‘Yes, that’s OK with me.’ Paige said, finishing the quiz and paying a bit more attention to the phone call. ‘We can start with a bit of a warm up then go through some of the basics so I can get an idea where you’re at, and take it from there.’
‘Sounds great’ Taylor responded. There was a long pause where only Sooty’s quiet purring could be heard.
‘Well, if that’s all -’
‘I was wondering if we could grab a coffee afterwards, my treat,’ Taylor blurted out. ‘My way of saying thank you for your help.’
‘I don’t really drink coffee,’ Paige said obtusely.
‘Oh, well... um, OK, well -’ Taylor spluttered.
‘I could have some tea if that’s OK?’
‘Oh, yes! Yes, of course.’
‘OK then, I will see you Thursday,’ Paige concluded.
‘See you then!’ Taylor said before hanging up. Paige took the phone away from her ear and looked at it for a little while. She wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened.
The results from her quiz had finally loaded. She had scored forty-six, which was supposed to indicate it was highly likely she was autistic. Paige looked at the screen for a while before snapping it closed and standing up, heading to the kitchen. Sooty, thinking he was getting fed again, followed. Paige made herself a cup of herbal tea, distracting herself with the familiarity of the routine. It had been a strange day and she couldn’t work out how she was feeling. Was she sad? Happy? Angry? She was definitely feeling something but had no idea what. It felt like she had one of those hospital pain charts with the faces on, only it was spinning around in front of her, and she was unable to get the chart to stay still for long enough to pick which face was closest to how she was feeling.
Sitting back down on the sofa, she turned the television on to create some background noise, and texted Maya. Maya responded by initiating a video call. Paige considered the screen with a slightly disgusted look on her face. But she still answered.
‘Err, hello?’
‘Hi, lovely! Great to see you’ Maya said cheerfully.
‘What are you doing? We don’t video call.’
‘I know, Spence, but with me moving away we’re going to have to find alternative ways to communicate. Don’t tell me you could go six months without seeing this beautiful face?’ Maya said, putting her hands under her chin in a V shape and fluttering her eyelashes.
‘I mean, I could,’ Paige replied ‘but it wouldn’t be very pleasant. I would miss you.’
‘I know, sweetie, and that’s why we’re video calling now. So you can get used to it.’
‘That makes sense,’ Paige admitted, without looking at the phone screen. It felt very strange to be holding her best friend’s virtual head in her hands. She quickly put her phone down on the table, propped up against her mug of tea. Maya winced a few times as the act of Paige putting her phone down created loud bangs and thuds at her end of the line.
‘Take it easy there, Spence,’ Maya said, rubbing her ears.
‘Oh, sorry.’
‘So what’s new?’ Maya asked, before looking away from the screen. She was sat in front of a mirror and was busy applying make up. Her tightly curled dark hair had already been pulled back into a bun.
‘My head of department thinks I’m autistic.’
‘You said earlier. So?’
‘So I don’t have a diagnosis so she couldn’t know that.’
‘Sweetie, most people who meet you know you’re a little bit quirky.’
‘But that doesn't make me autistic.’
‘And if it did? Would it matter?’
‘Not really. It’s not a bad thing. I just think she overstepped the mark, that’s all.’
‘She probably did.’
‘I am going climbing with Taylor on Thursday, to give her some coaching. She would like to buy me a cup of tea afterwards to say thank you.’
‘Uh-huh,’ Maya said patiently, ‘so you’ve got a date with a hot climber chick’
‘It’s not a date. I’m coaching her.’
‘But it’s just you two? And she wants to spend time with you, on your own, afterwards?’
‘Yes. She said it was to say thank you.’
‘You know people don’t always mean what they say, lovely.’
‘So she doesn’t want to say thank you?’ Paige asked. Maya laughed a little.
‘No, lovely, she doesn’t want to just say thank you. She’s into you.’
‘She hasn’t said anything if she is. Should I ask her?’
‘You can’t just ask her outright. Flirt with her a little, see how she responds.’
‘But I don’t even know if she’s gay.’
‘Trust me, lovely, the way she looked at you the other night; she’s gay.’
‘If you say so,’ Paige said, rolling her eyes.
‘I saw that!’ said Maya.
‘Oh, sorry. I forgot you could see me.’
‘Clearly,’ Maya said, exasperated. ‘Will you ring me afterwards, let me know how it goes?’
‘If you want?’ Paige said, confused.
‘Thank you. Look, lovely, I have to go, I’m going out with the work lot tonight to celebrate me getting the Japan job. I’ll speak to you soon, OK?’
‘OK,’ Paige said. Maya picked up her phone so she could speak directly into her camera.
‘Remember, lovely, no matter what your boss thinks, you are a wonderful person. A label doesn't change that, or you. Love you,’ she finished, blowing Paige a kiss.
‘Love you too,’ Paige said, and they hung up.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Rain and Sparks
Paige arrived early at the climbing centre so she could do a lap around the walls, planning the routes she would suggest Taylor tried. Easier ones if she needed them, and progressively harder ones if she wanted to push herself. There were a couple of families there for the evening, which made Paige think about her niece and nephew coming to stay next week. It was their half term break, so she had made sure she didn’t schedule any meetings or tutorials that week. It was also reading week for the students, so she had no lecturing commitments. She was looking forward to getting up in the hills with the kids, getting some fresh air, and just generally not worrying about real life for a while. A few members of the climbing club greeted her as she walked around, making small talk about the difficulty of the routes, or about missing the summer months and being able to climb outdoors. During winter the rock faces tended to be too wet for all but the most avid climbers. It was pitch black outside already, so the room was lit solely by the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Rain hammered on the windows and echoed around the room slightly, making it sound like there were a bunch of tiny people tap dancing on the roof. As others arrived at the centre they came in in various states of dampness. Paige decided to head back out to the entrance to wait for Taylor, only to see she was already there - and thoroughly soaked. Someone on reception had given her a towel and she was patting her hair dry when Paige walked up.
‘Hi!’ Taylor said enthusiastically. ‘Sorry I’m late.’
‘You’re soaking,’ Paige stated, confused. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Yes I’m fine, I just got drenched when I left work. It didn’t look like it would rain this morning, so I left my umbrella at home. I see now that that was a mistake.’ Taylor’s top looked several shades darker than it was meant to, due to how damp it had gotten, and her hair still looked like she was fresh from the shower, despite her attempts to dry it.
‘Do you still want to climb?’ Paige asked.
‘Yes, of course! Unless you’ve changed your mind?’ Taylor questioned, her eyebrows rising slightly and worry in her eyes.
‘I haven’t. I thought we’d do some bouldering to warm up and then get started on some routes?’
‘Sounds great!’
Taylor handed the towel back to the receptionist with thanks, and the two women made their way into the climbing room. Taylor made quick work of changing into her climb
ing shoes and they headed over to the bouldering area. Paige quickly identified a route for them to warm up on. Taylor hesitated, standing at the edge of the mat, watching. Paige made quick work of the first part of the route. About halfway up she paused and looked over her shoulder to see how Taylor was doing, and saw that she hadn’t moved.
‘Are you coming?’ Paige asked gently. Taylor smiled and quickly made her way to a secluded section of wall, out of Paige’s eye-line. Paige mentally shrugged and carried on climbing. Climbing allowed her to clear her head in a way she hadn’t been able to replicate anywhere else. She could feel each individual element of the rough texture of the holds under her hands while her climbing shoes squeezed her feet just the right amount; not enough to cause her pain, but enough to give her the feeling of close contact with the wall. The smell of chalk and sweat reminded her of days at the beach as a child. The sound of rope moving through a carabiner reminded her of her mother zipping up her coat. She loved being able to share her passion with other people and always hoped that they got even a tenth of the pleasure out of it that she did.
Ten minutes later Paige got to the top of another route. After she topped out, she jumped off from the wall and gracefully landed on her feet, bending her knees to absorb the force from the jump. As she stood up she brushed a bit of excess chalk off her hand and went to check on Taylor. She had chosen quite a technical route. It did not contain any dynamic moves, but it did require some pretty exact body positioning and weight distribution. Paige watched Taylor unnoticed for a while; her slender figure was balanced quite precariously, with both her feet on one hold. Paige looked on as Taylor made a few attempts to ascend to the next hold, but she could see straight away that her foot position was wrong. She walked over.
‘Can I give you a hand?’ Paige asked, making Taylor jump so hard she nearly fell off the wall.
‘Jesus! You scared me there,’ she said, adjusting her grip on the hand holds. ‘Help would be great, thanks. I just can’t get past this bit.’
‘What you need to do,’ Paige said, before taking a step forward and putting her hands on Taylor’s ankle and foot, ‘is get more of your heel onto the hold, like this.’ Paige adjusted Taylor’s foot into a position where she could get her weight down through her heel, so it was directly above the middle of the hold. It would allow her to almost sit on her ankle as she transferred her weight across, before standing up on to reach the next hand hold. Paige’s stomach became fuzzy at the physical contact. She withdrew her hands.
‘There you go. Give it another shot.’ Taylor did as she was told and easily climbed past that part of the route, all the way to the top. Once she finished she jumped down next to Paige, both of them still looking at the wall.
‘Why do I remember this being so much easier when I was younger?’ she said, slightly out of breath.
‘We tend to over-think things less when we’re younger,’ Paige said, thoughtfully. She stole a quick glance at Taylor, looking her up and down, before focusing back on the wall. ‘Are you ready to move on?’
‘I think so.’ Taylor said, before adding, ‘Just... don’t judge me too harshly, OK? I’m nowhere near as good as you.’
‘I’m not that good, I just climb a lot,’ Paige said honestly.
The two women made their way over to the first wall Paige had picked out earlier that evening. The slight incline would make it easier to practice the more technical moves, and there were a couple of routes that would allow progression. They talked a little about their work while tying in before Paige sent Taylor off on her first rope climb of the night. Watching from below she was able to analyse Taylor’s technique and shout instructions and encouragement when needed. They took it in turns, climbing different routes, and the gap between their route gradings decreased as the night went on, until Taylor was climbing only one grade below Paige. One of them being several metres up in the air for most of the night didn’t facilitate much conversation, but Paige did learn that Taylor hadn’t always been an academic and that Dylan was her only sibling. She also learnt that Taylor’s smile filled her with light, so she did everything she could to make her smile as much as possible.
The cafe was empty when the two women walked in, laughing. Only the person behind the counter was there, cleaning one of the glass cabinets with a cloth. The room was quite cold, like the rest of the building, but Paige didn’t really notice. The coffee machine spluttered into life after they placed their orders, and the smell of coffee and herbal tea quickly filled the small room. Taylor had insisted on buying them both a slice of a very rich-looking chocolate cake, saying they had earned it, which was true; they had completed over a dozen climbs each in fairly quick succession. Paige automatically led them to a table tucked into the corner of the room, from which she could see both the entrance to the cafe and the counter. The location of a condiment cabinet meant that it was quiet and enclosed, an intimate space.
‘How did you find that?’ Paige asked, sipping her tea.
‘Amazing,’ Taylor said, beaming. ‘I remember why I used to love climbing so much.’
‘Why did you stop?’
‘It was something Dylan and I always did together, and Dylan stopped for a while -’ She cut herself off. ‘It just wasn’t the same without him, so I stopped too.’
‘But he’s climbing again now? So will you stick with it?’
‘Definitely, that was so much fun! To be honest, I’m stuck behind a desk most of the day with work, so it’s nice to get some exercise in and just forget about work for a while.’
‘I understand that. I go running up in the hills behind my house sometimes when I need to get away from real life for a bit.’
‘Where do you live?’
‘On the edge of the Silverton forest.’
‘Oh! I’ve always wanted to go exploring there. It seems like it would be a great place to get lost in for a while.’
‘My niece and nephew are coming to stay next week, and we’re planning on going to the forest. You could come with us if you like.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes, why not?’
‘I’d love to, thank you!’ There was that smile again. It created little dimples in her cheeks and made her eyes seem a little bit brighter. Paige continued studying her, and Taylor blushed a little. It wasn’t long before they were chatting away about anything and everything, like they’d known each other for years rather than weeks. Paige found Taylor easy to talk to. She didn’t make fun of her little idiosyncrasies or get offended if Paige wasn’t staring directly into her eyeballs when she was talking. Looking away helped her listen, and Paige wanted to make sure she heard every word.
Eventually the person behind the till starting making obvious moves that he was packing up for the night, and Paige was amazed to check her watch and see that it was 9:30 already. She grabbed her bag and coat from the floor and got to her feet, still talking to Taylor as she did the same. They got to the door and could see that the rain was still coming down in sheets, battering the walls and windows of the climbing centre. Paige suddenly remembered that Taylor didn’t have an umbrella, and her jacket clearly wasn’t waterproof. She took off her own coat and held it aloft over the both of them.
‘Want to make a run for it?’ she asked, smiling. Taylor didn’t respond but instead took one half of the coat and pushed the door open. They both ran out, Taylor directing them toward her car, giggling all the way. Paige held the coat for both of them while Taylor dug her keys out of her pocket. In the short time they’d been outside her hands had gotten cold and wet, meaning she fumbled with her keys for a while before managing to unlock the car and open the door. She paused before getting into the car.
‘Thank you for today, Paige, I really enjoyed it. It blew away the cobwebs and I learnt loads.’
‘No problem,’ Paige said, eyes roving around her companion’s face before settling on looking at the dimple on her right cheek. She was aware of how close Taylor was. She could clearly see each of her freckles and almost
feel the body heat radiating off her.
‘I’ll see you soon?’ Taylor asked, almost in a whisper. Paige just nodded. Taylor dove into the car and shut the door, throwing her bag onto the passenger seat next to her. Paige stood there for a few seconds longer before jogging over to her own car and being very grateful for keyless entry. She wasn’t sure she could feel her hands anymore, and not just because they were wet and cold.
Paige watched as Taylor started her car, turned her lights on, and began to drive away, flashing her hazards a couple of times in farewell She smiled and started her own engine, the car roaring into life and the heated seats beginning to warm up. She sat there a little while longer, staring out through the water-soaked windscreen, unsure exactly what had happened that evening. It wasn’t until the staff members came out of the centre building to lock up that she actually put her seatbelt on and drove away.
Paige practically bounced through her front door. Sooty lazily picked his head up from the sofa to see what all the fuss was about. She strolled over and picked him up, holding him in her arms. His eyes went wide with shock, but a few pets was all it took for him to start purring and rubbing his head against her hand. Paige had picked up some reduced price chicken on her way home as a treat for him, and she could swear he somehow knew. She carried him into the kitchen and he gracefully jumped down from her arms to sit knowingly by his food bowl. His impatience led to Paige dropping more than one piece of chicken on his head, as she tore it into manageable pieces and plopped it in his bowl. His loud purring echoed around the room like an engine.
Back in the living room Paige shot Maya a quick text to say that she was back form her climbing session with Taylor and that it had gone well. Almost as soon as she’d sent it Maya was video calling her.
‘Tell me everything!’ Maya squeaked giddily.
‘There’s nothing to tell. We climbed and had a drink in the cafe after,’ Paige said, but the slight crimson flush that crept across her cheeks betrayed her.
The Face of It Page 7