Bobby's Girl by Catrin Collier Page B

Grosvenor Square. I didn’t move out of their way fast enough. My uncle sorted it in a couple of hours.’
    â€˜Your rich influential uncle might not be around to sort out the next lot of trouble you get yourself into.’
    She picked up her bra and pants from his bedside locker and began to dress.
    He plumped the pillows behind his head, sat up and watched her. ‘I mean it, Pen. You go to America, we’re through.’
    â€˜Then we’re through.’ She pulled on her jeans. As he was in the bed she lay on the floor to zip them up. She and Kate had each bought two pairs of jeans in London and shrunk them by wearing them while sitting in baths of hot water. As a result, she could only fasten hers when lying on the floor.
    â€˜I’m serious.’
    â€˜So am I.’
    â€˜While you’ve been gallivanting with Kate in London and going on endless shopping trips, I’ve been seeing someone.’
    She’d caught her head in the polo neck of her skinny-rib sweater. Tugging it viciously down, she yanked her long hair. When she finally disentangled herself and emerged, Rich was grinning.
    â€˜Who is she, Rich?’
    â€˜What’s it to you?’
    â€˜I’ve a right to know who you’ve been seeing behind my back.’
    â€˜So you’re saying you have rights over me but I don’t over you?’
    â€˜I don’t have the right to tell you what to do, any more than you have the right to order me around. But given that we’ve been going out together for seven years and you’ve asked me to marry you, I believe I do have the right to know if you’re two-timing me. Who is she, Rich?’ she reiterated.
    He shrugged. ‘A girl; one who appreciates having a boyfriend and knows how to treat him,’ he taunted.
    â€˜I’m glad I found out what you were like before you put a ring on my finger.’
    â€˜You’re the one leaving me.’
    â€˜To work abroad,’ she reminded. ‘I’ve never two-timed you.’
    â€˜What was I supposed to do when you and Kate went up to London for a couple of days? And all the afternoons and evenings you two spent in your hostel making plans? Did you really think I sat around here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for you to give me five minutes of your precious time?’
    â€˜I’m not your court jester, Rich. I assumed you were old enough to amuse yourself.’
    â€˜But evidently not to amuse you.’
    â€˜You’re stifling me, Rich.’
    â€˜By loving you, I’m stifling you?’ he retorted. ‘Well, that’s not how Judy—’ He fell silent after saying more than he’d intended.
    â€˜Judy? Judy Brown?’ Shoes in hand Penny whirled round and faced him.
    â€˜What’s wrong with Judy Brown?’ he challenged.
    â€˜Nothing. I hope you’ll be very happy together.’ Judy was a first-year student who boasted about her ability to drink any boy under the table. The cattiest girls said that Judy prided herself on her ability to down alcohol because she had no other talents, or looks, to fall back on. But that had been after Judy had won a reputation for stealing other girls’ boyfriends.
    â€˜If you don’t go to America, I’ll finish with Judy,’ Rich coaxed.
    She unlocked the door. ‘For Judy’s sake, I hope you’ve been more honest with her than you have with me.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜You just said you’d finish with her if I stayed.’
    â€˜You’ll stay?’ He sat up eagerly.
    â€˜If I wouldn’t stay before you told me you were two-timing me, I certainly won’t now. You’ve just given me all the more reason to go. Does Judy know she’s your second string?’
    â€˜She knows about you. The whole bloody college has known we’re an item since the day we arrived.’
    â€˜We were an item, Rich.’ She wrenched the door open.
    â€˜Pen.’