Beneath This Man

He places Kate’s wine down and I pass him a note, willing him to be quick. My skin is prickling under the leery eyes of the overinflated man stood next to me. I take another long sip of my wine and try to blank him out. I’m beyond exasperated when the barman signals no change. He walks off to the end of the bar and starts faffing about in various tills.

Ponytailed creep moves in closer. ‘If you were mine, you wouldn’t be out of my sight.’

Oh good God! ‘Listen, I’ve tried to be polite. Back off!’

‘I think we could show each other a good time.’ He runs his fingertip down my arm.

I jump, instantly furious with myself for appearing anxious, but then I’m distracted by the barman returning. Thank God! He hands me my change and I grasp Kate’s drink quickly, keen to escape this toad. Turning a bit too hastily, I drop my coins everywhere.

Fuck!

I place the glasses back on the bar and retrieve the coins within grabbing distance and leave whatever else there may have been. I’m not that desperate. I grab the drinks and catch my heel awkwardly causing me to stagger slightly.

‘Shit!’ I curse. Now he’ll think I’m pissed and easy.

I’m met with the twat again when I turn back around. ‘A bit drunk, sweetheart?’ he sneers.

‘Fuck off!’ I’ve tried to be patient.

‘Oh, feisty.’ he laughs, as I push my way past him, thinking how grateful he should be that Jesse isn’t here. He would be flattened by now.

I make it over to Kate and place the drinks down a bit too sloppily, spilling a considerable amount. I shake my head mildly and take my position on the barstool, staggering again. Kate frowns at me.

‘Shoes.’ I mutter.

‘Are you okay?’ Kate leans forward, looking all concerned.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ I assure her. I’m not drunk. This is only my third glass of wine.

‘Who was that idiot?’ She nods in the direction of the self-proclaimed stud muffin as she has a sip of her fresh glass of wine.

‘Exactly that…an idiot.’ I say shortly. ‘Anyway, you have some explaining to do.’

‘I have?’ she blurts.

‘Yes, you have, and don’t you dare brush me off. What’s going on?’

She glugs down more wine, refusing to meet my eyes. ‘What are you talking about?’

I feel myself getting a bit impatient with my fiery friend. She would never allow me to evade her questioning, and I wouldn’t anyway. We tell each other everything. ‘I’m talking about you, Sam and The Manor.’

‘Fun!’ she snaps.

‘No! Don’t you dare!’

‘I’m just having some fun, Ava. What are you? The sex police?’

I recoil, ‘So there’s no feelings?’

‘No!’

‘You know, if you were me, you’d be twiddling your hair.’ I huff, and take a long swig of my wine. No feelings? She’s impossible. ‘Okay, try and help me out. Being as you’re refusing to open up, I’ll dump my shit on you. I value your opinion.’ I smile sweetly.

She ignores my snipe, her eyebrows shooting up. ‘This sounds serious.’

‘It is. You know the developer of Lusso, the one who asked me to dinner?’

Kate nods. ‘Yeah, the Dane, handsome in a Scandinavian kind of way.’

‘Yes, Mikael. Jesse slept with his wife. He’s going through a divorce at the moment.’

‘No!’ Kate leans in.

‘Yes, and now he’s on some sort of revenge mission to turn Jesse over and it looks like he’s decided that I’m the best way to do this. I’ve got to meet him, and I know it won’t be work related.’

‘Oh shit!’

‘I know. The wife has been sniffing around too.’

‘What are you going to do?’

I shake my head, taking another swig of my wine. ‘I don’t know, just like I don’t know what to do about that woman, the one who turned up at The Manor’s anniversary.’

‘Who is she?’ Kate’s eyes are widening by the second. I’m not surprised. This is information overload.

‘Coral. Do you remember that nasty man at The Manor the day we found the communal room?’

‘Oh yes! Jesse crushed him. It was frightening, Ava.’

I laugh to myself. I can imagine. ‘That’s her husband. She asked Jesse to be the third in a threesome. She fell in love with him, left her husband and now has nothing. She wants Jesse. She turned up at Lusso and rang his phone. I’ve told Jesse about neither, but I answered the call. She warned me off.’

‘Oh my f**king God!’ Kate flops back on her stool, and I take another glug of wine.

Hearing it all out loud, it sounds ridiculous, crazy, unreal…

‘So, Jesse’s had a threesome?’ she asks.

I frown into my wine glass. ‘Yes, I guess so.’ I hadn’t thought about it. I was too busy trying to work out how I felt about Coral being in love with my boyfriend…fiancé…whatever he is. ‘Fucking hell!’ I exclaim, looking up at Kate, mouth gaping.

Kate starts nodding. ‘Have you just had the same thought I have?’

My wine gets placed on the table, my eyes flicking from Kate’s wide blues to the floor and back again. But then I laugh. ‘No! I saw Jesse’s face when Tom felt him up at the launch night of Lusso. There is no way he’s bisexual. Not a chance.’ I grab my wine again. ‘You can have threesomes with two men and a woman; it doesn’t mean that the men have to touch each other.’ Down goes another huge mouthful as I remember the scene from the communal room. None of them men touched each other. The other scenario, the one with two women and one man, starts skipping around my brain, laughing at me. I wipe the back of my hand across my brow, a shimmer of sweat breaking out. I really don’t feel right. Looking up, I see Kate’s face light up as she follows the path of someone approaching behind me. I don’t have to turn around to see who it is.