Anyway, all to say, we’ve been chatting much more sporadically and fairly minimally.
* * *
We’ve both been active on our Waterloo Five group chat, though. I know from it that Nadia and Carole are both working from ‘home’ today (i.e. on their train journeys and during any pauses in the wedding), Nadia because she doesn’t have much annual leave left and Carole because she’s very senior and very busy. I’m lucky, because my school summer holidays have just started, and while I do have work to do over the next few weeks, I can have a break today and just enjoy the day.
The wedding’s in a church in a village just outside Basingstoke, and the reception’s in a nearby country hotel.
Having not exchanged messages with Nadia for several days, I didn’t really want to restart our chat by asking about travel, but in the end decided that I should, because it seemed pretty likely that we’d be on the same train out of Waterloo, and it wouldn’t be great for things to be actively awkward between us, like we’re trying to avoid each other.
So I messaged her and, yes, we are booked onto the same train, and here I am at Waterloo on the concourse under the clock waiting to meet her.
I see her exit the barriers at the far right side of the station and begin to make her way over to me. She’s wearing a light blue, longish dress, which is tight round the chest with a wider skirt, with cream-coloured heels, handbag and hat, plus a laptop bag. The outfit is very nice and with that and her striking dark curls and tanned skin she’s attracting a lot of attention as she walks towards me, which she doesn’t seem to notice at all.
‘Morning.’ I double-cheek air-kiss her because that’s what I do with anyone I don’t feel awkward around, and I’d like to pretend there’s no awkwardness between us. ‘You’re walking very differently from how you were last time I saw you.’
‘Ha, yes, all good now.’ She sticks a foot out and smiles at it, which makes me laugh. ‘I’ve got a pair of flip-flops stashed in with my laptop too, just in case.’
‘Good thinking,’ I admire, and she twinkles at me.
‘It’s platform nine,’ I tell her, and we begin to walk over there. As we go, I suddenly wonder why I suggested that we meet on the concourse; my ticket includes an allocated seat and Nadia’s probably does too. So we won’t be sitting next to each other. And so we didn’t have to do this; we could just have met at the other end. My guilty conscience over I’m not even sure what has clearly come into play and made me overcompensate.
Well, never mind. Wearegoing to be hanging out today, or the others will notice, and now is as good a time as any to start. I’ll be very happy not to sit next to her on the train, though.
‘I’m in seat C17,’ Nadia says. ‘So… see you at the other end?’
My ticket is C19. We must have bought them at the same time. For all I know it’s at the same table.
I make a quick decision and say, ‘Absolutely. I’m further down.’ I’m going to carry on walking and take my chances with an empty seat in a different carriage.
* * *
We reconvene at Basingstoke station.
‘How was your journey?’ Nadia asks politely.
‘Very pleasant.’ I found a free double seat several carriages down from her. ‘I’m proud to report that I spent less than half of it playing Brawl Stars.’
‘Wow. Impressive willpower.’
‘I know, thank you.’ I smile politely at her and then look around. ‘Taxis are over there, it looks like.’
When we get out of the taxi on our opposite sides (the driver told us before we got in that he doesn’t like people sitting in the front because he views that passenger seat as his work office, so we both sat in the back, slightly uncomfortably effectively hugging our own doors, not really speaking), Carole’s standing a few metres away with her back to us.
Nadia thanks the driver and then says to me, ‘Oh look, there’s Carole,’ and heads straight over to her.
‘I’m so pleased to see you again,’ Carole tells us.
‘You look amazing,’ Nadia tells her. ‘I love your new hairstyle.’
Oh,that’swhat’s different about her.
‘I’ve gone dramatically to town as a spurned woman,’ Carole says. ‘Kicked him out, changed the locks, new hair, personal trainer, already signed up to a dating app, booked a very nice holiday with the kids without Roger – you name it I’m doing it.’
‘Nice,’ says Nadia approvingly, and I nod.
Carole steps between us and links her arms though Nadia’s left arm and my right, and says, ‘Let’s go in.’
* * *
