Page 75 of Power Moves
I follow Archie through a corridor and down a few stairwells, and we arrive in the basement.
‘Here,’ he says, opening a red door. I walk inside and it’s completely black. Archie comes in after me and closes the door behind him.
‘Archie, I can’t see.’
‘Wait for your eyes to adjust.’
‘Can’t we go somewhere normal?’ We seem to be in a broom cupboard.
‘Everywhere else has security cameras.’
That quietens me. He’s as paranoid of being found out as I am. ‘Where are we?’
‘The stationery room. I know how you like stationery.’
It’s true. I almost get off on colour-coded Post-its these days. It’s an affliction.
‘I’m so glad you wanted to talk,’ he says, reaching for me. ‘But first I have to tell you about this story. It’s going to drop—’
‘Archie!’ I jolt back, smacking his hands away. ‘We’re not here to transgress boundaries like that. We’re not suddenly going to share secrets like fur-wearing Soviet double agents. I’ll read your story when it comes out, and then I’ll fix whatever damage it does to Boss, like I always do. I don’t want anythingto change. That’s what I wanted to talk about. I need you to promise you’ll be professional, in terms of …’
‘In terms of what?’ says Archie, and I can tell from his voice that he’s about to smile.
‘In terms of … well … this situation … the stuff that happened.’ I wave my hands between us, hoping he’ll get the picture, but it’s so dark in here we can hardly see each other.
‘What stuff do you mean?’ asks Archie. He’s definitely moved closer to me; I can feel some kind of energy radiating from him.
‘Just, like …’
‘I’ll need you to be more specific,’ says Archie. His chest is almost bumping mine. I try to shift back but I’m already up against the shelves; there’s no room. There’s also no air. There must be a problem with the vents.
‘Archie,’ I whisper.
‘Millsy,’ he whispers back.
He manages to grab my hands in the dark and I’m suddenly saturated with memories of the festival. How the skin on his back was cool and firm and how his every movement felt so strong but gentle. I remember with perfect clarity:This is how it starts.It starts with his hands and then it moves to his lips and they wipe my mind of normal human thoughts.
‘We need to pretend it didn’t happen!’ I blurt.
‘Millsy, you don’t need to freak out. When a man and a woman like each other—’
‘I’m not freaking out!’
‘You’ve missed three press conferences in a row.’
Gosh darn his attention to detail. I swear Boss hardly noticed that.
‘I was busy.’
‘Busy avoiding me?’
‘Not on purpose.’
Archie drops my hands and exhales in a way that suggests he’s rolling his eyes.
‘Well, okay, maybe on purpose, but what else did you expect? We accidentally had sex!’
‘It was hardly accidental!’
