked. Everything was still at its place, nobody had been in there since old man Bob's funeral.He sat on the two seated ram shacked sofa, he took a small picture frame from the side table next to it, a picture of the old man and him when he was about 15 years old. He remembered how Bob used to show him magic tricks that were obvious to him, but he kept his mouth shut, pretended that it was the cleverest trick he had ever seen.Bob asked him one day, "Do you believe in magic, Tommy?"He said, "No."Bob smiled and said, "You will ... when you see her," with a pat on his shoulder.He never really understood what it me
Every day after school, she looked around to find him lurking behind a tree somewhere, but he wasn't there. She later found out from Samuel that he was working on some cabin in the woods. "Can you tell him I'm looking for him?" there was a hint of sadness in her voice.The thing about Tommy was he sometimes disappear for days without any news, and left her wondering if he was ghosting her. "Can you ask him if he's coming to the town's gathering this weekend? Because I'll be there, with my family too," she added. Samuel assured her, everyone in town will be there, including Tommy.She was excited for the weekend, mostly because she hadn't seen Tommy for an entire week. She wasn't particularly excited to conceal her relationship with her parents if it was even a relationship. Her father was officially going to be a very important figure in town, possibly their next Mayor. He was well known for his contribution to Bluebridge and the community, but to be elected as Mayor w
It wasn't easy for a girl who was falling in love for the first time to not see the boy she dreamed of every day. But that was often the case with Tommy. He was unreachable. The only way she can get to him was through his friends if she happened to bump into them. Tommy wasn't finished with his cabin just yet, and she was not patient enough to wait around without hearing from him. She got into these mood swings and lost her appetite, thinking that Tommy was busy with other things while she can hardly function without seeing him.After almost another week, she was determined to find him. She got the direction from Kelly when she met her at Mrs. Cooper's store, and she went there alone. The cabin wasn't too far into the woods, but there was no other building close to it. She walked into the area surrounded by the tall trees, the further she went, the more distant the sound of people and their activities were and the more silent it gets. She doubted herself for a moment, but the