Page 57 of Couple Goals

‘You look insanely good like that,’ he says, and kisses her again. Then he gestures for her to lead the way to the kitchen so that he can watch her walk ahead and admire how good she looks.

Adriana remembers Jacob’s open plan kitchen from her first visit, but this time, it strikes her differently. Amidst the tall shining surfaces of the sleek kitchen, she searches for the traces ofhimamidst the reproduced luxury. The choices of fresh fruit in the bowl – pineapple, kiwis, passionfruit, pomegranate – and the bold red coffee machine. An eye-catching oddity in the kitchen is a teapot in a bobbly knitted cosy in clashing colours which looks like it would be more in keeping at Adriana’s own flat than Jacob’s.

‘My grandma knitted it,’ explains Jacob, seeing what’s caught her attention. ‘She’s been knitting for five decades, I didn’t have the heart to tell her it’s hideous.’

They both smile. Then Adriana looks through into the living room. The most noticeable thing about the room is the tall glass windows looking out onto the water, so that you barely notice the room is practically empty. With its brown leather sofa and low glass coffee table, it’s tasteful and sophisticated – but characterless.It feels like a house not a home, the place of someone who only moved a few weeks ago and hasn’t spent much time in it. Piles of unpacked boxes, neatly stacked in the corner so that they’re out of the way, until they’re ready to be opened. In fact, the only source of colour is bookshelves, which Adriana notices have been filled before anything else in the room, its chunky hardbacks and paperbacks neatly arranged. Heading over to it she chuckles to herself.

‘What’s so funny?’ Jacob calls out from the kitchen, like his hearing is perfectly tuned to her every sound.

‘Was the first thing you unpacked when you arrived your books? And… they’re arranged alphabetically?’

‘Of course,’ he says. ‘How else would you recommend?’

She shakes her head, smiling as she traces her finger along their spines. She hasn’t read a book in years, preferring to hear stories from the lively mouths of her friends in pubs and clubs, not written down in quiet black and white. There’s a lot of intense business and economics non-fiction. These look denser than she would ever want herself, and frankly she can barely make her way through some of theirtitlesbecause they’re so long. But there’s fiction there too, ones she recognises from some of her nerdy friend’s shelves – Bernadine Evaristo, Andrea Levy, Anne Enright. Why is it that she, as someone who doesn’t like reading herself, finds it so attractive that he does?

‘Anything you want to borrow?’ he offers. ‘You’re welcome to, but I must warn you, anyone who borrows my books is not allowed to dog-ear any corners.’

‘Yeah, I have always wanted to read…Mathematics for Economics and Business Fifth Edition.’

‘Ah yeah, that’s a good beach read that one,’ Jacob laughs. ‘Incredible plot twists. Turns out trickle down economics doesn’t work at all! Didn’t seethatcoming.’

Adriana skips back into the kitchen to find Jacob frothing milk for her mocha, the tendons in his bare arms flexing as he stirs it at a clearly practiced angle. How is she getting horny for someone because of the way he froths milk?

Adriana lifts herself up to sit on the corner of his kitchen island, kicking her feet.

‘So what do you have on today?’ Adriana asks him.

Jacob shrugs one shoulder, maintaining a firm look at the drink. He opens his mouth, then seems to change his mind.

‘Well…’ he goes quiet and looks away from her. ‘Honestly? Nothing. I’m free as a bird. But that– you don’t have to– I’m not expecting you to spend more time with me.’

‘Oh,’ Adriana pauses, feeling her heart drop. She had just assumed they would spend more time together, that seemed to be the flow of the morning, but that was foolish of her. He wants her to go, of course he does, maybe that’s why he’s been making her this coffee so that he feels less bad about throwing her out.

‘Unless,’ he says, his eyes still trained on the milk he’s pouring into her mug so he doesn’t have to face her. ‘Unless you wanted to? You have a couple of days off from training after your big win, right?’

He puts the mug in front of her, still trying to avoiding meeting her eye. He has made a dextrous floral shape on the top of her drink.A man of surprising talents. He finally glances at her.

Adriana feels flustered. It still feels like a dream, being here with Jacob, when she was so convinced just hours ago that he never wanted to speak to her again. It feels like their relationship is still so delicate, hanging in the balance. But she is starting to suspect they’re both playing a game of chicken, trying not to reveal how invested they are in the other. Since their tipsy conversation last night, and all the ways Jacob is showing tenderness for her now, she realises his distant behaviour had just been self-preservation, and because it’s what he thoughtshewanted. And that was fair enough – shehadliterally told him she would never see him again.

Adriana takes a sip, and moans in appreciation.

‘I would love to spend more time with you today, Jacob,’ she says. ‘I just have one rule.’

She can see it more clearly now, through his poker face. The way even his seemingly impassive face can fall.

‘Oh goodie,’ he sighs. ‘I do so love your rules.’

He tamps down the coffee granules on another coffee before pulling it hard back into his machine. Adriana keeps looking at him until he, almost as if against his better judgment, looks back at her.

‘My one rule is,’ she says, ‘please can we not talk about work?’

Jacob releases a breath, and snorts, shaking his head. He presses the button for the coffee. ‘Well, that depends. Please can you clarify what counts as work?’

Adriana counts it off on her fingers, hope rising in her chest. ‘No talking about football.’

‘Damn, I really wanted to mansplain the offside rule to you.’ He teases.

Adriana grins through continuing – ‘No talking about training, or our “business agreement’”.

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