Undercurrent

Chapter 21

"I think that's most of them finished then," I said, stretching my legs out from beneath me.

We'd been sat on Ollie's bedroom floor for three hours and the pins and needles in my legs had been getting worse for at least half of that. The sketches we'd done were laid out between us where we'd added and made changes to what was already there.

"Looks alright actually," said Ollie. "I'm never sure how these things will turn out but this works."

Almost as though she knew there was a lull in our work for the afternoon, Ollie's mum came to the door carrying a tray of orange squash and biscuits, and for some reason, a hot water bottle under her arm.

"Thought you might want some refreshments," she said, placing the tray on the chest of drawers by the door.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"Yeah, thanks Mum," said Ollie.

She lingered for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something else but decided against it. Wordlessly, she passed Ollie the hot water bottle, then turned and went back downstairs.

"She can't help herself," he said quietly, after we'd heard her close the door to the kitchen. "It's like she has to keep checking in on me but it drives me mad sometimes."

"She means well," I said, not entirely sure what he was getting at. "That's what mums do."

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, holding the hot water bottle to his side. I waited to see if he'd say more but he didn't seem to want to. Or perhaps, he just didn't quite know what to say.

"Anyway," I said, getting up and passing him a drink. "You can't complain when she brings biscuits."

He laughed gently. "No, I suppose you're right."

"It happens fairly regularly."

"Getting biscuits?"

"No," I said. "Being right."

He rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's get these finished off so we can hand them in to Gloria next week."

"Does that mean you'll be there to hand them in then?" The question slipped out before I could stop myself. Ollie looked down at the floor, avoiding my gaze. He didn't need to; I'd already looked away, embarrassed that I'd pointed it out. We'd done such a good job of avoiding talking about anything awkward this afternoon and I'd gone and spoilt it.

A few moments passed and neither of us said anything, both busying ourselves by adding unnecessary shading to some of the sketches on the floor. Eventually, Ollie broke the silence.

"I think I owe you a bit of an explanation," he said quietly.

"No, you don't," I said quickly. "You don't owe me anything. I'm sorry – I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine," he said. "Anyway, even if you don't think I owe you, I should still tell you."

"You don't have to, you know? If you don't really want to."

"I do want to," he gave me a small smile. "Honestly."

Ollie took a deep breath, like he was deciding what to say. "I suppose I should start by saying sorry," he said.

"Sorry for what?"

"Well, I've kind of left you to it with the project for the last few weeks, haven't I?"

I shook my head. "You've still been doing your part of the work though. Missing a couple of lessons hasn't made that much difference."

"No," he conceded. "But I left you to discuss it all with Gloria this morning. Everyone else had their partner."