15

 

Jude had left. Alex was alone in his boyfriend’s house. Plus the cat. The Niagara Falls-like blood flow coming from his nose had pretty much ceased and he was sitting at the table, tapping his fingers against his mug of tea. His cold mug of tea.

 

He’d been to Jude’s many times before, but never like this. He’d never needed to be there. He’d never gone there seeking solace because he had no where else to turn. He always had somewhere else to go. He always knew that he could go home to his wife and sit and watch Eastenders.

 

But today he couldn’t. He’d gone to Jude’s because he couldn’t stay at home. He felt like an outcast. A dirty rotten freak that nobody wanted. Even Jude had gone. This made Alex quite sad. This made Alex very sad.

 

He looked at the empty seats at the table and decided that he didn’t want to be alone tonight. Jude had gone to see Lara and so that was both of them out of the question. He picked up his phone and started running through his contacts. He looked through them in reverse. No particular reason. Just fancied a change.

 

Zac was first. But Zac was a c**k. Alex worked with Zac at the office and he was one of those people that took his ring off his finger to tap it against his mug to the rhythm of whatever was on the radio. But he was always out of time.

 

Then was Tara. Alex didn’t even know who Tara was. Probably best that way.

 

Third was Richard. Richard was Alex’s brother. Richard was great. He was possibly the Welshest and smallest person that Alex knew. You could get him drunk on £6.50 and when he was pissed, one eye looked straight ahead and the other one went off to the right. It was bloody hilarious.  

 

Alex was close to his brother but regrettably, he lived a 20 minute train journey away and so they didn’t see as much of each other as they’d like. Tonight though, 20 minutes was nothing. Compared with the prospect of a lonely night in his boyfriend’s house with a stinking great cat, the train would be a blessing.

 

After putting his mobile in his pocket, he began to scrabble around in the drawer for a pad to leave Jude a note. He was awful with leaving notes. He never knew what to put. He needed to say where he was going. That was a given. But should he put why? And should he put ‘I love you’ or ‘I love you lots’? And how many kisses?

 

 

Jude,

I’ve gone to Richard’s for a change of scene. I’ll be back soon.

Love you,

Alex

Xx

P.S. I think I got blood on your bath mat. I don’t know if it’ll come out. Sorry  xx

 

 

There. Not too formal. Not too wet.

 

Sorted.

 

He rang Richard while he was walking to the station. Richard was an artist so he wouldn’t be at work. It was most likely that he was watching Casualty. He got by through selling the occasional piece for obscene amounts of money.

 

 

“Hello,” Alex could here Casualty in the background.

“Alright Rich? It’s Alex. You watching Casualty?”

“No…”

At this point, Alex could here his brother fumbling around for the remote. Followed by the sound of a TV being turned off at the plug.

“I was just making a stamp for a piece I’m working on.”

“Right. Anyway, I’m on my way to the station. Is it alright if I come over? I thought we could go for a drink,”

“Whatever Al. Whenever we go out, I’m the only one drinking ‘cos you buy me pints to get me smashed and then make me do stupid stuff to make me look like a twat,” He pronounced ‘stupid’ as ‘stoopid’ with emphasis on the ‘st’ and the ‘p’, “but I’m not complaining. I’ll see you in 20.”

 

And with that, he rang off.