4.1

You spit the remains of the olive and the stone in to your cupped hand. A length of sputum stretches from your bottom lip. Alex is watching.

“I think I might have chipped a tooth,” you say.

You were raised in North Wales – your parents are Welsh – so you pronounce tooth like tuth. Alex always finds this funny.

“Oh dear,” Alex says, rubbing your thigh, looking at you with an expression that is either patronising or genuinely concerned: your choice.

  1. Patronising
  2. Genuine