Page 57 of Straight to Me

A single drop of sadness makes its escape to my chin. VP isn’t stupid, he walks behind me, placing his hand in mine. “Why’re you crying babe?”

“I’m not.” I take in a big gulp of air wiping the corner of my eye dry. He kisses the back of my head.

“Come here.” Swinging me by the hand, he holds me in his strong arms. I hold him back, tight. “You ready to go on our first official date?”

“A date?” I pull my head back to look at him, keeping my hands locked together behind him.

“Yeah, you know, eat some food, we can talk,” he leans in closer holding a hand on my hip, his lips brushing my ear, “then later you can scream my name when you want me to fuck you harder.” My body clenches as he says it. I just hope Jess can’t hear.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I whisper back.

He smiles, turning towards the front door.

After saying goodbye, we ride for half an hour across the county to Blackpool. With the engine roaring beneath us as I hold onto him, it’s my new favourite place to be.

We park along the seafront, walking hand in hand. Full of revellers enjoying the Friday afternoon, VP takes me for lunch at a place of my choice.

“Thisis your favourite place to eat up here?” he asks, sitting in our own booth in the dingy fish and chip shop along the promenade. He chooses to sit opposite me, his knees gently knocking mine under the table.

“Yeah. You ever been here?”

“No,” he smiles, probably wondering why I love this tiny restaurant so much. “Can’t say I have.”

“Well, this was where my grandparents used to bring us when we were kids. We’d eat after visiting the sea life centre.”

“Want to go round it after we’ve eaten?”

“It’s too expensive,” I say, shaking my head. He grins as I say it.

“What is it, fifty quid to go round? It’s nothing.”

“Fifty pounds is a lot to go looking at bloody fish.”

He laughs again. “I’m serious. I don’t need to spend money to have fun,” I tell him.

“Good to know,” he smiles.

The waiter comes to take our order. “So, what is your idea of fun? Besides me,” VP says before the waiter has even left our table. My cheeks blush as the waiter walks away slightly shaking his head.

“My idea of fun?” I think about weekends spent with Chris. We did nothing together towards the end of our relationship. “Shit, I don’t know?”

“You don’t know?” he asks surprised.

“I can only think about weekends I spent alone whilst Chris was off doing what he wanted, or nights spent out on the town with Bex, which I didn’t really enjoy.”

VP’s face grimaces when I mention Chris’s name. “What about when you and Jess were kids, what did you enjoy doing?”

I smile when he mentions her name. “Listen to you talking about my sister like you’re best pals.”

“She likes seeing you happy,” he says.

“And you know this how?”

“She told me earlier.”

How did she cram in so many topics of conversation? “Any other stories I need to be aware that she told you about in the five minutes you two were left unsupervised?”

“No, none.” He laughs shaking his head, his face glowing from the smile he has. “Come on, what doyoulike to do for fun, think.”

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