Chapter 8: Lady in the Street

My last day at JMS was much like every other day, except that at afternoon break Imogen and I were presented with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates each and a card that had been signed by most of the people we’d been working with. At the end of the day, after agreeing to meet Paige later that evening for our now regular date, I drove Imogen home and then set about getting ready to go and pick Paige up.

“Are you going to keep seeing her?” Imogen asked as I checked my hair a final time in the mirror in the hallway.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Why?”

“You know why, Paul. Nessa is due back this weekend. Or had you forgotten? If you’re going to keep seeing Paige, then you are going to have to tell Nessa.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah. I ... hadn’t thought of that.”

“Well, you should have. You need to decide if this thing with Paige is serious or if it was just a summer fling. If it’s just a fling, then finish it now and be done with it. It’s not fair to her to drag it on.”

“And if it’s serious?”

Imogen gave me one of those looks she reserved for when I was being truly dumb. “Is it serious?”

I shrugged.

“Exactly.”

“Are you and Mark going out tonight?” I asked in a naked attempt to change the subject.

“Why? So, you know if you have the house to yourself when you bring Paige back here?”

“No. I just wondered that’s all. You two have been going out a lot. I’m just interested in what’s going on between the two of you.”

“We haven’t been going out, we’ve just been out together because there’s no-one else to go with. There’s nothing going on between us.”

I looked at her and smirked. “You sure?”

She shook her head and went into the kitchen. “We’re going to the cinema, if you must know,” she said as she left.

I chuckled to myself, checked my hair one last time, and then left to go and collect Paige.

As always, I waited in the car when I got to Paige’s house and it was only a few seconds before she came out to join me. I think she must have been waiting at the window looking out for me or something. She still hadn’t invited me in to meet her mother or allowed her mother to come out and meet me.

“What are we doing tonight?” she asked. She was wearing a knee-length, black, pleated skirt and a cream blouse with a small black cardigan.

I shrugged. “What do you want to do?”

She grinned that cat that got the cream grin of hers. “Go back to your place and fuck all evening. But I suppose we have to do the date part first, don’t we?”

“Do we?”

She slapped my arm. “Yes, we do. I’m not a complete slut.” She paused. “Just part slut.”

“So, what do you want to do?”

“Pizza? I’m starving to be honest, and Pizza is usually served pretty quickly. And then we can go back to your place and fuck for the rest of the evening.” She paused again. “Imogen and Mark have gone out, right?”

“Fuck me! Fuck me! That’s nice, Paul. I like that! Yes! Just like that! Fuck me! Fuck me!”

Paige really was the most talkative lover I’d ever had. She knew what she liked and was quick to tell me. And she knew what she wanted and was not slow to ask for it.

So, I fucked her. I’d already eaten her to two orgasms and fucked her through a third. Then she’d had me switch to the back door and came one more time before I spunked in her arsehole.

You know that saying that started doing the rounds in the mid-noughties? Lady in the Street and a Freak in the Bed? I think it was from a song. Well, it described Paige perfectly. Prim and proper English Rose at work and out on dates, fucking filthy slut when we got into the bedroom.

“You’re going?” I said as I once again watched Paige get dressed.

“You know I have to.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes. I do. I told you that. She’ll worry if I don’t go home.”

“That’s not the impression I get—”

“You don’t know her, Paul. She says one thing and ... Look, I just have to go. Okay?”

“Of course, it’s okay, Paige. I just want you to know—”

“I know, Paul. I know. And I appreciate it. I really do. But I have to go.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll get dressed and drive you back.”

Imogen and Mark were home by the time I got back from dropping Paige off. Mark was, unusually for him, watching television in the lounge and Imogen was in the kitchen making a hot drink.

“Hot chocolate?” she said in a light manner that belied the way we had parted that evening.

“No, I’m good, thanks. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

“Probably a good idea. I suppose you need your rest after all that exercise.”

“What exercise?”

She’d had her back to me up to this point and now turned around and smirked. “Your bed is a mess and the room stinks of sex. You need to remember to close your door and we probably need to get you one of those plug-in air fresheners.”

“Oh,” I said. “Right.”

“I assume it was your way of saying goodbye? You did end it with her, didn’t you?”

“Well ... not, exactly.”

Imogen rolled her eyes. “Figures.”

“I didn’t not end it either,” I said.

Now she raised an eyebrow. “So how did you leave it?”

“I sort of ... didn’t. Not really.”

“So, what are you planning to do? You can’t just not call her again. Oh, I don’t know. I give up. Do whatever you like.”

“Gen, don’t be like that. This isn’t easy, you know.”

“I know, Paul. I just ... I don’t know.” She sighed. “I just don’t want Nessa to get hurt, you know? She’s my best friend.”

“I thought I was your best friend.”

“You are, but that’s different. She’s my best girl friend. And I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“And you think me having a girlfriend will hurt her?”

“I don’t know!” She practically screamed at me. “I don’t know, Paul. But I do know that you not having a girlfriend won’t hurt her. I don’t think. I don’t know. I mean, what if you not having a girlfriend gives her hope that you two will get back together again or something. And then she ends up getting hurt when you don’t. I just don’t know, it’s all so...” She threw up her hands and grunted.

I shook my head. “I can’t do both, Gen. I can’t put myself out there as you and Chloë keep telling me to do and then not see other girls because it might upset Ness.”

“I KNOW!” She grunted and spun around to finish making the two hot chocolates for herself and Mark. “I know. It’s just...”

There was a pause before Mark spoke. Neither of us had noticed him entering the room. “It’ll work out, Immy. Ness will understand. She’ll probably understand better than you think. And I don’t think she’ll be hurt. Much.” He turned to me. “But you have to tell her, mate. And the sooner the better. Don’t wait until the next time you take Paige out and then just casually mention it. Got it? You have to sit her down and tell her. Explain everything.” He paused. “And she probably needs to meet Chloë at some point too. God help you.”

“Immy?” I said. “Immy? You two have pet names for each other now.”

Mark shrugged. “It suits her.”

“But you’re not going out. Not boyfriend and girlfriend?”

He shrugged again.

“You two are unbe-fucking-lievable. I’m going to bed.”

“Set your alarm,” Imogen said. “Don’t forget you’re collecting Nessa from the station at nine-thirty.”

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but you’re not allowed onto the platforms at Westmouth Station without a ticket. You need a ticket to get through the barrier at every station on the line all the way up to London—to get on and off the platform—and no-one checks your ticket in-between, so they must be scared that if they let someone onto the platform to meet someone, that person might decide to grab themselves a free train ride or something. Not that you’d be able to get off the platform at the other end if you did do that.

It’s stupid.

But anyway, I found myself standing on the concourse side of the barriers waiting for Vanessa as the 09:30 from London St Pancras pulled into the station. And I found I was nervous.

I hadn’t seen my ex-not-girlfriend for two months. And our not-relationship had only really ended on the day she caught the train to stay with her parents for the summer. So, I didn’t really know how things were going to be between us now that she was back.

The train stopped, the doors slid open automatically and a host of people started to disembark. I didn’t see Vanessa in among the first crowd that walked towards me with their tickets ready to scan through the barrier. Nor the second crowd.

But then I spotted her, far down the platform, dragging a huge suitcase behind her on its wheels. I waved and she spotted me and waved back. I don’t know if I expected her to run towards me when she saw me, but she didn’t. Instead, she kept walking at as brisk a pace as her high heels and the heavy suitcase would allow. She was at least smiling though.

She was dressed casually, in three-quarter-length faded blue jeans, a white t-shirt with some branded logo on that I didn’t recognise and a light jacket that reflected that it was still quite warm even though it was now September. Her long blonde hair was in a ponytail that bounced behind her as she walked.

She looked just as much of a Lady in the Street as Paige did.

Eventually she reached the barrier and the stationmaster took pity on her and opened the disabled gate to allow her to get her suitcase through. She came over to me, stood the suitcase up on its end and said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” I said back.

“I didn’t know if you would ... I mean, I know you said you would, but I thought—”

“I said I would. So here I am.”

“Here you are.” She paused. “I’m glad you are. It’s good to see you.” Another pause. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

“Did you? Did you really? Because I know you and Gen have been working and I know how you get caught up in—”

“I missed you too,” I said again.

She smiled and did that thing where she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Paul, I ... Thank you. For coming to get me, I mean.”

“I said I would.”

“I know. I know. But thank you anyway.” She stepped forward and stood on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then her expression changed. That look of desire I’d seen so many times before flashed across her face. “You have no idea how much I want to kiss you properly right now. But I can’t.”

“Ness—”

“And you can’t let me, either. You hear? This is going to be hard enough for the first few weeks, so I need you to stay strong and stop me if I try and do anything stupid.”

“I will. I promise.”