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I shot down the stairs at work and slid into the teachers’ lounge area, doing a little happy dance as I grabbed my things. It was Friday, the end of another week, and Con was on his way back…whenever. Timings were always vague with his job.
I was glad he had great people around him. Some not-so-great people too, but Aisha had started to text me updates, which gave me a warm feeling inside, knowing she cared about Con and wanted him to be happy. Hence, I’d just had a message from her saying,In car, followed by a heart emoji from Con a few seconds later.
Funny how little things like that brightened my world. Silly things really. We were not kids, but I loved the innocence of what we shared and sent him a heart emoji back as I got on the Tube, then smiled like I’d won the lottery all the way home.
In a way I had. My boyfriend was…wonderful.
The flat was clean and tidy, the bed made with fresh sheets. Yes, I had expectations. We hadn’t actually had sex up in Norfolk because. Sleep. We’d woken up just after midday, my head groggy and Con looking more windswept than the night before. But at least he’d slept, and we’d found someone to bring us coffee. I’d not had the heart to say I wanted tea, but Con had remembered later and spent the rest of the week apologising for not looking after me properly.
Aisha had also texted to ask how I took my tea, so she’d know for next time—something about adding me to her little black book of irrelevant yet useful information. I was starting to really like her and had in return asked her if there was any chance, she could put some totally twatty flowers in Con’s room with a card from me. I’d even offered to pay, but she’d insisted that there was enough room in her budget to sort twatty flowers. Even in rural Norfolk.
I had no twatty flowers in the flat, though, because we didn’t need them. No yellow bucket on the table. I’d moved the gin to a cupboard and filled the fridge with normal foods—milk, yoghurts, cheese and eggs, of course. I’d even bought bake-at-home croissants for the freezer and some nice cereal. Yeah. I wasthatboyfriend.
I changed as soon as I got in and went down to the gym as usual, set up a treadmill and ran with music pumping through my veins. It felt good, really good, like I’d finally managed to run off the last couple of weeks of stress. I grabbed the towel off the handlebar and dabbed my face and neck as I slowed the speed down to a brisk walking pace, letting my heartbeat slowly settle. And I smiled. That’s all I seemed to do these days. Everything seemed lighter. Easier.
Or it did until someone threw a towel at me. I looked behind me, ready to serve whoever had thrown it full-on evils, and there was my Con in his gym gear, just standing there laughing at me while I jabbed every button on the treadmill display, trying to get the damn machine to stop.
“Just push the big red emergency stop,” he said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yeah,” I huffed, jumping off it before it had come to a complete stop because he was here. I practically ran into his arms, laughing at his huff as I almost tipped him over.
“Whoa!”
I planted my lips on his, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing that could have stopped me.
“You back?” I asked, still breathless.
“Yup.” He smiled. I loved his smile. “Sorry about the towel. I didn’t want to risk getting smacked in the face. You know? Accidents happen.”
“Yes, it’s a dangerous place, the gym. Especially when people sneak up on you.” I still had my arms around his neck.
“I love you,” he whispered, and I whispered it back because that was who we were, and I didn’t care if people were staring.
They weren’t, for the record. This was a very busy gym, and people couldn’t care less about two idiots hugging in a corner.
“You’re wearing the same shirt you wore that day,” he said. “I remember. Bright red.”
He was stupid. So bloody stupid.
“I’m glad you hit me in the face,” I said.
“So am I.”
Then we laughed because there was nothing serious or adult about us. At all. We were just two giggling fools, and I didn’t know how to stop smiling.
I smiled a lot these days.
“Wanna give me an hour to work out? Need to do some weights and legs, desperately. I haven’t seen a gym in two weeks, and my body is screaming for a run.”
“You had a whole beach to run on in Norfolk,” I teased, and he put his hand over my mouth.
“Don’t mention Norfolk. I never wanna see that place again. Did I tell you Dave went for a walk on that beach and managed to get stung by a bloody jellyfish? He could barely walk! Yet he drove me all the way back here, didn’t say a word. I’ve now officially named him Silent Dave. He’s putting in a report about me harassing him with stupid nicknames.”
“Really?”
“No. Not really. He got seen by the medic and had a cooling plaster strapped to his leg. He was OK. But yeah. I don’t think anyone on set ever wants to see Norfolk again. Not even Silent Dave.”
“Will you even watch it when it comes out? I mean, the scenes you just shot?”
