He disassembled the soggy mess and dribbled off towards IT with it, calling back over his shoulder, ‘I’ll have a lash at it and have it back to you tomorrow. Hopefully.’
This sounded unlikely. Nevertheless, true to his word, he’d reappeared late the following afternoon carrying the laptop, to Ally’s barely concealed delight. She’d worn her one and only AllSaints black top and eyeliner to look cool and sultry, at the same time as giving the impression of not trying too hard. She’d also grabbed a packet of Haribo Starmix jellies from the newsagents on the corner on the way to work and had them stashed in her drawer, ready to present flirtatiously to him, hoping he wouldn’t notice her sweaty handprint on the bag.
He plopped the laptop on her desk and smiled at her. She could tell he was pleased with himself.
‘Sorted!’
‘Oh, William, that’s amazing, how did you do it?’
Which she’d kind of meant as a rhetorical question but he seemed to take literally.
‘Well, the main thing was that you’d already done a hard shutdown. Well done, fair play. So, I dismantled it, took out the battery. Removed your SSD. You’d no external RAM. Basically, after that, I flushed it with warm water and isopropyl – that’s an alcohol solution to rinse the stickiness .?.?. Q-tips to clear the keys, so then I left it upside down for twenty-four hours, and .?.?.’
Oh God, this was fabulous but way more detail than she could’ve hoped for, bless him. She needed to get him back on track. ‘Speaking of alcohol, could I buy you a drink for all your hard work? I mean, it’s .?.?. what, quarter to six .?.?.’
This was all going far too well for jellies – feck that, she could scoff those later in her own time.
Just then, his back pocket had beeped, he’d whipped his phone out and his face had dropped.
‘Aw damn. The server’s down.’
Oh no.
‘But sure, I’ve been in since eight. Let some other fecker do it. I’d murder a pint.’
Hallelujah, she whooped inwardly.
‘Let’s go, then.’
They’d headed down the road to the Cornerstone, an upcycled spit-on-the-floor pub where a mixture of old timers, musicians, hipsters and tourists piled in for spontaneous traditional music sessions. It was a Wednesday evening and the place was heaving. Oh. My. God. This was the perfect venue for her first date with William. Lively, yet romantic. He vanished to the loo as she ordered him a pint and herself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, which she sipped while gazing at her reflection in one of the sparkling mirrors, surrounded by the profusion of bottles behind the bar. Gorgeous.
Faced with exactly what she’d dreamed, Ally suddenly felt shy. She took a few sizeable gulps of wine, partly for something to do and before she remembered she’d had nothing to eat since breakfast, apart from two Toffeepops.
William reappeared through the crowd, drying his hands on the sides of his jeans, and finished a third of his pint in one gulp, so he was either nervous or thirsty. For the first time she had him sitting still at close quarters. She could see the faint blue of a beard shadow breaking through and creases at the corners of his blue eyes that suggested being buffeted by Atlantic gales and canoeing down raging rivers, rather than age. So, he was possibly a little younger than herself? No matter, she decided.
‘So, would this be your regular watering hole?’ he asked.
‘Just the odd time.’
No point in sounding like a total dipso, she thought. Instead of being her usual gregarious self, Ally found herself racking her brains for something relevant to say.
‘Sooo, what do you normally do at the weekends?’
It felt like a really boring question; however, at least it wasshowing interest. And as Rosemarie had read out to her from thePsychologiesmag, once you’re curious, you’ll never be boring.
‘I’d head out with the lads a lot, hillwalking, canoeing, rock climbing and the like.’
‘Rock climbing .?.?. I’ve always wanted to do it,’ she spoofed. ‘Although, it sounds a bit freaky, I’d say I’d be terrified.’
‘Nah, you wouldn’t, you have to get used to it, keep your mind on one handhold after the other, what you’re going to do next. It’s all about focus. Then, of course, you’re just going vertical rather than horizontal.’
Which sounded like something that was way easier to talk about in a pub than to do in real life.
‘You know what, you’re right. It’s so important to challenge yourself. I hereby declare that in future I’m going to get over my nerves and try rock climbing.’
Oh God, what sort of rubbish was coming out of her mouth? She hadn’t the remotest intention of doing anything of the sort.
‘Cheers to that,’ he declared obligingly. ‘Apart from that, I go drinking with the lads up here in town.’
