She was sitting down, in the lounge on a Sunday afternoon,
cup of steaming hot tea in her hand- peppermint tea, as it was better
for her throat apparently (not that there was anything wrong with her throat,
she protested, but nonetheless, she was still here holding some), in the
company of someone who she realised she would never be able to work out.
An enigma she was never going to solve. Not that she
didn’t possess the qualities. She thought, due to her varied reading, that she
would be able to analyse his contrasting character and personality, somehow
find a way of realising who he was, so to get more comfortable around him. But
she couldn’t. Something was stopping her from exploring his behaviour, and that
was because deep down, he still frightened her. He’d pull a funny face, but
before she got the laugh she’d get the tense shiver that he was going to turn
evil.
Elisabeth had always been told never to trust a stranger.
Well, Paul was hardly a stranger anymore, yet could she fully trust him, yet?
With herself? He didn’t seem the type to gossip… on the contrary; she thought
he held more secrets than the Bermuda Triangle.
She wanted to know who he was. What he was like;
what he did, where he came from, what he did for fun.
He must have been thinking exactly the same.
“So how long have you been living with Becky?” He asked
her, as they were back in status quo positions- him on the sofa; Elisabeth
curled up on the armchair.
“Um… about 2 years now. Almost… in a few months,” she
replied.
“Cool. You own this place?” He gestured around him.
“No… we’re just renting. I don’t think one of us’ll ever
properly move in. This is just like a base until… until…” She looked down,
embarrassed. Marriage, was what she was going to say. When one of us
settles down with a husband; or at least a steady boyfriend.
“Ahhh I see,” Paul saved her. “It’s a nice place, though.
Just seems odd.”
“What’s odd?” She looked up at him.
“That you live here with your complete opposite.”
She let out a laugh. “Oh, right.”
“It is weird, though,” Paul went on, “how different
you two are, yet you’re best friends. How long have you known her?”
“Who- Becky?” Elisabeth thought. “Ages.”
“Did you go to school with her?”
She shook her head, and blew on the tea. “University. We
were both doing English.”
He raised his eyebrow at her. “Wow- you’ve both got
English degrees?”
Elisabeth nodded. ‘Yeah…”
“Wow. Where’d you go?”
“Erm- University College.”
“London?”
“Yeah, London.”
He raised his eyebrow even higher. “Don’t they like- win University
Challenge every year?”
She burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it- the prospect
of Paul sat down watching University Challenge was too much!
“Nooo! They donnn’t!”
“But- only like really clever people go there- right?”
“No, don’t be silly! I got in, and I’m not ‘really
clever’! It’s a mixture of people. And I had a really nice time there,
actually. It’s where I met Becky, so I have a lot of good memories.”
"So, has Becky always been like... really confident
and loud? Or was she like you, once? Or were you like her? I'm really intrigued
to see how you became friends."
"Erm..." Elisabeth thought for a second.
"It's a really silly story, actually. One that I hate talking about! Baaasically... we had to do this essay one
time, and I got a high mark on mine, but Becky didn't on hers, and I was late
leaving the seminar when the lecturer was talking about it, and she wanted
Becky to re-do it, and then she just suddenly called, 'Elisabeth! Could you
give Becky a hand with her essay?' I was sooo embarrassed- I barely knew her at
all and I looked such a nerd."
"Awww- so you were her teacher!" Paul announced gleefully.
Elisabeth shot him a look. "No! I just helped her on this one essay- I remember we spent about
2/3 nights doing it, and we talked during that time and she was just how she is
now- happy, bubbly, loud... 'boymad'...
and I was just really shy, so it was a clash of personalities. But we just... I
dunno, got on well with it all. And she was in a different social circle to me
then... actually, I didn't really have much of a circle!! But we sat together
in the lectures, and we went out a few times- not anywhere she would usually
go, you understand- and then... after Uni, we just ended up here: living
together as house mates."
"Aww, that's a really lovely story!" Paul
grinned at her, as he had been listening intently the whole time. "Sooo
fairytale- like," He laughed.
That remark hit Elisabeth a moment, and she looked at him
stunned, a feeling of déjà vu hitting her. Fairytale...?
"So did Becky's grades get better?" He asked.
"Um... kinda..." Elisabeth blushed.
"Ahhh, see, I knew it! You have a brain the size of
India! I bet you have a really good job now," he said.
"Errr..." Elisabeth let out a nervous laugh. Oh yeah, working in an estate agents, how
fubalicious.
"Where d'ya work?" He asked, interested.
"In an estate
agents," she said, with a degree of disgust.
That surprised him, and his face showed it. "Really?
With an English degree? That what you wanna do?"
Elisabeth shook her head furiously. "No way! Never
thought I'd end up there."
"So why are
you there?" He asked, slightly puzzled.
"Erm..." She blushed again. God, this was all so embarrassing to tell. "I... don't know. I
needed a job, so, erm, that's where I got one."
"But that surely wasn't the line of work you were
looking at?" He said to her.
She shook her head- most
definitely not.
"What did you want to be?"
"A journalist."
"Ahhhh," he said, taking it all in. "So why
aren't you trying to get work on magazines, newspapers and stuff?"
"I don't think I can," she said quietly.
He leaned forward, frowning. "And why not?"
"I think I'm
too shy."
He laughed heartily, and sat back against the sofa
cushions again. "Lib- that doesn't matter!
You don't have to be confident, bossy, in your face to be a journalist! Or any
kind of 'reporter' in fact! All the journalists that have in-" He paused a
moment and coughed, "... I mean, all the journalists I know aren't like
that."
"You know journalists?!" She said, looking at
him surprised and eager.
"Um..." He looked really awkward. "A few...
friends of mine, yeah. And they're a
lot like you in the sense that they're quiet, laid back, to an extent
shy..."
Elisabeth was interested in how he could know some
journalists. Again, she found herself thinking he was holding back from her,
keeping secrets about who he really was...
"I just don't think I could do it," Elisabeth
replied. "I mean, it's my dream and everything, but I don't know if I'd be
able to do it."
"Elisabeth," he said to her, looking at her directly
and with a firm, serious tone in his voice, "don't you ever give up. It's
thoughts like that which make people go through life un-achieving. I bet you
could be the best damn journalist there is out there, what with your education;
and I know you love reading and you have a wonderful personality... you could achieve
that dream if you just believed in yourself a little bit more."
He sat back again, and drank some of his tea, leaving
Elisabeth reeling inside, her face as red as anything. How could he say such a lovely, positive thing to her like that? When
he barely knew her?! It sounded like he had so much faith in her.
She felt like cuddling up in a ball even more she was so
touched and embarrassed by what he'd said; embarrassed that he thought that
much of her... seemingly.
"I don't know," she whispered.
"What about your family?" He suddenly asked her.
She looked up at him, perplexed by the sudden, random
change of subject.
"My family?"
"Yeah- do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"Yeah... I have a younger sister," she replied,
trying to feel more at ease; but her heart pumping away with the excitement
that someone believed in her wasn't proving to be very helpful.
"How old's she?"
"17. She lives with my parents in Hertfordshire,
still."
He raised his eyebrow again. "Hertfordshire? You come
from Hertfordshire?!"
"Um, yeah." Was
that a big deal?!
"That's where Ben lived! How funny!" He
exclaimed.
She creased her forehead in thought at him. "Oh-
y-your brother?"
Something flashed across Paul's face; too fast for
Elisabeth to decipher what, but there was no mistaking the fault in his voice
when he replied, adding to her growing suspicions.
"Erm... o-oh yeah."
"Is he your only brother?" Elisabeth said,
putting the pressure on.
"I have a sister," he said, not entirely answering
her question. "She's older than me- Shareen."
She already
knew about Shareen. He was avoiding the question. Ben wasn't his brother at
all. So who was Ben?
Elisabeth was never someone to put someone intentionally
in an awkward position, though. She didn't want to chase Paul away!
"Rose is doing her A-levels," she told him.
"Rose? That's a pretty name," he commented.
"Yeah, it is."
"So you grew up in Hertfordshire and then came to
London?"
"Pretty much," she replied. "Kinda became
settled here."
"See- if you can cope with London, then you can cope
with anything," he grinned at her.
But Elisabeth couldn't fully concentrate. He was slightly
beginning to bug her now; that she knew nothing about him and he knew
everything- and more- about her. It wasn't fair, she needed to start asking questions.
"So do you live in London?" She asked him,
starting off simply.
"Yeah, do," he replied.
"Where abouts?"
"Erm... Maida Vale."
Maida
Vale, Maida Vale... "I don't know if I've heard of that,"
she said, with an embarrassed laugh.
He grinned, apparently pleased. "Ahh well, never
mind. What do your parents do?" He asked another question, trying to flip
control his way again.
It was like a little game.
"What do yours
do?" She threw back at him.
"I- um- er- they... own... a bar," he said, a
little thrown.
"Ahhh. Like a pub?"
"No... a bar," he said, looking uncomfortable. He
always did when it got to talking about himself- why was that? What was he
trying to hide from her?!
"Wine bar?" She pressed.
"No... okay, kinda like a pub. But it does food, as
well. And lotsa things," he eventually said.
"Right... so where's that then? Where you grew
up?"
"Erm... kinda."
Okay...
why was he being so vague?! Surely the truth can't be that bad!
"So London?"
"No..."
"Hmmm. You have a London accent," she remarked.
"I left school when I was 16, and that's when I left
London as well- we all did," he said, a little distracted.
"So where d'ya go?"
"Um, Spain."
"Spain?!!"
That explained the Mediterranean looks! The tanned skin, just his whole
appearance suddenly slotted into a home.
"Wow," she exclaimed. "So you've lived in
Spain?!"
"For about 5 years, yeah."
"Wow!! That's so amazing!!" She gushed. She'd
never known anyone do that before. "Where abouts in Spain?"
"Erm, Benidorm. It's a tourist town on the East
coast- the Costa Del Brava," he explained, and his accent just seemed to
slip into a Spanish twang.
"Hmmm, can't say I know Spain very well, but I think I've
heard of it. Never been... wow! That's so cool, though! Are your parents still
over there?"
"Yeah, my sister owns the bar now, but my parents
still live there, too."
And now
came the key question.
"What about Ben?"
He avoided her eyes as he always did when this came up,
and examined what tea he had left. "Erm..."
She
should just approach this gently, she didn't want to annoy him, or anything, or
get him worked up...
"Ben isn't really your brother... is he?" She
asked hesitantly.
He didn't move for a moment, but guilt swept over his
body- he knew he'd been caught out, although you could have spotted it a mile
off.
"No," he said finally.
"So why did you say he was?" She asked, gently. She
wondered why he'd lied to her.
"I just... I dunno; it was difficult. When you asked
me who he was on the phone the other day... I just said the first thing that
came into my head! I didn't mean to
lie to you- just kinda happened," he tried to explain. He looked really
ashamed now, and she saw yet a different side to him.
"So why did you say that? Who is Ben?" She asked, and then as soon as she did, it hit her
immediately.
Oh my
God.
She was soo stupid!! Oh my God, he didn't look it, but
what with hiding Ben's identity because he was embarrassed... ohhhh bloody hell.
She gasped, inwardly to herself, but he still heard her.
"What's matter?" He lifted his head up.
She made a strained face. "Is he like... your
boyfriend, or something?"
Ughh,
embarrassing...
Paul's eyes widened until they were almost the size of
little golf balls, and a stunned look fell across his face.
Elisabeth didn't know what to say- but then he burst out
laughing.
"Ohhhh Lib!! Ohhhhh
Lib!! No... no, no, no- Ben is not
my 'boyfriend'!" He laughed even
more at the sound of it, and Elisabeth, with the realisation that she had been
wrong, just wanted to curl up and die.
Ohhh nooo...
she'd just accused Paul of being gay, and he so obviously wasn't by way of his
reaction, and ohhhh… her and her big mouth!
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Nah, that's okay." He laughed again.
"Bless ya, sweetheart! No, don't think I'd ever, um, look at Ben like
that." He made a face.
Elisabeth just couldn't even look at him now. That must
have been the most deeply, humiliating experience of her life. How could she be so embarrassing?!
"Hey look, don't get all red about it!" He
laughed to her, noticing her pink cheeks. "It's my fault. I should have
told you who Ben was right from the very start."
Okay,
this still wasn't helping... she must look so unbelievably stupid. I bet Paul
thinks I'm a complete bimbo! She wailed in her head. Why can't I make sensible,
logical judgments?!
"Look- I'll show you who Ben iiis..." he said
slowly, with a little defeated sigh. He put his cup down and edged to the end
of the sofa.
"What music do you like?" He suddenly asked her.
She looked up, pinkness fading, but she was a little
confused. "Huh?"
"I'm trying to think of best way to go about telling
you this," he said and laughed. She could tell he was a little nervous.
"So what music do you like to listen to?"
Okay,
odd question. What did this have to do with Ben?
Thinking back to the question, Elisabeth blushed slightly.
"Erm, not the kind of music you listen to," she said.
Paul laughed. "Well I don't know about that! Think I'm
one of the most diverse people you can get... try me."
"Erm... well I kinda like stuff like jazz music...
soul music," Elisabeth reddened again.
"Wow! Really? What like Boyz II men?"
Elisabeth made a face. "Euwww- no! They're too pop," she commented.
"Oh," said Paul.
"One of my favourite singers of all time has got to
be James Brown," she admitted softly, looking down, a bit embarrassed. She
knew people of her age were supposed to like proper 'pop' music, but she just
wasn't like that...
Paul's eyes widened. "Oh my God! Really?!!" He
exclaimed.
She looked up at him. "Ummm, yeah..."
"Wow- me too!" He grinned. "He's
amazing!"
That caught Elisabeth's attention. "You like James Brown?"
"I love
him!" Paul said enthusiastically, edging closer. "He's one of my fave
people ever! I mean of course, I love
people like The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Prince is my favourite singer..." He blushed slightly. "... but
James Brown is like the original soul God himself!"
"The Godfather," Elisabeth grinned.
"Yeah!! Wow... don't make me start singing,"
Paul warned her.
Elisabeth laughed. Wow!
She couldn't believe he seemed to like James Brown as much as she did! She didn't
know anyone else who shared her love of his smooth, velvety voice.
"Ahhh, okay, I won't," she smiled. "But I am
rather mad. I have 10 of his
albums."
Paul lifted his hands up. "14," he declared proudly, and grinned.
"Wow," Elisabeth was impressed; and also really
interested now- forgetting all about Ben. "What's your fave song?"
"Ooooh I dunno," Paul said thoughtfully. "It's too funky in here, Try me, Gimme some
more, Night train..." He grinned at her. "I feel good."
"Ohhhh nooo!" Elisabeth laughed. "That's a
classic!"
"It's fab!" He said, and then he abruptly burst
into song. "I feeeel good,
na-na-na-na-na-na-na... hey- have you ever seen him in concert?"
Elisabeth was slightly stunned that he'd started singing
then, and if she hadn't known better, she could have sworn he was in tune...
"Only on TV," she replied.
"Ahhh, I know. I'd love to see him live- if
only..." Paul sighed.
There was a pause then, and Elisabeth was fighting with
herself whether or not to say anything about his singing... not a lot; just
that it had been pretty good, she'd thought. Okay, maybe she'd read too much into that...
Paul spoke first.
"Ooooh- sorry! I was supposed to be telling you about
Ben!" He laughed. "Just get a bit carried away when I get all funked
up!" He grinned at her.
Okay, at
least he brought up the Ben subject this time, she thought.
"That's okay... it is amazing to meet someone who
loves him as much as I do," she added, shyly.
"So- let me think. You obviously have a load of 'cooooool' albums..." He grinned at
her. "What music does Becky like?"
"Ahhh!" Elisabeth laughed. "What she'll class as 'cool' music! Travis,
Pink, Natalie Imbruglia, Blue..."
"Ahh- perfect!" He exclaimed, getting up.
"Where's her CD collection?"
"Um... in her room..." Elisabeth said slowly,
uneasily getting up as well, wondering why he wanted them.
"Cool! Let's go," he said, heading off in the
direction of the stairs.
"P-P-Paul!!" She called after him, breaking into
a little run, to catch up with him. "You can't just go into her
room!"
"Well I'm not going to be long," Paul said back to her, jumping onto the bottom step,
and looking down at her. "I need to find something."
"What has this got to do with Ben?" She asked
him, looking up.
“You’ll see.” He grinned mysteriously before jogging up
the stairs. “Help me find her room!” He called.
Elisabeth sighed. Okay, she’d have to follow him. Besides-
she was very intrigued by all of this now…
“Second on the left!” She called, jogging up after him.