Ron got home and Marie and Layla were there, sitting in the front room with Annabelle.
'Hi all,' he said. Layla and Annabelle greeted him loudly. They were all drinking. Ron went to his room.
Marie came and found him. She knocked his bedroom door and came in before he answered.
'Hi,' she said. Her hair was down. She had her tight black jeans on again. She wore a low-cut, light grey top, her feet were bare. Ron got the familiar feeling, the anxious, prickly, burning sensation around his body.
'Hello,' said Ron.
Ron was stood by the bed. She went up to him and put her arms round him. He didn't stop her. Her arms and his body felt weightless, feather light against him. He reached his own arms around her and they held each other. She kissed him, on the side of his face.
'Have you had a drink?' he asked.
'Yes. I'm not that bad though. Can I stay in here for a bit?' she asked. He thought she sounded drowsy, sleepy.
'How much have you had? We don't always get on that well when you've had a drink, remember?' said Ron.
'Don't worry about that,' said Marie.
'What's going on?' said Ron.
'Layla's come over to shag Annabelle. I tagged along with Layla because I wanted to see you. I've been in the way in there; I think I've been pissing them off. Vicky and Caroline vanished off to Vicky's room as soon as we got here because they don't want to talk to me,' said Marie.
'I'll have a word,' said Ron.
'No, don't. You make your bed and you lie in it. Everyone hates me except Layla, and I've been doing Layla's head in,' said Marie. He thought she sounded distant, offhand. He wondered how much she'd drank, or if she'd had anything else.
'They don't hate you. I don't hate you,' said Ron.
Ron thought it felt beautiful, fucking wonderful, having her arms round him, and her body against him. He could smell her perfume. She leaned her face against the side of his head. She kissed the side of his face again. It didn't feel sexual, he didn't think she was trying to seduce him.
'What happened the other night?' asked Ron.
'What? When?' asked Marie.
'With that guy, the client, William,' said Ron.
'Did you want to beat him up?' asked Marie.
'Why didn't you say the safe word? Why did you let him do that to you?' asked Ron.
She didn't respond for a second. She kissed him again, very softly, on his neck, just behind his ear.
'I wanted him to hurt me, and I wanted you to see it,' said Marie.
'What? What are you talking about?' asked Ron, with a trace of anger.
'I wanted to be in pain, it felt right,' said Marie.
'Why would you want to be in pain?' asked Ron.
'You told me he was into anal, and I thought, straight away, I'm going to let him do it. It felt right,' said Marie. She still sounded drowsy, and distant. She was almost whispering to him.
'Is this the drink talking? Do I need to worry?' asked Ron.
'You don't need to worry about me
at all
,' said Marie, quickly. 'I'm going to be fine. I'm going to pass my placement; I'm going to pass my course with really good marks. I'm never going to do more harm than good with a patient again, like I have with you,-'
-Ron went to interrupt, but she spoke over him.
'I'm not going to fall for people who are actually dicks, I'm going to stick with people who are worth it, people who are good. When I find one of them, I'm going to get them, and I'm not going to let them go,' said Marie.
'Right, we can talk about the more harm than good thing, but did something happen with the doctor?'
'We spent the night together,' said Marie.
'Ok,' said Ron.
'I thought it was beautiful, I thought we were making love, I thought, this is
it
. This is the moment,' said Marie.
'What did
she
think?' asked Ron.
'I found out she was still shagging the social worker, within hours of her leaving my flat. She's had one of the nursing students as well, who is eighteen, and she's a
young
eighteen. Basically, she's realised she likes women and she's filling her boots up. So, she didn't see our night together the same way I did, I think it's probably safe to say. I don't think it was a moment
she'd
been dreaming about for five months,' said Marie.
'I'm sorry to hear that,' said Ron.
'I had to discuss a patient with her yesterday, so I was in her office, and she started groping me. She put her hand up my skirt,' said Marie.
'For fuck's sake,' said Ron.