When I finally meet his eyes, I feel his gaze in my gut again. “I’m sorry.”
“Why’re you sorry?” he says.
“You came all the way here, but I’ve been determined to push you away.”
He smiles sadly. “I get it. I’m not really your type.”
“No. No, you’re not.”
He laughs, offended.
“But I think that’s a good thing because, well my type has always ended up being a bit shit, really. And well, as it happens, I already know all the worst things about you. I know you irritate the shit out of me. And sometimes your random ideas completely derail my well-laid plans.” I stop to catch my breath. “But you challenge me – in a good way. Working with you has made me a better person, and truthfully, conflict aside, I wouldn’t’ve had it any other way,” I say. “And actually, when I think about it properly, all my plans for Starr included you, you were a central piece of everything. So, sure, I hated your guts. You’re an overconfident bastard at times.” I exhale slowly. Where was I going with this again?
I look up to see James watching me with an amused expression. “What are you even on about?” he laughs.
“I… Oh, shit. Were you not here to ask me out?”
James seems genuinely surprised by my question.
“No, actually. I just wanted us to double up on the lawsuit against Michael,” he says. “See, I had this whole elaborate plan, where we worked together to get our own back against him, and during the course of the trial or whatever, you’d fall in love with me. If I was very lucky. Or something along those lines.” He gives me a look that says,me and my silly ideas.
“Ok, nowI’mconfused.”
“I know you’re too good for me, Felicity. I’m not an idiot. I was just hoping if we spent more time together, you’d end up seeing that I’m not a bad guy, and that really, we make a great team. I hadn’t planned some sweeping romantic gesture, but you kicking me out certainly wasn’t very encouraging.”
I sigh happily. “James Boatman, will you go out for drinks with me?”
A huge perfect smile splits across his face. “You mean to say, I don’t need to form some huge elaborate plan to win you over?”
“No,” I say. “I’ve known you six years, James. I already know I’m probably going to want to strangle you from time to time, but I also know you’re pretty great in other ways.”
He suppresses a laugh, folding his arms across his chest. “And you broke onto this train to tell me that.”
“Well, you ignored my call.”
“Payback, my friend.”
“Fair enough,” I smile.
“And so, what’s your plan from here?”
“Well, that depends, doesn’t it?”
He raises an eyebrow in question.
“Are you going to come back to my mum’s for a cup of tea?”
“Felicity, Felicity,” he sighs. “Is that your idea of going out for drinks?”
“No!” I laugh. “But equally, I might very well get kicked off.”
“They’ll just fine you. I think it’s a hundred quid.”
I scoff. “Why didn’t you tell me that in Scotland?”
He shrugs. “It was good to see you breaking the rules for once. I didn’t know you had it in you. And now twice in the span of a week!” He clucks his tongue at me.
I make a half-laughing, half-infuriated sound. “You’re the worst person I know!”
