“Jasper Fisher.”
I wait patiently as she types my name in her phone. Remi is still sleeping, slouched over the bar and I’m itching to get her out of her.
“You’re not lying,” the friend gasps.
“Like I said, I like her, a lot, and I’m going to do this right.”
She puts her phone away and I’m grateful when she moves to the side.
“She’s had a real shitty day, don’t make it worse,” she warns and picks up Remi’s jacket.
“That’s the last thing I want to do.”
She helps me get Remi together and hands me her purse.
“Do you want me to wait with you while you get a cab?”
“That’s very sweet of you, but I live across the road and I’ll be home before you get her up the street.”
“She’ll be fine, I promise.”
“She better be,” she warns, and I smile.
Hooking my arm under Remi’s arms and under her knees, I lift her and shuffle her around until I know she’s not going to slip.
I’ve walked with her twice from the pub to her place and I reckon I could do it in my sleep, I’ve thought about it so much.
“Oh my god, let me down, I’m going to puke.”
I hear the slurs but apparently, I don’t let her down fast enough. She does ninja, bunny hopping manoeuvre, and miraculously lands on her feet.
“Whoa, there.”
She leans over someone’s garden wall and everything she’s eaten and drank makes a reappearance. I can’t watch but I scoop her hair away in time and rub her back, hoping it helps.
I blast our last record in my head to drown out the sounds of her hurl hitting the ground.
Groaning, she stands and then stumbles back on the wall. My hand shoots out and grabs her before she falls.
“Jasper? How did you get there? Oh no, did you just see that?” she cringes, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.
This is too gross, but it isn’t putting me off her. We’re two streets away from her place and she can’t have anything else to bring up, we should be safe from here.
“I didn’t see anything, come on, let’s go.”
After three near misses with her feet and the curb, two pauses because she thought she was going to be sick again and a frustrating argument over me helping her find her keys, I throw her over my shoulder as we ascend the stairs to her tiny bedsit as she calls it, and I don’t put her down until we’re in her super tiny bathroom. She balances her ass on the edge of the tub and I rinse a flannel out under the warm water. Squeezing out the excess water, I wipe her face over and her hands. Dumping it in the sink, I rinse her toothbrush under the tap and add toothpaste. I hand the brush over and she looks up at me with such a weird look on her face, it cuts my heart in two.
I stay where I am while she pulls herself up and brushes her teeth. Her perfume still lingers on her skin and it’s the most intoxicating scent I’ve ever smelled.
She finishes after I coax her twice and ushers me out of the bathroom, so she can pee.
“Oh, fuck…shit…bollocks…”
“Remi?” I shout through the door, ready to open it up and see what’s going on.
“I’m…fuck sakes…”
Then she giggles. Something crashes, and her giggles turn into a yelp. That’s it, I open the door and she’s on the floor with her jeans around her knees.
“They’re too skinny, I mean tight, I can’t get them off,” she laughs, swatting a bottle of shampoo off the top of her head.
“My place is really small,” she laughs.
Kneeling, I unzip her boots and throw them out into her room and fight with her jeans. Fuck me sideways, she was right, how tight are these fucking jeans?
This is useless, I can’t get a grip with no room to move in here. Pulling her up to her feet, she hops to the bed while I keep hold of her and she falls on her back.
I yank on the denim and one of her socks come off with the pants leg.
Her eyes drift shut as I move around the bed to pull back the sheets and when I rearrange her so she’s comfortably in bed, her eyes are wide open when I look down at her.
“I want someone to just, simply, want me.”
Her eyes close and they don’t open again. Her breathing evens out quickly and she’s gone for the night. From this moment on, I’m going to plan the ultimate show of romance. I’ll sweep her off her feet so hard, I’ll be the only one who will be able to catch her.
Not Another Lonely Christmas Page 16