The Revision Vignettes: 5. Lies & Confusion

On Sunday morning, we were back studying bright and early. BBC3 was running a repeat of The Voice, so we had that on in the background and were critiquing each act as they auditioned.

"I think I'd definitely go with Tom Jones as my judge." I commented as he turned for a teenage girl with a powerhouse of a voice.

Bob frowned, considering. "Really? I think will.i.am would be the one to go for..."

"He doesn't even sing though!" I exclaimed. "Tom Jones is an absolute legend, just think of what he could teach you."

"Legend, yes, but in touch with the current music industry? Tom might be able to teach you about singing, but will.i.am has the contacts and knowledge to make you a real star, you need more than just talent."

I was about to argue back when we heard Gary's door open. Turning round to tease him about being up so early on a Sunday, the words stuck in my mouth as a tall, leggy blonde sauntered past the kitchen door wearing nothing but a short towel.

I turned back to Bob, eyebrows raised. "Looks like someone had a good night last night!" I whispered, hoping that the girl couldn't hear me.

"You're telling me!" He whispered back, shutting up quickly as the girl walked back and into Gary's room.

"Although one thing astounds me - how do girls see his room and not run a mile?" I mused back at normal volume.

Bob just gave me a look. "Well, I don't expect she was entirely sober when she came back..."

I giggled. "Very true!"

I turned back to the TV as the next contestant came on. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bob staring at me with a strange expression on his face.

"Staring's rude, you know." I commented, keeping my gaze on the TV.

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't meaning to. Just... are you OK?"

I glanced over, confused. "You mean about Gary sleeping with that girl? Don't be silly, of course I am. We never even went out."

"No, no, not about that - I knew you weren't that invested in him. I more meant, even though you two weren't really together, it doesn't bring back any bad memories? If you're not up for revising or anything, don't try and hide it, just let me know."

Properly bewildered, I sat up and looked straight at Bob. "OK, I have no idea what you're talking about. What bad memories? Have I lived an alternate life I know nothing about?"

Now I wasn't the only one looking confused. "Well... I meant Lee - about him cheating on you, I thought seeing Gary so soon with another girl might have brought all that up again? I never saw you upset over it but I know you're good at hiding that kind of thing, so I just wanted to let you know it was OK. Round me, that is, it's fine to just say if you're upset."

I burst out laughing, much to Bob's consternation. "Cheated? Lee never cheated on me! At least, not that I know about, and I'm fairly certain he never did."

"But... you always said, the reason you broke up was because he lied to you... I just assumed?"

I gave Bob a wry grin. "Well, you know what they say about assuming!" Looking down at my hands in my lap, my grin faded slightly.

"He did lie to me. But not about another girl... you know that he was resitting first year?"

Bob nodded.

"Well, he had to take some extra classes to make up credits, and none really fitted, so he had to take geography. He knew nothing about it but it was the best of a bad bunch. And I know nothing about it either, but I spent the entire year trying to help him study, learning things myself so that I could help him better. We made revision plans, I helped him study around my own exams, I spent hours and hours each week helping. And when it came to the exam, I got him up early and made him breakfast, wished him luck, and cycled off to uni."

My voice took on a harder edge. "So after uni, I called him to find out how the exam had gone. He said it hadn't gone well, so I decided to treat him, bought him steak, cooked his dinner, was an all round sympathetic girlfriend spoiling her boyfriend... And that was all I thought of it, until exam results came out."

I paused. The next bit still angered me, even now. "I knew his log in details, because he used to get me to check things for him on his uni homepage. And I shouldn't have done... but when I knew results were out, I thought I'd check for him, and message him his results. So I looked... and thought I'd seen it wrong. He'd failed, but he hadn't got less than 40%. He'd failed because of non-attendance at the exam."

Bob groaned at this and shook his head. He knew how seriously I took helping my friends with exams, and how seriously I took education in general.

"So I phoned him and confronted him about it. He was just silent on the phone, which told me everything. Eventually he started talking, and apparently he'd just waited until I passed him cycling to my lectures, then turned around and gone straight back to bed. He hadn't even tried. I tried to move past it, to forgive him, but after a few months I realised I hadn't, and that I didn't like the person it was turning me into. And that's when I ended it."

Bob shook his head at me. "Trust you to end a relationship over lies about exams! Only you, Jane!"

I grinned ruefully. "That's me, you can cheat all you like but no lying about your grades or that's it!"

He laughed out loud at that, whilst I quickly added, "Although I would actually also be upset if my partner cheated on me, I just want to clarify that!".

"If you weren't upset at something like that, you'd be beyond your usual boundaries of oddness, don't worry." He laughed under his breath. "Well, now I understand why you looked at me like I was crazy when I started going on about Gary!"

"What about me?" Gary appeared at the door of the kitchen, sounding as rough as he looked. Bob wasted no time teasing him as he stumbled over to the sink and started downing water. They bantered back and forth (with noticeably more enthusiasm from Bob) for a few minutes, before Gary headed back through to his room. At the door he paused slightly, peeking at me a bit uncomfortably.

"Jane, um, I..."

"Oh, for God's sake!" I exploded as Bob started sniggering in the background. "Gary, we very amicably concluded things before they ever started, so I am absolutely fine! Go back to your girl before she starts thinking you've disappeared!" I exhaled exasperatedly as Gary stood frozen in the door.

"Uh... I was just going to let you know that the dish you brought lasagne over in the other day, uh, well, I broke it... But I'm going into town today and I'll get you a new one. That's... that's really all I was going to say."

"Oh." I sat there, feeling my cheeks glow red hot from embarrassment. "Uh, thanks for letting me know. And for getting me a new one. It was just a standard baking dish from Tesco, don't go spending on anything fancy. And, uh, sorry about that..."

He grinned at me slightly. "Ha, no worries, also good to know that's all fine." He shuffled back off to his room as I turned back to the table where Bob was dying laughing.

"Don't say a word."