NOW
“Mike sounds quite the charmer.”
A sardonic laugh echoed around the room. Mine. “He was, or appeared to be, but what is it they say about not judging a book by its cover, well, I did exactly that and landed myself in a whole heap of shit.”
“How?”
“That night we slept together and it was good, great even, and he was relentless in his pursuit of me for weeks, months; flowers, dates, endless flattery and attention, and then he wasn’t.”
“I see. What happened, or should that be what changed?”
“I don’t know. Nothing, or perhaps, everything. It wasn't that clear cut, things changed, slowly, gradually, until I barely recognised myself, Mike, or the situation. Even now I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but it did, and I have the scars to prove it.”
I found myself staring at the print of a boat, a small rowboat sitting slightly adrift on a pond, perhaps a lake, although I was fairly certain that should not be the biggest issue in my mind as I reflected on the lowest points of the last five years, and the demise of my relationship with Mike.
“You said that night, when you met and kissed, that you spent the night together.”
I nodded.
“What happened, the next morning?”
CHAPTERTWO
THEN
Waking,it felt comfortable, although slightly shocking to be in Mike’s embrace. The sex had been good and he had been considerate of my needs as well as his own.
Unsure whether he was awake or not, I slid from his arms and the bed to use the bathroom before dashing to the kitchen to make some tea for us both. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil I was joined by my friend, Jess, who was also one of my housemates. We had met on our first day at uni when we had been on the same floor of uni accommodation and just hit it off. We had quickly become good friends and when our first year ended we had decided to enter a house share together, the same house we still lived in with four other students.
“I thought you’d have slept through til Monday after all the excitement and activity of last night.” She laughed while I turned a lovely shade of crimson at the realisation that she had heard me having sex.
“I assume as you have two cups, and I don’t drink tea, thatMikeis still all tuckered out from your shenanigans.” Her emphasis on his name that she shouldn’t know confirmed that she’d heard me use it whilst we were having sex. The truth was that she would have heard me moaning it.
Despite my embarrassment, I laughed. “Whatever.”
“Wow! You are going to be a doctor, actually having people’s lives in your hands, the top student of your cohort andwowis the best you can come up with which can only mean one thing . . . you’ve been dickmatized!”
I howled at her ridiculous vocabulary, but when I noticed her gaze move to the open door behind me, I turned and found Mike standing there, topless, looking wonderfully dishevelled. However, by the time my glance reached his face, he looked less than impressed, and then, in the blink of an eye, the dazzling smile was there and he was introducing himself to Jess.
Watching on, I felt relieved that Mike was making an effort with my friend, although, he didn’t really know that she was my best friend, so maybe he was just a nice and sociable guy. They chatted, well, Mike chatted mainly for another ten minutes or so after I handed him his tea, and then with work to get to, Jess left us alone.
Suddenly I felt awkward. No. That wasn’t it. I felt nervous, and I had no idea why. “I hope the tea was okay.” Yes, my nerves were directing conversation if I was discussing his tea.
He nodded. “It was fine, thank you.”
I suspected it had been less than fine judging by the fact it was only half drunk.
There was a pause before Mike continued speaking. “What is this? Us? I don’t need promises or labels, but I need to know.”
I opened my mouth to answer his question, not that I really had any answers for him. I hadn’t been looking for anything beyond last night, and maybe today too, but the previous night, I hadn’t thought beyond the present. Did I want to declare my intentions? Did I even have any? It didn’t matter because before I could speak, he continued.
“You see, I like you, and last night was great, but this morning . . . you were talking about us to your friend, about sex, about my dick, and I don’t like that. Whatever happens between us should remain between us. It’s private and I don’t appreciate it being something for you and her or you and anyone to cackle about.”
He looked pissed off, the glimpse of the expression I had seen earlier was back and it was out in force. I mean, I appreciated what he was saying and although he had clearly misunderstood what he had walked in on, I respected the sentiment and truth be told, I didn’t particularly like the idea of him discussing the details of what we had done with other people either.
“Sorry. I wasn’t talking about us, telling Jess things—”
He cut me off. “So, it wasn’t you she was referring to as being dickmatized by, ooh, let’s think, my dick!”
