Before You Leave Me

21. After The Thrill Is Gone

"I... I actually work here too" I hawk, "It will be three years in January since I moved to the city. The firm where I did my practices after finishing my degree offered me a year contract that has been extending ever since. It's an eight-to-five job and honestly, I think I'm about to become more important in the architectural firm"

"Really?" Victoria wants to know, "Where do you live?"

"I have a duplex that I bought almost two years ago" I smile proudly, "Designed it and did it up myself. It's turned out way better than I thought and it has amazing views of Hyde Park. What about you? Do you live in the city?"

"I moved in a year ago"

She says nothing else. I feel like a bit of a douche because I've bragged about my house and my job and she hasn't given more information about her.

"How are your parents? And your sister?" I ask.

"They're both great, so is Laura. She's halfway to chemistry university" she grins.

"Really?"

"Well, considering how much she liked helping my aunt when she took her to her chemist; it's no surprise she's chosen to work in a chemist's" she giggles, "she still has some years to finish but so far she very happy about it. What about your sister? You said she was getting married!"

"Next month" I nod, "It's going to be the big event of the year"

"When do you have to go?" Vic asks.

"Two days before the wedding" I answer, "I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with my mom and my sister being paranoid about everything not being the way it was supposed to be, so I'll stay at my dad's. But I didn't want to be there forever either, so I will go two days before the wedding to help with the last touches and leave two days after"

"Don't you go to Spain?" I can tell she is surprised.

"Rarely" I confess, "My home is here now. Sometimes I go home for a couple of days in Easter or summer, maybe once or twice throughout autumn and winter. But I love it here"

"So do I" Vic smiles.

We fall silent after that.

It all feels so surreal.

Even though we haven't seen each other in four years, it feels like there's nothing else left to say. Or maybe there are too many things we want to say.

"I thought a lot about you" I surprise myself saying.

Vic lifts her sight and looks at me.

"London has always been your city and when I arrived, I thought about talking to you to let you know that I was going to be here probably for the rest of my life. I also thought about you the day one of my co-workers offered me a scone" I chuckle, "I remembered how much you loved your scones. Then I got a girlfriend for eight months and I didn't think about you at all. But then we broke up and I thought of you again"

Vic pulls a face.

"I do it every time I break up with someone" I say, "I go back on my list of ex-girlfriends and girls I've been with to figure out if she was the best one in the lot. All the time the answer ends up being no, so I let her go" I shrug my shoulders.

Vic looks at me in silence.

"I thought about you too" she finally says.

I can't believe those words just came out of her mouth.

"I thought about you the day I went back to the Natural History Museum, to the stuffed animal section. I remembered the afternoon we spent there the year we did our Erasmus in London. I also thought about you a day I left the house without an umbrella and the rain caught me. I thought about you because I took my time to walk back home. I got soaking wet and I remembered how that was something you liked to do when it rained"