Pictures of You

Chapter Eighteen

As I got out the shower I could hear Disco Tits by Tove Lo coming from the room. It was my phone ring tone. I wrapped a towel around my waist in a messy knot before running to get it.

Video call: James. I slid my finger across the screen to answer.

'Hey James ' I said with the biggest grin. It was so good to see his face.

'Hey Ash,' he said. 'I wasn't expecting you to be so...naked.'

'Sorry, I just got out the shower. You okay?'

'Yeah, just called to check in,' he said. 'Although, I did want to ask you something.'

'What's up?' I asked.

'Oh nothing,' he said. 'I don't think so anyway. It's just ...' He hesitated.

'What is it?' I asked.

'Have you spoken to your mum?'

I thought about the conversation I'd had with Mum last night. What did James know about it?

'It's just,' he carried on before I could answer. 'I went out yesterday lunchtime to pick up a few things from the shops. And when I walked out on to the street, I saw her coming out of the newsagents.'

He was talking about something completely different. This was before Mum even went out to meet her date.

'I shot straight back inside the shop, and I'm pretty certain she didn't see me, but...'

'It's fine,' I interrupted him. 'I spoke to Mum last night. If she had seen you, she would have told me.'

'Are you sure?' he asked.

I knew I was safe. If she had, I would have had the lecture of all lectures. But she hadn't said anything.

'I'm sure.'

James let out a sigh of relief. It was obvious that he'd been really worried about this.

'I think I'll just stay in the house until you get back,' he said. 'This fear of being seen is far too stressful.'

I felt bad that my actions had made James feel like this. 'Don't be silly,' I said. 'You can't lock yourself up in the house all week. It's the summer holidays.'

'But what if she does see me next time? How would you explain the fact I'm not with you? Say I have a long lost twin brother?'

I laughed. 'You won't. But if you do, just say we had a falling out and that you came home early.'

'But then she'll expect you to come home too. She'd never let you stay on your own.'

'If that happens, then I'll come home. I'll cross that bridge if I ever come to it. What I'm saying James, is that this is my problem, not yours.'

*******

I wandered around town for an hour or so after getting ready. I had an appointment with a personal trainer called Sydney, who was going to show us around the gym, hoping to get us to sign up for a membership. I felt bad, as there was no chance he would get a sale. I wasn't planning on telling him that I lived at the other side of the country, so he wouldn't be getting a commission out of me.

Ben had plans with a friend, so I was fully prepared to go by myself. But then Gladys had offered to come. I told her I would be all right on my own, but she seemed disappointed. It was like she was enjoying this whole dating whodunit.

She suggested we meet for brunch before we went, which I liked the sound of. She had a dentist appointment in the morning, so I met her in town in the late morning.

'You sleep okay last night?' she asked.

'Yeah,' I said.

'I take it there was no further sightings of that creepy man?'

I shook my head. I didn't want to tell her about how I'd chased him into the street, rather than calling her, like I'd said I would.

'Good,' she said. 'I'm sure he was just some random passing man. Hopefully you'll never see him again.'

'Yeah, hopefully, ' I said. I doubted that were true. I'd seen him outside my window twice now. It wasn't just a coincidence.

'So there's a little bar I like,' said Gladys, completely moving on from the scary man topic. 'I thought I'd take you there for lunch.'

'Sounds good,' I said, 'lead the way.'

She took me to a little bar on a tiny backstreet, that I would have walked straight past. The man behind the bar, smiled and greeted Gladys by name. I assumed that all the local bar owners must have known each other. 'I saved you a table,' he said as he led us into the corner.

'Thanks,' Gladys said, 'could I get a bottle of my usual?' The man seemed to know what this meant and went to get the drinks whilst leaving us with two menus.

'You a regular here?' I asked.

'I come here sometimes,' she said.

'Just sometimes?' I said. 'The barman knows you by name.'

'Michael and I dated for a while,' she said. I assumed that Michael was the man who'd just shown us to out table. I looked over at him. He was much younger than she was. 'He's thirty-two,' she said, as if reading my mind.

'Well Walter did say you like a younger man.'

'Not as young as he makes out,' she said. 'It's not like I date teenagers or anything. No offense.'

'None taken.'

'No, I like my men in their thirties. Old enough to know what they're doing and what they want from life, but not so old that they've given up or let themselves go. I can't be doing with guys my own age. They're all so boring, and tend to come with a lot of baggage. Like kids for instance.'

'You never wanted kids?' I asked. I wasn't sure if it was too personal a question for someone I didn't know all that well.

'It's not that I didn't want kids,' she said. 'I just found myself at this age and realised it was too late.'

'Do you regret it?' I asked.

'No ' she said smiling and shaking her head. 'I never regret anything. If it was meant to be,then it would have happened.'

I liked her attitude to life. I sometimes had the tendency to overthink things. Maybe adopting her ce-la-vi attitude to life would be the way for me to go. Then maybe I wouldn't have charged off to the other end of the country to meet a guy who wouldn't even answer my messages.

'I thought I'd found the one once. Maybe he was the one and I let him go, so that's why I never met anyone else. Maybe I already had him and was too stupid to see it.'

'But how do you know?' I asked. 'When do you know that the right person comes into your life, so you don't have to search anymore?'

I'd asked this question to my mum before. She'd never been able to give me an answer more than, you just know. That didn't help me. I thought I'd found that special person with Alex. Should I stop searching and put everything into finding him and proving to him that I was worth loving back? Or should I cut my losses and move on?'

'If you want advice on love, you're asking the wrong person, kid,' she said.

The waiter, Michael, came back with the bottle in a chiller and two glasses. He didn't question my age, so I sat there quietly, hoping he wouldn't notice.

'Thanks honey,' Gladys said, winking at him.

'Oh my God!' I said, louder than I'd planned. 'He wasn't the one, wasn't he?'

'No,' Gladys said. 'I mean...I don't think so. Maybe.'

'So what happened between you two?' I asked.

'Timing, I guess,' she said. 'Neither of us were at the place where we wanted to commit. I think we were both looking for something else, making sure we didn't miss a thing. But maybe we'd already found what we were looking for and had our eyes closed when we did.'

'When was this?'

'About two years ago.'

'And you don't think there could still be a chance?'

'We had our moment and it passed us by. Like I said, I don't have regrets. You just need to keep moving forward and never looking back.'

'But that's ridiculous. You clearly do regret it, but he's still right here. The fact that you still come here and that you brought me today suggests you still want to see him. Why don't you go talk to him? In fact, here he comes now.'

Michael stood above our table. 'So what can I get you guys?' he asked.

'I'll have the chicken sub please,' I said.

'Good choice. Gladys?'

'Steak sandwich please.'

'No problem. I'll be right back with your food soon.'

All the chemistry I'd seen them when we first came in had gone. Gladys looked awkward and stiff, and had spoken to him in a business like tone. He'd obviously sensed this and had changed from being Michael the guy she once dated, to Michael the waiter.

'That was pathetic,' I told her.

'Shush child ' she said. 'I'm not taking advice on my love life from a sixteen year old with an imaginary boyfriend.'

We looked at each other for a moment before both bursting out into laughter. It was clear why we had become such good friends, and so quickly. We were both so bad at love.

Author's note

So this chapter is a bit of a diversion from the main story. I wanted you all to get to know the other characters as well as Ash. I hope you liked Gladys.

Please consider voting if you're enjoying the story and I always appreciate your comments.