Here To Stay

by Mark Edwards

That’s my name. Elliot Foster.’ She grinned. ‘I’m Gemma. Gemma Robinson.’

No more wasting time. No more wasting life. From now on, I was going to be impetuous and brave. Willing to take risks.

Anyone who has ever fallen hard will understand. The magic of those early days, when you are consumed by each other, when your whole body thrums in the presence of this new significant other and aches when you’re apart. Two months passed at lightning pace, like one of those speeded-up films of flowers blooming.

Gemma’s parents, sticking out my hand. I knew their names, of course. Jeff and Lizzy. The Robinsons.

Next time, I decided, I would challenge Lizzy if she insulted Gemma. This was Gemma’s house now, as well as mine, and her parents had no right to come here and upset her.

The house felt strange with other people in it, and I thought I could hear voices too, so quiet they might have been in my head.

You know I don’t have much experience of big families, but from what I’ve seen there are two types. The type where everything is out in the open, where they argue and shout and slam doors, and where disagreements are dealt with loudly and quickly. And the other type, where no one really says what they mean, where everyone tiptoes around and emotions are kept buried.’

I didn’t really know her. I didn’t know her family. I had invited a bunch of strangers into my home. I was gripped by a sensation of dread – of cold, vertiginous regret. What had I done? What the hell—

It had been a good day.

It was the last good day we had.

You’re better than them, I heard my dad say. Now all I had to do was prove it.