The Piano Man Project Page 0,48
for him with Nell and Tash. They’d both wanted to come back and meet him, which she knew he’d hate and had vetoed straight away. Nell wanted to vet him for suitability, and Tash wanted to get a look at the man Honey had billed as the sexiest kisser alive. Another time, she’d said, meaning never, if Hal had anything to do with it.
After much deliberation, they’d arrived at the shaky conclusion that Honey had a stonking great schoolgirl crush on her neighbour. Nell had ruled out the possibility of love, based on the fact that Honey had only kissed him once and eighty per cent of the relationship seemed to be one sided.
They’d also decided that Honey should explore the possibility of further physical contact with Hal in order to reassess her reaction to him. He’d kissed her when she’d just been rejected by Deano; she’d been at her most vulnerable, which would have rendered her susceptible. ‘In other words,’ Tash had said, ‘you need to snog his face off again and see if he gets your juices flowing a second time.’
So there it was. Piano man mission aborted, and operation snog-Hal’s-face-off underway. She’d just go to bed for a few hours, and then she’d think about it again.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sleep, sobriety and coffee threw fresh light on things. It was a hideous plan.
She could hardly march over there and demand to be kissed, and Honey wasn’t prepared to try to inveigle him into it. If Hal ever kissed her again she wanted it to be because he wanted to, not because she’d artificially seduced him in order to conduct a very unscientific experiment.
Honey thought of him as she went through the motions of eating leftover bolognese for dinner – he’d been right about it being better the day after, thankfully. She could of course try taking some over to him again, but he’d probably ignore her or insult her. She swung between being spitting mad at him for being so pig-headed and feeling compassion towards him because if she didn’t call on him no one else would, which ultimately led her back to being pissed off at him because he was such a royal pain in the ass that he’d most likely driven away anyone who cared about him. Hal hadn’t just landed here from the moon. He was a man; a man who must have friends, family, a past, yet none of it seemed to have followed him here. How could that be? Did they even know where he was? Christ, he could have a wife and children for all she knew.
Honey thought about him some more, decided sobriety was overrated, and poured herself a glass of red. The man lived here under the same roof with her, for God’s sake. Surely she was entitled to know more about him than just his first name.
Was he asleep over there? Or was he awake, drinking whisky straight from the bottle? Would he be mad at her for not knocking today, for denying him the chance to yell at her to piss off? Or would he be lonesome? The thought of Hal being lonely over there because she’d neglected him had her glancing at the boxed-up razor that had been sitting on her living room shelf for days.
It was as good a reason as any. She wouldn’t sleep unless she at least tapped his door. Did that make her an interfering neighbour? Was Honey the wannabe girl guide he accused her of being? Perhaps, a little. But the bigger part of her couldn’t resist the chance to see him. Maybe he’d answer. Maybe he wouldn’t. Either way she found herself suddenly between their doors, the floor tiles cool beneath her bare feet.
‘Hal.’ She spoke quietly without knocking, sounding like a teenager at her forbidden boyfriend’s bedroom window. ‘Hal, are you awake?’
It was only a little after nine so she was almost certain he must be. When he didn’t answer, she tapped lightly on his door.
‘Hal, please. Talk to me.’
The lengthening silence made her sigh and lean her forehead against his door. There was no sound from inside his flat. Talking to him had become rather like writing a diary, cathartic but solitary.
‘Please, Hal. Open the door. Or at least let me know you’re alive in there. Throw something at the door or something.’
He didn’t, but Honey didn’t panic. This had happened regularly enough now for her to know he was most likely listening and choosing to ignore her, which pissed