Time

Seven

“Are you all packed up, Meg?” Syd asked me.

“Yes, I brought everything I could possibly need,” I replied to him. Syd really wanted to go to a beach house in Formentera over the weekend; I’d been living with Syd for about four months by now. Roger was driving us; Judy, Syd and I.

“You excited to bunk with me?” Syd asked jokingly.

“Oh, I’ve dreamed of this day, Syd,” I replied, “Just don’t hog all the blankets.”

He rolled his eyes, “Roger’s going to be here any minute!” Syd sat by the window, looking outside, while I read a little. We both saw the car pull up, and heard Roger honk the car horn. We each took our duffle bags out and put them in the car. Syd opened the door for me, and I sat in the very back next to Syd. It was seven o’clock on a Friday night, we figured we could drive up tonight and spend the whole day at the beach Saturday, and half the day Sunday, then come home in time for work on Monday.

            About half way there, Syd fell asleep on me, and I dozed off leaning on him. Roger woke us up when we arrived, Syd looked out the car window and then turned to me “We made it!” he said grabbing onto my shoulder, he seemed very excited, and I could understand why; I was too. “I used to come here all the time as a boy with me mum.” We unloaded the car, and began to decide who got what room, “We’ll take the one at the end of the hall,” Syd said to everyone.

Roger shook his head, “Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?”

 Syd looked puzzled at him, “I mean, Meg and I. We will take the room at the end of the hall.”

Roger turned to me, “You do realize that there are three bedrooms right?”

I shook my head, “No, I wasn’t aware.”

Judy clutched onto Roger’s arm and spoke up, “Roger it really doesn’t matter…”

He ignored her, “So you’re going to be sleeping with Syd tonight?”

“Well, yeah,” I replied, “We are roommates. We’ve been roommates for a few months now, and it really isn’t that big of a deal. Does it really bother you that much?”

Judy was still wrapping her arms around Roger, but he still kept his eyes focused on me, “It doesn’t bother me… I just wasn’t aware of the… sleeping arrangement. That’s all.”

Judy rolled her eyes, “Who care’s if they sleep together Roger,” she said, and then whispered in his ear not-so-quietly, “They probably already have anyway…”

Syd and I looked at each other, and he rolled his eyes and grabbed his suitcase, “Come on, Meg, let’s move in.”

            Syd and I walked to our room at the end of the hall. He put his suitcase down and then walked out immediately. I set my suitcase in the corner; there was no point in unpacking if we were only going to be there for two nights. I came out of the room and joined everyone else in the main room. I walked over to sit next to Syd, but he then stood up and took my hand and lead me to the kitchen, “We’re gonna get us something to drink now,” he said. He opened a few cupboards to find three bottles of wine. He handed me two, and then grabbed seven glasses. Judy called out from the other room, “Oh, I don’t drink. Could you just get me a glass of water?” Syd rolled his eyes and quietly said to me, “She’s absolutely no fun to drink with, anyway.”