it again, for longer this time. Second time lucky? He was sure the letterbox was winking at him.
Startled from semi-consciousness, Gemma sat bolt upright. She definitely hadn’t ordered any food yet, and a quick glance at the video clock confirmed it was far too early to be out for the count in pyjama bottoms. Leaping to her feet, she picked up the intercom handset while her heart made a supreme effort to pump enough blood to her brain to prevent her from passing out.
‘Hello?’ Gemma had tried her best not to sound dazed, confused or asleep. Listening to herself, she had failed on all three counts.
‘Is that flat 3?’
A delay. To reveal or not to reveal the information? At least she had stopped seeing stars now.
‘Hello? Are you still there?’
‘Yes…’ It was a tentative response.
‘Hi. Sorry to disturb you. My name’s Ben…’
Ben? Gemma didn’t think she’d ever had or known a Ben. She’d heard of plenty: Hur, Johnson, Affleck… In which case she could be Gemma from the block…well, maybe with a serious amount of work, a bit of Juicy Couture, longer hair and industrial hair irons.
Two floors down, all Ben could hear was breathing. ‘You don’t know me, but I have a package for you. If you’re flat 3, that is…’
Package for you. The three magic words every girl longs to hear. Open Sesame. ‘I’ll be right down.’
As she replaced the handset Gemma wondered whether she should be a bit more circumspect. It wasn’t your prime-time delivery hour. But she was sure all the e-mails she’d received about female safety involved quiet car parks and Rohypnol.
As she peered down from the sitting room window she could just about make out a bloke on his own. No TNT or FedEx van, but he didn’t look like an axe murderer. In fact from this distance he didn’t look bad at all. As for a package…disappointingly it appeared to be no more than a big envelope. She was still staring when he looked up at the house, obviously searching for a sign of life. Ducking down out of sight, she scrambled to her room, grabbed her combat trousers and, pulling them on over her pyjama bottoms, practically flew down the stairs, releasing her hair from its scrunchie en route.
‘Hello!’ She was unnervingly cheery.
Ben just stared. She was somehow…could she be too messy? He wasn’t usually messyist. Unless… Of course. This had to be Gemma. In which case, she was much more attractive than he’d imagined. He was thrown.
‘Um, hi. I’m really sorry to interrupt your evening…’ Now what was he going to do?
‘No worries.’ The honest truth. Gemma was face-to-face with a slightly nervous but definitely attractive man. Normally it took her months to meet one of this calibre, and that was after extensive searching, misspent evenings in bars and multiple cocktails. Never on her doorstep. Granted, if you were being pedantic, it wasn’t her doorstep, exactly, but for the purposes of this moment it would do nicely.
All he had to do was feign ignorance. How would he know the author even had a flatmate when, as he had reminded himself repeatedly on the way over, he hadn’t read it?
‘This is for you. I mean, it’s yours. I just thought I’d bring it over and drop it off as I was in the area.’ Ben stopped himself. Suddenly this was a ridiculous situation.
‘Thanks.’ Curious, Gemma took the padded envelope from him, still wondering if she was being overly trusting. But she was sure letter bombs and anthrax were never hand-delivered, and he wasn’t wearing enough layers to be a suicide bomber. Plus the vibe was definitely a good one. Classic Adidas, dark jeans, leather jacket, motorbike helmet under his arm and, if she wasn’t mistaken, a hint of an American accent going on. All excellent. Her prayers had been answered. The brat pack had finally come to Battersea.
‘Thanks.’ She said it again and, at a loss as to what to do next, went with convention and closed the door, watching the moment slip through her fingers in slow motion.
‘You’re an idiot, Fisher. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.’ Ben walked back to his bike slowly, muttering to himself. He’d handed over the only reason he had for ever being there, and still had no idea who the mystery author, EJ or NG were. And now he was far more interested than he had been even two minutes ago.
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