Paper Hearts

THEN: Chapter 4

"From your silken hair to your delicate feet you are perfection to me" - Oscar Wilde

Eden

Having had absolutely zero experience in any form of romantic relationships - unless you count imagining being married to various fictional characters which, unsurprisingly, most people don't - I wasn't exactly skilled in the art of seduction. But I tell you now, I bloody well tried. I tried every trick from every book I'd ever read, every film I'd ever seen, to get Ollie to break down and sleep with me. In my head, the two of us would only be complete as a couple once that event had taken place, once we were...well, as I liked to think of it, fully united. But Ollie wasn't breaking. So I reluctantly conceded to wait for the right moment, as he wanted to, to be patient. Not that I liked that plan, mind.

I tried bringing it up one morning when we were picnicking in the park - I'd wanted to play my favourite game as a child, spotting shapes in the clouds, and Ollie had agreed to it with a wry little chuckle that I now knew meant 'And this is why I love you'.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask you" he cut across me quickly, avoiding the topic, and I rolled my eyes skywards, "A friend of mine's visiting from university with his girlfriend this weekend. I don't usually get the opportunity to double date, and we're going out for dinner...d'you want to come?"

I couldn't help beaming, turning my face away so he couldn't see my idiotic smile. I felt weirdly honoured that he wanted his friend to meet me, that he deemed me important enough for a double date, that he...well, that he wanted me around.

"Sure" I replied with a little shrug, "If you really want me to"

Ollie chuckled again; he knew how much it meant to me to be asked. He could already read me as easily as our favourite books and, weirdly, I didn't mind.

"Of course I want you to. Harry usually calls me 'Mr One-Night Stand'. It'll be nice to have someone I can actually show off for a change"

"God knows why you'd want to show me off" I snorted, grinning. His face fell slightly.

"Don't keep doing that"

"Doing what?"

"Putting yourself down all the time! It's the only thing that you do that makes me really angry"

I blushed, "I didn't know it made you feel that way"

"Of course it does!" he sat up on the blanket, propping himself up on his elbow, "You're a beautiful, clever, funny, wonderful person, Ede. You don't have to pretend not to be"

We didn't say anything for some time after that. He lay back down. I could feel the warmth of his body against my arm; I could hear his words ringing in my head. I smiled to myself.

"Thank you"

He still didn't say anything - just reached out, and took my hand.

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Ollie's friend Harry was doing his P.H.D in English Literature at Cambridge and his girlfriend, a slender Chinese girl called Deiming, was majoring in Psychology. We met them in an Italian restaurant where I felt instantly young and underdressed, but they both greeted me like they'd known me for years.

"Hi" Deiming leaned towards me and kissed my cheek, smelling sweetly of Patchouli oil, "You must be Eden, yes?"

"Yes" I mumbled, suddenly hot-faced with embarrassment, "Hi"

"Ollie told me about you on the phone" Harry added with a grin, also kissing my cheek, "Looks like Mr One-Night-Stand has finally settled down. Thought the soldier never would"