I shrug, trying to sound casual. “You know. The awkwardness. The quiet. The overthinking. Most people find it exhausting. I’m very aware I can come across as a bit of a weirdo.”
Aaron’s mouth lifts slightly, but not in amusement. “You’re not a weirdo, Eve.”
I laugh softly, staring at the dashboard. “That’s kind of you to say, but I think we both know I’m not exactly normal.”
Aaron tilts his head, considering me. “What is normal, anyway?”
I glance at him. “You know… people who don’t rehearse conversations in their heads before having them. People who don’t panic when a stranger says hello.”
He smiles, a quiet, thoughtful one. “Sounds exhausting, being that normal. All that pretending.”
I blink, caught off guard. “Pretending?”
He nods. “Most people spend their lives trying to fit in. You just don’t bother pretending. I think that’s a good thing.”
For a moment, I can’t speak. The words hang there between us, soft but certain, cutting through all the noise I usually carry in my head.
I look down, trying to hide the small, ridiculous smile tugging at my mouth. “You make it sound like I’m... not the odd one.”
Aaron chuckles. “You are not.”
There’s a small pause, the kind that feels warm rather than awkward. Then he nods towards me, a hint of a grin tugging at his mouth. “I’ll need your email address before you vanish back to Norfolk.”
I blink, surprised. “My email?”
He nods. “You did agree to write, remember? Modern-day letters, wasn’t it?”
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it. “You were serious about that?”
“Completely. I like keeping my word. Besides, I think you’d write the kind of emails worth reading.”
I shake my head, still smiling. “Alright, fine. But no inspirational quotes or GIFs of dancing cats.”
“Deal,” he says, pulling out his phone. “Just honest correspondence and the occasional sandwich review.”
I recite my address, and he repeats it back carefully, as if making sure he gets every letter right.
“There,” he says, sliding the phone into his pocket. “Now you can’t escape that easily.”
I reach for the door handle, trying not to let the moment linger too much. “I’ll keep an eye out for your sandwich review then.”
He smiles. “You do that.”
As I step out of the car, the cool air wraps around me. I glance back once, hands on the wheel, that faint smile still playing at his lips.
“Night, Eve,” he says.
“Night, Aaron.”
I turn towards the hotel, but halfway to the door I catch myself smiling again. The kind of smile that lingers long after the moment’s over.
And that’s when I realise I’m already hoping he’ll write soon.
Chapter 10
To:Eve
From:Aaron
