As the night drew to a close, we exited the bar with comfortable smiles on our faces, Leah was still insisting she let me win at pool and I was telling her I could've been a pool champion had I not become a singer. Our laughter could be heard echoing around the street and both our glows could've lit up the night if the streetlights had went out.
"Can I walk you back? It's pretty late and I'll only worry if I let you -" I was interrupted before I could finish my sentence by Leah taking my hand, interlocking our fingers in the same way I had done before.
"Yes please, I'm not ready for tonight to be over yet." She smiled the most innocent smile at me, one that jolted me to remember that this girl had literally rearranged her plans just to join me tonight.
We walked the few streets from the bar to her hotel, I named some of the attractions to her. One in particular she found extremely amusing as I told her it was 'the big fish' and she said it must've taken them ages to come up with that name. We crossed the bridge over the River Lagan and walked the final distance to the front doors of her hotel. If I didn't think she would realised I totally would've taken her the long way just to spend more time with her. Being in Leah's presence tonight has made me feel a way that I didn't think was possible after my mum passed away. Everything since last year had been a chore and I no longer ever felt truly happy, even with my friends. But Leah - Leah made me feel like things weren't so dark, weren't so hopeless. I had met this girl three times and each time my adoration for her increased dramatically.
"I had a really good night with you, I wish I was here for longer." Leah said, sounding a little deflated with the final comment.
"I had a really good night with you too. Do you be in Belfast often?" I said, sounding hopeful that our paths would cross again soon.
"This was only my second time, I travel a lot for football but very rarely to Belfast. You must be in London all the time with your music though?" She said, now being the hopeful one as my face was clearly telling her I was disappointed.
"Rarely." I said, joining her deflated tone.
"We can keep in touch though, yeah? Maybe our paths will cross again one day." She said, was she really not going to suggest we could do this again?
"Yeah. Sure. Why not." I said, trying to not ruin the atmosphere of the night but confused as to why she was pushing me away like this.
"I'd like that, I think we would be great friends if it wasn't for the distance." Friends? Wow. I had completely read this situation wrong.
"Yeah. I - I - I agree. We would."
As I neared the end of my sentence, I felt Leah unlocked her fingers from my own and place a soft kiss on my cheek, whispering thanks for tonight into my ear as she turned and walked into her hotel, entering the lift without looking back.
I stood for a minute, wondering what had just happened. We were laughing and joking just a few moments ago and she just left like that? The warm feeling I had in my chest turned to a lump slowly progressing it's way to my throat. I walked to the nearest taxi and hopped into it, heading for home knowing that tears would be soaking my pillow the second I got into bed that night. This was exactly why I didn't date, I always get invested in people that don't want me.