Katy
I’m so happy. I can’t believe it took something as simple as laying it all out there to find out where I stand. Felix and I are together now; that’s all that matters. He ended up parting my knees and going down on me right there on the dressing table stool. I think it was his way of apologising. I just really hope my dad didn’t hear.
After orgasming against his hand to muffle the screams, he then decided to blow-dry my hair. It was strangely more intimate than any sex we’ve had. He was so gentle that I almost fell asleep.
We spent the night laughing and joking with Mum and Dad over a curry and then we stuck on Dirty Dancing. Waking up in his arms this morning knowing I’m his was heaven, but I can’t help but have that niggling fear in the back of my mind. The thing is that we still have no idea about which jobs we’re going to get. Where we’ll be in a few months.
But I have to just ignore it and grab life by the balls. Enjoy the present and try my hardest not to worry about the future. Felix is in the shower while I relish still being in bed. It's funny how this immediately feels like home to me. It must be because my mum has such a good decorating touch. She makes everything so homey. The thought of living by myself frankly terrifies me.
Felix’s phone starts ringing. I look at the screen. It’s a withheld number. I could just let it go to his answerphone, but what if it’s a job offer, and his phone doesn’t record the message properly? I’d never be able to forgive myself. Fuck it. I press answer.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, can I please speak to Mr Montague?’ a woman asks.
‘Sorry, he’s unavailable at the moment, but can I take a message?’
‘Oh, yes please. If you could just ask him to call back Harrow school. We haven’t received his signed contract yet and we want a firm start date before we break up for the summer.’
Wait, I’m confused.
‘Contract? As in, he has a job with you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Right… and he knows this?’ I can’t seem to get my head round this.
‘Yes. Perhaps I’ve said too much. If you could please tell him to return my call at his earliest convenience.’
I hang up just as Felix walks out of the shower, a small towel tied round his waist. I can do nothing but stare dumbly back at him.
‘Who was on the phone?’ he asks, towel-drying his hair, not a care in the world.
I steel my jaw, a new anger broadsiding me. ‘Harrow school.’
His face pales, his shoulders tensing. ‘Oh.’
‘Oh indeed. They asked if you could call them back.’
He relaxes slightly, obviously thinking that’s it. Like I’m letting him off that easily.
‘And that you haven’t returned the contract yet. You know, for the job offer you’ve apparently had.’
‘Er…’
‘Er… what?’ I shout, erupting like a volcano. ‘How the fuck could you have not told me you got a job? And how the hell did you get one at Harrow? We acted like nutters.’
He sits down on the bed, his head in his hands. ‘I went back in there and did another interview. They offered it to me on the spot.’
My mouth hangs open. ‘You sneaky fucking bastard! Jeopardising my career and only thinking about yourself. How the hell am I supposed to trust you with anything, when you’ve done this?’
‘That’s why I was waiting to tell you,’ he says taking my hand.
I throw it off me. ‘What, wait until you’d buttered me up, and I’d just go, oh okay. Whatever you say, Felix. I’m not some little Stepford wife who’s going to follow you around and wash your dirty socks.’
‘Whoa!’ he puts his hands up in self-defence. ‘I never said that.’
‘But it's what you meant. All that bullshit last night about us going wherever we get the jobs, it was all shit. You knew you had nothing to worry about. You’re going home to your parents, to a town you were raised in. And you expected me to just follow on.’
‘No. The reason I haven’t sent back the contract yet is because I wanted to speak to you about it.’
‘Yeah, right,’ I snort. ‘I don’t know why I thought you’d changed. You’re still the selfish manwhore you’ve always been. I wanted to see more, have some hope you were different, but leopards don’t change their spots.’
‘Ouch.’
‘Get out.’
‘What?’ he blusters in disbelief.
‘I said get out! I don’t want you here. Go back to your mother in Harrow.’
‘Katy, I’m in the middle of bloody Edinburgh. Where the hell do you expect me to go?’
‘Ugh, you’re so infuriating. You know what, I’m glad I told the Headmaster those pranks were all your fault. I can’t believe I’ve been feeling bad about the whole thing.’
‘You did what?’ he shouts, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. ‘You blamed me? Katy, you’re the one that approached me. I was just trying to help you.’
‘Help me?’ I scoff.
‘Yeah, help you get out of your sad little bubble where you’re stuck up your own arse. I even helped expose that fucking cheating creep. But it seems you’re back to where we started.’
I repeat his words in my head. Expose that fucking cheating creep.
‘Expose? What do you mean, expose?’
His face tightens, obviously realising his mistake.
‘Did you… did you know Dick was cheating on me?’
He swallows. ‘It looks bad, I know. But yeah. I overheard him in the pub and then I made sure that you’d catch him.’
‘I cannot believe you! Why the hell couldn’t you have just broken it to me gently, rather than to be forced to walk into the shit show that I did?’
‘I’m sorry. If I’m honest, I hated you back then. You kept slagging me off around work.’
I gasp in disbelief. ‘So you actually did that to me as revenge?’
He looks down at the floor, ashamed. ‘Yes,’ he admits on a whisper.
‘How fucking dare you! Get out of my house!’ I scream.
‘This is your parents' house, and I’m pretty sure your mother wouldn’t be as unreasonable as to chuck me out.’
‘Ugh!’ I scream. ‘Just get out of my sight now, Felix. I can’t believe I ever thought me and you could have something. We are so different.’
He grabs his bag. ‘You’re right there.’ He slams the door in my face as I face dive the bed, punching the mattress like it's him.