But maybe that idea could work for my novel…
Yes!
There were loads of things that I enjoyed reading about in books but wouldn’t be down for in reality. Dating morally grey men in real life was a total red flag, but if a character did it in a dark romance novel? I was totally here for it.
I quickly opened my laptop again and started typing my thoughts.
This was what I loved about train journeys!
As well as getting loads of time to read, now that I was an aspiring author, these trips were great for writing inspo too. I’d had more ideas in the last two minutes than I’d had in two months.
‘So you were saying?’ Mr Train Totty continued, just before he turned his baseball cap to the back.
Holy guacamole.
This man had walked straight out of my dreams and onto this train.
He was true romance hero material.
Although his glasses and cap meant I couldn’t be sure that he was as hot as he seemed, he was still checkinglotsof boxes.
Cinnamon Roll Hero energy. Check.
Tall. Check.
Muscular. Check.
Sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Double-check.
And now his cap has just been turned to the back? Hell yeah.
All he needed now was the grey tracksuit bottoms and to lean against the train door and I’d swear I’d died and gone to book boyfriend heaven.
‘Yeah.’ He continued talking on the phone as he sat down several rows in front of me and I resisted the temptation to go over and introduce myself. ‘You’re right. Romance novels aresopredictable. They give women unrealistic expectations.’
What.
The.
Actual.
Fuck.
My jaw dropped.
My blood boiled.
And just like that, the fantasy of meeting my Mr Perfect on the train went up in flames.
For a second, I half expected (or hoped) that he’d add ‘only joking’ to his blasphemous sentence. But instead, to my horror, the fucker continued talking.
‘Exactly! Take my mate Harry. Lovely guy, but he can’t get a woman. D’you know why? Because he’s five foot seven and doesn’t look like a romance novel hero. Poor sod. Because women are reading these books, they only want to date men over six feet who look like gods. But not everyone is lucky enough to be blessed with good genes, am I right? I mean, I’m trying my best, but I can’t satisfyeverywoman on the planet!’
He laughed and I rolled my eyes so hard they almost fell out of their sockets.
The arrogance of this guy.
Forget calling him Train Totty. He’d been firmly demoted to Train Twat and eventhattitle was too good for him.
