The Dinner Guest by B Walter (best short books to read txt) 📕

Matthew was staring into the distance. He looked worried and deep in thought. Even without him, I could answer my own question. That was Titus showing he gave zero fucks about our normal happy-families Saturday-morning routine. At least, on this morning he did.

‘I think,’ Matthew said slowly, ‘we should probably leave him to work through this himself today.’

I looked at him. This was rather a reversal of roles from last night, when I’d been trying to calm him down at the thought of his son being seduced by a predatory older student. He still looked deep in thought as he turned back to the coffee machine and poured us both a cup. ‘It looks like we’re fending for ourselves for breakfast,’ he said, opening up the cupboards. ‘So … muesli or cornflakes?’

Things later in the day didn’t get much better with Titus. In fact, they got worse before they got better. Matthew had been reading up on the balcony garden and I was doing some research online for a new car when the sound of raised voices disturbed me. I left my iPad on the sofa and went out into the hallway to find Titus coming down the stairs, Matthew closely following, both of them in the middle of a clearly tense conversation.

‘You’re not going; this isn’t negotiable.’

‘What are you going to do?’ Titus shrugged. ‘Imprison me in my room all day?’

‘If we have to. But I really hope it won’t come to that.’

Titus bent down by the door to pull on his shoes. He had an overnight bag with him – the sort of thing he’d take if he was going to stay with my parents or we went up to Scotland to visit Matthew’s mother.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

‘I’m going to stay at Melanie’s.’

‘You are not,’ Matthew said forcefully. ‘You are fourteen years old. You’re not ready for … for whatever it is you think you’re ready for.’

Titus scoffed and began to lace up his shoes furiously. I bent down so I was on his level and said, in a calm voice, ‘Maybe you could just come through to the lounge. Let’s just sit down and have a chat. After that, if you still want to go, we won’t stop you.’

I heard Matthew take a strong intake of breath through his nose as an unspoken way of saying, We’ll see about that, but he didn’t interrupt. And, to my surprise, Titus looked up at me and his expression softened. ‘OK.’

He led the way into the lounge and sat down with a thump on one of the sofas. Matthew and I took the two-seater opposite him and I started to speak before the argument had time to restart.

‘Titus, as I’m sure you can understand, we have some … well, concerns. Concerns about the age difference between you and…’

‘Melanie.’

‘Yes, Melanie. The fact remains that you are fourteen years old, and although you think you know how you feel about … intimate things and relationships and love and the like, the truth is you’re still so young. And it’s easy to get things wrong or confused when you’re young.’

He stared back at me, his eyes becoming stern and cold once more. ‘I think all that could apply to adults too. I think adults can get things wrong. Do stupid things. I don’t think it’s just to do with age.’

I nodded. ‘Yes, of course. But can you at least see where we’re coming from? Even if we thought you were old enough to know your own mind on … things of this nature…’

‘You can say “sex”, you know. I’m not a child.’

‘Well, that’s kind of the point. You are. And, as I was saying, even if you feel ready to …’

‘Fuck someone.’

Matthew took a sharp intake of breath at this and cracked his knuckles – something he does when he’s stressed. I laid a hand on his knee, silently asking him not to start raging.

‘… be intimate with someone,’ I said firmly, still finding his use of strong language more than a little unsettling, ‘the law doesn’t agree. You know the age of consent is sixteen.’

‘There’s only three and a half years between us.’

I shook my head. ‘It doesn’t matter. She’s an adult. You’re not. What you’re both doing is still illegal.’

He made another noise of disbelief. ‘I don’t think any judge or jury is going to fling me in jail for getting a blowjob after school.’

Another crack of Matthew’s knuckles cut through the air.

‘No, I’m sure you wouldn’t be punished. But she might. In the eyes of the law, she’s having sex with a child.’

‘Oh, come on. There are things called Romeo and Juliet laws, aren’t there? I’m fairly sure I’ve read about them.’

I winced at this. It was one of the few instances of Titus doing his research poorly. He’s usually keen on getting facts right. It’s what makes him such a good student. But here, he’d got things very wrong.

‘I actually did some reading on this earlier this morning,’ I replied, trying to keep up my calm, measured tone of voice. ‘The laws you refer to are controversial laws in the United States, sometimes known as a “close in age exemption”. In the UK, there is no “close in age exemption”. While there would be no rush to prosecute two underage sixteen-year-olds, the law isn’t cast aside for people over the age of sixteen having sex with someone below the age of consent. Even if the other was just a couple of years older.’ While I was reasonably sure this was true, I hadn’t found out how frequent such cases were – or if they even happened at all. All of this was uncharted territory for both Matthew and me. I knew at some point we’d have to deal with teenage crushes and broken hearts and discuss things like sex and relationships with our boy, but I didn’t ever imagine the topic would manifest itself in a form as