Peer Pressure

by Chris Watt

  Then her mobile phone buzzed, Jodie stopped, turned and walked over to her bedside table to retrieve her phone and clicked to open her text.

  It was from Laura and read:

  ‘ SLEPT WITH ‘S’ LAST NIGHT. LET’S MEET UP?’

  Jodie couldn’t help but look across to Sean’s room, as if somehow he would be able to comment on the message she had just received, but he was gone.

  Jodie thought about replying, but in the end, she just threw her phone down on the bed.

  She would reply later, but coffee and breakfast were her priorities right now, as she slipped her dressing gown over her shoulders and walked out of her room into the hallway. It was once in the hallway, that Jodie became aware of something strange. It wasn’t anything specific, certainly not anything she could put her finger on, it was just an atmosphere, a feeling.

  For a start, it was unusually quiet. Jodie walked slowly down the hallway, her head cocked to one side, listening for any sign of life. There was none. Then she reached her mother’s room. The door was slightly ajar, so Jodie slowly pushed it open to reveal her mother’s bed. Nothing unusual here either, really, except that it was already made and she didn’t usually do that until about lunchtime. Confused, Jodie closed the door and headed downstairs.

  There was no TV on in the living room, usually, on any given Saturday morning her mother would be lounging on the couch half way through her second cup of coffee watching BBC News 24. But not this morning.

  Jodie headed to the kitchen, where once again, everything felt different. The extractor fan wasn’t on, there was no smell of burnt toast and the kettle wasn’t boiling. She leaned against the counter for a moment, trying to figure out why everything was a little off. She grabbed a glass and went to the tap for some water.

  Somewhere between the glass being half full it finally twigged. She turned the tap off, suddenly nauseous, suddenly sweating, suddenly panicked. In an attempt to escape these feelings and indeed, the truth of the situation that was slowly dawning on her, she made for the back door and stepped out into her garden.

  She breathed in and out, trying to focus. In her head, she did the math:

  ‘ Empty house x Friday night date = SHIT!’

  “Good morning.”

  The voice snapped Jodie out of it and she turned to her left to see Sean standing on the back step of his house next door, drinking an orange juice. He only had to look at her face to see that something was up.

  “Bad night or something?”

  Jodie didn’t know what to say, offering up a paltry,

  “I guess you could say that,” before stepping back into the kitchen, “see you,” and closing the door.

  Sean shook his head.

  “Okay, that wasn’t weird at all”, he thought out loud and went back to his orange juice.

  Jodie put down her glass and stood alone in her kitchen. The silence was freaking her out now, so she switched on the kettle to cut through the air, even to block out the thoughts flying through her head at that moment.

  Thoughts and images that no girl wanted to have about her mother, certainly not with the man she was in love with. Then, before the kettle got too loud to drown out all other noise in the house, Jodie faintly heard her phone beep again, from upstairs.

  As she walked through the hallway and started up the stairs, she knew two things. One: the message could be from Laura, who was impatient and wondering why she hadn’t replied to her last message. And two: that she was kidding herself about number one. She knew who the message was from before she even got to her room or picked up the phone to read it.

  ‘ Didn’t want to wake you. Stayed over and will see you later this morning. Hope you had a good night. Love you. Be good. Mum xx.’

  Jodie discarded her phone to the floor and instinctively got back into bed, pulling the duvet up over her head and rolling herself into what medics would probably recognize as the recovery position.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Katy woke the next morning feeling, if not quite a new woman, at least on the way to being the woman she once was. Rob lay to her right, one arm draped around his pillow, which he had turned on its side, his bare back exposed thanks to a discarded duvet in the middle of the night, most of which Katy had wrapped around herself. He was sound asleep; completely oblivious to the fact he was being watched.

  Katy smiled to herself and tried to place at what point she had decided this was exactly what she had wanted. Granted the night hadn’t been perfect; the dinner plans hadn’t exactly run smoothly, while the weather had also played a part in cutting short she was sure had the potential to be a romantic walk.

  Having said that, it was the sudden change of restaurant that had caused them to find alternative arrangements at an eatery closer to Rob’s flat. If Katy were the sort of person who believed in such things, she would have called it fate.

  She wasn’t.

  Katy leaned to her left, careful not to disturb the bed too much. She didn’t want to wake Rob. She wanted some time to herself, to collect her thoughts. She grabbed for her mobile, which she had discarded in the throes of passion on the bedside table. She checked for messages, before sending a quick text to her daughter. She knew Jodie would probably already be up and given that she hadn’t received any concerned messages yet, she took it as a sign that her daughter knew exactly where she was and, probably, what she had been up to.

  Katy didn’t quite know how to feel about that, either. Jodie had never voiced any concern, in the past, about her partners or boyfriends. It was probably a blessing that she didn’t make an issue of it. However, she couldn’t help but feel a sense that perhaps this one would be trickier. Would Rob be the type to hold a grudge if things go wrong and make her daughter suffer for it?

  She suddenly felt a little nauseous and slowly sat up in the bed. She looked to Rob to see if he had stirred at all, but he remained asleep. Then she pulled the duvet back and stood up, the oversized ‘ T-In-the-Park’ t-shirt that he had given her to sleep in, draping down to around her knees. She stood still for a moment, not sure what to do, before spying the chair by Rob’s window and quietly stepping over to it, praying Rob didn’t have creaky floorboards. She sat down, pulling her legs up to her chest in an almost childlike way and stared at Rob. It was quiet, allowing Katy a grace period in which to collect her thoughts on the last few hours of her life. However, she could get no resolution from such thinking as, about thirty seconds later, Rob stirred and sat up, sensing he was being watched. He leaned his head against the headboard, and rubbed his eyes, trying to get focus on Katy, who remained still, in the chair by the window, still watching him.

  Rob, yawned, before giving Katy a smile and a,

  “Good morning.”

  Katy attempted a smile, but it felt half-hearted on her part. There was no disguising this.

  She was freaking out.

  “Morning,” she replied. Rob noticed the air of tension immediately and took a moment to gather himself.

  “Are you okay?”

  Katy said nothing.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked again. Katy finally decided that honesty was the only option available and, given that they had just slept together, felt comfortable enough to address the white elephant in the room.

  “I’m worried.”

  “Okay. Worried about what?”

  Katy’s tone was suddenly, un-characteristically, firm.

  “About this whole situation. About this morning. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea here.”

  “Are you mad at me?” he asked. Katy paused for a moment, not sure of the right answer.

  “No,” the she hesitated, before saying, “I don’t know.”

  “Because it feels like you’re mad at me.”

  Katy leaned forward and raised her hands in confusion, and asked:

  “What happens now?”

  He knew immediately what she meant and any hostile tone in her voice, he knew, was merely a defense mechanism. She was in fact, not mad, but scar
ed.

  “Well, I was going to get up and make you breakfast, maybe take a shower.”

  “I mean with you and me?”

  “You and I,” he corrected, although he instantly regretted it. Katy raised her eyebrows, thankfully taking his words with good humor.

  “Always the English teacher.”

  “Sorry,” he smiled, rubbing his eyes again, partly to get the sleep out of there, partly out of embarrassment, “bad habit.”

  “I’m serious,” Katy persisted, “what happens now?”

  Rob sighed.

  “Come here.”

  He held out an arm and beckoned her onto the bed. Katie stood up and crawled back into Rob’s arms, resting her head against his chest, his heart beating steadily into her ear.

  “You’re worried?”

  “A little, yeah,” she replied, sounding a little like a scared child now.

  “About what might happen if we start getting all serious with each other?” Rob asked.

  “Amongst other things, I don’t want you to think that I did this for cheap thrills or something.”

  “I don’t think that.”

  Katy sat up and faced Rob, looking straight into his eyes.

  “Really?”

  Rob nodded, before leaning forward and kissing her gently on the lips. He then leaned back and allowed Katy to lie back down against his chest.

  “Besides,” he added, “I wouldn’t call eating out cheap. Not in this city anyway.”

  Katy rolled her eyes, and tried not to smile.

  “You’re doing it again.”

  “What?”

  “Being all cool about this.”

  “Well, if you want I’ll go sit in the chair and freak out too?”

  Rob leapt up out of the bed and stepped over to his chair, sitting down and shifting about trying to get comfortable. He sat there for a moment, while Katy watched him. Neither said anything. Rob stroked his chin for extra, deep thinking, effect, before his eyes widened.

  “I’ve just realized...”

  “What?” she asked.

  “This is a really un-comfortable chair.”

  Katy snorted and threw a pillow at him.

  “Hilarious.”

  “Ouch, hey!”

  Rob chuckled and held the pillow against his chest.

  “Listen, you have nothing to worry about. I have no intention of letting this be a one night stand. Believe it or not, I don’t do this sort of thing all the time either. So, let me lay this out for you as simply as I can.”

  Rob stood up, still clutching the pillow. He took a confident step forward, before extending his arms and announcing, in as grand a voice as he could muster,

  “I like you.”

  Katy said nothing, instead content to just sit there and smile at the gesture.

  “And take from that what you will,” he continued, “but considering last night, I’d say it’s a little late to pretend you don’t like me too.”

  Katy nodded and whispered,

  “I like you.”

  Rob dropped the pillow and held a finger to his ear, as if struggling to hear.

  “What was that?”

  Katy giggled like she hadn’t in years.

  “You heard me.”

  “No really I didn’t.”

  “I said I like you,” she bellowed.

  There was a long pause, as Rob appeared to be processing Katy’s statement, before, slowly, he sat down at the end of the bed and quietly, almost patronizingly said,

  “One more time, c’mon.”

  Katy launched her other pillow at him, which he batted away with his left arm. Both were giggling now.

  “I’m starting to like you a little less now, you dick.”

  Rob crawled over to lie next to her again. Katy came in for a hug, which developed into a deep kiss. When the kiss broke off, Katy took a long look at Rob, trying to figure out why it had taken her so long to find a man like him. He was sweet, funny, good looking and good in bed.

  “Where did you come from?” she asked, quietly, although the moment it came out of her mouth she regretted it, knowing full well that it sounded lame. Rob, of course, didn’t let her off with it.

  “Don’t get slushy, now,” he replied, with a wicked smile.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just...”

  “You’re just looking out for yourself.”

  “And Jodie,” she added.

  Rob breathed in, and held her a little closer.

  “That’s something you don’t have to worry about, okay?”

  Rob then slowly rose out of bed and stood at the door.

  “Now, how do you take your coffee?”

  THIRTY-SIX

  It had taken Laura a staggering seventeen minutes to arrive at Jodie’s house, following her text message and had brandished a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat on her face the whole walk there. When Jodie answered the door, Laura had half expected a round of applause from her for having finally landed Sean Lewis, but instead she was greeted by a rather distraught looking face and the statement:

  “They slept together.”

  She read her friend’s expression and realized quickly that her own love life would not be the topic of conversation this morning.

  “What?” she asked, although she had understood every word.

  “My mum and Rob,” Jodie replied, her face falling further under the weight of her words.

  Laura leaned forward and started to whisper,

  “Is he here?”

  “No,” Jodie shook her head, “she stayed over at his last night.”

  Laura opened her mouth to say something consoling or insightful but all that came out was,

  “How?”

  “What do you mean, how? Do I have to explain this to you?”

  “I think you’d better.”

  Laura pushed past her friend and walked through to the kitchen, helping herself to a glass of orange juice from the fridge. Jodie closed the front door and walked slowly through to join her. Laura took a seat and stared at her friend.

  “So, your mother and...”

  “That’s right.” Jodie cut her off before she could finish her sentence. She didn’t think she could handle hearing it out loud again.

  “They were out last night, yeah?”

  “Dinner.”

  “Did you cancel the reservation?”

  “Amongst other things. I made her late, ruined her new outfit, and changed his number on her mobile. I did everything we discussed, but...”

  “But?”

  Jodie held her hand up to her head, suddenly feeling dizzy. She quickly took a seat next to her friend and laid her head on the kitchen table. Laura, who was still trying to grasp the idea of Jodie’s mother having a sex life, looked at her friend with concern.

  “Were you drinking last night, or something?”

  “Probably should have.”

  Jodie slid her mobile across the table to Laura, who picked it up and looked at its screen, reading Katy’s text which was still on display.

  “This is a nightmare.”

  “Oh calm down, let’s not be melodramatic.”

  Jodie looked up at Laura, a little surprised that she had used a word with more than one syllable, as opposed to a simple curse word. Laura, who could read her friend like a book, merely indulged her by wryly saying,

  “Yeah, that’s right, I used a big word.”

  Jodie couldn’t help but crack a smile, but it was short lived as she went back to feeling as though her world was crumbling around her.

  “I’m not being melodramatic. This is a big deal.”

  “Are you sure about that? I mean, he’s just a guy.”

  This was not what Jodie wanted to hear, so decided to bring Laura into the argument on a more personal level.

  “Is Sean just a guy?”

  Laura sat back in her chair and held up her hands in mock surrender.

  “We’re not talking about me right now are we?”

  “He’s not just s
ome guy,” Jodie continued, “School is full of guys. He’s a man. And he’s...”

  Jodie suddenly found words harder to come by, a true sign, she felt, of love.

  “He’s what?” asked Laura.

  “Different. Smart, handsome, amazing...”

  “Sleeping with your mother.” Laura hadn’t meant to be cruel, she had merely stated this to lighten the mood and put Jodie’s feelings into some sort of perspective. Alas, it was to no avail.

  “I hate her.”

  “No you don’t.”

  “No, I think I do. How am I supposed to sit at the table with her, talk to her after this?”

  “It’s easy; I do it all the time. My mother sleeps with some jackass, I just ignore it. It bugs the shit out of her. I think she expects some sort of reaction from me, some sort of look of approval, but I give her nothing. Try that.”

  Laura finished her glass of orange juice and stood up, heading for the toaster.

  “And what about Rob?” Jodie asked.

  “That’s easy. Play hard to get,” Laura took two slices of bread out of the bread bin and stuck them in the toaster, “act as though he’s the last person you need around. It will drive him crazy. Oh and up your sexiness.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If he’s around, you dress like you’re going out to meet some guy. It’ll make him jealous.”

  “Is that what you would do?”

  “Of course, except I don’t need to. Sean’s awesome.”

  Laura smiled her smug smile once more, this time with more effect. Jodie sat forward a little and decided to switch attention away from her mother and onto her friend, asking:

  “So, you slept with him?”

  Laura nodded, leaning against the kitchen counter.

  “That’s right.”

  “How was it?”

  For once, Laura was tactful, as if what had happened last night had meant more to her than maybe she was letting on. At least, this was the impression Jodie got as her friend continued.

  “It was great, y’know? It was...sex.”

  “That’s it?” shrugged Jodie, expecting a little more, “No details?”

  “Well, what do you want to know?”

  “Was he any good?”