Chapter 5 #2
We fall into a silence that would be peaceful, were I not sharing it with Nico.
I can’t believe he’s here, in my house, sitting on my sofa, eating and drinking from my fridge – and I know, it’s not exactly his doing, but even having his dad upstairs with my mum, in one of my beds, somehow feels like another intrusion on his part.
The floorboards above us creak a few times. It’s a rhythmic creaking, and I’m sure it’s just the old floorboards in this house, but it unsettles me.
‘How long have they been here?’ I ask.
‘I don’t know,’ he replies. ‘My dad called me to say he’d had too much to drink and could I pick him up here. He said show myself in. I’ve been here twenty minutes…’
Twenty minutes!
I lean back onto my hands and look at him properly, trying to decide which part of this bothers me the most – my mum, upstairs, acting like a teenager, or this guy, sitting here, on my sofa, the most chilled out I’ve ever seen anyone.
‘This is not okay,’ I tell him.
‘Look,’ he says, and for the first time there is something a little more serious in his tone. ‘I don’t love it either, but they’re adults.’
I snort out a little bemused laugh.
‘They are not acting like it.’
‘Fair enough,’ he agrees with a smile.
I massage my temples for a moment. I should be in the bath, trying to forget the day, not here, on the floor, trying to navigate whatever this is.
‘Do you know how this happened?’ I ask.
‘He called her,’ Nico says.
‘Okay…’
‘And I guess she invited him over.’
‘For a first date?!’
He shrugs.
There is something annoyingly reasonable about his attitude. He’s far too chill about all of this.
I know what you’re thinking: this is what I wanted, but this is not at all what I wanted.
I wanted Mum to meet someone, to get a life of her own going again.
I didn’t want her to start seeing someone in my house.
I’m trying to have fewer people here, so I can enjoy more time to myself, and suddenly I’ve got three people in my house – two of them upstairs.
My gosh, I still cannot believe they are upstairs.
‘I need a bath so bad,’ I blurt.
‘I can see that,’ he replies. ‘How did you get so covered in mud?’
‘I, er, I fell over, in a field,’ I confess.
I didn’t feel like I didn’t have his attention before, but suddenly I feel like I have a little more.
‘Are you okay?’ he asks.
‘Oh, I’m fine,’ I insist. ‘The only thing I hurt was my pride.’
He pauses for a moment.
‘I don’t think they’ll be long.’
I nod. Boy, I hope so.
He reaches for another olive before casually popping it in his mouth. Is everyone having a lovely time here apart from me?
There is movement overhead. It’s the floorboards again but this time it comes with voices. Chatting, getting louder as they finally come downstairs.
‘Brace yourself,’ Nico whispers.
My mum appears in the doorway first, very closely followed by Hank, both of them wearing a bright, happy expression, the kind people have when… Oh, boy, I can’t even finish the thought.
‘Oh, you’re back,’ my mum says, as though I might not be expected in the home where I live.
‘Yep – home in my home,’ I reply.
‘And covered in mud,’ she says with a chuckle.
‘A new beauty treatment?’ Hank jokes. Ugh, I hate it.
‘Another tough day at the office,’ I say. ‘I need a bath.’
‘It’s a gorgeous bath,’ Hank says. Nico and I both stare at him. He means it as a compliment but only highlights the fact that he’s been in the bathroom. ‘Really lovely place you’ve got here,’ he adds.
‘Thank you,’ I say. What else can I say?
Silence follows, no one quite having the right words to say, until…
‘We should probably head off,’ Hank tells Nico.
‘Probably,’ Nico agrees, jumping to his feet. He hands me his can – it feels almost full. ‘Thanks for the hospitality.’
‘And me,’ Hank adds.
Oh, it’s so much weirder coming from him.
‘You don’t want to stay for dinner?’ Mum asks them. ‘You’re both welcome.’
‘Nico was just telling me how he needs to go,’ I say without missing a beat.
‘And Sammie really needs a bath,’ Nico adds.
I’m relieved that we’re on the same page. I’m annoyed he somehow managed to make it sound like an insult.
‘Right,’ my mum says. ‘Well. Lovely to see you again.’
‘You too,’ Hank says. ‘And thank you.’
They start moving towards the door. Nico follows, then pauses very briefly beside me.
‘Enjoy your bath,’ he tells me.
‘Seems impossible now, but thank you,’ I reply.
He smiles. It’s that cheeky, confident grin of his. It would be handsome, were he not so infuriating.
I’m not ready to talk to my mum about it – in fact, I’m going to avoid it at all costs – so I excuse myself.
‘I’ll go get cleaned up. So, er… bye.’
The boys say goodbye to me but I don’t hang around to hear it. I head upstairs.
I retreat to the bathroom, locking the door behind me, and run my bath. There’s so much to wash away today. I probably overdo it with the bubble bath – not because I think it will help, but because my mind wanders while I’m pouring it.
How have I managed to make things so much worse?
‘Sweetheart?’ Mum calls through the door. ‘You don’t mind that I had a friend over, do you?’
‘Of course not,’ I call back, before my brain can disagree with my mouth.
‘You sure?’ she checks.
‘Mmmhmm.’
‘He’s really nice, you know,’ she says.
‘Great.’
‘Nico too,’ she adds.
‘I’m sure.’
‘Was work okay? You look a little worse for wear.’
‘Ahh, I’m fine, I just slipped in the dirt,’ I assure her. ‘The others think I need to take some time off.’
‘It wouldn’t hurt,’ she replies.
I stop the tap. For a moment the house falls silent.
‘Well, I’ll leave you to relax,’ she tells me. ‘See you in a bit.’
‘K…’
Something about Nico and Hank being in my house feels invasive in a way that I can’t explain.
It is not just that Nico was here. It is that he was comfortable here.
That my mum was comfortable with him being comfortable here.
And Hank – oh boy, he really did make himself at home.
There’s nowhere more comfortable than upstairs, right?
I climb into the bath with a splash. And now it’s time to relax. Or try to, at least.
Because I don’t know how possible that’s going to be with so, so much more to overthink.