Cruisin'

by Brian Caswell

  In one part of my brain, I knew what was happening, but the other part – the part that's supposed to know what to do at times like that – was frozen.

  It was too sudden, and I needed a moment to adjust.

  But, as usual, Suzi wasn't about to wait for me to catch up.

  'You're even worse at this stuff than you are at chess,' she said, leaning towards me in a way which left me in no doubt about her intentions.

  By the way, there's another variation to the rom-com formula, which I forgot to mention earlier – even though it's suddenly become my personal favourite.

  That's the one where the guy's best friend – who isn't annoying, but can definitely be colourful at times, and who just happens to be a pretty incredible, not to mention incredibly pretty girl (in a comforting non-bikini-goddess kind of way) – suddenly turns out, in a major plot-twist which he doesn't see coming, to be madly in love with the hero.

  He suddenly realises the fact, of course, when she kisses him (usually while they're caught out in the mother of all rainstorms) and he discovers that he'd actually quite enjoy kissing her back – which he does, just as the final credits roll ...