He misses, feels, thinks. [MILEX] [Miles Kane x Alex Turner] +18

20

Saturday, 26 December 2015

[POV ALEX]

The sky was clear. The Strokes' latest album "Comedown Machine" was playing on the stereo.

Three and a half hours after leaving London I was entering Birkenhead, Wirral. The GPS told me that in twenty minutes I would be at Miles's mother Pauline's house. I was nervous. This would be the first time I met the mother of someone I was dating. I had no idea how it worked. Taylor and Alexa told me about their experiences, but it didn't help me much. I had a lot of questions and it made me very anxious. I knew how important his mother was to him, and that terrified me.

What if she didn't like me and convinced him to leave me? If she just didn't think I was good enough for her son? Wasn't it too soon to meet her? Wasn't a month too soon?

I came to think the whole situation wasn't a good idea, but I couldn't back down. Miles would kill me if I called to cancel. Besides, it was only lunch because as a Christmas present, I had booked a cottage at a country house called Barnacre Farm. He didn't know where we were going and I couldn't wait to see his reaction.

On the passenger seat rested five boxes with bottles of wine. Because when I asked him if his mother liked wine, I forgot to ask exactly what kind. Once in the wine shop I called him, he didn't answer, I panicked and this had been the result, to buy more than I needed so he could pick out his mother's favourite. It had also crossed my mind to bring flowers, but what would I have done if Pauline didn't like them and accepted them out of politeness? Then I decided that with a wine from a good cellar she would be at ease. At least I hoped so. What I did know for sure (because I insisted on it) was the purpose or title of the lunch. Her mother wanted to celebrate "New Year" in advance as we would be celebrating in London.

After the argument with my father, he didn't speak to me until Christmas dinner, where as if all was well between us, he proposed celebrating New Year's Eve in Sweden. When I rejected his proposal, I assumed that another interrogation would follow, but he kept quiet and didn't talk about it anymore.

Back to the etiquette, Tay helped me to choose the outfit. We opted for a classic look; white shirt, jacket, trousers, tie and black shoes.

The GPS indicated that we were arriving at our destination. I parked in a cosy house with a big garden. My right leg took on a life of its own and I couldn't stop moving it. My heart was pounding. I texted Miles to let him know I had arrived. I took a deep breath, pulled my comb out of my pocket, looked in the rear-view mirror and got ready. I put on perfume. I looked at the bottles lying on the passenger seat to select one, but was startled by the tapping on the glass: Miles. I pressed the button that lowered the window. He smiled and uncovered the wines.

"Are you planning on getting my mum drunk or something?"

"No, you dickhead! I called you to tell me which one she liked and you didn't answer."

"Is that why you bought so many? Shit Alex! And you call me a dickhead!"

I showed him my middle finger. He laughed.

"Let me see..." he spoke checking each one thoroughly,"...this one will be fine will you go downstairs or would you rather stay here?"

I went downstairs and quickly opened the back door, as I was only wearing my shirt and it was a chilly eight degrees that day. I put on my jacket, coat and scarf. I walked up to him and greeted him with a short kiss. He took my hand and we walked along a path surrounded by different flowers. I thought it would take Pauline a lot of work to leave her house like this. We stopped at the front door. Miles squeezed my hand and asked if I was ready. I shook my head.