Читать книгу Winter's Fairytale - Maxine Morrey - Страница 12

Chapter Four

Rob grabbed the remote control, pressed a button and his TV came on with a little welcome message. He punched in some numbers with his thumb and BBC News 24 came up.

‘…with all main routes out of London currently extremely slow or blocked entirely.’

I looked at Rob and pulled a face. ‘That doesn’t sound too promising, does it?’

‘Don’t give up yet,’ Rob smiled, ‘let’s consult The Oracle.’

‘The Oracle?’

He grinned. ‘Twitter.’

He switched back to the main screen on his laptop and pressed the tile for the Twitter app. His timeline immediately filled the screen and I leant over a little to see what was trending. Sure enough #snow was right near the top. Rob tapped on it to see what opinions were being given out on the subject. Typically, there were various versions of ‘America gets tonnes more of the stuff and things don’t grind to a halt.’ Rob and I glanced at each other and rolled our eyes. ‘That old chestnut’ the exchange said silently. The fact that America got tonnes of the stuff was exactly the reason why things didn’t grind to a halt. I imagined that the same people who were moaning about the situation now would probably be the same ones moaning if a fleet of highly expensive snow ploughs were sat in a shed unused for ninety-nine per cent of the time because ‘it’s not like we get tonnes of the stuff very often.’ Rob skimmed over those tweets and looked for something more constructive.

He found a tag labelled #Londonsnow and touched it. Another stream opened up. Silently we scanned over the tweets. I glanced at Rob and could see that even his optimism was failing. From the television we heard the announcement that they were ‘…now going live to our reporter, Beth Sanders.’ Beth thanked the anchor and began her report, advising that she was standing on one of the main arteries in and out of London to the south, which was now entirely blocked due to the snow. Behind her we could see lines of cars, some off at an angle, clearly abandoned. The reporter began an interview with one driver who had chosen to stick with his car. Looking completely fed up and frozen to the bone, the man relayed how, even though he’d left work early, he’d still now been stuck in his current position for over five hours.

I groaned audibly. ‘Oh, that poor man.’ I looked over at Rob and could see him weighing something up in his mind. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘Ok, look,’ he turned to me, reducing the volume on the TV a little, ‘obviously those roads are pretty blocked up, but I know you want to get home. The Range Rover will go pretty much anywhere and I know a couple of short cuts–’

‘No! Absolutely not!’ I cut in.

Rob looked slightly taken aback at my vehemence.

‘I’m not getting home tonight and that’s that. There’s no way I’m going to ask you to put yourself at risk to get me there.’

‘You didn’t ask me and I wouldn’t put either of us at risk. You know me better than that.’

‘No. Final answer. I’ll just ring round and find a hotel–’

‘No! Absolutely not!’ Rob returned my own words to me.

‘Pardon?’

‘There’s no need for you to stay at a hotel. There’s a perfectly good guest bedroom here.’

‘Oh! No! I couldn’t… I…’

Rob tilted his head at me, waiting for me to finish.

I sat up a little straighter and tried again. ‘I couldn’t possibly do that, Rob. I mean, it’s very kind of you, but you’ve already done so much this evening, trying to get me home.’

‘Izzy, I’ve looked up a couple of websites and put the news on. That’s all.’

‘No, that’s not all. If it wasn’t for you, I’d likely still be standing at the station freezing my backside off!’

‘Well, then I’m glad I came along because that really would be a crime.’ He gave me a cheeky wink, closed the laptop and put it aside. Then he rose and jogged up the three steps to the kitchen, heading for the fridge. ‘Beer or wine?’

‘Hang on, I don’t think we finished discussing this.’ I said, following him into the kitchen.

‘Yes we did,’ he said, his head now practically entirely inside the fridge as he rooted around at the back. He popped back out and shut the door, two ready meals in his hands, ‘Which one of these do you want? Sorry it’s nothing grander, but I wasn’t expecting company tonight and I’m loathe to try and ask anyone to deliver tonight in this weather, even if they were prepared to.’

I put aside the fact that Rob was bossing me about for a moment to reflect on the fact that he was showing such consideration to takeaway delivery people, and thought again how sweet he could be. But then I was straight back to the matter in hand.

I glanced down at the meals in his hands. They both looked delicious. But I wasn’t used to being told when and where I was staying. Even though I knew it was all meant in the best and kindest way.

‘Rob. I really do appreciate the offer but I think it’s best if I just find a hotel. I’ve imposed on you enough. Besides, I’ve already eaten. Mags and I had dinner.’

‘No imposition.’ he stated, jiggling the boxes of food in his hands in question again, ‘And you can just have a bit of one to keep me company. Any preference?’

I let out a huff. He was obviously sweet but, by God, he was also clearly stubborn as hell when he wanted to be.

‘Thank you, but I’m not hungry.’ I said. At which point my mutinous stomach let out the most enormous growl.

‘No. I can tell.’ Rob was wearing his poker face, but it didn’t last long. I saw the corners of his eyes crinkle as my stomach rumbled again. He put the food on the counter and placed his hands on my upper arms.

‘Izzy. Come on. Clearly you’re hungry. I know I am.’

My traitorous body wasn’t letting me out of this one so I conceded. ‘Ok, yes I’m hungry. Mags is on a pre-Christmas diet so we both just had antipasti. Which is fine, by the way! But I missed lunch. So, yes, I am a bit hungry.’

‘And it would seem you get grouchy when you’re hungry.’ Rob smiled, somehow softening the blow of the extremely accurate observation.

‘Wow.’ I said, flatly, ‘You’ve really got this gracious host thing sussed.’

Rob laughed, letting go of me and poking holes with a knife in the plastic wrap coverings of the ready meals. He opened the microwave and shoved them both in, adjusting the timings so that they’d both be ready together. Pulling open the cutlery drawer, he handed me knives and forks, before going back to his original question.

‘So, beer or wine?’

A few minutes later, we were sat next to one another on the sofa, ready meals tipped out onto plates, with red wine filling our glasses. The TV was still on the news channel, and showing reports of increasingly miserable looking drivers stuck on various routes, in and around the south east. Reporter Beth was looking colder and colder by the minute. I knew that, but for the grace of Rob, there go I. Except I would have been in a far worse position because, unlike Beth, who was decked out from head to foot in North Face winter ready clothing and boots, I had set out this morning in a knee-length wool coat and four-inch heels. Both of these I knew looked fabulous but were definitely not up to the job of keeping me warm whilst I stood waiting for a train that was never going to come. But staying at Rob’s tonight? Why was I having such a hard time with that? We were friends – again – that obstacle, at least, thankfully seemed to have been surmounted. And I stayed over with Mags plenty of times when we’d been out on the town or had a movie night in with popcorn and jammies. Mags was a friend. Rob was a friend. So staying over here was just like staying over at Mags’. Wasn’t it?

‘Those cogs are whirring again.’ Rob broke into my thoughts.

I took a sip of my wine, and hoped I didn’t have Ribena smiles. Best to be honest. ‘I just feel a little awkward about staying here tonight.’

‘Why?’

Honestly, I had no idea.

‘I don’t really know. I suppose tonight’s just sort of taken me by surprise – I mean, I haven’t spoken to you in six months and then I bump into you, promptly cry all over you, and then you offer to risk life and limb to get me home, feed me and offer me a bed for the night because it turns out I have zero chance of getting home tonight. I just – I think it’d be better if I went to a hotel. I just think it’d be less awkward.’

Rob nodded slowly, then looked directly at me with those eyes the colour of a melting Galaxy chocolate bar.

‘Izzy. We’re friends, right? We established that?’

‘Yes. We are.’

‘Ok good. So if you’d got to Mags’ place and realised you couldn’t get home, would you be saying that you should go and find a hotel?’

‘No, of course not, but–’

‘But what?’

‘But…’ I didn’t actually know “but what”. Rob had once again delved into what I was thinking and laid it out there for us both to see. I really was going to have to keep closer control of my thoughts.

‘Is it because I’m a bloke and you’re not?’ He was grinning.

‘Oh I don’t know!’ I bumped my head down onto my knees, feeling just the tiniest bit idiotic.

Rob laughed and rubbed my back. ‘Come on, Izz. We’re friends. Nothing more. And no offence, I’m not looking for anything but friendship from you. If you were a great big hairy rugby player, I’d still have fed you and offered you a room rather than letting you freeze on a station platform. The fact that you’re…’

‘Waif-y?’ I filled in for him from my hunched over position.

‘I was going to say “not”,’ he laughed, ‘just means that I at least got to eat one of those meals.’

‘But I don’t have any spare clothes – or my toothbrush!’ I said, sitting up.

‘I can stick your stuff in the washing machine, and put it in the dryer. You can borrow something to sleep in, and I have spare toothbrushes.’

I rolled my lips inwards at the plural. ‘Toothbrushes, eh? That implies more than one.’

Rob waggled his eyebrows. ‘Cheaper in bulk.’

I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

‘Ok. Fine. Then thank you. If you’re sure I’m not imposing–’

‘You’re not imposing.’

‘Or my being here isn’t going to cause any…’

Rob frowned, but the smile remained on his lips. ‘Any what?’

‘Umm…’

‘Izzy, just tell me what on Earth you’ve thought of this time?’

‘I just don’t want you getting in trouble if your girlfriend walks in, and you’ve got another female here. I mean, not that we’re, you know… we’re just friends, but if she just walks in and there’s another woman here, and she doesn’t know then she might–’

‘She won’t.’ Rob said, shaking his head at me, a look of incredulousness fixing on his features, ‘She won’t, because she doesn’t exist. I don’t have a girlfriend to walk in unsuspectingly. And before your crazy mind goes off on yet another tangent, I don’t have a boyfriend either. Just for absolute clarification. Now that’s taken care of, are there any other scenarios you need to tell me about that might possibly happen, or can we please just sit and relax?’

‘No. I can’t think of anything else.’ I said.

‘Thank goodness.’ Rob said, with a little more feeling than I’d have liked.

‘At the minute.’ I added, just for that.

He looked at me for a long moment.

I pulled a face and half smiled. ‘Don’t tell me. Now you’re beginning to think that Steven might have been on the right track leaving me.’

I saw a shadow flit across Rob’s eyes, before he smiled. ‘Nope. Not even close. I still think he’s a twat. Now, switch that mind of yours to a slower speed, put your feet up and just relax.’

I smiled back at him. ‘I’m not sure it has a slower speed. But I can try.’

‘Great!’ Rob said happily as he let out a sigh and stuck his long legs out on the coffee table in front of us.

‘Do you want to watch a film?’ he asked.

‘Yep, sure.’ I answered. That actually sounded pretty nice. Wine, warmth, good company and something nice and inane on the telly. Although, oh dear, Rob was a really intelligent guy. I watched as he brought up the video streaming service and hoped he didn’t head to the ‘Foreign Films’ section. I couldn’t deal with subtitles tonight.

‘What do you fancy?’ he asked.

‘Me?’

He laughed. ‘Of course, you. You’re my guest.’

‘Oh! I really don’t mind.’ I snuggled into the sofa a little more, grabbing the blanket that Rob had put around my shoulders earlier. ‘Although nothing with subtitles.’ I decided to come clean because I knew he’d only fish out that thought from my brain anyway.

‘Subtitles?’

‘Yeah, you know. Something foreign with subtitles. Preferably not that. Although, of course, it is your house, so if you–’

‘Oh God, please don’t tell me you think I look like a hipster.’

I gave a hearty laugh. Hipster? Rob? Umm, that would be a no.

‘Hardly! You look like you might have eaten a hipster, but you definitely don’t look like one yourself.’

He laughed. ‘I don’t think there’s much meat on them, from what I’ve seen. So why do you think I would be watching foreign films?’

‘Because you’re intelligent and well-travelled and… stuff.’ I explained, articulately.

‘Well, thank you for the compliment. But whilst I’m sure there are plenty of very good foreign films out there, I’m afraid when it comes to movies I don’t like to have to think too hard. I want to just sit and watch, and shove popcorn in my mouth. That’s about all I need from a film. Not very deep and meaningful I’m afraid but that’s about the size of it.’

‘I couldn’t agree more!’ I grinned at him.

He seemed happy with that revelation and looked back at the television. ‘So, what’ll it be? There’s a “blow lots of stuff up” one here, or what about this one? I heard that’s supposed to be good.’

‘Rob?’

‘Umhmm?’ he asked, reading the description.

‘That’s a romantic comedy.’

‘Yeah. So? Don’t you like romantic comedies?’

‘I do. But do you?’

‘Sure. Some of them are pretty funny. And who doesn’t like a happy ending?’

‘Are you taking the wotsit out of me?’

‘Absolutely not. Ask my sister. I’ve watched enough with her. Actually she got me into them so if I’ve suddenly gone down in your estimation, then feel free to blame her.’

‘Down?’ I stated, surprise that he would think that clearly evident in my voice, ‘No, not at all. I just – I suppose I didn’t expect that of you. But, it’s a nice surprise. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of blokes just moan the whole way through. Sort of takes the edge off the enjoyment.’

Rob leant back against the sofa cushions as he pressed play on the movie. ‘By most blokes, you mean Steven?’ He rolled his head to the side to look at me.

I rolled my head in a similar fashion. ‘He wasn’t exactly a fan, no.’

‘Ok. Well, as I say. I like them. Blame my sister. And bonus for me, the women in them are usually pretty hot.’

‘Aha! I knew there had to be another reason!’

‘Oh,’ Rob scoffed at me, ‘and tell me you’re not going to be drooling over him five minutes in.’ he asked, pointing the remote at the admittedly suitably handsome male lead.

‘Ha!’ I said, ‘You see, that shows how little you really know me.’

Rob raised a disbelieving eyebrow at me. ‘Oh really?’

‘Yes, really.’ I said, leaning over to grab a handful of the popcorn he’d now tipped out into a bowl. ‘It will be at least ten minutes.’