Page 57 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

She was still writing. He’d almost forgotten she was telling him about her first crappy sexual experience. He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear this now. Because if Meadow had only one sexual experience and she got pregnant with Star it meant her crappy sex was with Heath.

I was dating some guy, let’s call him Harry. He was desperate to get me into bed. I wasn’t interested in that at all. One night, he told me that Bob had slept with Milly Atherton. I hated her with a passion. She was always such a cow to me at school, made my life a living hell. To think that Bob, my best friend, had slept with her purely to get back at me was gutting. I didn’t believe it but then my two best friends Sally and Fliss backed him up, they said they’d seen Bob and Milly having sex with their own eyes. I felt so insignificant.

He stared at the screen in shock. Was Harry really Heath? Had Heath been the one to lie to her that he’d slept with Milly Atherton? This was getting worse by the second. And he knew what it was to feel insignificant and unimportant. He hated that she’d felt that way.

I was so upset and me and Harry had been drinking and he said he wanted to make love to me. I’d so wanted my first time to be with Bob because I knew it would be beautiful. But sitting in Harry’s bedroom I suddenly felt so silly for thinking that sex would be this big romantic moment between two people who love each other. Everyone else was having sex like it was no big deal and when Harry started kissing me I just thought, why the hell not. He started undressing me and I let him. He asked me if it was my first time and I said that it was. He laughed and said he’d never had sex with a virgin before. I felt so stupid for waiting for Bob when he was off sleeping with another woman, and Milly Atherton of all people. Harry told me he’d done it lots of times and he’d make me feel good. Well I’m not sure where he learnt about sex, but he squeezed my breasts like he was honking one of those old-fashioned horns. He asked me if it felt good and I felt like there must be something wrong with me because all those other girls he’d been with must like it and I was the pathetic seventeen-year-old virgin, so I just told him yes, it was nice. He had a really small penis. I had nothing to compare it to but even I knew that it was small. He told me that sex might hurt as it was my first time and thank god he was so small because it didn’t. He was thrusting on top of me so fast like he was taking part in some kind of race. He asked me if it felt good and the whole thing was just so bad I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so miserable. I was still so upset with myself for sleeping with someone who wasn’t Bob when I loved him so much that I was close to tears. Thankfully it was over very quickly, less than thirty seconds and he was done. He rolled over and fell asleep and I got out of there as fast as I could. That was my first time. It wasn’t exactly a shining example. I went home and cried because sex was so disappointing after that big build-up in my mind, because I’d done it with someone I didn’t have any feelings for and mostly because it hadn’t been with Bob.

Bear was shaking with an uncontrolled rage. No, there was no way Heath would have done that to Meadow, lied to get her into bed, got her drunk, laughed at her for being a virgin, made her feel pathetic and stupid for not having sex before. He had no idea what Heath was like in bed and had no desire to know, but he could not imagine his brother pounding away at Meadow like she was a piece of meat and not caring when she was visibly upset.

His fingers were shaking as he typed out a response.And there was no one else after that?

No. Not because I was scared off by it. I found out a few weeks later I was pregnant and things just changed so much, so quickly. There was never really any time for dating after that.

He stood up and paced away from the computer. He had to talk to Heath because none of this made any sense. But he had to give her a response first. She’d poured her heart out to him, told him some really personal stuff. He moved back to his laptop, trying to calm himself down to give her a proper reply.

You are not insignificant or pathetic or stupid. I’m so sorry that was your first time and that you were made to feel that way. It should have been so different to that. Harry sounds like an absolute dick and he definitely didn’t deserve you.

No he didn’t and I wish I had been mature enough to recognise that. The worst thing is, I found out today that Bob never slept with Milly Atherton. My whole life changed in an instant because of that lie and I ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.

He wanted to give her some words of comfort, put her mind at ease that he would always be there for her no matter what, that he still loved her after all this time and what happened in the past didn’t change how he felt, but she had no idea she was talking to him and he couldn’t think straight with the anger he was feeling right now.

She sent another message.Oh I know I’m going to regret telling you all this in the morning. I’m going back to sleep now. Night. X

He watched the little light that meant she was online go grey to show she’d gone. He stood up on shaky legs and walked out of his house, walking automatically to Meadow’s treehouse. He climbed the stairs, feeling numb. He could see Heath lying on Meadow’s sofa, reading a book. Bear opened the door, which was still unlocked and Heath looked up, flashing him a small smile.

‘She’s OK, fast asleep. I checked on her half an hour ago.’

‘I need to talk to you. Outside,’ Bear said, stepping back.

‘It sounds like you want me to step outside for a fight,’ Heath laughed.

‘I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that,’ Bear said.

Heath’s face fell and he followed Bear outside onto the rope bridge.

‘This sounds serious,’ he said.

‘It is.’

Heath stared at him. ‘Come on, let’s go to my treehouse so we can talk.’

He crossed the rope bridge and let them both into his treehouse, closing the door behind him.

Bear paced across the lounge.

‘Come on, for god’s sake, out with it,’ Heath said.

‘OK, I’ve just been texting Meadow and she told me about her first time having sex.’

Heath visibly paled and Bear felt his fists clench by his side. It couldn’t be true.

‘She told you that?’

‘Yes, she said the man she slept with lied to her to get her into bed, got her drunk and laughed at her for being a virgin. She said she was so upset because she really wanted to be with someone else and he didn’t seem to care. She also told me that she’s never had sex since.’

Heath stared at him in horror.

‘Now there have been plenty of times that I thought you were a bit of a twat but I can’t believe that the man she told me about who had so little respect for her is you. But the alternative is that Star isn’t yours and I can’t get my head around that either.’

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