Page 19 of The Life Experiment
Angus didn’t have the heart to say that for his entire life, he’d been able to do whatever he liked, and it transpired that what he liked wasn’tvery much. Sleeping, drinking, fucking, floating but feeling like he was sinking. Day in and day out, that was what he did. To do that for another sixty years… Angus’s blood ran cold.
You selfish prick, he berated himself.What’s wrong with you?
So many people would kill to be in his position, yet the thought of such a long lifespan struck Angus like a snowball to the face.
Suppressing a shiver, Angus spotted the cafe ahead. He sped up, practically running by the time he reached it. With navy and gold decor and bronze fittings, the cafe gave the illusion of sophistication. Angus wasn’t sure the suburban spot quite managed it, but sitting in there was better than sitting alone with his thoughts.
Shimmying his coat from his shoulders, Angus moved towards the counter.
That was when he saw her.
Two tables over from the window, wearing a smart red coat and looking like she wished it would swallow her whole – a striking woman. Turbulent thoughts were painted so clearly across her face, mirroring Angus’s own. Try as he might, he couldn’t look away.
His heart rate quickened, beating so fast he wondered if OPM Discoveries was wrong and he was going to die of a coronary right here, right now. While Angus stood there floundering, the woman stared into the distance as if the meaning of life could be found somewhere on the street outside.
Angus had never seen an expression like it before. Everyone he knew smiled constantly, all dazzling teeth and unshakable perkiness. He never knew what was real with them and what wasn’t, but this woman, this stranger? She was real, all right. Real, raging, lost… exactly like Angus.
‘Excuse me, I need to get past,’ said a voice.
Angus turned to the hunched, craggy-faced old man beside him and stepped aside. ‘Sorry.’
‘Thank you, son. Have a good day.’ The man’s chirpiness contrasted with the slow, laboured way in which he moved. Angus watched him go, wondering how old he was. Eighty? Ninety? Older?
The old man’s jerky steps made Angus shudder. A long, empty life was one thing, but a long, empty life with your body falling apart was something else entirely. Swallowing his unease, Angus made his way towards the counter, doing all he could not to look at the woman in the red coat.
‘A large soy cappuccino, please,’ he said to a flame-haired barista.
‘To have in or take away?’
‘To have in, thanks.’
Angus blinked as the response left his lips. His plan had been to grab a drink then wander the streets to process the news of his extended life. Now, apparently, he was staying.
There was no reason he shouldn’t enjoy his drink indoors, Angus thought while paying. No reason he shouldn’t be in the vicinity of the woman who had given him butterflies for quite possibly the first time in his life. No reason at all.
When the card machine chimed to confirm the transaction, Angus turned from the counter, doing all he could to drag his eyes away from where they begged to look.
Roughly half of the cafe was free. Angus could sit at the empty table in front of him. Or, if he fancied eavesdropping, the couple nearby appeared to be having an intense conversation. A break-up, perhaps? Sitting beside them, he could immerse himself in someone else’s life for a while. Or…
Or he could sit with her.
Angus’s legs didn’t wait for his brain to say no. As the woman’s gravitational pull drew him to her, Angus’s heart beat in his throat. His brain begged him to turn back, to remember that Angus Fairview-Whitley didn’t do shit like this, but he continued.
The woman was inches away now, so close Angus could see the freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose. So close he could tell she had a habit of biting her nails.
So close that he might have to speak to her.
The realisation swiped Angus’s confidence, but it was too late. His large frame was in front of the woman, looming over her table.
Clearing his throat, Angus found his voice. ‘Excuse me, is this seat taken?’
It took a moment for the woman to register that he was speaking to her. It took another for her to look at him. When she did, her eyes – dark like the night sky, but more beautiful – met his blue ones. Angus’s stomach flipped, and for one awful, panicky moment, he thought he was going to be sick.
The woman blinked. ‘You want to sit here? With me?’
Angus’s toes curled at her sharp tone. Warning lights flashed in his mind.Abort, abort!they screamed, but it was too late. He had approached a lone woman minding her own business. He’d committed to the role of creep in the coffee shop.
The woman scanned the cafe, eying the multitude of empty tables. Suddenly, coming over seemed like the worst idea Angus had ever had.
