Three Years, Five Months and Eleven Days

Chapter Eleven

     The next day was odd but exciting. Everything was still so fresh and new and the whole dynamic had changed. Right from the start it was a new experience.

     I woke up that morning, aware straight away that Beth was still in the bed, peeling my eyes open and staring at the wall in front of me, the thought struck me that this was unusual, since Beth was always up and about by the time I woke up. Dismissing it as a fluke, I sighed, feeling sad that I wasn’t asleep anymore.

     From behind I felt an arm snake around my waist and pull me in tight to the body behind me. This was even weirder, because not only did it not feel like Beth; Beth also never got quite this cuddly with me. Praying that it was Michael and not some rapist that had broken into the house (unlikely, I know) I rolled over quickly to look at him. However, I was very close to the edge of the bed and I rolled over just a little too quickly and somehow ended up rolling off the bed and landing on the floor with a little scream.

     I saw Michael’s face peering down at me from the bed, red with laughter. ‘What was that?’ he managed to say, still laughing

     ‘You…shocked me.’ I explained.

     ‘Who did you think I was?’ he asked, calming down slightly.

     ‘Well I knew you weren’t Beth,’ I told him. ‘But I thought you might be some rapist or something.’

     ‘You’re so odd Debby,’ he said.

     ‘I prefer to use the term special,’ I corrected, climbing back into the bed. ‘Want to say good morning to me properly this time?’

     ‘It would be my pleasure,’ he said, leaning in and kissing me gently. I still couldn’t believe it had all been real, that it hadn’t just been a dream and I was in fact going out with Michael. The thought still hadn’t sunk in; I didn’t think it ever would. I was going out with Michael.

     We stayed in Beth’s room for a little while longer, talking and laughing and kissing. It was one of those moments where everything is perfect; your whole life feels worth it, just for that beautiful moment.

     When we went out for breakfast I felt a little on show, because we went out in our pyjamas, him leading me by the hand and Dee and Beth were watching us intently. But they didn’t act too different and I was beginning to see that I could get used to it quickly.

     The weather was not great that day, so we decided to go to Haverfordwest, do a bit of shopping, maybe see a film. I kept on saying to Michael that if shopping bored him he should go and see his friends who he was putting off seeing again, but he was adamant that all he wanted was to be with me, which was sweet.

     Haverfordwest was low down on the scale of great places to shop, but it was the best thing that was close to St David’s and we had to resign to it. We wandered around for a few hours, until it started tipping it down with rain, at which point we stood in a shop for a few minutes, debating what to do.

     ‘Well I don’t mind,’ Michael said. ‘Whatever you guys want to do.’

     ‘I’ve spent all my money,’ I shrugged.

     ‘I don’t mind going home then,’ Beth said.

     ‘Cool, so we’re going home,’ Michael concluded, turning to face the glass door of the shop. Beth and I did the same. The rain was incredible. We only saw rain like this once a year or so. It was coming down so fast and in such large quantities that puddles formed as we watched.

     ‘How far away is the car again?’ Beth asked, as we all stared, mesmerised by the downpour.

     ‘About ten minutes walk from here,’ I reminded her.