23 Attempts at Love

Chapter 20: A Familiar Face

Sasha had travelled back to London for a long weekend: a job interview on the Friday and then the weekend with us. We'd spend the weekend collapsing into giggles at every opportunity, drinking to excess and eating our bodyweight in carbs to soak up the alcohol. On Sunday we opted for a very healthy walk round Richmond Park with a picnic we'd packed ourselves from the local Tesco meal deal section.

We'd found a bench relax on when the hangover became too much and sat about chatting. Katy had a new boyfriend, Sasha was dating three different guys and trying to figure out which one she liked most (although she insisted all of the dates were very casually, and that it was too early for any of them to assume they were exclusive), and I was very happily single since Dave and I had agreed to be "intellectual partners" (his obnoxious term for staying friends and ringing me regularly for my opinion on his writing). It was the best option to save our professional relationship and to avoid animosity. While he "disappointed" that I was leaving him, he agreed that we were both far too mature to be angry about "such triviality".

We paused for a moment to watch some boys kicking a football along the path.

"Isn't that...?" Katy asked, pointing to one of them. She nudged me.

"Oh God, yeah," I whispered, squirming around to try to hide. We were on a bench out in the open: there was no point even trying.

"Hey! Lucy!" Marco shouted, spotting me and running over. "Long time no see! How've you been?" He stood in front of us, grinning brightly at the three of us. "Sorry, I'm Marco. Lucy and I were dating... last year was it?"

"A while ago now!" I half-laughed. Katy and Sasha were silently grinning, exchanging glances. They both love the awkwardness. They laughed all the way home about it.

"How've you been? How's the literary life treating you?" He asked, still standing in front of us awkwardly as his friends walked further on without him.

"Yeah! All good. Still doing loads of reading and stuff, you know," I smiled back.

"Ah that all sounds good! Well, I'll text you later. I'm going to catch up with the guys. Nice seeing you," he said before leaving.

"He's shorter in person than I thought he would be," Sasha mused, watching him walk away.

"He's still taller than me," I reminded her. Not that that was particularly hard.

"He's going to text you later..." Katy whispered, then laughed. "Isn't that the one who was a bit of arsehole? Full of himself, didn't really listen to you?"

"That's the one," I said. He had looked good today, though.

I'd forgotten all about seeing him, and assumed he'd forgotten too, when he texted me just before bed.

"Hey! Nice seeing you earlier. Sorry, didn't really know what to say in front of your friend haha."

"Yeah, you too! It's fine, don't worry about it," I replied. I wasn't exactly trying to make conversation. But, at the same time, it had been a little while since I'd even bothered flirting with anyone, and I liked the attention Marco gave me...

Marco asked if I wanted to grab a drink one evening after work, promising that he'd find somewhere near to my office. Just as friends, he insisted. No pressure. I agreed: it'd be something fun to break up my week. Hannah was drowning me in admin and paperwork, James was busy working with Joseph King and trying to prove himself as the firm's newest rising superstar, and Dave rarely came in anymore now that everything had been finalised. I needed a little entertainment. One no-pressure evening wouldn't hurt, would it?