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The most important person in my life—gone. The only person I’d ever felt I could confide in fully, the one person I trusted would accept me without judgement.
I’d never felt so alone. Later that evening, sitting on the sofa in my empty flat, I had an overwhelming need for human contact, to connect with someone. Anyone. My fingers scrolled through my contact list, and before I was aware of what I was doing, I’d pressed the call button and the phone was ringing.
“Hello? Luke? Is everything okay?”
“Payne.” I was suddenly lost for words, unsure why I’d called her rather than anyone else.
“Luke, what is it?” Her voice was soft, concerned.
“I’m not sure. I guess I needed to hear someone’s voice.”
I heard her soft intake of breath at my quiet admission. “Okay. Is there anything you want to talk to me about?”
Leaning back on the sofa, I stretched my legs out in front of me, listening to her warm voice. It soothed something inside me, and all I wanted was for her to keep talking.
“Tell me something about you.”
“About me?” She gave a breathy, surprised, laugh. “Um…okay. Let me think.” We were both silent for a moment, and then she began to speak.
“I always wanted to move to London. I remember my dad taking me to visit once, and that was when I decided that I was going to make it my home one day. I must have been five or six at the time, and I remember being surrounded by so much noise, so many things to look at, so much life. It felt like the city was its own living, breathing entity. I grew up in a small town, where everyone knew everyone else. I always felt stifled, closed-in. Does that all even make sense?”
“Perfect sense,” I murmured, closing my eyes, enjoying listening to her softly spoken words. “Carry on, please.”
“Alright. Anyway, I vowed that I’d live here one day. Life got in the way, and before I knew it, I was trudging along in a dull marketing job, in a small town, with the exact same routine. Every. Single. Day. Nothing ever changed.” She took a deep breath. “One Friday I was sitting in my mum and dad’s house with my brother, Sam, complaining about how boring my life was, and he said to me, ‘Why don’t you change it, then? There’s nothing stopping you.’ I remember staring at him, thinking it couldn’t be that easy, surely. That night I applied for the job at Barrett London. And here we are now.”
“Here we are.”
“Hold on, I’m just putting you on speaker.” Her voice came through distantly, and I heard the sound of her moving around.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh! Uh, I’m putting some clothes on. I’d just got out of the bath when you phoned me.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath, my dick jerking to life at the image of her naked and wet. I groaned, shifting on the sofa, trying to get my wayward thoughts under control. I should not be having this kind of reaction to Olivia Payne. At all. Ever. “How was work?” I asked in a rush, my voice strained.
“Work was work.” She sounded louder again. “Okay, I’m dressed now. Want to try something?”
“What?”
“Well.” She hesitated. “It sounds a bit silly. When I first moved to London and I was feeling lonely, I’d phone my brother and we’d tune into the same TV channel and both watch it together on the phone. Sometimes we’d talk about what was happening; other times we’d watch in silence. But it made me feel less alone.” Her voice grew softer. “Luke, I can’t even begin to imagine what you must be going through, but if you feel like you want some company, and potentially some terrible TV commentary, then I’m here.”
What did I have to lose? “Let’s give it a try. Thanks.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Don’t thank me yet. You may well get annoyed by my commentary.”
“Impossible,” I stated, the beginnings of a grin forming on my face.
“Luke, you do remember who you’re talking to? The one person that winds you up more than anyone else on the entire planet?”
My smile grew wider. “The entire planet? That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think? We’re friends now, remember.”
“Yeah. Okay, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you, my friend.”
“Consider me warned.”
She laughed again. “Right, let’s do this. Let me see… Put your TV onto E4.”
I reached for the remote and switched it on.
