Eat Me Read Online Free Page B

beginning.
    â€˜That’s supposed to be good,’ said Julia, twisting her neck to look at the screen.
    â€˜What’s it about?’
    â€˜Dunno. I just know it’s supposed to be good.’
    â€˜Well, you should know. It’s your era, isn’t it?’
    Julia gasped. ‘It is not my era! The 1940s? How old do you think I am!’
    â€˜Dunno. I asked but you wouldn’t say.’
    â€˜I’m thirty-two! I was born in 1963, okay? My mother was a kid when that movie was made!’
    Jake laughed. ‘Look at you,’ he chuckled, pinching her flushed cheeks. ‘Sensitive, aren’t we?’ He kissed her on the nose, but Julia, only partially placated, pulled away and rolled off him.
    â€˜Don’t you want to know how old I am then?’ he asked.
    â€˜Not really,’ she lied. She’d already checked it on his driver’s licence when he’d gone to the toilet. He was twenty-two. ‘Let’s just watch the movie, all right?’
    He shrugged, peeled off the condom, tied it in a knot and tossed it over his shoulder. It touched down on the floor with a small plop. Julia made a mental note as to where it had landed and what number it was—she’d counted three so far. She liked the speed with which younger men ripped through her condom supply.
    They fluffed up the pillows and she settled cosily onto his chest to watch the film. As the plot unravelled— down-and-out young writer trying to escape from creditors attempting to repossess his car takes refuge in the home and arms of Norma Desmond, an ageing actress with money to burn—she felt her cheeks flush. How mortifying! Of course, Norma was a pathetically vain character and, after all, pushing fifty, but still. She was desperate to know what was running through Jake’s mind. Then again, maybe she’d prefer not to know. She lay stiffly in his arms, not daring to meet his eyes. If she had, she’d have seen them occasionally twinkle with mischievous glee. She remained like that even during the commercial breaks, pretending to doze, refusing to look up. After one particularly horrible scene, where the young man, played by William Holden, goes out to a ‘young people’s party’ only to return in the end to Norma’s tomb-like mansion, she glanced furtively up at Jake. She was appalled to discover that he was grinning down at her. ‘Norma,’ he cooed, nuzzling her neck. ‘Oh, Norma.’
    She flung herself off him and dived headfirst into her pillow.
    â€˜Piss off.’
    â€˜Oh, Norma, don’t be like that.’ He stuck his tongue in her ear and poked her gently in the ribs with his fingers at the same time. He tickled her arse with his dreadlocks. She reached back to flick them away with an irritated gesture. He nibbled on the back of her thighs. She was furious, humiliated, but most of all—though she was determined not to admit it to him, at least not right away—terribly amused despite herself. She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he pursued her.
    â€˜I said piss off!’
    â€˜Look at her.’ Helen shook her head and laughed. ‘She’s a million miles away.’
    Julia snapped to. ‘No I’m not. I was just, uh, thinking.’
    â€˜Why did you say the date was just “okay”?’ Chantal persisted. ‘What happened? Didn’t things work out?’ Chantal loved her friends and wanted things to go well for them always. On the other hand, she was convinced that all relationships were like the Titanic—no matter how splendid they appeared to be, they would unerringly find an iceberg and sink. And when they did, she wanted to know every detail of the disaster.
    â€˜Oh, yes and no. I think I’m going to give up on younger men,’ sighed Julia. ‘Unstable creatures. More trouble than they’re worth. I’m going to look for a mature specimen next. But I’m thinking of