The Aftermath Of You

Thirty Three

Toni was woken by the sound of her front door shutting and someone moving around below. She dragged her tired body out of bed and grabbed her crutches, slowly making her way down the stairs. By the time she reached the kitchen she found Danny sitting at the table with a coffee in his hands. He was dressed for work in a snug new grey singlet and a gorgeously tight pair of jeans. Toni stared in fascination. Where had he found all of these new clothes? She needed to burn them all to protect herself.

All of the previous night's resolve went straight out of the window. Toni noticed for the first time in years just how big Danny's arm muscles were. She could see his abdominals stretching the flimsy material of his singlet. He was so completely male. The urge to slowly rip his clothes off took her over. Her lust became like a scent that she couldn't clear out of her head. Instead of thinking of Jayden and her decision to put him first, she could only think of the man sitting in front of her.

"Toni, sit down," he said to her in a stern voice. "I think we need to talk."

Oh no. Her stomach flipped. Those six words strung together in that I-think-we-need-to-talk way always spelt for trouble. "There's nothing we really need to-"

She was just about to finish her sentence when her portable phone began ringing. "Where are you?" Lulu asked.

"I'm in the kitchen."

Lulu Handcock grunted before saying, "So you and Danny have finally kissed."

Toni's lips froze in horror. "Did Grandma tell you?"

"Yes, she rang earlier. She said that your lust had become so powerful that-"

"Ugh! Look, I've got to go."

So her whole family knew what she was doing. She no longer felt like ripping every piece of clothing off Danny's body. Instead she felt like putting more layers on him and kicking him out the door.

She hung up before her mother could say another word. "That was my mother."

He nodded, and drew in an awkward breath. "Toni I-"

"Can we just go back to being neighbours and best friends and pretend last night never happened?" Toni begged quickly. She couldn't bear to wait and hear him out.

"Oh. Ok," he said quietly. "Yeah, you're probably right. This is all a mistake."

"Dinner tonight, as usual?"

"Um, ok. Maybe." He stood up and tipped his nearly full coffee cup into the sink and left.

Maybe? What did he mean by maybe? It was never maybe! He can't leave me here by myself, she thought. Not after all that. I'll go insane.

Within a short time, Toni felt a sore throat beginning to itch her whenever she tried to swallow. The bubbles in her soda scratched her throat mercilessly. For lunch, Toni had decided to try and eat a packet of two minute noodles, but ended up blending it instead.

The phone rang shortly after. "Hello, Toni? It's Athol. Athol Russ."

"Oh." She perked up suddenly. "Hello. How are you?"

"Fine, sorry I didn't ring back earlier, I've just been run off my feet."

"That's fine, me too," she said airily, while secretly doubting his busy workload excuse. He might be working many hours but no one, in her books, was ever too busy to call – if he had the time to eat, go to the loo and sleep in the last twenty four hours, then he definitely had the time to call her. More likely he was trying to keep her on her toes.