by Zoe May
‘What do you fancy?’ he asks, when my phone starts to ring. I look at the screen: Kate.
‘You choose. I’m just going to take this,’ I point at the phone, swiping my finger across the screen to take the call.
‘Kate!’ I shriek down the phone as I wander over to the opposite side of the living room.
‘Sophia!! My long-lost friend!’ she jokes.
‘Oh, I miss you!’
‘Don’t lie! Too busy shacked up with Mr Lover-lover,’ she says with a laugh. ‘Anyway, guess what? Guess what?!’
‘Ummm… What?’ For a moment, it crosses my mind that Max has proposed. Suddenly, I realise I’m bracing myself as I look out over the city, gripped with a strange panic at the prospect of Kate moving on. She’ll end up moving out of the flat and where will that leave me? A Lewisham spinster? I glance over at the back of Daniel’s head, protruding over the top of the sofa. Could I live here, at the Shard, with him?
‘I got the part in The Mouse Trap! I’m the new Mollie Ralston!’
‘Oh my God!’ I cry, flooded with relief as well as genuine happiness for her. ‘That’s fantastic. Oh my God, Kate!’
She lets out a happy little yelp.
‘That’s amazing!’
‘I know! I’m so happy! I can’t believe it,’ she gushes. ‘They just called me, like, five minutes ago! I’m still in shock.’
‘Wow! Kate, this is big! It’s The Mouse Trap, it’s iconic!’
‘I know!’ she cries. ‘Let’s celebrate! Max has already gone out. He’s getting champagne. Let’s have a little party!’
‘Yes!’ I head back over to Daniel and sit down next to him. ‘And you can meet Daniel!’
He looks up from scrolling on his iPad, confused.
‘Oh yes, about time!’ Kate jokes.
I glance over at Daniel’s iPad screen to see that he’s on the Wagamama takeaway menu.
‘Oh Kate, I’m so proud of you!’
‘Thanks, Soph!’
Daniel still looks a bit lost. ‘Kate just got the lead role in The Mousetrap,’ I explain.
‘Great! Congratulations!’ he says.
‘Oooh, is that Mr Right himself?’ she asks, a little loudly.
‘Yeah,’ I mumble.
‘So, are you coming over then? Let’s P-A-R-T-Y!’ Kate trills.
‘Yeah, of course. We’ll get a cab.’
‘Amazing! I can’t wait to see you!’
‘Me neither.’ I say goodbye and hang-up.
‘Kate’s going to be Mollie Ralston! How cool is that?’
Daniel nods. ‘That’s very cool.’
‘She’s having a party, let’s go!’ I move to get up from the sofa but Daniel grabs my hand.
‘Wait, Sophia. I thought you were tired?’ he says.
I shrug. ‘I’ll have a coffee.’
‘But you didn’t want to go to Shoreditch Lodge. You could have had a coffee for that?’
I pull a face. ‘Shoreditch Lodge is just Shoreditch Lodge. This is Kate, my best friend, getting the starring role in one of the most well-known plays in the world,’ I point out. ‘And anyway, it’s only a little gathering at home. It’s hardly going to be that taxing.’
Daniel half-smiles. ‘Suppose…’ he relents, moodily.
‘Don’t you want to come?’ I sit back down, feeling a little hurt.
‘Yeah, I guess…’ Daniel replies with a forced smile. ‘Where even is Lewisham?’ he asks.
‘South east London? SE13,’ I tell him, a little exasperatedly.
‘SE13! Jesus Christ. SE13? I didn’t know that was a postcode,’ he comments, looking genuinely shocked.
I roll my eyes indulgently. ‘Yeah well, some of us have to use postcodes. Our mail isn’t just addressed to Daniel Hamilton-Reed, The Shard.’
Daniel smirks. ‘SE13. That must be zone five, right?’
I narrow my eyes and give him a fake, sarcastic smile, making him laugh. ‘So, are you up for it?’
Daniel lets out a dramatic sigh and turns off his iPad. ‘Yeah, why not. If I can handle fabric shopping in New Delhi then I can probably handle Lewisham.’
‘But have you had your jabs?’ I feign a concerned face.
‘Ha! You’ve probably already infected me with Lewishamitis.’
‘True.’ I give him a wink.
‘Do I need to change?’ he asks.
I look him up and down, taking in his grey silk shirt and perfectly tailored black trousers.
‘Maybe don a tracksuit or something?’ he teases.
‘Shut up! You look fine,’ I insist, although now that I think about it, he does look like a bit of a posh boy in his designer office wear and I’m not entirely sure what Kate and Max will make of him. Although I’m too embarrassed now to suggest he changes into something more casual.
‘Shall I call for a cab?’ Daniel asks, interrupting my thoughts as he gets his phone out of his pocket.
‘Okay.’ I could offer to order one myself, but I know Daniel only ever orders taxis from a premium company and I’m not exactly sure he can handle going to Lewisham and travelling in a regular cab all in one day.
‘It’s two minutes away,’ Daniel tells me, hanging up his phone.
‘Great!’ I get up and grab my handbag.
Daniel goes to the kitchen to top up Esther’s already overflowing bowl of food.
‘Bye baby, bye bye,’ he says, giving her a cat treat.
‘Daniel, come on!’ I groan, waiting impatiently by the door.
‘Relax!’ he mutters, feeding Esther another treat as he pets her.
I roll my eyes and wait. It’s strange how wealth just changes your pace. Daniel doesn’t care about incurring charges for keeping his taxi driver waiting, whereas I always rush out the second they arrive.
Finally, he gets bored of petting Esther.
‘Does Kate like Cristal?’ he asks as he opens the fridge and reaches inside.
‘Uhhh… yeah?’
Daniel pulls out a bottle. ‘We’ll take this then,’ he says, before making a few final kissing noises at Esther.
We head down to the waiting car (a huge Mercedes, naturally) and climb inside. As the driver weaves through the traffic of central London, I gaze out at the busy streets, full of office workers done for the week – some dashing home and others spilling out of pubs – and I start to feel a bit nervous. What if seeing my impoverished life in Lewisham puts Daniel off me? What if he decides I’m common as muck? The driver puts the radio onto a classical show, which helps me relax as we retreat out of central London.
‘Have you ever been properly south of the river?’ I turn to Daniel; as far as I’m aware, his world revolves entirely around zone 1.
‘Of course I have!’
I take Daniel’s hand as we head south.
‘It’ll be okay,’ I tease, giving his hand a squeeze.
He laughs, shaking his head.
As we drive towards southeast London, Mozart blends into Chopin’s last symphony (announced triumphantly by the presenter). The beautiful music flows out of the speakers as we reach Lewisham and clashes dramatically with the urban chaos that is SE13. A bus driver sticks his finger up at us because we linger a beat too long at the traffic lights. Construction workers drill into the tarmac. A teenager with his hood up barks into his mobile as he weaves blindly through the traffic.
‘Home sweet home,’ I joke, glancing over at Daniel, who is now clutching the edge of the car seat as if he’s on a ride at Alton Towers. Even our driver looks a bit tense; I guess he’s not used to taking his Mercedes down to this neck of the woods.
‘Bloody hell,’ Daniel groans as a battered old banger cuts us up and then honks aggressively. ‘Is it always like this?’
‘Yeah, basically,’ I admit. ‘Getting a bit much?’
‘Ha!’ Daniel barks out a laugh, but the expression in his eyes is one of fear. I squeeze his knee and try not to laugh.
The car stops at a set of traffic lights and Ferret Man comes hurtling across t
he road in a flurry of whippets, ferrets and commotion. Daniel stares, horrified.
‘That’s just Ferret Man,’ I tell him with an awkward laugh.
‘Right…’ Daniel murmurs, aghast.
The driver follows the directions on his sat-nav down Lewisham High Street and onto my road, where squat terraced houses sit alongside shabby grey council flats. The cars parked along the street are all second hand, battered Volvos and weary old Nissans. The odd tufty green tree makes an optimistic stab at breaking up the gloom.
‘That’s where Lyn lives.’ I nudge Daniel, as I point out her house.
‘Oh right.’ He follows my gaze towards her little terraced home.
The lights in her front room are on and I can’t help picturing her sitting watching TV alone. I feel a twinge of guilt. I bet she’s missing me. I make a mental note to call in on her tomorrow.
‘Which one is it?’ The driver asks, scanning the houses.
‘Oh, it’s that building there,’ I pipe up sheepishly, pointing at the new-build four-storey block of flats at the end of the road.
‘Right,’ he says, drawing up outside.
‘So, this is it?’ Daniel comments, peering through the window.
‘Yep!’
I remember when Kate and I first moved to Lewisham, we felt like we’d arrived. We’d finally made it! Our own two-bedroom flat in London for just £1,200 per month! We knew it wasn’t exactly the height of luxury but it was a neat, homely little place, fully furnished and sort of sturdy-looking. And by the time we’d filled it with our stuff – books, candles, cushions and arty prints – it felt so cosy. Our own cute little refuge from all the chaos of the city. And yet, over time, it’s started to feel shabbier and shabbier, and smaller and smaller, and pulling up outside with Daniel sitting next to me, it suddenly feels miniscule.
We thank the driver and get out of the car.
‘So how long have you lived here again?’ Daniel asks, giving the building another once over as we approach the front door. Seeing it through his eyes, I can’t help noticing how stained and old-looking the once-beige bricks now look.
‘Five years,’ I tell him in a deliberately upbeat voice. His eyes widen in alarm.
‘I know it’s not much, but we just needed somewhere quickly and then this place came along. It did the job,’ I tell him as I fumble in my bag for my key.
‘Ah here it is!’ I laugh nervously, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious. Even my keyring, a patent leather stuffed heart from H&M feels cheap and tacky. I turn my key in the front door.
Daniel follows me inside and steps over a kebab wrapper that one of the neighbours has abandoned on the stairs. It reeks of garlic mayo and processed meat.
‘Talk about finding a diamond in the rough,’ he comments, placing his hand on my lower back as we climb the stairs.
We arrive at the flat.
‘It’s really nothing special,’ I warn Daniel as I hesitantly open the front door.
‘I’m hardly expecting the Ritz Carlton,’ Daniel jokes as he follows me inside.
The jumbled pile of shoes by our front door looks even larger than usual. Old ballet pumps overlap with Converse and a pair of Max’s old Doc Martens. The flat smells stale, a strange mix of aerosol deodorant, coffee and hairspray.
‘Haha, it’s a bit messy!’ I say, embarrassed.
‘It’s…’ Daniel hesitates, seemingly lost for words, ‘fine.’ He smiles politely.
‘Kate?’ I call out, but the flat is quiet. I check my phone.
Just at the Deli getting some supplies. See you soon x
‘Kate’s at the deli,’ I tell Daniel, placing my phone down on the kitchen table, where Kate has left a couple of postcards. New ones from my parents, from Malaysia and Indonesia. I turn them over and start reading, when Daniel’s voice interrupts me.
‘Hmm… Maybe it is a bit messy,’ he says. I follow his gaze towards the sink, which is piled high with plates, each one covered in pesto, grease and ketchup. Tea-stained mugs and flecks of grated cheese are scattered over the work surfaces, broken up by the odd scrap of limp lettuce.
‘It’s not normally like this,’ I insist but Daniel just smiles awkwardly.
I feel a pang of irritation. Not all of us have cleaners like Elena who come and sort everything out while we’re at work. Some of us aren’t filthy rich. Some of us have busy lives, I feel like saying, but I keep my mouth shut and turn my attention back to the postcards while Daniel takes off his coat and hangs it up by the door. I read the funny little messages from my mum, which she signs off saying how much she misses me. I feel a pang of longing for her and my dad, too.
‘What’s up?’ Daniel asks.
‘What do you mean?’ I look up from the card.
‘You look a bit down,’ he observes.
I shrug and stick the postcards on the fridge. ‘Just missing my parents a bit,’ I admit, turning to him. ‘Don’t you get like that sometimes?’ Ever since Daniel told me how his parents haven’t come to visit once since he moved into the Shard, it’s sort of bothered me.
‘No. I’m used to it.’ He shrugs but his jaw tightens a little and I can tell he’s not entirely relaxed.
‘But don’t you, I don’t know, get lonely without them?’ I pry, wondering whether I’m going too far.
‘No, Sophia,’ Daniel snaps, letting out a sigh. ‘I don’t have a happy clappy family like yours, okay? Not everyone has a close-knit family!’
‘But your parents looked happy in that picture and you had family holidays and Fluffy Bear.’
Daniel rolls his eyes. ‘Yeah, well…’ he trails off and wanders off to look out the window. I get the feeling I shouldn’t push it, especially with Kate heading home any minute.
‘Were these roses once?’ Daniel asks, touching one of the petals of a decaying bunch in a vase on the windowsill. They’re brown and shrivelled and half the petals have fallen away from the bud, landing next to a dozen others. I laugh weakly as I put the postcards on the kitchen counter to read later before wandering over to Daniel.
‘I guess!’ I reply.
What Daniel doesn’t realise is that Kate actually prefers her flowers like that. She always says they look ‘more poetic’ when they’re wilting. Daniel taps another petal and we both watch as it falls when all of a sudden, we’re interrupted by the door opening. Kate comes rushing into the flat carrying two blue shopping bags from the deli.
‘Oh my God, Kate!’ I throw my arms around her. ‘Congratulations!’
We both screech excitedly for a bit, until I remember Daniel, standing awkwardly beside me.
‘This is Daniel!’ I sweep him towards her. ‘Daniel, this is Kate.’
‘Hi Daniel!’ Kate replies, her eyes widening as she leans in to kiss him on the cheek.
‘Nice to meet you.’ Daniel flashes her one of his most breathtaking smiles. ‘And congratulations, what a fantastic achievement,’ he adds.
‘Oh, thanks!’ Kate blushes gratefully.
‘Thought I’d bring you this, to celebrate,’ Daniel hands Kate the bottle of Cristal.
Kate takes it from him and eyes the label. ‘Cristal! Wow! Thank you!’
She glances over at me, impressed. ‘Shall I open it?’
Daniel grins. ‘Why not?’
Kate tears off the fastening, while Daniel asks a few more polite questions about the play, which Kate answers enthusiastically, beaming at him, clearly just as taken as every other woman on the planet, by his looks and charm.
‘Sophia, get me a glass!’ Kate yelps as she pops the cork.
I grab a wine glass and hold it in front of the bottle which starts frothing with bubbles. I can feel Daniel scrutinising the wine glass but we don’t have champagne flutes; he’s clearly never drunk Cristal in such an uncivilised way before.
Max, who must have stopped outside the flat for a cigarette, lumbers into the flat and dumps two heavy-looking bags containing crates of beer and bottles of wine onto the table.
‘And this
is Max!’ Kate introduces him to Daniel.
‘Alright,’ Max mumbles, pumping Daniel’s hand.
‘Nice to meet you,’ Daniel says, although he looks a little taken aback. Max is wearing an old sheepskin jacket with a ratty old vest underneath, which shows off his muscular body and a hint of the tattoo scrawled across his chest. It’s hard to read under his clothes, but it says, ‘Find what you love and let it kill you’, a quote from the poet Bukowski. Max openly admits – much to Kate’s annoyance – that he got it done as a teenager just to pull girls. Seeing Max next to Daniel really does highlight Daniel’s pampered rich boy looks. For a moment, it’s so clear they’re from different worlds, that it’s almost awkward.
‘I’ve missed you, Max!’ I give him a little hug. ‘This isn’t all for us, is it?’ I ask, casting a wary look at the pile of booze on the kitchen table.
‘No! Cassie and Mike are coming over,’ Mike explains. ‘And Jack and Richard.’
‘Oh, great! They’re some of our friends from uni,’ I tell Daniel.
Max pulls out cans of lager from the bag.
‘Need a hand?’ Daniel offers.
‘Cheers, mate,’ Max says and the pair begin getting the booze ready, making chit chat as they arrange it on the table. Thankfully, they seem to be getting along fine, even if they are from different worlds.
‘Kate, I still can’t believe it!’ I enthuse, clutching her hands.
‘I know! Me neither!’ She grins.
‘I’m so proud of you!’
‘Thanks, Soph.’
She grabs the bottle of Cristal and pours me a glass.
‘Cheers!’ she says, as we clink our glasses together.
I glance over at Daniel, who’s already helping himself to a beer.
‘Anyway…’ Kate grabs the deli bags from the table and moves them to the kitchen counter, pulling out a few tubs of stuffed vine leaves. She mouths ‘wow’ and casts a look towards Daniel.
‘I know!’ I mouth back and we both giggle.
‘Seriously, Sophia. Nice work,’ Kate mutters, her words muffled by the sound of the plastic bags crinkling as we pull out tubs of nibbles.
‘Pretty delectable, eh?!’ I wink at her as I pull the lid off some hummus. If the boys overhear, they’ll assume we’re talking about the food.