“Yeah. Teach me how to cook your favourite meal.”
I widen my eyes. My pulse is even faster now.
“If I recall, you love ham, egg, and chips, with a runny yolk.”
He remembered? Just like he remembered that I like drinking warm milk, and how milky I take my coffee.
“Yeah, but that’s easy to cook,” I say, in an attempt to brush off my surprise.
“Then it won’t take me long to perfect it.”
“Where did you go?”
Jimmy gives me a blank look.
“When you were travelling.”
“Oh, we’re back to that conversation! All over. I visited various places in the UK, then bought a cheap European train ticket. I went from France, through Belgium, into the Netherlands, and then Germany.”
“Wow.”
I’ve never even left the UK. The Reynoldses offered to take me on holiday with them, but I always declined, not wanting them to foot the bill for a third kid who wasn’t even theirs.
“And then I ran out of time. I needed to come back to the country to make sure I was ready for uni.”
“It sounds like an adventure. What was your favourite place?”
“Oh, Amsterdam, for sure. I loved the canals and the nightlife. It was amazing.”
“You’d go back?”
“For a holiday? In a heartbeat.”
I’ve seen pictures of Amsterdam, so it’s easy to imagine Jimmy wandering along the canals, sightseeing. Of course, he was there before he started weightlifting, so I should remember him as he was. Except my brain doesn’t want to do that. It only wants to picture Jimmy as he is now. Strong, buff, and sexy. I need to think about something else. Washing up. That’s safe.
I reach for Jimmy’s bowl to stack it with my own. So does he. Our hands touch. My face flushes with heat. Neither of us pulls away.
“You cooked, so I’ll wash up.”
“To be honest, I was just going to toss everything in the sink and worry about it tomorrow.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m a student, remember?”
I laugh and shake my head. “Let me wash up. It’s the least I can do.”
“You’ve been helping me revise all day.”
“Notallday.”
“For a good chunk of it. Forget the washing up.”
His hand is still touching mine, as we refuse torelinquish our grasp on his bowl. And now our stares are locked.
“And do what?” My voice is light and airy.
“I dunno. Watch a film.” His eyes light up. “I have a subscription to an anime site. We could binge a series.”
