Page 182 of Falling for You
Oh, I totally could have just nodded to that.
‘Yeah,’ I say, ‘do you?’
The guy starts talking again, but my eyes wander off. The American guy is sitting opposite the girl next to me, chatting freely. He hasn’t even given me another glance.
Is it him? Or am I just going mad? Am I so desperate to seehim that I’m just pinning my hopes on any random American? What am I going to do next – start fantasising about Donald Trump?
(Spoiler alert: no.)
‘Anyway, my name is Blake.’
I look back at the guy opposite me. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t noticed my glazed expression for our entire date.
‘I’m Annie.’ I smile back as the bell rings and he gets up and moves. The American guy moves another place further away from me just as my phone vibrates again.
Penny: I took this video on the night you guys met. I just remembered. Is this him?
It’s a screenshot of me facing American Boy, trying to break free of the bat wings stuck in his suit. I zoom in with my fingers. The picture is dark and blurry, and his mask is covering half of his face. All I can make out is that he’s dark and has a beard. It could be anyone.
The bell rings again and I look up in alarm, suddenly worried I’ve ignored another guy for a solid two minutes, when I notice the man in the flat cap has started speaking.
‘Let’s have a drink break; I can see too many empty glasses.’
I get to my feet before the next guy can sit down and march towards Tanya, only to see that she’s still in full flow with a red-headed guy with a topknot. I stand stupidly on the spot and then my eyes find American Boy, on his phone. Fuelled by half a bottle of wine, I charge over.
‘Sorry, but where were you on Halloween?’
He looks up at me from his phone, amusement playing on his face.
‘Am I going crazy or has your voice changed?’
‘Were you at a masquerade ball?’
It feels like a lifetime passes whilst I wait for him to answer. Embarrassment flares up my body as I fight the urge to run away and pretend none of this ever happened.
What are you doing? Even if this is the right guy, he left you. He literally ran away! And now you’re confronting him? In person?
He turns his body to face me.
‘Were you?’
‘I asked you first.’
I see his eyes spark. ‘Were you dressed as a bat?’
Something inside me glows. It’s him. I was right.
I was right.
‘Were you the person with the worst costume in the room?’
He raises his eyebrows in mock offence. ‘Were you the person who stabbed me with their costume?’
I put my hand on my hip, fighting the urge to grin at him. ‘Were you the person who rudely left halfway through a conversation without even saying goodbye?’
He rubs his chin. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘That was me. I’m sorry about that.’
‘You didn’t even tell me your name.’
