"Open the door, open the God damn door!" I woke up to Sal trying to batter the door down. I nudged Brian awake.
"I think someone wants to get in here," I chuckled.
"GO AWAY!!" Brian shouted at the door, laughing. "We're busy in here!" He leaned over me and kissed me, running his hand down my bare thigh. I giggled...something I never did.
"Sorry Sal," I called. "Come back in an hour...or so!" I pulled Brian down on top of me and kissed him hard.
I laughed into Brian's mouth as I heard the door being kicked and Sal calling us dicks before stalking off. "Now what were you saying about being busy?"
An hour later, I'm drying my hair and sorting my make up while Brian showers. Last night was incredible, but I knew it would be a one off. And that was fine, I'm a realist. I don't have these wild ideas of how things could be. I grabbed my bag and sat on the bed, waiting for Brian to come out of the bathroom.
A few minutes later he walked out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist, his hair still dripping from the shower, and I almost lost all ideas of realism right there and then. I wanted to jump his bones, he looked crazy hot. "Damn it Brian, you're not exactly making it easy for me to leave."
"Good," he teased. "If Sal wasn't due back any minute I really wouldn't be letting be go anywhere."
I raised my eyebrows. "You wouldn't let me? You think you'd be able to stop me? You have no idea, Mr Brian Quinn. As it is, I really do need to leave. I've got to get the train home, Oli will be expecting me."
Those puppy dog eyes were back, along with an exaggerated pout. "I have two days off. Stay with me." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up.
"You are mean, Brian." How could I resist those eyes? But I had to. "I do have a life, you know. I have things to do." He was pouting more and more, but the glint in his eye told me he was just playing. I thought for a second. I had to do some marking, I'd been putting it off all summer holiday but the schools were going back in less than two weeks so I really needed to get a wriggle on. But other than that, I was free.
"Urgh, ok. I really do have to go now..." He pouted again. I put my hand over his mouth, "stop. But...I am free tonight. You can take me out for dinner. But near mine, I will be sleeping in my own bed tonight."
"That sounds like a plan." He kissed my cheek, and turned to open the door which had just been pounded on.
Sal stalked in. "I swear to god, if you two did anything in my bed i will never forgive you!" He started looking over the bed, to see if it had been slept in.
I leaned over him and whispered "right on the pillows dude" and walked right out of the door, waving to Brian as I went and leaving him to deal with Sal.
The second I was out of the hotel I rang Oli, who obviously wanted all the details of last night. That wasn't something for public consumption, so with a promise of divulging as soon as I was back she let it go. I asked her what happened after I left. Joe had lost the challenge so they dared him to go skinny dipping in the sea. At 2am. On Brighton Beach. Which wasn't the warmest at the best of times. "Let's just say I've seen more than enough of Joe Gatto to last me a lifetime!" Oli said, laughing.
Being the good friend that she is, Oli picked me up from the train station. I was, somewhat unsurprisingly, very tired. Our 15 minute trip home was filled with Oli pulling every single detail out of me.
"He really didn't want me to go. Which is sweet." I finished. "But I didn't want to be that girl, you know? The one who out stays her welcome. Plus Sal was not a happy bunny."
"So you're going out tonight?"
"Yep, don't know where but I told him I'm staying at home. When we've actually talked, we had a lot in common. Would be nice to actually get to know him. Unlike you, I don't know the ins and outs of their lives!"
As we walked into the house, the lack of sleep suddenly hit me. "I'm going to nap. Wake me up in a couple of hours, I need to do some marking." Oli nodded and gave me a quick hug.
"Still can't believe you fucked Q. I should be jealous..."
"Yeah, but you're not." A blew her a kiss and walked up the stairs to my room. The second I flopped on my bed, I felt my phone vibrate. Sal lost his shit at what you said. Was hilarious. Did you know he was a germaphobe?
I undressed and climbed into bed before tapping out a reply. Erm no, how would I know that?
Oh yeah...I forgot you aren't a fan :p - B
Hmm...taking fans back something you do on the regular then? ;) It took a while for him to reply. I shouldn't tease him, it's not fair really. I'm kidding dude, who am I to judge!
You are a horrible, horrible woman :p - B
You weren't saying that last night! :D now go away, I need some sleep before I do some work.
I switched my phone to silent and put it on my bedside table. I crashed the moment my head hit the pillow.
I woke up to Oli bouncing on my bed. "Get up! If you want to do any marking before you have to get ready, then get up!"
"Why do you have to make me so fucking responsible?" I grumbled. I was still really tired.
"You could cancel with Q...?" Oli teased.
"Fuck that, I'm getting up." I pushed her off the bed, grabbed my marking and my phone and made my way back downstairs.
The afternoon passed quickly, I got more done than I thought I would. Brian had text me telling me where to meet him and when. I was glad he hadn't picked somewhere fancy, that would have felt awkward. Oli was nice enough to play taxi again and drove me into town. Brian was stood outside waiting for me. As I waved goodbye, she yelled out the window "Just give me a bit of warning if you're not coming home alone...so I can plug my ears!" She drove away cackling.
"Well she's nothing if not subtle," I laughed as I reached Brian. "Hey." I kissed him quickly.
"Hey yourself. So you ready?" I nodded and he led me into the bar.
Dinner passed quickly, but we stayed talking and drinking for hours. We talked about everything. Our lives, our loves and our losses. We had more in common that I would ever have thought. Suddenly there was someone that understood the clawing darkness of depression that never really disappears, someone that knows that feeling of despair when you've hit rock bottom and there seems to be only one way out. I cried when he told me his story, I laughed when he talked of his best friends. The night couldn't have been more perfect and I didn't want it to end.
Joe text part way through the night, asking Brian to ask me if we wanted to come to Thorpe Park with them tomorrow. I didn't even need to ask Oli, I knew she'd be up for a day at the theme park. I text her to let her know the plan and we arranged to meet there.
Eventually we were thrown out of the restaurant. As Brian walked me to the taxi rank, I had another fuck it moment. "You staying?" I asked.
"Thought you'd never ask!" He grinned.
As we jumped in a taxi back to mine, I quickly text Oli to let her know the score. She was already in bed but asked us to keep the noise down.
"Coffee?" I asked as we walked in the house. Brian nodded as he looked around our house. It was certainly a lot to take in if you hadn't seen it before. Bright colours and vintage patterns, kitsch and geeky memorabilia everywhere. It was a nerds paradise. He zoned towards my Storm Trooper helmet.
"Please tell me this is yours..." I nodded, laughing.
"Hell yes it is! I LOVE Star Wars."
"How did I not know this?"
I shrugged. "I dunno, it's pretty obvious. Especially as I have a storm trooper on my thigh! Nice to see you were paying attention." I smacked his arm playfully.
"Wait, what? Hang on..." I could see him mentally replaying he previous night, obviously trying to remember if he saw the tattoo.
Shaking my head, I just undid my jeans and slid them down to show him. A had a palm sized storm trooper helmet on my upper thigh, day of the dead style complete with Mexican moustache. "You say what I think you're gonna say and I will hit you." I'd seen enough episodes to know 'hey moustache'.
He was still staring at my thigh. He shook himself, muttered "fuck the coffee" and threw me over his shoulder. I shrieked and directed him to my room, I didn't want him barging in on Oli by accident.
