‘That was amazing,’ trills Octavia, her heels tap-tapping as she walks back into the kitchen with Iris following close behind. ‘Zach, I’ve sold three of your pieces tonight. Three!’
‘Wow, yeah, that is awesome,’ I say, bowled over.
Octavia hands us all a glass of champagne and the three of us are taking a sip when Dylan strides into the gallery. We haven’t seen each other since that disastrous ping pong night and I tense up instinctively.
‘The man of the hour,’ he says, clapping me on the back. ‘How did it go?’
‘Good thanks.’
‘Listen man, I’m sorry again about all that …’
‘Yeah, me too,’ I reply. ‘Shall we just draw a line under it?’
‘I’d like that. Octavia and I are heading out for drinks now, do you guys want to come?’ He asks me and Iris.
‘I’ve got a friend’s birthday thing,’ Iris says, grabbing her bag.
‘Thanks for the invite but I can’t tonight,’ I say. There’s only one person I want to celebrate with now. ‘Another time though? Would be good to hang out. Maybe next time you’re in Sheffield we could meet up with Alice?’
Dylan nods and as we shake hands, it feels like we’re both making an effort to move on from what happened. We’re never going to be best mates, that much is obvious, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to hang out in the same space, for Alice’s sake.
‘TENTERHOOKS! I’ve been on tenterhooks, Zach! How did it go?’ I can hear Alice’s excitement and anticipation when I call her later that night.
‘Really, really well,’ I say, my voice still shaky with adrenaline. ‘We sold some paintings and I wasn’t even that fazed by the question and answer bit.’
‘YASSSSS. I knew it! You legend. I’m so proud of you!’
I bask in that for a bit, lying on the bed of my hotel room for the night.
‘How was Octavia?’ Alice asks, a hint of distaste in her voice.
‘Same as last time … very posh and she’s got a strange way of pronouncing things. There was a table set up with drinks and snacks and she kept calling hummus “ho-mousse”.’
Alice laughs.
‘She was cool, actually, and I’m grateful to her for hosting this thing tonight. She’s already said she’ll stock more of my work in the gallery. And Dylan turned up at the end, too.’
‘Oh?’
‘It was all right, Alice. We might never be best buddies but I think we’ll get along just fine. We’ve agreed to draw a line under all of it.’
‘Phew. I’m really pleased, Zach.’
‘Yeah, me too. So, back to us. I’ve had an idea for our V date and it’s inspired by you. Are you free at the weekend?’
‘I’m intrigued! And yes, I’m free.’
Alice is helping me pile art supplies into the back of Gerty, who’s heaving under the weight of it all.
‘I cannot figure it out,’ she says as she shoves the last of the rolls of paper into the boot. ‘We’re clearly doing something arty. But why do we need so much stuff? And what relevant word begins with a V? Van Gogh?’
I love the fact that our dates are still such a source of fun for the two of us, the mystery of what’s happening next keeping us both on our toes. We hop in the car and pull up at my studio, dragging all the extra kit I’ve bought into the middle of the room. When I figured out what I wanted to do today, I realised I was woefully low on supplies and took the opportunity to pick up a load more stuff.
Alice’s guesses are getting wilder.
‘V for vegetarian? Apparently cauliflower steaks are all the rage. You basically just slice up a cauliflower into thick pieces and then pretend it’s meat.’
‘Nope,’ I laugh.
