Sunny
It was the perfect day for the seaside. I stood, leaning over the wooden railing at the water’s edge and scrolled through the digital wallet in my phone, checking for the thousandth time that the tickets were still there and had not magically disappeared.
My surprise for Ludo? We were off to the evening’s showing of Hamilton.
He was going to lose his mind. We’d both seen it already, of course, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was, we’d never seen it together.
As I waited for Ludo to come back with our lunch, my phone buzzed.
Stavros has changed the name of your group to Stav’s Greek Gap Year.
Stavros: I’ve been summoned to Greece for family stuff. Who wants to join me for a big blowout in Mykonos before I start my big fat Greek gap year?
Petey Boy: I’m in, bruv!!!
Nick: Definitely sounds wheelchair accessible!
I was just about to type a reply when Ludo came trotting towards me, a brown paper parcel under his arm and two ciders and a pint of cockles held in his hands. He looked so handsome in his tinted sunglasses, his curls bobbing in the breeze.
“Can you grab one of these?” he called out.
Then he tripped on a cobblestone, slamming into me, drenching me in cider and sending cockles into the air.
My phone flew out of my hand and over the edge and plopped into the shallow muddy waters of the estuary.
A thousand seagulls descended on us from nowhere, fighting over the cockles.
At least the fish and chips were still wrapped.
I put out a hand for Ludo to grab, and I pulled him up.
“Thank you,” he said, pushing his glasses up onto his nose and brushing his hair back. He looked over the railing at the watery riverbed. “Sorry about your phone.”
“Forget about it,” I said. “At least the tide is out. I can probably just put it in some rice, and it’ll be fine.”
“I hope it still works.” So did I. I’d spent a fair whack of my first pay cheque from the BBC on those tickets. They were good seats.
“What was it this time? Were you nervous, flustered or in a rush?”
“I think I’ve discovered a fourth trigger for my clumsiness,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“Love?”
I pushed a curl behind Ludo’s ear and hugged him.
“We could be in real trouble, then,” I said.
The End