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‘I think we can help each other out,’ he says at last, keeping up with the strides I’m taking through the station and ruining my efforts to outpace him.
‘You know where I can find a gag?’ I mutter. ‘I’m on the hunt for one. Like, right now.’
‘Hey, what you do behind closed doors is none of my business.’ I stop mid-stride for just long enough that he has to swerve to avoidme. He answers my glare with an easy smile and steps onto the escalator before swivelling and looking up at me from a few steps below. ‘But look, I have a proposition for you. What if we entered into a mutually beneficial friendship?’
‘Aren’t all friendships mutually beneficial?’
‘Sure. But you’re not looking to make friends, I know that. I, however, need company or I will likely go insane. So at the risk of sounding like I’m five, will you be my friend? My summer-bound, deliberately regimented friend?’
There’s a group of drunk women behind us in a cloud of glitter and perfume, and one of them yells, ‘Be his friend!’
I sigh. ‘What would that entail?’
Bolstered by the fact my response wasn’t an outright “no” as he—and I—probably expected, Finn’s words flow out of him easily. ‘Hardly anything, I promise. I’m low-maintenance. Just tell me I’m pretty and laugh at my jokes.’
‘I’m unlikely to do either of those things,’ I say quickly, stepping off the escalator behind him.
‘Do it!’ the women say. I feel like I’m at a panto, so I move down the platform away from our audience and wait for Finn to follow, a train pulling in as we walk.
‘Sure. Logistics. I have a list of places I want to see and things I want to do before I leave London, which will probably end up being sometime this autumn, depending on the next job I get. You can accompany me to some of them.’
We step onto the train in single file and claim the two semi-standing benches at the end of the carriage.
I clutch the nearest handle to avoid falling off my perch as we pull out of the station and ask, ‘What do I get out of this arrangement?’
Finn turns to face me, leaning against the partition. ‘Aside fromtime spent with me?’
‘I meant the benefits,’ I say, which elicits a snort from him.
He cleans his glasses on the hem of his shirt before squinting through them to check for smears. When they’re back on his face, he says, ‘You can tell Josie you’re hanging out with me and you can stop worrying about howshe’sworried about you being lonely or bored or whatever.’ I don’t love that he’s managed to pinpoint the exact source of my concern, but I’m still not convinced. He continues, ‘It’s like… a friendship of convenience.’
For a little while, the Tube is too loud to be able to hear each other, so he waits for a quieter moment before he starts up again. ‘But what I mean is, we get to know each other.’ He sees my grimace and adds, ‘In a friendly way. Just like tonight. I get to explore the city and not go mad in my own solitude for the next few months, and you get to test out all your cutting remarks on someone whose threshold for taking offence is somewhere in outer space. It’s a win-win.’
I untie and retie my ponytail three times while I think it through.
Maybe this is the perfect solution. A sign from the universe. Because it’s not just Josie who thinks I should be getting out more. The spiny fibres of boredom have been itching, and this could be a way to scratch.
He talks a lot. Enough that I see a purchase of earplugs in my future. But if tonight’s been any indication, he’s easy enough to be around, and I don’t need to worry about keeping him at arm’s length because he said himself he doesn’t get close to people either,andhe’s leaving in a few months. What’s the worst that could happen in one summer?
‘What’s the verdict?’ he asks, peering at me.
‘If I say yes, and that’s a big “if”, we would run through yourlist at my pace. I choose what we do and when.’
‘Yes. Definitely.’
‘And you’ll let me do my job in peace next week if I agree. I don’t want this to interfere with my daily life.’
The dam on his smile breaks and it spills across his face, deepening the laughter lines bracketing his eyes. ‘I won’t say a single word to you on Monday.’
Frankly, that’s enough for me to concede. ‘Fine.’
‘So. Does this mean you’re accepting my very inorganic offer of friendship?’
With a resigned nod, I reply, ‘I am.’
‘Friends,’ he says, sticking out his little finger and preempting a pinkie promise.
I glance down and back up to meet his eyes, sure the warmth behind his must be a direct contrast to the ice behind mine. ‘I am absolutely not doing that.’
