A part of me wanted to stay. Actually it would be more honest to say that pretty much all of me wanted to stay but I know what I'm like. Harvey is being nice and I'm just me and I will end up making a move and things will happen and for once I don't want that to happen. Because if that happens then I will regret it because things will get awkward and Harvey is a really sweet guy and I definitely need more friends and sleeping with sweet guys does not a friendship make. So I say goodbye and wave and drive away and I don't look in the mirror because if I see him still standing there I might just change my mind.
But I gave him my number at least. So he can text me. If he felt like it. Or not. I guess.
I really need to get a grip.
The drive home is fairly easy. I park up outside the house, grab my stuff and head inside. I can hear mum from the kitchen. She's probably getting ready for work since she's on nights at the moment. She calls out hello as she hears me shut the door and drop my keys on the sideboard in the hallway. Athena comes up to me, nudging my leg in a demand for head scratches which I give briefly before walking through to where mum is at the back of the house.
It's fair to say I take after my dad. The blonde hair, the lean physique no matter how much crap I eat, the snaggle-toothed grin that had to be fixed with braces. But my eyes I definitely get from mum. The exact same dark green - almost like Tourmaline. She's a few inches shorter than me. She has brown wavy hair that she almost always ties back. She's dressed in her blue scrubs and has her favourite pink-orange cardigan on. She's a midwife and a nurse and usually does night shifts in the newborn intensive care unit.
"Good day, love?" she asks as she's making a salad that she can have when she gets a break.
"Yeah it was okay."
"You're back later than usual. Especially after going out last night" she doesn't intend to chastise but I can hear the disapproval of me playing out midweek.
"I met up with someone"
"Oh? From your course?"
"No. Well... he was at the restaurant and then I met him again last night and found out he's studying film here. So we just... hung out."
"That's good. What's his name?"
"Harvey"
"Perhaps you'll have to invite him round when I'm back on days. I'll make a chilli and we can have a movie night."
"Yeah I'll ask him. Thanks, mum."
"Quite alright. Now I have to go. There's some chicken in the fridge if you need to make something to eat. Don't give it to Athena. I know what you're like."
"I know, I know. Have a good night at work."
"Love you, darling. bye."
"Love you too."
She kisses me on the cheek and I do the same back before she leaves. A few people always thought it was weird how much time I spent with mum. But then after dad... we were kind of all each other had. I didn't make things easy on her either. We do things together all the time. By which I mean when she is on days, we make enough food to feed ten people when it is just the two of us and we'll binge a new series on Netflix or watch movies or play board games together. Whatever we don't eat, we usually freeze down so we can have it later in the week. And it's not like it's just our thing either. Dee has joined us a bunch of times and I still think mum holds a little grudge against Dee for beating her in Trivial Pursuit.
Once she leaves, I head into the living room and collapse on the sofa. Mum had left the telly on a random channel that was doing a Murder, She Wrote marathon and I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous that I missed some of it. I used to watch whenever I was off school sick because daytime TV sucks and this was entertaining. Cue fascination with crime novels which become general writing and poetry, culminating in me doing a degree in Creative Writing. Thank you, Miss Fletcher.
Athena hoists herself up onto the sofa as well and flops down on top of me head right in my stomach. I strain a little because her head is like a bowling ball but immediately go back to giving her scratches behind the ears and smoothing her fur.
"Well looks like we made a friend today, girl. Well, hopefully."
She sighs and hits me with a wave of bad doggy breath. I cough and splutter a little which garners a huff and growl of disapproval because how dare I disturb her comfort laying on my stomach and hitting me with canine halitosis for her amusement. I chuckle and lie back down while I dig my phone out of my pocket and unlock it...
No text from Harvey.
Am I disappointed? Yes. But why am I? Because Harvey McCuteFace hasn't texted me when he has got absolute zero obligation to do so just because I gave him my number. Not like I'm expecting him to suddenly confess that he likes me and would I maybe want to go on a date some time. No definitely not that at all. Far easier to say it would be courteous just so that I had his number after spending the whole day with him. Let's go with that. I place my phone facedown on my chest and start watching the episode that is on and JB Fletcher is busy snooping around another murder scene and has that wonderful look of shock and "how do I get myself out of this?" scheming on her face when the sheriff catches her yet again. I shuffle my shoulders down into the squidgy cushions of the sofa and promptly fall asleep.
I wake up a couple hours later thanks to a stern buzzing directly in the centre of my chest. Or rather, on the centre of my chest. I cough and rub my eyes which is enough for Athena to huff at me and moves off to her own dog bed for once. I swear she has used that thing all of three times since we got it for her. Most of the time she sleeps on the sofa or on my bed. I blink enough times for my vision to focus and see what caused the sudden, rude vibrations.
A text. From an unknown number. I open it.
Thx for today. Same again next week?
H
It takes me far longer than it should have done to figure out that the H stands for Harvey. I quickly text back, which takes longer than it should have done because typos and I hate typos.
Hey! Sure :) that'll be great. Glad you're as enthusiastic about hash browns as I am
A
YOU ARE READING
Table For Two
RomanceHarvey Trent is just starting at Bath Spa University. He's come out to his flatmates because he doesn't want to hide anymore. He goes on a date within his first week and it goes... disastrously. The one saving grace is his server, Ali Doherty. Later...
