Her eyes glaze over for a moment, then she shakes her head. ‘Nothing, it was just really intense.’
‘Are you really OK?’
She smiles. ‘Yeah, I feel properly part of this now, like we’re in it together. You know?’
‘Yeah, I’m glad I don’t have to go through it by myself any more.’
‘We’re a team,’ she says, then looks over at Paul and Cormac. ‘By the way, did you see Paul checking us out holding hands? He looked almost…’
I blush. ‘Jealous?’
‘Your words.’ She leans in. ‘Listen, he’s hot, and you never know, maybe he’s into you. But speaking as a mate, be careful. He has a girlfriend and it sounds like you have a shitty track record with closet cases.’
I roll my eyes. ‘He’s clearly straight. It’s just a crush, and anyway, I’d never get with someone who has a partner.’
‘Well, then,’ she says, ‘let the sexual tension continue.’
We catch up with Paul and Cormac and carry on through the museum. Despite the crowds, we stop to read everything. There’s so much I didn’t know about the ship and the city. There are items from the ship itself, the history of how it was built and even a ride that takes you through the shipyard.
‘Have to admit, this is class. Me and Cormac sneaked off when we came with the school,’ says Paul as we wait in the queue. ‘Though it’s weird to imagine that if we’d been on it, we totally would have been down in steerage.’
‘Not me,’ says Cormac. ‘I’d have charmed my way to the captain’s table and been on the first boat outta there.’
‘It was women and children first,’ I say.
Cormac shakes his head and tuts. ‘So sexist. Am I right, Meg?’
Meg snorts. ‘Wow, you’re such a feminist.’
‘You bet,’ he says. ‘I respect women so much I’d—’
‘Steal their seat on a lifeboat?’ says Paul.
‘No, I’dsharemy seat, you Neanderthal. Men! Let’s go, sister friend.’ He puts his arm round Meg. They walk forward in the queue and are ushered in to fill up the seats in the waiting car. We go to follow, but the attendant stops us.
‘Oh, we’re with them,’ I say.
The attendant ignores us and Meg smirks as their car moves off, leaving me alone with Paul.
We wait in silence for the next car to arrive. When it does, we get into the front seats but the family behind us in the queue tells the attendant they’ll wait to go together. And so we set off just the two of us in the classically romantic shipyard ride.
‘Here we go,’ says Paul.
‘Yeah.’ I laugh a bit too loud and he frowns. As we start moving, I focus on the recorded voice that explains about the working conditions at the shipyard.
Paul’s aftershave fills the space between us, which is not a lot of space. We’re pressed close together and I’m not sure if I’m imagining the heat radiating off him.
‘You seem quiet. Everything OK?’ Paul asks as we pass a video of men working on the hull of the ship.
I turn to face him. ‘Yeah, just a weird day.’
‘Want to talk about it?’
I wish.
‘I’m good. Thanks though.’ He shrugs and looks away and I feel like I’m losing out on something. ‘How’re you?’
He turns back with that smile, and holy shit he’s hot. ‘I’m grand. This isn’t usually my thing, but it’s good to do something different.’
