Chapter Six
The week passed in a frenzy of activity at J&L Communications, the whole team were working around the clock to create the perfect pitch for a new home-furnishing brand. The office was full of employees working well into the night on Wednesday, surviving on numerous cups of coffee and regular deliveries of takeaway as they put the finishing touches to the campaign. Lucy was grateful for the distraction. It meant that she had less time to fret about Friday night.
She had hoped that the prospect of a date with Alex would stop her from thinking about Jack, but sadly this was not the case. She couldn’t stop herself from tracking his movement around the office with the diligence of a deranged stalker. It was as though she was fitted with a homing device fixed permanently on his whereabouts. She had perfected using only her peripheral vision to keep tabs on him, managing to fix her eyes on her computer whilst simultaneously tuning into his presence wherever he was in the large, open-plan room. She adored him even more when he was under pressure. He was what her dear mother Ginny would call a ‘silver fox’. She had to stop herself from staring at him in meetings. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to find out about her illicit crush; if Simon and Lettie knew, she would never hear the end of it. Lucy found the way he ran his fingers through his short, greying hair and rubbed his temples absurdly attractive. She longed to run over to him and take him in her arms. What was it about him? She strongly suspected that the fact that he was so clearly and completely taken was part of the appeal. It was ludicrous to even entertain the idea that she had feelings for him. He was married. And worse, he had two gorgeous children, whose gap-toothed grins in the photograph on his desk should have been enough to quell any amorous thoughts in an instant. She surmised that there must be something seriously wrong with her. Thank god she now had a legitimate prospect on the cards for once, to put an end to this madness.
On Friday morning she got dressed carefully, choosing a floaty emerald dress with a tie around the waist, some low heels and a pair of gold hoop earrings. A good night’s sleep had restored her flagging energy levels and reduced the size of the bags under her eyes. As she walked to the tube for her final commute of the week, she was filled with anticipation. Would he be just as she remembered? Where would they go? What would they do? She had received a lovely text from Alex the day before:
Hi Lucy. Looking forward to tomorrow evening. See you at 8pm by the statue of Eros. A x
Lucy hoped that his choice of the notorious statue of love was a promising sign of things to come.
The team was in a celebratory mood on Friday after a huge victory winning the pitch and the MD had filled the offices with cupcakes and wine to say thank you for everyone’s hard work. Lucy and Lettie passed the day munching on cake and gossiping, doing very little work having given themselves a day off ‘actual’ work. Simon gave Lucy his usual spiel about appropriate first date behaviour, though given that his love life was in a worse state than hers she largely ignored him. He did, however, tell her not to follow in his usual footsteps of trying to bed the man on the first date, suggesting that Alex may not respect her in the morning if she did so. Lucy reassured him that she had absolutely no intention of doing anything untoward, a chaste kiss would be the furthest she would go. In her experience anything more resulted in an immediate lack of interest. She was a firm believer in the old adage ‘treat them mean, keep them keen,’ acknowledging that treating them mean merely meant keeping them waiting! Men were simple creatures, after all!
At six o’clock she went to the wine bar next door where most of the office could be found on a Friday evening kick-starting the weekend with a pint or two, or in Lucy’s case, a huge glass of cold Sauvignon Blanc. As soon as she walked in she spotted Jack in the corner. Lucy resisted the urge to make a beeline for him; instead she talked to Mark, one of the directors, about his two daughters and cooed over photographs of their recent holiday to Greece. She could feel Jack’s eyes on her and tried hard to focus on the conversation she was having, knowing she would rather be talking to him. She got chatted up by bald Brian from HR, and tried to keep her eyes from roaming down to his distractingly large paunch lest he should take it as a sign of encouragement. After getting trapped with Marjorie from the sales team talking about her latest yoga retreat, she managed to excuse herself and make her way to the bathroom, realizing that she would need to leave soon to get to Piccadilly Circus in time. As she got to the top of the stairs, she bumped into Jack coming back up from the Gents.
‘Lucy,’ he said, ‘you’re here! Can I get you a drink?’
‘I’m about to head off actually,’ she said, resisting the urge to ditch her plans and spend the rest of the evening gazing into his steel blue eyes.
‘Off? What do you mean, off? You can’t leave!’ he said in mock horror. ‘We’re celebrating!’ He raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow suggestively.
‘Well I’m sorry but it can’t be helped! I’ve got plans.’ Feeling a bit mean, she added, ‘Congratulations on winning the pitch though, I thought it was amazing.’
‘It’s thanks to all of the team’s hard work that we won.’
‘And your winning powers of persuasion!’ laughed Lucy.
‘They don’t seem to be working very well on you. Where is it that you are running off to exactly?’ he asked.
‘I’m meeting someone for a drink.’
‘Aaah, a date?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Some guys have all the luck…’
‘You shouldn’t say things like that,’ Lucy said, secretly loving the flattery.
‘You’re right!’ he replied with a knowing twinkle in his eye. She could tell that he’d had a few drinks already.
‘Right, well I’d better go.’
‘Don’t!’ said Jack. ‘Stay…’
‘I really don’t think that would be a good idea!’ said Lucy. ‘Anyway, as I said, I’ve got plans. Have a good night!’ she said, pushing past him down the stairs, forcing herself to walk away. As she brushed past him, he grabbed her fingers and held on. She turned to look at him. She felt a shot of electricity pulse through her, the attraction she felt for him was real, there was no doubt about that. She let his hand drop and carried on down the stairs, determined not to look back.
Peering into the dimly lit mirror in the Ladies, Lucy gave herself a stern talking-to. Pushing all thoughts of Jack out of her mind, she focused on the evening ahead of her. She decided to refresh her make-up, hoping the dull light would not leave her resembling a cast member ofTOWIE. She sprayed Chanel no.5 on her wrists and behind her ears then reached into each cup of her lacy bra to hoist up her boobs and give her more cleavage. She admired the effect of her readjustments. She felt confident, sexy and a little tipsy. The encounter with Jack on the stairs had bolstered her self-esteem. Dangerous though this flirtation was, she had to admit it felt good to be wanted. She was in the perfect mood for a first date.
With a final goodbye and good luck wishes from Lettie and Simon she headed for the door, dodging Brian on the way out.
The sense of calm she had felt at the bar disappeared as she sat on the tube, her Dutch courage was wearing off. All thoughts of Jack had disappeared as she relived each moment she had spent with Alex the previous Saturday. Her nerves jangled with every step she took as she climbed the stairs to exit the tube station. She wondered whether he would be there already, deciding that would be preferable to waiting around gormlessly for him to arrive. She navigated her way through the crowds surrounding the fountain, momentarily distracted by an incredible beat-boxing act busking in front of the famous neon signs. She looked around, trying to distinguish Alex from the masses, wishing he had chosen somewhere less hectic to meet. Suddenly she spotted him opposite the fountain. She stared at him for a few seconds, marvelling at his chiselled good looks and gearing herself up to approach him. She was glad she had come. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards him and called out his name.
Alex spun around, searching her out and crying ‘Lucy!’ with a huge smile as he came towards her. He kissed her on both cheeks, causing her stomach to flip over like a pancake as the memories of last Saturday night came flooding back.
‘You look stunning!’ he said as he ushered her away from the crowds towards Haymarket.
‘Thank you,’ Lucy replied. ‘You don’t look too bad yourself!’ she said.A huge understatement, she thought to herself.
