Me too,I reply.Night, Ollie.
Night, Aury.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Five years ago
‘Do you know where the champagne glasses went?’ I ask my mum as I open each of our many kitchen cupboards. She was in charge of unpacking the kitchen after we moved in, while I pretty much did the rest of our flat, and in all the madness of being stuck at the end of a very long chain we’ve finally,finallycompleted on our purchase.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever owned any, Princess.’
‘Really?’ I laugh. ‘No problem. I’ll buy some tomorrow. But for now,’ I say as I open the bottle of champagne I bought especially for the occasion, ‘we’re having Moët in mugs.’
‘I like the sound of that. We’ve waited a long time for this day.’ We clink mugs. ‘So you wanted fish-and-chips, but I couldn’t work out where the local chippy was, Princess, so instead I’ve already bunged some fish fingers and freezer fries in the oven. They’ll be twenty minutes. Odd you wanting to eat fish-and-chips. You don’t normally eat that sort of thing these days.’
‘It’s a tradition,’ I say, remembering the night we all moved into our house-share. It stings a bit, rememberingthat. It was a happy time. Before it wasn’t. But I look around the incredible flat I’ve just bought for me and Mum and I know I’ve come a long way since then, even if it was by total accident.
Mum moves over to the window with her mug of fizz and looks out at the view of the River Thames. From here I can see the London Eye, and my favourite part of London, the South Bank, is an easy walk. The flat is incredible: two bedrooms, high ceilings, 100 per cent white decor. But somehow now I’ve moved in, it doesn’t feel very ‘me’. It cost a bomb, compared to the other flats I looked at, but I had so much money in my savings account that I could put down a huge deposit, and I wanted the best I could afford, especially for Mum. She deserves this. I’m pretty much wiped out now, though, but that’s London prices. The flat has already gone up in value since we put in our offer, so if I want to sell in the future, it should net me a tidy profit.
I find myself thinking about the future so much these days and wondering what life holds in store for me. Perhaps it’s being an adult. Mum keeps reminding me that I need to enjoy what I’ve got, rather than think about the next thing all the time.
But that view. This flat. I should enjoy it. I’ve earned it. And it’s in such a great part of London, so it’s good for me for modelling castings. And great for Mum, as she can get the bus to work too. And we needed this. We needed somewhere bigger. We’ve been on top of each other for so long, and when I moved out to go to university I genuinely didn’t think we’d be back living with each other again. But I lovemy mum, and my career means we can now live much better. So it’s happening.
‘Aurora, this space. I don’t know how I’m going to reach the ceiling corners to dust them.’
‘You’re not. We’re getting a cleaner, Mum.’
‘Don’t be silly. There’s only the two of us rattling around in here.’
‘Mum, let me do this for you. Please. We’re going to live really well. We’ve earned this.You’veearned this.’
‘All right, Princess,’ my mum acquiesces, although she doesn’t sound too convinced. I’m going to have to work on her – make her see that we’re allowed to move on, allowed to move up in the world. No one else is going to do it for us.
‘It’s nothing but luxury from now on,’ I tell her.
The oven timer beeps on our newfangled and hard-to-operate Miele oven and my mum jumps in surprise. ‘That’ll be the fish fingers. They were on special offer.’
‘It’s nothing but luxury fromtomorrowthen.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ollie
I’m holding flowers and a pot plant and a bottle of champagne. Three gifts are too many, I realise now, as I fumble with my door key and try to find my wallet. Although I’m not sure which is the item that’s a bit extra. Possibly the pot plant? But that’s what you buy when people move into a new home, isn’t it? Or is it? It’s too late now. I’m not good at plants, so I might as well give it to Aury and see if she fares any better.
In the end I decide to hail a taxi. I can’t possibly handle this lot, and getting on and off the Tube is going to be nothing but aggravation. It feels weird, going to see Aury in her new flat, after all this time. I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I saw her, since we met in the pub for a drink. I had to keep that news from Ben. I’ll have to keep this secret too.
As I climb out of the taxi I have to check the address she sent me against the sleek urban building in front of me. ‘Jesus!’ Aury has gone up in the world since the days of our house-share. I push the number for her flat, but in front of me a suited concierge lets me in, then greets me warmly as ifhe’s known me all his life when I give him my name and tell him who I’m here to see. He pushes the button in the lift for me and uses a swipe-card to make sure it goes to the correct floor. There is nothing about this that isn’t weird.
The floor-to-ceiling mirrored lift opens directly into Aury’s flat, which is even more surprising, and she’s already on the other side of the doors, there to greet me: jeans, vest top, bare feet and newly blonde hair in some kind of bun on top of her head. I wish she wasn’t so pretty. I wish she was really ugly. I’d find this much easier.
‘Ollie,’ she says, jumping up and down like a child with sweets.
‘Hi,’ I say from behind all the presents I’m holding.
She wants to hug me, but we can’t, so I put everything down, as behind me the lift doors close and I hear it whir back to the ground floor.
Aury pulls me in and holds me, all warmth, shiny hair and some sort of intoxicating fragrance that shouldn’t be allowed. Then she draws back and looks at me.
