You're My Hope for the Future

Chapter 5

By mid-week, there had been no contact between the two, and Paul was starting to get antsy. He'd got his mate Matt round and had confessed all.

"What does it mean though?!" Paul asked, frustrated.

"Dunno mate." Matt chuckled. "Maybe she wants to take it all back. Maybe she likes you and thinks you're the one avoiding her."

"Argh!" Paul groaned, whimpering as he threw a hand over his face.

"You've got it bad, mate." Matt grinned. "Look, I've gotta go. Just ring her? The longer you leave it, the more awkward it'll get."

Paul followed him to the door and saw him out before returning to the settee and flopping back down on it. He pulled his phone out. Five minutes later, he was still staring at it, his mind wandering all over the place and coming up with all sorts of scenarios as to how the conversation would go. He was startled out of his musings by his phone beginning to ring. He fumbled to pick it up off the floor where he'd dropped it before looking at who was calling. It was Hannah. He took a deep shaky breath before answering.

"Hi Han!" He greeted, thanking his acting experience for helping him to sound a lot more confident than he felt.

"Hey Pauly." She replied. "I was just ringing to see if you were okay. I haven't heard from you in a couple of days."

Paul chuckled. "Well, I haven't heard from you either, Spunjab!"

"Fair point." Hannah laughed. "Anyway, how are you? How drunk did you get on Christmas day?"

'Uh-oh' Paul thought. 'Time to come clean.'

"I'm pretty good. Mum fed me well and sent me home with enough leftovers to fill the freezer and more." Paul began. "Didn't get drunk though. Only had a couple of beers. How about you? How many bottles of wine did you get through?"

Now it was Hannah's turn to panic. If Paul wasn't drunk, did that mean he'd been flirting with her knowingly?

"I was on anti-biotics. I couldn't drink anything." Hannah stated. A long silence followed, neither of them quite knowing what to say.

"Hannah, I think we need to talk." Paul suggested.

"Yeah." Hannah sighed. "Umm, I'm free tonight?"

"Uh, sure, I can do tonight." Paul said, startled at Hannah's willingness to meet up. "Are you drinking again now? 'Cause I have a feeling we may need alcohol at some point."

"I'll grab some beer on my way over. Shall we say five-ish?"

"Sure." Paul grinned. "I'll see you then!"