Page 114 of The One That Got Away

I missed the way he’d kiss the top of my head and hold me until I fell asleep.

Before I could stop myself, I reached for my phone and clicked the playlist link.

Even though I’d been desperate to hear what songs he’d added for our last day together, I’d managed to resist listening to it.

I knew that if I liked it, it’d ruin me. But I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I started at the beginning where the songs were apologetic. With every song they became more emotional and heartfelt.

And when I reached the last set of songs, my heart melted.

He’d included ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ by James Arthur, John Legend’s ‘All of Me’, ‘Teenage Dream’ from Katy Perry, ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ by Sinéad O’Connor, ‘The One That Got Away’ by Katy Perry and ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston.

Max liked me.

Hereallyliked me.

At that moment I wanted to call him. Speak to him. See his face, tell him how I felt, but it was two in the morning. Waking him up wouldn’t be fair.

So instead I sent him a message.

Hey. How are you? Can we talk?

There. Done.

Now I just had to hope that he replied.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I reached straight for my phone, hoping there’d be a reply.

There wasn’t.

I clicked on WhatsApp.

Max had read the message. Instantly, I panicked, thinking that he’d seen it but didn’t want to reply. But then I tried to tell myself that maybe he was just busy. For all I knew, it could be the middle of the night wherever he was. I just had to be patient.

But when he hadn’t replied hours later, I started to worry more. Maybe he wasn’t interested like I’d hoped. After all, it’d been a whole week since we’d left The Love Hotel and he hadn’t contacted me.

The slam of the front door snapped me out of my thoughts. Mum must’ve popped out.

I supposed I should get ready as we’d have to leave to catch the train then the Tube to Kew Gardens soon.

After showering and getting dressed, I went to the bathroom to do my make-up. Where the hell was my mascara? And my favourite lipstick? I went to Mum’s bedroom to see if she’d borrowed it. We never usually shared make-up, but I was sure I’d left it in here the other day.

‘You ready?’ Mum called out. I didn’t even hear her come back.

‘Yeah. Have you seen my mascara?’

‘Why?’

‘Can’t find it. Or my lipstick.’

‘Can’t you use another one?’

‘They’re my favourites!’

‘Come on. We’re going to miss the train!’

I quickly grabbed a lip gloss and my handbag then went downstairs.

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