He let out a whoosh of tensed-up breath, and answered her. "Five times, Mil, my love. Five times." He could have left it at that, without going into detail. But he didn't. She'd seen traces and hints of the wreckage, a couple of times that he'd bumped into his old flame, his nemesis, his darling hateful toxic fiend of a love. "Punched him the first time, slept with him the second, got drunk together the third – but his friends came and collected him before it could go any further. Just spotted him across the quad during an old alumni get-together, the fourth. Went to a screening of his latest film, the fifth. He was doing a question and answer session. I didn't put my hand up, didn't ask him a thing, make myself conspicuous. Just sat hunched down at the back, looking at the floor. Half hoping that he'd spot me and call on me, half praying that he wouldn't."
Ben flexed his hands, looking down at them sombrely. Then he cast her a quick glance, a quick grin. It was probably a pretty poor excuse for a smile. But he tried, he could say that for himself at least, he tried. "That's it, that's the lot. I shuffled out after the lecture, managed to get out without him spotting me, I think. That was about two years back. Haven't seen him since."
Millie patted his knee, looking grave. Then she got up, and got the biscuits the old hag brought us, and his cup of tea. She brought them over, and pressed them on him firmly. "Drink up, darling. You need the blood sugar, and a bit of a perk up."
He felt like he could do with an Irish version of the tea she gave him, but what the hell. Better than nothing. Millie watched him, chin in hand, as he knocked it back. She was still watching him, like a cat at a mouse-hole, when he was done. He put the cup on the side-table. "Darling," she said, then, standing over him like the most diminutive sergeant-major any army has ever known, "you know it's been nearly ten years now?"
YOU ARE READING
Erase You
RomanceMichael is a musician, Cambridge-educated but living in London. He's successful, attractive and has plenty to keep him busy and happy. So why can he still not get over his old college boyfriend, Ben? Fortunately his old Great-Aunt Millie, a notor...
