The Boyfriend Sessions (8 page)

If you look carefully, every school has one.

They exist in the background, quiet, observant, and brooding. Rarely do they participate. They just sit back and take it all in, like it’s some sort of play being performed for their benefit.

It’s difficult to tell if the exclusion is an act of the more popular group, or if it’s a deliberate decision on their part. Either way, it’s this very exclusion that sets them apart.

Troy Myers was the guy in our year that fell into that category. He was usually alone and appeared entirely relaxed about the concept despite the snide remarks from other students who thought they were somehow better than him. Like me, they were probably just intrigued by his aloofness.

To add to the interest, Troy was attractive in an androgynous, little boy lost way. Tall, a little too slim, with an alabaster complexion contrasted by eyes dark as night and a mess of tousled dark brown hair, he was the sort of person you’d feel compelled to take under your wing and invite over for dinner. Except, when he turned his critical eyes on you and sharpened his razor tongue, you’d quickly rethink your first impression.

There were rumors he’d been involved with women far older than his seventeen years. I never learned the truth, but my experiences with him would certainly seem to suggest it was true.

He appeared happy being a loner. He rarely spoke to anyone, but whenever a teacher called on him in class, his answer was always correct. I’m pretty sure he was a straight-A student but, if it were true, it was a fact he kept to himself.

It was only a few weeks after I’d walked in on Matt and Sophie at the party. I’d thrown myself into my school work by way of distraction and had stayed behind after history class to speak to the teacher. As I exited the classroom, Mrs Murphy, our history teacher, commented, “It’s nice to see you showing such an interest.”

I think I shrugged and said something about how I found Ancient Egypt really interesting and Troy laughed cruelly as he passed me in the doorway.

Being a little more prickly than usual, I surprised myself by chasing after him and grabbing his arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He simply gave me a lopsided grin, before answering my question with a question. “At a loose end now you have all this free time?”

His honesty hit me head on—everyone else was treating me with kid gloves since my discovery—and I remember how my eyes welled up, much to my complete and utter embarrassment.

His composure dropped momentarily then. He reached out to rest a hand on my shoulder. “You can do so much better than that prick.”

“You’re all pricks.” Hardly eloquent, I know, but anger and embarrassment seemed preferable to tears.

To my shock, he laughed and his serious face transformed. “That’s the spirit.”

I laughed then too. “Got any advice?”

He thought for a moment and then a wide, mischievous grin spread across his features. “Make him jealous.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s the most popular guy in school. What do you suggest?”

At my response, he casually draped a long arm around my shoulder and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Well, I hear the school’s biggest loner is currently available, that ought to piss him off.”

My heart involuntarily skipped a beat and looking back, I realize it was in that moment he’d gotten me. I was floored by how smooth he was and strangely honored that we were having a real conversation when he so rarely engaged with anyone. Plus I’m the first to admit that the thought of getting back at Matt wasn’t far from my mind.

I think he suggested we ditch our last class of the day together and that was it. Everything had started from there. I was seventeen and we ended up going out for the next two years.

“You dated the loner? An Edward Cullen type?” Cate stared at me, her eyes rounded in interest.

Maddy and I laughed at her reaction.

“Oh God, no, please don’t compare him to Twilight,” Scarlett said dryly. “Edward Cullen was a vampire with no taste in women. Troy deliberately chose not to partake in all that high school bullshit and had far better taste.”

I grinned at her in appreciation, then returned my attention to Cate. “Scarlett’s right. He hated having to endure all the teenage games and cliques, and he was a very different person behind the wall he built at school.”

“So what was he really like?” Cate asked eagerly.

I stared past her, remembering. “He was a great conversationalist and we used to talk so easily about everything. He was book smart, but also incredibly creative. He could play piano, guitar, and he had this amazing voice. The funny thing is I think if he had chosen to be part of the in-crowd, he would have outranked even Matt in the popularity stakes, but he just couldn’t be bothered with it all.”

“And it made Matt so jealous,” Maddy added, giving everyone a wide smile.

I chuckled at my good friend’s loyalty. “Yeah, it did, but I kind of forgot about that after a week or two.”

“You two used to make us sick with all your shows of affection, usually when Matt was nearby.”

Maddy was right, of course. At first we’d just had fun seeing how much we could get under Matt’s skin, but soon it was Troy who got under my skin.

“What?” Scarlett eyed me suspiciously. She was there during the first year of university when everything with Troy disintegrated, but she wasn’t around at the beginning of our relationship.

I did my best to hide my blush behind my wine glass, but Maddy had no plans of letting the subject drop.

“They were seriously hot together. It was quite sickening. It didn’t help that they almost got expelled from school for getting up to no good in one of the music rooms … ”

“No!” Cate squealed.

“Why don’t I remember that?” It was the first time Max had spoken in a while.

“Because they tried to keep it quiet,” Maddy replied. “But the rumors still got out.”

“How bad was it?” Cate asked, intent on obtaining details.

I couldn’t help myself. “It was quite good actually.”

As everyone laughed, my eyes met Max’s for a moment and I quickly dropped my head to study my empty glass of wine.

“So, were you really caught in the act?” Trust Scarlett to cut right to the chase.

I cleared my throat. “No, we were not! God, Scarlett, I was seventeen and we were at school! We waited until we were at uni for that. I’d been burned already by Matt.”

Maddy winked at us mischievously. “Rumor had it that Troy was a pretty happy guy.”

“No!” Cate was practically beside herself and Scarlett was chuckling softly at my side.

It wasn’t true in the slightest, but I found myself laughing along with them and enjoying the heady memories of my schoolgirl days.

Max stood abruptly. “You look like you could do with another glass of wine, Christa. Anyone else?”

The others nodded and, as Max went off to the kitchen, I shot Maddy a look. “Nice.”

“Full disclosure remember? It’s all part of the process.”

So much for loyal friend. “What else do we need to know about Troy before we can move on?”

“Positives of the relationship,” Cate replied, her pen poised over a notepad I’d only just noticed. I couldn’t believe my friends were taking it in turns to take notes on my love life.

I sighed and gratefully accepted the refill Max offered when he returned from the kitchen. Once he’d sat down again, I turned my attention to Cate. “Communication for starters. We could talk for hours, so that was a definite plus.”

I thought some more as I took a sip from my wine. “Creativity. We were both really creative. I was artistic and he was musical, and even though they were different interests, we were able to discuss them.”

I hesitated to bring up the next point and the girls were quick to sense my reluctance.

“What?” Cate asked, her pale blue eyes studying me.

“The physical side of the relationship,” I told them stiffly, unwilling to provide details.

“Specifically?” Scarlett asked seriously.

I ignored her.

“Uh huh,” Cate murmured, not looking at me and writing intently. “So he knew how to make you happy?”

“Very,” I said quickly.

“Lucky girl.” Scarlett clearly meant it.

In that department I was but, as I’d discovered the hard way, that was only one component of a successful relationship. “How about we move onto negatives?” I suggested, not willing to linger on the subject any longer.

“If you must.” Max leaned back in his chair, arms folded, a goofy grin on his face.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I continued. “The negative was that we were both too creative. I know I just said it was a positive, but overall it was a negative. He was intense. He’d get into these dark moods where he wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, including me, and would spend days, sometimes a week, brooding over his music. At those times, it was like my boyfriend was M.I.A.”

“He was a moody bastard,” Scarlett agreed helpfully.

“Basically. And he was—”

“Hang on,” Max interrupted, leaning forward. “You’re creative too. So are you saying you were never moody or distant?”

I sat a little straighter in my seat at his accusation. “Nowhere near as moody or distant as he was—”

“But would you say you were, at times, moody and distant?”

I looked at him, noting his eyes were serious and wondering why I suddenly felt like a defendant in a court hearing. “Yes, I suppose,” I admitted.

“So would you agree that two very creative people in a relationship can cause problems?”

“I’d put it down to him being distant,” I replied stubbornly.

“Really?” Cate stopped writing and looked at me. “Like you’re not ever distant or prone to daydreaming?”

“Wow, I didn’t realize this was about my character flaws,” I muttered.

“We’re not attacking you, Christa,” Maddy said, gently. “There is nothing wrong with being creative, it’s just when two people are very similar it can cause problems. You’ve got to admit you used to have some intense fights.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Maddy held up a hand. “It wasn’t all the time, I know that, but when you did everyone would know about it.”

It was true. In the space of two years Troy and I had at least eight major fights, which resulted in me being miserable for a week or two at a time. I grinned. “The make-up part of it was pretty good though.”

“Yes, I’m sure it was, but everything between you two was always very dramatic,” Maddy added carefully.

“Ah. You were hooked on the adrenalin,” Max concluded, looking pleased with himself. All eyes turned to him. “You’ve got to admit, women love a good crisis and if it culminates in passionate make-up sex, it’s worth holding on to, particularly from the guy’s viewpoint.”

“Are you saying I love drama?”

“Possibly,” Max replied. “We’re only onto boyfriend number two. I haven’t heard about Handy Hamish yet.”

“Alright,” Cate said, reining the discussion back in, “so I think it’s safe to say that Christa enjoyed the intensity of this particular relationship. How did it finally end?”

“Spectacularly,” Maddy answered helpfully. “Troy decided to go interstate for a university course and wanted Christa to go with him, but she didn’t want to.”

“How come?” Cate asked.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be with Troy,” I clarified, “but the design course I really wanted to do was here in Sydney. It was the beginning of the end. On one hand, he wasn’t prepared to stay here to do his course because he wanted to go to Melbourne, but he couldn’t understand why I wanted to do the same.”

“So what happened?” Max asked.

“He went interstate and we did the long distance thing for about eight months.”

“And then he accused Christa of cheating,” Scarlett told him icily, “because Handy Hamish was putting the moves on her.”

Max suppressed a grin, then looked at me seriously. “But you didn’t cheat on him.”

Involuntarily I felt my chest constrict. There was no way he’d known that. “Why do you say that?”

He shrugged, like it was obvious. “Because you’d never cheat on anyone.”

I looked away quickly, registering a stab of something like pain in my chest. He was right of course, for reasons I didn’t want to dwell on. “As much as I denied it, Troy didn’t believe me.”

Max turned his attention to Cate, still taking notes. “Add jealous insecure bastard to the negatives,” he instructed.

I’d said it partly in jest but it pulled at memories I didn’t want to revisit. I looked over at Maddy, issuing her a silent plea.

She returned my gaze sympathetically and said the words I couldn’t. “He was drunk one night, on drugs too in my opinion, and he hit her when she continued to deny it.”

I heard Cate gasp and straightened. I didn’t want their pity. “Once I picked myself up off the floor of his apartment, I walked out the door and never spoke to him again.”

After a beat of silence, Cate reached over and gave my arm a quick squeeze. “Good on you.”

“My two cents worth is that he loved her deeply, he just couldn’t handle it,” Scarlett told us. At our questioning glances, she continued, “He was besotted with her. Think of it this way. Before Christa, he was the loner, but with Christa by his side he wasn’t the loner anymore, just this mysterious guy who had managed to hook a fantastic catch.”

Scarlett’s view on it made me smile thinly. “She’s right. It turned out he was less creative and more troubled than I’d given him credit for.” I wasn’t about to go into any detail on his upbringing and family life, but I had no doubt in my mind that was a factor in our relationship.

“Never mind he was a selfish, emotionally unstable prick,” Max added.

I raised my eyebrows. “That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

Max’s eyes were hard as they bored into mine. “Harsh is hitting a woman or, after being in a relationship with her for two years, not knowing her well enough to appreciate she’d never cheat.”

Scarlett raised her glass to him. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”