enough for you. Who is she? How long have you been seeing her for?’
His voice still sounded utterly panicked. ‘She’s just some girl that practically stalks me. I don’t like her and I’ve never met up with her before. I was just drunk once and stupidly gave her my number. She means nothing to me, I promise. This would have been the first time I met her and I wouldn’t have gone through with it. I was just messing around! You’re the one I love. I’ve never cheated on you. You have to believe what I’m saying.’
His pathetic lies almost made her laugh. ‘Stop lying to me. I’m not stupid!’
‘You can’t leave me here like this. I know you’re not that out of order.’
‘You’ve been sleeping with another girl, Tom! Do you want to bet that I won’t leave you here?’
‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ Tom’s voice was small as the reality hit him that she wasn’t going to let him free.
‘Well, believe it,’ she said, walking away with his clothes.
‘Jade! Please! You can’t do this to me! Just let me go and we’ll talk about it! You can’t leave me like this!’
It was hard not to enjoy how distraught he sounded. He deserved everything he got. What they had had was special, but now he’d gone and spoilt everything. She would never and could never forgive him. Now she knew everything had been a lie, and no longer thought of him as the same amazing boyfriend who she could trust with her heart. She was so angry she could scream.
‘Goodbye Tom,’ she said, drawing the curtains on the stage.
She could hear him violently trying to pull the handcuffs off the bed and break them. The metal rattled but didn’t give way.
‘Jade! Let me go! Let me explain! Please, it’s really cold! You can’t do this!’
She opened the doors to the theatre and walked out, leaving them wide open. She threw his clothes in a dustbin in the car park, satisfied he wouldn’t find them there. It was over. Now he too would feel as humiliated as she had. The feeling of guilt was gnawing away at her, so she forced herself to think of why she’d done it, and started to smirk as she imagined how people were going to find him in his sorry naked state. Tom certainly wouldn’t be pulling off the role of Sleeping Beauty anytime soon.
All her plans were over, finished. There was no way she would stay in Bath now. There were too many memories and besides, who would she even live with? Her closest friends had all moved out of their shared house and gone back home a month ago, straight after their last exam, which is why she had moved in two sociology students who had just left halls and were going into their second year. She hardly even knew them and hadn’t bothered making much conversation because she thought she’d be moving in with Tom soon. Jade’s lease was up soon so the best option was to move back home. But Jade felt as though Bath was her home now – that was the problem. Bath, with its beautiful countryside and stunning architecture. Jade never would have even thought about things like that when she lived in Essex. She’d changed; could she really go back? Being in Essex was like her part-time life now, and this was where she lived.
Jade got into the driver’s seat of her car and cried. Her anger had melted away and now she just felt a raw emotional pain. She had loved Tom. But now he’d ruined it all.
After a day of moping about and feeling sorry for herself, Jade looked out of the window and saw her dad’s car pull up outside the flat. She looked around, sadly. She’d packed up her whole life in Bath in boxes, bags and suitcases and was ready to leave.
Yesterday had been one of the toughest days of her life. Tom was still the only thing she could think about. She had been with him for two and a half years and still couldn’t believe what had happened. Jade had been willing to change herself and her life to please him and he’d done nothing but lie and cheat in return. She’d already heard what had happened to him in the theatre; he’d been found by the cast of the play. Apparently someone had taken a photo on their mobile of him running away in a dress and it was going around Facebook. She thought that by publicly humiliating him it would make her feel better, but now she just felt nothing but sad.
She was tired. Tired of thinking about him and nothing else. Tired of only caring about her heartache and not having any interest in doing anything. It was as though nothing in her life was important. She felt so emotional about everything. Even an advert about animal cruelty had made her cry. She knew it had only just happened and she was bound to be upset, but she wondered; how long would she go on feeling like this? She was a complete mess, and didn’t want to talk to anyone, apart from Kelly and Lisa.
Tom had bombarded her with messages begging her to forgive him, insisting he’d never do it again, saying that despite what she had done to him, he still wanted to be with her. Jade had replied just once, to say that if he’d ever cared about her at all he’d leave her alone and let her get on with her life. Hopefully he would.
*
Jade opened the door to her dad before he knocked. He smiled at her as he walked along the path.
‘Hi Dad,’ she said, hugging him and kissing his cheek as he stepped through the door.
‘Hello love,’ he replied, wiping his feet on the welcome mat. ‘How have you been?’
‘I’ve been okay,’ she lied.
‘So is this everything?’ He pointed at her things on the floor, all ready to go. ‘You don’t need help with the packing then? That’s a bit of luck,’ he joked.
‘Yeah, I’ve done it all already. That’s everything.’
‘So, you’ve broken up with Tom? I thought it was all going well.’
Jade shrugged. ‘Things change.’
He laughed. ‘Just when your mum and I thought we’d got rid of you, eh?’
She managed a weak smile. Her dad wasn’t very good in these situations. He hated talking about feelings and even though she knew he loved her immensely, he’d never been particularly affectionate. He was a man’s man, as her mum always said.
Her father looked at her, concerned, and put his hand gently on her shoulder. ‘Are you sure you’re alright, love?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said, brushing him off and turning round to face the boxes. She couldn’t talk to her dad, she’d just get upset and she didn’t want him to see that. She just wanted to go home. ‘Right, shall we start to pack the car up then or did you want a cup of tea first?’
‘That’s alright. I stopped on the way for petrol and got some lunch and a coffee. Let’s head back shall we, and hopefully we’ll miss the traffic.’
‘Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate you helping me,’ Jade replied, and started to pick up the boxes to take to his car. There wasn’t enough room for everything to be put in her Mini, but she felt bad making her dad drive all the way down to Bath to help her. She sat in her car waiting for her dad to pull away so she could follow him.
As she drove down the road, a tear
