Chapter 7

When I got back, stumbling up the stairs and entering the room, I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I saw that my roommate, Marianne was nowhere about. I knew that I wanted out; I did not want to see her again. Like a woman in a frenzy, I packed my bags and rushed out of the room, Luckily, except for my books, I had very little by way of luggage. So by 9 am, I was in the local diner, peering at ads for rentals, or adverts seeking roommates. By the time I was on my second coffee, I was feeling exhausted and almost tearful. I had taken a hurried shower before leaving and I felt as though everyone in the room must know what I had been up to the night before. Every time I moved I felt the ache in my sex, the tenderness that filled me with a longing which I clamped down with haste. But I knew I was wildly, uncontrollably attracted by the man who had claimed my body the previous night. Although all I knew was that he worked at the Minotaur, the meanest Fight Club in town, and his name was Lucas. Concentrate on the task at hand, girl, I commanded myself sternly, or you might be sleeping on the streets tonight. Sighing, I sifted through the notices pinned on the board. The woman behind the counter was someone who recognized me. Doris Palmer was in her flaming pink bouffant and pink candy-striped outfit as she eyed me and she asked, a sympathetic gleam in her eyes as she caught my gaze,’ Whatcha lookin’ for, hon?’ I hesitated and then said, ’I want to move out of the room in the hostel…’ Doris looked at me again and I squirmed. Was she able to see what I had been up to last night? She scratched her rounded chin thoughtfully and then said,’Weelll…’ I met her eyes, pleading, hopefully, ”Do you …can you help me?’ Her gaze softened as she said, “A couple of girls were here the other day; needed a roommate, they said. But someone who can manage the cooking too…’ I leaped up and rushed to the counter, ”Please, I can…can I have their contact number, please? She studied me for a minute curiously and then, handed me a slip of paper after scrawling a number from her phone as she went on, ‘Decent sorts, not like some of the flashy kids you see around,’ and here she flashed me a knowing look. Nothing in this little University village got by without everyone knowing each other’s business and I knew that she had seen Marianne. Minutes later, I was on the phone, talking to a girl with a cheerful voice. She introduced herself as Tansy Adams and seemed eager to meet me. And just like that, I moved in with a couple of girls, away from the loathsome Marianne. * It took me a while to get used to the friendliness of the two girls who were sharing a fairly large apartment a little away from the University. They could not cook to save their lives, said Tanya and Rachel Rhys-Jones, the two friends who shared the apartment. Both of them were fairly well off and relished the meals I whipped up as I went about in a state of fugue, trying to blot out that night at the Fight Club… It was a stroke of luck for me as the vacation was on and I had been dreading the prospect of crawling back to Annabel’s run to stay in the tiny, cramped house in which my aunt lived. The girls were staying in the apartment for Tanya’s mother was holidaying in Singapore with Tanya’s stepfather while Rachel was not too keen on returning home. She told me flatly that ever since she had come out and told her family about her sexual preferences, her strictly religious mother was not too keen to have her back home. In the tiny spare room I had been given, I kept stroking the soft cashmere jacket that the man named Lucas had flung at me so callously as I lay awake at night, unable to shut out the thoughts and memories that flooded me. Touching myself in that secret spot, I whispered his name, ‘ Lucas, Lucas…’ as I came, trying to mitigate that hunger in me, longing for his touch…. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see his dark face with the grey-blue eyes that seemed to sear me with the heat of his desire. And I wept softly as I longed to feel him touch me, take me to those unbelievable heights I had scaled with him. The weeks bled into each other and soon, the new University semester had begun I attended the classes listlessly though I had been so full of zeal before the momentous night I had spent with the Man; it was as though I was pining away for a man I barely knew beyond that one night when I had glimpsed heaven… I avoided Marianne who watched me with a smirk when she saw me but I managed to stay out of her way. I remembered the tenderness of the secret place between my thighs after he had penetrated me so thoroughly and shivered with a strange longing. Every time I opened the little closet, I saw the coat hanging in silent majesty and thought of how I had tumbled onto the soft carpet, to be ravished by a total stranger who was so much older than me!!! Yet so experienced...who had brought me alive to so many sensations. The sensations that kept me awake at night now, moaning in remembered passion. Particularly when one of my Tanya’s' boyfriends turned up to spend the night, the sounds of their loud lovemaking keeping me awake now unlike earlier. Yes. I came awake at night, moaning with longing, dreaming of Him... The next day, Tanya entered the kitchen yawning hugely and stood, stretching her arms as graceful as ever, while I made her a cup of coffee. Since I had a class that morning, I was in a hurry but Tanya stopped me, staring hard at me as she said, 'Y'know, I just noticed; you look kind of different, Pepper.' Whisking up a fluffy omelet for her the way she loved it, I said, distractedly, 'Uh...huh? What'd you mean Tanya?' She continued, biting into the richly buttered toast I had placed before her. Where all those calories went to, I had no idea. If I tried to eat things the way she did, I found myself thinking drily, I'd be a hippo in a matter of days! 'It was when Jazz pointed out that I noticed...' she went on conversationally. Here she paused delicately and I turned around to look at her. It seemed a poignant pause. As though there was something she wanted to share with me, something very important and she was patiently waiting to have my attention. 'What's it? I asked impatiently, 'Listen, I have a class...' 'He said, ummmm… he said…you look like...Sleeping Beauty come awake? 'She said it in a rush and stopped as though unsure about how I would react. That was high poetry coming from Jazper Cooke and I failed miserably in stopping the gurgle of laughter that broke out. Soon we were standing in the kitchen, holding our sides and giggling at poor Jazz's attempt to be poetic. But later, as I pulled on my old coat and made for the door, she flung her arms around me and said, 'It's true, Pepper. There's something different about you. It's like you've ummm..*e awake, you know? A kind of.... energy...Like men notice you now. It's an aura of ..uhhuh...sexual something you carried around without being aware of it. But now it's like out in the open...you know what I mean, kid?' She looked at me with frank puzzlement as she said this, unsure whether I would take offense to her openness. Laughing, I pushed her away and bolted, making an excuse for being late. But I knew what she meant alright! Her voice followed me, teasing me, ‘ Seriously, Barbie Doll, you look like you’re flashing all the green signals now!’ My cheeks were burning with embarrassment as I hurried to catch a bus to the University, wary of missing my first class. But I knew what Tanya had meant. That Man had turned my life upside down! And as I rushed along, it was the thought of Lucas that made me blush. *