Chapter Six
“Mysterious Theo.” Danielle shoved Olivia’s shoulder with her own. “Sounds like a nineties romcom, you know? When you told me about him on the phone the other day, I was almost jealous.”
The two best friends had decided on some late-night shopping on Oxford Street, their shoulders bare and white legs left free beneath maxi summer dresses, as they tried to enjoy the false summer breeze that had surprised the capital.
The street was bustling as usual, but the girls loved it.
Picking up a basket, they headed into the department store with absolutely no particular reason except for smelling some candles and perusing the multiple-level building.
“Are you kidding?” Olivia gazed around the cream lino-floored store, the bright lights leading them straight to the expensive perfume and make-up counters.
“You literally have an ex-army lover waiting at home to ravish you as soon as you step through the door. He can’t keep his hands off of you, and you’re jealous of me meeting a random guy at a restaurant? ”
“Hey, I said, almost jealous.” Danielle’s heeled shoes clacked against the floor with each of her steps.
“You know I wouldn’t trade my six-pack hunk for anything.
” Turning towards Olivia, she had that same, dangerous glint in her eyes.
“Speaking of which, did I tell you about what he did with his tongue a few nights back.”
“I don’t need to know. Please spare me.” Olivia cringed, picking up a glass bottle and giving the scent a whiff. The smell attacked her senses, and she immediately placed the bottle back with a firm shake of her head. Too musky.
“Are you sure you don’t want to know? I literally died and went to heaven.”
“I’m sure.” Olivia looked at her best friend. “You keep your crazy sex life out of our conversations, please.”
“Come on, who am I supposed to tell this stuff to, my mother? No, thank you. You’re my best friend. You can even use it for one of your steamy scenes.” Danielle’s voice sang out.
“John is a great guy and by the sounds of it, a very generous lover. But no, I don’t want to hear about your sexual escapades. I’m conducting my own research.”
Olivia knew far too much about how well-endowed her friend’s husband was. So much so that for the first few weeks that the pair dating, whenever they went out to dinner together or bumped into each other at the florist, Olivia couldn’t look him in the eyes.
“Your own…” Danielle leaned down close to her friend, “sex research?” She whispered the second half of her sentence as though the word sex was some kind of swear word her parents had forbidden her to use, eyes sifting the counter to make sure the attendant wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Dating research.” Olivia lifted up another perfume before scrunching her nose at the putrid smell of too much vanilla and put it down, turning sharply away from the display. “I went on what feels like one hundred horrible dates before Theo sat down. He wasn’t even on my list.”
“Yeah, but he’s helping you, right?” Danielle ran her hand along the fabric of a few hanging tops before following her friend to the elevator.
“I’m meeting him on Thursday to suss things out, see what this agreement looks like in practice, not just on paper.”
“Tell him I’m his biggest fan,” Danielle murmured. She hadn’t even met the man, but she was already so invested in the whole leading man agreement. “He sounds dreamy.”
“You don’t even know him.” Olivia pressed the up button twice just to be sure. “Hell, I don’t even know him.”
An elderly woman entered the elevator with them, pulling a trolly basket with her. Sending the woman a polite smile, Danielle continued. “Yes, but I like him already. He clearly thought you were interesting enough to approach you. That gives him a head start in the approval process.”
“Approval process for what? I won’t date him; he’s just helping me out.
In what capacity, I’m not sure yet, but still.
Just helping.” The older woman glanced at the two friends before looking up at the numbers and arrows.
Second floor. With the sharp ding of the elevator and monotone announcement, the two friends wandered out and into the clothing department.
Crisp white mannequins posed precariously around the floor with draped necklaces, low neckline tops and big hats on their figures.
“What did Hannah say to the idea?” Danielle asked, making a beeline for a floral dress a few rows in.
Hannah had emailed another deadline reminder with the words ‘Manuscript due in T-minus two months and three weeks. Send chapters one through five to my desk by Monday, and I won’t heckle you until next the Monday.’
Olivia had responded with the news of her research and sent through the rough chapters a few days afterwards. It was only when she had emailed the draft chapters that she got her agent’s opinion regarding the unorthodox research method she had chosen.
“She said, ‘Well done for putting yourself out there, go get ’em tiger’,” Olivia muttered while sifting through linen fabrics. “And that I was also absolutely batshit crazy for agreeing to let a stranger help me.”
Danielle laughed, pressing a new floral dress up to her frame. “Do you think I could pull this off?”
Olivia looked at the thin cotton fabric clutched in her friend’s hands and the busy design, before curving her eyebrows down. “I liked the other one better.”
Danielle hummed in agreement as she placed the dress back on the rack and continued her search. “I’m surprised Hannah didn’t pull out the ‘remember to make him wrap it before he taps it’ line. She can be a real Amy Poehler in Mean Girls sometimes.”
“I just said I had downloaded those stupid apps, and now I’ve got the assistance of a good-looking, six-foot-three man.”
“So, you admit it. He’s good-looking.” Danielle grinned.
Olivia thought back to when Theo had first sat down opposite her in the bistro and looked at her with that determined, focused gaze that had set all her nerve endings abuzz. “I never denied it.”
Objectively and subjectively, Theo was a handsome man.
He had the classic Hollywood-type look to him, all sharp lines and dark broody features.
His browneyes had twirls of gold, which Olivia felt almost embarrassed to know about after staring in them for far too long and the swooping dark locks that had slight curls at the ends, made him look like he had just stepped out of a Giorgio Armani advertisement.
She would almost bet her life that in the summer his olive skin turned golden in the sun, and the thought made her bite her lip while wincing at her Irish heritage.
She was all white. Some would even say translucent, and in summer tanning was something foreign to her.
Instead, she just turned a beetroot red and burned like a seasoned lobster.
Beside them, a mother pushing a double pram squeezed between two clothes racks, her child grasping the hem of a hanging women’s summer top with desperation.
She sent Olivia a struggling smile before prying the fabric from her toddler’s sticky fingers and moving further down the aisle.
Olivia smiled back, moving out of the mother’s way with a small wave to the child, who was now fussing over his seat buckle.
Danielle nudged Olivia’s shoulder, breaking her out of deep thought as she watched the mother push her child towards the elevators, and shot Olivia a smug grin. “Hey, who knows? Maybe he’ll end up being your leading man…”