Ash:I gotta go. I can’t keep talking about him like this while he’s walking next to me.
Romesh:Fine. Have fun. I want ALL the details this evening.
Ash:xxx
‘All okay?’ Olivier asked as she tucked her phone away.
‘Yes. All fine.’ They’d reached the bottom of the hill and Ashleigh pointed out the traffic lights, where they needed to cross. He looked totally normal but now Ashleigh didn’t know whether to feel excited that he liked her or completely self-conscious. If he did like her, why hadn’t he done anything about it?
She didn’t doubt Romesh’s word. He never would have lied to her. But, just saying that Olivier fancied her was not enough. Did he fancy her, but wasn’t planning to make a move because he wasn’t staying? Or because he wasn’t over his ex? Or was he biding his time. Or…or…had he assumed that Romesh would tell her, and now he was waiting for a sign from her before he did anything?
They came out on the seafront and she led him to the pier. She needed to start acting normal again. He was going to figure something was up, and that it stemmed from her conversation with Romesh and then he’ddefinitelyconnect the dots.
When she stopped outside the sign for the aquarium, rather than heading down to the arcades and amusements, Olivier looked surprised.
‘We’re going here?’
‘Yep. Is that cool?’ She dared to glance up into his face and of course, he was wearing the same normal, warm Olivier expression.
‘Of course. I just wasn’t expecting it.’
‘No? Any particular reason?’ She started down the steps to the terrace where the entrance was.
‘I never pegged you as a fish person.’
‘Whoisa fish person?’
They stopped outside and Olivier leaned in close to her, pointing subtly at a man who had just left via the gift shop. He was wearing a dark green waterproof coat and had a long beard and moustache and a flat cap. ‘That man. There.Heis a fish person.’
Ashleigh laughed. This was stupid. She was being stupid. If she hadn’t had that text conversation with Romesh, she would have been none the wiser and she’d be enjoying herself with him now; chatting and joking…maybe flirting? She could let that happen couldn’t she? Just put it to the back of her mind and see how things played out? If he liked her but didn’t want anything to happen, then nothing was going to happen. And if he did want something to happen…well she’d deal with that when and if it came about.
There were worse problems to have than your gorgeous next-door neighbour trying to move out of the friend zone.
She tugged on his sleeve to take him inside. ‘Come on. It’s one of my favourite places in Brighton.’
‘Then I can’t wait.’
Ashleigh bit down on her smile and they queued up, buying tickets for the glass boat ride too. They went through and sat down on the bench to pose for the silly photo they’d be superimposed onto, putting their arms up and pretending to scream as a shark came to bite them.
She loved how Olivier wasn’t embarrassed to do things like that. She wasn’t the kind of person who went out of her way to act silly but when there were opportunities for fun, she made the most of them, didn’t she? She seemed to when she was with him anyway.
The aquarium was one long chamber with big arches framing the glass tanks, different-coloured lights shining up into the ceiling in each area, two large pools for small sharks and rays, a café in the middle and at the far end a route that took you around lizards and snakes before the see-through tunnel. But that would come last.
They stepped up to look in some of the first tanks at the huge tuna and the tiny clown fish.
‘Is this really Victorian?’ Olivier asked running a hand along the stonework.
‘I think it’s all restored, but it is the oldest aquarium in the UK apparently.’
He nodded and she caught his eyes watching her in the reflection of the glass. ‘So, why is this one of your favourite places in Brighton?’
‘I guess because I remember Nan bringing me herebeforewe lived together. I used to look forward to it. And then once I moved in with her, she’d still bring me, and…well it reminds me of when we were more like a grandparent and a grandchild, rather than someone I’d been dumped with and someone she was saddled with.’
He nodded slightly and tilted his head as he looked at her. ‘If she still brought you here…’
‘What? Go on?’ She knew he understood how it had been for her back then and wasn’t worried about anything he had to say. It struck her, a sudden clear realisation, that she trusted Olivier. That deep kind of trust that only comes from knowing someone for a very long time. She trusted him to listen. She trusted him not to judge. She trusted him to offer an opinion, knowing he only ever meant well.
‘Do you really think she felt saddled with you? If she wanted to bring you here, where you enjoyed time together, do you think maybe she was trying to reconnect with you because she knew…?’
