THIS ONE WILL BE SHORT AS A LONG DAY OF COLLEGE BECKONS. IT’S NO FUN WITHOUT YOU. JANINE AND ALISON ARE ALWAYS WITH STEVE AND TOBY – DOING GIRLFRIEND AND BOYFRIEND STUFF WHICH ONLY MAKES ME FEEL TERRIBLE – SO I’M ALONE MOST OF THE DAY. I MISS YOU SO MUCH. THERE ARE NO WORDS FOR IT AND IT’LL NEVER GO AWAY. I DON’T WANT IT TO. ALL I WISH IS THAT IT DIDN’T HURT LIKE IT DOES.

I THINK ABOUT YOU ALL THE TIME AND I MEAN ALL THE TIME. I WAKE UP IN THE NIGHT, THREE OR FOUR TIMES, AND START WONDERING WHAT YOU’RE DOING, IF YOU’RE IN BED OR OUT IN A NIGHTCLUB (OR WITH ANOTHER GIRL, ALTHOUGH I KNOW YOU WOULDN’T DO THAT TO ME AND I’D KILL MYSELF IF YOU DID. JUST KIDDING. I WOULDN’T ACTUALLY KILL MYSELF. I’D KILL YOU! JUST KIDDING, AGAIN). AND THEN I CAN’T SLEEP FOR AGES AND I’M TIRED AT COLLEGE SO I MESS UP DURING LESSONS, NOT THAT I COULD CONCENTRATE ANYWAY, BECAUSE I’M THINKING OF YOU!

HAVE TO GO NOW!! I KNOW YOU’RE BUSY WITH UNIVERSITY WORK (AND PARTIES AND PUBS, RIGHT?) BUT WRITE BACK, OK?

LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU.

L.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Matt lowered the letter. He felt in the envelope; there were yet more folded sheets of A4 paper. She wrote every day, always saying the same thing, and always begging him to write back. He had, at the beginning. The first letter he sent was long, explaining who everyone was (you remember the lads who came in? Sammy and Jason? Well, they’re my two best mates here now) and what was going on (there’s a club everyone goes to on Wednesdays where it’s a quid for two shots. I was in a right mess last night!) but they had got shorter since then. And it had been a week since he sent one at all.

At least he wouldn’t have to reply to this one. Lindsey was coming to stay tomorrow night – she was taking the train Saturday morning – so he could say he decided to wait to see her to tell her his news.

Which left tonight to have some fun with his friends.

He stuffed the letter back into the envelope and put it in his letter box. He could read it later. He had a lecture to go to, and then he, Sammy and Jason were meeting in the Student Union for an early pint.

4

He walked into the Student Union Bar. Sammy was standing with a tall, fair-haired man wearing cords and a jacket, and a woman with short, jet-black hair. The man was explaining something – he was probably a professor trying to hang out with the cool kids – and the woman – a student, he guessed – was leaning on the bar, a cigarette burning between her fingers.