Page 40 of Love at First Sight

‘I like talking to you, Jessie.’

I exhale loudly. I can’t say it back. Even if I wanted to, I can’t.

‘Done any more Tough Mudders lately?’ Cal changes the subject, and I can hear the cheekiness in his tone. He’s letting me know he doesn’t know what to say, either – and yet, neither of us wants to hang up.

‘I have not,’ I say. ‘But you did inspire me to volunteer, what with you helping me so much, so I shall pay it forward soon enough.’

‘Oh yeah? You won’t regret it. You get to meet all sorts of people.’

‘So I’ve heard,’ I say, and then there’s nothing, just his breathing down the line. ‘Hey, if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?’ I have to move the conversation forward. We can’t just sit herenottalking.

‘Oh, okay,’ he says. ‘Get-to-know-you questions, I see you. What would I eat for the rest of my life? The Jennifer Aniston Salad.’

‘The what?!’ I say.

‘The Jennifer Aniston Salad. Apparently she ate it on the set ofFriendsevery single day, for ten years. I make five on a Monday morning and have it for lunch during the week, so the rest of my life doesn’t seem a stretch.’

‘I’m going to need the recipe for this.’

‘Let me find you a link.’ It takes ten seconds to get the bleep that means he’s sent it. I put the phone on speaker and take a look.

‘Tasty,’ I say. ‘Like a sad version of a Caesar salad, which isn’t a bad thing.’

‘Yes,’ Cal says. ‘Famously being a sad version of anything is quite the compliment.’

‘Nestlé is the sad version of Cadbury but Nestlé make Mars Bars …’ I point out.

Cal makes a noise of disagreement. ‘I think Mars make Mars Bars …’

I shrug, although obviously he can’t see that. ‘The point still stands.’

‘I suppose it does.’

I yawn. It’s getting late. It makes Cal yawn.

‘I’m going to take you inside,’ I say. ‘I need to start getting ready for bed.’

‘Same,’ says Cal, and that’s how I end up locking up the house, brushing my teeth and getting into my pyjamas with him.

‘I really am sorry for all the confusion, for what it’s worth,’ Cal says, when we’re both settled in our respective beds. It’s intimate, lying in the dark with only his voice. ‘I know I keep saying it.’

‘I know you are. And I mean, look. Nothing happened, at the end of the day. You came close to the line, but you never actually crossed it.’

‘I think I wanted to, though,’ he says. ‘I know that’s wrong of me to say.’

I sigh. ‘Yeah. You can’t talk that way. That’s a hard line in the sand, okay?’

‘Boundaries,’ Cal says. ‘Noted.’

‘Good.’

‘We’re going to be friends, then?’

I roll my eyes playfully, even though he doesn’t know I’m doing it. ‘I suppose so. I figure you’re going to be around a lot if you’re going to stay together, which I take it you are. And I’d like to be friends with the guy who helped me get my funding. It’s been kind of you to push me to do something with Stray Kids.’

‘You’d have got there eventually.’

‘Maybe,’ I reply.

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