Cole
"What's for tea Dad?" I asked, after my stomach had growled for like the fiftieth time.
"Oh, did I not say?" he replied, "Miranda's coming over with takeout. I told her to get you a Jalfrezi, is that ok?"
"Oh, great!" I said enthusiastically. Who doesn''t love a takeaway curry?
"Oh, and Miranda's son is also coming."
I frowned while trying to remember if I had ever heard of their being a son. Nope, I was pretty sure I hadn't heard him mentioned before.
"She has a son?" I asked.
"Yes, he lived with his dad, but please don't mention anything about it will you?"
"I'm not stupid!" I reminded my dad. It wasn't so much that I wasn't stupid, more that I would avoid any socially awkward conversations at all cost.
Even if he did live with his dad, I still found it odd that he had never come up in conversation before.
"How old is he?" I asked.
"Erm, about your age I think, or maybe a little older."
"Have you met him before?" I asked.
"Yes, briefly, he's going to be working on one of my teams. He's just completed his training, and I'm going to be inducting him into his new job next week."
"Oh," I said, taking in this information.
To be honest, I wasn't at all sure exactly what my dad did at work. Sure, I knew he was in the police, and he had worked his way up the ranks to a Chief Inspector, but after that he seemed to take on a different role. He stopped wearing a uniform for a start. Some days he went to work in a suit, other days in training gear, and some days he just worked from home.
Oh, and then there was the moving around.
He had told me several times what he did, but to be honest there were so many long words and acronyms, that I could never keep up, or I just got bored trying. I think the gist of it was that he was in charge of setting up new departments. That was why we moved around a lot. I guess once the new team was set up, his job was done.
The doorbell sounded before I could ask my dad anymore questions.
My dad answered it, and I leant forward in my chair, trying to catch a glimpse of this mysterious son.
Miranda stepped in first and my dad gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, as he always did.
Miranda and my dad had been friends ever since we moved here, and I would go as far as to say they were close friends. But it never went further than that. I'm not sure why. Maybe my dad just knew that one day we would have to move again.
Suddenly a second person stepped into view, and I let out a small involuntary gasp.
It was him. The guy from the woods.
I quickly scanned my memory of our conversation and remembered him saying something about having never seen his mum before? That seemed even more odd now.
"Hey," I said, standing up and going over to greet him.
"Hey," he said back, a flash of surprise crossing his face before he gave me a wide grin. "I was hoping I'd bump into you again."
I smiled back, and hoped that I wasn't blushing too much.
He looked even hotter than when I saw him last. His hair was now cut very short, and he somehow looked healthier, and cleaner. Definitely cleaner.
If anything, his muscles looked even more pronounced than last time, like he had put on weight, but the healthy kind.
"Joe, wasn't it?" I asked.
"Yes, and you're Cole."
"I am," I said, then cringed at having nothing better to say.
Joe didn't seem bothered and plopped himself down onto our sofa.
"Have you met before?" Miranda asked from behind me.
"Oh, hi Miranda," I said, turning to face her. "We've only spoken to each other once, in passing really," I said, imagining Joe might not be too happy me revealing too much of that conversation.
"It may have been brief, but it was the highlight of my day," Joe said, grinning at me.
I could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks. Damn it, was he flirting?
My dad chuckled, and I wished the floor would just open up beneath me.
"I'll go and dish out the curry then," my dad said, heading towards the kitchen.
Miranda followed leaving me alone with Joe.
"Don't do that," I mumbled grumpily at him.
"What?" he said, feigning ignorance.
"You know what," I said, slapping his arm.
"But you're cute when you blush," he said, leaning towards me as he said it.
I buried my head in my hands, as I felt my face grow hotter. Why did people always treat this like some kind of sport. Did they not know how uncomfortable it made me?
I sneaked a peep through my fingers to see Joe's shoulders bouncing up and down as he tried to keep in his laughter.
"Arsehole," I muttered over to him.
"Ouch!" he said, and immediately stopped laughing, making me throw a triumphant grin in his direction.
My dad brought in my curry, and Miranda handed a plate to Joel, then they disappeared back into the kitchen, probably to eat theirs at the table like civilized people.
I didn't mind. I was happy to be able to spend some more time alone with Joe.
"So, tell me a bit about yourself?" Joe said, before spooning in a forkful of his curry.
"Um, there's not much to tell really," I said, then quickly regretting my words, I continued, "but I go to college where I'm studying natural sciences, and I basically like everything to do with nature and the outdoors. I'd spend all my time outside if I could."
Joe chuckled quietly. "It's not as pleasant as you might think," he said, and I suddenly remembered what he looked like when we first met.
"Oh my god, were you homeless when we first met?" I asked.
Joe seemed to think this over. "Not exactly homeless, but I had been travelling for a while and spent a lot of time sleeping outdoors."
"Oh," I said, a little relieved that he hadn't been one of those people I sometimes saw huddled in a doorway late in the evening.
"So, do you have a girlfriend, or boyfriend?" he asked, changing the conversation dramatically.
I nearly choked on my naan bread.
"No, I don't have either of those," I replied.
Joe looked slightly shocked. "That's funny, I could have sworn you were giving off an 'i'm taken' vibe."
I screwed my nose up at him. "And how exactly do I do that?" I asked.
"I don't know," he shrugged, "but my instincts are not usually wrong."
For some reason I briefly thought of Nathan, then mentally kicked myself for thinking of something so stupid. But unfortunately, it was enough to make my cheeks tinge with pink.
"There you go!" Joe said, "I knew there was someone!"
"No there isn't!" I protested, "I swear, he means nothing to me."
"Clearly not nothing, if you're thinking about him. Go on, tell me about him."
"No seriously," I said, briefly putting down my knife and fork so I could bury my face in my hands again, "it's so pathetic, it's embarrassing."
Joe laughed and tried to pull my hands away from my face.
"Don't worry," he said, "I'm the King of embarrassing love lives. Come on, tell me about him, and I'll tell you about the disaster that is my love life."
I looked over at him and for some reason I felt compelled to tell him. It was weird. I felt like I'd known him for a long time.
"Ok," I said, giving a resigned sigh, "but there isn't really much to tell. There's this guy, who I've bumped into a couple of times. And usually I'm doing something wrong so he's yelling at me. Because he's kind of scary, but then this one time, I was sort of stuck up a tree, yes long story," I said noticing his raised eyebrow, "and he helped me get down and was really kind and we sort of cuddled .......yeah, it's pathetic isn't it?"
"No it's not pathetic," he said nudging me gently, "every romance has to start somewhere. It's not exactly love at first sight for most people."
"Yeah, well I don't think this is exactly a budding romance. Anyway, I told you about my pathetic love life, now tell me about yours," I said, going back to my curry.
"Oh, well it's a bit of a long story, but I'll give you the brief version. I fell in love with my....um, my boss. Not straight away, but slowly over time, and I think he kind of liked me, but the whole boss/employee thing kind of got in the way and he ended up ditching me to get married to a girl whose father was the owner of our company's main competitor."
"Oooff," I said wincing on his behalf, "what a bastard."
"Thanks for your solidarity, but I don't deserve it. You know how you said you thought you were pathetic, well we hadn't even so much as kissed. The most we did was fall asleep together on the same bed."
"But you said you loved him?" I asked slightly confused.
He shrugged, "Yes I did, and do you know what makes it even more pathetic? A part of me still does."
"Wow, that's just......well, I don't know what to say.....it's..."
"Pathetic?" he offered with a smile.
"Weeellll...." I said, shrugging my shoulders and offering an apologetic grin.
He laughed and pushed my shoulder playfully, making me laugh too.
"Yeah, well, I think it's time I moved on don't you?" he said, while turning his attention back to his food.
I felt myself tense up a little at his words. Was he implying he might like to move on with me?
I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he continued to shovel curry into his mouth.
There was no denying he was all kinds of hot. Probably too hot. As in way out of my league. Yeah, there was no way he could be interested in me.....was there?
Now him and Nathan, I could definitely see that happening. They were definitely both in the Premier league of fitness. I was probably somewhere around division three. Fighting off relegation....
My dad and Miranda eventually came in to join us and we had fun playing some games.
When it was getting late, Joe and Miranda got up to leave. My dad walked Miranda to the door and I followed behind with Joe.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your first day working with my dad tomorrow," I said as we paused by the front door.
"Yeah, so do I!" he said, "and make sure you tell your dad to go easy on me, because it's my birthday tomorrow."
"Really?!" I burst out in surprise.
I mentally kicked myself for not being cool. I was surprisingly disappointed at not been given more notice so I could buy him something, even just a card.
"Yeah," he said, chuckling. "I'm not doing anything special, but I'll save you some birthday cake," he said with a wink in my direction.
I felt my cheeks start to warm up, but thankfully, Miranda cut in to say bye to me. I gave her a hug then waved them off with my dad.
I definitely liked him. I liked him a lot.