Out of Order

By Zoe Melville

It's a long, hot summer, and Jen needs to blow off some steam. When someone new - someone attractive - starts taking the same train as her into work, Jen decides to pass the short, stifling hot journey with a harmless flirtation. As the days pass, Jen gets bolder until she takes the plunge and acts on her desires - but who is seducing who?

"I could hear her footsteps behind me as I wound my way through the station. I picked up the rhythm of her towering heels, their almost mechanical click bouncing off the walls as they were pulled along in my wake. I felt tension in my legs, a desire to bolt, to push everyone aside, to run. I was so eager for this, for her..."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zoe Melville
• Release date: Aug 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310215544

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Out of Order

Copyright 2014 Zoe Melville

Published by Zoe Melville at Smashwords

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Monday

The commute to work isn’t long - three stops take me from my upstairs flat on the hill to the station that sits like a steel heart in the centre of the city, then I’m out and it’s just a short walk to work. The train’s usually full by the time I board, so it’s twenty minutes of strap-hanging and hoping my antiperspirant works and trying not to make eye contact with the people sitting under my arm.

It gets worse in summer. The crowded train gets hot, people jostle you, and the heat shortens everyone’s fuse. This - this is something that happened to me one morning. This is something that happened because I thought I knew the rules, and it changed me.

I’m Jen. I’m twenty-seven years old and I work as an advisor at a legal firm - not one of the better ones in town, as my ex, Kelly, used to point out. I’m not rich, and I don’t live a glamorous life. I’m not seeing anyone. I live in a one-bed flat with three rooms. The only thing it’s got going for it is that when Kelly left she took Theseus, her unusually smelly cat, so now it doesn’t smell weird anymore.

Once a week, I allow myself the luxury of a latte from the coffee shop next to the station. I only really buy it so I can flirt with Rebecca, the barista, and acknowledging that makes me feel a little bit dirty, like it’s a seedy transaction and I’m a creep.

Kelly left six months ago; I’ve been in a couple of casual relationships since then, but nothing serious. I don’t have a problem getting women to like me or anything like that. I’m confident, I’m in good shape, I have short blonde hair that looks super cute swept over to one side and I have a really interesting tattoo that I promise to show to any girl I like. It’s - maybe I’ll let you see it one day. Don’t want to spoil the surprise.

So. Back to the train. July is a terrible month - I used to be a Goth, a long time ago, and I still wilt in the heat. Monday was hot. I stepped out of the building, locked the main door, and squinted in the