Winter's Fairytale

‘Subtitles?’

‘Yeah, you know. Something foreign with subtitles. Preferably not that. Although, of course, it is your house, so if you–’

‘Oh God, please don’t tell me you think I look like a hipster.’

I gave a hearty laugh. Hipster? Rob? Umm, that would be a no.

‘Hardly! You look like you might have eaten a hipster, but you definitely don’t look like one yourself.’

He laughed. ‘I don’t think there’s much meat on them, from what I’ve seen. So why do you think I would be watching foreign films?’

‘Because you’re intelligent and well-travelled and… stuff.’ I explained, articulately.

‘Well, thank you for the compliment. But whilst I’m sure there are plenty of very good foreign films out there, I’m afraid when it comes to movies I don’t like to have to think too hard. I want to just sit and watch, and shove popcorn in my mouth. That’s about all I need from a film. Not very deep and meaningful I’m afraid but that’s about the size of it.’

‘I couldn’t agree more!’ I grinned at him.

He seemed happy with that revelation and looked back at the television. ‘So, what’ll it be? There’s a “blow lots of stuff up” one here, or what about this one? I heard that’s supposed to be good.’

‘Rob?’

‘Umhmm?’ he asked, reading the description.

‘That’s a romantic comedy.’

‘Yeah. So? Don’t you like romantic comedies?’

‘I do. But do you?’

‘Sure. Some of them are pretty funny. And who doesn’t like a happy ending?’

‘Are you taking the wotsit out of me?’

‘Absolutely not. Ask my sister. I’ve watched enough with her. Actually she got me into them so if I’ve suddenly gone down in your estimation, then feel free to blame her.’

‘Down?’ I stated, surprise that he would think that clearly evident in my voice, ‘No, not at all. I just – I suppose I didn’t expect that of you. But, it’s a nice surprise. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of blokes just moan the whole way through. Sort of takes the edge off the enjoyment.’

Rob leant back against the sofa cushions as he pressed play on the movie. ‘By most blokes, you mean Steven?’ He rolled his head to the side to look at me.

I rolled my head in a similar fashion. ‘He wasn’t exactly a fan, no.’

‘Ok. Well, as I say. I like them. Blame my sister. And bonus for me, the women in them are usually pretty hot.’

‘Aha! I knew there had to be another reason!’

‘Oh,’ Rob scoffed at me, ‘and tell me you’re not going to be drooling over him five minutes in.’ he asked, pointing the remote at the admittedly suitably handsome male lead.

‘Ha!’ I said, ‘You see, that shows how little you really know me.’

Rob raised a disbelieving eyebrow at me. ‘Oh really?’

‘Yes, really.’ I said, leaning over to grab a handful of the popcorn he’d now tipped out into a bowl. ‘It will be at least ten minutes.’

Chapter Five

The credits rolled on the film and I stretched my legs out under the fuzzy blanket. The wine was all gone and Rob had gradually slouched right down during the movie until his legs were now almost hanging off the other edge of the coffee table.

‘Would you like some more wine?’ he asked, as he wriggled back up into a semi seated position.

‘Oh no, thanks! I’ve got some designs to work on tomorrow. Hangover Head would not be helpful.’

‘Fair enough. Can I get you a coffee or anything?’

He really was a great host, despite my dig at him earlier.

I smiled. ‘No, really. I’m fine. Thank you.’

‘Ok.’ He wriggled a bit more and pushed himself off the sofa. Leaning down he picked up the glasses and bottle in one hand and the popcorn bowl in the other. I made to help but he shook his head.

‘It’s all right. You look comfy. Stay there.’

I was comfy. I was beyond comfy. I picked up the remote and switched the TV off, then laid my head back on the sofa and looked out of the picture window. The lights in the room were low and offered little reflection on the glass. I sat and watched as London slowly covered with snow. Rob was scootling about in the kitchen, eventually coming to sit down on the table, next to my feet, a coffee cup in his hands. We sat there in companionable silence for a while, just watching the snow fall on the city. Eventually I looked up at him, without lifting my head.

‘Won’t that keep you awake?’ I indicated the coffee cup with my eyes.

‘Nope.’

‘Oh.’

‘Sure you don’t want one?’

I smiled. ‘Yep. Thanks. I’m ok.’

We turned our attention back to the window and then both jumped when my phone let out a noise that I recognised as Mags’ personal text tone.

I pushed myself up and pulled the phone off the table.

Just wanted to check you got home ok. Saw that trains being delayed/cancelled. Sorry I didn’t call earlier. Met someone!!!!

I frowned at the phone. Met someone? How could she have met someone? I saw her get on the bus and the stop was about a five-minute walk from her front door.

Where did you meet them?

I waited.

On bus. Normally drives to work but car in garage today. Went for drink. Gorgeous!!!!

I was pleased for her. Obviously I’d have to check him out. That was our unwritten rule. But if he’d got past the hurdle of getting Mags to have a drink with him in the first place, he was doing pretty well. Mags wasn’t one for wasting her time on people. I think it came as part of our peripatetic background. Moving around had meant we didn’t get the chance to form a lot of long term relationships. We got to sussing out pretty quickly whether people were worth us investing what would inevitably be our short time, or whether that time would be better spent with someone else. It sounded harsh but was really just a case of making the best of the situation. It was pretty clear I’d lost the knack over the years, having wasted four years of investment time with Steven. But Mags? She still had it.

‘Mags met someone.’ I said. For some reason, telling Rob seemed the most natural thing to be doing.

‘When?’

‘Tonight.’

‘I thought you were together tonight?’

‘She met him on the bus.’

Rob pulled a face that said ‘hmm, interesting’ and moved to the chair, putting his now empty cup on the table.

‘So, what’s she said about him?’

‘Not much. That she met him on the bus and went for a drink.’

‘Blimey. I’ve known you for four years and I still couldn’t get you to go for a drink with me tonight.’

‘Oh ha ha!’ I stuck my tongue out at him, ‘I’m here now, aren’t I? And we had food and drink. Anyway. Different situation.’ I stated.

‘How so?’

‘Because this bloke’s obviously got different interests in Mags than you have in me.’

Rob did a thing with his hand that indicated more explanation was required.

I gave him a look. ‘He asked her for a drink because he wanted to check her out, not check up on her.’

Rob did a small nod. My phone made its little noise again. I looked down at the screen.

So you got home ok?

Hmm.

Sort of. Train cancelled. Tree on line.

What does ‘sort of’ mean??? Are you ok? Where are you???

Mags loved a punctuation mark.

Here we go.

At Rob’s.

I pressed ‘Send’ and looked at Rob who was now peacefully resting his head on the back of the chair and watching the snow. He looked relaxed. And for some reason that made me smile. He turned his head and caught me watching him. Oh shit. That looked weird. I jumped in.

‘My phone is going to ring in a moment.’

A slow smile spread from one corner of his mouth. ‘Did you get psychic when I wasn’t looking?’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Nope. But Mags just asked if I was home. Which I’m not. So she asked where I was.’

‘And you’ve said here…which for some reason is going to make your phone ring?’

As if on cue, my phone lit up, and Mags’ ringtone jingled out, a cute picture of her appearing on the screen as it did so.

I flipped my hand out as if to say ‘Ta dah!’

Rob looked confused, laughed and went back to watching the snow as I picked up my phone. Unwillingly I unwrapped myself and got up from the sofa as I answered, touching Rob’s arm as I did so, handing him the blanket and pointing to indicate he should sit there instead of folding his huge frame into the armchair. He smiled at me, and nodded, his hand brushing mine as he took the blanket.

‘Hi.’ I answered, walking over towards the other side of the room.

‘Hi?’ Mags repeated, ‘You can’t just tell me that you’re at Rob’s flat in the middle of the night and then just say “hi” when you answer the phone!’

‘What?’ I laughed. Apparently, Gorgeous Bus Boy had bought my friend more than one drink. She sounded positively tipsy. ‘Then how am I supposed to answer the phone?’

‘What happened? How come you’re there? Did you kiss him yet? Oh my God! Are you in bed? Oh! I’m so sorry! I’ll call you–’

‘Mags! Mags!’ I raised my voice and jumped in front of her train of thought.

‘What?’

‘What are you on? It’s Rob! Of course I haven’t kissed him and oh my God, no! We’re not in bed! Why on Earth would you think that?’

‘I… just thought…’

‘No. Definitely not. It’s not like that.’ I was doing my best to try and keep the very awkward conversation as low in volume as possible, but casually. Without it seeming like I was bothered about Rob hearing. I had a feeling I was failing miserably.

‘I bumped into him outside my studio, they were cancelling trains all over the place, including mine, so I ended up coming back to his place so that we could take a look at the traffic and the weather. All the roads are blocked solid. We had a microwave meal and watched a film.’ I thought I may as well tell her everything in case something came up later and she read more into it because I hadn’t mentioned it.

‘And now?’ she asked.

‘And now what?’

She let out a sigh. ‘What. Happens. Now.’

‘Nothing. Happens. Now.’ I said, ‘I’m going to bed shortly.’

A squeak of excitement came from Mags’ end of the line.

‘On my own.’ I clarified, but couldn’t help laughing, ‘What’s got into you tonight?’

‘Nothing.’ she replied. ‘It’s just that Rob is nice. Really nice. He’s been so concerned about you, and now he’s shown up on your doorstep, like a white knight–’

‘Oh blimey! Bus Boy really sprinkled the love dust on you tonight, didn’t he?’

‘He did not!’ Mags said, but there wasn’t as much indignation in her voice as I would have expected. Wow. Bus Boy really had made an impression.

‘Ok. Well, I’m going to go to bed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Hopefully the snow will have gone then and I can get home.’

‘Ok. Sleep well!’ Mags said, her voice indicating that she thought that sleeping should be the last thing on my mind.

‘You’re potty. Love you. Night night.’ I said, and pressed ‘End’.

I walked back to the sofa, put the phone on the table and plopped back down next to Rob. He shooshed the blanket out so that it covered both of our legs. And for some reason, it didn’t feel awkward. It felt natural. I was just about to start wondering if that should worry me when Rob spoke.

‘Is Mags ok?’

‘Yep. I think Bus Boy got her a bit drunk. But yeah, she’s ok. I think she might actually really like this guy. She was acting a bit lovey-dovey.’

Rob didn’t look at me but out of the corner of my eye, I saw him raise his eyebrows. He’d know Mags long enough to know that was an unusual state of affairs for her.

‘I know.’ I agreed with his silent statement.

‘So, she knows you’re here then.’

‘Yes.’

‘She all right with that?’

I looked at him. ‘Why wouldn’t she be?’

‘I don’t know. I just didn’t want her thinking that I was, I don’t know, taking advantage of you, or something.’

A giggle burst up. ‘You’re frightened of her!’

‘I am not!’ Rob defended himself, ‘I’m just saying that I didn’t want her getting the wrong idea about us. About this.’

‘Afraid of another broken nose?’

Rob pulled a face. ‘Somehow I don’t think Mags would be that generous.’

He probably had a point. His nose might well be the last of his worries.

‘She won’t get the wrong idea, Rob. I promise. I put her straight on that.’

He looked at me. ‘So, she did suggest something?’

‘Why do I suddenly feel as if I’m in the witness box?’

He smiled at me.

‘You look like a shark about to attack,’ I laughed. ‘Is that what you do? Put people at ease with your easy manner and gorgeous smile before going straight for the jugular!’

Now it was his turn to laugh. ‘You’ve been watching too much Law and Order.’

I wobbled my head in a ‘maybe yes, maybe no’ sort of way.

‘And you didn’t answer my question.’

‘Oh my God!’ I laughed, resting my head on the back of the sofa, ‘You are not going to let this go, are you?’

‘I just don’t want Mags thinking I’m–’

‘Rob. She doesn’t. Ok? Don’t worry about it. She knows you’re just being a friend.’ I bumped against him in a gesture of reassurance. He smiled and nodded without looking at me.

‘Good.’ he said. ‘Yep, that’s good. Right. I’d better find you a toothbrush, hadn’t I?’ With that, he got up and headed off towards the bathroom.

Half an hour later I was sat ready for bed in Rob’s guest room. I stood up and looked at the image in the mirror. Rob had leant me a pyjama top that was still in its packet.

‘I only ever wear the bottoms.’ he’d explained, handing it over to me.

To say it was a little big was a mild understatement. Let’s just say, I probably didn’t actually need to stay in Rob’s flat – I could camp out just in this shirt. The top covered most of my thighs, the sleeves brushed my knees and there was about a mile of fabric each side of my body. Sweetly, he’d also included a pair of socks which again, although miles too big, were lovely and cosy.

Ever since I’d pulled an all-nighter at the studio a couple of years ago – a bride had come in for a final fitting having spent the previous three weeks on a clearly very effective crash diet – I now always made sure I was prepared for another. A flannel, toothbrush and travel sized toothpaste sat neatly in a cosmetic bag in my desk drawer. I preferred to keep the set of spare underwear closer to hand. The remote, yet still possible, chance that someone looking for something in my drawer may unwittingly plonk my undies out into full view gave me a twitch. Which is why they lived in a securely zipped pocket of my carry-everywhere tote. A fact I was extremely glad of at this precise moment. Rob might be sweet enough to lend me pyjamas and socks but I was pretty sure I’d be out of luck in the underwear department and there was no way on Earth I was going to go ‘commando’.

Rob said he’d left a new toothbrush out in the bathroom for me so I stuck my head out of the door and peered round. It had actually turned into a really lovely evening, just sitting and relaxing together. But I wasn’t quite ready to face up to him in my – or rather his – pyjamas just yet. I looked around. I could hear movement in his bedroom so I took the opportunity to scoot along to the bathroom and get my own ablutions taken care of before he was ready to. I went in, locked the door and picked up the toothbrush. As I peeled the packaging away, I thought back to what he’d said about buying in bulk, and wondered just how much of that was true. And then I wondered why it bothered me if it was.

I finished cleaning my teeth and, upturning one of the glasses on the counter, popped my toothbrush in it. I stared at the glass for a moment, it being there was yet more evidence at the hint that this place definitely had a woman’s touch to it. I mean, who has two glasses in their bathroom – unless you own a hotel. Or – the other thought barrelled back at me – you’re just used to having people stay over. A lot. We were back to the bulk buying of toothbrushes. And I was too tired to think about it all. Or think about why I was even thinking about it all. I unlocked the door and cracked it open a smidge, checking to see if I could make it back to the guest room undetected. All clear. I did a half walk, half run thing and made it to the door. Except the momentum from the ‘run’ part of the manoeuvre kept me going, and my cosy socks offered no purchase on the wood floor. And I kept right on going straight into the door. I grabbed at the handle in an attempt to stop the inevitable but it happened anyway and I landed hard on my backside in the hallway.

‘Izzy?’

Rob’s door flew open and he stood there in the matching bottoms to my enormous top. After a split second of just staring at me, he rushed over but I was already batting him away, embarrassed.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine.’ I said, trying to decide the best way to make an elegant recovery from the prone position I was now in. I decided there wasn’t one. I sat up and winced. Rob caught it. He bent down, hooked his arms underneath mine and stood me up.

‘Thanks.’

‘Are you all right?’ he asked again.

I did my best to erase the mortifying picture I had in my head of me sliding down the corridor that must have greeted Rob as he pulled open his door, and instead put on a big smile.

‘Absolutely.’ Not true. My backside was killing me. ‘Socks. Floor. Slippy.’ I explained. ‘But I’m fine. Really. Just a bit of a sore bum.’

A smirk fluttered across his mouth, albeit briefly.

‘And don’t think I didn’t see that.’

‘Sorry.’ he said, ‘I’d offer to rub it better for you, but that’d be such a cliché.’

‘It would.’

‘So I won’t.’

‘I’m so glad.’

He grinned at me, and I couldn’t help but return it. He took a couple of steps back towards his own room.

‘Sure you’re ok?’

‘I’m sure, Rob. Really.’

‘All right, but just let me know if anything hurts later, or tomorrow. As I said earlier, my mate’s only round the corner.’

‘If I’m not going to let you rub anything better, then what makes you think I’m going to let anyone else have a go?’

Rob looked happily puzzled. ‘My mate’s a doctor.’

‘Ohhhhh! Yes. Right. You did say that.’

Rob took a couple of steps back towards me again and leant over and opened the door. As it had apparently become clear I wasn’t to be trusted with these things myself.

‘Night, Izz.’

‘Night, Rob.’

He bent down and kissed me on the cheek.

‘Sleep well.’ he said before turning and heading towards the bathroom. I watched him go. It was kind of hard not to. He looked pretty gorgeous in a suit. In pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt he looked… I stopped myself. What on Earth was I doing? This was Rob. We were friends. And he’d even said earlier he wasn’t looking for anything from me, other than friendship. And I wasn’t looking for anything other than that right now either. If I was, I’d have jumped on the hot Italian from earlier. But I didn’t. Because I wasn’t ready for anything like that in my life right now. But I still couldn’t help watching Rob walk away. My eyes slid to his feet. No socks. Ha! I knew it. Sabotage.

Chapter Six

I was sat on the floor of Rob’s living room the next morning, my papers spread all around me, when he wandered in, still dressed in his pyjama bottoms and t-shirt. His face had a sleepy look to it and his jaw showed a distinct hint of scruff.

‘Morning.’

‘Morning!’ I replied, my eyes going back to my work.

‘How’s your bum?’

‘Absolutely fine, thank you. Yours?’

He laughed and shoved a coffee pot sachet in his machine and pressed a button. Leaving it to run, he came over and crouched down to where I was sat with his lovely warm blanket around me. He pulled it back and peered around it, and the acres of pyjama top, to where I was sat on a large and, more importantly, soft cushion. He brought his gaze up to where I was purposefully avoiding meeting it.

‘Ok. So I bruised it a bit.’

He let the blanket fall back and stood up.

‘Did you get yourself coffee?’

‘No, I thought I’d wait for you.’ I glanced up.

He smiled at me and a few minutes later placed two cups of coffee and a pile of toast on the breakfast bar. I climbed up from my perch atop the cushion and padded over to one of the seats facing the window. Rob took the one next to me. I picked up one of the coffees. Wrapping my hands around it, I looked out at the snow.

‘Doesn’t look like it’s stopped all night.’

He shook his head. ‘Nope.’ he said, simply, snagging a piece of toast and leaning back in his chair to reach for a knife for the marmalade out of the drawer. I watched him for a moment and pictured the scene ending badly. Hopping up, I walked over the few steps to the cutlery drawer, pulled it out, took a knife and handed it to Rob.

‘Oh thanks.’ he said, oblivious to the scenario I’d run in my head.

I returned to my chair and hoisted myself back up onto it. It occurred to me that this was the perfect situation in which to find myself feeling self-conscious. I was sat in someone else’s kitchen, wearing someone else’s pyjamas and little else. But I didn’t. And it wasn’t just the fact that Rob’s top was about three times bigger than some of my dresses. It just felt comfortable with him. Talking. Not talking. Getting up to get cutlery for him so that we didn’t end up with matching bruised bums.

‘What are you working on?’ he asked, nodding his head to the side at the pile of stuff I’d left on the floor.

‘I have a bride who’s getting married in a castle, over in Ireland, and she wants a dress that reflects the history, but doesn’t look like a costume.’

Rob took another bite of toast and swallowed. ‘Can you do that?’

I nodded. ‘Of course.’

We sat for a few more moments.

‘Rob, I think I need to try and get over to Mags’ place today. It’s obvious I’m still not going to get home but I can’t stay here again–’

‘Why not?’ He wasn’t tetchy. He was just asking.

‘Well, because I’m sure you’ve got plenty of things to do and I just…’ have no idea what I’m trying to say.

‘Look out there, Izz. I don’t think anyone’s going to be doing much of anything today apart from staying in and keeping warm. Which is a plan that sounds pretty damn good to me. I know you’d probably prefer to be at Mags’ place right now, and if that’s what you really want, I’ll do my best to help you get there – but I can pretty much guarantee that those shoes you love so much will be completely ruined by the time you do.’

Oh yes. Right. Snow plus gorgeous new shoes which were certainly not made for navigating snowy pavements. Yep, he had a point. That was a bit of an issue.

‘This “Castle Bride”, is that something you have to get done this weekend?’

I nodded. ‘Well, yes, ideally. I said I’d send her something over, just some basic ideas to start with, by the end of tomorrow.’

‘Ok. Well, I’ve got some papers to look at too so if you’re happy that you have everything you need to get on with things here, then why don’t we just get our work done and reassess the situation later?’

‘Ok.’ I nodded.

‘Great! Oh, your dress should be dry. I put it in the machine last night.’

‘Oh, thanks!’ I hopped up from my seat and moved over to dishwasher where I began loading the breakfast plates in.

‘I’m just going to take a shower. Unless you want to go first?’ Rob hesitated at the doorway.

‘No, it’s fine,’ I said, now reaching in to the dryer to pull out my clothes, ‘I’ll just– oh no!’

‘What’s wrong?’ He frowned, padding back in slowly.

I pulled my dress out of the dryer and laid it over the back of the seat. Rob glanced at it.

‘Am I missing something because it looks – oh!’

I was holding up my beautiful designer cashmere cardigan. The colour of cornflowers in summer, I’d spent ages deciding whether to buy it, and had finally splashed out in celebration when my very first bride walked down the aisle. As soft and gorgeous as I’d imagined, and adding style and elegance to my outfit, it had been perfect. And it was still perfect. Assuming you were the size of a three-year-old.