“Someone at work was telling me about it. They play classic films and have a full orchestra playing the soundtrack alongside the film.”
“Wow.” She registered the ticket price of forty pounds each and tried not to react.
“It’s every other Wednesday throughout spring. Weather dependent, of course. Do you fancy it?”
“Um …” She definitely fancied it, but it was essentially forty quid to watch a film. Or forty quid to spend another evening with Noah … which was a more appealing way of looking at it. “Yes. It sounds great.”
“I’ll see if I can get tickets for next week.” Casually, he slipped his hand into hers and her heart rate went through the roof.
Conversation jumped all over the place on the walk home. Noah was easy to chat to, and with the feel of his fingers woven with hers she wished she lived much further away. They arrived at her doorstep far too quickly. He didn’t drop her hand immediately and her heart quickened again at the thought of him kissing her goodnight.
“What did you want to tell me earlier?” she blurted out, remembering their interrupted conversation.
“When?”
“At dinner. You said you wanted to tell me something, then your phone rang and we got side-tracked.”
“Um …” He uncurled his fingers from hers and shifted his weight, inching away from her. “I can’t even remember now.”
“It’ll probably come back to you later. I tend to remember things when I’m about to fall asleep.”
“Probably,” he agreed.
“Message me when you remember.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know about Wednesday too.”
He took a step back, increasing the space between them. It didn’t seem as though he planned to kiss her. For something to do she fished her keys out of her bag, then held them up in an awkward gesture, as though she was proud that she’d found them.
“Thanks for tonight,” she said.
“You’re welcome. It was fun.”
“Yes.” But if they weren’t careful it was all going to be overshadowed by neither of them knowing how to end the night. A kiss on the cheek would do, she decided, but he stepped forward when she did and they crashed in the middle.
“Sorry,” Noah said, placing his hands on her upper arms as he planted a kiss on her cheek.
She smiled. “I think we need to work on the goodbye kiss. That was pretty bad.”
“It could definitely be improved,” he agreed, grinning widely.
There was a millisecond where she wondered whether he was going to kiss her properly, then she decided she needed to take the initiative rather than go inside disappointed. This time when she took a step, their movements were completely synchronised, and his arms slipped around her waist as their lips met. Tentatively he moved his lips against hers, then brought his hands to her face as he deepened the kiss.
They broke apart too soon for Keira’s liking, and she was light-headed as she lingered in his arms.
“That was better,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“Good.” His lips brushed over hers once more before he released her. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
She wished him goodnight and slipped into the building to take the lift to the fourth floor. Walking into the living room of the flat, she dropped onto the couch beside Mel, feeling slightly dazed.
“I take it from the ridiculous smile that your date went well?”
“Really well. He’s so sweet, and he’s funny, and lovely.”
“Oh my god. You love him!” Mel sat up straighter. “This is suddenly moving very fast for a heterosexual relationship.”
“I don’t love him. I just had a really good night.”