Free The Glass House by Suki Fleet

answer to a question in your head, you need to hear it out loud. You need confirmation.
    Thomas nodded. He looked fucking petrified I’d asked him, though.
    I swallowed. “Do you want me to unlock the door?”
    “So I can run away?” He wasn’t certain how to react to me, I knew. His eyes were beautiful. They took in the whole of me, and I was lost. “I don’t want to go,” he said.
    We were silent for a moment, just looking at one another.
    “You’re like no one I’ve ever met,” he added when I finally looked away.
    “Weird and messed up.”
    “I don’t think you’re weird or not normal or anything, Sasha.”
    “You should.”
    “I wouldn’t want you to be any other way than the way you are.”
    I rolled my eyes and nudged his shoulder.
    “Can we talk about something else?” Something that isn’t me.
    The sky grew dark beyond my curtainless window as we talked some more. We talked until it was late. There were painless subjects—art and artists we liked, the best sandwiches, and the possibility that we both found certain footballers attractive.
    Thomas phoned his gran to pick him up so I wouldn’t have to walk him home and then walk back through the dodgy estate on my own this late. I pointed out I had walked around this dodgy estate on my own for months, but I was secretly lit up by his concern and pleased that he’d accepted that me walking him home was the way it was going to be.
    Corinne smiled as we walked past the living room.
    “I hope to see you again, Thomas.”
    Thomas grinned. “I’m sure you will,” he said, and I gave him a gentle shove in the back for assuming anything , even if it was a complete and utter certainty.
    We walked downstairs, and I waited with him at the corner of the block under the street light until his gran came by in her tiny car. She gave me a knowing smile as Thomas got in and, as always, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. Thomas sat in the passenger seat. We watched one another until the car took him out of sight. My phone buzzed almost immediately.
    Thanks for today :-)
    I smiled, but I didn’t reply.
    I trudged back up the stairs. Corinne was waiting for me in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. My fear that she knew whatever was between Thomas and I was more nebulous than simple friendship filled my stomach. I was afraid of anyone finding out.
    “He seemed nice.”
    She looked at me hopefully, as though I was going to want to talk to her about him. Instead I brushed past, headed for the shower.
    “You’ve never mentioned him before.”
    I’d never mentioned anyone as far as I could recall.
    “Sasha.” Her foot stopped the bathroom door from closing. “Please.”
    “What?”
    “I just want to talk to you.”
    “What about?”
    “Anything!”
    If she hadn’t drunk the wine, she probably wouldn’t be doing this now.
    “I’ll make you a cup of tea or coffee or there’s some wine left,” she pleaded, gesturing to the kitchen.
    For a moment my body wouldn’t move.
    I nodded once. “Okay.”
    She followed me into the kitchen. The fluorescent tube light on the ceiling flickered and flickered.
    “What’ll it be? Tea…? I don’t even know what you like to drink,” she carried on, looking pained when I didn’t answer.
    “Water,” I murmured, sitting down on a plastic kitchen chair.
    “Do you want something to eat…? You’re so thin, Sasha. Have you been eating?”
    If this was the direction the conversation was going to go in, I was going to my room, with or without a shower.
    “Molly at work says her nephew is anorexic…,” Corinne said tentatively. “I didn’t even know boys could be anorexic…. I mean, when I was at school it was mostly a girl thing, wanting to look like a model and all that… but apparently it can be a control thing with food too…. Sasha, I’m worried about you .”
    “I’m not anorexic,” I said flatly. I could see why she might think that, though. I knew she wasn’t being ridiculous.