Page 34 of The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love

He smiles down at me.

I smile up at him.

He takes a step closer to me.

I take one closer to him.

Time sort of hiccups.

Or maybe it’s a car backfiring?

And then he leans in at the exact time that I do and we go for the same angle and somehow our noses are bumping and our lips sort of missing each other’s.

It is mortifying.

But then he’s laughing and pointing at me to go left while he goes right and wow … I wasn’t expecting his tongue to slip in straight off like that.

Like, dude! This is only date two.

Sarah would be laughing like a drain at me getting this flustered.

And why the hell am I thinking about Sarah while I am kissing a guy?

In another mortifying twist I must rear backwards or something because we are suddenly apart and then I think he must get it because the next thing I know, he is tugging gently on my hand. Drawing me close … closer … closest.

This time his lips deliver a simple, soft, goodbye kiss. It is so lovely that it has me grinning goofily and I guess Mortification still isn’t done with me because my hand misses the door handle of my ride twice before I manage to grab onto it successfully, open the car door, get in and speed off into the night.

Back to my four walls.

And seven long days of the week until our next date on Tuesday.

I’ve pulled my phone out of my pocket and nearly pressed my mother’s number before I realise what I am doing. It’s way too early in dating Zach to be sharing with her.

Instead of phoning my mother I bring up the photo I took of the crossword clue George hadn’t filled in.

Causing one to lose courage, 9 letters

As I think, I settle back against the car seat, feeling the quietness seep in. It feels louder than before somehow, which is the exact opposite of what I’m trying to achieve by going out on dates but I guess turning up the volume on socialising means laying bare the contrast afterwards.

When the car pulls up outside my building, I see the back kitchen light still on in Oscars. A late-night debrief is exactly what I need to spin my evening out and keep the quietness at bay longer.

‘Hey,’ I call out as I breeze in, automatically throwing the lock on the door behind me. ‘Not only did I style myself for my second date with Zach but I managed to do it in such a way that he asked me out again. I guess also that my amazing conversational skills had a little something to—’ By the time I walk behind the counter to the kitchen and note the look of extreme frustration on Oz’s face and the flash of pinched hurt on Carlos’s, I realise I’ve walked right in on something. ‘What’s up?’

‘Nothing,’ says Carlos, fixing a major grin over the previous expression.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ grumps Oz, reaching for a tub of flour.

The atmosphere is filled with a whole lot of awkward and my heart starts beating faster. I try and do that thing that Mrs. Lundy did, and simply wait for one of them to break silence.

It doesn’t work and, if anything, the atmosphere thickens. ‘Lovers’ tiff?’ I ask into the middle distance.

‘Sure,’ says Carlos.

‘Why not,’ adds Oz.

Sure? Why not?

What the hell?

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