Somewhere Only We Know (18 page)

“You say that, but it’s actually quite a big deal,” Caro frowned. “Monty only really
looks
at me at all in the immediate seconds before climax." She rolled her eyes. "I bet Hugh Grant looks at women like they matter,” she continued, half to herself, half to her drink as she brought it to her mouth again.

She still wasn’t entirely sure what they were even talking about, but Nadia felt very in love with her stupid friends in that moment. And also, also, she felt her heart nudging inside of her chest when she thought about Alex and the way that he apparently looked at her.

Nadia stretched forward and poured the dregs of the final bottle out equally between their three glasses.

“That’s it for the wine then, ladies,” she announced. “And speaking of High Grant, anyone up for watching
Notting Hill
?”

Alex

Alex had been mentally checked-out since lunchtime; the compulsory Friday-afternoon team meeting had just about killed his already-meagre work ethic stone dead. For yet another week running he watched the same faces all studiously staring at their laps to avoid making eye contact with Donnelly, listened to the same crap about budget cuts and productivity levels and missed targets and felt very much as though he wanted to scream.

After what felt like a million years, Alex’s team were released back to their desks to see out the tail end of the working week. Boring afternoons at work had become a lot easier since Nadia had come into his life, although Alex seriously hoped his bosses weren’t monitoring his personal email use. Although, if they were, he’d dare them not to get totally sucked into it; Nadia had a way of making the most stupid topics ever into amazing conversation. That morning they’d been earnestly discussing whether or not the world’s governments were covering up proof of extra-terrestrial life. Nadia’s arguments that they were seemed to mainly be based around a childhood of watching
The X Files
. She’d been in full flow, sending him jpegs of pixilated blurs in the night’s sky that she swore were UFOs when he got called into the team meeting, so he was eager to see what inbox delights were awaiting him now he was out.

Most recent, appearing at the top, was a subjectless email from Lila Palmer; Alex felt an embarrassing little jerk in his stomach. Since their awkward falafel lunch the other week, he hadn’t had any contact with her, save the fact that he hadn’t been able to stop himself from “liking” all of her latest Facebook activity (he was only human). He’d gotten the distinct impression that, despite all her grand words about staying friends, he was being phased out. So why? Why this sudden email? He almost didn’t want to open it, glanced wistfully at the one from Nadia, sitting a few lines below, before resolutely double-clicking on Lila’s.

The message began innocuously enough.

Hiya! Are you good? Has your flat deteriorated into a total testosterone pig-sty by now??

Lila was forever peppering her texts and emails with little faces; this particular sentence was punctuated by a tongue-sticky-outy face to show she was only kidding. The flat was pretty much pristine actually, Alex thought, a little annoyed; neither he nor Rory were hardly ever in, these days.

I was just wondering if you’re free tonight?
the email continued, making Alex’s heart soar.
I fancied going to the cinema. I know it’s short notice, but Penny just bailed on me saying she’s not feeling well.
Sad face. Alex pulled a matching grimace, feeling the rollercoaster dip of disappointment. A stood-up Lila had clearly just mentally scrolled through all her acquaintances and decided that he, out of all of them, was most likely to be free on a Friday night. Charming.

Let me know if you’re up for it!
Lila had concluded, smiley face.

Lila had already been waiting for a response for over twenty minutes, but for some reason Alex didn’t feel inclined to reply straight away. He minimised Lila’s email and opened Nadia’s. It was, as he’d expected, far more cheering. Much like Lila’s little emoticon quirk, Nadia’s habit was to over-exclaim; even the most humdrum sentences seemed to merit at least two exclamation marks.

Look at this!!!
Nadia demanded, underneath where she had pasted the link to a conspiracy theory blog.
How can you say that nothing was going on in the fifties!?!?

Nads, seriously
, Alex replied immediately, grinning to himself.
I’m currently in a government building! I really can’t be clicking on links to anti-establishment nut-job websites!
He rolled his eyes.
Anyway, changing the subject here before I get fired/arrested/sectioned. Do you fancy the cinema tonight, if you’re not busy? If you let me pick the flick, then the tickets are on me…

Nadia shot back a response almost immediately.
Okay. Not another American gross-out comedy this time, please!!! I’ll get the popcorn.

Smiling to himself again, Alex revisited Lila’s email.
Sorry Lils…
he typed, already almost regretting his impulsive decision; but was it too much to hope that he could ever be more than a last resort to the woman he loved?
I’ve already got plans tonight. Another time, yeah?

Alex couldn’t hold back an audible laugh as another email from Nadia shot into the corner of his screen:
There’s a film about an alien invasion on at 7pm at the Picture House!! Book it! Quick!!!

Chapter 14

Alex

The summer seemed as if it was set to last for ever. Every single one of the flat windows was wide open, but the breeze running through the rooms was barely more than a breath.

Nadia was kneeling in front of his shelving unit, her bare knees digging into the living-room carpet. She was wearing those denim shorts he’d become accustomed to, so old and faded that in places they were closer to white than blue. Her hair was pulled up in a messy, gravity-defying knot on the top of her head. She seemed so entirely of this time, this summer; he couldn’t imagine what she looked like in winter, all bundled up.

She glanced up at him. “I really, honestly don’t have a preference.”

“Are you happy for me to choose, then?” Alex asked with a smile. “Because there are a couple of titles in particular that I’m leaning towards…”

Nadia eased herself to her feet. “Knock yourself out. You definitely know better than me.”

“Okay, then.” Alex knew she’d make him pick, which is why he’d already got one in mind. She didn’t look wildly enthused about the day’s activity, but she was nothing if not a good sport, and had headed dutifully for Tooting once her Saturday-morning shift volunteering at the charity shop was over.

“Just nothing with guns, okay?” Nadia frowned, settling herself gingerly on the sofa. “And I don’t want to have to wear a headset thing like in the adverts.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything like that,” Alex assured her. “I was thinking of an RPG.” Nadia looked at him blankly. Alex sighed. “It will have characters and a proper story,” he clarified. “And, you know, things like… magic.” He wiggled his fingers dramatically to indicate said magic. Nadia looked supremely unimpressed. Alex sighed again. “Look, just go with me on this one,” he appealed, bending down to feed the video game disc into his PlayStation.

An hour later, Nadia was no longer walking her avatar into walls and had stopped flinging the controller at Alex with a squeal of alarm every time she was attacked by an enemy. By hour two she was shushing him when he tried to chat over story sequences and it wasn’t long after that before she started trying to pump Alex for more information on the back story of the game's characters.

“I don’t agree with spoilers,” Alex laughed. “Just stick at it. There’s probably only about, oh, eighty-odd hours of play before you get to the end. If you rush through and don’t bother with any side quests, that is.”

Nadia looked amazed. “I didn’t realise these games were so
in-depth
.”

Alex laughed again. “You’ve always teased me for wasting so much time playing video games,” he pointed out. “So surely it can’t be that much of a surprise?”

It was gone five o’ clock by the time Rory arrived home, rumpled from the gym and toting a plastic Tesco bag with his work clothes stuffed inside; he’d spent another day doing overtime at the office. He surveyed the scene without comment: Alex looking up at him with amusement, Nadia so intent on the boss she was battling that she couldn’t even acknowledge him. Rory shook his head. He disappeared briefly into the kitchen.

“So,” he said, reappearing with a handful of glossy takeaway leaflets. “What shall we order in?”

Nadia

Holly was trying so hard to keep her face straight, but she was failing miserably.

“His PlayStation,” she repeated, for the fourth time. “His
PlayStation
.”

“Yes, his PlayStation,” Nadia echoed, rolling her eyes as she tried to focus on what new armour was best to equip onto her White Mage. “This way I can play when I have those lonely days off from the shop with nothing to do.”

“Does he have another one, or something?” Ledge asked cautiously, from where he was sitting on the chair in front of Nadia’s dressing table.

“No, I don’t think so,” Nadia answered, distractedly, button-mashing as she spoke.

“So basically, he’s given you his favourite thing in the world,” Holly pointed out, smirking.

“Not given it to me. Lent it to me.” Nadia defended, feeling her face flush. “And besides, it’s his stupid fault I’m addicted to this game anyway. I would have been quite happy finishing my life having never played a video game, and now I’m hooked. And there’s like TWELVE other games in this franchise, with a new one every year! I’m never going to catch up!” she moaned.

“Cor,” Ledge murmured, as Nadia finished up by changing the boots equipped to her Thief; they covered more skin than anything else the character was shown to be wearing. “It’s so weird that the women characters in these games are designed to look like absolute sluts.”

“I know, like where’s the logic there?” Holly laughed. “It’s hardly defensive to have your tits and ass hanging out.”

“Maybe it’s intended for distraction purposes?” Ledge sniggered.

“You guys, please!” Nadia wailed. “I’m trying to concentrate here!”

Alex

“Your PlayStation!” Rory moaned, and not for the first time. “I can’t believe you gave her your PlayStation.”

“Stop whining,” Alex frowned. “We’ve still got your Xbox to play games on.”

“But we only own the PlayStation version of
Call of Duty
,” Rory complained.

“Look, if I hadn’t given it to her, then she’d be here every night playing
Final Fantasy
in our living room, on our TV,” Alex pointed out, “and surely that would have annoyed you more?”

Rory made a sullen noise of agreement and returned to flicking grumpily through the television channels; Alex turned back to replying to Nadia’s text message.

“Hey, Ror,” he said, after a moment. “Are you up for coming with me to a house party in Brixton next Saturday?”

“That entirely depends,” retorted Rory, leaning to one side so he could slide his mobile phone from his rear pocket. “Whose house party? I don’t know anyone who lives in Brixton. Is it the dodgy end?”

“Both ends of Brixton are dodgy ends,” Alex quipped. “And I don’t know them, actually. Friend of Nadia’s.”

Rory’s eyebrows raised. “A friend of Nadia’s? Can I assume this is also a blonde Eastern European stunner? If so, I’m there with bells on.”

Alex frowned. “Rory, you’ve been broken up with Lila for like, five minutes.”

“Exactly.
Broken up
with. As in, I’m single. So I should mingle.” Rory laughed heartily at his own bad joke.

“You broke up with Lils because you didn’t want a girlfriend,” Alex pointed out. “So I’m just surprised you want another one so soon – Eastern European and stunning or not.”

“I never said anything about having a girlfriend, mate,” Rory grinned wickedly. “I just said I wanted to… ‘mingle’. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Alex coughed back a laugh. “Well, I doubt you’ll want to mingle with this house party’s host,” he said, contritely. “Being as it is Nadia’s boyfriend’s housemate and his name is Jeremy.”

Nadia

Somehow this was the first time Nadia was meeting the infamous Jez, Matt’s “complete lad” of a housemate. Whilst Jez had featured heavily in almost all of Matt’s stories and anecdotes, he’d not been at home on any of the few occasions Nadia had been over, and so she’d never had the pleasure. Either way, when Matt cheerfully informed her they were throwing a house party for Jez’s birthday – and that she should bring people and turn up around eight – Nadia’s first inclination was to decline. She was trying to break things off with the guy: being introduced to his friends en masse seemed somewhat counter-productive.

But Caro had insisted that she needed the distraction from her troubles with Monty, and Holly had pointed out that quite frankly she could use the access to a new pool of single men, and so Nadia had agreed to go. But that, she told herself sternly, was it. Since realising she might have real feelings for Alex she hadn’t been able to bring herself to spend much time with Matt, let alone sleep with him again, and things were getting awkward. Even the innocuous touch of their hands brushing together by accident set her skin to a guilty crawling. So she’d been avoiding him. And he'd noticed. This was going to be the first time she’d even seen him for almost three weeks now.

At least Alex would be there alongside her, she told herself, in an attempt to buoy her spirits as she tiredly applied her makeup. It was one of those days where no matter what she did, no matter how much slap she applied, no matter how she fluffed her hair, she just felt a bit meh. The mascara she was trying to artfully smear on her bottom lashes just left sad little clumps. Nadia sighed and reached for a makeup wipe so she could start over again. This would be the first large-scale social event she and Alex had been at together. She bet he played a mean drinking game; he was so quick and clever, even after a few too many.