This is the twenty-second episode of my unreliable memoirs and finally brings to an end my time at University. To be honest, there isn't much sex in this episode. It's really just for those who have been following the story.
I hope you enjoy it.
M4bloke
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The final two terms at university were, by recent standards, uneventful. In the spring term, from Monday to Friday, I knuckled down and got on with my dissertation. I'd been lucky enough to be assigned a project linked to a genuine piece of research being carried out in the university engineering department. It was a big deal for me, as the fact that I'd been chosen showed that I was in with a chance of a good grade in my final exams.
I was a hard worker and I was fairly certain that I was worth an 'upper second' (2:1) if I applied myself, but the chances of getting a 'first' were remote. In a class of thirty odd students you'd expect there to be only one, maybe two, 'firsts' awarded and I knew I wasn't the cleverest guy in the class. The cleverest guy was one of those geniuses who sailed through everything with ease, on the basis of superior intellect. You couldn't compete against that, but there was always a chance.
At weekends I still caught the train down to London, and Lesley and I continued to live our normal weekend life. We kept swinging but less often and only with friends we'd already made.
Lesley put her apartment in Nottingham on the market and it sold pretty quickly. When the time came we spent a weekend packing up her stuff, ready for the removal men to put it into storage until we had a place of our own. While we were there it was good to see her friends, Rachel and Pete who had arranged for Lesley to go and try on her bridesmaid's dress for them.
Virtually every night that I wasn't with her, Lesley now spent with Daniel and Kate. It didn't bother me that she was doing this but I was a bit concerned about what would happen when she finally moved out of the mews apartment. Lesley told me that most nights they just all cuddled up and went to sleep. I guess they had been doing this for almost six months now, but all the same, I'm not sure how much sleep I'd have got if I was in the same bed as Kate and Lesley.
For my part Jane was still visiting me for an hour or so at Uni. on Wednesday afternoons. I also had visits from Ruth, Kate and Carole over the course of the spring term. The rest of the week I spent working, training and eating.
Things got more difficult when the Easter holidays came around however. I found it hard to switch off from my revision and wasn't much fun to be with. Fortunately Lesley had been through this herself and understood. She didn't take any extra holiday at Easter and went straight back to work, leaving me alone in the apartment to revise.
The summer term was the worst and when I was in London I was so focussed on revision that Lesley just left me to it and got on with her own life. It caused Kate to accuse me of ignoring Lesley one Sunday evening as we were having dinner. I was so angry I'd had to walk away from her. After the sacrifices my parents had made to get me to university, here was a woman who through good looks and privilege had never had to work for anything in her life, telling me that I'd got my priorities wrong.
For the final four weeks before my exams I stayed up at Uni. I suspect that back in London they were glad to be rid of me. I did nothing but work, go for a run and eat. I didn't shave and to be honest I'd lost track of how clean my clothes were.
And then, suddenly, it was all over. The night I finished my exams I drank so much that I threw up several times on the way back to my room and then, when I got back, I opened a bottle of whisky and drank almost half of it before throwing up some more. The next day I had the worst hangover I've ever experienced and had to cancel my plans to travel down to London because I felt so rough. When I look back on that now I realise that it was a really selfish thing to do. Lesley had probably been really looking forward to seeing me and she'd been so supportive that she deserved better. I'd been a real arse.
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If Lesley had been offended then she didn't immediately show it when I arrived at her apartment on a Thursday afternoon in early June. She was in fact very excited to see me. Leaving aside the questionable joy she was experiencing from being able to spend the rest of her life with me, the reasons for her happiness were twofold. Firstly, next week was her trip to Le Mans with Michael and Claire, which I knew she was excited about, but secondly, and more importantly she had found us a house in Wimbledon.
In fact, with Kate and Daniel's help, Lesley had done more than just find a house. She had made an offer, negotiated a price and had a survey done on it. Lesley hadn't wanted to distract me with the news and she'd done the right thing as I wouldn't have been any help to her, but she'd been convinced that this was the house for us.
I knew that she and Kate had viewed a few houses in Wimbledon and it was a common theme that most required modernising. This house was different in that it had already been modernised. It belonged to an American couple in their early forties who had done virtually all the work needed, before deciding to take a job back in the USA. They wanted a quick sale and as we were first time buyers with no property to sell we were ideal.
The sellers were nice people. Initially they were a bit reluctant to accept an offer from a twenty five year old girl whose husband was still at university but Kate and Daniel visited them with Lesley one evening. They knew who Daniel was and he explained to them that I worked for him and that he would vouch for us.
Lesley and I met the sellers that Thursday evening and when I saw the house I realised that it was pretty much everything we could have asked for. It was close to the Common, it had four decent sized bedrooms, two of which had en-suite bathrooms, a lovely new kitchen and a newly built double garage to one side. To cap it all, it had a basement. It ticked all the boxes and Lesley was so excited when I agreed with her that it was the house for us.
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Lesley took the day off on Friday and we went to see a solicitor to set the final wheels in motion. Because we didn't have a house to sell or a mortgage to arrange the process would only take four or five weeks to complete, which meant we could be in by July.
We decided to celebrate by going out for lunch in Wimbledon and found a nice little Bistro on the high street.
"I've got some more news," Lesley told me over lunch. "I've been offered a promotion."
"That's fantastic, what's the job?"
"It's section manager of the testing team that I work in now and those in a couple of other hospitals in London."
Lesley explained that in London there was a lot of staff turnover and so there were always opportunities to progress. In Nottingham it would have been years before a similar position became available and even then she would have had to compete with Rachel and Pete for the post.
"They're desperate for me to take the job. So I asked if they'd let me have an extra two weeks' unpaid leave in August and they said yes, which means that we can take the whole of August off."
"I'd need to ask Daniel about that I guess. I'm not sure when they expect me to start full time."
"I already have," Lesley replied. "He suggested that you started full time in September."
There was a silence as I processed the fact that Lesley had been negotiating my employment with Daniel.
"I've overstepped the mark, haven't I?" Lesley said, the thought only having just occurred to her.
"A bit," I said
I could see Lesley mentally kicking herself. I was a bit annoyed, even though I knew she'd done it for all the right reasons.
"Steven, I've been really worried about you. We all have. I know how important the exams have been, but look at you. You're exhausted and you look like a refugee. I mean, when was the last time you had a haircut? When was the last time you had a shave even?"
The answers were Christmas and Easter respectively and it was now the beginning of June.
"You've neglected your friends, your family and you've neglected me," Lesley said holding back the tears. "I mean, I don't see you for a month, you never call me and then on the day you're supposed to come back, you don't, because you're too drunk."
