‘I thought it was.’
‘I think you were the only one who found humour in it,’ I replied flatly.
‘Maybe their sense of humour is not as sophisticated as mine then.’
‘Or strange,’ I added.
‘You did accuse them all of having filthy shoes.’
I covered my face with my hands. ‘I did.’
‘You make loud and dramatic entrances,’ he said. ‘It’s part of your charm.’
‘Are you using the word “charm” as a euphemism,’ I asked, taking my hands off my face and looking at him.
‘Not at all,’ Andrew said in a voice that was so serious I was taken aback. The seriousness of his voice seemed totally out of place in this establishment. It seemed like the kind of voice one might use in a court of law, or a politician might use when delivering a state of the nation address, not here slouched over a bar counter, and not a very clean one, if I do say so myself.
‘Oh.’ I straightened myself formally. The moment seemed to call for it.
‘You seem surprised by that?’ he said, looking at me. The light was rushing through the window in such a way that a golden sliver had fallen over his face, highlighting that perfectly imperfect eye of his.
‘Your eye is the only non-symmetrical part of you,’ I said.
He blinked it at me. ‘Sorry. I know how you like your symmetry.’
‘NO!’ I gushed quickly, and stepped forward. ‘I think your non-symmetrical eye is my favorite part of you.’ I stepped closer to him, and something familiar happened. Our eyes locked, for the longest time they had ever locked before. But Andrew broke the moment and, when he looked away, I felt a rush of shame. This was exactly the thing we werenotsupposed to be doing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, and his phone crashed to the floor.
‘Crap,’ he said as he bent to retrieve it. ‘This pocket is way too small for my phone. This is the second time I’ve dropped it today.’
I held out my hand. ‘I’ll put it in my bag.’
Andrew handed me the phone, but as I closed my fingers around it he closed his too and locked my hand in place. I looked up at him, and his fingers uncurled.
‘I’m going to go back out there and chat to the guys. You want to come with me?’ he asked.
‘No. I think I’ll lurk at the bar, if you don’t mind.’
‘You okay? I know stuff like this is hard for you.’
‘It’s okay.’ I tried to muster up a confident look but wasn’t sure I’d nailed it. Andrew walked back to the group, and I sat nursing my drink for longer than it should have taken. I drew the sipping out to such an extent that I was sure I looked like I was moving in slow motion. When the drink was finished and I knew I couldn’t sit there any longer I headed off to find Andrew. I walked outside, rounded a corner and saw him standing with the one they called Gee. I was about to walk up to them when a snippet of their conversation floated over to me. It made me stop.
‘I’m just saying, she’s hot, but she’s a bit weird. I don’t know why you didn’t go on that blind date with Ashley, man. She’s also hot, but she’s also recently divorced, and you know what those recently divorced chicks are like.’
‘I don’t want to go out with Ashley, and Pippa’s just shy. She’s not good at meeting new people and—’
‘That shit went beyond shy. Seriously.’ He slammed his hand down on Andrew’s shoulder and squeezed it. ‘Or is she amazing in bed? Is that it?’
I slapped my hands over my mouth to stop the gasp from escaping. The gasp had started deep in my belly, where it had just felt like I’d been punched. Punched right in the gut, and the pain was almost too much to bear. I wanted to physically bend over and cradle my stomach as it throbbed and churned. I needed to get out of here and go to a place that was noisier than this place, so that it would drown out the noise in my head right now.
I sat in my car, the roof down, watching the runway in front of me. A small Piper Arrow lined up on the runway, its single propeller rotating as it waited for its turn to take off. The sound of the engine was already loud, but I knew that as soon as it reached the end of the runway and took off it would fly directly overhead and, for a few moments, I would not be able to hear anything else but the screaming of its engines as it tried to gain altitude. I watched and waited for it to start moving, but it didn’t. The pilot was probably still running their checks, possibly waiting for airspace to clear. Maybe the ATC might be keeping them back because of congestion, or maybe they were waiting on a delayed landing. I understood this world right here in front of me and all its complexities and nuances, but the world that I’d just left behind at the bar I didn’t understand at all. I heard a door slam and turned.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked as Andrew climbed out of his car and began walking over to mine at speed.
‘What areyoudoing here? You just vanished. I looked everywhere for you.’ He was walking so fast he was almost running.
‘How did you find me?’ I asked.
‘You have my phone in your bag, I checked its location on my friend’s phone.’
