“Here she is! She’s coming in for a cuddle!”
I found my boyfriend Paul’s habit of referring to me in the third person odd at first, but I got used to it and as our relationship grew stronger and I fell more and more deeply in love with him, it became one of those essential quirky habits that endears lovers to each other. I couldn’t imagine him not talking like that, and when he exclaimed things like “Look at her! Isn’t she gorgeous!” in that special soft lover voice while beaming at me all starry-eyed, my heart would flutter with joy, every time.
It wasn’t all the time- I should add, he’s not mad! I had to explain this to Annie, my close friend, after I made the mistake of mentioning this little linguistic quirk to her. “That’s so weird!” she exclaimed, “Does he always talk to you like that? Like, ‘she’s making pasta- can she add pepper to the sauce?’ “
I frowned “Of course not! He talks normally - mostly- only when” I couldn’t help giggling “-um, you know, when we’re going to bed.” Annie had made rude barfy noises, and I left soon after- I wanted to be with Paul, I was missing him so much, even though I had been with him only a couple of hours ago. Yes, I admit, I had become that annoying girlfriend who leaves her friends to only hang out with her boyfriend.
And he felt the same way. “There she is, my lovely!” he cried delightedly on seeing me. Maybe my conversation with Annie had rattled me- was I imagining that he glanced to his side, where there was no-one, before descending on me all hugs and kisses?
My slight unease vanished as I melted into the pleasure of being with him, and when he murmured “Oh I missed her so much! Where has my sweetheart been all this time!” I only felt love and joy at being so desired. I barely noticed then that he didn’t quite whisper those words directly in my ear.
What did Annie know about love anyway- she had never had a real relationship in her life.
Shortly after that conversation I caught the flu that’s going around, and was bedridden with a high temperature. I couldn’t see Paul.
“I miss my sweetheart so much! I have to see her!” he texted on the third day, and even though I was still feverish, we were missing each other badly enough that when he said he is coming over for a brief visit, I didn’t have the strength to refuse.
“There’s my poor baby!” he said upon seeing me, flushed with fever in bed. He turned to a man who had followed him in, just standing by his shoulder. “Look at her, all flushed and fevery!”
The man looked at me with blank eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. I blinked. I had never seen him before.
Paul came close for an embrace, the man standing motionlessly by over his shoulder, looking down on us expressionlessly.
I shrank away. “You’ll get sick” I whispered.
“I don’t care, I want to hug my sweetheart!” he said. He bent over my bed and drew me close. Over his shoulder, I could see his friend, now fully visible to me in the throes of fever, looking down at us, and I knew he had been there all the time.