A Beautiful Forever(8)

“That was fast,” I point out.

“I got let off early for being such a good worker.”

“Lucky you.”

“No, lucky you. You would have been waiting for a good 30 minutes otherwise.”

“I didn’t mind. Listen, don’t take this as flirting, but I like your hair this way… it’s pretty. I mean, I like it curly; I like it both ways actually… maybe I just like your hair.” I laugh nervously, tripping over my words and sounding kind of dopey.

She laughs back, “Normally I would definitely take that as flirting, but since you were so clear that it wasn’t I will take it simply as it is – you like my hair. Although I’ll admit, now that your hair is short, I like yours too.” She reaches her hand up and rubs it over the fuzz that is currently covering my head.

“You didn’t like it longer?”

She shakes her head vigorously and scrunches up her face.

“It was that bad?” I ask, surprised.

“No, it wasn’t that bad. I just don’t like long hair on guys.”

“Why not? Did you date a guy with long hair who broke your heart or something?” I ask as a joke.

“Or something,” she replies.

“Oh I’m sorry, that was a dick of a thing to say,” I apologise, kicking myself for saying the wrong thing.

She laughs a little, “It’s fine, Elliot. Nothing happened with a long-haired guy – short hair is simply my personal preference.”

“Really? Well, that was kind of mean – making me think I took you to a bad place. Not cool Paige, not cool,” I tease light-heartedly.

When she smiles at me again, I’ve found my new addiction. Paige seems to have some sort of sadness emanating out of her, so when she smiles, it feels special.

Approaching the block of flats, I point ahead and dig for my keys in my pocket.

“That’s it, the white one?” she asks.

“Sure is,” I tell her.

“What’s it like inside?”

“Cramped, but nice – you’ll see.”





Paige


Elliot leads me up a few flights of stairs until we reach a cream coloured door with a brass ‘12’ attached to it above a peephole. Using his manners, he opens the door for me, and I smile as I step inside, I’m really not used to spending time around courteous men.

Loud voices and laughter can be heard coming from the living area. I move to the side and let Elliot go ahead of me, so he can make the introductions – I don’t want to look like some random from off the street.

“Hey everyone, what’s happening?” he says as he enters the room.

“Hey man, oh my god! You shaved your head,” one guy points out, before moving straight on. “We’re just deciding what to do tonight, no one wants to cook so we’re thinking of heading down to the pub for something easy.”

“OR” another guy interrupts, “we’re thinking of getting Indian, there’s a debate over what’s best. We are a house divided.” He tilts his head as he looks from Elliot to me, “Oh hello, I’m Gavin.”

“Paige,” I say, nodding at him.

Elliot does a quick introduction around the room, “We are only missing one person, Naomi. She's the one that was with me today.”

I nod my understanding and listen as the discussion over food continues. Eventually, it’s decided that everyone just goes to the closest pub, which is also the place that their other roommate works.

“So Paige,” Gavin asks as we walk towards the pub as a group. “How do you know Elliot?”

“Oh…I wouldn’t really say I know him. We met on the plane and just kind of bumped into each other again.”

“You met on the plane? Are you a Sydney girl too?”

“Kind of, not Sydney city, but not too far out. What about you? I’m going to peg you for a Brisbane boy.”

He raises his eyebrows, an impressed look on his face. “Very close Paige, I’m from the Goldcoast, Nerang to be exact. How did you know?”

“I’m a hairdresser; I meet a lot of people, so I’ve learned how to pick the different accents.”

“That’s a good skill to have,” he says thoughtfully as Petra moves in beside him and links arms.

“What’s a good skill?” she asks.

“Oh Paige can tell where you’re from in Australia based on your accent.”

“Really? Where am I from?” she asks.

“Melbourne,” I tell her without hesitation.

“Correct,” she smiles.

“Here we are,” Brian says as we come to a stop outside a pub called The Hole in the Wall, it’s aptly named because there's what looks like a storm pipe coming through the wall near the roof. I wonder if it was always there and inspired the name or whether they added it to justify the name.

As we file inside and head towards a table, everyone waves at the blonde behind the bar that I saw with Elliot earlier. Her smile isn’t quite as bright when it lands on me, so I nod and smile kindly at her, not wanting to ruffle any feathers.

Elliot pulls out my chair for me, and I look at him with raised eyebrows. “Seriously Elliot?” I ask.

He shakes his head and laughs, “I’m sorry. I was simply using the manners that my mother taught me.”

“Well then, tell your mother I said thank you,” I say as I take the seat he offers.

“I will,” he says before turning to the guys to discuss our all-important drink choices and who is shouting the first round.

“Alright,” Brian says, “I’ll go first round. Paige, what are you drinking?”

“Oh just a coke for me please.”

“You sure you don’t want something a little stronger?”

“No thanks,” I laugh. “Coke’s fine.”

“Alright, Petra – what are you having?” he asks moving his way around the table until he has everybody’s choice. Elliot gets up to go and help him while I stay and chat to the others while we decide what we want to eat off the pub menu.

During dinner, I get quizzed further about where I’m from and what I’m doing in London. I try to be as vague as possible, but it’s hard to do that and not seem rude, so I deflect by asking lots of questions of my own.

“I like that accent thing you can do,” Petra says. “I always thought that if you’re from Australia your accent is just Australian. Where did you grow up?”

“Oh around Sydney. Are you from Melbourne city or did you grow up in one of the surrounding suburbs?”

“I’m from Templestowe actually. It's about twenty kilometres out of Melbourne city.”

“Did you always live there or move around a bit?” I continue.

“I’ve been in the same place all my life; that's why I came to London – I need a little adventure in my life,” she smiles.

“Where are you staying Paige?” Brian asks from next to Petra.

“A hotel near the airport,” I reply.

“That’s a bit of a hike from here,” he comments. "I'll drive you back after this - don't catch the tube on your own."

“You don't have to do that, I'll be fine.”

“He insists and I'll come for the drive too - it's no trouble. So where will you be living after that?” Petra asks me.

“I don’t know yet. I still have to find a place. I’ll start looking around here tomorrow, there has to be a share house needing someone somewhere.”

“Well you should come and stay with us,” Brian suggests, “Petra is going home in a week so her bed will be free.”

“Yeah that’s a great idea,” Petra adds. “It needs to be another girl because we share rooms – that’s why the rent is so low.” She stands up from her seat and cups her hands around her mouth. “Hey Nomes! Paige is gonna be your new roomie!” she calls out. Naomi lifts her head as she’s pulling a beer and makes an O shape with her mouth. Brian and Petra give her the thumbs up, not paying any attention to whether she’s happy about the idea or not.

“There you go,” Brain says beaming at me. “It’s settled – you’ll come and stay with us.”

“Really? Well... I guess that could work out, considering my job is so close… alright then, I think I’ll have to take you up on that,” I say feeling pleased. A full-time job and a place to live sorted in one day – my luck is good right now; I should buy a lottery ticket!

“Did I just hear that right? You’re moving in?” Elliot asks.

“Yeah, in a week – is that cool with you?” I reply.

“Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know… it’s pretty great for me though – five minutes from work.” I hold my fingers up in his face for added emphasis. “How awesome is that!”