Page 104 of You Float My Boat

For example, he always sneezed in threes. He always liked to walk on the left-hand side. And if I checked his pockets, I could guarantee I’d find a pack of gum – no particular flavour preference – could be mint, could be cinnamon. Last week I’d found a packet of cola Hubba Bubba.Cola. We had to have a serious talk after that.

Cola aside, all these little unique Charlie details I was learning only made him easier to fall for – hard.

But apart from the one time he pushed me up against the wall and turned my bones to mush as he almost kissed the life out of me, I’d found very little evidence to suggest we’d be moving to the next level soon.

And thinking about it, I realized that we’d never spent time together in private. We’d kissed and kissed and kissed, but it had always been in places where other people were – the library, the theatre, the street. The natural progression had never happened because we’d never given it the opportunity.

‘Maybe he’s nervous, you know, because you’re you.’

‘What does that mean?’

She shrugged, unhelpful. ‘Just that you told him you’d crushed on him. And then obviously he’s best friends with your brother, and he’s not exactly going to go and talk to him about boning his sister, is he.’

‘God, why d’you have to say bone,’ I groaned, giving her a big shove, which almost pushed her into the nearby hedge, though all it did was make her laugh louder.

‘What?’ She lifted a shoulder, far too innocently, especially when she added the little flutter of eyelashes. Stella and innocent were not usually found together. Stella and trouble, or Stella and menace. Now those worked perfectly. ‘… All I’m saying is you might need to give the guy a little push in the bed-rocking department if you want your bed rocked tonight … ya know what I’m sayin’?’

I nodded. One deep nod. I knew exactly what she was saying.

‘Do you want your bed rocked tonight? I mean, I know you’ve wanted to bone Charlie since the dawn of time …’

‘Stop saying bone!’ I hissed, and she jumped out of the way before I could shove her again.

Her giggle turned into more of a cackle. ‘Well, do you?’

‘Of course I want to. I mean … look at him. Ugh … do you really think I’ll have to make the first move?’

‘I dunno. You might just need to show him that you’re interested in more than kissing.’ She stepped to the other side of the path to let a group of runners pass between us.

‘How do I do that?’ I asked, once she was next to me again. This was not a conversation to have at a loud volume.

‘What are your plans tonight?’

‘We’re going for dinner somewhere.’ When Charlie had brought the cupcakes over yesterday, along with asking me to be his Valentine, he’d also asked me on a date. And again, that was the thing, yesterday he’d onlyjust caught me as I left. It was the first time he’d ever been up to my room.

Technically, it would be our first official proper date, because while the library and the theatre and the sandwich shop were all amazing, they weren’tdatedates. Not like this one.

I just prayed it wouldn’t be as messy as the sandwich shop.

‘Great, I have the perfect dress you can wear.’

‘Stel, I can’t fit in your clothes.’

‘Don’t worry, you’ll fit in this, and it’ll hug you perfectly,’ she cackled, ‘he’ll want to eat you up.’

I groaned again, but didn’t reply. I had plenty in my wardrobe suitable for a date with Charlie and obviously I’d been mentally plotting it out since last night.

‘It’s like when I hooked up with bartender Brad –’

‘What’s like when you hooked up with bartender Brad?’

‘The little push you need to give Charlie, just do that.’

My eyes popped, right as my hand shot out to stop her talking. ‘No way. First off where am I going to find a –’

‘I didn’t meanliterally. Just use your imagination. You still have the key to his place, right?’

‘Yes.’

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