LEZZIE-ASON CHAPTER EIGHT

Lauren came into the living-room,stared as May and I scrumpled our clothes and smiled at her.
"Hello, Darling," said May, breathlessly.
"Mum? What's wrong? Why do you look as though you've been running?"
May looked at me, worried. Then she laughed and said: "Well, that's because I have been running, Darling. I've had to run all the way to the bathroom because I was busting for the toilet."
Lauren turned and looked at me.
I felt like a criminal, because she stared me out like a police officer. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just said, really feebly: "Hello, Lauren."
"Is Larry here?" She asked.
"I shook my head. "No, Lauren, he isn't. He's round at a mate's house."
Then Lauren screwed up her face,suddenly reminiscent of the face of Veruca Salt.
"Larry doesn't have any friends! I'm his only friend! You're not allowed to come here anymore!"
Then she pulled a face at me, and ran upstairs. Well, stomped would be the more appropriate word.
May smiled weakly. "Sorry about that," she said.
I smiled back. "I thought she was going to figure it out," I said.
"Coffee?"
"Pardon me?"
"Would you like another coffee?"
I looked at the clock sat upon May's mantelpiece. It was ten to seven!
"Oh fuck!" I yelled out. "Sorry, May. I'd love to, but the kids are due back at seven. Gerry's working, and I don't know if he'll be back yet. Lisa gets cranky if Gerry or I aren't there when she gets home."
Then I remembered. "Oh, shit! I promised Lisa I'd pick her up from ballet. I'll have to go right now, and rush. I'll catch you later, May."
"Yeah. See you," I heard her shout, as I raced out of her front door.

I got to the ballet school at quarter past seven. Lisa was waiting outside, dressed in her home clothes, the bag containg her ballet clothes slung over her shoulder. She was sitting on the wall when I pulled up and opened the passenger door for her.
"You're late, Mum," she said. "Sonia, Rebecca and Bianca went home ages ago. And they laughed at me because I was the only one left."
"Hello, Lisa," I answered. "How was ballet?"
"It was crap."
"Lisa! How many times do I have to tell you! Watch your language."
"Sorry, Mum. But it was! All we did was listen to music that sounded like fairy dust, and twirl round and round on tiptoe."
"Well, that is what ballet is, Lisa."
"Really? Sonia, Rebecca and Bianca said it was more exciting than that and begged me to join."
"Do you like Sonia, Rebecca and Bianca?"
"Yeah, course I do. Why?"
"Oh, well, they didn't sound very nice when they laughed at you for being the only one left waiting."
"Oh no. We do that to each other all the time. Laugh at each other, I mean. We have loads of fun together all the time. Did I tell you about the day Rebecca stole Carly's watch. Carly's such a cow. It wasn't her watch, it just looked like her watch! Anyway, to cut a long story short..."
I sighed. Whenever Lisa said 'to cut a long story short', she just made the story longer. I lapsed into silence, driving along, and thinking about May. Oh, if only we didn't have any responibilities we could be together right now. I knew May was the one for me, and I knew May felt the same way about me. If we did get together, we'd have to leave Gerry, Lauren, Larry and Lisa behind. They would get so hurt. Larry and Lisa could stay with Gerry, so I wouldn't have to worry about them. But Lauren wouldn't be able to move in with her father, because she hated him, and he was a woman-beater.
"... So Carly got detention for telling tales on Rebecca and it served her right. Mum? Mum, are you listening to me?"
"Mmm," I said, dreaming of the flat May and I would move into. We would only have one bed. A king-size bed, which we would share together. Plus we would have a widescreen TV, on which we would watch movies, romantic movies, like "Bridget Jones" and "Romeo and Juliet", long into the night. Then in the morning, we would cook a fry-up for breakfast. May would cook one for me on Mondays, me for her on Tuesdays, she for me on Wedne...
"Mum!" Lisa's voice jerked me back to reality. It really irritated me, because she was like a broken TV aerial, intefering with the reception.
"What!" I snapped at her.
"You just drove past our house."
I looked out the window. I was now driving past the Spar shop, which was a two minute walk from our house. I drove on.
"Mum? Where we going?"
"I'm taking you home. And if your Dad's home, I'm going back out." A lane hurtled up, so I quickly made a u-turn, and drove back in the direction of our house.
Lisa and I got out of the car, and walked up the pathway.
"If Dad's home, and you go back out, are would you be going?"
"Just out."
"Where?"
"None of your business."
"But Mum, when I said that to you once, you said it was your business! So it is my business!"
I ignored her, as we tried the lock, it was locked!
I dug the key from my purse, and let myself and Lisa in.
"Gerry!" I called out, going into the living-room. I looked at the clock, it was quarter past eight.
I went upstairs. "Larry!"
Larry's bedroom door was shut, and laughter was coming from inside. I opened the door, and founf Gerry and Larry sitting on the floor, putting make-up on each other.
"That's my make-up!" I bellowed. The boys saw me, and laughed some more.
"Hello, Sarah," said Gerry. "Listen, I was coming home from work, and Larry rung my mobile, asking me to pick him up from Nelson's. He said there was no answer at home. And your mobile was switched off. So I had to pick him up."
"Oh, well, I got lonely, so I headed over to May's. And then I had to pick Lisa up from ballet practise..."
"And she was late!" Blurted out Lisa. "She was supposed to pick me up at seven, but she didn't come til quarter past seven!"
I smiled weakly at Gerry.
"Oh, Sarah," he said. "You're being a very irresponsible parent. I'm very disappointed in you."
"Sorry, sir," I said, meekly.
Then we both laughed. It was an age-old joke. One we both shared, dated back to the magical day I'd given birth to Larry.
Lisa started tugging at my t-shirt. "Mum!" She whined. "Mum, I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat since school, Mum!"
"Okay, okay," I said. "Come down to the kitchen with me, and tell me what you'd like to have for dinner."
We all ended up traipsing down to the kitchen. Gerry remembered his spag bol in the microwave, and decided to reheat it. Larry decided he fancied a microwavable pizza, even though he'd already eaten a meal at Nelson's.
Lisa took forever and a day, trying to figure out what she wanted for dinner. In the end, she said she wanted a McDonalds', but I couldn't afford it this wek. Seeing the Look of Sadness, I said I would cook her a burger and chips, and put the burger and a slice of cheese between two slices of bread.
"Would you like that, sweetheart?" I asked.
Lisa nodded happily, and raced off into the living-room to stick on "The Little Mermaid" - her latest favourite - leaving me to get on with it.
After I'd put the burger and chips in the oven, and left them to heat up, I sat down and watched Gerry heat up his spag bol. I laughed as he heated it up numourous times, and found it was still cold.
"Darling, you're heating it up for five minutes. Put it on for ten," I told him.
I thought about the dream flat May and I would share. Another thing would be, we wouldn't have to tell each other anything. I wouldn't have to tell May to put the toilet seat down after she'd finished, and she would never have to ask me how long to heat up some spag bol.
I must have had a dreamy look on my face, because suddenly it was Gerry's turn to be a TV aerial interfering with the reception.
He waved his hand across my face. "Sarah? You okay?"
I jerked. Suddenly, I realized, I would have to tell May sooner or later that we have to move in with each other, just the two of us. I couldn't stand all this sneaking, plus Gerry and the kids were pissing me off, even though it really wasn't their faults. Well, it was, in a way, because, I had to be a dutiful wife, and responsible mother, and stay with them. When all the while, I wanted to break their hearts and tell them May was the one for me.
My two consciences paid a quick visit. The angel-on-my-shoulder told me to stay with my family; the devil-on-my-shoulder told me to end it with them, and go to May.
Suddenly, I felt like a zomboid. Something had taken over my body. Something was making me do stuff, but it wasn't me that was controlling It.
"Darling," I heard the Something say. "Darling, I've got something to tell you."
"Yes, what's that?" Gerry took the spag bol out of the microwave and started eating it.
"Look, there's no easy way of saying this, but I think there's someone else who's special waiting out there for me..."

Find out what happens next in Chapter Nine...