Page 33 of The Wedding Pact
August raised her eyebrows at Flynn. ‘Okay.’
‘Okay.’
She moved onto the kitchen. ‘I brought a big load of pots and pans and utensils and I’m happy for us to both use them if you like, at least until we figure out what we’re short of?’
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ asked Flynn.
‘Of course, though … ’ August paused. ‘You know what I always imagined about living here?’
‘Having the place to yourself?’ Flynn joked.
‘Well, yes. But drinking coffee while I looked out across my kingdom of Bath! Do you drink coffee?’
He nodded. ‘Probably too much.’
‘Would you like to split the cost of one those coffee machines, not a pricey one, just one that makes filtered coffee in a jug and you can pour it pretending you work in an American diner?’
‘Yes, I’d love one of those,’ enthused Flynn, adding it to his list.
They took a few moments to check there was nothing they were missing, and added hangers, a clothes horse, some coasters.
‘What do you want to do about grocery shopping?’ Flynn asked. It had been a really long time since he’d had a flatmate; he’d forgotten how much there was to think about.
August thought for a moment and said, ‘Maybe we buy our own things but have a kitty for essentials like milk, dishwasher tablets, etc.?’
‘That sounds fair. But let’s trial it for a bit and adjust it if need be. I have a feeling I eat a lot more than you, and I’ll be swindling you on the essentials.’
‘We’ll see about that. We could also add into the essentials a few things like pasta, and then sometimes cook meals together?’ August looked at Flynn with hope.
He was happy with this. He didn’t want to overstep the mark with his flatmate, but one of the things he missed about living with Yui was both of them coming home after a day at the office and being able to let their thoughts pour out over a tasty meal, so that by the time they were done their minds were free from thinking about work. Since living in the hotel, he’d felt as though he couldn’t ever turn his brain off.
‘All right, let me just text my friend Bel,’ August said. ‘And we’ll see about a man with a van to take us to Ikea. Or at least a woman and her VW Polo.’
August’s friends Steve and Bel were both pretty adamant a flat pack bed would never fit in the back of their car, and neither of them was free to help that day anyway. So instead Flynn found a van hire company where you could book two-hour slots, and they did a mad dash from Bath to Bristol Ikea. They zoomed around the store like they were onThe Crystal Maze, before arriving back at the house and unloading, both of them sweating by then.
By the time they’d put the bed together, the sun was dipping, and August and Flynn were ready for something to eat again.
They called for takeout pizza, and Flynn popped out to a nearby store to pick up a couple of drinks, and when the food arrived, the two of them collapsed on the sofa and the armchair, their feet propped on leftover boxes and empty packaging.
‘I can’t believe we have to work tomorrow,’ August commented. ‘We should have done this on a Friday so we had the weekend to recover.’
Flynn groaned. ‘You’re so right.’
‘Do you think you’ll be extra busy tomorrow because you took today off?’
‘Yeah, I think so. It seems really full-on there. I’m not sure if it’s because they downscaled so I’m actually doing the job of more than one person, or I’m just slow because I’m new, but yeah, it seems very busy. Today has actually been a tonic, just doing something different! What’s your work like?’ he asked, realising he knew about her voice acting, but not a lot about her day-to-day job.
August sighed into her wine. ‘It’s fine. No, it’s good, they’re really good to me there. I’m temping, but I’ve been with the same company since moving to Bath, it’s the press office of a historical holidays company. The work is interesting – because I’ve been there a while they give me proper, in-depth tasks so I’m not photocopying all day or anything, and they’re really flexible regarding time off if I need to go off and record or go for an audition or anything.’
‘Auditions?’ Flynn asked with interest.
‘Any kind of freelance acting work,’ she waved it away and didn’t elaborate on that further, so Flynn let it pass for now. ‘So the people are lovely, the work is good, I just … when I came to Bath I thought I would just temp for a month or two while I found my feet, and I feel like I’ve become complacent. Or scared? One of the two.’
‘What did you hope would happen after a month or two?’
‘Well, I thought I might become the most celebrated actress in the land and win both a Tony and an Oscar,’ August joked. ‘Anyway, we’re here now and I thinkthisis the new baseline point to start my Tony and Oscar campaigning. But not tonight, because we have other strategies to discuss.’
They both sat up straighter, refilling their wines, and leaned in.
