Page 20 of Jump Start

“Tell me about your family, where did you grow up?” he asked before taking another sip.

“Well, originally, I’m from Sydney, but we moved around a lot. My father was in the Army for thirty-five years. He and Mum are retired and live in Nelson Bay now. I have two brothers who are much older than me, Andy and Brendan, andthey are both in the Navy and live in Perth.”

“So, what you’re saying is, I should never piss off anyone in your family,” he said, squeezing my hand softly. I shook my head and laughed, thinking of my brothers.

“Not very wise to, no. You’ve almost pissed me off in every interaction we’ve had, though, so what would you call that?” I teased, hoping my sarcastic retort fell into the conversation the way I intended. He took a moment to answer.

“Stupidity.”

***

After the initial awkward start to the date, the night flowed rather easily. Whether it was the food and drink that helped move the night along or both of us slightly relaxing as we learnt more about each other, I wasn’t sure. Probably both. I was not entirely convinced that it was a romantic date. Maybe it was just two people getting better acquainted. Thomas paid for dinner, which I insisted I wanted to split. I was more than capable of paying for myself.

We walked out to our cars, his ute parked in the distance. We stood at the open door of my small sporty hatch and spoke a little longer.

“Well, Harper, this has been great. I hope we can catch up again soon,” he said.

I smiled at him, his nerves clearly back. “So formal. Yes, thank you, Mr Henry-Jackson, let us meet again,” I replied sarcastically.

His face cracked into a bright, warm smile and I don’t knowwhat came over me, but before I knew it, I was stretching up and kissing him straight on the lips.

It took him a moment to register, and then his arms coiled around me, and he leant into the kiss more. His lips were soft against mine, and I could tell he was hesitating. I decided to reassure him and place my hands against his chest, digging in slightly. Making a noise in his throat, he responded by wrapping his hands around my waist, pulling me in. His arms were warm and comforting and I felt a sense of sweet victory, like my mind and body had been yearning for this since the first time he touched me on the test day.

I had lost all sense of time, but we eventually pulled away from each other, a little breathless.

“Okay, well that’s settled, you don’t hate me.” I poked him in the chest and turned to jump into my car. His face was unreadable as he walked to his own car. I didn’t know what had come over me. I guess I wanted to see if there was anything between us. My lips were still tingling, and the thought of his large hands spread across my back made me feel all kinds of things, which I was not ready to admit to myself.

I think I have a crush,I thought as I started my car.

Ten

Thomas

Iclimbed into my ute and gripped the steering wheel.She kissed me. I was going to be a coward and only think about kissing her.

Her lips were soft and when her body pressed against mine, it felt as right as I remembered it did. My hesitation was not warranted. I should have made the first move and next time, I would. Aside from the first half of the date feeling like an investigative interview, I enjoyed my night and the ending to it was even more spot on.

Harper had shown that she was open to getting to know me more, to understand who I was as a person. I’d had a few girlfriends since becoming a professional driver, but they didn’t last long. I think they liked the idea of being in the spotlight on TV, like it added something to their ‘influencer’ brand. But as a boyfriend, I didn’t do much for them. You get what you put into relationships and, to be fair, I didn’t put much into those.

I thought that it could be different with Harper. She was not like anyone else; she challenged me and called me out on my bullshit and that was something that I needed in a partner.

I was getting ahead of myself.

***

Harper

The music in my earphones echoed around in my head as I stared out the window of the train on my commute to work. Why was it that when you first started liking someone, everything felt more vibrant? Music sounded sweeter, the sky was a brighter blue, and there was a feeling of possibility in the air. Okay, I was getting carried away. That was the problem with having a degree in journalism. I could romanticise anything.

Friday morning at work was fairly uneventful. I was assigned another story that was more like my usual topics, and I ate another uninspired lunch with Meredith in the break room.

Meredith liked to talk in detail at me about her boyfriend, who sounded like an asshole. I had given up trying to advise her on what to do about the man a long time ago. As she sat there, reading out a novel of text chains, I felt my mind wander to Thomas, and wondered what he was up to. I pulled my phone out and sent him a text.

Me:Hey, thanks again for last night. I would love to catch up again soon x Harps.

I hoped that my message was casual enough and focused back onMeredith.

***

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