Page 30 of Falling for You

Nate

I’ve found her. I can’t believe I found her.

She’s even better than the version of her that I’d made up in my mind.

She is funny, she is gorgeous, she’s fun .

And somehow, she seems to find me fun, too.

It wasn’t just a fluke on the night we met that I felt like our conversation was the best I’d had since I got to London.

It feels easy with her. It feels like the most normal thing in the world.

She takes another huge bite of her kebab and catches my eye, immediately giggling madly again.

God, I love the way she laughs.

She waves her hand at me and turns her back on me again.

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘It’s fine, I’m not laughing at you. I told you, I think it’s sexy.’

I see her back hunch over as she laughs even harder and I battle with the urge to make her laugh as much as I can without making her choke.

Eventually, she turns around to face me.

‘You’ve barely eaten yours,’ she says, looking down at my damp kebab. ‘Don’t you like it?’

‘No comment.’

She gasps. ‘How can you not like kebabs?’

‘Shh!’ I lean forward and grab her hands. ‘Keep your voice down. I’m still on the run from all my colleagues after telling them I don’t like tea.’

Her eyes shine at me, and she doesn’t take her hands away. ‘Gosh, I wonder if I should even be seen in public with you.’

‘You’re not the first person to wonder that.’ She laughs again and my chest lifts. ‘So,’ I say. ‘Where is the bat costume? I almost didn’t recognise you.’

She raises her eyebrows at me. ‘You didn’t recognise me! If I hadn’t come up to you then we’d have walked into the abyss, never to see each other again.’

‘Well, I was looking for Bat Girl.’

‘She only comes out on special occasions,’ Annie says from under her lashes, and then immediately bursts out laughing. ‘Can we pretend that didn’t happen? God, why am I so cringe?’

‘I think you’re great.’

‘You don’t know anything about me,’ she says, her cheeks still tinged pink. ‘I could be a serial killer.’

‘Is that why you’ve taken me to a kebab shop?’

She laughs, hitting me lightly on the arm.

‘I know that you’re talented,’ I say after a pause. ‘I know you’re funny and interesting. I know that you’re gorgeous.’

Her eyes flick up at me. ‘Whatever,’ she mumbles. ‘Oh!’ she snaps her fingers, putting down her kebab. ‘Before I forget, Mr Cinderella, is this yours?’

My eyes widen as she pulls out my ring from inside her purse. It gleams up at me from her open palm.

‘Yeah,’ I say, feeling myself soften with relief. ‘I thought I’d lost it.’

She smiles, handing it over to me. ‘I kept it in my purse in case I …’ She trails off, her cheeks turning pink.

‘In case you walked past a pawn shop and needed some cash?’ I finish, grinning.

She laughs. ‘Yeah, exactly. Whose is it, then?’ She gestures down to the ring.

‘It’s mine.’ I blink at her in mock confusion. ‘I don’t go around stealing jewellery from people.’

She rolls her eyes at me. ‘Who gave it to you?’

I place the ring on my pinkie finger. ‘It’s my mom’s. My brother used to borrow her jewellery when we were kids and I got jealous one day, so she gave me this.’

She tilts her head. ‘Aw, that’s nice. Is your mom back in New York?’

I feel my heart wrench and for a second I’m pulled out of this bubbly, exciting moment with Annie and back into the kitchen with Mom.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘She’s not well, she …’ I look up, catching myself. ‘Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you.’

She leans forward and takes my hand, sending a frisson of electricity through my body. ‘I’m really sorry to hear that. My parents are my whole world, I can’t imagine one of them being sick.’

I give a rough laugh. ‘Yeah. It’s not the greatest experience.’

‘I bet.’

‘It’s no kebab, anyway,’ I joke, looking down at my sweaty yellow box. ‘Do your parents live in London?’

She shakes her head, swallowing her mouthful, and lets go of my hand. ‘No. They’re in the Cotswolds in my childhood home. It’s not too far from here. It’s probably the most typically British place you can go to. Like, I think some of The Holiday was filmed there.’

‘I love that film.’

She laughs. ‘Why doesn’t that surprise me?’ She watches as I close the lid to my kebab, defeated. She smiles. ‘Well, if you’re not enjoying this part of our British culture, I feel like I should show you another staple.’

They do say that if you want to experience a city properly, you should get a local to show you around. You’ll see the hidden bars, the restaurants serving the best foods, the secret entrances into the parks where you’ll get the best view of the city.

Or, in my case, the sweatiest carpeted nightclub in the world.

‘Welcome to Infernos!’ Annie yells over the music, which is pumping out a heavy bass version of a Nicki Minaj song.

The place is filled with young people, all flailing their limbs around and dancing wildly, clinging onto plastic glasses filled with luminous liquids.

Some people are in tiny dresses, others in tracksuits, but everyone looks as if they’ve come to a place where nobody else can see what they’re doing.

And that particularly goes for the couple pressed up against the wall in the corner.

‘Cool!’ I manage, as it’s the only thing I can think of to say.

I haven’t been to a nightclub in years .

For Take the Time magazine, I’ve mainly been sent to bars, art galleries and posh restaurants.

They’d never dream of sending me to a nightclub.

Not that I wouldn’t go, but I don’t think I’d be let in. I’m too old!

Or so I thought.

‘Let’s get a drink,’ Annie says, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the bar.

I follow her mindlessly. Now we’re standing up again, I notice our height difference even more.

She’s about a foot shorter than me. Since I realised who she was I’ve started noticing all sorts of things that I didn’t see when we first met.

Her long, dark hair. Her big brown eyes and turned-up nose, her slightly crooked teeth and heart-shaped lips.

But the way I felt when I spoke to her felt the same as the first time.

It wasn’t just a weird feeling of the moment. It was real. She was real.

‘What do you want?’ Annie yells and I bend down to try and get closer to her. ‘To drink?’ she adds.

My mind goes blank. ‘Rum and Coke?’ I offer. ‘Whatever.’

‘And a shot!’

I shake my head, but then realise that it wasn’t a question and she’s already leaning over the bar, shouting our order at the bartender. A moment later he reappears with two glasses, and two neon shots. Annie hands me one and I don’t bother arguing, knocking it back instantly.

‘Okay,’ she says, taking my hand again. ‘Let’s go.’

For a moment I’m worried she’s about to drag me onto the dance floor.

If she thought that eating a kebab wasn’t sexy, she has no idea what my six foot three, awkward limbs are capable of.

Thankfully, she leads me to a space next to the fire exit, which seems to be quieter.

She shimmies onto a banquette and I follow her.

‘Cheers!’ she cries, and we knock glasses. ‘You can’t experience London properly without coming to Infernos.’

I look around dubiously. ‘Really?’

‘Margot Robbie comes here!’ she adds earnestly. ‘You’re not a snob, are you?’

‘No,’ I laugh and shake my head. ‘This just isn’t what I’d normally plan for a first date.’

‘What would you plan, then?’ She grins at me, her eyes sparkling again.

‘Well,’ I say, racking my brains for something impressive to say. ‘To start, I would take you out for dinner.’

‘We’ve just been for dinner,’ she says.

I go to argue but can’t help myself, her smile is infectious. ‘Okay, fine. Well, then I’d take you for drinks.’

She holds up her drink at me, raising her eyebrows. I roll my eyes and she laughs again.

‘And let me guess …’ she says, leaning closer to me. ‘Then you’d take me somewhere to go dancing to shit music, with sticky floors and sweaty strangers.’

I run my fingers through my hair. She’s so close to me now that I can smell her perfume. It’s sweet and floral. It’s lovely. Everything about her is lovely.

‘Fine,’ I say, holding up my hands. ‘You’ve got me. This is the perfect date.’

I glance down at her lips and then back at her eyes. Then, before I can think about it too much, I pull her in and kiss her.

If I thought I felt sparks before, that was nothing compared to how I feel now.