Lucy in the Sky

Nathan; I just want her to take me through her letter. I calculate the time. Now the clocks have gone forward that makes it a nine-hour time difference. Which means…five o’clock in the morning. Bugger.
    My phone beeps. It’s a text from James:
    GOING FOR A FEW. BACK SOON XX
    Great. There go our dinner plans. He was going to take me out this evening. But actually, right now, I need some time alone. I turn my attention back to the photos.
    Nathan. He appears overpoweringly familiar. I wonder if he ever thinks of me. He must do. Surely he must do.
    I go into the bedroom and get his cassette player out from the back of the cupboard, putting the headphones in my ears. The Killers’ ‘When We Were Young’ comes hammering out. A lump forms in my throat as I read Molly’s letter again.
    At about midnight I get another text from James. He’s sent me a couple during the evening, keeping me posted. This one says:
    CARSHING AT JEZZAS
    I assume he means ‘crashing’. And I assume he means ‘Jeremy’s’–a twatty mate of his from work. I also assume he’s drunk. He never calls Jeremy ‘Jezza’ unless he’s out of his face. Fabulous.
    Funnily enough, though, I’m not particularly bothered. I take the cassette player, photos and letter with me to bed and lie there listening and reliving the time I spent with that sexy surfer. If James were to come home and find me here, he’d want to know about my cassette player. But I’m listening to it, no matter what the consequences are. I can finally see Nathan clearly again.

Chapter 15
    I wake up early. It’s 6.45 in the morning. Still no James. The photos, letter and cassette player are next to me on the bedside table and I reach over for the photos. I study the picture with Nathan in it and feel jittery again.
    I can’t stop wondering what would have happened if I’d kissed him. If he’d stayed with me that night, my last night in Sydney. What would have become of us? And of James and me?
    After a while I go and take a shower. Back in the bedroom, in the cold light of day, I know I should put the cassette player away, but I’m keeping the photos out. When will James come home? It’s weird that he stayed at Jeremy’s last night; he’d usually just catch a taxi. Maybe he couldn’t find one at that time. A few doubts niggle at me, but I just have to look over at Molly’s letter and it somehow settles me. I’ll call her now. It’s 5 p.m. on Saturday there so she might be at work but it’s worth a go. I head through to the living room and pick up the phone, taking it to the sofa. I know her number by heart, even though I hardly call it. But as I’m about to dial, it starts to ring, painfully loud, in my hand.
    ‘Hello?’ I ask hesitantly, wondering if it’s her. Or James?
    A deep voice answers me: ‘How do you stop a herd of elephants from charging?’ My heart fills with joy as it continues, ‘Take away their credit cards.’
    I’m so delighted I squeal with laughter.
    ‘How are you?’ I ask, when I calm down.
    ‘Not bad, thanks.’ Nathan chuckles. ‘How about you?’
    ‘It’s so good to hear your voice!’
    ‘Aah,’ he says gently. Neither of us speaks for a few seconds.
    ‘I got a letter from Molly last night, telling me how you’re doing,’ I say.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes, I know all about your house and the job. And Amy…’
    ‘Yeah, that was a tough one.’ He pauses, and I wait for him to go on. ‘But she’s alright now.’
    ‘Is she?’ I ask hopefully. I want her to be alright. Just not alright with him.
    ‘Yeah, she’s doing fine. Got herself a job in her dad’s office.’
    ‘Wow,’ I say. ‘She’ll be climbing up the ranks in no time.’
    ‘Yep, she probably will.’ I know he’s smiling.
    ‘But what about you? Tell me about your house!’
    ‘Well, it’s got four walls, a roof…’
    ‘Oi! Stop joking. Are you doing it up, then?’
    So he fills me in on his work on the house, how much he’s enjoying stripping it back to its bones and fixing it back up again. From the sounds of it he’ll probably have it finished in a few weeks.
    ‘And then what will you do?’ I ask.
    ‘Then I plan to put it on the market. Get started on the next one.’
    ‘Wow.’ I’m so impressed I can barely speak.
    ‘So what’s happening in your life?’ he asks.
    I tell him about my work and have him laughing at the Gian Luigi story.
    ‘What about your boyfriend?’ he asks when I’ve finished.
    ‘Oh, he’s okay,’ I say. ‘He