I'm Normally Perfect (re-upload)

Chapter Twenty-Two

He made a sweeping gesture toward the bag, 'After you milady.' And, after placing my drink on the floor, I lay down. He lay down so the crowns of our heads were nearly touching, and asked, 'Is this acceptable?'

There was no way he could touch me without warning and I thought it rather ingenious of him. I wondered if he'd tried it with some other girl, but I said, 'Yeah, it's fine.'

We lay there, looking up at the cloud-strewn sky and listening to the boom-boom of the stereo for a bit before he commented, 'Hard to believe there are loads of people downstairs, eh?'

'Yeah. It's kind of nice up here.'

'Yeah. Peaceful like.' We were quiet for a bit then he asked, 'So how's your year going?'

'Fine. Yours?'

'Fine, fine. Still don't know what I want to do with my life.'

'Tell me about it. I can't believe they expect you to know something like that now. I barely know what I want to do tomorrow, let alone for the rest of my life.'

'Right on. "The rest of my life" sounds like such a long time. Like eternity.'

'It's all the time you'll ever know about, so it is your own personal eternity. In a way. I guess.' When I said it out loud it sounded stupid.

'That makes sense.' Another pause before, 'How's it been living with the professor?'

I nodded, not that he could see me, 'Great, actually. I didn't know I could get on so well with someone with so little effort. We just fit together. Have you ever met anyone like that?'

'Um, not really...It's good you get on, though,' He didn't sound overjoyed for me.

'Yeah, it's weird. Living with her has really made me rethink my position on marriage.'

He sounded shocked, 'How so?'

'I used to believe that I shouldn't ever be married because I couldn't imagine a person I could see every single day without wanting to do them in after about a week, but now...I see Alex all the time and I never get tired of her. I keep expecting us to run out of things to talk about, but it doesn't happen. It's amazing, actually.' I realised I was smiling and was glad Robert couldn't see my expression. It was nice talking about her, though. Since we couldn't be together it was the next best thing.

'So, what's she doing tonight?'

'She had a date.'

He laughed, 'Get out of the room.'

'What?'

'She's old.'

'She is not! She's lovely.'

'Whatever you say. She doesn't call him her "boyfriend" does she? It sounds so stupid when people of a certain age use words like that.'

'No, she doesn't. They're just...' There was no way I was going to tell him the primary nature of their relationship. 'They used to date a while back and have recently got back in touch with one another, that's all.'

'Rightio.' He heaved a sigh.

'Are you bored?' I hoped he didn't want to go back downstairs, as I was happy lying there.

'No, knackered. It's hard work getting a house ready for a party.'

'Yeah, must've been a real pain in the ass to haul in seventy-five litres of beer.'

He chuckled, 'Shut up. The cleaning is what I meant, you don't know what a house looks like that only has men living in it.'

'Good. Now you'll have sympathy for any future girlfriends you have.'