After You

Chapter Nine - Into the Ocean (Part 1)

"So I'm a teeny, tiny bit jealous, but I'm smiling, because I'm glad I've got something to be jealous about. You deserve the chance to make me jealous."
- Rhys

'Are you working today?' Jude asked, as I rolled onto my back and woke up beside him.

'No,' I groaned, still half asleep. 'Why?'

'Because you're taking me for breakfast, that's why.' I twisted my neck to look at him. I'm certain my hair was all over the place; that I looked an utter state, but Jude was fresh as a daisy.

'Breakfast?' I repeated. 'Going out for breakfast?'

'That's right,' he told me, slipping out of bed, beautifully naked. I watched raptly as he unabashedly stretched his long arms above his head. 'Shower and then breakfast.' He peered down at me as I huddled beneath his duvet. 'I'd invite you into the shower with me, but you've seen how small it is.' I nodded. It was a rather boxy little bathroom, and besides, there was no way I was going to stand about naked - under harsh, artificial lighting - when the man beside me had just woken up looking completely moreish, whilst I looked like a junkie withdrawing from heroin.

'I'll make coffee - my coffee's not as bad as my tea - and you can jump in first. Leave me some hot water,' Jude said. The bossiness wasn't what I'd been expecting to wake up to. Certainly, Jude had a slightly impatient, demanding air about him, but it was usually a little more subtle. Right now, he was presumptive, as though used to getting his own way. Perhaps because he often had to shepherd his sons around before school?

'I haven't got a towel or anything,' I mumbled, sitting up in bed.

'Use mine.'

'I haven't got any shower gel.'

'We can share that, too,' Jude said pragmatically, leaving the bedroom. I grabbed a discarded T-shirt from the floor and threw it on. It skimmed my thighs.

'I'll smell like a man!' I complained.

'Better than smelling like a woman who spent the night having rampant sex.' I blushed and covertly tried to sniff myself. When I looked up, Jude was smirking at me. 'You smell great,' he promised. 'I happen to think it's the best way to smell, but seeing as we're friends now, you can start showering at my place.' I nodded. I didn't want to go out for breakfast smelling of last night's sex. Usually, I slipped away first thing, dashing home to wash and change before work. Today, it seemed, Jude had other plans.

***

'Where're we going, then?' I asked, slipping on a pair of fingerless gloves with a fold-over mitt.

'There's a nice place just off Clapham Common. I take my boys there sometimes for a treat.' He looked at me strangely as he pulled on his black beanie. 'They do pancakes.'

'Right,' I nodded, beginning to suspect that Jude's urge to go for breakfast was a means by which to get me to eat something, rather than a sweet, "morning-after" type of gesture.

'Come on,' he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along beside him. His strides were purposeful - verging on impatient. If I didn't know better, I'd have said he thought I might invent an urgent chore so that I could wriggle out of our breakfast date.

'We're walking?' I asked, as we passed the Tube station. He nodded.

'There's no point getting the tube for one stop. The walk will help your appetite.' I frowned, not sure if it was one of those generic "work up an appetite" comments, or an allusion to the previous night's confession. The further we walked, the more I dwelt on it, and the more I did, the more depressed I became. I'd liked the idea of going for breakfast with Jude. Not because I was hungry, but because I liked that he wanted to take me. Now, I suspected that our excursion had less to do with what he wanted, and more to do with fixing my little problem.