Page 40 of Endgame

‘I know!’ She cackles loudly, then does a little happy shimmy as she places some lobster in her mouth. I know I’m going to regret this at some point, but I love her more than the repercussions.

‘Oh. Caleb and Honey are here.’ I point as I spot both of them walking through the entrance and straight to the bar.

‘I’ll pay, you go get them,’ Lara offers.

‘You are currently unemployed, I’ll get this,’ I counter. ‘I’ll join you in a second.’

‘Okay.’ Lara has a last swig of her wine, then gets up to head to the bar.

I take my time. I didn’t want to lie to Caleb but she is right. He didn’t need to know and I didn’t need to answer. I was hurtful, and I hate myself for it. I take a deep breath, then walk over and hug Honey before turning to Caleb.

‘Hi,’ I say quietly.

‘Hi,’ he responds with a small smile, and he digs his hands into the pockets of the wool coat he is wearing over his thick navy hoodie.

‘Can I have a minute outside please?’

‘Sure.’

Caleb walks ahead and opens the door for us. I find a patio heater for us to stand under, and turn to him.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be cruel yesterday. I?—’

I don’t get to finish before Caleb steps forward and pulls me into him.

‘I know,’ he whispers into my hair. ‘But we’re about to fight fake zombies and I want us to have a good time tonight. Can we talk about this another time?’

‘It’s busy tonight. I’ll come with you to make sure you catch your train at Waterloo.’

Caleb snakes his hand round my belly protectively from behind and pulls me closer to him on the crowded platform as we wait for the tube. Lara and Honey rushed off to dinner immediately after the zombie house, leaving Caleb and me to make our separate ways home.

I like how safe I feel, being so close to him. I take in the laughter, noise and music filtering through from the busker we walked past as we made our way through the station. I’ve missed the raw, unique energy of London.

‘Did you have a good time?’ Caleb exhales into my hair from behind.

‘Are you kidding?! It was amazing! Terrible food, sickly cocktails, murder, puzzles and zombies? What’s not to love? The actors were so scary. Maybe a little too scary for you, Caleb?’ I tease.

‘No, I was trying to clear a way for us all.’

‘You ran, screaming.’

‘I was luring them away.’

‘We were meant to be silent so we didn’t attract them.’

‘I was sacrificing myself.’ He laughs.

‘Oh I believe you, the group didn’t though.’ I join in with his laughter as he holds me tighter still.

‘You were impressive. How come you were so calm?’

‘I spotted a scare pattern early. Plus, I only volunteered for the puzzles because I didn’t want to have to stand guard against whatever they were going to throw at us.’

‘I’m picking you as my apocalypse partner.’ Caleb spins me round to face him.

‘I’m picking Honey. And that Rowan guy.’ When I exclude Caleb from my imaginary apocalypse plans, he appears to be shocked.

‘He was infuriating. How many times do you think he’s done stuff like that?’

---