in time // h.s.

xxv. harry

Twenty-three years old...

By the time my twenty-third birthday arrived I was living in a flat shared in Bethnal Green with Alex, and had been for over a year. We'd found the place on Gumtree, a room in a two-bed flat, on the fourth floor. It was tiny and meant we'd had to leave the majority of our belongings in my mum's garage, but it would do. It was cheap and central. We shared the place with an IT consultant called Keith, who seemed to be out drinking most nights, so we usually had the whole flat to ourselves.

Before that, straight after university, I'd gone back to my mum's in Cheshire. Matty wanted us all to get a place together, but, for obvious reasons, I wasn't keen on the idea. I excused myself, explaining that I needed to find a job and save before I could even think about renting a place. He sulked for a bit but decided not to put any more pressure on me, thankfully.

It was strange being back in my old room, squeezed in with all my old toys and memories, and having my mum fussing over me again. Luckily Alex had moved in with her sister near Brick Lane, so I was there a lot, escaping the motherly furore. She was excited and it came from the right place, it was just overbearing after years of total freedom.

Being a newbie straight out of college was tough. I had no contacts, no experience, just my portfolio filled with coursework. In fact, I guess the good thing about living at home with mum was that I could get some internships and work for free, building up relationships as I went, hoping that it would build into something more. It did. I eventually fell in with a law firm who employed me as a legal assistant. Just that tiny chance opened up the doors to other great opportunities, and I was truly thankful. So, after a year at home, I was finally earning a good-enough income to move out of home. I was thrilled, so was Alex when I asked her if she fancied living together. She was so unassuming and never tried to force me into thinking about the future and where we were headed. I liked that about her.

Matty and Janet had moved home for the summer, as I had, but then quickly moved back out again. Matty had landed on his feet straight away and bagged himself a job as a PE teacher at a posh all-boys school in West London. As he was awarded a regular salary with twelve weeks paid holiday a year, they could afford to rent a pretty flat in Chiswick, a beautiful corner of the capital for yummy mummies and creative types. The picture-perfect couple fitted in nicely.

Janet struggled to get paid work for her photography straight away, so, after years of studying decided to work in a local art shop instead. The plan was that she'd do that until something else popped up, but even after she started up her small, yet successful, business taking family portraits, she agreed to stay on there a few days a week. I think she liked the stability of knowing when she was going to have money coming in, plus they were lenient about her switching her days off if a shoot came up.

She still took her camera everywhere she went, eager to catch life at its best.

We all saw each other every Sunday, without fail, taking it in turns to travel across London to do so. They were still my bestest buds, although, by that point, Alex had been added to the mix, making us a neat little foursome.

Janet had been right, things had got better over time. Not seeing her every day had certainly helped, although I'm gutted to admit that she never strayed far from my thoughts. The distance made me miss them both, but mostly her, and excited to see them each weekend as a result. The love I'd felt never faded, even though I was happy that a new love had blossomed with Alex, the sweetest girl I'd ever known.

***

I still visited my mum in Cheshire all the time. Yes, she did irritate me when I'd moved back home, but as soon as I moved out again I missed her terribly. My dad leaving when I was so young was an awful thing to deal with, but, by that point, I'd spent the majority of my life with it being just the three of us. Mum, Gemma and I. I was used to it. I never forgot that, in many ways, we were her life. So despite me living elsewhere, I made sure I gave her as much time as I could so that she was never by herself for too long, even though Robin and her had moved in together by now and married.