I'm Normally Perfect (re-upload)

Chapter Sixty-Two

She glanced at me then returned her attention to the road, 'Yes.'

'I'm not completely unaware, Alex. I know I'm five years old, but I do live in the world.'

She laughed, 'I know, sweetheart. It's only going to take some time...I don't even know what to call myself.'

'I like "Alex".' She chuckled again and I added, 'I know what you mean. You don't have to call yourself anything yet. No one is asking you to put a big badge on with all your labels.'

She glanced at me again, 'I might have to ask for some ID. You're not twenty-one.'

I laughed, 'I don't care about other people, that's all. I'm very selfish. That's the trick. Think everyone else is a moron and you'll get on just fine.' She laughed and I said, 'What do they know about it? A great big nothing. So...poo on them.'

She nodded resolutely, 'That's right! Sod them all!'

'Yeah! Girl power!'

We both broke down laughing then and sang along to the songs we knew on the radio. I sang along to the songs I didn't know, as well, much to Alex's amusement.

November rolled in and I spent large portions of my days in my study clattering away on my computer. I still loved my typewriter, but used it chiefly for personal things, like my stories about Alex and me. Now that I knew she liked me the way I liked her I had got into writing about us being extra friendly. Nothing had changed in that respect, though. We slept in the same bed—though my clothes still lived in my room—and read beside one another every night, but cuddles and goodbye kisses at the door in the morning was the extent of things in the intimacy department. That was fine with me at first, but as time wore on I was getting rather anxious to move things up a notch. I didn't know how to bring it up, though and felt it was a bit rude to ask and so figured she'd let me know if she wanted to. I thought since we'd known one another for so long perhaps it was as if we'd been married for years and we'd moved straight into the no sex bit of the relationship. Hmmmm. I wasn't crazy about that, but I wouldn't dream of pressuring her. Perhaps it was just taking her a bit of time because she'd always been with men.

I walked into the kitchen one evening to find her preparing spaghetti and when I asked if I could help she said in an Italian accent, 'No, I kin handle eet myself, a-thanka you.'

I laughed, 'Have you been in the cooking sherry?'

'A-no, I havea not. A-tastea these.' She held out a wooden spoon with spaghetti sauce on it and I tasted. I hummed yummily and gave her a squeeze around the middle. I liked my new goofy Alex. She'd been more...buoyant was the only word that came to mind. She was much more likely to be goofy than she had done before. It was wonderful. I wondered if she was that way at work. If so everyone probably thought she was on drugs.

At the dons' meeting in December Cass sought me out and we chatted like old friends again until we were drawn into the general discussion of books. Once my former tutor knew about my relationship she was a completely new person. I felt I'd gained a new friend. By the end of that evening she'd given me her new number and we promised to get together over the break. I rather wanted to ask her if it was normal to not have sex when one first got into a relationship, but thought we weren't quite at that stage. I'd always thought that at the beginning there was loads of naked time, but what did I know? I didn't exactly have heaps of experience that way.

It took ages to figure out what to give Alex for our anniversary. It would be our fifth, which seemed something of a landmark and our first as actually being a couple. I was in a relationship—just like a grown up. When had that happened?

One afternoon while Alex was at school I went into the village to do some Christmas shopping and while I was in Marks and Spencers heard a voice say my name. I turned to find Stewart staring back at me.