Virgin(42)

“So, last night was really fun,” he said. “I’d better go because it’s going to take me a while getting home from yours. Shall we do something next weekend, though?”

I smiled up at him. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

He got up and pulled his clothes on from the discarded pile on the floor. I lay in bed, too self-conscious in the sharp daylight to be able to get out and find my clothes. He dressed himself quickly and then came back to me. He leaned down and kissed me briefly on the lips.

“’Bye,” he said with a smile, and walked out my door.

I sank back onto my bed and smiled cautiously. This was kind of fun. For the first time ever, I’d had a guy back to my place and we had, I don’t know—“fooled around,” as Americans say.

Now we had plans for next weekend, and he had kissed me goodbye while I lay in bed. It was almost like having a proper boyfriend. The next step now would be going back to his place. Then I might even get to do a walk of shame.





 “Elena!” screeched my mum as I crept into the house, hoping no one would see me. “Where have you been? You left yesterday morning and you’ve been gone twenty-four hours, without any contact. I’ve been sick with worry.”

“Mum, I told you I was going out and it would be late so I would stay in Camden,” I replied wearily, dumping my oversized leather tote on the floor.

“You said maybe. I expected a message to let me know, but you couldn’t even text me? I just don’t know what to do with you. You treat our home like a hotel, and you just walk in and out when you please, like some kind of a lodger. You make me feel like your servant.”

“Jailer, more like,” I muttered under my breath.

“Huh? And now you’re whispering insults? What is wrong with you?” she wailed. “How can I have raised a girl like you?”

I assumed her questions were rhetorical, so I kicked off my trainers and started climbing up the stairs to my room.

“ELENA. Get back down here!” she shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

“Mum, I don’t know what the problem is. For the past week you’ve been moaning at me to get my act together and leave the house, but once I finally do, you’re furious that I’m socializing too much. Can you just choose what you want me to do and make your mind up, please?” I responded rationally from halfway up the staircase.

“Why can’t you do anything in moderation? Your aunts never have these problems with your cousins. I just don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

“You don’t have to do anything with me,” I said in exasperation. “Besides, of course I’m not like my cousins. They live in Greece! We were raised totally differently. You’re the one who decided to move here.”

“Because your father and I wanted a better life for you. But then you go and act like this and throw away all the opportunities we’ve given you.”

I turned and rudely carried on up the stairs. I slammed the door of my room and collapsed onto the bed. I irrationally hated her. It didn’t help that both of us had essentially been living alone for the past three years and were not used to sharing the same space. I knew I shouldn’t have walked away like that, but there was something about being back home that turned me into a moody teenager every time I walked through the door.

We had got on better when I was younger. When she and Dad weren’t fighting, she’d try to make my life as normal as everyone else’s and take me on playdates with the other mums and kids. I’d assumed our relationship would get even better the second she and Dad divorced, but it hadn’t happened. The stepdad and older stepbrother I’d always dreamed of never materialized.

Instead, my mum just became stressed, overprotective and anxious. It was still better than life with my dad, though. He’d been a shit dad and an even worse husband. His angry moods were frequent and violent. He seemed better now and had a new girlfriend who he lived with, but I didn’t really want to have anything to do with him.

I put on my staple Fuck You, World playlist and let the angry pop-rock take me back to my teen years. Thank God they were behind me. Now I was well on my way to being a normal person and a real adult—well, aside from when I was in my mother’s company. I got my phone out and reread the text that Jack had sent me that morning after leaving my flat.


Last night was great. Let’s do it again sometime. Jack x

He had even put a kiss at the end, even though he hadn’t on any of his earlier messages. I smiled as I read it and clutched my phone to my chest. I knew the message by heart, as I had reread it the entire journey home. I still hadn’t replied, though, because it didn’t really seem like a text-back text and there were no questions. Also, I didn’t want to look needy. For all he knew, I could be on another date right now and was way too busy to answer.