A Cornish Affair

A Nobody Teacher

Rosie's stomach was nearly in her mouth she was so nervous about ringing. It had barely rung through twice when she heard, "Hello, Rosie?"

"Hi, yes it's me. Hello Ricky " He could sense she was nervous.

"Hi, thanks for ringing. I'm not stopping you from doing anything am I?" he suddenly asked,  hoping she wasn't changing her plans for him.

"No not at all. I've had the evening off. I worked hard earlier so that I could..." Rosie stopped. She'd got her work done so she'd have all night to work out how she could say thank you to Ricky for the flowers.  She could hardly tell him that! "So I could have the evening to myself."

"Yourself? You're alone then?" Ricky hoped his question wasn’t too obvious.

"I live alone." Rosie hoped her reply wasn’t either.

She lived alone?  He hadn’t expected that. She was engaged wasn’t she?  It wasn’t a question he was going to ask now.

Realising his reply had been too long in coming,  he thought he'd change the subject.

"You enjoyed the song then?" The lights had changed and he began to accelerate away from the junction.

"Yes, very much. I'm sorry I haven't heard much of your music." Rosie wandered to the sofa as she spoke. She sat down on the edge. "It's not really what I listen to."

Great, Ricky thought, a line of conversation to access, "You don't need to apologise. What do you normally listen to?"

"Oh that's a tough one to answer. I'm a real mixture. It's nineties stuff mainly. Shed Seven have to be my all time favourite. Oasis too..."  She heard Ricky laugh. Had she said something wrong? Rosie stopped talking, losing her confidence immediately. Ricky was aware of her silence.

"Noel isn't a fan of ours either!" Rosie still didn't respond so he carried on. "He's been far from flattering about our music in the past."

"Oh I see. He is rather opinionated." Rosie relaxed a little again.

"Shed Seven on the other hand. That's my mate Rick."

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, "You know Rick Witter?" She'd raised her voice somewhat.

Ricky laughed again. "Yeah I've known him years. Great bloke is our Rick! And Oasis I used to have posters of them on my wall," Ricky continued, though thinking he was perhaps telling her a little too much too soon. He had to keep some air of mystery about himself.

"I was late getting into them. I had Take That posters on my wall when I was little." Rosie admitted, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Now Gary, he's a top bloke." Ricky stopped. Now it did sound like he was name dropping.

It was Rosie's turn to laugh now, but hers was a nervous one, "Wow. You have quite a friends list!" 

Ricky groaned, "Oh now I sound like a right nob! I'm not, I promise.  I'm going home to an empty flat and to watch Midsomer Murders!" Had he gone too far the other way now?

"You've missed the start," Rosie said,  looking at the clock.

"I record it," Ricky admitted, his Yorkshire accent exaggerated in his words. Rosie smiled. What a life of extremes this man seemed to have. "Is that sad?" he asked.

"No, no, not at all. We all have our little strange ways." Rosie regretted her words as she heard Ricky laugh out loud.

"Are you calling me strange Miss Cooper?" He'd softened his voice as he spoke. A tingle ran through Rosie at the sound of her name.