28 June
Chock-full of ale and fresh sea air, I feel truly in the moment. As Scott and I approach the super-impressive Van Spencer building, I’m aware of every gull’s cry. Every gust of wind, heavy with the acid reek of vinegar. Every thump of techno from the rainbow-festooned bar next door.
Mindfulness can be achieved post-1980, after all. Certainly, as we pilot the lift up towards Scott’s man-cave, I’m very much mindful that we are finally going to have sex.
Yeah, tonight’s the night. Hopefully not in a Dexter way, though. If I walk into Scott’s flat and see the walls and floor covered in plastic sheeting, I’m straight on the next train back to Leeds. Also: if he turns all old-fashioned on me for a third time and offers to sleep on the sofa, there will be ructions.
Without warning, Scott leans in for a kiss. Pressing me up against the mirrored wall, he breathes hot against my neck and slides one hand down the front of my jeans.
Whoa, that escalated fast. Is he about to pull the movie trick of stopping the lift between floors? Does he actually want to have sex in here?
Do I want to have sex in here?
As great as this hand – and specifically these fingers – might feel, probably not. Apart from any other considerations, this lift hardly offers the most flattering light in which you’d want someone to see you naked for the first time.
We reach the fifth floor, the doors go ping and Scott whips his hand out of my jeans, like we’re about to get caught in the act by a traumatised vicar astride a bicycle.
Keys jangle in his hand as he leads the way to the door to Number Twenty-Three. When I catch up, he’s unlocking the deadbolt. Then he sticks another key into the smooth silver door handle. With his face still flushed from our lift play, he says, “You ready?”
Can’t say I care for him treating me like some wide-eyed Pretty Woman hooker. Okay Scott, I get it, you live in a fancy flat by the sea. But I’m also horny, so I meet his smile and raise him a smirk. “Ready for what?”
A very cool wolf knocker glares at me from the door, as if providing the answer.
Scott opens up to reveal a long corridor punctuated only by a fancy archway and an elegant table that holds an abstract marble sculpture.
Together, we take a right-turn through the arch, and what I see takes my breath away.