One Plus Two Minus One

Chapter Seven

One day Beth looked at her phone and saw she had two missed calls from Robert, two hours apart. She hadn’t answered the first because she was in a lecture, and hadn’t answered the second because she was fucking Ethan. Robert rang again, a third time, after they’d finished, but by then Beth was worried, wondering why he kept calling back, and didn’t want to pick up and find out.

Robert left messages saying he needed to talk to her, but not what he needed to talk about. She’d hoped he’d get clearer as he left more messages, but he didn’t. Just the same thing three times.

In the end, wondering what was wrong, she went outside and phoned Robert and said hi and sorry she’d missed him earlier. Her breath was misting in front of her face and she needed a scarf and a coat just to stand outside, but she didn’t want Ethan listening, and didn’t want him to leave either.

Robert said he was interviewing for a job in the polisci department. He’d applied months ago, but hadn’t told her because he didn’t think anything would come of it. What he’d heard now was that an internal candidate had pulled out, and now they were actually interviewing for real.

Beth listened, and felt her world coming apart, and made herself sound pleased, for Robert, made herself sound happy. She wasn’t. She really wasn’t. It was too soon for this. She didn’t know where things were with Ethan, and if there was anything real beyond the sex, and she didn’t know where things were with Robert, either, and if she still even wanted him. She needed more time to work both out, to let the fling with Ethan run its course, but she didn’t have it.

She was angry, a little resentful, that she wasn’t going to get that time.

She said goodbye, and went inside.

“What’s up?” Ethan said, as she took the coat off.

“Nothing.”

“Because you always go outside to make phone calls.”

“Nothing yet.”

He thought about that. “Tell me when there is something wrong, yeah?”

She nodded.

“Do you want head or something?” he said.

Because that was all they ever really did, she supposed. A solution to everything. And it probably made sense that he asked. He must have seen her a dozen times start off all stressed and angry and worried after a shitty day, and then half an hour later be calm and happy because he’d eaten her out.

“Nah,” she said, and sat down beside him. “Just hang for a bit, okay?”

He put his arm around and pulled her over, and after a while, despite herself, she leaned on his shoulder.

*

Robert flew in for the interview two days later. He stayed the night with Beth, and seemed glad to see her, but it wasn’t like it had used to be. They didn’t have sex. Beth would have, had expected to, but Robert was thinking about his interview.

She supposed it was the interview, but he didn’t actually say.

That was what decided her, though. Something wasn’t right between her and Robert, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to fix it. She wanted fun with Ethan over hard work with Robert, and she didn’t know quite how to tell Robert that.

She couldn’t tell him, not really, not while he was getting ready for the interview, and then not on the way to the airport afterwards, so in the end she didn’t say anything at all. He flew away, and was gone, and Beth decided telling him probably didn’t matter. It had been a year, and they weren’t really together any more, and he wasn’t likely to get this particular job, so they’d probably just drift apart, amiably, without anything needing to be said.