Always Remember

Probably not.” She closes her eyes.
    “ Then you won’t mind if I join you.” I wink roguishly at her, and she opens her eyes.
    “ I’m sorry, I must have distracted you from your usual shag fest this weekend.” The hardness in her voice is unmistakable - and did I imagine that flinch?
    “ Not at all.” I stand up straight, and move to the door, speaking softer. “I dunno when you’re gonna realise I’m not who I was two years ago, Jen.”
    Her blue eyes meet mine, and there ’s a sadness in them, threatening to swallow her up. I want to hold her again. I don’t do holding, I do sex, but for Jen I’d make an exception.
    Hell, for this girl, I ’d make an exception for anything.
    “ Whatever, Sam. A leopard doesn’t change its spots.”
    “ No, but a bird can always renew its feathers.” I open her door again, and walk through it. “If you need anything, you have my number.”

    ~

JEN

    I’m a bitch.
    It ’s something I’ve been told plenty of times over the years, but I laughed it off ‘cause, really, who gives a shit what people think of you? I don’t. I am who I am – and that’s no-one’s issue but my own.
    Besides, I wouldn ’t say I was a bitch. I’m just brutally honest, and there is a difference.
    So i t’s a thin line, but it’s there.
    But Bing ’s eyes haunt me, and I know I am the biggest bitch today. He looked after me last night, brought me home, and even stayed the night to make sure I was okay today. What do I do? I throw his past back in him.
    Yeah, woo! Give the stupid speak-before-you-think blonde a gold fucking medal for the mantel.
    The worst thing is that I can’t even blame it on my hormones or my hangover. Nope, it’s because I’m jealous of all the girls who’ve been there, and that’s a whole lot of damn jealousy.
    I don ’t even know why I’m jealous. He has that many notches on his bedpost that the bedpost probably doesn’t even exist anymore.
    But I am not one of them, and when he walks in my bedroom with nothing on that f ine ass chest of his I get mad. And waking up with a shirtless Bing is also starting to become a habit – one I could get too easily accustomed to.
    My phone makes an annoying little pingy dingy fuck off sound next to me, and I grab it, if only to shut it up. Lexy’s name appears on the screen.
    Bing says you got drunk last night. Be safe crazy girl. Love you x
    Always safe. Your brother slept over to look after me. He’s going soft. Love you too. x
    He slept over? Are you taming the beast?
    I would love to tame the beast.
    No. Just passing out on him in a taxi.
    Nice.
    I huff out a short, sharp breath , and make the decision to get up. I pad my way into the kitchen with a rumbling stomach, and there’s a DVD case on the side. I frown, picking it up.
    It ’s my favourite movie, Stardust, and beside it is a note telling me to look in the freezer. I pull the freezer door open, and look inside a drawer. Two pizzas and garlic bread.
    It dawns on me like I ’ve just been hit round the head with a skateboard, and I groan loudly, smacking my head on the freezer.
    “ Fuck!” I curse and rub my forehead. “I’m a twat. Such a twat.”
    I crawl across the front room floor , knock my phone off the table, and dial his number.
    “ She’s alive then,” his husky voice answers.
    “ Alive and kicking. Not so much kicking. More head-butting and crawling. But yes. Alive,” I ramble out.
    He chuckles. “Any particular reason you’re calling me?”
    “ Umm.” The open freezer door catches my eye. “Yeah. I just got out bed on a food mission, and noticed the DVD fairy stopped by along with the pizza fairy. I know I can eat like a horse but I’m pretty sure I can’t eat all the pizza and garlic bread by myself so...”
    “ And?”
    And you ’re so fucking difficult all the time.
    “ Are you actually going to make me ask you to come over and eat the food you bought?”
    “ Maybe.” The teasing lilt to his voice tickles me, and I’m momentarily distracted by what it’d feel like if he actually did tick-
    “ Fine. Samuel, would you like to come over to my place for pizza and garlic bread you bought, and to watch a DVD you rented?”
    “ I have to wash my hair,” he dead-pans.
    “ Are you fucking kidding me?” I flinch at the volume of my voice. Oh, my head.
    “ No. That messy ‘I just had sex’ style is hard to maintain.”
    “ Well I’m sorry to break it to you, John Frieda, but it doesn’t look like you’ve