The best we can hope for is that Bristol is known as a city jam packed full of quirky creatives and people think this is a performance art piece, all of us lying on the grass looking through the zoom feature on my phone screen.
‘That’s him, that’s him,’ Kevin hisses so loudly that it alarms a group of schoolgirls walking past us in their blazers, who immediately follow the direction of his gaze to see who he is making the fuss about.
‘Don’t look. Don’t look! Do you know nothing about being discreet?’ Kevin hisses, making them scurry away from the madman in the park as Jay and I cackle like demons.
‘Is it him?’ I manage to splutter out and then zoom in on my screen. ‘No, it’s not.’ That man is twice his size. I show Jay and we both start to laugh again and I have to admit I am loving having him by my side, sniggering together as we used to.
‘I can’t see clearly. These contacts make my eyes beautiful but even more blurry than usual.’ I’ve got the giggles now – trust Kevin to bring us on a spying mission when he can’t actually see. Our reaction is winding him up further. ‘Will you two stop dicking about? You wouldn’t laugh at someone if they truly couldn’t see, so you should be more supportive of me.’
‘Kevin, you have actively chosen to have gold eyes rather than good vision. Of course we’re going to mock you. Just take them out.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll lose them and they cost a bloody fortune,’ he responds. Jay and I are still laughing, Jay is banging the ground with his arm, and I can only assume it’s hysterics born from desperation.
‘Will you stop it! I’m bereft of the man I love and you’re just laughing.’
That makes us stop in a second and we exchange glances. This is a first. Far rarer than crawling around Bristol in some ridiculous get up with Kevin and doubting my decision-making prowess.
‘Love?’ I say, adjusting the phone camera and scouring the land ahead of us, trying to be relaxed in my posture so I don’t scare Kevin off by repeating the L word.
‘Yes, I have lost the man I love and you are not taking it at all seriously.’
‘I am. We are. Have you told him?’ I ask.
‘He knows,’ sniffs Kevin
‘Have you told him?’ I ask again. If there’s one man in the world more reluctant to become emotionally involved with someone than I am, it’s Kevin.
He nods and a whole cluster of emotions flit over his face. He is happy, buoyant and proud – and all of it is chased away in a millisecond by sadness and concern.
‘Is he definitely coming here?’ Jay asks
‘It’s the most probable place. Jack and Dan met here at some event in the observatory itself that Dan was working at.’ Kevin turns to us, purses his lips with displeasure that this is even a fact. ‘And then they were inseparable for years and would come back here for every anniversary. I am not happy about this. Not at all. But yes, it is the obvious place for them to come.’
‘Is there any chance they’ve been and gone?’ This is a possibility and whilst I’m happy to support my friend, I really can’t spend the next few hours up here lying on the grass waiting for something that may not even be happening here.
Kevin shrugs. ‘We got here as quick as we could,’ he says, shooting a look at Jay, who holds his hands up as if agreeing that somehow it’s his fault we may have missed Dan by daring to be over the other side of the city when we called him.
‘What exactly happened before Dan ran off? What has made you think he has come here to meet Jack?’
‘His phone rang – rang, not a message. Who does that anymore? It was clear that it was Jack. His caller id speaks so as it rings it was saying Jack, Jack, Jack. Like some freaky Nineties dance track. Anyway he pounced on the phone and turned his back to me – turned his back, Lily. What more do you need to hear?’
‘What was said on his phone call?’
‘Not much, it lasted seconds. I heard him say, “Now? This minute? I’ll be there...oh my God, I love you.” Then he turned to me, didn’t meet my eyes, said he had to go out and dashed out of the front door. He didn’t even stop and kiss me.’ Kevin pulls a sad face. ‘What more do you need to know? I’d say all that is fairly conclusive. He said he loved him,loved him, and in front of me too.’
‘Okay, that is something. We’ll find out what’s going on. What does this Jack look like?’
‘Tall, dark and meddlesome.’
‘Ooh, hang on. Look. There.’ Jay is cocking his hand against his forehead as he looks over at the observatory. Then he leans into me, my whole body fizzing as he does so, and points at my phone screen, tapping it to zoom in. ‘There, there, is that them?’
‘Oh my God, they’re kissing.’ Kevin is wrinkling his eyes up as he peers at the screen.
‘They are not kissing,’ I say.
‘Lips just touched skin,’ Kevin half screams. A whisper scream where the intent and emotion are fully there but the volume isn’t. It is most restrained, considering.
‘Yes, but lips didn’t touch lips,’ I qualify.
