Read Online Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Laura Buzo
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over to the edge of the table. Then he bends down, takes a gentle hold of me around the thighs, lifts me up and sits me on the edge of the table. My shoes swing above the carpet.
More kissing—nice. Jeremy’s hands are on my hips, pushing me, ever so gently, along the shiny wood toward the center of the table and then onto my back. He is on the table too and kissing my neck. I open my eyes and look up at the plaster designs on the dining room ceiling.
Interesting times , I think, a little foggily.
“All right, kids, that’s enough for now.”
It’s Ed’s voice and he’s pulling Jeremy roughly off me. Jeremy made some protest until Ed said, “Your girlfriend’s arrived, mate.” Whereupon he vanished.
Oh crap .
That leaves Ed and me alone in the dining room. I quietly get down from the table. My head is spinning.
“Where’s Chris?” I ask feebly, massaging my temples.
“No idea. But I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“And Kathy and Stuart?”
Ed grimaces. “Still upstairs, I think.”
“I feel sick,” I say in a very small voice, because suddenly I do.
Ed finds a quiet place for me to lie down, then disappears to find someone to take me home.
Disgrace
I wake to my alarm the next morning, fully clothed on my bed and feeling absolutely wretched. It’s Monday. School today and then work tonight. Summoning everything I have, I haul up into a sitting position. Ahhhhgow .
After a minute I stagger to my feet and stumble down the hall to the bathroom. My head pounds. My mouth is parched and foul-tasting. I struggle to remember the events of the previous evening.
And then it comes back to me. More or less. Oh no. How did following Jeremy into that dining room seem like a good idea ?
I clean my teeth thoroughly and gargle with a generous quantity of Listerine. The foulness in my mouth remains. I fumble in the cabinet for Tylenol and then run a hot shower.
Leaning against the steamed-up glass shower recess, I wonder how Chris is faring. I’m going to have to see him tonight. And Jeremy. And Ed. But I can’t think about that now. I just have to concentrate on staying upright, not throwing up and getting off to school without anyone noticing I’m hungover. Hungover! Me! I perk up a bit at the thought of telling Penny that I made out with a boy and got a hangover. I suspect there will be squealing on both sides.
Luckily there is an already ironed shirt in my wardrobe. With some effort I get dressed and pack up my school things and my work clothes. When I get downstairs, I can hear Mum remonstrating with Jess over some potty-related issue. I couldn’t possibly eat, so I don’t even bother to enter the kitchen.
“I’m late.… I’m off,” I call to Mum.
“Oh … Bye, Amelia.”
“I want my Dorothy undies!” I hear Jess shouting as I head for the door.
“They’re all in the wash, Jess; you’ll have to wear the stripy ones.”
“No! Dorothy!”
I pull the door shut behind me. Looks like I got away clean.
My headache lasts for most of the morning, then subsides, leaving a general tiredness. I find that I am actually far from proud of the Jeremy thing, but I tell Penny about it anyway and skip immediately on to the Chris-Kathy-Stuart debacle. She takes it all in with a shake of her head and a big exhale, taking a cue, I think, from my general lack of animation. I sleep through the lunch period until Penny gently wakes me for science.
When I arrive at work, Jeremy is behind the service desk. I stand right next to him to check the roster—he doesn’t look at me or speak to me and I’m not sure what, if anything, I should say.
“Hey, do you know if Chris is here yet?” I venture.
He looks at me for a microsecond, with what I’m pretty sure is a mixture of pity and distaste, and gives the briefest shake of his head. So that’s how it’s going to be.
I head to the locker room to put my bag away, wondering whether Chris will be too upset about the Kathy thing to come to work.
More kissing—nice. Jeremy’s hands are on my hips, pushing me, ever so gently, along the shiny wood toward the center of the table and then onto my back. He is on the table too and kissing my neck. I open my eyes and look up at the plaster designs on the dining room ceiling.
Interesting times , I think, a little foggily.
“All right, kids, that’s enough for now.”
It’s Ed’s voice and he’s pulling Jeremy roughly off me. Jeremy made some protest until Ed said, “Your girlfriend’s arrived, mate.” Whereupon he vanished.
Oh crap .
That leaves Ed and me alone in the dining room. I quietly get down from the table. My head is spinning.
“Where’s Chris?” I ask feebly, massaging my temples.
“No idea. But I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“And Kathy and Stuart?”
Ed grimaces. “Still upstairs, I think.”
“I feel sick,” I say in a very small voice, because suddenly I do.
Ed finds a quiet place for me to lie down, then disappears to find someone to take me home.
Disgrace
I wake to my alarm the next morning, fully clothed on my bed and feeling absolutely wretched. It’s Monday. School today and then work tonight. Summoning everything I have, I haul up into a sitting position. Ahhhhgow .
After a minute I stagger to my feet and stumble down the hall to the bathroom. My head pounds. My mouth is parched and foul-tasting. I struggle to remember the events of the previous evening.
And then it comes back to me. More or less. Oh no. How did following Jeremy into that dining room seem like a good idea ?
I clean my teeth thoroughly and gargle with a generous quantity of Listerine. The foulness in my mouth remains. I fumble in the cabinet for Tylenol and then run a hot shower.
Leaning against the steamed-up glass shower recess, I wonder how Chris is faring. I’m going to have to see him tonight. And Jeremy. And Ed. But I can’t think about that now. I just have to concentrate on staying upright, not throwing up and getting off to school without anyone noticing I’m hungover. Hungover! Me! I perk up a bit at the thought of telling Penny that I made out with a boy and got a hangover. I suspect there will be squealing on both sides.
Luckily there is an already ironed shirt in my wardrobe. With some effort I get dressed and pack up my school things and my work clothes. When I get downstairs, I can hear Mum remonstrating with Jess over some potty-related issue. I couldn’t possibly eat, so I don’t even bother to enter the kitchen.
“I’m late.… I’m off,” I call to Mum.
“Oh … Bye, Amelia.”
“I want my Dorothy undies!” I hear Jess shouting as I head for the door.
“They’re all in the wash, Jess; you’ll have to wear the stripy ones.”
“No! Dorothy!”
I pull the door shut behind me. Looks like I got away clean.
My headache lasts for most of the morning, then subsides, leaving a general tiredness. I find that I am actually far from proud of the Jeremy thing, but I tell Penny about it anyway and skip immediately on to the Chris-Kathy-Stuart debacle. She takes it all in with a shake of her head and a big exhale, taking a cue, I think, from my general lack of animation. I sleep through the lunch period until Penny gently wakes me for science.
When I arrive at work, Jeremy is behind the service desk. I stand right next to him to check the roster—he doesn’t look at me or speak to me and I’m not sure what, if anything, I should say.
“Hey, do you know if Chris is here yet?” I venture.
He looks at me for a microsecond, with what I’m pretty sure is a mixture of pity and distaste, and gives the briefest shake of his head. So that’s how it’s going to be.
I head to the locker room to put my bag away, wondering whether Chris will be too upset about the Kathy thing to come to work.
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