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‘Flirting?’
‘Yeah. Just for fun, you know. It makes me smile. And I like smiling.’
‘You’re good at it.’
‘What, flirting?’ She looked at me with a little frown on her face.
‘I wouldn’t know.’ I kept my eyes across the street. ‘You’re good at smiling. It looks good on you.’
From the corner of my eye I saw a smile bloom across her face.
‘Thank you, William.’
‘Are you good at flirting?’
‘I’d say so. Why? You think I’d be bad at it?’
‘I don’t know. You want to try it on me one day?’ I was a glutton for punishment. My question proved it.
‘Flirt with you?’
‘Not the best idea, maybe, huh?’
‘I don’t know. Just for fun, right?’ she asked slowly.
‘Sure.’
‘Yeah. I’ll show you what I got, I guess. Good practice.’
I chuckled.
She gave me a thoughtful side eye. ‘You’re not considering offering to work on my kissing as well, right?’
I let out a laugh. ‘Don’t worry. That’s more than I can handle, I’m afraid.’
‘Pfff. You wish I’d want to kiss you.’
I chuckled – she was right. I’d probably wish that. ‘How are you feeling?’ I asked instead, studying her profile.
She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. ‘Better.’ She met my eyes. ‘Thanks to you. So, thank you, William. I appreciate it.’
‘I didn’t do anything, Charlie.’
‘Just listening to me. And being here for me. That’s more than enough, not everybody gets that.’
‘Anytime. I’m thinking of getting some quick breakfast before work tomorrow, you want to bump into me around 7.30?’
‘Bump into you where exactly?’
‘You pick. You’ll have a better idea of where to go.’
‘Okay. Then let’s bump into each other around 7.30 in the middle of the street, then we’ll go have a quick breakfast before the day starts.’
‘Deal,’ I agreed.
Slowly she stood up, so I had to stand up as well, but I could’ve used another few minutes talking to her. Maybe just another half an hour.
We studied each other for a few seconds, and I tried not to think too much.
‘Thank you again,’ she repeated.
‘I didn’t do anything.’
A smile danced on her lips.
‘You know you did.’
Then she took a step forward and, surprising me, gave me a hug.
‘And I appreciate it,’ she whispered. ‘I should go in.’
‘Is there something I can say that would make you feel better, Charlie?’
‘You said all the best things.’
My body relaxed against hers and instinctively I wrapped my arms around her back and smiled. We should’ve let go of each other, but… we didn’t.
Slowly the seconds ticked away as we stood under the dim lights of the night, and I was surprised to admit or realize that I was losing my head a little over her perfume. Soft, slightly flowery, maybe roses or something, but definitely fresh. And then there was the feel of her in my arms. I closed my eyes for a second.
‘I always wanted to do this, you know,’ she whispered.
‘Hmmm,’ I murmured like an idiot, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I didn’t even know what she was talking about.
‘I’m making this slightly awkward, aren’t I?’
I let out my breath, my arms still around her. ‘Not so much.’
A moment passed.
And in that little moment I made the mistake of realizing how well her body fitted against mine.
‘William?’ She turned in my arms and rested her temple against my shoulder.
‘Yeah, Charlie,’ I answered gruffly.
‘You wanna know something else from my list?’
‘Tell me.’
She pulled back a little, her arms still around my shoulders and mine still around her back, and we studied each other.
‘Hugging. I think it was something like: find people who give good hugs.’
Then she took a step away from me, and I had to let her. Our arms dropped to our sides.
‘Do I make the cut?’ I asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.
She looked straight into my eyes and gave me a big happy smile.
‘You do.’ She shook her head. ‘Even your hugs are good.’
Then she leaned forward, cupped my cheek with her palm, got on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on my other cheek. She was staring into my eyes when she spoke, and I couldn’t look away.
‘And the best hugs are the ones you didn’t ask for.’
‘You have to ask for hugs?’
She shrugged, and I felt her look too deep into me.
‘I think I like being your friend, William. Thank you.’
Just like that, she left me standing there and disappeared into her building. It wasn’t the first time I’d felt what I’d just felt when I was around her, and I didn’t think it’d be the last time either. I just hoped she’d move away before either one of us fell into it. It seemed like we’d never meet at the right time. Because there was no way something, anything between us could happen.
14 Charlie
We had just wrapped up another crisis situation that had taken us ten days to work through. We had worked late almost every night except the night before. Since today was Saturday, I had done nothing but lounge around in my apartment and spend time with Pepperoni. We were both in heaven.
