TAN LINES: EXCERPT

AN EXCERPT FROM THE SHORT STORY

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'So you went for the Hollywood,' the man says as the door hits the wall and sends the whole flat shaking. 'Classy.'

The girl on the bed sits up with a gasp, and for a couple of seconds she simply stares at this man who's entered her bedroom, as if unsure whether he’s an apparition from her dream or her reality. He doesn’t move as he waits for her to decide, listening from his doorway to the aircon humming, the Sukhumvit traffic beeping, the thunderous sound of the door still reverberating through his head.

'How the fuck did you get in?' she says eventually, deciding on her latter assumption. Without taking her left hand off her breast, she uses the other to retrieve the duvet that's fallen to the side and exposed her nudity.

'I always thought you were against a full shave,' the man says and walks over to the wardrobe. He slides it open and starts going through the t-shirts on the top shelf. 'Said it reinforced the sexualisation of children,' he continues as he extracts an old, faded grey shirt, 'didn't you?'

'How did you get in?' the girl repeats, more slowly this time.

‘Always told you to latch the door,' the man shrugs, ‘never did you listen.'

'I seem to remember locking the door.'

'Have you got my Cramps t-shirt? The yellow one with the girl bending over?'

Instead of replying to this, the girl starts walking her sitting bones back towards the headboard. With her back against the wood, she slides her legs underneath her body and wraps the duvet around her until only the face is visible.

'You're gonna get very hot that way,' the man says and looks at her over the Iggy and the Stooges t-shirt held out in front of him. 'Wish you'd kept the fan now, don't you?'

'Hand me the keys.'

'No can do, m'fraid,' says the man and drops the t-shirt in a black leather handbag on the floor.

'That's my bag.'

The man shrugs. 'This is my flat. Doesn't seem to make much difference to you.'

'We had an agreement.'

'That was before you started shaving your pubes. Is this a Mulberry?'

'What business of yours is it what I do with my pubes?'

'How the hell could you afford a Mulberry?'

‘You can’t come here, Billy.'

Billy lets his hands drop to the sides, a black button-up shirt landing outside of the handbag. 'Two weeks, Nina,' he says and looks at Nina. 'Two fucking weeks.'