The Invitation_The perfect laugh-out-loud romantic comedy

by Keris Stainton

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Piper said. She felt tears building behind her eyes. She’d known him then. She’d hung out with him then. She’d had no idea. He’d seemed fine.

  ‘I’m fine now,’ he said. ‘And Mum and Dad are fine. They were much happier once they split. But…’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know why I told you that. I know it’s not the same.’

  ‘No,’ Piper said. She wanted to reach out and touch him – she sat on her hands instead. ‘Thank you for telling me. I wish I’d known back then.’

  ‘Ah,’ Rob said. ‘No way would I have told you back then. I didn’t want you feeling sorry for me. I wanted you to fancy me.’

  Piper wriggled her hands out from under her thighs and picked up her wine. ‘I did,’ she said, before taking a large mouthful.

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘Fucking hell,’ Piper said. She couldn’t look at him. He was too close. And too hot and she might have had too much wine. ‘I did fancy you.’

  ‘You did not.’

  She could hear the laugh in his voice. She looked at him. He looked incredulous, smile wide, eyes crinkling at the corners.

  ‘I was completely fucking batshit about you,’ she said. ‘From the day we met until the day I left.’

  She’d definitely had too much wine. Fuck.

  Rob was quiet. Staring at her. She forced herself to stare back. She’d never have been brave enough to do this back when they were teens, but she could maybe be brave enough now. Maybe.

  ‘When I walked into the reunion and I saw you…’ Rob said. ‘I couldn’t even approach you straight away. I couldn’t catch my breath. You looked… You looked so fucking gorgeous. And then later, when we were dancing, the light was shining on your dress – you were like a glitter ball.’ He stopped and shook his head. ‘Wait. I don’t mean—’

  ‘I know,’ Piper said, laughing, even though she was struggling to breathe too. He thought she was gorgeous. He’d really just said that. ‘It’s okay.’

  ‘Bright and shining and sparkling and…’ He drained his wine. ‘I’d always thought I was a dickhead for letting you just go off to London. For not telling you or asking you… I almost messaged you so many times. But then I thought, well, you left for a reason. You didn’t keep in touch for a reason. And I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to keep in touch or anything. Until I saw you on that show and I just thought “fuck it”.’

  Piper stared at him. Fuck it. She stood and walked around the table towards him. He turned in his chair, but didn’t stand. He looked up at her, and his eyes were dark and focussed on her face.

  She grazed his jaw with her fingertips, brushed her thumb along his cheekbone. He spread his legs and she stepped into the V made by his thighs. He reached for her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. He reached up with his other hand and Piper gasped as he grazed his thumb over her bottom lip. She wanted to kiss him, but at the same time she wanted to stretch the anticipation out forever.

  Rob shifted in his seat, his thighs tightening either side of Piper’s legs, and she couldn’t wait any longer. She dipped her head and pressed her mouth to his and oh god. One of Rob’s arms wrapped around her waist, his hand curved around the back of her neck, and she sagged against him as his tongue slipped over her bottom lip.

  ‘Fuck,’ she breathed against his mouth.

  He huffed out a laugh. ‘I know.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  She pushed her hand into the back of his hair and slipped her tongue against his, tilting her head for better access. She’d had some good kisses over the years. Andrew had been a great kisser. But nothing like this. This kiss started at her lips and zipped down her spine. She thought her toes were probably curling. She pulled back a little, nipping gently at Rob’s mouth.

  ‘So,’ Rob said. ‘You’re telling me that we could have been doing this for like fourteen years.’

  ‘God,’ she said, dropping her head back. ‘Don’t.’

  She’d barely got the word out before she felt Rob’s lips on her neck, his tongue stroking over the muscle.

  ‘There’s a mole here,’ he said against her neck. ‘I never noticed before.’

  Piper ran her hands over his wide shoulders. He was basically twice as wide as he had been in their teens – it was ridiculous. He kissed up her throat and she dipped her head down to meet his mouth. The second kiss was just as good as the first, turning hotter faster.

  ‘Can we…’ Rob said, his thumb brushing her lip again. She wanted to bite it. ‘Can we move to the sofa or—’

  ‘Yeah,’ Piper said, breathlessly. She wanted to lie down. She wanted to press herself up against him and feel his hardness against her softness.

  He pushed himself up to standing, but immediately kissed her again, her head tipped back this time.

  ‘God,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe—’

  ‘I know,’ Piper said.

  ‘Do you want more wine?’ Rob asked.

  ‘No,’ Piper said. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sit down,’ he said. ‘I’ll open another bottle.’

  Piper sat on the sofa, leaning her head against the back and looking up at the ceiling. Her fantasies had featured Rob for years. From the first time they’d met until she’d moved to London. Once she’d left, she’d tried not to think about him any more, but occasionally he’d still crept in. She’d imagined him turning up in London, telling her he missed her, was lost without her, couldn’t believe he’d let her get away. In those fantasies she was thin. He’d be stunned. Would gaze at her and say, ‘You look amazing.’ In those fantasies, she spent as much time thinking about what she was wearing as she did about Rob.

  Rob came back with two glasses of wine and set them down on the coffee table, along with the bottle.

  ‘This isn’t why I invited you for dinner,’ he said, sitting next to her. ‘I mean, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind.’ He grinned.

  Piper laughed. His thigh was pressed up against hers. She remembered sitting next to him on the bus once, years ago. Claire had sat on his other side, yelling, ‘Budge up,’ and he’d budged right up against Piper, his body pressed up all along her side. She’d barely breathed for the entire journey, trying to memorise the way he felt.

  ‘I thought maybe it was at first,’ Piper said. ‘And then when you asked about Matt I thought it couldn’t be.’

  ‘I didn’t think you were together,’ Rob said, dipping his head to graze his lips against her neck again. ‘But I needed to make sure first.’

  ‘First,’ Piper said.

  ‘First,’ Rob confirmed.

  Piper turned her head, her lips drifting across his face before finding his mouth. He tasted of wine and steak and pepper. He shifted on the sofa, pressing closer to her, and she relaxed back into the cushions. His hand gripped her hip, fingers pressing into her skin and she arched up into him, moaning into his mouth.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, their glasses were empty and Piper was on her back with Rob on top of her, her shirt pushed up to her shoulders, his fingers making patterns against her ribs. She hadn’t kissed like this – just kissed – for years. Kissing always seemed to be the starter, gulped down before moving on to the main sex course. And she’d always been okay with that. But then kissing had never been like this. She never wanted to stop kissing Rob. Loved the sounds he made when she bit at his bottom lip or curled her tongue around his. Loved the taste of him and the scent of his neck. Loved how his hips pressed her down into the sofa, how his thigh rubbed against her crotch. Okay, maybe kissing wasn’t quite enough.

  ‘Do you want to—’ Rob said, pulling himself up and looking down at her.

  She ran her hand over the ridiculous muscles in his arm.

  ‘Yeah,’ she said.

  ‘Stop?’

  ‘Stop?’ She blinked at him. ‘Fuck, no.’

  Rob laughed. ‘Oh. Okay. Good. I thought maybe I was going too fast.’

  Piper laughed then. ‘It’s been fourteen year
s. Take your clothes off.’

  Grinning, Rob pushed himself up to kneeling and pulled his T-shirt over his head.

  ‘Holy shit,’ Piper breathed. She’d been touching him, had touched every bit of him over his shirt and under it, but she still hadn’t been prepared for how he looked. His chest was wide and muscled, with a patch of fine hair between his nipples. He had an actual six pack, and those ridiculous side grooves, like an Action Man.

  ‘You are ridiculous,’ Piper said, before she could think better of it.

  Rob grinned at her. ‘All these years, when I’ve thought about you… and me… I dreamed that one day I’d take my clothes off and you’d call me ridiculous.’

  Piper laughed. ‘I’m sorry.’ She shuffled back against a cushion. ‘I just keep super-imposing how you used to look over how you look now and it’s… a lot.’

  ‘Back atcha.’ Rob leaned down to brush his lips over her chest. ‘I mean, you were gorgeous then, but now…’ He growled into the junction between her shoulder and neck and she laughed as he lowered himself on top of her.

  ‘Actually,’ he said, lifting up again. ‘I don’t know why I’m the only one with my top off.’

  Piper sat up just enough to let Rob get hold of the hem of her top and lift it over her head. She closed her eyes until it was off and when she opened them, he was staring down at her with an expression she could only describe as awe.

  ‘You are so fucking gorgeous,’ he said.

  ‘It’s the bra.’

  ‘It’s a good bra,’ Rob said. He leaned on his left arm and ran his fingertips from her shoulder, across her chest, along the edge of the bra to the dip between her breasts.

  Piper shivered. ‘Careful. I saw on the Internet there’s a little man living in there.’

  Rob laughed. ‘God.’ He dipped his head and kissed her. ‘I really am sorry—’

  ‘Shut up,’ Piper said. ‘And carry on.’

  He ran his finger across the other breast to her shoulder, before curling his hand around the back of her neck, his thumb brushing behind her ear, lowering his mouth to hers again, sucking gently on her bottom lip.

  ‘You’re good at this,’ she murmured against his mouth.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.’ He dipped his head again, running his tongue along the path made by his finger.

  Piper curled against him. ‘God. I still can’t believe you liked me back then.’

  ‘Same.’ He moved lower, kissing her belly, hands sliding over her waist.

  Piper tried to move her leg to hook it around his hips, but he was on top of her, pressing her down into the sofa.

  ‘Can we move?’ Piper said. ‘I’m a bit…’

  ‘Fuck. Am I squashing you? Sorry.’

  Rob shifted his leg so it fell to the side of Piper’s, their hips aligning, crotches pressing together. Piper tipped her head back. She wanted to move against him, make him move against her, hold his hips and press him tighter into her.

  Rob dropped down again, moaning against her neck.

  ‘Can we—Do you want to—’

  Piper kissed his neck, the hollow behind his ear. ‘Yes.’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When Piper woke up she had no idea where she was. The room was pitch dark and totally silent and she blinked up at the ceiling for a second before remembering: Rob. She was at Rob’s flat. In Rob’s bedroom. In Rob’s bed. She rolled onto her side, expecting to find him there, fast asleep, but the other side of the bed was empty, the duvet flapped open like a book.

  She reached for her phone and squinted at the brightness. Four a.m. Maybe he’d just gone to the loo. Or maybe she’d been snoring or – god – farting, and he’d gone to sleep on the sofa or in the spare room, if he even had a spare room. She swung her legs out of the bed and tiptoed through to the living room, but there was no sign of him.

  The only light in the room was coming from the cooker hood.

  ‘Rob?’ she whispered. She didn’t like the way her voice sounded in the empty flat. Her stomach started to flutter with nerves. Where the fuck could he be? At four in the morning?

  She pulled the curtain back a little and looked out onto the prom. There was no one around, of course. Apart from the water on the river and the occasional seagull, everything was still. Should she phone him? It made no sense that he wasn’t here. Maybe there’d been an emergency and he’d had to go, but wouldn’t he have left a note?

  Pulling the curtain closed again, she checked the bathroom and then the en suite, but both were dark and empty. By the time she climbed back into bed, she was trembling, both with cold and with fear.

  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying there when she heard the front door and then the sound of the shower in the other bathroom.

  Why the fuck was he showering? She sat up in bed, leaning back against the pillows. Rob’s pillows. She reached for her phone again. It was five now. And Rob was showering. He couldn’t have sneaked out to see someone else, surely. That would be mad. But where else could he have gone and why would he need to shower at five a.m.?

  Only a couple of minutes later, Rob opened the bedroom door and startled at the sight of Piper, sitting up and staring back at him.

  ‘Shit.’ He was naked apart from a towel around his waist. ‘Why are you up?’

  ‘Where have you been?’ Piper said. She’d hoped to hide the panic in her voice, but knew instantly that she’d failed entirely.

  ‘God, sorry,’ he said, coming to sit on the bed next to her. ‘I didn’t think you’d wake up. I’ve been for a run.’

  ‘At four in the morning?!’

  ‘Yeah. I don’t sleep all that well. I get to sleep, but then I wake up and my mind starts racing and that’s it for me. So I started getting up to run and when I get back I can usually get another hour or two of sleep. I would’ve told you, but I didn’t think you’d wake up.’

  Piper shook her head. ‘I freaked out a bit.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Rob said. ‘I’m sorry.’ He clasped her ankle under the duvet.

  ‘No, it’s okay, it’s not your fault. I just don’t do very well with people...’ She swallowed and her throat burned with it. ‘Disappearing.’

  ‘Shit,’ Rob said, crawling up the bed and sliding an arm around her. ‘That’s… Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about it.’ He kissed her temple. ‘Are you okay?’

  Piper nodded. ‘Better now you’re back, yeah.’

  * * *

  ‘Did you undress me?’ Piper asked. ‘The night of the reunion?’

  They were still in Rob’s bed. Neither of them had gone back to sleep. Instead they’d kissed and talked and fucked, and Piper felt boneless, more relaxed than she’d been for as long as she could remember, aching in the best way.

  Rob laughed and Piper turned her head, where it was resting on his chest, to look up at him.

  ‘What?’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I wanted to tell you that morning – I didn’t want you thinking I’d done it, but I didn’t want you worrying about it either. You said you were shame-spiralling.’

  ‘Oh god.’

  ‘Yeah. We got back and you said there was something on the neck that was scratching you. A label, I think? And so you took it off.’

  Piper turned her head again, pressing her forehead into his shoulder. ‘Oh my god.’

  ‘Didn’t even make it to the bedroom. Right there in the lounge.’

  ‘Oh god!’ Piper said again.

  Rob squeezed her, his arm around her back.

  ‘I couldn’t believe my luck. I mean, I knew nothing was going to happen, cos you were…’ He sang the next word. ‘Hammered! But you stood in the middle of the room, in this amazing underwear, with your hands on your hips. You said it was—’

  ‘Power Pose,’ Piper mumbled into his neck.

  He laughed again. ‘That’s it, I couldn’t remember. You sang a bit of the Wonder Woman theme too.’

  ‘Oh god, please stop talking. I’m so sorry I asked.’


  ‘Are the words really something about tights?’

  ‘Satin tights,’ Piper said. ‘Rhymes with “rights”.’

  ‘Fucking hell.’

  ‘I know. It’s amazing.’

  ‘You were amazing,’ Rob said, kissing her head. ‘You were so cute. And really fucking hot.’

  ‘Let’s never speak of this again,’ Piper said.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ‘Oh my god,’ Matt said, as soon as Piper walked into the flat the following day. ‘You had sex.’

  Piper laughed. ‘How? How do you do that?’ It had been almost impossible for her not to text from the train and tell him, but she’d forced herself to resist: she’d wanted to see his face when she gave him all the info.

  ‘I can always tell,’ Matt said. ‘You’re all loose. And louche.’

  ‘That’s your sex tell, not mine,’ Piper said.

  Whenever Matt was sleeping with someone he got all loose-limbed and sleepy-eyed, and she could barely convince him to leave the flat at all. Usually when Piper slept with someone it made her even more neurotic than usual, wondering if and when it would happen again, if it had been good for them, if it had been good for her or if she’d just convinced herself it had been because she didn’t want to admit it hadn’t. It was exhausting. But this time it had been good. There was no question. For both of them. And she knew Rob wanted it to happen again – and as soon as possible – because he’d told her. And she knew she wanted it to happen again because they’d spent so long in bed, she’d almost missed her train. And because she’d spent the entire train journey mentally reliving it all to the point where she’d had to sneak off to the loo to get herself off. Again.

  ‘So?’ Matt said, pouring her a glass of wine. ‘Give me all the filthy details.’