Season 1 Episode 12: Little Girls Still Break Their Hearts
Season 1 Episode 12: Little Girls Still Break Their Hearts
Jun 15, 2021
Erin carried the twins, who were crying, up the stairs. Her head pounded with regret. What had she been thinking, ordering a second bottle of wine? It had been a long day, and it was a long climb to their top-floor flat. All she wanted to do was get home, drop the kids in front of the TV, and collapse.
As she reached the second-floor landing, Archie tried to wriggle out of her arms, hitting Annie in the attempt. Annie started to scream. Erin’s aching head felt like it might burst. Every step of the last flight of stairs was a screaming, wriggling struggle. At the top, she put the twins down. They rushed to the front door and started hammering it, as Erin fumbled the key into the lock.
A noise startled her. James, the old man whose flat shared their top-floor landing, had opened his door. This was unusual. He kept to himself. Erin couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him.
‘Hello,’ she said.
‘I thought we were under attack,’ James sneered. ‘I thought some foreign infantry was coming to break our doors down. But no. It’s the McGregors.’
‘I’m sorry…’ Erin began.
‘Keep the noise down,’ James growled. He slammed his door shut.
*
She was late, of course. Mateo checked his watch. Maeve was always late. She did it on purpose. She knew Abramo, Mateo’s father, would become irate and start muttering in Italian. She knew Sergio would get restless, and play with his phone. And she knew both things irritated Mateo.
Mateo’s first wife retained her shares in Abramo’s. That, and the right to attend their monthly management meeting, had been her only requests in the divorce.
‘I told you not to marry an Irishwoman,’ Abramo sneered, in Italian, as Mateo checked his watch again.
‘Her being Irish has nothing to do with anything,’ Mateo replied, also in Italian. Sergio looked at them, his eyebrows knitted in confusion.
‘The boy can’t speak his own language,’ Abramo tutted. Mateo bit his tongue. It wasn’t worth arguing with his father.
The door opened. Here was Maeve, in her heels and her jewellery and her red lipstick, a smile on her face. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said, though she wasn’t in the least bit sorry. She made a show of kissing Sergio before settling herself into her seat. In every gesture, every glance, there was a question for Mateo: Aren’t you sorry you left me?
Yes, Mateo thought, as he did every time he saw her. Yes I am.
*
‘I can’t do it when I know you’re listening!’ Aidan shouted. Jemma and Holly giggled. He was in their bedroom, trying to produce a sperm sample.
‘We’re not listening,’ Jemma shouted back. She got up to put on some music, then came back to the couch. Holly took her hand. She felt giddy, like a schoolgirl. She was reminded of being 13, still pretending she liked boys, spending her weekends playing Spin The Bottle and Postman’s Knock.
Aidan came out of the bedroom. He was giggling too. ‘Your turn,’ he said.
Holly kissed Jemma, and got up. Jemma snapped a photo. ‘You look happy,’ she said.
Holly went through to the bedroom. Aidan’s sperm was in a cup on the bedside table. This is so strange, she thought, pulling on a pair of disposable gloves. This is the strangest night of my life. She did what she needed to do, her heart racing. When she was finished she lay on her back, her knees bent. There was a knock on the door. ‘Are you done?’ Jemma called.
‘Yes,’ Holly answered. Aidan and Jemma rushed in, and bundled onto the bed, laughing. Holly laughed with them.
*
Katie and Angel huddled in the student union’s smoking area. Katie was rambling in Angel’s ear about Sergio. Angel would have to take her home soon. She was nearing the crying stage of drunkenness.
A familiar face came towards them. ‘Ryan!’ Katie squealed. Angel didn’t say a thing. She was looking at the girl Ryan was with. The girl whose hand he was holding.
‘Hi,’ Ryan said, when he reached them.
‘You don’t smoke,’ Angel said.
‘Nicole does,’ Ryan said.
Nicole. Angel looked at the girl. She was tall, almost as tall as Ryan. Dark hair, pretty. She was struggling with her lighter.
‘Here,’ Angel said, offering hers.
‘Thanks,’ Nicole said. She couldn’t get Angel’s lighter to work either, and pulled a series of faces in her frustration.
Angel smiled, despite herself. ‘She’s funny,’ she said to Ryan.
‘Yeah, she makes me laugh all the time,’ Ryan said, and all Angel could taste was ash.
The Links is a soap opera: episodes you can read in 3 minutes, following the residents of an apartment building in Edinburgh: their romances and heartbreaks, their secrets and lies, their drama.
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