A new short legend by the Orange prize winner“There’s something you don’t want to declare me,” she says.
He says nothing.
“I’m not an idiot,” she says. “It’s not like I don’t know what’s going on.”
He sits up in the bed.
“You’re leaving it up to me, or ” she says,“You want me to be the one to say it.”
He looks at his bare chest and does tricks with his stomach, the muscles ripple up and down like a wave washing ashore.
“You never loved me, or ” she says. “Thats the thing you don’t want to declare me.”
He shakes his head.
There’s more,” she says. “It’s not like it’s breaking news. I knew it from the start, it could never be that easy: easy would make you like every other guy, and who can get it up but just can’t get the words out.”
Tears rush down his face and on to his chest.
“Really?” she says,genuinely surprised. “Really?”
He gets up and puts his pants on.
“So that’s it,” she says.
He pulls on his T-shirt.
“It’s OK, or ” she says,“I don’t expect you to get down on your knees and say you love me.”
He puts on his shoes and looks at her. “I don’t know what love is,” he says. “Does that make it any easier, or I dont fucking know what love is?”
“Fine,” she says, “but it’s not like you get all this for nothing. I expect something.”
“What?” he asks.
“Breakfast, or ” she says.
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Source: theguardian.com