The train smells of old chips and coffee grounds. God, I could murder an Americano and a brownie bite. I spend far too much at Pret. Should eat more fruit, at least an apple once in a blue moon.
*
His hand on your waist as you dance, twirling you away, then back into his arms. Vodka-slackened, your limbs float weightless in the mirrorball light.
*
That woman seriously shouldn’t wear those trousers. Not judging, but if she could see herself, she wouldn’t do it. It’s so hot in here. Would it piss anyone off if I opened a window? Why has nobody done it already? It can’t just be me.
*
Bumping along on staggery heels, steered by his arm. You pass some girl puking and crush up against him to dodge the backsplash.
*
Did I save the changes I made to the report last night? I must have. It’s an instinct thing, saving, almost unconscious. Except when it isn’t.
*
Sheets that smell of hair and sweat, fumbling, groping, the clatter of shoes hitting the floor. Your fingers on his belt, him shoving up your bra, catching your nipple on the underwire.
*
Does that idiot know how loud he’s shouting on his phone? How can he not know? He thinks he’s sooo important with his interfacing and liaising and nights out in Shoreditch buying drinks for women who go home with other guys. You can just tell. His neck’s damp above his collar. Why won’t he open a window?
*
The second it goes in, that swooning hit of pleasure, then the usual clown show while rain clitters on a window. In the half-light, you see he’s not your type at all. He calls a taxi and lets you out the front door in a street you’ll never be able to find again.
*
My period will come today, it will.
I’m sure of it.
***
Fiona J. Mackintosh is the Scottish-American author of a flash collection, The Yet Unknowing World published by Ad Hoc Fiction. She is a past winner of the Fish, Bath, and Reflex prizes, and her flashes have been selected for Best Small Fictions 2019 and 2023, Best Microfiction 2019, and the 2018-19 BIFFY 50. Her short stories have been finalists for the Cairde Word, Colm Toíbín, Bristol, Galley Beggar, Exeter, and Fish Short Story Prizes. In 2016, she received an Individual Artist’s Award from the Maryland State Arts Council. www.fionajmackintosh.com
***
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