Page 25 of Jump Start

I turned to walk back into the house and felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Hoping it was Harper, I answered with a smile.

“Are you drunk or something, mate?” Xavier laughed as I answered.

“Oh, it’s you. Thought it was Harper.” I cleaned up the barbecue area as I continued to speak to my brother and filled him in on how the weekend had gone.

“Well, you sound like one of the luckiest sons of bitches out there right now I reckon, mate.” I knew he was right; I was lucky—lucky to be able to live my dream, and lucky to have perhaps met the love of my life. She just didn’t know it yet.

“I don’t know what happened, mate. I invited her out here, I guess to see if she was a good fit for me,” I explained as I dangled my feet back in my pool.

Xavier paused on the other end. “I’ve never heard you speak about any girl like this before. I’m happy for you, bro, just remember to open up.” His voice echoed as he walked through a parking garage to his car.

I knew he was right, I did tend to clam up, to not voice my feelings, especially to girlfriends. Maybe I just never thought I was worthy of real love, that was why I never tried before, but I wanted to try, and I wanted to get it right.

***

Harper

My car met the pavement on the road out of Thomas’s house and I let out a belly laugh as I drove away. I couldn’t quite comprehend what had just happened. I thought I would go out to his house, perhaps get into a fight with him, and leave thinking about how much of an asshole he was. How wrong I was.

As I pointed my car in the direction of Sydney CBD, I noticed the sky beginning to form wispy clouds and the soft orange colour of dusk was starting to fade in. I had spent all day at Thomas’s house and completely lost track of time.

Eventually, I arrived at my apartment building. The drive down to the parking garage was dark, and the automated lights hadn’t turned on straight away as they always did. I pulled into my spot and felt slightly relieved, like the weight of the day and our situation had taken a turn, to what exactly, I wasn’t sure. I trudged into the lift, thinking about how nice a hot shower would be and washing my hair. The water in Thomas’s pool did no favours for the tone of my blonde hair.

The rest of my Sunday night was spent cooking a few meals for the week, doing some washing, and I was able to get a bit of reading in as well. By the time it was late enough to jump into bed, I realised that I had not heard from Thomas. I almost didn’t want to reach out to him, wanting to see if he would make the effort. A small part of me wondered if sex was all he wanted from me, but I shook my head at the thought. Surely not.

I decided not to contact him regardless. I needed some time to myself. I tried to finish the rest of my book and kept falling into micro sleep. I loved to read but most of the time it relaxed me so much I would pass out with a book on my chest and my bedside lamp still on. I snuggled down in the soft sheets and blanket, exhausted from the day but excited for new possibilities on the horizon.

***

The stark sound of my alarm woke me bright and early. I realised I had forgotten to shut the blinds, and the morning summer sun blared into my bedroom and my eyeballs. Slowly, I sat up and wandered into the kitchen to make a coffee. I simply couldnot function until I had at least a few sips. This was always something my family loved giving me shit about. “Oh, Harper can’t be disturbed in the morning,” they would say. “Harper’s a grumpy pants, blah blah.”

Some of us just weren’t meant to wake up early and that was fine. As I waited for the machine to warm up, I checked my phone. Still nothing from Thomas. I was not going to contact him first.

As I trudged around my apartment getting ready for work, I found my mind going back to the day before. Thomas’s arms wrapped around me, his mouth on my neck, his skin, warm from the sun, pressed against my own nakedness.

What a delicious thought.

I continued to daydream about sex with Thomas. Not a bad way to spend a commute.

I arrived at theSydney Dailybuilding with a few minutes to spare, and a completely turned-on frame of mind, ready to start the day. As I said the obligatory good mornings to people in my path, I eventually reached my desk and turned on my computer. I settled in and noticed there were a few people gathered around Harry’s office, so I tried to angle my neck to see if I could make out what was going on.

“Don’t bother,” Meredith commented from behind me, “it’s all the men in the office getting their sports fix.”

“Oh, hey! How are you? How was your weekend?” I was happy to see her, it had been a while since we had caught up properly.

“Hey, it was great. I got to see my family and we went into the city for some cocktails. Certainly felt it yesterday. Have you seen him yet?” Meredith asked as she took a seat next to me.

I looked at her confused. “Seen who?” I asked, looking back into Harry’s office. “Thomas. He’s here for a discussion with his boss and Harry.”

I felt my stomach drop. “Discussion about what?” I asked, starting to feel queasy.

“Harry’s looking at building stronger relationships with sporting teams. He’s meeting with the football executives later today.”

Thomas never mentioned that he would be coming into the office, let alone to discuss business with the company I worked for. I tried not to jump to conclusions, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“Makes sense. We are a mostly political and finance outlet,” I replied, trying to sound professional and stuffed the ugly feeling in my chest back down.

The men crowding the office suddenly dispersed and I saw Harry close the door. Before he did, I caught a glimpse of the back of Thomas’s head as he sat up straight on the leather couch. I tried to get my brain into gear to start work properly, but my mind was preoccupied by whatever was going on in that office. My desk phone rang and sprung me back to reality. It was one of the designers who wanted my opinion on the typesetting for a piece I submitted earlier in the week. I was grateful for the distraction and made my way down to the art department. Half an hour later, and after several debates on serif or sans serif—we settled on serif—I ventured back up to my desk.

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