Adventures in Cat-Napping

Chapter 5.

After descending what felt like a thousand steps, Nora met Ali, who was waiting for her at the bottom, amusement flaring in his deep brown, ageing eyes. In response, she rolled her eyes and gestured, communicating that he lead her to where the Uber was supposedly waiting.

The street was busy, and for a moment, Nora didn't think the Uber had arrived until Ali began to stroll down the road, without so much of a 'follow me'. She scoffed but shadowed him, failing to keep up with his rapid steps, as he crossed the road, applied hand sanitiser to his hands, and opened the door, taking a seat first.
Her jaw clenched at the lack of chivalry, but she held her tongue, resisting the temptation of ask him to move along, and instead, walking around the back of the car to sit behind the driver instead.

Thanks to the Uber app, the driver already knew the route, and so after confirming the address, they were soon on their way to the outskirts of Milton Keynes. The pair were travelling further than Nora had expected, and when her phone buzzed, she remembered that she was yet to update Leo on her venture so far.

Only disappointment coated her expression, followed by annoyance when she realised that the message was from her mother, hoping to arrange a call when she was available. Nora didn't plan to reply for a while, at least not until she had a job, and so she ignored the message and texted her brother instead.

Meanwhile, Ali was seemingly growing tenser as the silence continued. When he began to twiddle his thumbs and sigh heavily, Nora had no choice but to stop her texting and point his agitating qualities out.
"Just stop," she interrupted, awkwardly tucking her phone into her jeans pocket as he turned in her direction. "It's going to be fine...just don't think about it,"

"Easy for you to say," He muttered before sighing once more. "What am I supposed to think about then?"
The driver tilted his head, almost intrigued by their sudden emergence of conversation, and Nora rolled her eyes, adjusting her belt so that the strap was only holding her waist, before moving so that her legs were crossed, and she was facing him.

"You shouldn't sit like that," Ali warned as she waved a hand. "It's dangerous, what if we have an accident?"

"It's fine," She dismissed, before she released a small sigh, "Goodness you worry too much!" She observed, her complaint catching the attention of the driver, who peeked at the pair through his rear-view mirror. Nora did her best to ignore him, as she instead cleared her throat and focussed on the man beside her. Though he was older, she doubted the worry lines that had formed due to age. Ali was a worrier, and being a person who didn't care in the slightest, she knew he'd have her at wits end, if he continued expressing his concerns. "Tell me something about you," She decided, removing her hat to lean against the glass pane of the window. It wasn't quite comfortable, but was better than sitting straight, facing the right way. "What do you do? Your company looks pretty fancy, have you always worked there? Do you own the place?"

Ali chortled in response, shaking his head in disagreement. "It's a telecom factory, all glamour on the outside, nothing special within, and I don't work for them."  He informed her, in a very matter- of -fact way. It seemed Ali didn't exactly like the staff who shared his building, but she ignored that thought as she asked the far more pressing enquiry on her mind.

"But you're office...?" She questioned,

"I just hire the space." He explained with a small shrug, "I'm a freelance illustrator-"

"No, you're not!" Nora interrupted, her eyes wide and teeth exposed as she expressed her astonishment. "You're an artist?" She asked for clarification, and then shook her head in disbelief. "I would never have guessed; you're just too...neat,"

And Ali was. Just from his suit alone, she would have assumed he had an office job, and he shrugged again as if to him this was normal. "I just take pride in my appearance," He reflected, "and I'm careful when I paint. Of course, odd accidents happen but I keep spare clothes with me. I would never walk out of my home with, say, tomato sauce on my shoes," Instinctively, she glanced at her converse, noticing the mark that had permanently stained her purple trainers, and scoffed, amusement coating her surprise.