“What?”
The girl wore a large, white muslin shirt. Bella could see the shape of her breasts through the pallid material.
“She appeared overnight. Like a vision.”
“What?”
“A kitchen vision. A – what’s the word? – a sprite. A domestic changeling.”
He was making fun of her. Bella felt her back teeth lock.
“I’m Jake’s girlfriend,” she said, loudly and clearly, surprising herself.
“Are you now?”
The kettle was boiling behind Carl, huffing clouds of steam. He leaned over and flicked the switch, scarcely glancing at it. “Well, that’s very interesting. Where is Jake?”
“He’s in bed.”
She’d said it in a non-committal way, but she heard Veronica giggle and flushed hotly, fired suddenly with furious anger. She could feel her fingers behind her, clenching, clenching.
“He is,” she said, aware of how ridiculous she sounded. She managed to uncurl her fingers from the bench behind her. This was all going wrong, before she’d even had a chance. “Look, I’m sorry – I didn’t mean – “
The two of them faced her silently, amusement on both faces. She heard how she sounded and raged inwardly. She was stuttering, incoherent, idiotic. Escape seemed like the only possible option but the two of them were blocking the doorway. Bella took a deep breath. It had all gone horribly wrong but surely it was fixable?
“Look,” she said, trying to smile. “I think we’ve started off on the wrong foot.” It took some effort just to say that but she persevered. “I wanted to meet you before, well, before I moved in but Jake didn’t seem to think it would matter. He said you’d be fine with it. You are –“ she faltered in the face of their obvious incredulity, “ - you are okay with it, aren’t you?”
“Moving in?
It was Veronica that said it, continuing her previous form. She almost spat it. Bella felt a prickle of sweat on her upper lip – she could almost feel it coalescing on her forehead.
“But, but – didn’t he say anything? Didn’t he mention me?”
Veronica was shaking her head slowly. Carl said nothing. He had a mug of coffee in his hand and the steam rose in slow, curling wisps, drifting past his quirked half-smile.
Bella put a hand up to her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
They were both staring at her. For a wild moment, she thought of just running out, pushing past them, running down the street in bare feet and her big t-shirt.
Then there was a gallop of footsteps on the stairs and Jake entered stage left, bare-chested and in boxer shorts, hair mussed and an innocent grin on his face.
“Thought you were making breakfast – oh –“
He skidded to a halt and to silence at the sight of the motionless tableau in the kitchen.
“Jake,” said Carl. “When were you thinking of introducing us to your girlfriend?”
“More to the point,” said Veronica, “When were you thinking of introducing us to our new housemate?”
Jake smiled feebly. Bella held herself rigid, waiting to hear his excuse.
“Well,” he said and stalled.
“Well, what?” Veronica took a step towards him.
“Well, well, I – it just – it hasn’t – you haven’t been here and it – “ He stopped, swallowed. “Look, I’ll introduce you now. Bella, this is Carl, my brother, and Veronica, his girlfriend. Carl, V, this is Bella, my – my girlfriend.”
The three of them looked at each other, united for a moment in disbelief.
“Amazing. Just fucking a-ma-zing.” Carl put his mug down on the table with a sharp little click. “You are just unbelievable. Unbe-lie-vable.”
“Oh, fuck off Carl. It was a mistake, that’s all. An oversight.”
“You shouldn’t be apologising to us,” said Veronica, unexpectedly. “Well, I mean you should but – surely you should have told Bella that you hadn’t told us?”
Bella looked at her, aware of a sharp little impulse of gratitude. Why hadn’t Jake told her?
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, surprising herself again. “It was a mistake, like he said.”
“Fuck’s sake…”
Carl ran an exasperated hand through his hair. He looked so like Jake, leaning back against the counter. Bella looked from him to her boyfriend, who stood like a chastised child in the middle of the schoolroom floor. He looked back at her, miserably.
“I’m sorry, Bella.”
Perhaps it was his woebegone expression, perhaps it was the sudden release of tension. Bella gave a great snort of laughter, loud enough to make Veronica jump. She couldn’t stop herself, she heaved with laughter, giggles bubbling out of her. Jake looked at her as if she were crazy, just for a moment. Then he too collapsed, hiccupping hysterically.
Carl said nothing. He just stood there, leaning back, watching as Veronica slowly succumbed to laughter too. After five minutes of the three of them heaving with laughter, clutching the walls, the table, each other, panting and shaking with mirth, a tiny smile began to surface on his face, a minute crack in the façade.
Eventually he began to snigger too, softly, as a measured counterpoint to the snorts and guffaws of the others. The sound of their hilarity rose to the ceiling of the kitchen and echoed through the dusty hallway, filling the empty spaces of the house with gasps and yelps of merriment, laughter holding the four of them in a room, saying stop stop, feebly, holding one another up as if they were suffering terribly, as if their cackles and grunts of happiness were something quite other.
Chapter Five
“You going to be okay?”
Jake bent over her to kiss her. Bella sat propped against the headboard of the bed, duvet tumbled about her hips. As she nodded, he put a finger to her exposed nipple, and she shrieked as he pinched it gently.
“Ow!”
“Don’t tease me then,” he said, grinning. “How do you expect me to leave for work when you’re sat there like that?”
“You should learn to control yourself.”
“As if.” He kissed her again, more deeply. “God, you’re driving me wild.” He stood up, making a warding off gesture with his hands. “Stop trying to seduce me, you wench.”
Bella hadn’t stopped laughing since the pinch. She pulled the duvet up to cover her breasts.
“There. Better?”
Jake made a sad face.
“No. Now I feel rejected.”
Bella poked out her tongue at him.
“They’ll still be there when you get home,” she said. “Promise. Now, you’d better go if you’re going to get there on time.”
He came forward to kiss her again. “Right you are. What are you up to today then, before I come home and ravish you?”
Bella pushed her hair back from her face. “One thing and one thing only. Getting a bloody job.”
“Good call.” One final kiss and he stood up decisively. “See you later, sweetheart.”
She heard the front door close behind him and lay back against the pillows for a moment. She felt excited and scared and turned-on and exhilarated and altogether a frantic fizzing mess… Suddenly she scrambled out of a bed and did a little dance on the carpet, naked, all the energy and excitement bubbling over for a second so that she had to disperse it through physical exertion. Then she realised that the curtains were open and dived face-forward onto the bed, giggling again at the sight of herself in the mirror.
After a while, she made her way to the bathroom and set about her ablutions, trying to move with her mother’s brisk efficiency. She was determined to make a real start on her job hunt today; she’d go through the papers and the websites, play around with her resume, see what was out there. She was very conscious that she was not only the newest member of the household, but also the only one unemployed. She had some money that her father had given her, which would tide her over for a while and her mother kept phoning and making concerned noises about supporting her whilst she looked for employment, so she wasn’t desperate, but… Bella wanted to be able to say ‘I can afford it’ and ‘Let me get this round’. She wanted to be self-sufficient. She wanted Jake to be glad he’d asked her to move in.