“Mum! Mum!” Beth called downstairs, “What time is it?” 

“You’ve got a bloody clock on your computer, use that!” her mum called.

“But it might be wrong!” Beth insisted.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake … it’s … oh, hang on, got the wrong glasses on … it’s 7.30ish.” she called.

“Ish? Ish? Ish is no good mum!” shouted Beth, irritation evident in her tone.

“At the third stroke, the time will be … 7.38pm and 10 seconds, precisely.” Came a monotonous, sarcastic call back up the stairs.

“The speaking clock does not exist any more, mum!” Beth shouted, losing any patience she had whatsoever.

Beth looked at her mobile. It too confirmed 7.38pm and it too confirmed Miles had not called yet.

Text messages regularly chimed from Jess.

“Has he called yet?”

“He’s probably still with his dad?”

“My folks starting 2 freak bout 2moro appointment. Think reality of my situation sinkin in!”

Beth responded to the last text with a call. She could tell Jessica needed a friendly voice and if Miles did call her while she was on the phone, she’d be alerted and could call Jessica back afterwards.

“Hey, he not phoned yet?” Jessica’s voice sounded thick, like she had a cold.

“You ok, Jess? You sound funny?” Beth asked.  She heard Jess sniff and blow her nose lightly and came back on the phone.

“Just been crying. Don’t know if it’s hormones or the fact that mum and dad are like wolves circling around each other downstairs. Neither of them can look at me for more than a few moments. They’re just so, so anxious, B … and I did this to them!”

Beth heard gentle sobbing from the other end of the line and longed to be able to gather Jess up in her arms and tell her everything would be OK.

“Jess, they’ve been so great up until now, the cracks were going to show. No matter what you decide, it will change you and your life forever. They have the advantage of having lived a much longer, richer life than you and so they can probably see the issues you face with much greater clarity.”

Beth stopped, there was silence on the other end and she was concerned for a moment that Jess had hung up.

“You’re right,” she said softly, sniffing. “When did you get so wise, anyway? It was like you read that straight from a Woman’s Own or something!”

Beth laughed, “Benefit of being an observer for so long. If you’re not participating, you begin to analyse everything around you and can observe things without being bogged down with the emotional shit of being amongst it yourself.”

“Yeah, but participating is a lot more fun though, come on admit it?” Jess pushed.

“Yes, I suppose. But it’s a lot scarier. I feel more vulnerable now than I ever have, Jess. If say … your friendship with me turned out to be the biggest Clone prank ever, then, I can safely say that will probably finish me.” Beth paused and panic rose in her stomach.

“Oh Lord,” she thought to herself, “What if it is …”

“B? B? You trailed off there? What do you mean?” Jessica asked, concern in her voice.

“You know, if …” Beth’s tone became uneasy, “You’re faking …”

Silence.

“Jess, Jess?”

Beth waited for Jess to respond and then heard her sighing.

“Beth, you really have big trust issues, don’t you? You don’t even trust your own feelings for Miles and it’s going to take me a while to convince you that you can trust me, isn’t it?”

Beth, relieved at Jessica’s response, agreed with her. “Jess, out of all the Clones, I’d say you were the quietest and the one least likely to revel in their daily conquests. It’s not that at all though. You could be a saint or you could be … Lucy … I’d still be a little wary. It’s just the way I am. If I let people in, I become vulnerable. People have taken advantage of my vulnerabilities in the past by bullying me and, well, shielding myself is way easier than getting close.”

“Tool,” Jess responded, “Ah well, I can’t blame you, I suppose. Oh, … I can hear them arguing again, but they’re trying to do it quietly. Honestly B, there’s nothing more disconcerting than hearing your parents whisper angrily at each other!”

“What are they rowing about?” Asked Beth, then immediately feeling stupid because it would be obvious.

“Guess!” Jess replied dryly, “Dad thinks I need to make a decision really soon, but mum wants me to wait and speak to the counsellor for the full 6 sessions before I make a decision. That means I’ll be 6 more weeks into the pregnancy and probably showing by then. It’d also mean if I decided to … not have the baby … well, then the procedure would be a lot more difficult and invasive. To be honest B, my dad appears to be researching all this stuff and mum and I want to stay in denial.”

Beth suddenly felt really guilty. Here she was moaning on about not being able to trust anyone when Jessica was going through possibly one of the most difficult situations any young woman should be in.

“Has your mum said if she’d support your decision to abort? You know … with her religion and everything.” Beth asked.

“Christians aren’t all pro-life wankers, you know!” Jess scolded playfully, “Yes, my mum’s faith helps her, but it’s never interfered with her rational thought or doing what’s practically best. She knows I’ll not be pushed into any decisions, and I will make the right choice for me. That’s one thing my parents did well … they made me good at making decisions, even if it does take me a while to get there!”

“What d’you mean?” Beth asked.

“Speaking to you in the changing rooms last weekend. I’d wanted to talk to you for ages but I was always with them.  Even though I was joined at the hip practically with the coven, I always felt as lonely as you looked. I recognised something in your eyes, B. It was just how I looked when I was with them.”

The girls continued talking about the counselling session the following day and how Jessica would have a scan a few days later to check her due dates and that would determine the timescales they had to work from. Jessica was pretty sure it was the second or third time they’d done it, but the doctors wanted things to be checked.

“So the scan thing – will you get a picture and all that goo put on your tummy?” Beth asked, “You know like you see on the TV?”

Jess laughed, “No, I’ve been told by the nurse that first saw me that the foetus is too small to see it that way, so the scan is internal. I don’t like the sound of that and apparently it’s uncomfortable. Mum will be with me, so that’s cool.”

“Wow, legs apart and whoops!” Beth giggled, trying to make Jess feel better about the process.

Beep.

“Oh Jess, it’s the phone beeping at me … oh, Christ, it’s him, it’s him!”

“Then hang the fuck up then, and ring me afterwards you tool! Bye!! No phone sex, you two! Or you’ll end up having little Nokia’s to look after!”

“Dick head!” Beth teased pressing buttons on her phone.

“Oh, fucking charming! Shall I ring later?” Miles’ voice laughed from the end of the line.

“Oh, shit. Sorry!” Beth giggled, “I was on the other line to Jess and .., oh .. anyway .. Hi!”

“I bet you’re blushing, you’re blushing aren’t you?” Miles teased.

Beth put her hand to her cheek and yes, indeed they were burning.

“So … what you wearing? You in your jammies yet?” he continued.

Beth imagined his apple cheeks gleaming as he smiled when he teased her.

“No, I’m in my stuff from today.” Jess answered defensively.

“Oh, right, so … so I can picture you, sat there in your bedroom, describe your room for me.”

Beth smiled and looked around her messy teenager’s bedroom. She wasn’t into pink and overtly feminine decor but she was also still subject of her mum’s obsession with buying her “little nick-nacks” for her shelves. Mostly fairy ornaments and little pixies with messages like “You’re magical” on the plinths.

Beth described her room as accurately as she could to an interested Miles.

“So, do you have a double bed, single bed, sofa bed, novelty car bed?” Miles laughed.

“I have a double bed, if you please!” Beth responded, “When family comes to stay they always get my room and I go in the cold single spare room next doors that used to be my brother’s.”

“Ah, a sibling … “ Miles mused, “I shall ask you about him later. But … describe to me what you’d see if you looked out your front window.”

Beth giggled, “You’re nosey, you are. I’d see our front garden and the trees and houses opposite, beyond that the hills above the town.”

“What about your mum or dad’s appalling parking? I swear they’ll have trouble getting that out of your driveway it’s at such a shit angle.”

“What? How do you know my mum is a shit driver?” Beth asked and then she heard a car driving down the road outside her house and heard the same car noise slightly distorted coming from the phone. “You’re outside my house?”

“Well, technically, I’m at your front door about to ring the doorbell … oooh, nice welcome mat!” Miles teased and the phone went dead.

Ding dong!

Her heart shot in her mouth. She didn’t know what to do but instinctively went straight to the mirror to check herself. The same overweight sixteen year old stared back at her with alarm ringing in her eyes.  She smoothed down her shoulder length brown hair and checked her teeth for remnants of tonight’s dinner.

“Oh no! We had lasagne!” Beth thought to herself, worried about how much garlic must be coming from her breath and skin. Why did her mum have to put so much garlic in everything!

She bolted out of her bedroom door as she heard her mum walk towards the front door moaning, “Now, who’s this at the door. Better not be bloody Mormons or JW’s while my soaps are on. I’ll have to tell them to bugger off, God can wait!”

“Nooooo!!!” Beth cried to her mum running down the stairs with her hand held out in desperation in front of her. “I’ll get it, I’ll get it, I’ll get it!!”

“Keep your hair on!” her mum scolded as she opened the front door.

Miles stood there on their front step, sapphire smile, apple cheeks, wet hair and a bunch of flowers poorly concealed behind his back.

“Good evening, Mrs Evans. I’m .. um here to see Beth, if that’s ok? My name is Miles.” Miles’ charm and ease was arresting and he produced the flowers, extending them up to Beth who had reached the bottom of the stairs. “She didn’t know I was coming, so I’ll go if it’s not a convenient time?”

Beth looked briefly at her mum and stifled a laugh. Her father, hearing another male voice walked out into the hall, followed closely by their cat, Annabel. “Oh great, now the whole family are here to greet him!” thought Beth looking back at her dumbfounded mother.

After a few moments of silence, it was as if someone had lit a fuse under her mum because she suddenly became reanimated and smiled broadly at him.

“Of course, of course. Come in, come in! Don’t just stand there! It’s still cold in the evenings at the moment, so come on in!” her mother gushed. Beth looked back and was disappointed to see her dad still standing there, studying Miles as he walked in, wiping his feet on the inside mat.

“Thanks, I was just going for a walk after dinner with my parents in town and, well saw these flowers outside a newsagents and realized I wasn’t far from Beth’s house. And … here I am!” Miles chatted easily to them, pulling his coat off quickly as Beth’s mum began tugging away at it like an overactive hostess.

Beth glanced back again at her dad and he remained staring impassively at Miles with Annabel circling around his legs.

“Well Bethany, isn’t that lovely. He’s bought you flowers, now isn’t that nice!” her mum gushed, ushering him into the front lounge which they only used for guests.

“Oh, actually they’re for you Mrs Evans. An apology, I think I didn’t make the best impression when I met you at the weekend when I was chatting with Beth in town. I think I pulled my top up and showed my belly to you. I thought it was funny, but the look on your face made me realise that I’d not made the best first impression on my new girlfriend’s mum.”

Beth followed them into the guest lounge and watched her mum take the flowers from Miles, rendered mute by Miles revealing he was Beth’s boyfriend. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire as she watched her dad make his way over to the corner of the lounge and sit on the armchair, maintaining his watch on this young man.

Her mum stuttered and looked wildly over to Beth, her lips wanting to form words, but spectacularly failing her.

Suddenly her father spoke from the corner of the room, “Miles did you say? Do you have a last name?” his tone was even, but Beth could tell her father was wrestling with his emotions.

“Oh sorry, sir. Yes, my name is Miles Edwards, I go to St Annes with Beth and we have some classes together.”

“Edwards? You related to the Edwards family up on Mountain Ash Hill?” her father enquired innocently.

“Oh, no, Mr Evans. I’m aware of that Edwards family but we’re not related. Actually, my father is a policeman and knows that family well.”

“A copper, eh?” her father’s eyebrows raised, clearly impressed. “In that case, your dad would know James John?”

“Oh yes, Uncle James we call him. He comes around ours for dinner after his wife passed away last year. He’s been a constable for thirty years this year.”

Beth watched as her father leaned forward and engaged Miles in further conversation relating to the people they had in common. She could tell her father was gently testing him out, but he was clearly impressed with Miles’ ease of conversation and respect for them, both, referring to them as ‘Sir’ and ‘Mrs Evans’.

Beth looked back as her mum, perched on the arm of the sofa, clearly poised to offer him something to drink when a break in the conversation allowed it. Her mum looked enthralled and she looked excitedly down at Beth, grinning like a Cheshire cat!

“Cup of tea, Miles?” her mum finally blurted out.

“That would be lovely, thank you!” Miles replied politely, “Can I have milk and one sugar, Mrs Evans.”

“Oh, call me Lydia!” she gushed and then grabbed onto Beth’s arm who was still stood slightly in shock at Miles being in her house at the doorway, “Come and help me, Bethany. Let the boys chat about rugby or something!”

As Beth was dragged away by her mum towards the kitchen, clearly to be interrogated, Beth heard her dad enquire, “So you play?”

Beth faintly heard Miles’ response, “Yeah, front row. I can see your trophies on the shelf there, Mr Evans. You played then?”

“Let the bromance begin,” Beth thought to herself as she walked into the kitchen. Her mum quickly shut the door behind her and grabbed her by the upper arms, “BETH!! A boyfriend! When? How? Oh, no! And I was obviously rude with him on Saturday! Oh, you should have said!!” and she rubbed Beth’s arms vigorously.

Beth laughed and walked back to the counter, fetching mugs from the top cupboards. “We’ve been friends for a while, well, we’d speak to each other in school and then … well he told me he liked me … and … well it’s all very new mum. I only expected to have a call from him this evening, not for him to come around!”

Beth’s cheeks glowed.

“Well, he’s obviously keen. Bit on the chunky side, but then if he’d have been skinny you would have looked odd together. He has a lovely smile, Beth. I can see why you like him. And a policeman’s son? That’s excellent!”

Beth admitted that she didn’t know anything about Miles’ family and promised herself she’d find more about him as soon as she could. 

They made the teas with her mum chatting excitedly about Miles attending the family summer barbeque and how he was welcome to visit anytime as long as she knew ahead of time so she could ensure she wasn’t in her “comfies.”

When Beth and her mum walked back into the guest lounge, with teas and biscuits on a tray, Beth was disappointed to see Miles standing up. Her father was too. It was clear their conversation had come to an end and both stood smiling at Beth and her mother.

Beth looked quizzically at Miles, desperately hoping he wasn’t about to leave when her father, taking a mug from the tray, said “I think, Lydia we should give them some privacy and all that. Plenty of time to get to know the young man in due course. I’ve told him he’s welcome to join me and Uncle Simon fishing next week if he’d like. Miles has also generously offered for us to visit the local station if we wanted to see the cells, Lydia?”

Beth looked at her mum, obviously crestfallen at having been denied the opportunity to ask Miles about his mother and take her go in the “who do we have in common” game.  

“Beth, it’s a school night, so Miles if you don’t mind, we’d like to see you come down from upstairs at 9pm, is that ok?”

“Absolutely, Mr Evans, sorry, Bill,” and after taking a large swig from the cup of tea he’d just been given, Miles guided Beth back out of the lounge and towards the stairs.

As they ascended the stairs towards the room Beth had described to Miles only twenty minutes ago, she heard her father say, “Oh Lydia, you can talk to him again. Clearly they want to be alone. We were young once, you know? Remember after your cousin’s wedding and we snuck off from our parents?” and she heard her mum giggle like a school girl.

They reached her bedroom and Beth nervously walked inside with Miles now very close walking behind her. She turned to close the door and felt his hands on her hips, lips brushing her neck as he gently moved her hair from her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered huskily in her ear as he nuzzled her neck, “I know I said I’d call, but … oh, I couldn’t do this on the phone.”

Miles suddenly placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. He gently pushed her backwards so the force of Beth leaning against it closed her door. With her back pressed up against the bedroom door, Miles took her head in his hands and suddenly he was kissing her with the same passion and intensity they had shared at lunch. With his body pressed firmly up against hers, their lips moved with the rhythm of their deep, desperate kiss, and again she heard a soft, muffled groan but this time it came from her. Beth submitted and dissolved, giving into the deep waves of desire pulsating through her body.