Fire

Girl U Want

It feels like an eternity for 8pm to arrive.

You'd spent the last few hours trying to make your hair and makeup look effortlessly perfect. So you'd made an effort, but not too much.

You checked again in the rearview mirror that your eyeliner hadn't smudged, your fingers drum nervously against the car steering wheel in the empty parking lot.

20:01 he's late. Do you wait a little longer, or do you just save yourself the embarrassment of being stood up? You'd give him four more minutes. As soon as that thought enters your mind, you hear the screech of brakes as a van hurtles into the parking lot and abruptly stops.

Eddie bundles out his van, an arm full of tapes, a box and his lunchbox, running towards your car. Unsure what was going on, you instinctively get out of the car and run to the other side to open the passenger door for him.

He tilts his head, pulls an impressed face, and drops everything in the foot well except for the box, which he very carefully holds as he gets into his seat and places it gently on his lap. Once he's comfortably in his seat, you close the door and walk back to the driver's side. Midway a brief pause to ask yourself, 'What the hell was that?'.

As you drop into your seat, you hear, "Well, I'll be damned, I could get used to this" he puts his hands behind his head and reclines back in the seat.

"On the subject of this. What is all this?" You wave your hand at the foot well, "and what exactly is happening?"

He leans forward excitedly and grabs at the tapes creating a most bizarre chunky hand fan with them, "Well, these are for the journey. The lunchbox is for when we get there," he gestures at the box on his lap," and this, well, this is for later" as he finishes that sentence, pauses and winces a little. Realising that pointing at his lap might not have been the smoothest move. You nod at him to confirm his reaction was justified.

"Yep, that was not a good move. I probably should have held the box up, right?" He says awkwardly

He swiftly tries to change the subject by talking at top speed whilst messing around with the tape in the car radio.

"Anyway, I wanted this place to be a surprise, but I figured you might be a bit worried about getting in my van and not having your car, so I thought I'd get in your car, and I'll direct you."

He slams a tape in and inspects the one he's taken out, "Huh, still listening to The Pleasure Principal? Or is it like the only album you have..." He says in genuine horror, searching around, opening your glove compartment, and breathing a sigh of relief when he locates a few other tapes.

So you weren't going to tell him you'd been listening to the song Metal repeatedly all the way home, at home and then all the way here. Luckily he hadn't given you time to explain.

You also wanted to be mad with him for just going through your things, but there was something so innocent about how he was doing it. You smile and ask, "So where are we going to?"

" I see your game! Trying to catch me off guard. So I let the surprise slip before we get there." He tuts at you and wags his finger.

Impossible to keep under control. Your smile widens, and you laugh a little, "Well, can I at least get some directions, please?"

He smiles back warmly and says quietly, "Witchcraft", then puts on his seat belt, "Ok, so it's right out of here."

The journey is a strange but not totally unpleasant one. Eddie has a minimal grasp on personal space, and his directions come in various formats. Sometimes just spoken word, sometimes hand signals, sometimes both, sometimes last minute when he seems distracted by something, sometimes right next to your ear, which is nerve-wracking, and on a few occasions, he just flicks the indicator for you.