Chapter XI
Samantha woke up and immediately felt her forehead pounding. Her eyes slowly opened and she couldn't quite remember where she was. She stared at the floor, and then at the wall, and didn't recognise it. Where was she? She tried to remember what she did last night. Didn't she go to a party with Kevin? She remembered the loud music and seeing a lot of people that she didn't know. Did she drink much? Okay, stupid question! she thought to herself, reaching for her head. Of course I drank loads!
She was suddenly aware that she was cold. And naked. And there was a bare arm draped over her waist. And she could feel a bare leg sandwiched in between her legs. Samantha was horrified. She knew instantly it wasn't Pete because he was a lot hairier than this man. She shifted slightly so she could turn over and see the face of her naked bed companion without waking him. As she turned, she saw the wardrobe by the far wall and recognised it as Stuart's. She was in Stuart's bedroom. Had she slept with Stuart? But Stuart was gay…
She couldn't see the face of her bed companion. A second arm was resting on his eyes and forehead, and the bedcovers reached over his mouth. Her eyes were drawn to a watch on the man's wrist. It was unmistakably a Rolex. She didn't know anyone who could afford a Rolex, let alone own one. No one, at least, except for… Kevin?!
Samantha's eyes shot wide open in horror. Fuck! She had slept with Kevin! She leapt out of bed and ran out of the room into the lounge. Their clothes had been systematically discarded and formed a line from the flat door to the bedroom. Kevin's jacket was right by the flat door next to her bag and keys. Then shoes had come off, then outer clothes, and their underwear reached the entrance of Stuart's bedroom door. Samantha quickly grabbed all her stuff off the floor and threw it into her bedroom. She grabbed her dressing gown and threw it on. She then picked up Kevin's stuff and flung the bundle at him in the bed. Kevin woke with a jolt as all the stuff hit his face and his shoes dug into his stomach.
“Whoa!” he yelled, sitting bolt upright and clutching his stomach. “What the f…?”
He saw Samantha standing there in the doorway, arms folded and looking extremely upset.
“Samantha?” he said, getting out of the bed and wrapping a bed sheet around his middle. ”You okay?”
“Get dressed and get out,” Samantha said, and she slammed the bedroom door shut.
“Samantha?” Kevin called out, wrenching the door open again. “Hey! What?”
“You're honestly asking me that?” Samantha asked, incredulous.
“Yes, I am!” Kevin replied, reaching out for her face. Samantha grabbed his hand and pulled it away.
“We slept together!” she shouted at him. “We freaking slept together, Kevin!”
“I know!” he said, “And it was the best thing that has happened to me!”
“I'm engaged to be married, Kev!”
“But you love me!”
Samantha shook her head. “No I don't,” she said.
Kevin looked genuinely hurt. “Then why did you sleep with me?”
“I'm thinking it wasn't exactly a sober decision (!)”
“Fine,” Kevin said flatly. “I'll dress and leave.”
He closed the bedroom door and Samantha stood there, arms folded, staring at the closed door in disbelief. She couldn't believe what she had done. Was it her fault?
Suddenly keys jangled in the flat door and Stuart walked in.
“Hey Sammy!” he said cheerily. “Happy New Year!”
Samantha looked at Stuart and then looked at his bedroom door. Shit.
“I thought you wouldn't be back until tonight,” Samantha said.
“I've been at the 'rents for two weeks!” Stuart said, pulling his jacket off. “It's enough to drive one crazy!”
“Right…” Samantha replied, trying not to think of what state of undress Kevin was in right now. If she could just lure Stuart into the kitchen and then sneak Kevin out…
“Hey, are you okay?” Stuart asked her. “You look like…”
“I have a massive hangover,” Samantha interrupted him. “Cook me a killer brekkie, hon?”
Stuart looked at her warily. “You want to eat?” he asked. “Breakfast? In the morning?”
“New Year's resolution,” she declared. “Eat healthier!”
“Okay then!” Stuart said. “Just let me dump my gear into my room, yeah?”
“Uhm…” Samantha started, but Stuart had already walked into his bedroom. Stuart then backed out quickly and shut the door again.
“What's Kevin doing here?” he asked her. “And please tell me that he just stayed over because he was too drunk to drive home.”
Samantha didn't move or say anything.
“Oh Jesus fucking Christ Samantha!” Stuart yelled, dumping his bag on the floor and punching his bedroom door open.
“Stuart,” Samantha began to explain, “I didn't realise we were in your room…”
“I warned you not to go out with him, didn't I?” Stuart said to her angrily. “I knew something like this would… Oh, and you!” he said, pointing a finger at Kevin, who was desperately wedging his feet into his shoes and pulling on his jacket at the same time. “You…”
Stuart marched into the room and firmly punched Kevin on the jaw, sending him backwards over the bed.
“Stuart, no!” Samantha shouted, pulling his arm back and dragging him away from Kevin. “Stop it!”
Stuart wrenched his arm from Samantha's grasp and kept his sight on Kevin. Kevin was now easing himself up from the floor and rubbing his jaw frantically.
“What the bloody hell d'ya do that for, hey?” Kevin shouted at Stuart.
“You slept with her!” Stuart yelled back, pointing at Samantha.
“And?” Kevin shouted, moving towards Stuart. “Takes two to sleep together!”
“Look, this is just a big mistake, okay?” Samantha shouted over the top of them.
She moved between them and stretched her arms out to stop them going for each other. Stuart had his fists clenched and was raging with anger. Kevin, on the other hand, looked as if he just wanted to leave, and tried to edge towards the door.
“How could you let this happen, Sam?” Stuart asked her. “How could you do this to Pete?”
“If I remember rightly, this has nothing to do with you!” Kevin said.
“It does when you sleep in my fucking bed!” Stuart said angrily. “And I have every right to know what my flatmate is doing in my bed with her ex when she's supposed to be marrying one of my best mates!”
“I didn't mean…” she started, not knowing how to explain and desperately trying to remember exactly what had happened the night before. “I just felt so alone and Kevin was just saying all the right things and then he kissed me, even though I didn't want to, and then…”
“She fell in love with me all over again!” Kevin smugly finished for her.
“I don't love you,” Samantha said bitterly.
“But…” Kevin said confused. “Samantha, I told you last night that I was sorry and I never meant to…”
“You just took advantage of the fact that I was lonely and that you knew I had some feelings for you still.”
“So you still love me?”
“No,” she said firmly. “And I'm not sure if I even like you any more. You buy me expensive presents, exploit my old feelings for you with a song, get me drunk…”
“You got her fucking drunk?” Stuart accused Kevin.
“Okay, she gets drunk fast…” Kevin started to say in his defence, holding his hands up in surrender.
“You slime ball!” Stuart threw another punch at Kevin, this time hitting his nose and successfully making it bleed. Kevin collapsed to the floor, clutching his nose and screaming in pain.
“You fucking broke my nose!” Kevin yelled at Stuart.
“And you seduced my flatmate despite knowing she was engaged to another man,” Stuart said pointedly. “Now get out of my flat!”
Kevin scrambled to his feet and dashed out of the flat. He slammed the door behind him and they listened to him run down the stairs and start up his car.
Samantha clutched her stomach and felt a wave of sweat creep over her. It was cold and yet she felt increasingly hot.
“Samantha?” Stuart queried. He sounded distorted and the room started to spin. “You are, like, ghost white… Sam?”
Samantha felt her body become heavy and her muscles felt like cotton wool. She slumped to the floor in a faint and completely blacked out.
Samantha opened her eyes and clutched her head.
“Okay, don't try and move, yeah?” she heard Stuart saying.
A damp cloth was being patted on her forehead. She felt incredibly hot and drowsy.
“What happened?” she said groggily.
“Fainted,” Stuart replied nonchalantly.
“Fainted?” Samantha asked.
“That must have been some binge last night.”
“Uhm…” Samantha began to recall pieces of the events last night. “I remember it was a party full of people that Kevin knew.”
“Yeah?” Stuart went into the kitchen, poured a glass of orange juice into a glass, and stirred a teaspoon of sugar in it. “Here, drink this. I'll make some sweet tea and we'll get your sugar levels up and running.”
“I haven't eaten since yesterday lunch,” Samantha admitted. “I should have eaten before the party but I guess I was a bit nervous by it all.”
Stuart started to boil the kettle and reached into the cupboard for a bowl. He poured milk into the bowl and put it inside the microwave. Punching at the keypad, the numbers went up on the display, making electronic noises, and then a humming started as the bowl began to go round the turntable inside. Stuart walked back into the lounge and knelt down next to Samantha, lying across the length of the sofa.
“Porridge,” he said to her.
“Thanks,” she replied.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Stuart asked her gently.
“I can't believe I…” Samantha started, but she couldn't finish her sentence.
“He was bad news all along, Samantha,” Stuart said, caressing her forehead. “He knew that you still liked him, he knew that you were engaged, and he got what he wanted.”
“He got what he wanted,” Samantha echoed, half to herself. “And what did I gain? A sordid past for myself. A broken marriage before its begun.”
“You can't tell Pete!” Stuart exclaimed.
“Isn't that supposed to be my line?” Samantha asked.
“You're gonna tell him?”
“He'll find out sooner or later.”
“No, he doesn't have to find out.”
The microwave beeped three times in succession, signalling the end of the timer. Stuart got up and took the bowl carefully out of the microwave. He then shook porridge mix into the milk and gradually mixed it in so it was thick. He then poured honey on the top in a swirl pattern and brought it to Samantha.
“Lemme help you up,” Stuart said, supporting Samantha's back as she hauled herself into a sitting position. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Samantha said, taking the bowl from him.
She started to eat the porridge and gradually felt herself cool down slightly as her body found something to work on. Stuart went back into the kitchen to make the tea.
“I won't tell him, you know,” Stuart said from the kitchen.
“You don't think I should?” Samantha called back.
“Why? What good would come out of it?”
“It's the truth,” Samantha answered simply. “I don't want to start the marriage on a lie.”
“You're still technically a free agent,” Stuart said, reappearing again with two mugs of tea in his hands. He passed one to Samantha and settled himself next to her on the sofa. “It's not a terrible thing and I'll keep mum from him ever finding out.”
“It is a terrible thing!” Samantha exclaimed. “I cheated on Pete! And not just with anyone! With my ex-boyfriend!”
“And you were drunk and lonely and disappointed because Pete neglected to see you even once for the last two or three months,” Stuart finished for her.
“That's no excuse.”
“Maybe not, but you don't need to go tell all and sundry about it!”
“What if Kevin tells him?”
“He won't. And he doesn't stand to gain anything from it, other than making you unhappy which, if he loves you like he says, he won't do to you. If he loves you, he won't hurt you.”
“But he also knows I'll never go back to him now. What if he just tries to scupper any chance I have of being with someone other than him?”
“Let's just hope he doesn't.”
They sat there in silence for a while, sipping their tea and Samantha finishing her bowl of porridge.
“What do I do with the laptop?” Samantha asked, breaking the silence.
“It arrived?!” Stuart asked. “He wasn't kidding then?”
“Nope.”
“So where is it?”
“In my room.”
Stuart got up and put his head around the door of Samantha's bedroom.
“It's standing up next to the wardrobe,” Samantha called to him.
“Is it in the box though?” Stuart asked, looking back at her.
“I checked several times.”
“So it's a bona fide fifteen hundred pound laptop in there?”
“Yep.”
“And you gonna keep it?”
“I believe I was the one who asked the question of whether I should or not!”
Stuart walked back to the sofa and slumped down into the cushions.
“Didn't you say you didn't want to keep it because you were worried about whether Pete would accept your ex buying you an expensive gift?” Stuart asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” Samantha replied. “And I don't even know where to begin explaining how Kevin bought it for me in the first place.”
“You were asking his opinion on it.”
“And he bought it to try and prove his love for me.”
“Oh. Yeah. That.”
There was another period of silence.
“You gonna send it back?” Stuart finally asked.
“Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to,” Samantha said reluctantly. “I mean, I could really do with it but… It's wrong, right? To accept a gift that you're not meant to have?”
“Well, he gave it to you because he loves you.”
“No, because he was trying to win me over by flashing his cash about.”
“Well, I'm glad that you can see that now! Maybe you'll stop mooning over him and going off to parties and eating out with him…”
“You know I did those things because I wanted to be friends,” Samantha interrupted.
“And now…”
“And now we're both as bad as each other.”
“Sam, I don't think this quite compares to what Kevin did at uni.”
“Of course it does! We both cheated while in a relationship with someone else.”
“Yeah, but Kevin knew what he was doing when he slept with Sheila,” Stuart argued. “And he bloody knew what he was doing last night as well.”
Samantha sighed. “At least it's out of his system,” she said. “And he's completely out of mine now.”
“What do you mean, 'now'?” Stuart asked suspiciously. He then suddenly came to a realisation. “Hey, I was right. You did fancy all that time, didn't you?!”
“Of course I did!” Samantha retorted. “I still loved him the day I broke up with him. And I thought he still maybe harboured some feelings for me too.”
“By getting you drunk and practically forcing you to cheat on Pete?”
“He didn't forcibly get me drunk or force me sleep with him.”
“You saying you wanted to cheat, then?” Stuart asked, his voice raising.
“No!” Samantha retorted back. “I'm just saying that there is a mix of factors. I mean, I haven't seen Pete in ages, the wedding plans are totally stressing me out because of the damn caterers, and well, Kevin played Hoobastank for me and it all somehow in a weird way made sense for me to be with him.”
“Kevin played Hoobastank?” Stuart said. “What's that got to do with anything?”
“Kevin got the party DJ to play The Reason,” Samantha explained. “You know, the one where he sings about how he's wronged his girlfriend and did mean to do it and to prove that he's changed and he's gonna show his other side, or something. The song seemed to fit eerily well in our situation.”
“So,” Stuart said slowly, “you're saying that because Kevin played that Hoobastank song, he is basically saying that he is genuinely sorry he cheated on you?”
“Yeah. And I believed him.”
“Jerk.” Stuart paused. “I was right to punch him, yeah?”
“Not really. Okay, maybe once. Definitely not right to do it twice.”
“I won't do it again if you don't want me to.”
“I somehow don't think he's exactly gonna be coming back and asking for more.”
“You gonna tell Pete?”
“No.”
“Good, glad that's settled. Wanna hit the sales?”
“Sure.”
“Then for goodness sake get dressed woman!” Stuart shouted and play slapped Samantha into getting up from the sofa and escaping from him in her bedroom.
Back to Chapter X
Go to Chapter XII
She was suddenly aware that she was cold. And naked. And there was a bare arm draped over her waist. And she could feel a bare leg sandwiched in between her legs. Samantha was horrified. She knew instantly it wasn't Pete because he was a lot hairier than this man. She shifted slightly so she could turn over and see the face of her naked bed companion without waking him. As she turned, she saw the wardrobe by the far wall and recognised it as Stuart's. She was in Stuart's bedroom. Had she slept with Stuart? But Stuart was gay…
She couldn't see the face of her bed companion. A second arm was resting on his eyes and forehead, and the bedcovers reached over his mouth. Her eyes were drawn to a watch on the man's wrist. It was unmistakably a Rolex. She didn't know anyone who could afford a Rolex, let alone own one. No one, at least, except for… Kevin?!
Samantha's eyes shot wide open in horror. Fuck! She had slept with Kevin! She leapt out of bed and ran out of the room into the lounge. Their clothes had been systematically discarded and formed a line from the flat door to the bedroom. Kevin's jacket was right by the flat door next to her bag and keys. Then shoes had come off, then outer clothes, and their underwear reached the entrance of Stuart's bedroom door. Samantha quickly grabbed all her stuff off the floor and threw it into her bedroom. She grabbed her dressing gown and threw it on. She then picked up Kevin's stuff and flung the bundle at him in the bed. Kevin woke with a jolt as all the stuff hit his face and his shoes dug into his stomach.
“Whoa!” he yelled, sitting bolt upright and clutching his stomach. “What the f…?”
He saw Samantha standing there in the doorway, arms folded and looking extremely upset.
“Samantha?” he said, getting out of the bed and wrapping a bed sheet around his middle. ”You okay?”
“Get dressed and get out,” Samantha said, and she slammed the bedroom door shut.
“Samantha?” Kevin called out, wrenching the door open again. “Hey! What?”
“You're honestly asking me that?” Samantha asked, incredulous.
“Yes, I am!” Kevin replied, reaching out for her face. Samantha grabbed his hand and pulled it away.
“We slept together!” she shouted at him. “We freaking slept together, Kevin!”
“I know!” he said, “And it was the best thing that has happened to me!”
“I'm engaged to be married, Kev!”
“But you love me!”
Samantha shook her head. “No I don't,” she said.
Kevin looked genuinely hurt. “Then why did you sleep with me?”
“I'm thinking it wasn't exactly a sober decision (!)”
“Fine,” Kevin said flatly. “I'll dress and leave.”
He closed the bedroom door and Samantha stood there, arms folded, staring at the closed door in disbelief. She couldn't believe what she had done. Was it her fault?
Suddenly keys jangled in the flat door and Stuart walked in.
“Hey Sammy!” he said cheerily. “Happy New Year!”
Samantha looked at Stuart and then looked at his bedroom door. Shit.
“I thought you wouldn't be back until tonight,” Samantha said.
“I've been at the 'rents for two weeks!” Stuart said, pulling his jacket off. “It's enough to drive one crazy!”
“Right…” Samantha replied, trying not to think of what state of undress Kevin was in right now. If she could just lure Stuart into the kitchen and then sneak Kevin out…
“Hey, are you okay?” Stuart asked her. “You look like…”
“I have a massive hangover,” Samantha interrupted him. “Cook me a killer brekkie, hon?”
Stuart looked at her warily. “You want to eat?” he asked. “Breakfast? In the morning?”
“New Year's resolution,” she declared. “Eat healthier!”
“Okay then!” Stuart said. “Just let me dump my gear into my room, yeah?”
“Uhm…” Samantha started, but Stuart had already walked into his bedroom. Stuart then backed out quickly and shut the door again.
“What's Kevin doing here?” he asked her. “And please tell me that he just stayed over because he was too drunk to drive home.”
Samantha didn't move or say anything.
“Oh Jesus fucking Christ Samantha!” Stuart yelled, dumping his bag on the floor and punching his bedroom door open.
“Stuart,” Samantha began to explain, “I didn't realise we were in your room…”
“I warned you not to go out with him, didn't I?” Stuart said to her angrily. “I knew something like this would… Oh, and you!” he said, pointing a finger at Kevin, who was desperately wedging his feet into his shoes and pulling on his jacket at the same time. “You…”
Stuart marched into the room and firmly punched Kevin on the jaw, sending him backwards over the bed.
“Stuart, no!” Samantha shouted, pulling his arm back and dragging him away from Kevin. “Stop it!”
Stuart wrenched his arm from Samantha's grasp and kept his sight on Kevin. Kevin was now easing himself up from the floor and rubbing his jaw frantically.
“What the bloody hell d'ya do that for, hey?” Kevin shouted at Stuart.
“You slept with her!” Stuart yelled back, pointing at Samantha.
“And?” Kevin shouted, moving towards Stuart. “Takes two to sleep together!”
“Look, this is just a big mistake, okay?” Samantha shouted over the top of them.
She moved between them and stretched her arms out to stop them going for each other. Stuart had his fists clenched and was raging with anger. Kevin, on the other hand, looked as if he just wanted to leave, and tried to edge towards the door.
“How could you let this happen, Sam?” Stuart asked her. “How could you do this to Pete?”
“If I remember rightly, this has nothing to do with you!” Kevin said.
“It does when you sleep in my fucking bed!” Stuart said angrily. “And I have every right to know what my flatmate is doing in my bed with her ex when she's supposed to be marrying one of my best mates!”
“I didn't mean…” she started, not knowing how to explain and desperately trying to remember exactly what had happened the night before. “I just felt so alone and Kevin was just saying all the right things and then he kissed me, even though I didn't want to, and then…”
“She fell in love with me all over again!” Kevin smugly finished for her.
“I don't love you,” Samantha said bitterly.
“But…” Kevin said confused. “Samantha, I told you last night that I was sorry and I never meant to…”
“You just took advantage of the fact that I was lonely and that you knew I had some feelings for you still.”
“So you still love me?”
“No,” she said firmly. “And I'm not sure if I even like you any more. You buy me expensive presents, exploit my old feelings for you with a song, get me drunk…”
“You got her fucking drunk?” Stuart accused Kevin.
“Okay, she gets drunk fast…” Kevin started to say in his defence, holding his hands up in surrender.
“You slime ball!” Stuart threw another punch at Kevin, this time hitting his nose and successfully making it bleed. Kevin collapsed to the floor, clutching his nose and screaming in pain.
“You fucking broke my nose!” Kevin yelled at Stuart.
“And you seduced my flatmate despite knowing she was engaged to another man,” Stuart said pointedly. “Now get out of my flat!”
Kevin scrambled to his feet and dashed out of the flat. He slammed the door behind him and they listened to him run down the stairs and start up his car.
Samantha clutched her stomach and felt a wave of sweat creep over her. It was cold and yet she felt increasingly hot.
“Samantha?” Stuart queried. He sounded distorted and the room started to spin. “You are, like, ghost white… Sam?”
Samantha felt her body become heavy and her muscles felt like cotton wool. She slumped to the floor in a faint and completely blacked out.
Samantha opened her eyes and clutched her head.
“Okay, don't try and move, yeah?” she heard Stuart saying.
A damp cloth was being patted on her forehead. She felt incredibly hot and drowsy.
“What happened?” she said groggily.
“Fainted,” Stuart replied nonchalantly.
“Fainted?” Samantha asked.
“That must have been some binge last night.”
“Uhm…” Samantha began to recall pieces of the events last night. “I remember it was a party full of people that Kevin knew.”
“Yeah?” Stuart went into the kitchen, poured a glass of orange juice into a glass, and stirred a teaspoon of sugar in it. “Here, drink this. I'll make some sweet tea and we'll get your sugar levels up and running.”
“I haven't eaten since yesterday lunch,” Samantha admitted. “I should have eaten before the party but I guess I was a bit nervous by it all.”
Stuart started to boil the kettle and reached into the cupboard for a bowl. He poured milk into the bowl and put it inside the microwave. Punching at the keypad, the numbers went up on the display, making electronic noises, and then a humming started as the bowl began to go round the turntable inside. Stuart walked back into the lounge and knelt down next to Samantha, lying across the length of the sofa.
“Porridge,” he said to her.
“Thanks,” she replied.
“What am I gonna do with you?” Stuart asked her gently.
“I can't believe I…” Samantha started, but she couldn't finish her sentence.
“He was bad news all along, Samantha,” Stuart said, caressing her forehead. “He knew that you still liked him, he knew that you were engaged, and he got what he wanted.”
“He got what he wanted,” Samantha echoed, half to herself. “And what did I gain? A sordid past for myself. A broken marriage before its begun.”
“You can't tell Pete!” Stuart exclaimed.
“Isn't that supposed to be my line?” Samantha asked.
“You're gonna tell him?”
“He'll find out sooner or later.”
“No, he doesn't have to find out.”
The microwave beeped three times in succession, signalling the end of the timer. Stuart got up and took the bowl carefully out of the microwave. He then shook porridge mix into the milk and gradually mixed it in so it was thick. He then poured honey on the top in a swirl pattern and brought it to Samantha.
“Lemme help you up,” Stuart said, supporting Samantha's back as she hauled herself into a sitting position. “Here.”
“Thanks,” Samantha said, taking the bowl from him.
She started to eat the porridge and gradually felt herself cool down slightly as her body found something to work on. Stuart went back into the kitchen to make the tea.
“I won't tell him, you know,” Stuart said from the kitchen.
“You don't think I should?” Samantha called back.
“Why? What good would come out of it?”
“It's the truth,” Samantha answered simply. “I don't want to start the marriage on a lie.”
“You're still technically a free agent,” Stuart said, reappearing again with two mugs of tea in his hands. He passed one to Samantha and settled himself next to her on the sofa. “It's not a terrible thing and I'll keep mum from him ever finding out.”
“It is a terrible thing!” Samantha exclaimed. “I cheated on Pete! And not just with anyone! With my ex-boyfriend!”
“And you were drunk and lonely and disappointed because Pete neglected to see you even once for the last two or three months,” Stuart finished for her.
“That's no excuse.”
“Maybe not, but you don't need to go tell all and sundry about it!”
“What if Kevin tells him?”
“He won't. And he doesn't stand to gain anything from it, other than making you unhappy which, if he loves you like he says, he won't do to you. If he loves you, he won't hurt you.”
“But he also knows I'll never go back to him now. What if he just tries to scupper any chance I have of being with someone other than him?”
“Let's just hope he doesn't.”
They sat there in silence for a while, sipping their tea and Samantha finishing her bowl of porridge.
“What do I do with the laptop?” Samantha asked, breaking the silence.
“It arrived?!” Stuart asked. “He wasn't kidding then?”
“Nope.”
“So where is it?”
“In my room.”
Stuart got up and put his head around the door of Samantha's bedroom.
“It's standing up next to the wardrobe,” Samantha called to him.
“Is it in the box though?” Stuart asked, looking back at her.
“I checked several times.”
“So it's a bona fide fifteen hundred pound laptop in there?”
“Yep.”
“And you gonna keep it?”
“I believe I was the one who asked the question of whether I should or not!”
Stuart walked back to the sofa and slumped down into the cushions.
“Didn't you say you didn't want to keep it because you were worried about whether Pete would accept your ex buying you an expensive gift?” Stuart asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” Samantha replied. “And I don't even know where to begin explaining how Kevin bought it for me in the first place.”
“You were asking his opinion on it.”
“And he bought it to try and prove his love for me.”
“Oh. Yeah. That.”
There was another period of silence.
“You gonna send it back?” Stuart finally asked.
“Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to,” Samantha said reluctantly. “I mean, I could really do with it but… It's wrong, right? To accept a gift that you're not meant to have?”
“Well, he gave it to you because he loves you.”
“No, because he was trying to win me over by flashing his cash about.”
“Well, I'm glad that you can see that now! Maybe you'll stop mooning over him and going off to parties and eating out with him…”
“You know I did those things because I wanted to be friends,” Samantha interrupted.
“And now…”
“And now we're both as bad as each other.”
“Sam, I don't think this quite compares to what Kevin did at uni.”
“Of course it does! We both cheated while in a relationship with someone else.”
“Yeah, but Kevin knew what he was doing when he slept with Sheila,” Stuart argued. “And he bloody knew what he was doing last night as well.”
Samantha sighed. “At least it's out of his system,” she said. “And he's completely out of mine now.”
“What do you mean, 'now'?” Stuart asked suspiciously. He then suddenly came to a realisation. “Hey, I was right. You did fancy all that time, didn't you?!”
“Of course I did!” Samantha retorted. “I still loved him the day I broke up with him. And I thought he still maybe harboured some feelings for me too.”
“By getting you drunk and practically forcing you to cheat on Pete?”
“He didn't forcibly get me drunk or force me sleep with him.”
“You saying you wanted to cheat, then?” Stuart asked, his voice raising.
“No!” Samantha retorted back. “I'm just saying that there is a mix of factors. I mean, I haven't seen Pete in ages, the wedding plans are totally stressing me out because of the damn caterers, and well, Kevin played Hoobastank for me and it all somehow in a weird way made sense for me to be with him.”
“Kevin played Hoobastank?” Stuart said. “What's that got to do with anything?”
“Kevin got the party DJ to play The Reason,” Samantha explained. “You know, the one where he sings about how he's wronged his girlfriend and did mean to do it and to prove that he's changed and he's gonna show his other side, or something. The song seemed to fit eerily well in our situation.”
“So,” Stuart said slowly, “you're saying that because Kevin played that Hoobastank song, he is basically saying that he is genuinely sorry he cheated on you?”
“Yeah. And I believed him.”
“Jerk.” Stuart paused. “I was right to punch him, yeah?”
“Not really. Okay, maybe once. Definitely not right to do it twice.”
“I won't do it again if you don't want me to.”
“I somehow don't think he's exactly gonna be coming back and asking for more.”
“You gonna tell Pete?”
“No.”
“Good, glad that's settled. Wanna hit the sales?”
“Sure.”
“Then for goodness sake get dressed woman!” Stuart shouted and play slapped Samantha into getting up from the sofa and escaping from him in her bedroom.
Back to Chapter X
Go to Chapter XII
© 2004 Clare Benton
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