Page 50 of Weekends with You

When we were thoroughly exhausted and our time was up, we finished our drinks and shuffled home via the Underground in the freezing cold, desperate to get back inside.

“Great start, Mar,” Raja said through a yawn as we filed out of the elevator. “What time tomorrow?”

“Meet down here at eleven? That’ll give us plenty of time to get over there.”

“Better get to bed, then, Jan,” Henry said. “I know getting up before noon is a challenge for ya.”

“Just as much as not being a wanker is a challenge for you, I’m sure.” Jan grinned.

“Piss off,” Henry said.

“What happened to tuning it out?” I said. “That’s how we’re supposed to handle the endless banter, isn’t it? You should take your own advice, you know.”

He faked a gasp. “Using my own words against me, are we? That’s cold, Lucy. I didn’t expect that from you.”

“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do,” I said.

“Is this a lovers’ quarrel?” Raja asked.

“No,” Henry and I said at the same time.

“Really believable,” Raja said. I cut my eyes to Henry, hoping to read his expression, but it was hard with his thumbnail between his teeth and his gaze set a solid foot higher than my head. “So, on that note, I’m off to bed.” The others followed her upstairs, mumbling half-hearted good nights on their way up.

“I should do the same,” I said, trying to get out of what I knew was about to happen.

Hen grabbed my arm, then immediately let it go. “Luce, we gotta talk this out.”

“I’m not sure there’s much to say.”

“So you haven’t been avoiding being alone with me since I got home? You haven’t been shaking off my attempts to chat? I’ve been reading this all wrong?”

I was backed into a corner, and I couldn’t lie my way out.

“You’re right,” I groaned. Time to be honest. “But can you blame me? I mean, the way we left off in December made me think... I don’t know. Made me think maybe getting involved wasn’t such a mistake. But then it was so easy for you to just bail on our plans and stay on the road over New Year’s, so I just felt a bit silly for having thought otherwise.”

“It wasn’t easy for me to bail, Lucy. I had a great workopportunity, which I thought you would understand, since you’re working for the same thing, but maybe I was wrong. I had to take it, but it wasn’t easy.”

“Don’t patronize me, Hen. I know what was at stake. But that doesn’t make it less disappointing that we didn’t see you for two months.”

“You didn’t seem to mind when you were kissing someone else on New Year’s, did you?” he said. I knew that was going to come back up, but I hadn’t expected it to be thrown in my face like that.

“You weren’t here,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “And you and I weren’t anything. And he was a meaningless stranger, so I’m not even sure why we’re talking about it at all.”

“I was just surprised, that’s all,” he said, backing off a bit. “I didn’t expect that.”

“I have a life that goes on when you aren’t here, you know. Not that kissing strange men is part of it, but there’s a lot that goes on in the weeks you’re away. Especially when you’re away for two months at a time.”

“You’re right. It’s easy to forget sometimes, when I’m wrapped up in my own thing in another country, you know?”

“I can imagine.”

“He really meant nothing? You’re not going to start dating him or anything, are you?”

“Henry, please.” I almost laughed. “It was a midnight kiss for New Year’s and nothing else. Just in the spirit of the holiday.” Was that true? And if I had wanted to date him, who was Hen to stop me? I pushed the thought from my brain before it slipped out of my mouth. “Besides, had you been here, I might have been kissing someone else at midnight.”

He huffed a frustrated sigh, and the sound of it made me wish I could feel his breath against my skin.

“Please,” he said. “Don’t make me any more jealous than I already am.”

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