Dina inches an arm forward, her finger grazing my cheek as she brushes a strand of hair away from my face. Just that one single touch sends a tingle down my spine.
And even though this is the last thing I should be thinking of, my eyes automatically travel down from the dark depths of Dina’s eyes to her lips. The ones that I have kissed a hundred times, the ones that I haven’t kissed in many, many years. I wonder what it would be like to kiss Dina now. If I just stepped forward and closed the gap between us …
When my eyes flicker up to Dina’s once more, I realise she must be thinking the same thing. She takes a step towards me.
I lean forward, my breath caught in my throat.
And then a ringing sound pierces the space between us.
Dina steps back immediately, the spell between us broken too fast. Even though she’s still just there, the distance between us already feels monumental as she digs a phone out from the pocket of her jeans.
‘This is Jen. I should take it,’ she says, her voice soft.
‘Yeah, you should. And I should probably get going.’ Itry to meet her gaze again, but Dina is looking away, down at her phone. Anywhere but at me. ‘See you around.’
‘Yeah, see you,’ Dina says.
I take a deep breath, trying to get my heart beat back to normal. Then, with one last, fleeting glance at Dina, I head off.
Chapter 25
Dina
Eight days to the match
Maya has been running circles around my head. I think about reaching out, but I’m not sure what I would even say to her. Not when I almost kissed her the last time we were together. I can’t help it – being around her feels like taking a time machine back to when we were together. When things were good.
It helps that Deen has saddled me with a whole list of things that need to be done before the restaurant relaunch. Since we’re doing it on a budget, everything has to be done by the two of us, and any friends that we can rope into the endeavour. In-between football training and matches that the team is still losing, and more catering gigs, I have been making Pinterest boards and trying to design a new restaurant menu. I don’t havetimeto think about Maya.
‘Have you slept in the past week?’ Thea asks when she peeks into my bedroom one afternoon. I’ve only just come back from yet another match that the Divas lost and am poring over my computer, trying to figure out which printer will be able to print our new menus on a tight schedule and even tighter budget.
I turn to face Thea, rubbing at my eyes. ‘Yes, of course I’ve slept,’ I grumble, though, if I’m being honest, my sleephas not been great. If I’m not worrying about the football match that’s creeping up faster and faster, then I’m worrying about the relaunch. And in-between I’m wondering if I’ve thrown myself into all of this work just so I can avoid my feelings about Maya and doing something about that.
‘Recently?’ Thea asks, tilting her head to the side.
‘Yes,’ I scoff. ‘I just haven’t slept … great. But once Deen’s relaunch is done and the match is finished, things will be … easier. I just need to get through the next couple of weeks.’
‘Maybe you need a little bit of a break?’ Thea says.
‘I don’t know, I have a lot to do.’ Though a break does sound pretty nice. For the past few days, I feel like I’ve been drowning in everything: my thoughts, my feelings, my work. And maybe I need to come up for a little bit of air.
‘Aisha’s convinced me to take a break from my studies tonight and go out. You should come with us,’ Thea says. She is very dedicated to becoming a solicitor, and when we aren’t watching football matches together, she’s pretty much always at her assistant job or holed up in her room studying. Now, with her exams coming up in just a few weeks, it’s really crunch time for her.
‘Dina, youhaveto come with us.’ Aisha pops up from beside Thea in such a timely fashion that I know they must have planned this.
I look to my open laptop, and then back to Thea and Aisha.
‘I guess one night out can’t hurt.’
Aisha beams. ‘Yes, we’re going out!’
An hour, half a bottle of cheap Tesco wine and an outfit change later, Aisha, Thea and I find ourselves in a new clubin Shoreditch Thea has heard about. The three of us grab a corner booth, but it’s not long before the two of them are dragging me onto the dance floor. I go along with it, because I can’t even remember the last time I went out.
‘You need to stop thinking about all the work you have to do,’ Thea says, shouting over the thumping music. It’s like she can read my mind.
‘Easier said than done,’ I shout back, but I know she’s right. There’s no point in being here if I can’t even take a few hours to relax. I might as well be at home, staring at my laptop with bloodshot eyes.
I take a break from the dancing, weaving through all the bodies on the dance floor to the bar. Just the few minutes of dancing have made my breath come short and fast, and I’m sure there’s a sheen of sweat across my made-up face. Still, as I try to catch the bartender’s eye, the actual eye I catch is of the woman on the other side of the bar. She has dark brown skin, red hair that stops just past her shoulder and striking eyes that are taking me in. I feel myself flush under her gaze.
