Page 26 of Midnight in Paris

They watched silently as a riverboat passed them. Passengers leant on the front railing, watching the water lap against the front of the vessel as it cut through the water. Others, inside, sat and took in the view through the windows. There was something about the boats, she thought. A sense of peace that being on the water brought.

It was the one thing they’d never done in Paris – Tom suffered from seasickness and she didn’t fancy going on one by herself.

‘Well, luck or no luck, you were one of the best decisions I ever made,’ she said. ‘And you know I don’t believe for a minute that you brought it all on yourself, everything that happened.’ She shifted, turned to him slightly. ‘I’m happy with Will, you know I am. But if there were a chance, even a tiny one, to do things differently…’

He put his hand lightly on hers and she felt a thrum of energy pulse in her. ‘I know,’ he said.

They fell into silence again, each imagining the decade-younger versions of themselves on the same bench, with a very different sort of future ahead.

11

THE FIRST SUMMER – 2011

Sophie stood back, almost tripping over some of her textbooks, and looked at herself, her lips pursed uncertainly. Her reflection in the half-length mirror they’d propped against the wardrobe wobbled uncertainly back at her.

‘You look great,’ Libby said. ‘Very classic.’

‘And classic is…?’

‘Classic is good! We’re talking about a place with hundreds of years of tradition here; classic is the kind of look you should be going for.’

‘I’m not even sure if Ishouldbe going,’ she said for the hundredth time.

‘Oh God, not this again.’ Libby stood up and placed a hand on each of Sophie’s shoulders, looking into her eyes, half serious. ‘You, Sophie Baker, are going to the Christ’s College summer ball. And you are going to be fabulous.’

‘Says who?’

‘Me!’ Libby laughed throatily. ‘I’m your fairy godmother.’

Sophie laughed. ‘So when’s the pumpkin arriving?’

‘I think we’d be better off getting a taxi on this one.’

When Tom had asked her to the summer ball as they’d lain in bed together after making their pact, her first instinct had been to say no. But then he’d said it could be as friends, and she’d decided that maybe she could do it this one time. They had a ball at Anglia university too, but she hadn’t been to one of the Cambridge ones and it would certainly be an experience. She’d seen dishevelled revellers making their way home in the early hours after their events last year, and had wondered what all the fuss was about. Now she’d get to see for herself. Besides, she didn’t like the thought of Tom taking anyone else.

She’d chosen a simple, silky white dress with thin straps, paired with silver sandals, had added mousse to her hair for extra volume, and slicked on some red lipstick. Libby was right, she did look pretty good.

Not that it mattered. Because they were just friends, of course.

‘It’s got a theme,’ he’d told her excitedly when he’d asked her.

‘Which is?’

‘L’Esprit Nouveau. We’re creating Paris in the college grounds.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously. Well, we’re going to give it a good try.’

‘And it’s in June?’

‘Yeah.’

‘But you call it the May ball?’ she’d said, her lips lifting into a smile.

He’d shrugged. ‘Who am I to question tradition?’

‘All right, I’ll come.’ And she’d been rewarded with one of Tom’s dazzling smiles.

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