I chuckle to myself before I realize what I’ve said.
Callum screeches to a standstill and I have to put the brakes on hard but it doesn’t stop me from ricocheting into him. My cheek lands somewhere about his chest and every single one of my senses goes into unwelcome overdrive. Callum smells clean and fresh, a heady mix of citrus fruits and fabric softener. His body feels strong and taut against mine. I can hear him letting out a surprised gasp which seems to rumble out of him.
And then comes the true feeling of déjà vu as I recognize that I’ve experienced all of these things before. The way he smells, the feel of his body, the soft cotton of his jumper. It’s a preview of what’s to come and a reminder of what’s been before. I remember all of these things from when he smashes into me and we start the Monday merry-go-round all over again.
Right before Callum and I meet our untimely end, I am engulfed by him. And right now, as I’m pressed up against his chest, it’s bringing it all back.
In a … sexy way?
My pulse quickens.
‘Did you just say time-looping?’ Callum pulls me out of mythoughts, his broad hands wrapping firmly around the tops of my arms as he steadies me. It is doing terrible things to my ability to think.
‘Oof,’ I reply.
‘Nina?’ he presses, sounding worried.
He used my first name.
‘Nina, are you all right?’ he asks, stepping back, eyes scanning my frame.
‘Huh?’ I blink, my treacherous body now devastated to no longer be pressed right up against my work enemy.
‘You started doing James Bond impressions and then you put it down to the fact that you’re time-looping.’
Concern is etched across his handsome face and I finally realize that I’m going to have to do some instant damage limitation.
‘Nope,’ I shake my head. ‘I mean, yes, I was trying out your name in a Bond style. What can I say, I love a bit of Bond!’ The giggle I add definitely sounds unhinged. ‘Though we all know you’d be the Bond villain.’
Callum does not rise to this.
‘And the time loop thing?’ he presses, easing his hands away from me once he’s certain I can hold myself up. I briefly consider pretending to faint just to get them back. But I can’t do that, because I need to apply my already depleted mental faculties to get myself out of the hole I find myself in.
‘The time loop thing?’ I’m now practically cackling, as if Callum has made the best joke ever. ‘You must have misheard, Callum Aleksander Bang. I said timegrouping. It’s, erm, another way of talking about jet lag and, you know, flying through time zones. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it because all the cool kids are saying it.’
Callum assesses me.
‘Are all the cool kids also saying “all the cool kids”?’ he asks provocatively.
‘Yes, actually they are. There’s a whole youth language out thereand it’s okay not to be part of it,’ I add with a patronizing pat of his arm.
He looks at my hand, still on his bicep.
And I’d like to pause here just for a brief note on Callum’s bicep. It’s … a lot. Firm. Flexed. Powerful.
I swallow hard.
‘And you are au fait with what “the cool kids” are saying, are you?’ he asks.
I nod knowledgably. ‘Very much so. And we’re not saying “au fait”, that’s for sure.’
‘We? You’re … one of them?’ I do not like the pregnant pause Callum puts in this sentence.
‘Yes, I am,’ I add primly.
‘And here I was thinking we were a similar age,’ he says.
‘It’s not really about age, Callum. It’s more about mindset. I just am in tune with the kids of today.’
