Page 37 of One Hot Summer

After Zack had finished building Sarah’s furniture, we finally arrived back at my house. Bing had been asleep on the windowsill and ran to the door to greet us as we came through, rubbing himself on our legs until Zack gave in and picked him up for a snuggle.

“Do you want some Dreamies?” he said, cradling my once human-hating cat. “Come on, let’s get some Dreamies.” He placed him back on the floor and they walked into the kitchen together, side by side.

Bing’s white tail flickered from side to side at the mention of his favourite treat. Zack was so at home here. I’d been back from Rome for a few weeks and we still hadn’t spent a night apart. It had become normal for him to just come straight here after work and stay over, and I loved it. His tenancy was almost up on the flat. There was no point in him renewing it and paying rent and bills for a place he spent no time at. We’d met each other’s families, he loved my cat and helped out my best friend without hesitation. And yet… I was nervous about broaching the subject with him. I was about to ask my boyfriend to move in with me.

I walked into the kitchen, where Zack was feeding Dreamies treats to Bing, one at a time.

“Do you fancy a coffee?” I asked, wondering how to bring something like this up.

“Yes, please.” He gave Bing his last treat and brushed the crumbs off his hands. He came up behind me and put his arms around my waist.

“So, I was thinking, you’ve been here a lot lately haven’t you?”

His body stiffened, and he held me at arm’s length. Crap. This was going wrong already.

“Are you getting sick of me?” He laughed, nervously. “I can go back to mine if you need a night to yourself.”

“No! Oh my God, no.” I turned to face him. “That came out so wrong. What I’m trying to say, is… what I mean is, we’re always together, here.” His eyes widened as I struggled to find my words. He had no idea where I was going with this. Hell, I don’t even think I knew where I was going with this. Word vomit was threatening to make a tit out of me, when what I really wanted to say was, “Do you want to move in? Properly? Officially?”

His face relaxed, he released a long breath and finally smiled.

“I thought you were subtly trying to tell me you needed a break from me. Which is fine! I’d understand.”

“I’m sorry.” I laughed, covering my face with my hands to hide my reddening cheeks. “I’m so bad at the serious stuff, but I want you to move in. I know you’ve been here every night recently anyway, but let’s make it official.” It was my turn to put my arms around his waist. “Do you want to live here? Officially?”

“Officially, yes, I do.” He leaned forward and kissed me. “Wow, we have our first holiday abroad coming up and we’re moving in together as well. This is a very grown-up year for us. We’re only in our thirties. What will your mother say, I wonder?”

“She would probably remind me that at my age she was married with two kids, had a dog and was just about ready for her inevitable divorce.” I laughed. “And then she would tell me something about my brother. Like how one of his toddlers is bound for Oxford, while my cat is bound for the asylum.”

As though he knew we were talking about him, Bing hopped up onto the kitchen counter beside us and was eyeing up the bag of Dreamies, which Zack had left on the side.

“You’ve had enough,” I said to him as he moved his gaze to Zack, eyes wide and whiskers flared in his direction. “I said enough.” Bing ignored me and continued looking at Zack. “I suppose I don’t need to consult with him whether or not you can move in, he loves having you here. I think he’d vote for me to move out if it meant you could stay.”

Zack chuckled and moved his hand to Bing’s head. Bing leaned into it as Zack scratched between his ears.

“I do love your cat,” he said.

“Aw, we’re getting soppy in our old age, too.”

Clearly repulsed by our act of soppiness, Bing hopped down and walked away.

We kissed again. I couldn’t believe how happy I was feeling. A year ago, I never would have believed anyone who said that not only would I be kissing Zack in my kitchen, but that he would actually want to move in with me. And with only a few weeks until our holiday, things could not get any better.

“What’s that noise?” Zack and I had been embracing for a few minutes, but an all too familiar sound had made its way down the hallway and into the kitchen, disturbing the peace.

“Bloody hell,” I said. “Bing. I’ll go sort it out.” Reluctantly pulling myself away, I followed the noise as Zack continued to make our drinks.

It was the all too familiar heaving sound of a cat throwing up, but where? That was the fun game. I crept carefully down the hallway, hoping there was nothing disguised in the beige carpet.

“Oh my God,” is all I could say.

“What? What’s happened?”

Zack came running to the bottom of the stairs and found me with my hands covering my face. All I could do was point to our coats, which were in a heap on the bottom step.

“Are you sure you want to move in here?” I managed to say, before I involuntarily gagged at the sight of a combination of hairball, Dreamies and various stomach contents spread over our coats.

“Huh, too many treats do you think?” Zack asked, guiltily. “I’ll sort these out.” Zack carefully scooped up our soiled coats and took them up to the bathroom. He passed a proud-looking Bing on the top step. “Not cool, bro. Not cool.”

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