Love, Rosie (177 page)

So
I
started
to
explain
that
to
him
in
the
hall
but
I
stopped
when
his
face

moved
uncomfortably
close
to
mine
and
hovered
so
near
we
were
practically

nose
to
nose.
Well
I
can
tell
you
now
that
my
heart
beat
wildly
at
the

thought
he
was
going
to
kiss
me.
It
beat
wildly
with
fear
and
disgust
by
the

way,
due
to
the
thought
that
perhaps
Brian
the
Whine
would
take
advantage

of
a
slightly
pissed
woman,
I
had
visions
of
a
horrifying
repeat
of
when
we

were
eighteen
years
old
at
the
school
dance,
then
of
me
being
pregnant
with

Brian
the
Whine
kid
number
two.
But
when
he
started
to
sniff
around
my

face
like
he
was
a
dog
deciding
whether
to
piss
on
me
or
not,
I
strangely

stopped
worrying.
(Perhaps
that’s
when
I
should
have
started?)

Anyway
he
only
ended
up
asking
me
if
I
was
drunk
and
of
course
I
told

him
that
it
was
absolutely
none
of
his
business
whether
I
was
or
not,
I
was
a

grown
woman,
had
raised
a
daughter
all
on
my
own
with
absolutely
no
help

from
him
or
his
family
(it
always
gets
back
to
that
fact
every
time),
that
it

was
Saturday
night
and
I
could
do
whatever
the
hell
I
wanted,
like
dance

around
the
street
naked
without
having
to
answer
to
him
(why
I
chose
that

as
an
example
I
don’t
know
but
I
was
just
pissed
off
that
I
had
to
come
back

to
his
house
and
explain
to
him
details
of
my
own
life
when
he
shouldn’t

have
to
know).
As
I
shouted
all
this
at
him
I
was
waving
my
arms
around

wildly
and
the
two
bags
of
bottles
and
cans
were
clinking
together
nicely,

kind
of
like
background
music
to
my
rant.

Of
course
he
looked
at
me
like
I
was
a
crazy
person
that
had
ten
heads

(and
at
this
stage
from
my
view
he
did
have
ten
heads)
and
said
he
didn’t

give
a
damn
whether
I
was
drunk
or
not,
he
just
wanted
to
let
me
know
that

his
parents
were
in
the
living
room
and
they
had
come
over
to
discuss
getting

to
know
Katie
and
me.
He
presumed
I
wouldn’t
want
to
meet
them
for
the

first
time
drunk.
That’s
all.

Well.

love,
rosie

269

While
it
was
thoughtful
of
him
to
inform
me
of
their
presence
(and
to

send
Katie
over
to
Toby’s
house
while
we
discussed
it),
I
stood
in
the
hall
in