One Phone Call Away: Chapter 9

That evening, Sybil knocked on Gwen's front door and waited for an answer. Despite her scepticism of Gwen's plan for the evening, she was actually looking forward to the evening. A chat with Gwen over dinner was exactly what she needed.

"Hey," Gwen said as she opened the door and stepped back for Sybil to step into the small flat.

Sybil noticed that Gwen was reaching across to the coat hooks behind the door.

"What are you doing?" Sybil said. "I thought we were having dinner."

"We are," Gwen said, putting a coat on.

"I thought we were having it here," Sybil said, confusion spreading across her face.

"We are," Gwen said, grabbing her handbag. "I've run out of milk, so I'm going to pop out and get some. I'll only be ten minutes."

"Well, I could have got some for you on my way over," Sybil said. "I have to walk past the corner shop to get here, you know."

"I know, but I didn't think about that," Gwen admitted. "The food is cooking. It should be done by the time I get back. Can I leave you to keep an eye on it?"

"Of course you can," Sybil said, laughing quietly at how disorganised her best friend could be. She took her own coat off and hung it on the hook that had just been freed by Gwen.

"Right," Gwen said, "back in a bit."

She gave Sybil a fleeting hug and left her alone in the house.

Sybil walked down the corridor to the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed that someone else was standing in the kitchen, staring back at her.

"Tom?" she stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Tom gave her a look of confusion. "Gwen's got us both around to talk. Did she not tell you why you were coming?"

"No," Sybil said slowly, looking back up the hall, hoping to see Gwen, but knowing full well that she had left and wouldn't be back for a while. "I thought I was just coming to have dinner with Gwen. I wanted to talk to her about some stuff."

There was a tense pause between them.

"Any stuff in particular?" Tom asked.

Sybil walked over and began stirring the contents of the saucepans on the hob.

"I wanted to talk to her about what happened between you and me the other night."

Sybil didn't want to look at Tom. She used the cooking as an excuse not to look him in the eye. She could feel the tension hanging in the room and she knew that if she looked at him it would just intensify.

Tom didn't pry. He knew he shouldn't. He knew that it wouldn't be a wise move to ask further. But part of him wanted to. 'Why not talk to me about what happened between us,' he wanted to say, but he didn't. Instead he said,

"I don't want to make things awkward for you, Sybil."

"Don't be stupid," Sybil said. "Gwen will be back soon, we can all eat together and I'm sure everything will turn out fine. Gwen usually has a plan for this sort of thing."

'She's good at matchmaking,' she thought, but neglected to add it to her words.

Tom got three plates down from the shelf and set the table with knives and forks as Sybil carried on keeping an eye on the food.

"Do you want a drink?" Tom asked.

"Just water will be fine, thanks," Sybil said, feeling herself relax a little more now.

Tom filled a glass with water and placed it on the table with the other drinks. Gwen had already got herself and Tom a bottle of beer each.

"I think this is practically done," Sybil said, referring to the food. "We just need to keep it warm until Gwen gets back.

"Put it on the hot plate," Tom suggested.

"How do I turn it on?" Sybil said, looking at all the knobs and dials and buttons of Gwen's cooker. She's never had to use it without Gwen there and she couldn't figure out what she supposed to do.

"Here, let me have a look," Tom said, coming up behind Sybil and looking at the dials. "Is it that one?" he said, turning a dial.

The oven light came on, so he turned it off again. Clearly that wasn't the right one.

"What about this one?" Sybil said, turning another dial. The extractor fan came on, so she turned it off. "Nope, not that one."

They both stood staring at it for a while.

"Why is this so difficult?" Sybil said. "We're two intelligent people. This shouldn't be so hard."

A few more moments passed and they both reached for the same dial, turning it at the same time, Tom's fingers over Sybil's, almost as if they were protecting her.

"There we go," Tom said cheerfully. They moved the saucepans onto the hot plate so that they would stay warm, but wouldn't carry on cooking.

Suddenly the room became very quiet.

"Sorry," Sybil said finally, leaning against the kitchen counter, looking across the room at Tom. "I shouldn't have walked out on you."

"I shouldn't have made you feel uncomfortable," Tom said.

"Well it's not your fault! Don't blame yourself because I was so rude!"

"You weren't being rude," Tom said. "You were allowing your feelings to get the better of you. Everyone does it. Everyone is allowed to do it every now and then."

"Well, nevertheless, I'm sorry," she said.

The tension in the room thickened once again. But this time in a different way. It wasn't a harsh sort of tension. It was soft. Like the world had stopped spinning. Or perhaps everything was spinning apart from Sybil and Tom, staring at each other across the room, unable to take their eyes off each other.

All of a sudden, they each took a few paces towards one another and their lips crashed together. Tom's hands instinctively went to Sybil's face, one hand cupping her cheek, the other pushing through her hair. Sybil's hands rested on Tom's sides. She didn't know where to put them. She didn't care. She was kissing Tom, finally.

His lips were soft and warm and Sybil willingly moved hers against his. She opened her mouth, allowing his tongue to delve into the realms of her own.

Tom moved his hand from her cheek to the small of her back, pulling her body close to his. He had wanted this for so long. He had dreamt about this on countless nights. He wanted her. He needed her.

Sybil pulled back, her need for air finally outweighing her need for Tom. Their bodies stayed close and their breathing was fractured and uneven.

It was all they could do to smile at each other and laugh a small laugh. The tension in the room had dissolved, and suddenly nothing mattered but each other.

Someone in the corner of the room squealed. Tom and Sybil spun round, suddenly standing a pace or two apart, only to find that Gwen, at some point, had returned home and had seen them in the heat of the moment.

"Oh my God!" Gwen hollered, practically jumping up and down on the spot.

"When did you get back?" Tom asked, his cheeks flushing red and his heart beating at a million beats per minute.

"During…" Gwen gestured towards the pair, "that! Oh my God, I knew you two liked each other! I knew this was a good idea!"

"Wait," Sybil said, taking half a step towards Gwen. "This was your plan all along? To get us together?"

Gwen bit her lip and nodded.

"But in my defence," she said, "I wasn't expecting this to happen. I was hoping to have you on speaking terms by the end of the night."

Sybil and Tom glanced sideways at each other and smirked. They would be on far more than speaking terms by the end of the night.

Sybil shrugged at her best friend, turning away to lift saucepans off the stove and carry them to the table. She could feel her cheeks on fire, but she tried to act nonchalantly. "You always were an alright matchmaker."

"An alright matchmaker?" Gwen asked, her voice high-pitched and excited. "I'm a brilliant matchmaker! Everyone else on the planet can see how good you two are together apart from you. I've been willing you to get together ever since you first met."

"Dinner's ready," Sybil said, sitting down at the table and facing Gwen, ignoring her words.

Tom sat across the table from Sybil, with Gwen at the head, acting as the third wheel to their non-date date. Not that Gwen cared. She was the instigator for this whole situation and damn proud of it! Sybil and Tom spent the rest of the evening trying to catch the eye of the other without being rude to Gwen. The result was a relatively normal meal between friends from the outside, but between Sybil and Tom was air dripping with their flirtatious comments and sideways glances. Gwen had done very well in her mission.


Finally! The kiss! I'm thinking of one more chapter for this story and then bringing it to a finish. And I'm thinking that last chapter is going to turn this story into an M-rated fic...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it with a review.