Mika & Rita

Me and Rita go to the library every Friday. It's a ritual of ours. Every Friday four till five, after school. Me to check out the latest Beast Quest, her to check out the latest librarian... it has a high turnaround of both. It's not the greatest library. It's the kind of library that has been neglected by government funding. Paint peeling off the walls and a smell of piss and mould in the corner. It's fucking great. 

Anything to get me out the house. 

Michael's being a bell-end again. I mean, when is he fucking not? 

He's Michael Jenkins. 

The hardest man on me block. 

Me big brother. 

Oooh... not read this one yet. Number 144. Makoro the Blinding Stinger. I read the blurb silently, me lips moving with me eyes. 

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Danie...? Oh... Shit, yeah … Yo, Mika?" 

I look up. 

"Why you ignoring me?" 

"Because you haven't said anything for the past twenty minutes." 

"I said I would love him to check me out like this copy of Fifty Shades of Grey." 

Rita has her head on her hand. She isn't hiding the fact she is mooning over Mattie Ryder, the hunky librarian who is twice her age and in a committed relationship with Henry Loomis. Okay, that last bit might be a stretch. I saw them doing it behind the bins at Morrisons. 

That seems to be the go-to place for outdoor fuckin'. Have seen many people, gay, straight, bi, you name it, getting absolutely pounded there. 

Sometimes I go there too. After me local cinema got closed down, it became the best place to go for a crafty smoke. 

"Have you even read it?" 

"Yeah. 'Course I have." 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah. I mean... skimmed it. Ugh... … … couldn't get into it. The sex scenes are so badly written." 

"Just watch porn." 

"Can't. We have a shared computer. And before you say incognito, that doesn't work. I've tried. Besides, I love to read... … … Do you think I'm pretty?"

"What?" 

"Do you think I'm pretty?" 

"Yeah. You're pretty. Why you ask?" 

"Because Simon Keys called me a fatty, sweaty, gobby bitch." 

"Simon Keys is a cunt." 

"I … I don't know. Maybe he's rig—"

"No, he's fucking not. Don't say that. Don't you fucking say that. You are the best friend a gal like me can ask for." 

"... … …" 

"Besides... Simon Keys ain't no oil painting either. He's a scruffy, micro-dick wanker with a mummy fetish." 

"How do..."

"Becka told me," I took the lid off me pen and held it up for Rita to see. It's to scale. 

Rita laughs. 

"And, babes, I wouldn't get your hopes up about Mattie."

"Ugh, I'm going to be single forever."

"You're not." 

"I am."

"You're not. Besides, there's nothing wrong with being single."

"... I suppose." 

"Don't suppose about it. I know of what I speak... Do you think I should check out the next two? It usually takes two weeks to get through them."  

"Go for it... … … Mika? … Never mind."

"What?" 

"It's nothing." 

"All right." 

I return to me book. 

"Would you date me, if you were a boy?" Rita says at last. 

"... … … Do I have to be a boy for that question to qualify?" 

"I mean … … … I … … … No... No. And hope that wasn't insensitive... I was just meaning..." She says, looking down at her feet. 

"... … … Yeah. I would." 

"Oh... … …" 

"... … …" 

"Mika?"

"Yes." 

"Will you …?"

"Yes." 

"You don't even know what..." 

"Yes." 

"... … … Tomorrow night at my place?" 

"Yes." 

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We've been together 10 years now. Me and Rita. And though much has changed … … … one thing hasn't.

We still go to the library together on a Friday afternoon.