I lay back and watched as he buttoned his shirt, his fingers shaking slightly as he eased each button into its hole. I could only assume it was the after-effects of the night before, some form of alcohol deprivation or possibly the drugs. How would I know? I didn’t know anything about him. It wasn’t a surprise that he was still here when I woke up but it was an unnecessary hassle, I had been planning on having a very lazy morning in bed but I was woken up early by his uneasy sleep. He was silent as he dressed; I was silent as I watched. Perhaps I was making him nervous, he seemed so much younger in the bright light of the day, he looked paler. I loved how the ultraviolet lights of a bar could make us seem like vampires, sallow and ghostly, they had made him look like an Adonis. Now, he seemed like a schoolboy hurrying to get home before his mother could find out he was missing.

I hated myself. Watching him, I could only think of myself. The mornings that I would wake up in the bed of a stranger and have to hurry home, pretending I had fallen asleep at a friend’s house during studying or claiming to have lost track of time and forgotten to call. I still had one cigarette left in the drawer next to my bed and although I didn’t usually like to smoke in the mornings, the scene before me had depressed me. I lit up and sucked the smoke deep into my lungs, relishing the cool burning at the back of my throat as it hit. He watched me intently, seeking some knowledge of me through my actions but he would be disappointed. I hadn’t even told him my name. I blew the smoke out in his general direction and smiled wickedly.

Pushing back the duvet, I stepped out of the bed, completely naked. He stopped in his tracks, staring at my body rather than my face, how typical of one so young. I walked across the room to him and planted my mouth on his, kissing him long and deep. He seemed shocked at my lack of inhibition; I was shocked by his increasing shyness. He had been such an animal the night before, it really was a shame how the sunlight showed us for what we really were. I was still the stalking predator but he had transformed from worthy adversary to my weak-willed prey. He kissed back strongly but with a modicum of awkwardness and I couldn’t stand him being in my home any longer.

“Do you want some money for a taxi?” I asked, taking another languorous drag of my cigarette, enjoying the light-headed feeling of smoking before breakfast. “I can give you some money,”

“I only live round the corner,” he replied, I nodded and moved back to the bed. Wrapping myself up in my duvet, still warm from our sleeping bodies, I smiled sweetly at him. “It won’t take me long to walk,” There was a quaver in his voice, the merest hint of fear.

“Whatever,” I said. “It was nice to meet you,” He wandered over to the bed, his hands thrust deep into his pockets. I looked up at him expectantly, slightly confused as to what he was doing. He grabbed my mobile phone from the chest of drawers and began tapping on the keys; I smiled to myself, how sweet he was.

“You’ve got my number,” he smiled, gesturing with the mobile. “Give me a call, I’d love to see you again,” I nodded dumbly; there was no way I was ever using that telephone number. He smiled again and walked to the bedroom door, taking one last look back before leaving. I lay back, burying my head amongst the many pillows and sighed, wondering if I was ever going to wake up the morning after a night out and feel satisfied with myself.

I doubted it and that thought depressed me more than anything. I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes, drifting back off to sleep with the memory of sex whirling around my mind and the scent of another night’s hunt blowing through my window on the breeze.