He was going to take the plunge. He should have asked her out at the beginning of the year, built on their night in Vegas. Maybe she’d be happy to go on a date with him now, maybe she wouldn’t, but he should give it a shot. He could ask her on the way home.
‘Yep. I think Rory and Jimmy are going to Wimbledon on the District Line too so we can all go together.’
‘Great,’ Dan said. Not exactly what he’d had in mind.
‘Night,’ he said to the other three, fifty minutes later, when the train stopped at Fulham Broadway. He could have saved himself a fair amount of time and left them at Earl’s Court and not waited for the Wimbledon branch train, but he’d hoped the whole time that he might be able to chat to Evie, just the two of them.
Okay. He was going to text her instead. The worst that could happen would be that she’d say no.
Thirty-Three
Now – September 2022
Evie
Evie’s phone buzzed with a messagefrom Danas they pulled into Putney Bridge Tube station, two stops after Fulham Broadway where he’d got off. She took a quick peek at it.
He wanted to know if she’d like to go to the cinema next Saturday evening.He wanted to know if she wanted to go to the cinema with him. It had to be a date. A date. With Dan.
Well,yes, she wanted to go out with him. Butshouldshe go out with him? She already knew that there’d be a lot of potential for hurt in a relationship with him, and it didn’t feel like he was the one for her long-term. But shereallywanted to go on a date with him. A proper date after all these years.
She was busy next Saturday, and the one after. Shecouldcancel her plans.
And that would be stupid. You shouldn’t put your love life –love life – he’d asked her out– above your friends.
And if he was properly interested, he’d be happy to see her in three weeks’ time.
‘Evie, you’re in a world of your own,’ Rory said. ‘It’s our stop. Good job we’re here or you might have ended up spending the night on the train.’
* * *
They met three weekends later. The cinema was within walking distance from Evie’s flat, but she was running late. She’d spent too long deciding what to wear and arrived, at a bit of a run, a good ten minutes after the time they’d agreed. Dan was standing, hands in pockets, in the middle of the cinema’s wide entrance, smiling at her as she hurried through the rotating doors. There was something very nice about the fact that, unlike all the other people waiting, he didn’t have his phone in his hand.
‘Hi,’ she said, trying not to pant. She really needed to get fitter.
‘Hello.’ Dan’s face crinkled into an even bigger smile. ‘Been running?’
‘Maybe.’
‘You’re wearing yet another scarf. In yet another very nice colour.’ It was emerald-green. He gave the end of it a gentle tug and, honestly, Evie felt tingles everywhere. Unbelievable. He hadn’t even touchedher, he’d just touched her scarf.
She smiled back at him, definitely foolishly, and wondered if she was losing her mind.
‘Scarves are very important,’ she said. ‘They frame a person’s face. Hide wrinkles. Elevate an outfit.’ Seriously. She might as well be talking about the weather. Ridiculous first-date nerves with someone she’d known forever.
‘And also they’re important for keeping you warm,’ Dan said.
‘I mean, that’s averysecondary consideration.’
‘So are you de-scarfing now or wearing it all evening? Bearing in mind that it’s quite warm in here even though that’s a secondary consideration?’
‘Well,fortunately, I’ve come prepared and I’m wearing a jumper that I quite like, so I’m okay to take the scarf off.’
‘Well,phew,’ Dan said. ‘I really like that jumper too.’
‘Why, thank you.’ She’d bought this cream jumper and another one – red – this morning and had spent far too long before she came out deciding which one to wear. Hang on. Had she taken the price tag out? She hoped so. ‘I might just pop to the loo before the film starts,’ she said.
The price tag was still there. She could feel it attached to the label. And it wasn’t held on by a normal, thin plastic tag; it was on a cord loop, which she couldn’t cut without scissors, which she didn’t have. Why didn’t she carry scissors? Actually, this was ridiculous. There was no need to panic. It wasn’t like Dan was going to be looking inside her top, was it? And if hedidhappen to come back to her flat, she could pop into the bathroom and cut the price tag out then. Just in case for some reason she ended up taking the jumper off.
