We met at the pub opposite your hotel. I’d thought you’d be staying closer to the airport for a quicker journey back there the next morning and so hadn’t realised you were staying so close to the city centre; as such it was a pleasant surprise when you leant in close and breathed those two short sentences into my ear – “Call him. Let’s go” – accompanied by a quick playful nip on my earlobe. I stood up from my bar stool as you hopped down from yours and offered you my arm. My other hand tapped out Ed’s number and as we eased our way through the hot crush of bodies between us and the door, I spoke quickly to my friend.
“Ashley’’s here mate – we’re just leaving the bar now. We’re heading to…” I turned to you as we stepped onto the street and asked “Where’s your hotel?”.
A smile spreads over your face, lips parting briefly as you gesture across the road. I stifle my surprise and let him know – “Uh, it’s the Victoria Hotel, Ed. How soon can you get over?”. You lead us across the road as I end the call. You march us straight past the desk and over to the lift, briefly lifting a hand from your pocket to show me the keycard you’d kept rather than hand in before you left to meet me barely an hour earlier.