Page 33 of Things We Never Said
‘Hmm,’ Sean says. ‘Well, maybe you don’t know me quite as well as you think you do. Maybe we never know anyone quite as well as we think we do.’
‘You are weird at the moment, you know. But look, I’ll check with the others,’ April says. ‘Because there’s only the one sofa. And if anyone else has people staying it won’t be possible.’
‘Of course.’
‘But I think it’s probably OK. Matt may even be away that weekend, so you might be able to have his room.’
‘Sure,’ Sean says. ‘Well, let me know.’
As parking near April’s place is impossible, Sean travels to London by train.
By the time he has negotiated the Underground and made his way to her shared apartment, it’s almost 8 p.m.
Matt, as predicted, is away for the weekend, so April shows Sean to his room.
The flat, in Hyde Park Gardens, is beautiful if tatty, and from Matt’s rear windows Sean can even glimpse – through a gap in the houses on Bayswater Road – Hyde Park itself. He dumps his bag on Matt’s Swedish office chair and crosses to the window, looks out, then turns back to scan the room.
Matt, who is a successful graphic designer, is young and funky, and it shows. The room is youthful and colourful. There’s anAladdin SaneBowie poster on the wall and a large collection of vinyl. Matt has twin DJ decks permanently installed, and bookshelves stuffed with art books.
Sean walks around the room. He runs his fingers across the spines of Matt’s records and then peeps, nosily, into a wardrobe. The place makes him feel young again, even as it makes him nostalgic for his own lost youth. God, how he’d love the chance to live the whole thing again!
‘You all right in there?’ April asks, peering through the open door.
‘Yeah,’ Sean says. ‘I’m just looking around. This is such a cool room.’
‘Matt’s life’s work,’ April says.
‘The room?’ Sean asks.
April takes a step towards him and expounds, ‘No. Being cool, I meant.’
Sean detects a note of bitterness in her voice and remembers that at the beginning, before she met Ronan, his daughter had, Catherine said, had a thing for Matt.
‘Weren’t you a bit in love with him at the beginning?’ Sean asks.
‘God, Mum tells you ... told you ... everything,’ April says, faking outrage. ‘And I wasn’t in love with him. I just ...’ She shrugs coyly. ‘I had a crush, that’s all. He’s pretty good-looking. But he knows it, if you know what I mean.’
‘Right,’ Sean says.
‘Waaay too busy being cool,’ April explains.
‘Yes. I know the type.’
The doorbell rings, so April turns to head to the front door. ‘Great,’ she says. ‘I’m starving.’
When Sean gets to the kitchen, Ronan is already unpacking a series of metal trays from a carrier bag. ‘Hey, Sean,’ he says.
Sean slaps him gently on the back, then squeezes his shoulder. ‘Hi Ronan,’ he says. ‘You brought food. I was intending to take you both out somewhere.’
‘You can do that tomorrow,’ April says, peeling back the cardboard lid of one of the containers and peering at the contents, then dipping a finger in and sucking it. ‘We thought this would be nice,’ she explains. ‘Just the three of us.’
‘No Aisha, either?’ Ronan asks, his Irish lilt making the words run together to form one long list of vowels.
‘No. She’s out with friends,’ April tells him. ‘Said she was going clubbing afterwards, I think.’
Together, they divvy out the curries before moving to the fold-out table in the lounge.
‘This is such a nice flat,’ Sean says, looking around. ‘It reminds me of being a student.’
