The darkness took me by surprise as we stepped out of the brightly lit room. I felt my way through the hallway towards the coat rack and Rowan’s keys jangled as he locked his door behind us.
I hurriedly slipped my coat on and heaved my bag onto my back, letting myself out into the night air. I waited patiently, zipping up my jacket as I waited for Rowan to lock the door securely behind him. We walked in silence, our footsteps crunching on the gravel as we made our way over to Rowan’s car. Just looking at it made me uneasy, memories from the Christmas party flooding back. I cleared my throat.
“It looks like it’s going to snow,” Rowan said, pulling his car keys out of his jacket pocket.
I glanced up at the cloudy night sky. “Yeah, it does.”
Rowan’s car clicked loudly as it unlocked, and the flash of orange lights brought my attention back down to earth. I walked to the passenger side, opened the door and slid into the seat. The engine started loudly.
“The heater will warm up soon,” Rowan mumbled, rubbing his hands together before pushing the car into first gear and pulling off. I sat still and tense in the passenger seat.
I couldn’t just leave it like this, not without sayingsomething. Surely, he wanted to talk to me about it? I opened my mouth, but no words came.
“It’s this street, isn’t it?” Rowan asked. He turned the car down a road, crowded with cars, which led to my flat. He pulled the car up and I waited until he’d put the handbrake on before releasing my seatbelt.
“Cheers again for the lift.”
“No problem – and thank you for staying late. I dread to think what time I’d have gotten away if you hadn’t been there to help.”
I shuffled forwards in my seat and grabbed my bag from the footwell. “Well, have a good Christmas.” My hands searched for the door handle in the dark. Just as I pulled the handle forwards, breaking the seal on the door, Rowan cleared his throat.
“Listen, after Christmas, if you want to… Do you want to go out sometime?”
I hesitated, glancing across at Rowan. Surprisingly he held my eye contact. A thousand thoughts whirled around my mind. “Yeah, sounds good.”
Rowan seemed to visibly relax into his seat. I pushed the car door open and swung my legs out.
“Merry Christmas,” Rowan said.
“You too,” I replied before slamming the door shut behind myself and wandering off into the night towards my flat. I dared not look back; sure he’d be watching me as I walked away.
???
“Next stop – Garland Green.” A deep voice crackled through the intercom, and I nudged Oliver roughly with my elbow.
“Hey, wake up. Garland Green is our stop, right?” I asked.
Oliver groaned, opening one eye to look at me. “Yeah, something like that.” He shifted to sit upright in his chair.
“Something like that? It’syourparents’ house we’re going to, Ol,” I teased, putting my half-eaten packet of crisps into my full backpack and zipping it closed.
“I don’t even know why we’re going,” Oliver grumbled. “I didn’t go home for Christmas last year.”
“All the more reason to go this year, then. It’s just what people do at Christmas – they visit annoying family members.” I grinned and Oliver shot me a sour look. “Ah, come on. It’ll be fun. I haven’t seen your parents’ new house yet.”
“It’s hardly new now. Mum and Henry have been there for, like, three years,” he replied. Oliver’s real dad had died when he was young. Henry was his mum’s second husband, and though they had been married for nearly twenty years now, Oliver never referred to him as his dad.
I wasn’t sure why Oliver hated going home so much. His mum and Henry were pretty laid back and sure, there wasn’t a lot to do, but Christmas was all about lazing around the house, eating too much and watching crap TV.
“Well, it’s new to me.” I smiled, glancing out at the countryside speeding by.
“You’ve been awfully chipper lately,” Oliver commented, totally off subject.
“It’s Christmas time. What have I got to be miserable about?” I replied, hoping he’d buy my excuse. In truth, I couldn’t stop thinking about Rowan and our arrangement to meet up after the holidays.
“We’re now approaching Garland Green station,” the intercom stated loudly. Oliver and I stood and awkwardly shifted ourselves out of our seats, heading towards the doors.
“Where did your mum say they’d meet us?” I glanced over my shoulder at Oliver.
