7 January
It was cold. No amount of fluffy blankets could hide the fact that despite the radiator blasting hot, stuffy air into the room, Ainsley was freezing. For three days, she had spent the night in the hospital, yet her father was still too unwell for her to see. The fold-out sofa bed in the family lounge was uncomfortable; Ainsley spent her nights surfing the hospital's cheap cable for interesting infomercials, shifting every so often to allow blood flow to her lower back, and trying to ignore the fact that beside her, Dan had fallen asleep almost promptly.
He had insisted on coming with her, playing what he called 'the best-friend card,' and claiming his right to accompany her on any and all family emergencies in foreign countries. And, as much as she would complain about him being there to his face, she secretly appreciated his presence. While she wasn't the open book of emotions that her mother was, Ainsley needed Dan there just as much as he wanted to be there. She was strong, but he was stronger, always willing to listen or chat. In times of trouble, Dan always knew how to get her mind off the truly pressing matters for even a few minutes, doing something stupid like purposefully tripping over a chair, or saying something overly profound, just to make her smile.
Luckily, Ainsley and her mother had worked out a system: Ainsley and Dan would spend the night, just in case something were to happen, and Ainsley's mother would stay during the day, so that Ainsley could go home and get a proper rest. Unfortunately, this meant that Ainsley hardly got to see her mother, except in passing, a situation that was less than ideal. Her mother had never met Dan, and Ainsley had been excited for them to meet, purposefully keeping them apart until the right time. The two had similar senses of humour, and Ainsley wanted to see them interact for the first time. But after a brief meeting in the hospital lobby, to her mother, Dan was just the guy that Ainsley may or may not be dating. They hadn't had time to hash out the exact details of their relationship to her mother.
Not that Ainsley knew the exact details of her relationship with Dan, as neither she nor Dan talked about his little confessional at the start of the new year. Their friendship had changed palpably, that much she could tell, but Ainsley wasn't certain whether it had been for better or worse. She supposed the fact that he had forcibly paid for her airplane ticket was a good sign for the positive, but the fact that he told the men at the United States Embassy they were engaged when Ainsley went to see about an expedited permission to enter the country only added to her confusion.
Bored with the television, Ainsley turned the volume down low and pulled her stuffed penguin closer to her. It seemed like eons since Dan had won it for her at Winter Wonderland. A chill wracked her body, and Ainsley snuggled closer to Dan for warmth. Though asleep, he responded immediately, a long arm snaking its way around her waist, drawing her closer to him. Ainsley sighed, taking in his scent. It was musky and smelled of the woods, something she found extremely ironic, as Dan hardly left the house, let alone travelled through the woods. She felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness to the low sounds of a 1980s ballad CD collection being advertised on the television.
Sitting alone at a table set for two, Ainsley felt awkward. Around her, couples dined, laughing gaily, while she stared at the empty chair across from her. He was late, something she wasn't necessarily shocked about—he was always late—but she had hoped that this time would be different. She had hoped this almost-date meant something to him.
"Ainsley, I am so sorry," Dan mumbled, finally coming to occupy the second chair. "They held me up longer than I thought."
"Those damn American bastards," she whispered softly, failing at trying to make a joke. "What is BBC doing with their American network?"
He chuckled half-heartedly, ordering some sort of alcoholic beverage from the waiter. "Were you here long?"
"Only fifteen minutes," she lied. "Maybe half an hour."
Naturally, he saw through her. He knew her too well. "An hour, eh?"
"No big deal."
"It is a big deal. This was a celebration, and I had to go and be a twat and schedule a meeting." Dan sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry. This was your day, and I fucked it up."
"Yeah, well…" Ainsley trailed off, swirling her glass of chardonnay between her fingers.
Dan sighed, collapsing back into his chair, readjusting his suit jacket as he did so. Not bothering to pay attention to him when he had first arrived, Ainsley finally noticed his outfit. She hadn't been expecting him to be wearing his suit jacket with the leather lapels over a crisp white shirt, or his skinny leather tie to be hanging around his neck. Awkwardly, she pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose; Ainsley had not felt like struggling with contacts that morning, and, instead, had donned her thick-framed plastic glasses.
"I like your jacket." Dan motioned to the leather jacket over her blue, knee-length dress. "Sort of…"
"Matches," Ainsley finished, indicating his tie and suit jacket.
"Yeah…" he trailed off, taking a sip of his drink. "You look nice."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You should wear your glasses more. You look sort of like a sexy librarian." Ainsley rolled her eyes. "I'm serious."
"Thanks, I guess." She sighed, unsure whether she was angry with Dan for being late, or just frustrated that they had regressed to mundane, basic conversation.
"You still wear it?" Dan's voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
"What?" Ainsley had heard him perfectly; she understood the words he spoke perfectly. No, it was the tone of his voice that had her confused. His normally silky voice was almost pained, and she wanted to know why.
He nodded at her wrist. "The bracelet. I didn't think you wore it anymore."
Ainsley glanced down. The gold circlet Dan had given her for Christmas was wrapped gracefully around her wrist. She had been playing with it. If Ainsley was honest with herself, she hadn't been wearing the bracelet recently. She told herself that it was delicate and she didn't want to break it, but in all actuality, she didn't necessarily want to wear it. It reminded her of the time when she and Dan were best friends—only best friends—and not the awkward grey area that they currently resided in. She hadn't an inkling of an idea why she had put the bangle on that morning. "Yeah, I wear it," she lied, attempting to save Dan's feelings. Internally, Ainsley sighed. She couldn't even read Dan anymore. They were drifting so far apart that it seemed as though they were on two completely different continents.
Around them, the air became palpably tense. Ainsley was reminded of her years of high school and university, where she was often referred to as 'the awkward girl,' because she had no idea how to engage others in conversation, and no one bothered to talk to her. She assumed Dan was having similar flashbacks; he was even more painfully socially awkward than she was.
"Ainsley, I think we really need to talk," Dan blurted quickly. "Can we talk?"
"Yeah, Dan, of course."
"Ainsley?" Her eyes popped open. After a second, they began to focus, and Dan's chocolate eyes became clear in front of her. With regret, Ainsley realized she slept with her contacts in. "Your mum's here. D'you want to leave now?"
"Mum's here?"
"Yeah, she went to get coffee. Said she'd 'be back in a pip'." Ainsley couldn't help but chuckle at Dan's imitation of her mother's posh way of speaking. She only ever spoke like that in public places, forcing her diction to the extreme and saying words like 'pip' and 'cheerio'. Dan smiled, messing Ainsley's hair up with his left hand. "Come on. We should go."
Ainsley groaned and rubbed at her eyes. Her contacts were dry, and she would definitely have to wear her glasses to drive back to her parents' house. Groping in her bag for her contact case, Ainsley sighed. "Did mum say if the Doctor said anything?"
"Nothing."
Ainsley poked her eye, pulling out her contacts. "Of course not. Hand me that jumper?" She pointed at the blue, grey, and cream striped jumper she had draped over the back of a hard-backed chair the night before.
"How are you not cold?" questioned Dan, his eyes wandering over her camisole-clad figure as he tossed her jumper across the room. "It's like -15 degrees in here!"
She rolled her eyes, ignoring him. He knew the answer to his own question. She slept in camisoles and tank-tops because of him; Dan was a very warm person, and had she worn her jumpers during the night, she would die of heat stroke. Ainsley shoved her thick-framed glasses onto her face. "Jesus, how long does it take to get coffee?"
"Well, I had to walk to Columbia to pick the beans." Ainsley hadn't noticed her mother enter the room. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. Get a good sleep, love?" Ainsley nodded. "Dan, you get a good night's sleep?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "For a sofa bed, it's pretty comfortable."
Ainsley's eyes widened, realising what her mother was hinting at. "Mum, what time did you get in this morning?"
"Oh, I don't know, love. Seven?"
"Seven?" Ainsley glanced at the clock on the wall. "Mum, it's nine-thirty!"
The lines on the forty-eight-year-old's face became more defined as she laughed devilishly. Her wavy, greying hair bounced amiably as she attempted to speak through her chuckles. "Oh, you two looked well comfortable. Love a good romance tale."
"Mum!" Ainsley reprimanded, launching a pillow at her mother. She could feel her ears growing hot. "You're mental!"
Her mother rolled her eyes. "Oh, get home, would you?"
Ainsley glowered at her as she picked up her bag. Dan grabbed her coat, holding it up to help her into it, but she shrugged him off. "We will discuss this later," she grumbled.
After a second, her mother replied. "I'm your mum. I should be saying that to you. And let the boy help with your coat. It's bloody well cold out there."
Sighing, Ainsley grabbed Dan's wrist and pulled him out of the room, cutting off anything else her mother was going to say. As she led Dan down the halls of the hospital and into the parking garage, Ainsley didn't look at him. She couldn't even bring herself to glance in his direction. Her cheeks were still burning, and she couldn't help but have a sinking suspicion that her mother was right. She had fallen for Dan. Hard. And it just so happened that he seemed to have fallen for her as well.