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I laugh, pour hot water into Ralph’s four-cup flask. I place the kettle down. ‘Yep,’ I say, walking over and standing in front of her.
Cate grins at me with gooey, school-girl eyes.
‘OK, you’re too tall for this, you need to crouch so you’re looking atleastat my neck,’ I instruct.
Ralph chuckles to himself as Cate slides lower. ‘This?’
‘Perfect. OK, and then, he .?.?. sort of moved closer, and closer, until I could feel his leg against mine .?.?.’ I inch closer to Cate, both of us grinning like deranged Halloween masks.
‘I’m aroused,’ says Cate, and I burst out laughing.
‘This is ridiculous, isn’t it?’ I say, glancing over my shoulder to Ralph. ‘I do apologise for bringing this into your home.’
‘Oh, I’m sure he’s coping just fine,’ says Cate, ‘isn’t that right, Ralphie?’, and oh my God, he’s blushing. I don’t think I have ever seen Ralph blush. I’m the red cabbage blusher. Ralph is far too measured and ever-level to blush.
‘Yes, well,’ says Ralph. ‘Far worse things have happened.’
‘Come on, Millie,’ grumbles Cate, grabbing my waist. ‘I’m dying here. Finish the tale. I need to know.’
‘Sorry, sorry. All right, so, I then looked up, and he went like this.’ I tip Cate’s face to look up at mine and she grins even wider, and this is all so silly, so infectious. I can’t stop smiling. ‘And it was just .?.?. what felt like ages and ages, just breathing andheat– and then the door opened, and the wholeuniversepoured out of the door. I basically froze, then he said,fuck, andthen,he did this really slow and sexy smile .?.?.’
‘A slow sexysmile, oh help me .?.?.’
‘Then he saidanother time, and into my ear .?.?.when you least expect it.’
‘Fuuuuck,’ says Cate, sliding to the floor, taking our recycling bin schedule and two fridge magnets with her. We all erupt into laughter, which echoes around our lovely, little kitchen.
‘I know,’ I laugh.
‘Jack Shurlock is so hot,’ Cate sings. ‘I told you he was bad. I can tell. I’m so good at this stuff.’
I stride back to the kettle, and Ralph says, ‘I have to admit, Millie, he sounds like a very cool customer.’
‘A cool customer,’ says Cate getting up, dusting a hand down her pearl-pink silk button-down pyjama top. ‘Which doesn’t make him sound cool at all.’
Ralph rolls his eyes and smiles, and Cate winks at him. Are they –flirting? An almost-kiss with Jack Shurlock against a bunch of coats has sent all of us a bit feral.
‘So, when do you think it’ll happen?’ Cate asks.
‘When she least expects it,’ says Ralph, as I drop teabags into the flask. ‘Clearly.’
‘Well. That’s if he’s remembered. He was a bit drunk.As was I.’
Cate scoffs. ‘Why would heforget? What, so he’ll flirt with you all night, tell you he wants to kiss you and then erase you from his memory?’
‘He’s leaving, though.’
‘Oh, so what?’ Cate exclaims. ‘Do not even tell me you’re going to sabotage a kiss with him just because he’s going travelling. The two things have nothing to do with one another. I wouldkillfor a kiss. I haven’t been able to really face that thought since everything but .?.?.yeah.Just a kiss, you know? With someone I fancy who really, reallywants meand there’s all that hot, sexy, can’t-take-much-more longing—’
Ralph bursts into such a sudden coughing fit that it makes both Cate and I jump, and swoop around.
‘Coffee,’ he gasps, liquid streaking down the side of his mug. ‘Wrong .?.?. pipe.’
‘Jesus, be careful,’ Cate laughs, heartily. ‘Too much longing talk for you?’
‘No, no,’ Ralph says, still gasping. He brings his baggy jumpered wrist to his mouth and dabs.
‘What can I say? I read a lot of romance. Longing is my currency.’
