No Strings

Chapter 22

So that was that. Now I definitely wasn't going to do Jake anymore. Not now he wasn't interested in doing me. It had been a week since he caught me kissing Paul and there was a deafening silence - no texts, no ringing of the doorbell, no sightings whatsoever. When was the last time I had gone a week without seeing him? Never, I realised. Not since that evening I had first met him three months ago. We'd never been much good at talking, but we'd certainly met up quite regularly. No wonder he hadn't been seeing anyone else. He didn't need to.

So where was he getting his satisfaction from now? I couldn't bear thinking about that. That blonde he had been in the bar with that time was no doubt being shown a few things. She was no doubt discovering that Jake had major talents. God, it hurt to think about it.

Hopefully my monthly trip to Burger King might cheer me up. It was our guilty secret - Nina and I. And I really really needed that Whopper with cheese today but I was somewhat apprehensive at seeing Nina. There was a lot I hadn't been telling her and I wasn't sure I could keep it in anymore. 

I had kind of been hoping that Nina would take it out of my hands by guessing what was going on before I had to spill the beans, but for once her psychic powers seemed to have deserted her. She was more interested in quizzing me about Ollie.

"So what did you think?" she asked, the innards of a Rodeo BBQ Burger spilling out onto her tray as she bit into it.

"About what?" I asked, still preoccupied with all the stuff I wasn't telling her.

"Ollie. What did you think?"

"He's OK," I said. 

She gave me one of her hard stares. More of a response was obviously required. 

"Not bad looking," I added. "Obviously solvent."

She grimaced.

"Sense of humour. I suppose he has potential."

"God, do  you think  you could be a bit more enthusiastic? I think he's hot - if you like the beefy type," she hurriedly added. "Which you do."

I shrugged and went back to picking at my fries.

"I suppose the situation was a bit uncomfortable," she said tentatively. "With Sex God being there."

I shrugged again and deliberately avoided eye contact but I could still sense her examining me. Psychic powers were kicking in again. 

She took another bite of her burger as if to deliberately create suspense, chewed, swallowed and then said, "What's going on Sarah? There's something you're not telling me and I reckon Sex God has something to do with it." And then she added almost to herself, "He always has something to do with it."

"Not necessarily," I said defensively and then felt stupid because she was right after all. Sex God did have something to do with it. For the last three months he was all I could think about and I was only just beginning to admit that to myself. Could I admit it to a third party?

"Paul's back," I said. For some reason telling her that seemed the lesser of two evils.

There was no reaction. At least not the reaction I had been expecting. She put her burger down and took a glug of Coke. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. He turned up at mine."

"And how was he?"

"Same as usual. Evasive. Cocky. Annoying."

She studied me over the rim of her Coke. "Did you tell him where to go?"

I went back to picking at my fries.