I wonder what else she’s yet to find out about him.
We park up at the apartment and head upstairs together, and I feel like a hanger on as I follow them, an instant outsider.
“Goddamnit,” Ant says when his phone starts buzzing the very second he’s ditched his keys and wallet on the side. “They can’t leave me alone for one fucking minute. We’ve only just left the bar.”
He walks away with his phone pressed to his ear, and Cassandra stays in the kitchen area along with me, leaning onto the counter in a beautiful haze of tipsy. No doubt Ant’s been dishing out the De Chante.
“I really am pleased to meet you,” she says.
“Same goes for you.” I gesture to the coffee machine. “Fancy a latte?”
She looks like she’s considering a guilty midnight snack as she tips her head from side to side.
“Um… I’m usually on mineral water before bedtime.”
“Ah, ok. Ant’s got you on that regime already, has he?”
She giggles. “Yeah, I guess he has. But I will have a latte please. It’ll help sober me up before I hit the sheets.”
Ant’s still pacing with the phone tight to his ear, too far across the lounge to hear us, so I seize the opportunity.
“He’s besotted with you,” I tell her. “It’s a great thing to see.”
“It’s a great thing to know,” she replies. “Since I’m well and truly besotted with him, too.”
“I’m really happy for you.”
“Thanks.”
I hand her the coffee and she sits herself down on one of the barstools, looking more gorgeous than ever under the glow of the overhead lights.
“You’re the first person I’ve met who really knows him,” she tells me.
“That figures, as I’m one of the only people who do really know him.”
“One of the only people who really know him, or the only person who really knows him?”
Ok, so Ant’s new girlfriend is clearly astute. I lean on the counter with my mug in my hands.
“That’s quite a direct question.”
“De Chante,” she giggles with a shrug, and then pauses. “I saw how he is with everyone tonight, and they’re friends of his, I can see that, but there is just something… I dunno, super professional about all of it.”
“Detached, you mean? Yes. Ant likes to keep business as business and pleasure as pleasure.”
“That’s what he says. Tonight’s just shown me for real.” She pauses again. “You’re different though, aren’t you? I see how he looks at you, and how he talks to you, and it’s different from the others.”
I laugh to lighten it up. “I guess living with him has something to do with that.”
“You really live with him?”
“I don’t live anywhere else, so I guess so.”
She’s trying to weigh me up, and I feel it, but there’s nothing calculated about it. Nothing but warmth.
It makes my words easy to say.
“Honestly, Cassandra, Ant’s devoted to you. I’ve never seen him close to this before, not by a mile.”
Her bright smile gets even brighter.
“That’s lovely to know,” she says. “And you can call me Cass.”
I see Ant heading back over, cursing at his phone as he hangs up the call. Time for me to leave them to it, so I pick up my mug and give her a final smile of the night.
“It really is nice to meet you, Cass.”
“Ditto,” she says with another lovely giggle. “And I’m really glad you’re Gerwyn and not Bob.”
I head off to bed before Ant gets back to the counter, since no doubt he’ll be cursing me for giving Cass a coffee over mineral water.
At least I didn’t offer her a cigarette. I’d most definitely get a knee in the nuts for that.
Cass
“You’re having coffee before bed?” Ant asks. “Caffeine definitely doesn’t help with your sleep, baby.”
I smile at him. “Gerwyn offered one, and what can I say? Coffee is one of my weaknesses.”
My perfectly suited boyfriend grabs me a mineral water from the fridge, placing it right down in front of me.
“Weaknesses are always there to be overcome, sweetheart.” He takes my mug from my hands. “Can I ditch this down the sink?”
There’s hardly any left anyway, so I shrug.
“Sure. Mineral water all the way.”
“That’s my princess.”
I definitely feel like one, still in high heels and my gorgeous black dress.
I’m on a major high as we head through to Ant’s bedroom. I kick off my stilettos and bounce on the end of the bed as he takes of his tux jacket, hanging it straight up on a hanger.
“Your friends are amazing. I had so much fun. Georgina and Victoria are really cool. They were telling me all about the team, and about how fantastic you are, and how Finn did so great this quarter, and they were talking about Gerwyn, too.”
Ant cuts me off at that.
“I bet they were,” he says and begins to unbutton his shirt. “Let me guess. They were asking if you have any hot friends to hook him up with?”