When Alice woke up, she felt a little better about her situation, weirdly, considering the position she was in. At least she now knew Adam was using the pictures for “personal use” and not for plastering over the internet like a bitch.
While it was creepy to think about it, it was also a compliment. Her ex used to look at porn all the time and it made Alice feel like she wasn’t attractive enough. Now she was the porn. Even though she was being forced and putting herself completely at the mercy of another person, something about having him look at her that way felt almost empowering. She was almost excited about taking nude pictures. As weird as that was to admit.
Looking over at her phone, Alic
Alice stared at the message from Adam for a full five minutes before sighing, “I’m going to need more than just one drink.”“Did you say something, Hun?” Joseph asked. He was dithering behind the bar, doing little cleaning jobs that never got done when the place was packed. When he wandered over, cleaning a glass with a yellow cloth, it made Alice feel like she was staring in a film. There literally hadn’t been a bartending scene in history, ever, where the bartender wasn’t polishing a glass with a dirty cloth.She considered asking for a dirty martini with two olives on a cocktail stick but ultimately went with something more familiar.
When Alice woke up her mouth felt as though she’d spent the prior evening eating mouthfuls of sand followed up with bleach chasers. As the haziness in her brain subsided the memories came flooding in, filling every corner of her mind and making her feel somewhat nauseous.‘I sucked his dick,’ she thought. The strangest thing about it was how guilty she felt. It wasn’t as if she had a boyfriend anymore, and even if she did… he was a cheating scumbag. Adam was only a year or so younger so she was fine on that front too… the age gap might seem odd now but when he was 30 and she was 31 it wouldn’t be significant enough to even class as a gap.It was the inherent seediness
Ste was just tidying away the brushes from his art lesson when they appeared. His old gang plus his replacement. Every time he saw Jamie it felt like a kick straight to his stomach.He’d offered to help clean up the classroom in a desperate attempt to avoid Adam and the others. Normally, they wouldn’t have thought to look for him here, being a bunch of underachieving delinquents, but Jamie was different. He was smart.“Aren’t you the good little boy, offering to help the teacher,” Reece commented. He picked up a piece of artwork that was drying on the side, gave it a look of contention then dropped it like it was a piece of trash. After giving his input Reece turned away from the gr
Alice was sitting in an English lesson when she received the dreaded message.“At 11am you will call me for phone sex.”‘Phone sex??!!’ Alice cried internally. ‘I can’t have phone sex! What even is phone sex?’11am was break time at Adam’s school. Alice knew this since she’d gone to the same place before deciding to give it up in favour of the local college. Her school offered the same choices, but something about going to college made her feel grown-up. Independent. 
On the walk to the bus stop, Alice was still deep in thought about Alek. Was it possible the TA was attracted to her? Or was Joseph just being Joseph.She was concentrating so intensely that she failed to notice Josh trying to get her attention. Glancing up, she frowned as she found him waving his art folder at her, saying, “Hello, world to Alice.”“Sorry, Josh,” Alice said, wondering why Josh had dashed over and flagged her down. Aside from the odd hello or sporadic conversations about paintbrushes, they hadn’t really spoken before.“Hey Alice, I sent you a friend request,&rd
When Dad dropped her at home Alice waved bye and rushed into the house. After an unseasonably warm Autumn, the weather was just beginning to cool down and the first signs of frost were appearing, glittering the tips of lawns and the edges of car windows.A blanket of warm air enveloped Alice as she entered her home. She searched the house for Jamie and found him in his room.“That was a real dick move,” she scolded him, bursting into his bedroom without walking.“Learn to knock,” Jamie tutted.
Ste squeezed through the crack in the fence, his trainers sliding on the wet mud and grass as he tried to unhook his shirt from a splinter in the wooden panel. He was ten over ten minutes late so figured Adam and the other would definitely be in class by now. They had to be.He spun on his heels to find Jamie staring him down with cat-like eyes.“Shit,” Ste gasped, an involuntary slip of the tongue. He didn’t bother to apologise or explain his outburst. “Where are the others?”“In class, I presume,” Jamie said. “You are ten minutes late, you know?”
Alice hadn’t stopped thinking about Adam all day. Part of her felt stupid—for being so rubbish in bed and failing at the most basic of sexual positions. Yet, there was a part of her that was excited to try again. That initial feeling of him entering her was something she craved. Every time she thought about it, the craving deepened, leaving her sitting in class while uncomfortably wet. If she got any hornier, she ran the risk of ending up like the creepy kid who’d been caught masturbating in the toilets.After lunch, Alice met Ed and Joseph in Art class. Ed was giving details about his date, who was apparently the only woman in existence who lived for Warhammer and LARPing. She was hot, too, Ed explained, which was always a plus.
The old park was on the outskirts of town, roughly an equal distance between his location and Jamie’s. Still, he ran the entire distance, not wanting Jamie to get there first and be forced to wait around, having no clue as to what was going on. Ste leaned on the old goalpost as he caught his breath. His lungs were on fire, probably because of the smoking, but all that realisation did was make him crave a cigarette. ‘I need one to calm my nerves,’ Ste told himself. With a shaking hand, Ste dropped the pack of cigarettes as he went to retrieve one. A couple fell into a puddle and weren’t rescuable, but he scooped up the dry ones and poked them back into the packet, popping one between his lips. The cigarette made him feel lightheaded but slightly less panicked as he awaited Jamie’s arrival. He saw Jamie in the distance, walking at a slow pace toward him. He looked so small and innocent, hugging his oversized hoodie around himself and wrapped in a pink scarf. Ste wanted to hug him, m
“I need you to do something for me,” Jamie said, staring into Ste’s eyes with an intensity he’d never seen before. “And I'm afraid you aren’t going to like it.”“What is it?” Ste asked, dreading to think what Jamie might ask of him.“I planted a little seed in Adam’s mind. He thinks he’s so smart but he’s as easy to manipulate as anyone else. You remember when I mentioned that teen gangster who let all of his mates shag his girlfriend?” Jamie said.‘No… he wouldn’t want that to happen to his own sister. Sur
Alice smiled at Joseph, trying to focus on what he was telling her.She couldn’t.All she could think about was Adam. He never replied to her message about meeting Dave. This was either because he didn’t care, or he was annoyed about it.‘Or seething with rage about it,’ Alice thought with a shiver of dread.“So… should I say yes?” Joseph asked.
Seeing them there, holding hands and staring deeply into each other’s eyes, Adam almost couldn’t believe it.It had to be a mistake.Surely.Adam realised he’s stopped walking only when Ste walked into him and almost tripped over.“Sorry,” Ste uttered in a panicked voice, even though they both knew the collision had been Adam’s fault.Realising he had no choi
Alice smiled to herself as put her phone down and got ready for school. She was still smiling as she brushed her hair and applied her lip gloss, happy with how she looked today.After practically floating down the stairs, Alice greeted her family in the kitchen.“Yay, panda-cakes,” Alice cried, seeing the pancakes. “Thanks, mum.”Alice poured syrup and blueberries onto her stack, then tried to eat the pile of food without messing up her makeup.“You’re cheerful this m
Adam held his phone, thumbs hovering over the screen.‘Should I message her?’ he wondered. Would it be weird? Or would she be happy to hear from him?Adam shrugged to himself. If she didn’t want to talk, she could always ignore him.He unblocked Alice and sent her a good morning message.He smiled when she replied almost immediately.‘I wonder if she’s
Ste sat at the table, pretending he didn’t hear Alice pleading with her brother on his behalf.‘You can be the better person’… those words stung. He knew what she meant; that Jamie didn’t have to stoop to Ste’s level. Still… she was trying to do him a favour. He must really look pathetic.His reflection in the window confirmed this. He looked life ‘death warmed up’ as his granny would say.Ste still felt awkward enough as it was, being at Jamie’s house. Even dressed up in Jamie’s designer clothes—like a living Ken doll as Jamie pu
When Alice arrived at Adam’s gate, she almost turned around and walked away. He hadn’t invited her. He despised her, it seemed. Would he be angry about her showing up unannounced?She was mulling it over when she overheard a voice.“Please Adam, you have got to stop skipping classes. You know the soc’ is on my back. You managed to clean up the house for Christ’s sake… why can’t you just behave in school?”It was Mike.The smell of smoke wafted over the fe
Jamie plonked the shirt on the counter and coolly told the cashier he wanted to return it.The girl looked at him, swallowed, and muttered, “Erm, you can’t return it if you’ve worn it—”“The stitching is coming undone. I’ve worn it once. It’s shoddy,” Jamie told her. In truth, there was nothing wrong with the stitching aside from the portion he’d unpicked by hand. It hadn’t been easy either; the quality of the garment was, in fact, annoyingly high.The truth was, Jamie had spent the last of his allowance on clothes and left himself short. Now he c