After dragging my half-drunk, half-hungover butt up the hill to my flat, I struggle to find the concentration and the energy involved to unlock the door. It’s not my fault though; the lock on this thing is a little temperamental. I take my key out and put it back in, I jiggle it around in the lock – nothing works. Exhausted and exasperated, I stop trying, leaning forward to rest my head against the door. In the second before my head makes contact, the door is opened from the inside, causing me to fall straight into Nick’s arms.
I pause in his strong grip for a moment, until he hurriedly pushes me back onto my feet and releases me, like I’m something gross he accidentally caught as a reflex that he can’t wait to put down.
‘Wha…what are you doing up?’ I babble.
‘I’m going for a run,’ he tells me.
‘At this time of night?’ I ask.
‘Ruby, it’s morning.’
‘Oh.’
‘No prizes for guessing what you’ve been doing until this time,’ he says, unimpressed.
‘Not that – honest,’ I insist, worried about what he thinks of me for the first time in my life.
Nick glances down at my body briefly before making eye contact again.
‘Your dress is on inside out,’ he tells me.
I look down and see that he’s right. Fuck.
‘Goodnight,’ he says as he heads downstairs, not really sounding like he means it. God, he looks good in his running gear. He’s wearing tight pants and a fitted vest with a hoodie loosely over the top, probably to combat the chilly morning weather, along with a beanie hat covering his short, neat, dark hair.
‘Wait,’ I call after him, because for some reason I don’t want him to leave. ‘What are you doing today?’
Nick turns around and looks at me, visibly puzzled why I’d ask such a thing.
‘Why, do you want to grab a coffee?’ he asks.
I’m momentarily tongue-tied – luckily, it turns out.
‘Ruby, I’m kidding, don’t look so worried,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t want to hang out with you either.’
Words we’ve exchanged with each other a thousand times, but now they really sting.
‘No, right. Yuck,’ I say, unconvincingly.
‘Anyway, I’ve got some time off so I’m going to go stay with my family in Ilkley tonight, so you’ve got the place to yourself. Have your dating freaks over, tell Joey it’s safe for him to come round – just make sure the place isn’t trashed for me coming back, OK?’
I nod nervously.
‘If you’re going home, you’re going to want to take that hat off,’ I tell him, in a voice that does not sound like my own. I sound like a dork.
‘What?’ he asks.
‘You know, like the song: “On Ilkla Moor Baht ’at”. You need to take your hat off,’ I continue, kicking myself a little harder with each word that leaves my mouth.
‘Are you having a stroke?’ he asks me, straight-faced.
‘It was a joke,’ I tell him.
‘OK, what have you broken?’ he asks. ‘What kind of fast one are you trying to pull? Are you trying to sneak someone in? Are you pranking me? The sooner you tell me what’s wrong with you, the better.’
‘Nothing, nothing,’ I assure him. ‘Doesn’t matter. See you later.’
Nick shakes his head and jogs the rest of the way down the stairs.
I close the flat door behind me and look at myself in the mirror that sits above the bowl where we keep the keys – the bowl Nick insists the keys must be kept in at all times, my God, what do I see in him, seriously? We have nothing in common. We hate each other. Look how horrible he was to me just now, and how judgemental he was. I’m the kind of girl who gets in and goes to bed at 6am and he’s the kind of guy who gets up and heads out at 6am. He’s going for a run, I just ate two cheeseburgers. We couldn’t be more opposite if we tried. Millsy is right, I just need to give it time and this silly crush will wear off. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later because things are starting to feel very awkward.