that she had chosen to be with me. It wasn't that I thought there was anything particularly wrong with me, it was just that she was so damn perfect and...
'Do you want me?' she asked, pulling me close and quickly derailing my train of thought. Her breath tickled my skin. She knew that she hadn't really needed to ask the question. I always wanted her.
'I want you,' I gasped, my excitement rapidly rising. I fumbled clumsily to undo my belt and fly. She brushed my hands away and undid my trousers herself.
'Then take me,' she whispered.
I undid the buttons on the front of her blouse and was about to push it back off her shoulders when she froze.
'Shit!' she snapped, suddenly sitting upright. 'What time is it?'
'Who cares,' I mumbled as I continued to undress her.
'I do,' she insisted. 'Bloody hell, it's nearly eight.'
'So?'
She gently pushed me away. Feeling suddenly rejected, self-conscious and concerned, I stood and pulled up my trousers.
'Sorry, love,' she sighed, smiling as she pulled her blouse back on. 'I almost forgot.'
'Forgot what?' I asked, frustrated and desperate to make love.
She reached across for the television remote control and switched on the set. My heart sank.
'You must be joking,' I protested. 'You'd rather watch some stupid programme than...'
'It's not a stupid programme. Bloody hell, you have forgotten, haven't you?'
I shrugged my shoulders.
'I must have. Haven't got a clue what you're talking about.'
'Come on,' she smiled, 'we can try again at half-past. We need to watch this. It's important.'
As I wandered over to the window realisation suddenly dawned. Monday night, eight o'clock. It was time for 'Visitor Update'. I gazed down into the suddenly silent village and cursed the bloody aliens yet again.
Visitor Update was shown in every conceivable language in every country. Its purpose was to educate the population in all aspects of alien life. Their biology, psychology, history, sociology and just about everything else was covered in handy half-hour blocks. In the short time that it had been on screen the programme had gathered a following which bordered on the fanatical. Even I usually watched it. I didn't know of anyone who hadn't seen it.
Don't get me wrong, the programme was always interesting and useful, but I couldn't understand why it was so popular, and why the rest of the week seemed now to be planned around eight o'clock on Mondays. Given the choice between watching half an hour of alien home movies and making love with Siobhan, I knew which I would have preferred. But she was hooked. She hung on every last second of footage, like just about everyone else seemed to.
Tonight I couldn't bring myself to look at the screen. I went out to the kitchen and made a drink.
I stood in the living room doorway watching Siobhan as the kettle boiled. She was half-dressed and completely transfixed. Eventually she sensed that I was watching her.
'Come on,' she sighed, looking over her shoulder. 'Come and sit with me.'
'Wouldn't you rather I waited until your programme had finished,' I replied sarcastically.
Her face dropped.
'Don't be like that. You know I'd rather...'
'Rather what? Watch a television programme than make love with me?'
'But it's not just any old programme, is it? This is important. This affects all of us.'
'So put a tape in the video recorder, record the fucking thing and let it affect us later on then.'
She shook her head sadly.
'Come on,' she said again. 'Sit down.' The kettle was boiling. I went out and made the drinks.
I stood alone in the kitchen and fumed silently to myself. She had me wrapped around her little finger and she knew it. I wanted sex with my girlfriend now, was that too much to ask when she obviously wanted it too? I didn't want to sit through half an hour of bloody alien propaganda and then have sex with her. But the worst thing was, as desperate and pathetic as it might have sounded, I knew that I would have sat through a week of bloody propaganda if I knew that making love with Siobhan would follow.
Calming myself down (it wasn't really her fault) I went back into the living room and sat down next to her. She shuffled herself around and lay across my lap. She pushed herself up against me and I revelled in the warm caress of her delicate body on mine. Having her this close was soothing and reassuring.
Oh Christ, I thought, what's the matter with me? Why do I feel so out on