Chapter 6

As Tuesday morning entered her consciousness she rolled over, remembering that she was meeting Rob in the afternoon for what was likely to be their final date. She would take her backpack with her which would keep her hands busy and unavailable for him to hold in case he still didn’t get the message.

Holly called her mother, catching her just before work and gave her the news of her car search and final exams. She sensed the pride in her mother’s voice and grinned at the ceiling in her bedroom as she brought her up to date with some of the gossip from campus, people’s plans and her own job applications. Her mother wondered when she might be home and Holly replied that home would be one of her first trips once she got the car. Her father was fine and out at work but she had been feeling a little under the weather with a pain in her knee but was sure it would pass in a couple of days and would still go in to work. They signed off and Holly went back downstairs to heat up her coffee, naked under her dressing gown. There was a part of her that morning that dearly wanted to demonstrate to Addie that she too was now casual about how she dressed around the house, but, alas, Addie had stayed at someone else’s house the previous night and was at that very moment getting a wonderful early-morning wake-up call.

Holly texted Marko and thanked him for sending Sam in her direction, responded to an inquiry from the new Event Director from the Foundation, confirmed with her landlord that she would be staying in the property after graduation and googled ‘shaved vagina’ to see what the world was doing in that region. Information such as ‘new, clean razor’, ‘single use’ and ‘thick shaving foam’ were obvious and there was little information to be found that she didn’t consider common sense. The thought of clicking on the ‘images’ link was tempting but not her scene so she closed the tab and deleted the history of her search. She felt the tuft of pubic hair, placing her feet back up either side of her keyboard for ease of access. It wasn’t bushy at all and in fact it was pretty well behaved for something that she had never trimmed, pruned or shaved. She thought it had looked nice when she had checked it out in the bathroom mirror, in proportion to the rest of her body, which, she thought, was just as pretty as Jane’s from the previous night.

She slid her feet off the desk and pulled her dressing gown around her, thinking back to the sight of that girl in the bushes, how those brambles had dug into the flesh of her neck and head, how she must have been thrown in there to have landed with her arms contorted and her face in the dirt. Whatever her faults might be, and Holly could only think of a night of uncontrolled drinking, it was no excuse whatsoever to discard her like an unwanted toy. Jane would have had no chance trying to get out of those brambles on her own in the state she was in. Her face would have been ripped up and the injuries to her thighs would certainly have increased, maybe up to her pussy from the way those brambles had snagged her. She balled her hands into fists, thinking of ways on which those men could be found but knew in her heart that it would be simply another incident on the campus police blotter.

After lunch she showered, dressed conservatively in jeans, shirt and jacket and put some books in her backpack that needed to be returned to the Admin building and library. She sat in the lounge and waited for Rob to arrive, determined to go straight out to meet him rather than let him inside. He was on time and as she slipped into the passenger seat she allowed him to kiss her cheek, a friend-zone move that she sensed was understood all too well.

He offered to drive her to the Library and suggested that they go down to the river afterwards for a walk. Holly agreed, pleased with the plan and the fact that the walk would be out in the open with other walkers, young and old, using the same scenic path. She returned the books and jumped back into the car, still holding her backpack which contained the travel budget and a few items to pad it out and make it look important to her that day.

“So the last exam went well, then?” she asked as they turned into Albany Crescent. It would take them through the eastern edge of town and almost directly to the main car park for the river path.

“Yeah, no probs. Free now!”

“It’s a good feeling. I’ve made a start on job applications but haven’t had even one acknowledgement that they’ve even received my information” said Holly, looking at the signs of sales in the women’s clothing store window. “Fifty percent off what?” she wondered. Probably off a price they had used in some random store for a week that they could use as a valid data point. She grinned. With the car purchase close she needed another financial target and decided that from her first paycheck she would reward herself with a matching Dior bra and pantie set. “What?”

“I said that I heard that Sam is going to help you find a car,” said Rob, his tone falsely cheerful.

“Yeah, seems his Dad is in the business and is willing to offer a mechanic to look over whatever I decide on before I buy it.”

“Hey, look at that guy!” said Rob as they pulled up the traffic lights. They were two cars from the front of the queue and a man with one crutch stood by the light, holding a cardboard sign. One leg of his trousers had been pinned up half way. With his free hand he waved slowly at the cars, nodding and rotating the sign.

“Poor guy,” said Holly quietly. Rob rolled his window down and Holly smiled, wondering how much he would give the guy as he started to limp along the queue towards them.

“Hey!” shouted Rob, “you spelt ‘homeless’ wrong, stupid! It’s l-e-s-s at the end!” Rob rolled the window up and looked straight ahead, avoiding the man who simply nodded and seemed to say ‘thank you’. “What an asshole, eh?”