Devil's Food Cake [✓]

14 | carrot cake

We came out of the Chinese bakery, the rain pattering down in a line, heavy and angry. I had a paper bag of three custard tarts, one of which I was currently nibbling on. Jonny sighed and stared at the sky, muttering something about how he should have bought an umbrella.

'We can wait, granddad,' I smiled. People were walking past in their party-gear, getting soaked to the bone, the wind attacking them and pushing their bodies in different directions as though they were marionettes.

Jonny rolled his eyes and reached across to chuck my chin with a finger. We waited for a while underneath the awning before he decided that he couldn't take it anymore. The central line wasn't running, so no doubt it was going to be even busier on the tube. Huddled beneath his coat, we ventured into the crowded streets, drunken and mad people surrounded us as though we were the only sane ones in a zombie apocalypse. Rowdy voices behind us. Two young women repeating the same sentences over and over. She's a cow. She's a cow. She's a cow. Jonny didn't really speak to me - I guess he was thinking. I wasn't the type of person who cared too much about long silences; they didn't bother me.

I wondered what would happen when we reached the station. Would we part ways and get on with our lives and continue to be friends? I knew that he liked me, but I guess I was waiting for a sign or something.

The station was crowded when we arrived. People everywhere. Women tottering in their heels and the feeling of being trapped in a tiny cage. I told Jonny that I needed to top up my Oyster and he accompanied me as I waited in line. A tube worker was helping an old woman with her ticket purchase. I glanced at the big clock on the wall: it was 10:32 at night. I'd texted my mother earlier that afternoon that I was going to be home later tonight as I was going out with friends. She didn't need to know that I was on a date.

'You're so quiet, Jonny.' I nudged him. 'Don't you like me anymore?'

That caught his attention, and he awoke out of his pensiveness. 'I've had a long day.'

'Someone wants his beddy-bye-time.' I released an exhausted yawn of my own. Jonny wrapped his arms around me and I found myself going along with it. We'd hugged before plenty of times, but somehow this was more intimate and tighter. His cologne was a tantalising mixture of leather and sandalwood. Eyes closed, Jonny's scent reminded me of being swept up in a forest, crackling fire out in the open, the tentative approach of an animal approaching the clearing. All was silent, except for the rapid beating of my heart which I was trying to ease. I enjoyed the feel of his body against mine. His shirt was sodden and I was comforted to hear his own heart beating against my cheek like the sound of a clock, always constant.

'Yeah, I do,' he said, 'we both do.'

'Are you doing anything fun over the weekend?'

'Nope.' His hand rubbed a lazy circle around my back, easing the aches and pains from my spine.

'Although, I'm going to help my uncle out with his allotment on Sunday.'

'You mean, gardening, right?' I mumbled.

'Right. I didn't want to go but Uncle Ernie said he'd give me free fruit and veg, so I wasn't going to refuse. Better than supermarket ones.'

'So are you saying that if I gave you free vegetables than you'd do anything I wanted?'

I heard his laughter. Then I followed him as we both shuffled towards the top of the line as people finished with the machine. 'Sure. If it was carrot cake maybe.'

'You like my carrot cake?'

'I do.' His warm fingers began to stroke my hair. 'Best carrot cake in the world.'