"Well, it's a great day for doing washing," was the third thing the girl said to the boy. The first thing was "How was your flight?" The second thing got muffled in the hug he gave her. He wheeled his suitcase into her bedroom. The curtains of her window were open, which was unusual. The window was a bay window, with six panes of separate pieces of glass, three of which could be opened. The girl had opened two, leaving the middle window closed.
"Are you airing the room?" the boy said.
"Yes, I thought I"d make it smell fresh for you. I cleaned too. Can you tell?"
"Yeah, I can tell," the boy said. He sat down on the newly made bed and opened his arms for her to come over and hug him. She went over and sat on his knee.
"You smell nice," she said.
"I've been travelling, sweating," he said. "I don't smell nice."
"You do," she said, then added, "I've missed your smell." The boy pushed his hand up the girl's top and cupped her bra, squeezed, then pushed his hand inside. He began kissing the girl. The girl kissed back, then pulled away and pushed the boy's hand down, out of her bra, and out of her top.
"What?" he said.
"She'll be home soon," the girl said.
"So?" the boy said.
"So, you know," the girl said. "It'll have to wait." The boy rolled his eyes. He began kissing the girl again, pushed his hand up, and into the bra. Again, the girl stopped him after a few seconds.
"Alright," the boy said and took his hand out of her top.
"Let's get your washing on," she said, "so you don't have to worry about it later."
"Whatever," the boy said, but then opened the suitcase. He took all the dirty clothes out, which were folded as if they were clean. He separated them into whites and colours. The girl took the white pile through to the kitchen and put it in the washing machine. She put two tablets into a net sack and put it in with the load, then pressed "on". The boy watched her. She turned round, and leaned on the counter above the washing machine, holding it with both hands.
"I thought you said she'd be out all day?" the boy said.
"Yeah, I thought she would be. But she's not now," the girl said.
"I don't see how it makes any difference. We've done it loads of times before when she's been in."
"I know, but, I don't know, I just..."
"Ok," the boy said. "It doesn't matter." The girl looked down at the floor.
"Do you want me to show you what I bought you?" the boy said.
"Yes!" the girl said and folded her hands together, as if praying.
"Come on then," the boy said, and took her hand and led her back into the bedroom. He kneeled down and began taking things out of the suitcase. His toiletries bag, a book she lent him which he hadn't read, a pair of flip-flops.
"Here," he said, holding out a plastic bag.
"What is it?" the girl said. "It's heavy."
"Have a look," he said.
"Alright," she said, and opened the bag. Inside was a giant lollypop, its head the size of a large grapefruit.
"Wow," the girl said. "It's massive."
"Yeah, I know," he said, zipped up the bag, and sat on the swivel chair by her dressing table. The girl held the lollipop with both hands, one hand on the head, and one on the stick. She stood leaning against the radiator, half sitting on it.
"Come here," he said, patting his knee with his hand. "Tell me what you've been up to." The girl walked over, still holding the lollipop. She perched on his knee.
"Nothing much," she said. "You know anyway."
"Yeah, but..." he said, then trailed off. He ran his hand up her hair, cut into a bob, the bottom hairs near her neck shaved off to make a blunt line. "You must have been doing stuff."
"I've mainly been bored really," she said, turned her head to look at him, then turned it straight again. The boy grabbed the dressing table with his left hand and swivelled the chair, with the girl still sitting on his knee.
"What are you doing?" the girl said, now letting go of the top of the lollipop and grabbing onto the arm of the chair. The boy kept spinning around. Then he started laughing, and the girl started laughing too. Suddenly the boy stopped the chair by grabbing the table. The girl stood up, walked over to the bed and sat down. The boy swivelled again, but not all the way around, just a little to the left, then a little to the right. Then he sat facing the dressing table.
"What's this?" he said, picking up a bottle of perfume.
"Perfume," she said.
"When did you get it?"
"The other day."
"I could have got you some in the airport. You should have said."
"Yeah, I know. It was an impulse buy."
"What is it?"
"Flower Bomb."
"Flower Bomb," he repeated. He held it up to the light, then lowered it and threw it to his other hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing," he said, and carried on looking at it. "It looks like a grenade."
"Oh?" she said.
"Yeah, more like a First World War grenade. They called them mills bombs."
"Yeah," she said, and put her index finger up to her lips and bit on the nail.
"That's probably why they made the bottle like that."
"Yeah?"
"Marketing," he said, and put the bottle back on the dressing table. "Where did you get it did you say?"
"Selfridges," she said. "The other day."
"You've used quite a lot."
"Not really," she said, and put her middle finger in her mouth.
When the washing machine stopped, the girl went into the kitchen and got the load out and put it into a plastic basket. The boy sat on the couch reading a magazine.
"Shall we go into the garden?" the girl said.
"Yeah, alright," the boy said.
"Bring that blanket," the girl said, pointing to a pink one slung over a chair. It had bits of grass on it.
The garden was long, with the girl's bedroom window directly overlooking it. The boy shook the blanket, and some of the old dried up grass fell off. The girl began hanging the white clothes on the washing line, which stretched across the full length of the lawn.
The boy lay down on the blanket and sat watching the girl. "Why are you doing it like that?" he said.
"Like what?" the girl said.
"Using so many pegs?"
"How do you mean?" the girl said, and stopped hanging the clothes. The boy stood up and took the peg out of her hand, and overlapped the end of one t-shirt, with the end of another. "Like this."
"Oh,"
"It's quicker that way," the boy said, and lay back down on the blanket. The girl got more pegs and carried on doing it his way.
When she finished, the girl picked up the basket and brought it over to the blanket and sat down, pulling her knees up to her chin. The boy was lying down flat on his back. "Lie down," he said. The girl lay down next to him. The boy took her hand in his. It was clammy. Neither of them said anything. The sky was clear blue but for a white cross, which had been made by two planes.
"Looks like the Scottish flag," the boy said.
"Yeah," the girl said, and wiped her other clammy hand on the blanket. The boy leaned in and kissed her neck.
"Have you got that perfume on today," the boy said.
"No," the girl said.
"Why not?"
"I don't know." The boy lay back down straight again and closed his eyes.
Before they saw her, they heard the clicking of her heels on the tarmac driveway. They were still lying down on the blanket, the boy with his eyes closed, the girl looking at the dissolving Scottish flag. The girl sat up first, then the boy.
"Hi," said Maria as she came round the corner.
"Hi," said the boy and the girl in unison.
"You're back," said Maria to the boy.
"Yeah, I got back this afternoon," said the boy.
"Good holiday?" said Maria, still standing up.
"Not bad," said the boy. "Wish I could have come back earlier though," he added, looking at the girl. The girl looked down at her toenails, painted orange and chipped.
"Well, you're together again now eh," said Maria. The boy smiled. The girl looked up at Maria, then looked down at her toes again.
"I better get in the house," said Maria. "Get changed." She flung her handbag over her shoulder and walked off.
The boy took the girl's face into his hands and kissed her. The girl kissed back, then pulled away. They lay down on the blanket again, this time closer, the girl on her side, the boy behind her, with his hand on her thigh. They lay like this for a while, then fell asleep.
The girl heard the sound, and shook the boy to wake up.
"What?" he said.
"I've just heard a crash," she said. "There's been some kind of crash." The boy stood up and they both ran to the front of the house.
Maria was standing to the left of the drive. Her ponytail was loose, wisps of hair concealed her eyes. She was standing in front of a green Volkswagen Polo, and in her hand she held the lollipop the boy had given to the girl. The windscreen was cracked and the wing-mirrors were smashed.
"What are you doing!" the girl said to Maria.
"Those fuckers next door were having really fucking loud sex again, and I just snapped. I just bloody snapped," Maria said. She lowered the lollipop, so that its head was now facing the tarmac. The girl looked at the boy, who was looking at Maria with his mouth wide open.