It was a long, unusually hot summer. Lilly and Teddy spent most of it swimming in the Morgan's pool. There wasn't much opportunity for 'Stig and Lucy watching' since Stig's family was taking a long vacation in Florida. And Lilly and Teddy's own friendship was budding into romance quite nicely. Lucy watched them chasing each other around the pool with reserved amusement. She suddenly felt very old – and very vulnerable. In a few short weeks she would be leaving home to go to college. She tried to spend her time enjoying her family life and the things around her that would, oh so soon, be gone.
She opened her laptop in her room, logged in to Facebook and typed a private message.
L: Your cousin and my sister are chasing each other round the pool. When did that happen?
S: Teddy and a girl??????!!!! Roflmfao!
L: I kid you not. How's Miami?
S: Hot.
L: The weather or the girls?
S: Both.
L: You are so predictable, Stig!
S: You asked. How's London?
L: Hot. And no the guys aren't.
S: Ha! Ha! You mean you aren't spending all your time at 'Choke and float' eyeing up the talent?
L: What talent? I went to school with those guys.
S: Aw come on. Matt might be there.
L: Not funny.
S: You could always give Austin a call.
L: Like your taste in girls is any better.
S: I'm having a nice girl-free vacation at the moment. Looking but not touching.
L: Yeah right. I just saw a pig coming into land.
S: Oh ye of little faith.
L: Stig. The day you aren't chatting up a girl is the day I jack in my university career and go sailing round the world with a hairdresser called Ramone.
S: Aw! And I was so looking forward to going to Queen's with you. Have a nice trip.
L: Moron.
S: Lamebrain
L: Jerk
S: Keener
L: I gotta go. Mom wants me to go grocery shopping with her.
S: This rock n roll life you lead.
L: Like your life is any better.
S: Hey. I'm the one in Miami!
L: Because your father is paying for it.
S: Have fun. Don't trip over in canned goods, Klutzilla.
Lucy shut her laptop down, not entirely sure why she had just had that conversation. There had been a few like it lately. Sometimes it was her that sent the first message, sometimes it was Stig. There had been a conversation the day before yesterday when Stig was still in London, and one the day before that. There hadn't been one yesterday because he was travelling, but now this conversation. It was almost as though they couldn't go a day without arguing with each other.
Stig didn't close his laptop. Instead, he explored Lucy's Facebook profile and left "witty" comments on all her photos. He paused on the photo she had taken of him in the back of his dad's car. It reminded of something and he alt-tab'd to the main screen and clicked through his folders until he found the file he was looking for.
When they had shared the hotel room in Kingston, the memory of the whole 'drooling Stig' business was recent and although he appreciated her phoning his ex and smoothing over the fall-out with her, it didn't escape the fact she had taken a photo of him in an unguarded moment. He was itching to do the same to her. So he had waited until she was sound asleep in the bed next to his and then taken a photo of her, hair spread across the pillow.
It had back-fired though. Because when he had looked at the picture afterwards in the cold light of day he realised he could never post it. For two reasons: firstly, she had a pair of pyjamas with a strappy top, and in the picture the straps weren't visible so she looked like she was naked beneath the sheets; secondly, far from looking horrifically bad, she looked incredible, beautiful, completely at peace. He realised this is what you would see if you woke up beside her; which meant he could not post the picture, because posting it would be sharing that sight, and he didn't want to.
Posting it would also reveal something about Stig that he wasn't ready to share.
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Lucy did go to "Choke and Float" later that day with one of her friends, a rather petite extravert who went by the name of Chloe. They sat in a booth, drank rather large milkshakes and shared a pastry.
"So. Any good gossip?" Chloe asked. Lucy smiled and shook her head. Chloe continued. "I hate the summer. All the exciting stuff happens over the summer and then you have to wait until the Fall to find out about it." She sighed. "Except of course we won't find out because we'll all be spread across Canada. The last decent thing of any note was when Stig dumped Jessica. He's probably been through five girlfriends since then."
Lucy looked into her milkshake and said casually, "The last I heard he was crying off girls for a while." Chloe shook her head.
"Nah. Guys like Stig always have a girl. Whoever you spoke to has it totally wrong."
"Yeah you're probably right."
"Luce. I'm always right."
Lucy smiled inwardly. She wondered what Chloe would say if she knew that information had come directly from Stig. On reflection she decided not to share – the biggest piece of summer gossip might be that Stig had started to have daily conversations with "Klutzilla".
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Later that night, her phone vibrated on the nightstand waking her up. Who the hell was phoning her at1.30 in the morning? When she saw the call display she didn't believe it.
"It's 1.30 in the morning, Steven." She said, using his "bad" name in her frustration.
"Did you know that a pig's orgasm can last thirty minutes?" he said, in disbelief.
"Please tell me you called for some other emergency like you left a tap running rather than to tell me that."
"Hey. Come on! This is important information for life."
"Stig. I'm tired. I was asleep."
"Well. I needed to tell someone, I just googled it."
"Why did you google it?"
"What else is there to do at 1.30am?"
"I don't know…sleep?"
"You have no life."
"Says the guy who stays up late googling sex facts about farmyard animals." She said, laughing despite herself.
"I made you laugh though."
"Next time you want to make me laugh, could you do it in the daytime."
"It's more fun at night."
"You really are evil, you know that."
"Better the devil you know." He said. And both their thoughts turned to the graduation ceremony.