AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There is no need of filter between…” There was a significant pause before he said, “lovers.” Lovers were people who had sex. Or were they people who loved each other? What were we?
He deftly undressed me in a non-sexual way, dropping Will’s top on the floor, lowering my leotard and putting his own black T-shirt on me. He managed to remove tights and trackies without hurting my feet which he left in the slightly bled-through socks.
I lay down. “I’m fading. Drug’s working.” It was rather pleasant, like floating away on a puffy cloud of warm blankets.
“What is he thinking giving such strong medication for the blisters of pointe work?” Aleks asked.
“It’s not just blisters.” There was no energy to explain further.
He held me and I felt safe. My fingers felt the soft hairiness of his arm as he talked about dancers who had become addicted to painkillers. These drugs should only be taken for serious injuries, he told me, not eaten for breakfast.
I listened. Sort of. He said he would hate that to happen to me. I was so young. And so perfect. And then there was just blissful nothing.
Chapter 31
Enjoyyourdayoff.
So said the yellow page of notepaper left on his pillow. No kiss. No love.
The mad scene from the balletGisellestared from the mirror. My hair was everywhere, and I looked generally unwell and unkempt. So: bath. I put my feet up on the side of the tub to keep them dry and ran the water in around myself. Getting out was rather more awkward. I dried my hair, then pulled on jeans and a pretty lace-up top.
It was sunny. I planned to meditate in the circle with Will’s stone after breakfast. The thought of breakfast made my empty tummy gurgle, and I hurried downstairs as fast as tender feet would allow.
Holly beckoned from where she sat with Justin, Will, Bekah and, unusually, Ross, the farmer. Aleks and Michelle didn’t glance up from their involved-looking conversation. I sat down by my friends and ate six slices of toast with jam while telling of my ingenious bathing method. They listened and then, en masse, made plans for my day.
“A ride on a motorbike, oot in the sunshine, is jist fit yer needin’,” declared Holly.
“I’m going to get a bit for a tractor,” said Ross in explanation, looking rather bad-boyish in his worn black leather jacket. “I’ll be passing back this way later, and could drop you off.”
“Have you ever been on a bike, Phi?” Bekah asked.
“Not a motorised one.” That seemed to settle it. Even Justin and Will were in agreement. I eyed them suspiciously. “You two in cahoots with each other is unnerving.”
It wasn’t until I returned several hours later, just as lunchtime was ending, that all became clear. Justin glanced at the staff table and called out, “That was a bloody long ride. Kept going a long time, did he?”
Will smiled in a slightly shamefaced way.
“You thought he’d be jealous,” I realised. “I doubt he even noticed I was gone.”
“Did too,” said Justin. “Came and asked if you were back, earlier. He was all twitchy.”
“I don’t know if you deserve these now,” I said, removing the gifts I’d bought them – locally brewed beers – from my new bag.
“That’s a Goddess symbol,” said Sun, eyeing the bag with its circular design.
“Got it in the village pub,” I told her. “The Green Womyn. You would love it. There’s all sorts of Pagan stuff on the walls and photos of the stone circle. I got you a postcard designed by a local artist.” I handed over the artwork entitledThe Womb of the Earth Mother.It was a black-and-white line drawing of a baby growing in the ground beneath the stones.
“We’re all playing football in front of the castle this afternoon,” said Justin, interrupting Sun’s one-sided discourse on the Divine Feminine. “We can drink this beer and pretend to be burly men. So, where else have you been?”
“A tractor shop,” I told them. “It was full of shiny red and green tractors, like giant toys. Then a farm. I took pictures of the horses, look.”
I handed Bekah my phone, and she scrolled through the photos with interest.
“It was a bit embarrassing,” I told them. “Ross left me in the kitchen with his mother for a while, and I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Holly’s been speaking toned-down lingo. I drank tea out of a flowery cup and ate homemade millionaire’s shortbread, and then I got to feed a lamb with a bottle. It wagged its tail like a puppy.”
“This is all very interesting,” mused Justin. “These farmers, some of them are actual millionaires, of course, and, oh—” His volume increased. “He took you home to meet his mother, put a baby’s bottle in your hand. I feel a song coming on…”
I leant on my elbow and squeezed the space between my eyes to calm myself.
