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Right?
Taking a deep breath, I messaged Steve.
Do you want to meet for lunch tomorrow?
Steve was everything I’d hoped he’d be and more.
He’d met me outside the restaurant, smartly dressed in chinos and a shirt. After exchanging air kisses, he’d guided me into the restaurant with his hand resting lightly against the small of my back.
I couldn’t help but compare it to the dominating way Sebastian had grabbed my hair the night before. How he’d used it to steer me to where he wanted me.
How had that felt safer than this?
I tried to push Sebastian out of my mind as Steve and I made small talk over our starters. He was perfectly pleasant, asking intelligent questions about my studies and plans for the future.
“Well, when I’ve got my degree I’ll try and get a graduate position somewhere. But…if I’m being honest, what I really want to do is stay at home and raise a family. It might sound daft, but…”
Steve’s hand had slid across the table to hold mine. “It doesn’t sound daft. I think it sounds pretty great.”
The meal had gone without a hitch. If it had been The Great British Bake Off, then Steve would’ve been named Star Baker.
So why, when he tried to kiss me, did I turn my face so it landed on my cheek? Why did I give him a brittle smile and a false promise to message him?
The answer was a scowling grump I couldn’t get out of my mind.
You just need distance, I told myself as I opened our front door. Time and distance to get over this…crush.
It was so depressing coming home to an empty flat. There was still over twenty-four hours until Leo and Ferry would return.
Something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. In the centre of the coffee table there were five shoe boxes.
With trembling fingers, I opened the lid of one of them. A pair of brand-new blue Converse was inside.
Putting it to the side, I went through box after box. Each one contained another pair of Converse in a different colour. There were green ones, grey, yellow, black.
But not a single pair of red. Tears filled my eyes.
Dragging a chair over from the table, I clambered up on it to peer inside the cupboards Sebastian had sorted through the night before.
Just as I’d suspected when I’d seen the first pair of shoes, the ones from that night were gone.
Maybe I should be mad at Sebastian for taking the decision out of my hands, but all I felt was relief. It was like a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
With Colin dead and the shoes gone, I could finally put that night behind me.
Choking back a sob, I climbed down from the chair and pulled out my phone.
I have no idea how you got back into my flat, but thank you. As kind as this is, I can’t accept this. It’s too much.
The reply came immediately.
Seb
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I rolled my eyes.
You’re telling me that five pairs of brand-new Converse just happened to appear in my living room after the conversation we had last night?
