Nothing but Trouble

Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

THE VEHICLE EASED to a halt in a car park, and when I looked out the window, I didn’t recognise a thing.

“Where are we?” I asked Grant.

“Our flat. You’ve gone all white. I didn’t want to drop you home and leave you like that.”

Oh. How thoughtful of him. The door next to me opened, and a small man wearing a fluffy pink jumper and a frown looked in at me.

“I’m Todd, Grant’s better half. You’re still alive, then?”

I managed to nod. While I hadn’t exactly got around to picturing who Grant might be dating, if I had, Todd most certainly would not have been it.

“Oh good. Are you staying for dinner? I’ve made enough for three. It’s lasagne.”

I’d rather bury myself under six feet of concrete, but I didn’t want to be rude. “Uh, okay.”

Todd sashayed on ahead, leaving Grant to help me out of the car.

“Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, after everything?” I asked quietly.

He squeezed my shoulders. “You look like you could use a friend. Plus, I have a feeling you’re going to become one of my best customers.”

“Am I that bad?”

“You’re that nervous.”

He shepherded me into the building, and we took the lift up to the second floor. The flat he shared with Todd was as modern as Edith’s home was old-fashioned, with a sofa shaped like a buffalo and a chandelier made from little glass toadstools. Grant saw me looking at them and grimaced.

“Todd did the decorating. It made him happy, so I let him get on with it.”

The buffalo was surprisingly comfortable, and Todd handed me a glass of wine while he finished off cooking. I offered to help, but he waved me away.

“All under control, sweetie. Relax.”

Grant sat down next to me with a beer. “Feeling better?”

Yes, although I hadn’t expected to. Now I knew Grant was gay, I didn’t feel quite so tongue-tied around him, and when I nodded the smile I gave him was genuine.

“Thank you. Firstly, for being so understanding, and also for...this.”

He chuckled. “You can thank me by putting your phone on silent in your next lesson. That way you won’t get distracted.”

I froze. Oh heck, the phone. I still hadn’t checked it.

“What is it?”

“I think it might be a message from Mike. Despite what happened, he still seems to think I’ll go out with him again.”

Sure enough, his arrogance leapt off the screen.

Mike: I assume you’re having a problem with your phone. I’ll see you tomorrow at 7. Wear something sexy.

“He knows where you live?” Grant asked.

My cheeks heated. “I might have told him the night we were in the wine bar. I’d had a little bit too much to drink, and I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Grant patted my knee and sighed. “I’ll be there tomorrow at six thirty.”

“Really?”

“I’m not going to abandon you to some freak. If he sees me there hopefully he’ll get the message.”

Relief flowed through me. What would I have done if I’d picked the second driving instructor on the list? Maybe not crashed, but I’d be home alone, googling how to emigrate to Thailand on short notice.

Todd poked his head out of the kitchen. “Dinner’s ready.”

Not only had he made lasagne, he’d baked focaccia and prepared a tasty green salad. Wow. It was almost worth crashing the car over. No wonder Grant chose to date him.

“So, what made you cry?” Todd asked. “Just the accident, or something more?”

How did he know I’d been crying? I looked at Grant. Did he say something? He gave a small shake of his head.

I turned back to Todd, and he made a circling motion around one eye. “You have a few streaks.”

Oh no, my mascara! Despite me trying not to go for the demented panda look, I’d ended up with it anyway.

“Can I just...?” I looked around for a bathroom.

“Sure, but you might as well wait until after dinner. I mean, we’ve both seen it now.”

You know what? He was right. After the car incident, a few black circles paled into insignificance. I dug my fork in and carried on eating.

“So what else is on this list you have to complete?” asked Grant. I’d told him the gist of it, but not the details.

“What list?” Todd wanted to know.

I started again from scratch, and this time I went through each challenge I had to complete. “So I’ve got a year,” I finished. “But if everything goes as well as the driving, there’s no way I’ll get through it all.”

“Well, the abseiling’s easy,” Todd said. “Grant can take you. He’s into hanging around on ropes and that sort of shizzle. And I might be able to help with the horse riding. There’s this guy I went to uni with, his sister runs a horsey place. The party won’t be a problem, either.” He clapped his hands in glee. “I love parties.”

“It’s really kind of you to offer, but I couldn’t possibly put you to any more trouble. I’ve caused quite enough already.”

Grant totally ignored what I said. “Let’s go climbing tomorrow, and once you get to the top, you can abseil down. I’ll have to cancel all my lessons anyway until the insurance company sends a replacement car.”

I put my head in my hands. “I’ll pay for the lessons you can’t do.”

“Don’t worry—I’ve got insurance for that as well. To be honest, it’ll be nice to have a couple of days off. I’ve been flat out for months. Work, work, work, no time for hobbies, and I’ve barely seen Todd.” He grinned. “This way I get paid to take a holiday.”

And that was how, at nine the next morning, I found myself sitting next to Grant in Todd’s car on my way to Reading Climbing Centre.

When we arrived in the huge building, with its orange and white walls stretching high above our heads, I nearly turned around and went home again.

“I can’t go up there. Do you have any idea how high that is?”

“Fourteen metres. And we’ll start small, don’t worry.”

Don’t worry? How could he say that? This made the trip to the salon look easy. I dragged my feet as I followed him to the kiosk to hire the kit I needed, hoping to prolong the inevitable embarrassment.

“Step in the leg-holes.”

I hung onto the counter and did so, noting the sharp intake of breath from three nearby women as Grant cinched the harness around my waist.

“Women always stare at you, have you noticed?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Tragic, more like. And not only were they gazing at him, I got daggers too. Grant just shrugged it off as he rented me some special shoes and a little bag that clipped to my waist to put chalk in.

Properly equipped, I followed him out into the main hall. To my right, a girl lost her grip as her attention wandered from the handholds on the wall to Grant’s butt, clad in a snug-fitting pair of tracksuit bottoms. Even as she bobbed around at the end of her safety rope, she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

Secretly, I felt a little pleased. As people didn’t know he was gay, it certainly upped my street cred to be seen with him.

My smile soon faded when Grant stopped in front of a sheer wall filled with little coloured lumps, and I bumped into the back of him.

“What now?”

He grinned and pointed upwards. Oh dear.

A few seconds later, he introduced another man who came over to join us. “This is Tony. As you’re a beginner, we need to have a qualified instructor with us.”

“We keep trying to convince him to take the course and work here,” Tony said, beaming at Grant. Another member of his fan club? “Let’s start with a demonstration.”

Tony held the safety rope while Grant climbed up to the top of the wall in two and a half seconds. When he got back to solid ground, he wasn’t even breathing hard.

“Think you can do that?” Tony meant to be encouraging, but his words didn’t reconcile with what he wanted me to do.

“No way.”

Both men laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ll start slowly and build up.”

“I’m not very keen on heights.”

“Just don’t look down.”

First, they had me climb sideways along the wall, a foot or so off the ground. As I wasn’t very high up, that gave me a bit of confidence, so when Tony finally told me to try going upwards, I wasn’t so scared.

At least until a small child scampered past me, and I lost my concentration and my grip.

“Aaaaaaahhhh.” I peeled away from the wall in slow motion, first my right hand then my left, followed by my feet. I closed my eyes and waited for the ground to come up and meet me, but Grant kept hold of my safety rope, so I just swung around like a spider in the breeze as I tried to block out the kid’s laughter.

“Reach out and grab the wall, Ella,” Grant called. How did he sound so calm?

I forced my eyes open and found the nearest handhold a foot away. Okay, that wasn’t so bad. I could do this.

By the end of the afternoon, a miracle had happened and I made it to the top of the wall. I wanted to punch the air, but as I was clinging on for dear life, that probably wasn’t a good idea. Instead, I let out an uncharacteristic whoop, which was met with hoots from below.

Great! I’d done it! Now, how did I get down?

“Ready for the abseiling part?” Grant called out. “I want you to lower your bottom until it’s below your feet, then let go with your hands, lean back and keep your legs straight, like you’re sitting on the ground.”

“What if I fall?”

“You won’t. I’ve got hold of you.”

“What if the rope breaks?”

“They’re designed to hold people much heavier than you. It won’t snap, I promise.”

Heart pounding, I did as he said, and somehow managed to get myself into the right position.

“Now walk down the wall with your feet. Just make sure you keep your bum lower than them.”

Slowly, slowly, I started to descend. By the time I got halfway down, I realised it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought, and I actually began to enjoy myself. I was so good at keeping myself in the seated position that my butt hit the ground before my feet did, and I looked up at a grinning Grant and Tony.

Tony waved a phone at me. “I’ve got photos.”

I’d done it! I’d completed a task off the list without c*****g it up!

I leapt up and hugged both of them before I realised what I was doing. Tony looked a bit surprised, but Grant squeezed me back. “I knew you could do it.”

Well, that made one of us. I had a feeling some of the other challenges wouldn’t be quite so easy. “Thanks for helping.”

“Pleasure.” He helped me out of my gear then held up the car keys. “Time for your non-date.”

With all the adrenalin flowing through my system, I’d managed to put Mike out of my mind. Now I’d come back down to earth with a bump. Literally.

“I can’t wait.”

All too soon, we arrived home, and I looked at my watch. Just after six. Less than an hour to go until the i***t arrived.

“Maybe he’ll have changed his mind?” I said hopefully.

“He sounded delusional in those texts. My guess is that we’ll see him, but don’t worry, we’ll be ready.”

While we waited, I put the kettle on. “I’ve only got digestive biscuits, I’m afraid. I need to go shopping. They’re not even the ones with chocolate on.”

“I’m sure I’ll cope.”

The clock ticked on, the second hand steady while my heartbeat remained anything but.

It was two minutes to seven when the doorbell rang, the tinny sound of Für Elise echoing through the house. Edith had always loved Beethoven.

“Right, show time,” Grant said. Before I registered what he was doing, he reached over, mussed up my hair and pulled my shirt out of my trousers.

“What are—?”

He whipped his own shirt over his head, and my jaw dropped. Did the man have a gym hidden away in his flat? He had muscles on muscles. I was still gaping when he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the hallway.

Mike had just rung the bell again when Grant yanked the front door open, keeping me half-hidden behind him.

“Yes?” he asked, sounding peeved.

Mike took in the little scene and his features blackened. Without a word, he turned around and stomped off up the driveway, hopping into an ancient Ford Fiesta before accelerating off in a cloud of dubious-looking smoke.

Grant closed the door and held up his hand for a high five. I grinned and smacked his palm.

“That was awesome!”

At least, that’s what I thought until the next text message arrived minutes later.

Mike: Why did you sell yourself out like a cheap w***e, Ella? I can see you have a lot to learn. Luckily I’m a good teacher.

“What planet is that asshole on?” growled Grant from over my shoulder.

“I don’t know, but I’m worried he wants me on it with him.”