Brew Books

Chapter 10

A couple of hours later I take the cupcakes downstairs to the bookshop café. Harper's behind the counter, and his face splits into a grin when he sees me approaching with the cupcakes. We arrange them on a wooden serving tray.

'Hang on, wait here,' Harper tells me, and he leaps up the three stairs that separate this area from the bookshelves at the back. Harper in motion reminds me of an excitable labrador, leaping everywhere.

Harper returns a second later and presses a book into my hands. I look down at "The Catcher in the Rye", then back up into Harper's green-blue eyes.

'Read this,' he instructs, with a smile, and then goes back to the coffee machine.

So I make myself comfortable on the sagging Chesterfield sofa and read while Harper serves the last customers of the day. Before I know it, it's closing time and it's just Harper and me alone in the store.

'Hey, come here,' he says. He's behind the counter, with a cloth in his hand. 'I'll teach you how to clean the coffee machine.' That twang of cockney in his voice makes everything he says sound cheeky.

I join him as he goes through the steps of cleaning. He hands me the cloth and instructs me to wipe down, and while I'm doing it he puts music on the speakers.

'Don't take this the wrong way,' Harper sings to me, in Hozier's deep drawl.

I turn to him and grin. He's doing a slow, goofy dance, and he picks up another cloth and starts wiping down surfaces with me. He gets really into it, dancing along as he wipes down the tables. While he's not looking, I take out my phone and take a video of him dancing and singing. Only a few minutes after I add it to my Instagram story I get a text from my school friend Nadia.

"OMG Jane who is that guy??? SO HOT!" she's texted into our group chat. I don't open the conversation, instead putting my phone back down. I want to give the impression that I'm too busy to have read her text.

I hope my ex will see the Instagram soon and wonder who it is I'm hanging out with.

Harper and I stack the dishwasher. He keeps singing, but gets progressively sillier in his dancing, trying to make me laugh.

I wipe down the tables, and put the chairs on top of them like I used to do in my dad's restaurant, so we can sweep and mop the floors.

'Don't worry about it, I'll sweep,' Harper says, as I head towards the stairwell, where I noticed a broom closet earlier. 'Go upstairs, chill.' He shoots me one of his broad grins.

I let myself out of the café and upstairs, passing Will and Sylvie in the living room and going to my bedroom. I find my Lululemon and change into it, putting a thick workout jacket over the top.

'I'm going for a run,' I say as I'm leaving.

'See you in a bit!' Will calls, while Sylvie remains silent.

The cold air hits me when I'm outside. The high street is busy so I dodge traffic and run across the green, letting my thoughts spiral as I run.

Developing a crush on my new neighbour is so not a good idea. But it's hard not to, when he's got that proper London accent, and the messy hair, and the broad shoulders. And I love how he's always grinning, and never serious. He's everything fresh and carefree that I need right now.

I explore quieter streets that I don't know, admiring the Victorian houses and the pretty shop fronts. I get to Hammersmith and keep going, hitting the Thames, and running along the water. The Hammersmith bridge is lit up, and I stop to get a photo of it for Instagram, but my iPhone can't capture the prettiness that I'm seeing in front of me, so I delete it.

Instead, I check the views of my Instagram story today. My ex still hasn't watched the video of Harper dancing in the bookshop.

I have to use Maps to find my way home, and when I do I let myself into the empty flat, and have a shower and wash my hair. Every time I wash my hair these days it strikes me how short it is.

After I'm changed I start to wonder where my flatmates are. The bar is closed on a Sunday night, so they can't be there, right? I decide to apply a tinted moisturiser, lip gloss, and a touch of mascara before leaving the flat. I barely know these people and I'm not comfortable enough with them to let them see me without makeup.

I'm about to go downstairs to the bar, but I hear voices in the flat across from mine. I knock on the door tentatively.

Kitty answers. 'The door's always open, you know,' she says. 'You don't need to knock.'

She's wearing a flowing maxi dress with stars and moons printed on it, and her blonde hair is pulled up into a halo braid. I remember braiding her hair like that when we were younger. She must have taught herself how to do it. She doesn't need me anymore.

Kitty takes me through to the living room. The layout of the flat is identical to mine, however there's not a plant in sight. Instead, the grey sofa is dressed with oversized cushions, and there's a much larger TV. The coffee table has flowers and a stack of Vogue magazines.

Will's on the sofa, reading. He doesn't look up to greet me. Harper, beside him, looks up at me and grins. I feel a little tremor of giddiness in my tummy as I return his smile.

Sylvie is sitting on the floor next to the sofa, where there's a full-length mirror resting against the wall. She has two makeup bags spilling open in front of her, and she's applying pencil to her brows.

Charlotte and Ed are in the kitchen. Seeing them side by side is funny, because Ed's hair is natural ginger and Charlotte's cherry hair looks strikingly bright in contrast. Ed's wearing the most hideous jacquard shirt I've ever seen, and maroon trousers. The ensemble clashes with his dirty red hair and freckled complexion and somehow... it works. Maybe it's his bright green eyes, or stubble, but he manages to look handsome.

'We were just talking about dinner,' Kitty tells me. 'Do you want to join us for a curry?'

I take a breath, relieved at the idea of being included into this group. 'Yeah,' I say.

• Author's Note •

Thanks for reading! You've made it through ten chapters, wow! I really hope you're enjoying this story so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments, of course!

Question of the chapter:

Do you like curry? If so, what kinds?

p.s. don't forget to vote!

elle xx