Long Macchiatos and Monsters by Alison Evans

Author:Alison Evans [Evans, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The poster in the cafe displays the movies for the next season, and Cat Women of the Moon seems like forever ago, but it's only been two months. There are a few weeks of blockbusters coming up and old movies I haven't heard of. Looking through, I don't see any shitty sci-fi. My phone starts beeping at me—the timer's telling me I need to leave.

"Can I come to your lecture?" P asks.

"My cinema studies lecture?" I ask. "It's a bit shit."

"I want to, though. Could be fun." He grins. "Free education. Let's stick it to the man."

"You would," I say. "Well, if you want. But it's gonna be shithouse, trust me."

We finish our coffees, and by the time we've paid, the drizzle outside has stopped. P practically jogs along beside me as we walk to the tram.

"Will your lecturer mind?" he asks. Like he cares. "How big's the room? They'll notice me," he says, mouth twisted in thought. "I'm too handsome."

I nudge his shoulder with mine. "Your ego is showing."

We step onto the tram, squish in between the school crowd because it's just turned three, and grab a pole because there are no seats. He kisses me quickly, and I lean into his chest. His laugh rumbles under my ear.

"Lean on the cripple, why don't you," he says.

I poke his bellybutton. "You're a dickhead."

He yelps and rubs where I poked. "Too cruel." But he lets me pull him closer. I can smell his shampoo, coconuts.

In the lecture theatre, we sit up the back because P seems to have carried over the cool-kid complex from high school. The theatre won't fill up entirely; now that it's the second last week of term, most people have learnt to stay away. I wouldn't even be here if the lecturer wasn't covering the assignment topic.

"Where are your friends?" he asks as we watch the other students file in.

"I don't really have any," I say, shrugging. "It's not a bad thing," I say when he opens his mouth. "I just... It's hard, making friends." Socialising is too difficult. You have to get to know people, and then sometimes you find out they're a dickhead, but it's too late because now you sit together in class. And then of course there are the nice people who forget your name. And the people who you kinda talk to but then they meet someone more interesting and you're just on the outside, half-participating in the conversation on a topic you don't understand or give two shits about.

"Don't you get lonely?"

I shrug. "Sometimes. But everyone gets that." P's the first new person in a long time that I've got close to. It's easy, like breathing out.

"Or bored?"

"It's fine, P. Like, I've got not-uni friends."

"What about the queer club?" he says. "That's a thing, right?"

"I wouldn't know." Which is a lie. He can see it in my face, too. He raises an eyebrow and I sigh. "I joined in first year."

"And?"

"And," I pause, because I've never told anyone except Roslyn, mostly through drunken rants.

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