And Your Girl Can Sing

Chapter 28: Astrid Helps Me Figure Out My Life

   "So how long have you been going out with Danny?"  June asked me, grinning at me from her horizontal position on my bed.

   "About a month or so," I grinned back ruefully. "I... I don't know how it happened, but I'm so glad it did. Blimey. Danny Newsport."

    "All the girls wanted him," June said in a wistful tone. "And here he picked you. You!" She yelped as I tossed a pillow at her and caught it, letting it dangle from her fingertips before tossing it on the floor. "Da-nny... and speak of the devil, he's downstairs."

   The ring of a doorbell. I frantically ran downstairs and passed June's dad, who said, "Got a date, love? Wish June would go out and have some fun," and sipped from his beer. Danny stood outside, wearing a striped t shirt and jeans, his hair brushed back. It was slightly longer than when he has first asked me out but was long nonetheless.

   "You need a haircut, love," I told him, reaching up to kiss him. He smirked at me. "You're pretty handy with a pair of scissors, you think?"

   "I charge," I told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the car. "C'mon. Let's go."  I tossed a smile at him. The next few hours were a whirl: a small get together at someone's flat, card games, wine—bloody expensive wine at that—a skunk pipe as it went around and Danny and my refusal of it. We all ended up in the garden, lying on our backs, the four of the other partygoers high and pointing at the stars and me and Danny high on each other. I snuggled up to him in the wet lawn, feeling his breathing slow and his hands through my hair.

   "D'ya want to leave, Dan?" I whispered softly into his ear.

  "Yeah," he said, sleepy. We piled into his car and it swerved and rocked, high on the energy of a drunk man, and I said, Danny, stop the car, and he did and we were in front of an unknown street with a convenience store and an inn and a ramen shop.

  "Want to pool for the night?" I asked. He blinked. "What, love?"

  "No sex, I'm not ready. Just... I don't want you to drive," I said, attempting to put the two images of him in my eyesight together. "We'll crash and burn."

  "Then we'll crash and burn after an amazing night with you, love." He paused a little, squeezed my arm, and said, "No sex."

   Nevertheless I tugged at his jacket and after we bought our room from a woman who gave us a judgmental look we found ourselves taking an old dilapidated lift to a dingy inn room where we both collapsed on the bed and fell into a dreamy sleep. Danny's arm was splayed across my waist; I could smell the grass in his brown hair as I drifted off to sleep.
  
***

"Cora, wake up love."

    "What?"

    I opened my eyes, seeing a shirtless Paul next to me, blinking away sleep, a sleepy grin on his face. The all too familiar phrase fell upon my lips: What happened last night? Drinking. Typical, of course, et cetera. I could feel the corduroy of my black pants. Where was my shirt? I was in one of my bras I bought in Soho, a black lacy one.

    "What?" I asked again, rubbing my eyes. The blanket fell off my chest. I slipped forwards into Paul's chest. He put his arms around me, kissing the top of my head, but I felt cold. The sunlight streamed through the windows; I could see we were back in... the bakery? My room?

    "Let's get a cab home," I remembered George saying, one hand on Anna's slim waist, his fingers slightly curled around the fabric of her belt like his fingers were the belt itself.