Nadia leaned her head forward a little more. Was he talking about The Lust Villa? And what’s more, was he talking about The Lust Villa with high-brow gender analysis?
His friend, the one in the shirt, replied, ‘I see what you mean, yeah. Like, well. You know. I don’t wanna sound gay or anything but you’ve just got to let people be people, haven’t you? Like, I’m really not or nothing – obviously I’m not.’ The guy held up his hands, as if to prove he wasn’t holding ‘gay’ in them. ‘But it’d be pretty cool to watch two men hit it off. Like, if they were emotional and that, you know.’
‘Exactly!’ the guy in the waistcoat was saying. ‘I mean like, I feel it, sometimes. When dad died in the summer and I felt like I had to be so brave because otherwise, you know, I was some massive poofter or weak or whatever. I like how it’s becoming more okay for blokes to have feelings. My flatmate’s a dick but I just made friends with this guy at my job, and he doesn’t take the piss out of everything like Lorenzo does. He’s just … nicer to be around.’
‘Yeah man, that’s rough,’ his friend said. ‘The Lorenzo thing. I never really liked him, and after what you told me …’
‘Yeah,’ the guy in the leather waistcoat said, craning his neck to see if the queue was going down at all.
Nadia was hooked. Who were these two men talking so eloquently and beautifully about their feelings? And about the best show on television? The guy in the waistcoat turned, slightly, and reached out to his friend’s shoulder.
‘How you doing anyway?’ he said. ‘I am so, so sorry about your granddad. I know how close you were.’ The one in the shirt seemed caught off guard by that, suddenly welling up. Naomi was listening in intently too, and put a finger to each eye and ran them down her face, as if to say to Nadia, He’s crying. Nadia could see all the hairs rising at the back of his neck. Bless him.
‘It was his time,’ the guy said. ‘But fuck, I miss him, you know?’
‘If you ever want to talk …’ Waistcoat Guy said, and Nadia silently thought to herself, Of course he wants to talk! He’s asking to talk now! Do it now! He won’t come to you again!
The queue for pulled-pork burgers moved slowly in front of them. The guy in the waistcoat said, after assessing they’d be in line for at least another five minutes, ‘What’s your favourite memory of him?’
Nadia’s heart exploded. What a man this guy was. Beautiful arms, able to talk about his feelings, smart too …
She realized Naomi was sort of nodding her head, as if to say, Talk to him! But Nadia couldn’t interrupt this tender moment. The guy had stopped crying and was saying something about how his granddad used to get really bad wind, but would always blame the dog, even after the dog had died. ‘I’d give anything to have him here. He was a right sound bastard.’
The queue inched forward. Nadia pulled out her phone and typed into a blank note, I am in love with these men in front!!!!! OMG!!!
She passed the phone to Naomi, who read it and typed back, More men like this please! Beautiful, open hearts. I’ve got a hard-on for it.
Nadia burst out laughing as she read it, forcing the men in front to turn around, and the man in the waistcoat to hit his elbow on the corner of her iPhone, promptly knocking it to the floor. Without thinking, Nadia instinctively bent down to pick it up, but at the same moment the man in the waistcoat did too, muttering in a London twang, ‘Fucking hell, I’m so sorry. I’m such a clumsy idiot!’
From where they both crouched down, him holding both her phone and the two food vouchers that had fluttered to the ground with it, their eyes met.
Nadia had the thunderbolt. The jolt. The course of electricity pulsed through every cell in her body.
‘Hi,’ she said to him.
‘Hi,’ he replied, smiling.
40
Daniel
Nadia broke out into a nervous giggle as they stood up.
‘I don’t know why I said hi,’ she said. ‘I felt for a minute that I knew you. Sorry.’
Her friend stood beside her, watching the interaction unfold, amused.
‘Here,’ Daniel said, holding out the phone back to Nadia. ‘I hope I didn’t break it.’