I let out a long breath and flipped the beer mat over and over. I couldn’t look him in the eye so I stared at the tablecloth.
‘Sort of.’
Andy didn’t say anything. I swallowed, then looked up at him. He was watching me with a worried look on his face. ‘Have you… Do you believe…’ I started, but I had no idea how to say what I needed to say.
Andy leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.
‘Nicky, what’s going on? It’s not like you to be so tongue-tied.’
Instead of replying I reached down for my bag and unzipped it. Andy’s gaze felt like it was burning me as I pulled the books out and lay them on the table. I pushed them towards him and he picked the top one up.
‘The Mysteries of Time,’ he read out. He picked the other one up. ‘Reality and Time.’
He lowered it and looked at me. ‘What are these?’
‘They’re from the school library. Physics books. Sort of.’
‘Right. I suppose my question is why have you got them and why are you showing them to me?’
How was I going to explain this? It was clearly insane. If Andy came to me and told me what I was about to tell him I’d be worried about his state of mind. But I needed to get it out there.
‘You know this woman I’ve met? Emma.’
‘Yes.’
I flipped the beer mat over and over again, the tap, tap, tap drilling into my brain. I took a deep breath.
‘She lives in 2019.’
I didn’t know whether I’d expected Andy to laugh in my face, or get angry, or tell me I was being ridiculous. What I hadn’t expected from my loud and opinionated brother was the complete and utter silence I was now greeted with. I felt dizzy and realised I’d been holding my breath.
‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’
He didn’t get a chance to reply because the beers arrived, and the waiter stopped by the table.
‘Hello, you two, I thought you’d abandoned me when you didn’t come yesterday.’
‘Ah sorry, Abdul, but you know we’d never leave you for long.’ Andy flashed him a smile and Abdul grinned back.
‘Well good. The place wouldn’t be the same without you. The usual?’
Andy glanced at me and I nodded. ‘Perfect thank you,’ he said.
He waited until Abdul had left then turned to me and shook his head. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘That makes a change.’
He nodded his head in acknowledgement. ‘That’s true. But seriously, Nicky. What are you talking about?’
‘I know it sounds completely insane but I really need you to listen to me.’
He nodded without speaking.
‘Emma and I, we’ve realised that we live twenty years apart.’ I felt my face flush but carried on. ‘We didn’t realise at first, of course. But she knows things about the future, and she has this phone, like a computer, that she carries round with her that fits in her pocket.’
Andy studied me for a moment and rubbed the stubble on his chin. He leaned forward onto his elbows. ‘Sorry, are you saying that, because this Emma has some sort of futuristic phone, thatyou think she lives in the future?’ Andy took a gulp of his beer and wiped the froth away with the back of his hand.
I shook my head and took a sip of my own beer. ‘No, not just that. It’s hard to explain. When she touches my skin, there’s this weird spark between us, like deep down inside me. But when we’re not inside the bandstand together, we can’t see each other. We don’t exist, except in there.’
