Page 20 of The Fallback

One of the topics of conversation that evening had been Mitch’s suspect taste in music. Whereas all his friends were into cool guitar bands and singer-songwriters, Mitch shamelessly loved the Top 40 and had a long-held passion for Girls Aloud. Rosie had had to sadly confirm to his friends that it wasn’t for show, he really did only listen to pop music when he was at home. He wasn’t doing it just to annoy them. A song started and an image of Sarah Harding flashed into Rosie’s mind: Mitch had spent one weekend the other month going on and on about her, how cool her peroxide blonde bob was. Rosie self-consciously ran her hand through her own straight dark hair.

‘So, what did you think of Camden on a Saturday night?’ he asked, reaching across her to pick his glass up. He took a swig and pulled a face.

‘Disgusting?’ she asked.

‘Not at all,’ he said, poker-faced, but he gritted his teeth before he took another sip.

‘So? Camden? Did you like it?’

Rosie rested her head back against the headboard and thought of the crowded bar they had spent the evening in. It had been loud and dark, full of Mitch’s school friends all vying for top attention, shouting to be heard.

‘It was crazy,’ she admitted. Sipping her drink and pulling exactly the same face as Mitch had just pulled. ‘But great.’ She smiled. ‘I loved it.’

‘I’m so pleased!’ Mitch said, putting his arm behind her and pulling her into the crook of his arm. ‘I loved introducing you to my friends.’

‘You did?’ she beamed up at him and let herself nestle against him.

‘You know Dan thought you were hot,’ Mitch said, his eyes heavy.

‘He did?’ Rosie asked, trying to remember which one Dan was.

Mitch shuffled slightly, his arm slipping down Rosie’s back so that their heads become level. ‘So,’ he asked, suddenly casual. ‘What did you think of him?’

‘Did he ask you to ask?’ Rosie laughed. ‘Is this a “my mate fancies your mate” thing?’

‘I was just interested,’ Mitch replied. ‘So you don’t think you’re ready for the London dating scene, then?’ he asked. ‘Still thinking about whatshisname? Connor, was it?’

Rosie had filled Mitch in on some of the details about her break-up with Connor but she hadn’t wanted to dwell on it too much. She didn’t want her new friend thinking she was being pathetic. And if she was being honest, since moving in with Mitch, she really hadn’t thought about Connor all that much. She told herself it was because she was busy – new job, new flatmate, new life.

‘Not really,’ she said, ‘just, you know, other things going on.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Mitch asked interested. ‘Like what?’

‘Work mainly, getting settled here, finding my feet.’

Neither of them said anything for a while. ‘He’s right,’ said Mitch suddenly. ‘Dan. You are hot, you know.’

‘Mitch!’ Rosie protested, but grinned nonetheless.

Mitch turned his face towards her, and pulled her chin with his hand so she was facing him. ‘Yup,’ he said, ‘definitely hot.’

Rosie felt a flush creep up her cheeks; they were face to face now, their noses almost touching. She could feel Mitch’s breath on her face, it smelt of a mix of mint and the alcohol he had been pouring into his body for the last few hours. Rosie’s mind raced. She felt dizzy and confused and suddenly very aware that maybe her breath smelt like all of the alcoholshehad consumed over that evening.

‘Mitch’ she said, her voice quavering, ‘I’m not sure…’

But whatever it was she was going to tell him she wasn’t sure about, it was lost as his lips met hers. They were softer than she had imagined and she felt an electric charge go through her as she quickly thought that this was a terrible idea, before, suddenly, she was kissing him back. All thoughts of whether this was a good or a bad idea forced from her mind by the pure pleasure of kissing Mitch. And then in a split second it was all over. The buzzer at their door sounded loud and sharp, forcing them apart.

Alarmed, Rosie stood up. ‘Who is that?’ She stared at Mitch, focusing on his lips and subconsciously putting her hand up to touch hers.

‘It’s probably nothing,’ Mitch said. ‘Come back here.’ He reached for her.

‘No, we should answer it, it might be something important this late.’

‘I bet it’s not!’ he called after her as she went out into the hallway, still dazed by the kiss and the sensation of Mitch’s lips on hers.

Rosie picked up the intercom phone next to their front door. ‘Taxi?’ said a voice at the other end of the line.

‘Sorry, no,’ Rosie replied in confusion. ‘No, we didn’t order a taxi.’

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