Chapter 26
Arthur
I don’t know what I’d done to deserve it, but if karma was such a thing, it was definitely working in my favour right now. The last few weeks had been amazing. Not only did we smash the presentation, but I’d also received a phone call from the hiring manager at Waterstones to say that they’d made a mistake with my application.
“We’re so sorry about any confusion and we’re rather embarrassed about it to be honest,” a very chirpy Northern lady said on the other end of the line. She went on to tell me that they’d got my application mixed up with another applicant because we had the same name. “Fancy there being two Arthur’s?,” she laughed, “you don’t hear that name very often anymore, it’s quite of its time isn’t it!” I didn’t know whether to be offended or just awkwardly laugh along with her. I opted for the latter. “Anyway, we’d love for you to join the team if you’re still interested.”
“YES,” I said with a bit too much enthusiasm. I was going to have a Saturday job; I was going to actually have money. Plus, I loved books, and you know what they say, if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.
“Wonderful,” she chuckled, “we know that you’re currently studying, and you’ll likely be heading off on your Christmas break this week. So, if you could start at 9:00 am on the first Saturday of January, which is the 6th, that would be brilliant. I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.
“I’ll be there,” I replied. I know I was still going to have to juggle it alongside my work, but I found myself with a strange new optimism lately, I genuinely couldn’t wait to start. Also, to add to the celebrations further, Ember and I had been messaging each other a lot recently since the presentation. I know I’d said that I didn’t want to let anyone onto the fact that I was applying for jobs, but I actually wanted to tell her about the good news. I remember sitting there, debating whether to call her. I sat there for a good 5 minutes before finally hitting the call button, and I’m so glad that I did because she was so supportive. She always was. We’d ended up speaking for hours, way into the night. She was just so easy to talk to. When Sam had mentioned that Poppy was asking whether we all wanted to come ice skating with them, I didn’t even hesitate. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun, and fun it was. I’d even shocked myself when I offered Ember my hand. I could see the panic written all over her face when we were at the rink, which was strange because that was a side to her that I’d never seen before. She always seemed so carefree. Eccentric and flighty, but also so laid back she was practically falling over. I knew I wanted to help her, but as if the same puppeteer was pulling the strings once again, my words of reassurance came off really flirtatious. Did I want them to seem that way? I wasn’t sure. But when my feet betrayed me, causing both Ember and I to plummet down onto the ice and I saw her trying to hide her smile, I couldn’t ignore the heat I felt in my chest. I didn’t know what was happening, perhaps I didn’t have to make sense of it just yet, all I knew was that I couldn’t wait to see her again.
◆◆◆
Mum had texted me a few times over the last few days asking when I was planning on coming home. I’ll be honest, I did ignore a few of them, only because I wanted to try and find out when Sam was going home first, (I didn’t fancy being on my lonesome in the flat). It might have also been a tiny bit about wanting to spend more time with Ember before we all left…sue me. We were going to be gone for 2 weeks, and you never know, she could spontaneously decide to drop out of uni then, never to be seen again. Okay, I knew that wouldn’t likely be the case, but I just wanted some more time, I guess. Sam, Ember, and I had all decided to go home tonight, so we only had today to go out and do something. Ember had suggested that we go to the Christmas markets and admittedly, I had been a little apprehensive about it at first. Every time I’d seen adverts for it, it looked packed. Bath was busy at the best of times, but this seemed like a whole different kettle of fish. It didn’t matter either way though, this was the final day before we all left for Christmas, and I was going to make the most of it.
I’d spent half of the morning packing my suitcase and the other packing a separate bag full of laundry. I cringed knowing that I was going to have to give it to mum to wash when I was supposed to be revelling in my new independent lifestyle. It was just that every single time I put anything through the washing machine in the laundry room, they always came out with a greyish tinge and stinking of damp.
“Not going to lie, I have no idea what I’m going to buy there today,” Sam says, letting himself into my room. He gets distracted by my bag of laundry, “ah, me too mate, me too,” he says laughing.
“Neither” I reply. “It’s more for the girls I guess.”
Sam nods, “Oh definitely. Poppy said that they sell ‘cute little trinkets’”, he emphasises the word ‘cute,’ mimicking Poppy’s Irish twang in a high-pitched voice.
“To be fair, Ember said that they also have bars selling drinks like mulled cider and stuff,” I say.
“Well in that case, I know where we can run and hide whilst they’re shopping then,” he laughs. “Speaking of Ember,” he says with a knowing smile, “what’s going on there then?”
I shift uncomfortably. I know Amy had made a weird comment about us when we were on the rink, but I just saw that as a joke. I hadn’t actually been confronted yet. I mean, there wasn’t anything to report really. I just knew that I wanted to spend more time with her, that was all.
“Uhm-nothing really. I guess we’ve just got close recently. You know, she helped me out massively with the presentation and stuff,” I fidget. “Guess I have you to thank, if you hadn’t decided to go on a date with Poppy, the double date wouldn’t have happened and then we wouldn’t have been able to break the ice.”
“Glad to be of service,” he winks. “Is more than friends a possibility in the future do you think?”
Did I? I could admit that my feelings towards her hadn’t been 100% platonic as of late, but I wasn’t going to rush into anything. I enjoyed spending time with her and that was good enough for me.
I opt for a “no comment.”
“Fair enough,” he snorts, nudging my shoulder, “anyway, let’s go amigo.”
Just as we did before on the double date, we went and met the girls at Charlton Court. This time though, we weren’t waiting for nearly half an hour with their security guard staring us down from afar, because they were both stood there waiting for us. Ember was wearing a long Black trench coat with a red baker boy hat and lipstick to match. She looked gorgeous. She always did to be honest, anyone who had eyes could see that. But today there was something different about her, she glowed. I felt the stab in my chest as she turned to wave at me, smiling so brightly that was she practically flashing her complete set of molars. Sam and Poppy obviously clocked this interaction, giving each other a mutual look. I bet any money that they’ve been secretly plotting and matchmaking.
As expected, Bath was absolutely heaving. It might as well have been Oxford Street. It was obviously the school holidays, considering the streets were flooded with screaming children fighting to get on the Christmas carousel. On every cramped streetcorner there were people stuffing their faces with cinnamon swirls and downing mulled cider like it was squash. Milelong queues stretched from each individual market, you couldn’t even decipher what the market was selling. Surely it wasn’t worth the wait. To top all of this overstimulation off, an orchestral band was absolutely blaring Christmas carols, ‘little drummer boy’ really didn’t warrant anyone going deaf, I’m telling you.
“Do they really need to go that hard playing little drummer boy?!,” Ember shouts over the music into my ear. I can’t help but laugh at the fact that I literally just thought the same thing.
Sam nudges me before saying, “Pops wants to get her mum a present from that stall over there,” he points to market where the customers are packed like sardines. I don’t know how she could even tell what was in there. “We’ll try and find you after,” he shouts.
Good luck with that.
As he walks away, shoving his way through the crowds with Poppy, I feel a tug on my hand.
“I think I overheard someone say that there’s a market somewhere that sells vintage movie posters,” Ember says, looking up at me excitedly.
Stab. There goes my chest again. Why did she have to look at me like that.
“How did you manage to ‘overhear’ someone, I can barely hear myself think,” I shout, laughing.
“To be fair, it helped that they were cradling a bunch of movie posters. I saw a sneaky Predatorin there,” she chuckled.
“Ah, a classic,” I respond. “Okay which way now?,” I ask, as if I’m stuck in a bush maze, rather than just out shopping.
Before I have time to mentally plan my route, Ember is already dragging me by the hand through the crowds. The traditional Brit in me wants to desperately say ‘sorry,’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘oop,’ (you know, the quintessential English phrases), but she’s dragging me at such a fast pace, I don’t even have time to navigate before we somehow find ourselves at the stall we want. She must have x-ray vision or something, God knows how she managed to find it. Miraculously, the queue begins to die down. There must have been about five people in front of us, who all simultaneously look at their watches and shake their heads in annoyance.
“God, how long does it take to sell a measly poster? I haven’t got all day!,” a middle-aged woman tuts as she begins to walk off.
The older gentleman manning the store looks mortified and I’m not surprised either. Granted, no one likes queueing, and these markets are certainly not for the faint hearted, but it was by the far the quietest one I’d seen out of them all.
Ember, clocking the stall-owner’s blatant look of disappointment, shouts over to the woman in her peppiest and most patronising voice, “patience is a virtue Hun. You should try it sometime -and also-,” she says wagging her finger in the air, “have you ever heard of something called Christmas cheer!”
The woman’s face is a picture of both shock and disgust, grunting to herself as she disperses the area. I snort to myself before we both edge closer to the stall. It’s really impressive, every vintage movie poster you could imagine plasters the inside of the walls. Clearly spotting my obvious gawking, the man pipes up with a proud smile, “that one’s hand painted you know.” I look at him and then back at the print, taken aback. It was an A6 print from the film Aliens of Ellen Ripley’s character looking like a badass, carrying the character of Rebecca on her shoulders whilst surrounded by an endless scene of pre-hatched face huggers and the xenomorph immersing from the shadows in the distance. It managed to capture the whole dystopian-warzone vibe perfectly. The colours were vibrant, glossy and so realistic, I genuinely thought it was an actual photo.
“Wow,” I say, “it’s incredible.”
The man’s face reddens, as if he’s a little embarrassed. “Well, thank you very much.”
Ember pokes me in the side enthusiastically, “you should get it! Treat yourself before Christmas.”
As much as I’d kill to have this in my bedroom, I couldn’t justify the cost. Not until I started my job at least, by which point, the market would be long gone. He was selling it for ￡80. I’m not one to sit here and berate artists for their costs, I can’t imagine the amount of hours it took to create this, but he deserved every penny. However, I’m also not the type to try and haggle either. So, as the saying goes, I checked the price tag and slowly put it back down.
I’m just about to walk away when the man suddenly shouts, “wait! You’re actually my 100th customer of the day”, pointing to a sign taped to the side of the wooden stall displaying in big bold letters.
The lucky 100TH customer gets ANY free print/poster.
A part of me thinks he’s just feeling sorry for me and secretly scribbled down this fake sale when my back was turned, but the other part of me can’t help but think, you wouldn’t just give something away that was worth ￡80 if you weren’t true to your word, right?
“I’m a small business,” the man explains, “this is the second time I’ve been lucky enough to have my stall here and I wanted to do this as a thank you to everyone who has supported me.” Much like the impatient woman earlier, I’m the one now with a face full of shock.
“So I can take this one for free?,” I ask, sheepishly pointing to the print.
“Of course,” he beams, “your girlfriend here was right to encourage you to get it. Looks like it’s your lucky day!”
He gleefully whistles to himself as he unhooks the print from the wall, wraps it up in a thick layer of bubble wrap before adding another layer of parchment paper, and then finishes it off with a large red bow, his business card slotted just underneath it.
“Oh uhm- she’s not my- ”
“I’m not his- ”
Ember and I awkwardly stumble over our words at the same time.
With a weirdly inciteful grin, the man passes me the print and says, “as I say, it’s your lucky day it seems.”
Ignoring that slightly odd interaction, I press the print to my chest. Ember, without even offering a glance in my direction says over a cough, “we should probably go and find the others.”
Keeping my eyes fixed firmly on the print I’m currently clutching onto for dear life, I respond, “Uh-yeah. Yes, we probably should.”
◆◆◆
“It’s not funny!,” Poppy mock-shouts.
“It’s pretty funny,” Sam replies, wiping his eyes.
Believe it or not, it had taken us nearly half an hour to find Poppy and Sam again amongst the sea of people. We kept trying to call them, but it would either just go straight to their voicemails or when we would actually get through, the intense crackling from the other end of the line indicated that they might as well have been stranded in the middle of a desert island. It was well and truly bedlam. Luckily though, Ember’s fashion choice had clearly saved the day, as it was only because she was wearing a red baker boy hat that Poppy managed to locate her head bobbing up and down and charge through the crowds towards us like a radar signal. At least Poppy and Sam arriving helped to ease some of the tension that the stall-owner had induced earlier on.
Poppy puts her hands on her hips now, looking like a tired mother who’s done with their child’s antics.
“It was supposed to be a dragonfly. It’s mum’s favourite animal.”
“Oh Pops, come on. You’ve got to let us see it. How bad can it be?,” Ember insists.
Sighing, Poppy reaches down into the brown paper bag and pulls out a small, blue, velvet box.
“Just you wait,” Sam says, his eyes pooling with hysterical tears.
She slowly opens up the box to reveal…well.
“Oh my god it’s a penis pendant!,” Ember interrupts before bursting into a fit of laughter.
Upon a second look at the necklace, I squint my eyes as best as I can, trying really hard to see a dragonfly.
“Told you!,” Sam bellows.
Poppy guffaws and looks over to me, “Arthur, you’re more sane than these two, what do you think?”
I scratch my head, I didn’t want to miff her off more, but then I also didn’t want to lie to her face either. “Uhm-,”I say through gritted teeth, “it does look a little…phallic.”
She furiously slams the lid back down on the box and drops it back into the bag.
“I’m sorry, I’m sure she’ll still love it though,” I assert. That wasn’t a lie, maybe her mum liked, phallic shaped jewellery?
“It’s the thought that counts,” Ember and Sam snigger in unison, trying to hold in their laughter so hard, their puffed-out cheeks made them look like blowfish.
Poppy rolls her eyes now, holding up a firm hand, “don’t even bother.”
Turning away from them with a small smile, I look down at my phone and there’s a new text notification.
Mum: We overestimated how long it would take us to get to Bath, you know, with the Christmas markets being on. So we’re now only about 20 minutes away. See you soon darling, love you x
Shit. I needed to get back.
“Guys, I’m really sorry,” I say, stopping to face the others. “My mum’s just texted, they’re early. So I’m going to have to head off now.”
I swear I see a flicker of disappointment cross Ember’s face.
“We’ll come with,” Sam pipes up. “Got to make sure we all make it out of the crowd alive without being trampled.”
Poppy hooks her arm over Sam’s as Ember walks towards me.
“You don’t have to go now if you’re having fun,” I ensure her.
“Yes, because I love the idea of being left all alone to be squashed by large crowds,” she jokes, her tone burning with sarcasm. “Of course, I’m coming with. Plus, surely you weren’t thinking of going without saying goodbye, were you?”
I smile, “never.”