Chapter 3 #2
‘It’s just … all the romcoms that you see, it’s all over the top, it’s not real. We’re all sold this idea of what love should be and how we’re all going to live happily ever after, but that doesn’t really happen, does it?’
‘Doesn’t it?’
I thought of my mum who had raised me on a staple of Disney movies, swooning with me every time the prince came along and swept the heroine off her feet, but then Dad had left, and we’d come back down to reality with a bump. Life wasn’t a movie.
‘My parents have been married twenty-four years,’ he continued.
‘Lucky for you. My dad left my mum for his secretary.’
‘Ouch.’ Noah winced, before he started to soften. ‘Recently?’
‘Four and a bit years ago,’ I muttered. ‘Not long before the last leap year birthday.’
Noah tilted his head. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound snarky or anything.’
‘You didn’t. And I shouldn’t have made it seem like your relationship won’t last. I’m sure it will.
I think it’s just … watching my mum go through the process.
’ I thought of the nights we’d curled up on the sofa eating ice cream from the tub, her crying on my shoulder.
‘I guess I’m not in any hurry to have my heart broken like that. ’
‘It was a messy break-up then?’
I nodded. ‘My dad didn’t go about things the right way.’
‘Is there a right way?’ He signalled to the waitress for another two beers.
‘I’m guessing that if there was, having an affair and then moving straight in with her and her daughter wasn’t it.’
‘Oh shit.’
The waitress deposited our new beers and took away our plates, and I resisted the urge to order that second crêpe.
‘Café?’
‘Coffee?’ I said to Noah and he shook his head.
‘Non, merci.’ He poured the fresh bottle of beer into my empty glass. ‘That does sound rough.’
‘Yeah, it wasn’t the best. He sort of sidestepped from one readymade family to another.’
Noah whistled through his teeth. ‘And what about your mum now. Is she OK?’
I thought of how much she’d gone through, and how she always dug deep to overcome the things thrown at her.
‘Yeah, she is. She’s recently started dating again.’
‘Good for her.’
I smiled. ‘It is.’
‘And your dad?’ His face crumbled into an apologetic mode. ‘Sorry, I feel like I’m interrogating you.’
‘It’s OK. Things with my dad are complicated.
’ I started to peel at the corner of my beer label, but it wasn’t budging.
‘He wants me to be part of his new family – he’s always inviting me over to theirs for dinners and stuff – but it feels disloyal to my mum, you know?
’ I studied his face but there wasn’t a hint of recognition; he didn’t know what it was like.
He’d said his parents were happily married.
‘Anyway, it’s complicated. So, do you get on well with your parents? ’
‘I do.’ He wrinkled his nose up. ‘Sorry.’
‘Why are you sorry? That’s great. Uncomplicated.’
‘Are you OK?’
I could feel my eyes sting as I fought back tears.
‘Yes, I’m fine.’ I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to cry for a second time.
‘OK. It seems to have got very deep, very quickly. Let’s change the subject.’
‘No complaints from me there,’ I said, dabbing under my eyes, relieved that at least so far my waterproof mascara was working.
‘So, I think we can pretty much assume that a rugby booze cruise was not how you pictured the big birthday, but what would you pick, if you had the chance?’
‘If I had the chance?’ I said, relieved to be distracted. ‘Hmm … ’
‘And money was no object.’
‘New York,’ I said, without a skip of heartbeat.
‘Wow, that was quick. No deliberation there.’
‘Because there’s no need. I’ve always wanted to go. Have you been?’
I could tell his answer from his expression. ‘Of course you have. Is there anything in your life I don’t need to be jealous of?’
He laughed. ‘Plenty, and you’ll learn when you get to know me better.’
There was something comforting about the idea that that was a possibility.
‘And yes, I went to New York on a school trip,’ he said.
‘What kind of a school did you go to?’
‘Just a bog standard state school, but we had an American exchange.’
‘An American exchange? That doesn’t sound bog standard at all. I’ve heard enough.’ I raised my hand to get him to stop.
He picked up his beer again, honouring my wishes, but I waved my hand to get him to continue. ‘Was New York as amazing as it looks on TV?’
He paused to think.
‘Better.’
I knew it. I hadn’t met a person yet that had been who hadn’t fallen head over heels in love with the city.
‘What did you do?’
‘We were only there for two days, one night, so it was real whistle-stop stuff. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Empire State Building.’
‘Bloomingdale’s?’
He pulled a face. ‘Macy’s.’
‘Good enough. Uh, it just really makes me want to go.’ I tried to shake the feeling off. ‘I’m totally jealous. So how about you?’
‘How about me? Am I jealous of my younger self for the trip? Absolutely.’
I laughed. ‘No, I meant where would you spend your dream birthday?’
‘I’m not sure …’ He paused like he was taking the question seriously. ‘There are a lot of places I want to go: Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Borneo.’
‘Now who’s undecisive.’
‘The whole world’s a big place, it’s not like a little menu. But you know, New York wouldn’t be a bad place to go back. I barely saw any of it.’
‘I want to go ice-skating outside.’
‘At the rink in Central Park?’
‘Yeah,’ I said, nodding. ‘That’s the one. Now, not that I like many romcoms, there’s this one, Serendipity … ’
‘John Cusack, yep, seen it.’
‘You’ve seen Serendipity?’ There weren’t many men that I’d met who would so freely admit they’d seen such a cheesy romance, but Noah didn’t seem ashamed in the slightest. ‘Why am I not surprised you’ve seen it?’
‘What? My sixth-form girlfriend wanted me to take her.’
‘Your sixth-form girlfriend?’
‘Bethany.’
Of course he’d had a girlfriend in sixth form. I wouldn’t be shocked, from the way he talked, if he hadn’t spent a day single in his life.
‘Right, well, then you know there’s that scene where they’re at the ice rink at night, and I guess I thought that was cool.’
‘Uh-huh. Because that’s the main mushy bit?’
‘Definitely not.’ I didn’t want to admit that it was one of the few movies where I actually liked the mushy bit. ‘Because it looked amazing with the backdrop of the buildings, all lit up and twinkling, and it’s Central Park.’
Noah smiled.
‘Central Park is cool.’
‘Still jealous.’
The waitress appeared again and asked us in English if we wanted anything else. When we declined she presented us with the bill.
I fumbled in my wallet for the euros I’d hastily exchanged on the ferry.
‘I’ll get this,’ said Noah.
‘No, really. I’ll get it. Thank you for coming with me.’
The two of us wrestled with the bill until I finally won, placing the notes on the table.
‘Thank you, it was a nice birthday treat.’
He slipped on his puffer jacket, drips of rain falling onto the table.
‘So what’s the plan now?’
Noah pulled back his coat and looked at his watch.
‘Shit, it’s past three. What time was the bus leaving?’
My blood ran cold.
‘How is it so late?’ I said, pushing my chair back. ‘It leaves at quarter past. What if we miss it?’
‘We’re not going to miss it,’ he said, in far calmer manner than I could muster. He thrust the little silver dish with the money at the waitress. ‘No time for change though.’
The waitress finally cracked a smile when she saw the generous tip we’d left.
‘Which way’s the taxi rank?’
‘How am I supposed to know? I’ve been here as long as you.’
He took a few steps one way then turned and walked the other. The more he scanned the road, the more panic crept over his face and he was no longer the laid-back, well-travelled Noah that had been in the crêperie.
‘Fuck,’ he muttered, taking his cap off and rubbing his head. ‘The bus driver said they wouldn’t wait, and I’ve got the party.’
‘And you think I want to be stuck here? Let’s try this way.’
We ran up a deserted street in the hope that we’d find a taxi nearer to the main square where it had dropped us off.
‘What’s the actual time?’ I said, trying to keep myself from freaking out. ‘Were you talking one minute past three, or ten?’
‘It had literally just turned three.’
‘OK, OK. We’ve got time, it was only five minutes by taxi on the way here.’
‘True.’ Noah nodded his head. ‘And it’s not like there’s going to be traffic with the apocalypse having happened to the town.’
‘There is that.’
It was one of those situations where we could either laugh or cry, and thankfully we chose the former.
We got to a main road where a few cars were passing, and we stopped to get our bearings and I bent over a little to catch my breath.
‘Look,’ I shouted, whacking him on the arm. ‘There’s a taxi.’
There was a white car with a little green illuminated box on the top heading in our direction.
The two of us stuck our arms out and waved furiously, and we watched in horror as the car sped past us.
‘What the—’ but as I went to stick my middle finger up at the driver, I saw that he’d stopped further down the road in a layby.
Noah grabbed my hand and he pulled me along to reach it. We climbed in the back and I didn’t even wait for the driver to ask where we wanted to go.
‘Um, je voudrais … ’ I froze, looking at Noah. ‘Um, the grand supermarket.’
‘Carrefour,’ he said.
‘That’s it. Carrefour, très grand.’
The taxi driver nodded and pulled away from the kerb. The little red clock above his meter said it was five past three, which meant there was still time.
‘Blimey, that was close,’ said Noah, trying to get his breath back. It made me feel a little better that I wasn’t the only one not in peak physical fitness.
‘Tell me about it. Imagine if we got stuck here.’
‘Don’t. My mates would kill me if we didn’t make it back with the booze for the party.’
‘Wouldn’t Paul take it back?’
‘That’s true. Then actually no one would really care about me, they’d still go ahead with the party.’
I laughed.
‘True friends.’