Free Expecting to Fly by Cathy Hopkins

that I’d said anything,
he’d just love that. He hates me as it is.’
    ‘Probably jealous but, yes it is a case of love me, love my friends. And love me, love the fact that I like to lie on the sofa and watch football to relax. Honestly, India, I wish
I’d given Tom a questionnaire before he moved in – but then that’s not very romantic, is it? I think we’re going to have to watch TV in different rooms: me in one so I can
watch my soaps, Tom somewhere else so he can watch his sport, and the boys somewhere else again so they can watch the cartoons that they’re addicted to. So much for our cosy family
life.’
    ‘Are you OK, Aunt Sarah? I mean, are you having doubts that it’s going to work?’
    Aunt Sarah held up the book.‘I will try to make it work. The first year of any relationship is an adjustment. If I have learned anything from my past experiences, it is that it
takes time to learn each other’s ways. Time to get to a point where the silences are comfortable.’
    ‘First year !’ I gasped. That seemed like an awfully long time but, then again, Aunt Sarah was living with her boyfriend; Joe and I were only dating. There had to be a
difference. ‘So what does the book say then?’
    ‘I’m only halfway through, but it seems to be saying that men need appreciation or they get sulky and woman need acknowledgment or they get resentful.’
    ‘That’s true,’ I said. ‘Like I’ve been doing these itineraries for Joe and me of places we can go at the weekend, partly for fun but mainly because they are related
in some way to our syllabuses. It’s taken a lot of time and he hasn’t even said thank you. He just makes jokes about me being his social secretary.’
    ‘And I have been making a huge effort to cook lovely meals for Tom and the boys and, same thing, a thank you, a little gift or bunch of flowers would make all the difference but, as it is,
I already feel taken for granted as chief cook and bottle washer – and I didn’t sign up to a new relationship for that.’
    ‘Exactly,’ I said.‘And today for the first time, after school, Joe . . . um . . . Joe kissed me and I . . . I felt nothing, then I felt really weird and wondered if that was
it, over for us. The magic gone.’
    ‘Oh no, India, you mustn’t feel that. Some days you are just preoccupied, that’s all. Every relationship has its honeymoon phase when everything is brand new and you
can’t get enough of each other on every level. You laugh at his jokes, can’t wait to see him, think his irritating habits are cute and then, a few months down the line, those little
foibles you found so irresistible start to annoy you. You notice he eats too fast, sneezes too loudly —’
    ‘Twitches his foot.’
    ‘Exactly, and some days the kisses are wonderful and you’re right back where you were those first few times and, other days, it’s like, blah, get out of my face and pick your
dirty socks up from the floor while you’re at it.’
    I cracked up.
    ‘Some days I feel I love Tom to bits, other days I feel independent, irritable and he’s just another annoying bloke, and what was I doing moving in with him so fast?’
    ‘So why did you do it?Why do I do it?’
    ‘Yes. Why do we? Companionship. Love. Friendship. I don’t know, India, but don’t you worry if you have days when you feel like you’ve gone off Joe, in fact some days you
will probably down-right dislike him. It doesn’t mean that the relationship is over. It just means that it’s getting real. Is Joe your first proper boyfriend?’
    I nodded.
    ‘OK, then days like this are a good learning curve for you, because it’s only after that first flush that you begin to really see if you are suited to each other. If you can work
through the days when one of you is moody, days when you feel flat when you kiss each other, days when you have your period and everyone annoys you, days when he sees you at your worst and days
when you see him at his. Part of being