One?

by Jennifer L. Cahill

  ***

  Back in her hotel room, Penelope checked her makeup for the fiftieth time in the mirror in the bathroom. Each time she looked in the mirror, she looked exactly the same, but still… this was helping to calm her nerves. She debated about having a quick drink from the mini bar, but decided against it, especially after her recent experience with Richard at the Ritz. She had barely eaten all day! Luckily she did not have to work that day, so she had spent practically the whole day preparing for her night out with Alyx.

  ‘Ok… five minutes to go, I hope he’s not late, I’m so nervous and the later he is the worse it will be. These jeans are so obviously new, I hope he doesn’t notice. I don’t want him to think I went to a major effort. The top is fantastic, I have never seen this designer in London. Oh, there’s the phone.’ Penelope jumped slightly as the phone gave a shrill ring.

  ‘Hello?’ Penelope mustered a smile, and struggled to hide her nervousness.

  ‘Hi, I have Alyx down here in reception to see you,’ the receptionist drawled.

  ‘Thank you, I’ll be right down.’ Penelope quipped.

  Penelope grabbed her bag and her jacket, and headed down the corridor towards the lift. She called the lift and waited very impatiently as it crawled up to her floor from the lobby. Finally it arrived, and on the way down it open at every second or third floor. ‘C’mon, c’mon… god it would have been quicker to walk’ she thought to herself as she fidgeted impatiently, she could feel a slight nerve rash erupting on her chest.

  ‘Hi!’ Penelope approached Alyx.

  ‘Hi, you look gorgeous.’ Alyx gave her a kiss on her cheek. As he did this it felt like the most natural thing in the world, as if he had done it a thousand times before.

  ‘Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself…’ ‘What a relief he looks bloody gorgeous, George was right. She is always right. No chinos thank god!’ Penelope smiled at him.

  Alyx was wearing jeans and a vintage distressed t-shirt with a navy pin-striped suit jacket, he looked like he could have stepped off the pages of GQ, but not in an obvious way… it definitely didn’t look like he had made too much effort… and he smelled incredible. Penelope could well imagine the tanned… toned body that lay beneath the amazing clothes. Alyx had a naturally tanned complexion… and beautiful jet-black chin length hair. He had amazing dark brown eyes and the most amazing long eyelashes.

  ‘Where are we off to?’ Penelope’s nerves completely melted with the kiss, she felt so comfortable with him.

  ‘Well, I was thinking we could grab some dinner in Tribeca, and then head over to the Bowery Ballroom, it’s on Delancey,’ Alyx offered.

  ‘Bowery Ballroom? Is it a bar? Delancey is on the Lower East Side isn’t it?’ Penelope tried to sound like she knew what she was talking about.

  ‘It’s more like a venue, it’s cool, I think you’ll like it.’ Alyx smiled in a self-assured way.

  ‘I’m sure I will, are the band playing there tonight?’ Penelope had her fingers crossed.

  ‘No, not at all… it’s just that I always make a point of going there each time I’m in New York. I’ve seen some major new bands there… before they were famous of course. It’s pretty small. I heard that The Libertines are playing there tonight.’ Alyx grinned at her, it was a long shot, but he hoped they could get in.

  ‘Great… I love them!’ Penelope was delighted.

  ‘Do you like tapas?’ Alyx turned to her as he said this.

  ‘Yes, that would be perfect.’ Penelope was relieved, she was so nervous about this date that she had no appetite at all, small morsels of tapas would be perfect.

  ‘There is a nice little tapas restaurant in Tribeca, it’s never too busy.’ Alyx smiled at her.

  ‘Great,’ Penelope smiled back.

  ‘I actually can’t believe this is happening. I feel so comfortable with him, even in New York. I feel like I live here or something… it’s quite disorienting. It feels like a dream, it’s probably the jet lag.’ Penelope was walking on air, and they talked and talked over tapas, and really connected.

  ‘Thank you for dinner, it’s really nice down here, I’ve never really been around this area.’ Penelope sighed.

  ‘You’re welcome, it’s not the obvious place to come if you are only here for a few days, that’s why I like it… no tourists! It feels like a proper neighbourhood,’ Alyx added.

  ‘It does actually.’ ‘That’s what it is about this place, no tourists! All New Yorkers.’

  ‘I haven’t actually got tickets for the Libs tonight, but we should be able to get tickets on the door…’ Alyx hoped that he was right.

  ‘Ok, great.’

  As they approached the door at the Bowery Ballroom, there was a large queue outside and apparently no tickets available.

  ‘I’m afraid we are completely sold out. The Libertines are headlining tonight and the place is packed.’ The large bouncer said this to Alyx who had asked whether there were any tickets.

  ‘That’s great news!’ Alyx shrieked, this was quite the opposite reaction the bouncer was expecting.

  ‘Pardon me?’ he asked gruffly.

  ‘I am with the band, I’m legal representation… I forgot to pick up a pass in the office, but it is absolutely essential that I speak to them before their performance…’ Alyx whipped out his business card as he said this, and passed the guy a twenty, it certainly did the trick.

  ‘Well, in that case… don’t let me stop you.’ The bouncer stepped aside and ushered Alyx and Penelope inside.

  ‘Alyx, that was hilarious! He totally bought it…’ Penelope giggled when the bouncer was out of earshot.

  ‘Works every time,’ Alyx winked at her.

  ‘This place is lovely, Jesus… it is packed, he wasn’t embellishing there!’ Penelope was thrilled, the venue was so cool, it was really pretty, and they had a look around downstairs first.

  ‘They are really popular here, have you ever seen them live?’ Alyx was as excited about the performance as Penelope was.

  ‘No, not yet.’ Penelope couldn’t wait, she had heard such good things about The Libertines live.

  ‘They put on a great show, you never actually know what they are going to do. I went to see them at the Forum in Kentish Town, and they brought the first few rows up on to the stage with them towards the end and then continued playing at the back of the stage with all these random punters playing air guitar in front of them. It looked a bit like the Sgt. Pepper album cover…’ Alyx explained.

  ‘Sounds amazing.’ Penelope laughed.

  ‘It was great, totally spontaneous. The bands usually take the two little booths in the upstairs bar. Let’s go up and see if they can squeeze us in…’ Alyx grabbed Penelope’s hand and led her upstairs.

  ‘Ok.’ ‘This place is amazing. The wooden floors are lovely, it’s so not like the gig venues in London, it’s so pretty… and it’s just the right size, to maintain intimacy with the band a opposed to being miles away from them while they are playing.’ Penelope was drinking it all in, coming to a place like this made her feel like she was a real New Yorker.

  ‘Hi, I was just wondering if…’ Alyx poked his head through the velvet curtains, into one of the booths.

  ‘Alyx! what the hell are you doing here?!’ Damien shouted over the music.

  ‘Damien! Hi, I was just going to try to talk my way into the booth here, let me introduce you to Penelope… Penelope this is Damien. I didn’t know that you were going to be over here.’ Damien jumped up and gave Alyx a manly hug.

  ‘Very nice to meet you, are you with one of the bands?’ Penelope was a bit taken aback, she wasn’t really expecting this. There were two small areas upstairs in the balcony bar, and they were curtained off in purple velvet. As Penelope looked in over Alyx’s shoulder she saw the entourage Alyx was chatting to, they were all doing vodka shots.

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so… here… squeeze in, there is plenty of room, they are not here yet, they’ll probably show up just before they go on… actually f
ingers crossed that they show up at all… they get very erm, well… distracted in New York,’ Damien added.

  ‘Penelope, is this ok for you?’ Alyx was keen to make sure that Penelope was comfortable.

  ‘Of course, yes, lovely, thanks.’ Penelope was thrilled.

  ‘I’ll just go and get us some drinks.’ Alyx headed off to the bar.

  ‘So, Penelope, are you Alyx’s girlfriend?’ Damien leaned over to Penelope so that she could hear what he was saying.

  ‘Erm well, you see, em, well we are on a date.’ Penelope got a little flustered, she didn’t really know what to say.

  ‘I see, not really at that stage yet.’ Damien winked at her.

  ‘You could say that.’ Penelope was relieved that he didn’t probe further.

  ***

  Penelope got in at 4 am New York time, and it didn’t take her long to figure out that it was already breakfast time in the UK, so she couldn’t contain herself and dialled George’s number, even though it was Sunday morning!

  ‘Oh my god George… I just couldn’t wait to phone you. The date was amazing!’ Penelope shrieked as soon as George answered.

  ‘So… no chinos then?’ George sounded groggy. She had just woken up.

  ‘God no, no chinos at all… he looked so gorgeous. He was wearing really nice jeans a funky t-shirt, and a navy pin-stripe jacket. I’m telling you George he’d give David Beckham a run for his money on the fashion front.’ Penelope was talking really fast, she was still really elated after her date.

  ‘Seriously?’ George had never heard Penelope talk like this before.

  ‘Yeah, and his hair is gorgeous… it’s jet-black and it’s a bit longer now, sort of chin length, he looks more like he could be in the band himself.’ Penelope squealed.

  ‘Wow.’ George was genuinely impressed.

  ‘I know, and we had the most amazing time, we went for tapas, which was perfect because my body clock is a bit messed up with the time difference, and I was so nervous that I could barely eat a thing, but it wasn’t too obvious. And then we went to a place called the Bowery Ballroom.’ Penelope gushed.

  ‘A ballroom? Like ballroom dancing?’ George asked.

  ‘No, nothing like that, it’s a gig venue…’ Penelope was still gushing.

  ‘Ah yes, I should have guessed… and were there anymore twenty-somethings singing to you?’ George laughed.

  ‘No, no, The Libertines, and a few other bands, were playing there… they were amazing, and the venue itself was lovely, really pretty, and we ended up in this kind of booth thing behind velvet curtains in with the band people… not the actual bands, but their people.’ Penelope was still talking really fast.

  ‘And?’ George sounded mischievous.

  ‘And… he was a perfect gentleman and dropped me home,’ Penelope added.

  ‘No kissing?’ George shrieked! She was beginning to think Alyx was gay!

  ‘Well, there was a bit of kissing… but that’s all I’m saying, apart from the fact that it was amazing. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep…’ Penelope was elated.

  ‘Now, I thought that because you were staying in a lovely hotel over there, that you might have been tempted to, well, you know… take advantage of it, the hotel that is.’ George sounded concerned.

  ‘No way, I’m blonde… not stupid!’ Penelope shrieked. ‘As if I would do something like that! We’ve only had two dates, even though I do feel like I’ve known him all my life.’

  ‘So, he’s a keeper is he?’ George asked.

  ‘Absolutely, I think I’m falling in love,’ Penelope sighed.

  ‘Careful now,’ George warned.

  ‘I know, I know… well I’m enjoying all of this, let me enjoy it.’ Penelope pleaded.

  ‘Ok, I’ll stop being mum for a minute, when are you coming home?’ George got back to basics.

  ‘I should be back by Tuesday, but it’s difficult to tell really.’ Penelope replied, anything could happen while they were over there and they may have to stay on a bit longer.

  ‘Ok, well send me an email tomorrow ok?’ George slid out of bed.

  ‘Yeah, but I can’t really put stuff in it about Alyx, they have access to everything that I do online in work,’ Penelope warned.

  ‘Ok, well I’ll see you when you come back, and we will have a proper catch up about it,’ George reassured her.

  Penelope hung up and lay down on her bed, completely unable to sleep. The sun would be up soon, and she could go out and get a coffee. This was the best trip to New York that she had ever had.

  George padded down to the kitchen in her pyjamas in SW11, and put the kettle on.

  ***

  On Tuesday Alyx skipped the queue at JFK and checked in for his upper class flight home. He wandered up to the club lounge and helped himself to a JD and Coke. He sat down at a nearby table and swerved as a bird flew down and nearly knocked his drink out of his hand.

  ‘That gets me every time.’ Alyx chuckled to himself as he considered his near miss.

  ‘What a productive trip. A digital piracy strategy, two new bands engaged, but not signed and a second date with Penelope.’

  She was nothing like the girls he usually went out with, dating a banker was definitely a first for him. But there was just something about her, he couldn’t put his finger on it. She loved music as much as he did. Perhaps she had missed her calling.

  Chapter 16

  New Beginnings

  Zara was on her way home from work, dissecting her day.

  ‘That was the worst day ever. Some people started clearing out their desks last night. Myself and Rob were one of the last ones to leave, it’s so sad… just when I was feeling settled. I just can’t believe that this has happened to me. I’m glad that I didn’t tell my parents, it would break their hearts, and I’d be so embarrassed if I had to go back home, after such a short time. Oh no, here come the waterworks again… not on the Tube of all places! Hold it in, hold it in…’ Zara buried her head in her book, trying to hide her face.

  ‘… Ah finally, home sweet home. The others are all out really late tonight, thank god, I could do with having a good blub. Keys, where are my… oh no, I don’t believe this! I only have the key to the outside door… I must have left the full set on the table inside when I picked up the post this morning. I’ll just have to wait until the others come home.’ Zara slumped down in the communal hallway.

  ‘I feel completely minging. I look a state, oh no… this is all I need, the bloody neighbours all arriving in.’ Zara had slumped down on the floor outside her front door, she could not believe that she was locked out.

  ‘Hey there, are you ok?’ The neighbour that Zara hadn’t met yet, walked in a few moments later.

  ‘Oh, em, hello, well, I’m locked out actually,’ Zara stuttered, struggling to hide the fact that she had been bawling her eyes out.

  ‘You look like you could do with a drink!’ he said in a soft Australian lilt.

  ‘That’s not a bad observation, my office closed down today, and now I’m locked out, I’m having one of those days… I’m Zara by the way, have you just moved in here?’ Zara regained composure, she could see through her tears now, as they were gradually drying up, that this guy was gorgeous.

  ‘Yeah, I’m Zack, a crew of us from Melbourne have all moved in here… Look, do you want to come in for a while, there’s no point sitting on the doorstep, and I’m not an axe murderer I promise… we can leave a note on the door in case your flatmates come back…’ Zack offered her his hand, and helped her up.

  ‘Em, well, ok, if it’s not too much trouble…’ Zara didn’t see that she had any other choice, Penelope was away and the boys would be out late.

  ‘Nah, not at all, and I’ll introduce you to the other guys.’ Zack gave Zara a winning smile.

  ‘Thanks, sniff.’ Zara blew her nose.

  ‘Tissue?’ Zack offered her the box of tissues as she stepped inside their front door.

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ Zara took the box gratefully.<
br />
  ‘Oh my god, he’s bloody gorgeous, I’ve never met any guys from Melbourne before, I wonder if they all look like that. This house is really nice, but it’s really weird, it’s exactly the same layout as ours, just the other way around, it’s kind of freaking me out,’ Zara thought as she looked around.

  ‘So Zara, how long have you lived in London?’ Zack asked her once she had settled down on the sofa with a cup of tea and a Tim Tam.

  ‘About a month,’ Zara sighed.

  ‘So, you are as new as me then?’ Zack was glad that they had something in common.

  ‘Yeah, you could say that.’ Zara was relieved that he was new to London too, at least they definitely had that in common.

  ‘Are you sticking around for a while, or…?’ Zack asked her.

  ‘Erm, well I’m not too sure, you see I kind of came here for work, but that kind of isn’t happening now, so em, I’m not too sure what I’m going to do…’ Zara simply couldn’t talk about it without crying again, she was dying to change the subject.

  ‘Oh, I see…’ Zack was watching her reaction as she said this, so he was keen to change the subject to make her feel more comfortable, her day was bad enough.

  ‘All of this has happened so fast, I’ll probably take a couple of weeks to figure out what I’m going to do. I might do a bit of temping,’ Zara added.

  ‘That’s a good plan.’ Zack smiled at her.

  ‘I must look a total sight, mascara everywhere… what a nightmare. I think I heard someone going in next door!’

  ‘I think I heard someone going in there…’ Zara gestured next door.

  ‘Let’s have a look…’ Zack got up and they headed for his front door.

  ‘Zara! What happened, are you ok?’ Penelope was struggling with her luggage and fumbling for her keys, and she was surprised to see anyone, let alone Zara, coming out of the neighbour’s front door. Particularly as they thought the house was empty.