By Midnight

by Mia James

  ‘Right, where are you?’

  ‘On the Riviera, walking along the seafront, stopping traffic.’

  Silvia laughed. ‘Excellent. Now there’s a man coming towards you - who is it?’

  ‘Robert Pattinson.’

  ‘What’s he wearing?’

  ‘A blue pea coat.’

  ‘Interesting. Does he have anything else with him?’

  ‘He’s brought me a present.’

  ‘Perfect. What is it?’

  ‘A box of chocolate éclairs.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘So, what are you going to do now? I’m your mother, keep it clean.’

  ‘We’re going for a walk along the beach, eating the éclairs.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘R-Pattz stops to collect some shells for me. Just because he thinks I’d like them.’

  ‘Lovely. Now remember those images, print them in your mind. When you’re ready, open your eyes.’

  April blinked at her mother and pulled a ‘what now?’ face.

  ‘That’s it.’

  ‘That’s it? How is that supposed to solve all my problems?’

  ‘Whenever you’re feeling down or you’re convinced you’ll never get anywhere with boys, you just jump back to that image in your mind and you’ll remember how fabulous and sexy you are and what kind of relationship you deserve to have.’

  ‘But if he doesn’t call, I won’t have any sort of relationship.’

  ‘If he doesn’t call, sweetheart, then you don’t want a relationship with him anyway. The boy’s a moron.’

  April instantly felt herself jumping to Gabriel’s defence. Don’t call him a moron, he’s not a moron, she thought. But then, maybe her mum had a point. It was his loss; if he didn’t want to go on a date, then he was the one missing out.

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ she said, giving her a hug. ‘You’re a bit weird, but I do feel better.’

  Her mother smiled. ‘Men are very simple, darling,’ she said. ‘They always want the thing they can’t have. You just have to convince them that you’re that thing.’

  April nodded and, taking her hot chocolate, headed back to her room.

  ‘And April?’ said her mother as she was about to close the door. ‘He will call. They always do.’

  Why does everyone keep telling me that?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tap.

  Tap-tap.

  Tap.

  April opened her eyes and looked around her bedroom. What was that? Had she really heard that tapping sound or was it part of a dream? She screwed her eyes up, trying to adjust to the gloom. Before going to bed, she had emailed Fiona with an update on the day’s events, or rather non-events, and had fallen asleep without shutting the computer down, leaving the blue-white swirls of her screensaver to illuminate the room with a slightly eerie glow.

  Tap.

  Tap-tap.

  There was a pause, then another tap, followed by a muffled voice cursing.

  She definitely hadn’t imagined that. Quickly climbing out of bed, April crossed to the window and peered into the darkness. She couldn’t see anything except the shadowy, deserted square. Was someone down there? The house was too tall for her to see into the garden below.

  Tap.

  ‘Hey!’ She jerked her head back as something - a pebble? - bounced against the glass about an inch from her nose. ‘What the …?’

  Fiddling with the lock, April yanked at the little sash window and with a rasp it opened enough for her to stick her head through.

  ‘Who’s there?’ she hissed.

  Now she could see a dark figure standing by the gate.

  ‘It’s me!’ came a whisper.

  ‘Who’s “me”?’ replied April. It had better not be the murderer, she thought randomly, that’d just cap off my week.

  The figure moved back across the road, into the yellow cone shining down from the old streetlight, and her heart leapt. It was Gabriel.

  In the space of a few seconds, April’s emotions swung from joy to anger, then back to breathless anticipation. She finally settled on irritation and annoyance.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she hissed. ‘Do you know what time it is?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, neither do I, but it’s the middle of the bloody night.’

  ‘Oh. Well, I just thought …’ he said, holding something up.

  ‘What? What do you want, Gabriel?’

  ‘Our date.’

  She stared at him incredulously. ‘Our date?’ She puffed out her cheeks and told herself to keep calm. ‘Wait there.’

  She ducked back inside and closed the window as quietly as she could, then threw on a jumper over her pyjamas. If he doesn’t like it, then tough, she thought. She ran to the mirror, fumbling with some make-up, thinking of all the reasons why she should simply slam the door in his stupid, handsome face. He said he’d call. He hadn’t. He had let her lie to the police. He had interfered with the one kiss she’d had since she’d left Scotland. And worst of all, he had forced her to turn to her mother, of all people, for advice! Maybe she was still groggy from sleep, maybe it was just a build-up of everything she had been through over the past week, but April found that now Gabriel had finally come, she just wanted to tell him to leave. She had thought of nothing else since the Halloween party and, if she was honest, had taken her disappointment with Gabriel’s disappearance out on her friends and family, becoming a snappy, anxious mess. Perhaps her mother’s positive visualisation had worked better than she had thought, but now he was here, she wasn’t convinced she wanted him to be. Quietly, wincing at every sound - the last thing she wanted to do was wake her parents up - she crept down the stairs and opened the front door just a crack.

  ‘What?’ she said.

  ‘I brought you something.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Come out and look.’

  Sighing, April opened the door a little more and shuffled out onto the step, crossing her arms. Gabriel looked every bit as gorgeous as he had that first time she had seen him across the road. His hair was a little more dishevelled, as if he had just got out of bed, and the collar of his pea coat was turned up against the cold, but basically it was the same good-looking guy with the same amazing eyes. Yeah, but what else? she thought. Eyes aren’t everything.

  ‘Here,’ he said, holding up a cardboard tray. It held two coffees in styrofoam cups, steaming up into the cold air, and next to them were a selection of what looked like doughnuts.

  ‘Coffee and doughnuts?’ she asked.

  He looked at her nervously. ‘Well, I wanted to get you flowers or something, but the only place open at this time is the taxi drivers’ all-night cafe down on Archway Road.’

  ‘Gee, it’s nice to think you planned all this just for me,’ said April, a little more sarcastically than she had intended. Gabriel nodded, looking crestfallen.

  ‘I meant to call, April,’ he said sadly. ‘I really did. But I just—’

  ‘You just what? Couldn’t be bothered?’

  ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘It sounds pretty simple to me. You said you’d call, you didn’t. Listen, Gabriel,’ she said, moving back inside the house, ‘thanks for coming, but I can’t stand here in the cold all night.’

  He gestured back towards the square. ‘Couldn’t you just come out for a minute? I’d like to apologise, to explain, at least.’ He smiled at her. ‘The doughnuts are better than they look.’

  April shook her head. She shouldn’t, after the way he had treated her, but he had come. She let out a long breath, puffing in the cold air.

  ‘It’s freezing.’

  Gabriel put the tray down, then quickly pulled off his coat and held it out to her. ‘Please, April?’

  Reluctantly she took the jacket and wrapped it around her, feeling his body heat and catching a hint of his personal scent. For a moment, it was like being wrapped in his arms.

  ‘Okay, two minutes. But if my dad wakes up
, you kidnapped me, okay?’

  She ducked back inside and slipped on her dad’s old trainers, clumping down the steps and across the road.

  ‘God, I look like a bag lady.’

  Gabriel grinned. ‘I think you look adorable.’

  Yeah, yeah, save the compliments and start grovelling, thought April. Gabriel sat down on a bench and April perched on the edge, her hands deep in his coat pockets, shivering.

  ‘Here, this should warm you up a bit,’ said Gabriel, handing her a cup. ‘They don’t exactly do decaf skinny lattes at the all-night cafe, but it’s hot at least.’

  She sipped it in silence.

  ‘Listen, I’m sorry I’ve messed you about,’ said Gabriel after a pause. ‘I should have called, I really should. It’s just …’ he trailed off. Then, after a glance at her, he continued in a rush, ‘It’s just there are things I can’t explain right now, things you probably would rather not hear, and altogether it means I think we’d be pretty bad for each other.’

  Oh great, thought April. He’s dumping me before we’ve even got off the ground.

  Then Gabriel turned to face her, those dark eyes glittering in the streetlights. ‘But I want us to be bad for each other, I want us to be …’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Together,’ he said softly. ‘I want us to be together. Like this, like now, just the two of us, no one else. But believe me, things would always be difficult, there would always be things I couldn’t explain.’

  His words were so fervent and he seemed so sincere that April was starting to feel terrible about giving him such a hard time. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her fingers were tingling. He wanted them to be together.

  ‘That’s partly why I haven’t been in school so much,’ continued Gabriel, looking away. ‘And that’s why I’ve dragged you out onto a park bench in the middle of the night. Sorry.’

  April shrugged, although the movement was lost inside the huge shoulders of his jacket. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘Well, it’s not okay, but it is okay, if you see what I mean.’

  Gabriel laughed. ‘Thanks. At least we’re here. On our date.’ ‘So this is a date, then?’ said April with a flutter in her stomach.

  Gabriel held up a doughnut. ‘It’s not much, I know, but I’ve never been too good at the big romantic gestures.’

  ‘You don’t say.’

  ‘Ouch.’

  She took the doughnut and had a bite. It was actually pretty good, one of those squirty jam ones with the sugar all over it. Suddenly she loved jam doughnuts more than anything.

  ‘Well … It’s almost midnight, which means the cinema, dinner and the pub are all out of the question. So what did you have in mind for our date?’ she asked, her mouth curling up into a smile.

  ‘Go for a walk?’

  April waggled her feet in the air, the oversized trainers wobbling about comically. ‘I’m not sure I’m dressed for it.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Gabriel, standing up and offering her his arm. April jumped up and slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and they began to walk slowly around the outside of the square. April had to admit it was romantic, strolling arm in arm with a boy in the moonlight while everyone around you was fast asleep.

  ‘I like it at night,’ said April, her breath making little clouds in the air. ‘It’s so calm and quiet.’

  Gabriel nodded. ‘It’s the best part of the day,’ he said. ‘It’s like getting away from the city into the countryside, only you don’t have to move. I hate all the noise and the rush and it’s too … too bright.’ He shrugged, but April nodded.

  ‘I know what you mean. You can imagine what it used to be like when it really was a village, before all the cars and stuff.’

  They fell into silence again, just walking slowly past the Scientific Institution and then the United Reformed Church.

  ‘Shall we walk down to the Heath?’ said Gabriel.

  April shook her head reluctantly. ‘I should get back. I don’t want my dad to come down and attack you with a golf club.’

  Well, not any more, she thought to herself.

  ‘I’d better walk you back, then.’

  ‘So that’s it?’ she asked, not wanting the moment to end, but feeling her face start to go numb. That wasn’t a good look, whatever the Botox addicts claimed.

  ‘I wish you didn’t have to go,’ he said in a low, quiet voice.

  ‘If you’d come a bit earlier …’ she teased, but his expression was serious.

  ‘Believe me, it would be better for both of us if I had stayed away, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about you, I was miserable, I needed to see you. And -’ he smiled ’- if I’m going to be your protector, I need to be here, don’t I?’

  They were back outside her gate and she reluctantly shrugged off his coat. Handing it back, their eyes locked.

  Please kiss me, please kiss me, she said in her head, hoping the positive thinking would work again. This time, he has to, she pleaded. For a moment, the wish seemed to hang in the air and in slow motion, April watched Gabriel’s lips part slightly. Then he reached out and brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. She tilted her head towards his touch, loving the warmth on her skin.

  ‘What is it?’ he said.

  April couldn’t speak; she just shook her head and frowned.

  ‘What’s your favourite place? D’you remember? You said you were going to show me your favourite place.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said, a little disappointed. ‘Covent Garden. There’s a little patisserie there I love.’

  ‘Good doughnuts?’

  ‘Chocolate éclairs, actually.’ She smiled.

  ‘Well, you’ll have to take me there one day, soon.’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said, turning towards the door, but he caught her arm.

  ‘No, definitely,’ he said. ‘Definitely.’

  April slipped back inside the house and closed the door, leaning her back against it. Good God, what was all that about? she wondered, putting her hand to her cheek where Gabriel had touched it. Then she slipped off the borrowed shoes and ran all the way up the stairs, grinning like an idiot.

  Chapter Sixteen

  For once, April didn’t need an alarm; she was out of bed and into the bathroom before the sun had made it above the horizon. Despite the grey light, April felt perky and full of energy and, after a brisk shower, was ready for the most important task of the day: getting ready for school. Today, what she wore had taken on a whole new dynamic; not only did she need to look studious and clever, she also needed to be devastatingly sexy. Obviously, whatever she wore was going to be better than her impromptu date outfit, but even so, she wanted to look amazing in case she bumped into Gabriel, which was highly likely as this was Wednesday and she had Philosophy first thing. Tops, skirts and trousers were tried and discarded and her entire wardrobe was soon piled up on the bed. Finally she decided on black leggings, a navy and white striped T-shirt and ballet pumps, which she thought looked very Kate Moss chic but at the same time didn’t look as if she’d spent an hour picking it out. She skipped down the stairs and was surprised to find her father already sitting at the breakfast bar, bent over a bowl of Rice Krispies.

  ‘Hey, rabbit,’ he said, ‘you’re up bright and early.’

  She gave him a kiss and waltzed past to pop some bread into the toaster.

  ‘What’s all this?’ Her father said. ‘Has your mother been feeding you her Prozac? Yesterday you had a face like a wet weekend. Why the bouncy mood?’

  ‘Why not?’ said April playfully. ‘Can’t I just be happy?’

  William looked at her with amusement. ‘Of course, be my guest.’ He smiled. ‘But if you see the real April, let her know she’s welcome back here any time.’

  April stuck her tongue out at him and went to get a plate from the cupboard. ‘So what’s on at work today?’ she asked.

  Her father shrugged. ‘More on these murders. It’s not often you get a murder in this neck of the woods, let alone two, so I’m
under pressure to come up with something solid and exclusive pretty quick before the national boys do. It’s tough being on a weekly, with no crime desk and a fraction of the tabloids’ resources.’

  ‘And are you getting anywhere?’

  ‘Dunno, maybe. I’ll know more tonight. I’ve got one pretty strong lead. If it’s genuine, it might well be a big break in the case.’