Steve smiled. ‘That’s right and I’m going to finish things with Karen properly and we’re going to move into Sophia’s parents’ house. You see, Sophia is pregnant.’ Steve paused and I realised he was waiting for a response.
‘Oh, oh wow, pregnant,’ I said, looking at Sophia. She nodded and smiled. I didn’t feel it was the right time to recall my nocturnal adventures of rooting around in a wheelie bin at two in the morning and discovering a pregnancy test.
‘So we’ll stay there until she has had the baby, and then we will save up to buy our own house,’ Steve continued. ‘I’m going back into the army at some point – there’s an opportunity for us to move to Dorset to some barracks there, so we have a few choices.’ Steve looked at Sophia with a warm smile and she looked back at him, with an expression on her face I had never seen before and I realised it was admiration. It wasn’t like any look I had seen exchanged between Steve and Karen. I watched them both for a second, then Sophia turned to me.
‘We wanted you to know, Regi, to be the first to know. We respect you a lot, and I know you and Steve never really hit it off—’
‘No, it wasn’t that,’ I tried to defend myself.
‘It’s fine, Regi, you don’t need to pretend. I wasn’t happy with Karen, so I wasn’t really projecting my best self. I had wanted to talk to you about it for such a long time, because you’re older and wiser. I thought you might understand, but every time I went to say something, I lost my nerve. I would go out of my way to try to catch you on your own sometimes, so I’m sorry if I creeped you out. I’m sorry. I don’t really know how to be myself around anyone, really. Except Soph. All those extra days I was there, at the house, well, we became close very quickly. I was confused. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.’
I thought about how I had treated Steve, how his presence had unnerved me. I had felt that tension and uneasiness about him, but it had triggered other thoughts in me.
‘Well, I’m really very happy for you guys. It’s wonderful news.’ I moved closer to Sophia and squeezed her arm.
‘Hey, what’s this? Did I miss a party?’ Will appeared in the doorway. ‘I heard there was power cut this end. Is everyone okay?’
‘We’re fine,’ I said quickly. Will stood for a moment and then launched into the room, his hand outstretched towards Steve. ‘Hi, I’m Will, I’m a lecturer here and also a friend of Regi’s.’
Sophia looked over at me and gave me a small smile whilst Steve and Will shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
‘Hi, I’m Sophia, I’m Regi’s house mate,’ Sophia said as Will moved from Steve to her and shook her hand as well.
‘Are you okay?’ Will looked at me.
‘I’m good.’
‘Great, then I think it’s time for a drink at the pub. Anyone?’
Steve and Sophia said their goodbyes – Steve was going to drop Sophia off at home, and, apparently, they would be telling Karen at the weekend. I decided I would have to make myself scarce when that happened, but for now, I decided to take Will up on his offer of a drink.
It was busier than the last time we had visited the pub but I found I could relax a little easier and found us some seats whilst Will bought the drinks with some cash I had assertively stuffed in his hand after he tried to wave it away.
He arrived at the table with a round tray with two bottles of cider and two glasses. He sat down opposite me and pushed a bottle and a glass my way. I poured the cider out and took a long drink.
Will began asking me about the Sophia and Steve saga. I had briefly mentioned it on the way over to the pub and now in the comfort of the tub chairs with the buzz of the alcohol creeping into my system, I felt ready to share a few anecdotes from my time in the house: from my discovery of the pregnancy kit to the way Steve had made me feel uncomfortable. Will laughed long and loudly at my description of myself wading through the bin at 2 a.m., and he told me it was perfectly understandable that I would feel a little insecure with a guy who you didn’t really know that well coming and going from the house all the time. The conversation was steered back to his family again and his sisters. He was going to visit one of them at the end of the summer term and was looking forward to the break.
‘Any siblings, Regi?’ he asked casually, and sipped his cider.
I shook my head. ‘No. Only child.’ I felt a ripple of apprehension that he would quiz me further. Will looked at me over his glass, waited a beat for me to continue. When I didn’t he put his glass down and said, ‘There’s a pool table round the back there, fancy a game?’
After Will beat me three games to one, we walked out of the pub and back to the uni car park. The night air was a cool contrast to the warm pub and was refreshing against my bare arms. There was a cosy feeling between us as we strolled; one I had forgotten could exist between two people.
‘You want my coat?’ Will offered.
‘No, it feels nice on my skin,’ I said, gazing up at the starry sky. I felt Will’s eyes on me, but when I looked at him he looked away.
Will drove me home and pulled up outside the house, turning off the engine.
‘Don’t want to alarm your house mates,’ he said.
I looked at him and we held each other’s stare for
