A Suitable Companion

Chapter 4: An evening to forget

In the evening I bike over to the pub where I'm to meet Smurf, Katie, Sammy and maybe some other friends. Smurf and I have decided to meet a bit earlier than the rest to grab something to eat and hang out just the two of us for a while.

As Smurf is not originally from Bath, he rents a room in a house which he shares with other students. They are five guys living in that house, sharing the bathroom and kitchen and I avoid going there if I can because it is not very clean. I mean, the Dawes house is messy, but five grown up men living together can apparently be completely incompetent when it comes to cleaning away dust bunnies from the floor, removing cooking spill and dirty dishes in the kitchen leaving it overall sticky, or rinsing the bathroom basin clean from stubble and spitted tooth paste - so I prefer not to touch any surfaces in their common areas. Smurf's room is quite okay though and I sleep there a few times a week but sneak home for breakfast and shower. I would rather die of starvation than eat anything cooked in that kitchen. He for his part thinks my home is already too crowded by my family and he has a point there. This means that whenever we want to do something more social, like hanging out with friends or have a meal, we do it in our friends' homes or out, in pubs and cafés. This is the main reason we have our meal in the pub tonight, not that he wants to invite me to dinner. As Smurf is on a student budget I know he expects me to pay for myself. Maybe I would have either way because I have never really understood why the guy should pay, but I must admit that it would be nice if he offered to sometimes, just as a romantic gesture so I could choose to say no or yes. But I guess we are just one of those modern equal couples. Do not get me wrong, I very much like to know I can take care of myself, but every now and then it would be nice to feel that he wants to take care of me. Maybe that is just a stupid outdated girlish thought that belongs in the sixties.

I'm in a good mood after the day with Katie, mum and Bella, and Smurf seems to be too as he greets me with a brief kiss. We find ourselves a booth to sit in and order some burgers, crisps and beer. I would love to tell him about everything that has happened since yesterday, but he immediately gets started talking about his day. He is really excited about the accounting lecture he had today, apparently by a famous guest lecturer and I nod along as he tells me every detail even though accounting is hardly a passion of mine. Sometimes I find it hard to be excited about the same things as him. He is a person who likes to dig into the details of matters, especially debit, credit, revenue and other (boring) accounting stuff. And well, that is not me. I probably ruled out accountant as a possibly future job at the same time as I did nurse.

After half an hour of reiterating the lecture as detailed as one possibly could without completely duplicating it, and me patiently practicing the art of being an active listener, he finds it fitting to ask how my day was. In all his excitement he has already downed two pints meanwhile I only have sipped half of my first and I hope it will not be one of those evenings, but so far so good.

I finally tell him about that I quit the café and was offered a new job. For some reason I change the story slightly when I tell it to him, I'm not sure why. I do not tell him how challenging Mr. James seems to be and I do not tell him that he could be really handsome if he was not such a prick and maybe gained a little weight. In fact, I think I manage to give Smurf the impression that Mr. James is elderly and I do nothing to correct it.

"That's great baby. I never liked the way the Louie-guy looked at you."

We have left the table to stand by the bar as he wants another beer, and when he says it he grabs my arse a bit too hard. I do not appreciate it much, both because it feels rough rather than loving and because we are in public, so I shake his hand off.

"Don't be such a bore Molly."

"I just don't like it when you touch me like that in front of others."