“I loved him,” Kim blurted out.
III
THE LOVERS
HARRY - BEFORE
Should I ring the doorbell again? I don’t want her to think I’m some kind of pest. I checked my watch. She did say 8 pm, and I’d already waited an extra five minutes in the car just to make sure she would be ready. My palms were sweating. Why was I so nervous? Ringing this doorbell in itself wasn’t unusual for me; I’d been left standing in this doorway many times. But this time, the context was wildly different. We’d been friends for years, and I’d only recently plucked up enough courage to actually tell her how I truly felt. I heard fumbling behind the locked door, and my anxiety spiked. I started to incessantly rub my palms on the back of my jeans to dry them. I was expecting my date, but instead, her father, Malcolm, opened the door with an intimidating grimace.
“Ey up, Malcolm. Kim in?” I said with pseudo confidence.
Malcolm didn’t utter a word in response, and he just kept on giving me an incredibly menacing look. After approximately thirty seconds, just when it had become unbearably awkward, he started laughing manically and dragged me inside by the scruff of my neck. It felt like a silverback gorilla was tackling me. Malcolm had been a steelworker his entire life, and you only had to look at the size of his tattooed arms to know. There was no way I was wriggling out of his grasp; I decided almost to play dead as he swung me around like a rag doll.
“I can’t believe you finally grew a backbone and asked our Kim out! What took you so bleeding long?” He laughed. I couldn’t muster a response whilst he was bouncing me off the walls of their hallway.
“Hi, Harry,” a voice said from up the stairs.
Malcolm and I stopped our jovial skirmish, and I stared up at her. She was so beautiful; how I’d never noticed it, before recently, was totally beyond me. She was wearing a short, silky, floral-print dress that was so vibrant that it lit up the room as soon as she appeared. Her long, slender legs were finished in a pair of black high heels. Kim looked absolutely incredible, and she knew it. She swayed slightly as a huge smirk grew even bigger on her face in response to my obvious ogling. Malcolm’s grasp tightened on my neck slightly. He was about half a second from picking up my jaw off the floor himself. He finally released his grip and threw his arm around me.
“Hi, Kim,” I smiled.
“Are you ready? Or are you and Dad having a moment?” Kim joked.
“No, we’re all done.”
“You aren’t going out like that, love,” Malcom lectured sarcastically.
“Sod off, Dad,” Kim laughed.
“And you,” Malcolm said, turning back to me, “make sure you look after her.”
“I will,” I replied.
“Back before midnight!” Malcolm boomed as he walked into the sitting room laughing.
I’d met Kim at high school almost 15 years prior to our first date. What can I say? I’m a slow burner. I’d say I always fancied her at some level, but I was young and way more interested in chasing skirt than settling down with a girlfriend. Whenever I finally decided to act on those feelings, she always had a boyfriend. I assumed the same thing happened to her; the timing was just never right. When the stars finally aligned and we were both single at the same time, I took the plunge and told her how I felt. It sounds brave, I know, but I took the coward's route and did it over text message. Once I realised she felt the same way, we quickly decided to arrange a date.
I’d spent my early twenties how most Yorkshire lads at a city university probably spent them. I had countless one-night stands and spent most of my years at university either drunk or hungover. I’d developed a bit of a tolerance over the years, and once I hit my mid-twenties, that former life had finally lost its appeal. I wanted to settle down, and once I’d got back to Filey, I’d found the perfect woman to settle down with. And there she was, right in front of me the entire time.
Kim led me out of the door, walking a few paces ahead of me. She had her golden blonde hair effortlessly tied up in a messy bun, and she twirled as she walked, clearly excited for our highly anticipated first date. As I watched her waltz and tango underneath the streetlights, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was.
“Sorry about my dad. He was only joking,” she said.
“I know. He’s got quite the grip on him,” I joked.
“He’s done that with every single boyfriend I’ve ever had. I think it helps him cope with it or assert his dominance or something.”
“Boyfriend?”
“You know what I mean,” she smiled with a blush.
We continued sauntering down the seafront. I’d booked a table at the fanciest Italian restaurant in Filey. Well, I say that, but it was kind of the only Italian restaurant in town. It won by default. I desperately felt the need to impress her. I had a degree now and a promising future, which was actually a rarity in that neck of the woods. Most of my friends had barely left the town in their entire lives, but I’d actually escaped, and I was keen to show Kim what I’d learned about how to treat women on my sabbatical. She knew me as the idiot of the group growing up, always getting into some kind of trouble, or pulling pranks. I needed to show her that I’d grown up, at least.
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Kim asked.
“Like what?” I laughed.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen that look in your eyes before.”
“I’m just happy we are finally doing this.”
Kim smiled. “Me too.”
We arrived at the restaurant, and I remembered all those stereotypical things my mother had always tried to instil in me when I was growing up. Always walk on the outside of your lady friend. Pull her chair out. The sheer number of things to remember was making me clumsy and awkward. Kim giggled at my attempts at chivalry but allowed me to continue the act until we were seated at our table.
“Just relax, Harry! You don’t have to try and impress me,” Kim laughed.
“Oh my god, Kim, I’m so nervous, and I’ve no idea why,” I confessed, laughing.
“We’re just two old friends having dinner.”
“It’s more than that, though, right?”
“Yes. Now shut up and order us something to drink.”
Her admission made me feel at ease; she felt the exact same way as me, but she was simply better at showing it. My palms started to dry, and I began to relax. I still wanted to make a good impression on her. I just had to do it with my natural charm rather than force it. I was a city boy now, and I scanned up and down the wine list, hoping for one to jump out at me as an impressive choice. The waiter was coming towards us at speed, and I still hadn’t selected. Kim, still smirking at me at my inability to even order a drink, chose to go first.
