Resist (London)

by Breeze, Danielle

  The relief was overwhelming. So overwhelming, I didn’t take the time to think about the fact that I’d just called a guy who I didn’t think I’d call. A guy I knew, had wanted to spend more time with me. Time I wasn’t willing to give. Didn’t think about that, even a little bit.

  I heard a horn beep twice outside my apartment so I jumped up, jogged down the steps, trying to ignore the twinges of pain from my feet and when I spotted a blue car sitting at the curb, I didn’t even look. Just jumped in.

  I turned to put my seat-belt on whilst talking and still not paying attention to anything else.

  “Oh my god, I’m so grateful you could do this for me, honestly I’d be fucked if I didn’t get there on time, completely forgot that it was even today. I’m ill, I guess I caught it walking back from yours in the rain and...”

  I turned in my seat and stopped talking. I stopped talking because, to recap, I jogged down the stairs, got in the first car I had seen at the curb, didn’t pay attention to anything else, turned to put my seat-belt on without even saying hi, then started talking about how grateful I was for him helping me.

  Then when I turned to look at Mason and realised...

  I WAS NOT IN MASON’S CAR!!

  I froze. Completely.

  Body still, mind blank, mouth open.

  Nothing.

  I tried, really I did, a thousand thoughts running through my mind, not one of them stuck.

  Sat next to me with a face saying she wasn’t sure whether to scream, cry, laugh or escape, was a white haired, pale faced, sixty or seventy year old lady.

  Not, blonde haired, grey eyed, beautiful-faced Mason!

  Oh no no no no! It was awful, so so bad. Instead of apologising, explaining the situation, and making sure that I hadn’t given some poor old lady a heart attack, I scrambled.

  I threw open the door, so hard that it bounced back and almost hit me in the face but I put my hand out to protect myself, then swung my legs around, and darted from the car. I’d made it about five steps, when I heard a masculine chuckle from a few feet away.

  I looked to the side, and right in front of me, leaning against the outside of a red car, was the person who was supposed to be giving me a ride to University...laughing at me.

  I scowled at him and stomped over towards him. My scowl had the opposite effect that it was supposed to, seeing as his chuckle, morphed into a full blown outburst. He howled with laughter, throwing his head back and closing his eyes in the process. I stood and watched him, his mental reaction to my misfortune, mistake, mishap, whatever you want to call that god damn situation was, frankly, fucking annoying!

  He didn’t stop laughing, not even slightly, but he did step forward, open the passenger side door and let me in. I watched him through the windshield as he walked around the car. Still laughing, still shaking his head. Asshole.

  As soon as he was in the car, I snapped.

  “It’s not fucking funny Mason! I could have gotten into the car of a fucking murderer for all you know....and you watched me do it!”

  He took a few deep breaths, but was still almost panting, when he answered.

  “Not at all babe. Saw that lady. She was already parked there when I pulled up. So I parked here instead.” He broke off into another quick chuckle. Then pissed me off even more.

  “Oh come on Sunshine! You’ve gotta admit, getting in to the wrong fucking car! That’s class, amazing, you wait until people hear about this! That babe, is the best, funniest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time...if ever!”

  But it wasn’t anyone else was it? Nope, it was me. I’m so bloody daft sometimes. Wasn’t going to admit it to him though. I just held my scowl.

  Mason

  It was sooo fucking funny! I watched her run out of the building, not paying a lick of attention to anything around her, and I knew, straight away, I knew what she was going to do!

  I couldn’t help it, I knew she’d be pissed, but how could I not laugh about that? She got into the wrong car! I didn’t even know it was possible to pay that little attention to the world around you.

  It was cute though, the little scowl and strut she did towards me. She definitely needed to learn to laugh at herself a bit more, guarantee if it was anyone else that it happened to, then she would have.

  On the way to her exam, she refused to speak to me. She just folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window.

  Childish.

  But still funny.

  She still had ten minutes left when we pulled up outside the exam building, so I shut off the engine, hoping she’d actually speak to me. I thought I’s start simple...

  “So what exam is it?” I asked.

  She sighed, but answered. “Child Language Acquisition.”

  “There’s an entire exam, based on kids learning to talk?”

  The thought baffled me, I couldn’t understand why people would need to learn that shit.

  Kids just...start talking, right?

  “Don’t be so pigheaded!” She snapped, “It’s not just about ‘kids learning to talk’. It’s development in general, there are stages, milestones, achievements. It’s giving them guidance. It’s knowing the difference between them learning to listen and speak while actually comprehending the language. There are so many more factors involved, phonology, syntax…”

  Ok so I was wrong, apparently there’s a lot more to kids learning to talk than them just…well…talking. But it was still boring, so I cut her off.

  “Ok ok, I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about kids anyway. I believe you. But you’ve just wasted two minutes, and you’ve only got about five minutes until you have to go in. So instead, why don’t you tell me how long your exam is?”

  “Why?”

  “So I’ll know when to be here to take you home.” I answered.

  Obviously!

  “Um, that’s ok Mason, thanks, but I’ll be fine getting home.”

  “I’m sure you will, but said your feet were hurt and you’re ill. No offense babe, but you look and sound like shit. I’m around for a few hours, so I can take you home.”

  “It’s a two hour exam, you don’t need to wait around. Really, I’ll be fine.”

  “Yeah, you will be. Because I’ll be here in two hours to take you home.”

  She sighed, like I was actually putting her out for offering to take her home.

  “Whatever, if you want to do that then fine. Thanks for the lift.” She replied, then huffed, and got out of the car.

  I watched her walk into the building, wondering why she couldn’t just accept a favour and get on with it.

  I decided right then that even if I couldn’t have her, which I wanted to, I was definitely going to keep her in my life.

  It had been a long time since someone could make me laugh, piss me off, turn me on and confuse me, all at the same time.

  Ok so yeah, I’m glutton for punishment. Nothing about it was going to be easy, she seemed fairly determined to push me away. But if there’s one thing I’m not, it’s easily deterred.

  I’m not spoilt exactly, I just want what I want and Jackson always told us that there was nothing we couldn’t do if we put our mind to it.

  He may have been talking about careers at the time, but I figured the same rules applied!

  I decided to drive back to the exam building fifteen minutes early, thinking maybe she might finish early, and knowing the little amount I already knew about Harper, she probably would have done that just to avoid me.

  I was not wrong.

  I had only just pulled up at the curb when she walked out of the building. She threw a quick glance around, but didn’t notice my car, then I watched as her shoulders fell, not in disappointment, in relief! She just started walking in the opposite direction.

  I didn’t get it. Not even a little. Why would she suffer, through pain, rather than take a lift from me?

  I followed behind her, which was not an easy job considering the traffic in London is a nightmare. But her walking, qui
ckly deteriorated into a limp, then mere minutes later, she slumped down onto a bench and put her head in her hands.

  I’d had enough, I couldn’t watch her be in pain anymore, even if she was causing it herself. I pulled over, jumped out of the car and strode to stand in front of her. She didn’t notice me at first, I know that for sure, because when she did, her shoulders tensed and I heard her whisper ‘shit!’ under her breath.

  “Come on. Just get in the car Harper, you’re a mess. You can’t walk home like that. You don’t even have to speak to me. Just let me take you home.” I held out a hand to help her up and she stared at me for a few beats before reluctantly taking it and standing up.

  I knew she must have been in more pain than I’d originally thought because she leant into me, supported her weight on my forearm and limped the few steps to the car.

  On the drive back to her house, she was silent again, but not in a strop like on the way, no, this was like she was thinking about something.

  “What are you thinking about over there?” I asked.

  She let out at almost wistful sigh before speaking.

  “I don’t know. I’m confused Mason. Why did you come back? Why did you even come in the first place? I’d have told me to fuck off, after the way I was with you the other day.”

  Well I didn’t expect that, but I already knew the answer.

  “It’s not confusing Harper. I like you, and I think you already got that. But I’m a good guy. You want or need something, and if I’m in a position to give it you, I’ll do it. It’s that simple. I don’t know why you’re so against it. It’s not free though, I wanna get to know you better, you let me in, then we’re even.”

  “I can’t, no, I won’t get into a relationship with you Mason. I don’t do that.” She declared. It was fierce, no room for negotiation, but there’s a reason that I organise everything at Blaze, I can be persuasive without the other person even knowing it.

  With this in mind, I replied.

  “Who said anything about a relationship? I hardly know you! I wanna get to know you, it’s always good to have a new friend. I’m a good friend to have!”

  She looked stunned.

  “You...you’re okay with just being my friend?” She said friend like it was a foreign concept she’d never heard. But I was playing this my way.

  “Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  She didn’t reply. I smiled to myself. Poor girl didn’t have a clue.

  Chapter Five

  Harper

  He wasn’t lying.

  He really did seem ok with just being my friend.

  ...If being my friend meant turning up outside of my apartment every morning when I was due to go to university, just to give me ride, as well as being there when I was finished for the day. Or for the same reason he would randomly be in my home with Jase, even when I wasn’t there, cooking at my place, sleeping on my sofa. He was invading my entire life.

  Including every single one of my thoughts, my dreams…everything.

  Then yeah, he was a great friend.

  The damn man just took over! He brought his own food over to keep in my fridge, he left a spare uniform in my wardrobe, he made dinner, he bought a new coffee machine because ‘ours wasn’t good enough’...well of course it wasn’t good enough, we were students! Students are poor!

  Did he ask my permission for any of this? Nope!

  He just did it.

  It was annoying, to say the least, he really did think he owned everything, the floor he walked on, the people he walked past, the sunshine, the rain, the wind, literally everything. His sense of entitlement was unrivalled.

  I’d never known anything like it. Worming his way into my world, in less than a month! Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t exactly mind him being around. He was great, he was funny, he cleaned up after himself...and me...and Jase. He cooked dinners for everyone, he obviously had upgraded our coffee machine and he saved me from having to walk to and from university when I had to go. But I just wanted him to ask once in a while.

  Damn frustrating man!

  But I finally found myself with a few hours of free-time, time by myself, no Taylor, no Jase...and definitely no Mason. I liked my own company. I enjoyed the silence. I loved just doing...nothing!

  I lay in the bath planning things in my head. Taylor’s birthday was only two and a half months away and I needed to start organising. Now I know what you’re thinking, two and a half months is a long time just for planning a birthday day...but with Taylor? Not the case.

  I’m sure she’d be happy to just have a few drinks or something, but her birthday is one of the days in the year that she thought about her parents and got truly upset. I had never, not since the first birthday when they were gone, let her spend a single minute of her birthday alone. I always made a huge deal out of it.

  I’m sure she probably knew that was the reason, but she never argued about it anyway. Everyone loves to feel like the centre of attention, even if it is just for one day a year!

  Whilst I was sorting through ideas in my head, relaxing in the rare peace and quiet of the apartment, I screamed bloody murder when I heard, “Yo babe, you in there?” shouted through the door.

  No one was supposed to be there.

  “What the fuck Mase? You gave me a freakin’ heart attack! What are you doing here? Thought you had a meeting or something?” I exclaimed.

  He didn’t answer. He opened the fucking door!

  While I was in the bath!

  And strolled right on through! He put the toilet seat down and sat on the lid, looking over at me as though he hadn’t just strolled right on through and sat down...when I was in the bath...totally naked!

  “Meeting was cancelled, thought we could go grab something to eat?” He suggested, with a shrug.

  “Get out!” I screeched... “I’m in the fuckin’ bath. You can’t just walk in. I’m naked!” I explained, though frankly, he should have known.

  Of course he knew.

  “Yeah, I got that. No worries babe, I’ve seen it all before.” He winked at me and I froze.

  Mother fucker! Since when has it been ok for a man to walk in on a female friend, or any friend for that matter, that you’ve known just over a month? Since never! The audacity of it!

  “No Mase, get...out! You can’t sit in here.”

  I didn’t know what he thought he was doing. He stood up, and I was about to breathe a sigh of relief...when he sat back down. I frowned, then he did it again, got up, sat back down. I scrunched up my nose and felt my frown deepen.

  What the fuck was he doing?!

  I still watched him. He lifted the toilet seat, put it back down, knocked on the lid, wiggled it about a bit, then he sat again, bounced up and down on it a few times and declared, “You’re wrong, pretty sure I can sit here.”

  Dickhead.

  Complete and total dick...head.

  “You...are...not...funny, Mason” I began. “I clearly didn’t mean you can’t sit there. I mean, you can’t sit there right now. While I’m in the bath! I want you to go wait in the living room.” I said, trying to keep my voice firm, because yeah he shouldn’t have been in there, but he was kinda funny.

  Argh!

  He shrugged and got up, muttering ‘fair enough’.

  Seriously!

  He didn’t leave straight away though, he stepped closer to the bath, blatantly ran his eyes down the length of my body, which was at that point, barely concealed by the remaining bubbles, then gave out a low whistle under his breath, winked again and said,

  “Damn, forgot just how good that body is. See you in a few gorgeous...enjoy your bath!”

  Then he turned and went to leave, but he didn’t make it before I swung my hand through the water, splashing it as hard as I could in his direction and soaked his back.

  “Don’t look at my body you fuckin’ pervert!” I shouted.

  He didn’t respond. Just laughed at me. He knew I was lying, he wasn’t a pervert, he was just Mason.
Also, he was right, he had seen it all before. Still, I wasn’t aware that gave him the right to be looking at me like that!

  I dried myself off quickly and pulled on the same clothes I’d been wearing earlier in the day. No point changing, I had no plans to go anywhere.

  That...didn’t exactly go to plan.

  See, I walked in the living room and threw my wet towel at Mason’s head...I missed, he laughed...I carried on through to the kitchen. It wasn’t much of a kitchen, it was tiny. You could fit two people in it at one time, maximum.

  But it was cosy, homely, and for the entire year ...mine.

  I started digging around and found out the bread, cheese and went searching for the toastie maker. As I said, I’m not the tidiest of people, and the same applied in the kitchen. Nothing had a home, everything was everywhere, and up until Mason had forced his way into my life, the dishes were rarely cleaned. But seeing as Mason had tidied up and put everything away, I could never find anything.

  “Mase, where have you put the toastie maker” I called, then I waited for a response. It came from right behind me, and shit the life out of me!

  “Why you looking for that?” He asked.

  “Fuck sake! Don’t sneak up on me! And I’m asking because I’m making cheese toasties!”

  “Did you not listen to what I said a minute ago in the bathroom? We’re going out for something to eat!”

  “We are?”

  “Yep”

  Now, usually, I’d have told him to take a running jump, for telling me what to do. But in all honesty, I was hungry.

  “Oh, well, okay then! Where we going?”

  “Amore”

  I had to admit, it was a good choice. I’d only ever been once, for my birthday the previous year, and Taylor had paid. Never, could I have afforded that place. It was expensive, but worth it. It was a cutesy little Italian restaurant near the town centre, pretty sure it was owned by some famous chef, but I couldn’t tell you who.

  We were seated straight away, which was definitely odd considering there’d usually be at least an hour wait if you hadn’t reserved a table before. Then again, this was Mason, and like I said, he thought he owned the world, so it wasn’t surprising that people treated him as such.