Acrobat

Paul wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation. He'd always supported Anna in every way he could, but he was still failing.

He thought he'd been a good boyfriend. He was attentive, always listened, or at least pretended to when he had things on his mind. He bought her flowers, and not even when he was feeling guilty about something. But he'd made a mistake.

Lying next to Anna in her bed, he was rigid with intensity. They had not argued, but Paul thought that was worse than if they had rowed. At least it would be out in the open then. He wanted to be honest with Anna, but there was no way he could come out of it well, so he was keeping quiet.

But a couple of snide asides from Anna meant he knew that she knew. He had always been a bad liar and a worse actor and he knew he should have made an excuse for not staying over.

Anna had turned away from him as soon as they got into bed, making it clear there was going to be no pillow talk tonight. And certainly no sex.

She was curled up into a ball beside him and he knew she was pretending to be asleep. He was so tense his muscles were aching.

He knew he should definitely not move. But he couldn't help it. His leg gave an involuntary spasm and his foot moved closer to hers. She stiffened next to him.

Paul knew that was the time to speak. He should explain what happened. He had known for a while that Susie at work had a crush on him, but he hadn't done anything about it. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't interested, he had Anna, there was no reason for him to act.

But when the two of them had met at the bar when a group of their colleagues went out for a post-work pint or three on Friday night, there had been an atmosphere.

Paul let it go too far. He knew that now, although he insisted to himself that he had done nothing wrong. He was trying to convince himself so he could persuade Anna later. He realised this.

She asked if he wanted to go outside for a smoke. It was a clear come-on. Paul should have rebuffed her, explained about Anna. But driven by curiosity and idiocy and the fug that descended when he drank strong lager, he went with her.

He stood with Susie, silently smoking, as she moved closer to him. He could almost taste her perfume she got so close. Paul held his breath.

Even though he left as soon as she kissed him, Paul felt bad. He knew what he was getting into by going outside with Susie. The truth was he felt Anna was slipping away from him.

She was off to New York for a job interview in the morning. They'd not talked about it, so it was obvious they'd be over if she got it. It was a great opportunity and Paul was happy for her.

But he was frustrated, too. They'd been getting on well. Paul had even considered asking Anna to move in with him, before the Susie incident. Paul couldn't work out how Anna knew about that, but he could tell she'd found out somehow.

They lay there in silence. Paul's foot an inch from Anna's. Just lying there. Knowing it was over.

This story is inspired by the song 'Acrobat' by Maximo Park.