She stood alone shivering uncontrollably yet again. He was always late. Always. But like usual she saw him come out of no where; a smile spreading across his face as his eyes focused on her.
“Yori!” She beamed as he ran to him; wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him into a warm hug.
“Hey Lydia” He nestled his nose into her neck, kissing her lightly. “Good day?” He pulled back, slipping his hand into hers.
“Same as usual Phone, work, phone, paperwork” She laughed slightly “You?”
“Chris popped into the salon” They started walking hand in hand down the busy high street. It was only three days until Christmas, and it was almost like every person in London had forgotten to buy anything, what with the rate they were all running around at.
“Oh? Why?” Her cheeks warmed as they entered a small restaurant.
“Not anything big really, just to talk about Ryan” He scanned the place they had decided to eat at “Where do you wanna sit, there’s the window or back there” He pointed quickly.
“Window” She started walking over to the table “Why do you always seem hesitant talking about Ryan around me?” She slumped into the seat.
“I don’t” He was now sitting opposite her, fiddling with the laminated sides of the menu.
“He still doesn’t know about me does he?” She pouted. He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Sure he does” He bit his lip “”So…what do you wanna eat?”
Lydia watched as Yori pushed the unusually large piece of salmon around his plate. It looks fine to her. But quite clearly, Yori was not impressed as usual. He dropped his fork suddenly.
“It’s soft” He stabbed the piece of fish with his knife.
“It’s soft” She stared at him.
“Yes. Soft” He laughed nervously. “But hey, the cheese sauce smells yum so I’m sure it will do me nicely” He lied; he didn’t want to make her mad, last time he complained about food she left the restaurant without him. It was terribly embarrassing and he sure didn’t want that to happen again.
“You know. My parents want you round for dinner. I hope that if you come you won’t shove the food around like that” She stuffed a carrot in her mouth.
“How charming”
“Will you come?” There was a momentary pause.
“Of course I will! And before you say it- I will brush my hair, wear neat clothes, get new shoes and be on my best behaviour…and take my lip rings out” His voice went quieter as he continued the list.
“Thanks” She didn’t smile. “I was also wondering….”
“Yeah?”
“Well…we have been together eight months now”
“Ye ha” His mouth was full.
“Don’t you think we should move the relationship forward?”
“Move it forward?” He stopped eating.
“Like…you know” She giggled. He really didn’t know, and he didn’t know what the childish giggling was about either, he thought they had got past that embarrassing giggling stage of when they first started dating.
“No. I don’t know” To her surprise he sounded stern, and no matter how hard she looked she couldn’t find a hint of a smile in his lips.
“Well…we could move in together” Those dreaded words rung through his ears yet again. About six other women had asked to move in with him, and each one of them he broke up with soon after for some reason or another – any reason he could think to get out of the relationship. He was simply not ready for that kind of commitment. Even though most of his friends were married and had kids. That’s not what he wanted. Not yet anyway.
“Lydia…” He sighed “I like you. I like you so much; I’m just not ready for that yet. I mean we have only been together eight months. We are clearly in very different places at the moment”. She looked away from him. How the hell could they not be in the same place? He was in the same place as her when she suggested a date. He was in the same place as her when she thought it was time for them to have sex. He was in the same place as her to help her choose her new wallpaper. But not to move in with her?
“So what place are you in?” She hissed at him.
“Meeting the parent’s stage” He sat back in his chair lazily.
“You know Yori; most people meet the parents when they have been dating a month or so” She was angry. He could see it in her eyes.
“Lydia” He reached for her hand.
“Don’t touch me” She got up, clumsily pulling her coat on. “Call me when you are in the same place ok?” She marched out. He sighed, there goes another one.
