calculations meant she’d had months off sick. She’d had depression and it’d taken a while to get back on her feet, but obviously her girlfriends hadn’t forgotten her just because she wasn’t at work either. That said something about both her and them. That they were a nice bunch of people.
‘And what do you teach?’ I said to the nearest of Melanie’s companions. It wasn’t something I was particularly interested in knowing, but I knew it’d set the ball rolling. Though, even as I was saying it, I was very aware that it was also a fucking bland and unimaginative question to ask a teacher.
At least she had the decency to reply. She pointed at each one of her friends in turn, ending with herself. ‘Art, maths, English, English.’ Alison paused: ‘Like you really want to know,’ she joked.
She had me sussed. I liked that.
‘The same way you’re interested in what I do for a living,’ I fired back.
I noticed Melanie taking a sip of her drink like she was trying to disappear in the glass. It seemed like she was willing me to keep her secret. She hadn’t realized that she had nothing to worry about on that score.
‘So, what do you do?’ Alison quizzed, now curious.
‘Oh, y’know, this and that.’ I winked. ‘What most Aussies do when they visit Britain, y’know.’
It was a shame Mark and the others weren’t with me now. They sure would’ve backed me up on that one. I watched Melanie relax, clearly relieved that I hadn’t given any hint of her game.
I had a split-second realization that if I played my cards right I might have a chance of pulling Alison—but not as a client.
I could be in here.
Yet I remained mindful that I had an arrangement with Melanie and I had to be careful not to mix things up. For one thing, it might lose me work. And, frankly, that was the bottom line.
I had been seeing Melanie on a fortnightly, sometimes even a weekly basis for months now at her place in Hendon, round the corner from the police cadet school. Any early awkwardness on her part had been replaced with bouts of friendly, familiar sex that was fluid and fun. I liked having Melanie as a regular because our sessions were uncomplicated—easy money.
Trouble was, I couldn’t help now wondering what sex with Alison might be like. Not that I was about to signpost that. I noted she was watching me closely. She took a step away from Melanie and the others to join me. She was on the same wavelength, then.
‘Well, who’s for another drink? Would you like to help me carry them, Alison?’ The oldest, most obvious techniques sometimes worked the best.
I took the orders over the sound of the thumping bass. There was laughter from our group.
‘Don’t Aussies tend to hunt in packs?’ asked Alison at my shoulder as we queued at the bar.
I looked down at her and nodded, smiling. ‘True. I did until recently, you know, but my mates went home again.’
‘And left you alone in a nest of English girls, you poor soul!’
I shrugged playfully. ‘Depends which way you look at it.’
‘You’re not missing your mates, then?’
I had to admit I was. They’d have enjoyed tonight’s spectacle, I just knew. Finding themselves surrounded by a bevy of up-for-it girls.
‘Actually, I am,’ I said.
I thought of all the good times I’d had in London with those guys, practically from the time I’d touched down here. They’d been as good for me as I suspected that Melanie’s friends had for her. A gang to catch up with and go out with.
‘That must make a huge difference to you, doesn’t it?’ she sympathized. ‘All on your tod in London.’
‘I’m a pretty sociable kinda guy, I can assure you,’ I winked, though I knew there was some truth in what she was saying.
‘Oh, I’m sure you are, Luke,’ she agreed, placing the palm of her hand against my chest.
I flicked a glance back at our friends. Melanie thankfully had her back to us and seemed to be in deep conversation with Jayne, so I reckoned I had until Alison and I returned with the drinks to make any move I was going to make that night.
I felt the pressure of Alison’s hand and looked directly back at her with a grin across my face. She’d seen me look at Melanie and cocked her head.
‘Is there a thing between you and Melanie that I don’t know about?’ she queried, and let go of me.
‘What, me and Mel? I don’t think so,’ I lied. ‘And, if there was, we’re each going the wrong way about it, aren’t we?’ I chuckled.
I looked towards the bar. Our turn was rapidly approaching so I knew I didn’t have long.
Apart from our greeting, Melanie and I had barely spoken a word to each other. I could see she wasn’t up to giving any hint tonight to her friends that we knew each other too intimately, so she overcompensated for that fear by acting distant, making a point of talking to the girls. But I was suddenly aware too that it wasn’t as if I’d done anything to try to close that forced gap between us. I wondered if it was that reserve between people who were supposed to be friends that Alison had noticed.
‘Oh, we’re friends,’—that word again—‘but that’s as far as it goes. Look, she’s got more to say to my flatmates tonight than to me!’ I laughed and nodded my head in their direction.
Alison pursed her lips. ‘But you and Melanie are good friends. Anyone could see that the way you two said “hello”.’
I winced inside as I stepped up against the bar and ordered the list of drinks. Alison was getting too close to the mark for comfort.
‘Well, y’know, she’s been ill and I’ve made it a bit of my business to try and cheer her up. That’s made us close.’
Hadn’t it just.
I placed my hand on Alison’s wrist, and repeated myself, ‘But that’s as far as it goes.’
Hearing this, Alison smiled slightly to herself.
‘Alison, I tell you what. I bet I can prove how much me and Melanie are just good friends,’ I challenged as the barman poured out our drinks.
Alison licked her lips, then turned her face directly to me. She had pretty features, which were given strength by the assertiveness in her eyes.‘Oh, I’m always open to a gamble. And how might you do that?’
‘Pass me your mobile,’ I said to her as I paid for the drinks.
Alison did so, raising an eyebrow. She duly picked up three of the glasses and watched as I tapped my number into her contacts page. I slipped the phone into her shoulder bag.
‘Call me,’ I mouthed to her. She nodded silently, turned, and made her way through the crowd back to her friends.
I picked up the remaining glasses, and followed her back across the room.
I was sitting at a small table with my eye on the door of the bar, waiting for Alison to arrive. I’d only been here around five minutes and we’d arranged to meet at eight p.m. so she still had another quarter of an hour. I didn’t mind that she wasn’t here yet. It gave me time to collect my thoughts and wonder about what I was doing with her.
And then Alison herself came sweeping through the door and strode straight towards me.
‘Luke!’ she exclaimed.
I rose to greet her as she gave me a warm hug.
There wasn’t an awful lot of romance in that,but then again maybe that was fitting, seeing as we didn’t know each other very well yet. We’d been