A Second Chance
by Bill Robertson
Genre: Romance
Swearwords: None.
Description: Two old friends meet and discover a few surprises about their past.
_____________________________________________________________________
We were sitting in her office when she dropped the bombshell.
‘You fancied me? I can’t believe that you never said anything!’ I told her after taking it in.
‘Well it’s not like you were falling over yourself to say anything at the time either,’ she shot back.
‘That’s because I always thought you were out of my league.’
She snorted. ‘Don’t you believe it, I was so gagging for it from that first time I met you at Angela’s party.’
I shrugged. ‘I never was much cop at reading those kinds of signals.’ I sipped at my coffee.
‘Well, I guess I wasn’t much good either,’ she said.
‘How’s that?’
‘I was going through some boxes when I moved into my new flat and I came across some of the letters you wrote me.’ She shook her head. ‘Christ, I must’ve been blind not to have seen it – it was right there in front of me the whole time in black and white.’
‘Oh I don’t know; I seem to remember trying very hard to stay on the right side of the just good friends’ line.’
She smiled again. ‘Maybe that’s what you were telling yourself but I don’t think your subconscious was doing a very good job of filtering out your real feelings. Your heart was there on every line. I was just too stupid to see it until it was too late to do anything about it.’
‘Do you remember the tape I sent you? That really should have been a dead giveaway. I was always making mix tapes up for girls I fancied. I think I was going through my High Fidelity phase and hoping that my taste in music would win you over.’
She blushed over the rim of her mug. She fidgeted a little in her chair.
‘What is it?’
‘I used to play that tape every night before I went to sleep – it was like this ritual I had. God, I haven’t thought about that tape in years.’
I felt a burst of adolescent pride. At least some of my fledgling romantic gestures had been successful …sort of.
‘Have you still got it?’
‘My crappy old ghetto blaster finally chewed it up and spat it out one day. I had to bin it. Sorry.’
There was a not entirely uncomfortable silence. We were both looking at each other across her paper strewn desk. I could see the way her smile still crept past her lips to the corners of her eyes. It made those old butterflies land back in the pit of my stomach once more.
‘You know, we’re both so dumb it’s a wonder either of us is still breathing.’ I said.
‘Who knows,’ she said. ‘Maybe in a parallel universe we were a lot smarter.’
‘How do you think that one ended up?’
She reached over and put her hand over mine. ‘I’d like to think that we lived happily ever after.’
I raised my mug. ‘To being smart,’ I said.
Swearwords: None.
Description: Two old friends meet and discover a few surprises about their past.
_____________________________________________________________________
We were sitting in her office when she dropped the bombshell.
‘You fancied me? I can’t believe that you never said anything!’ I told her after taking it in.
‘Well it’s not like you were falling over yourself to say anything at the time either,’ she shot back.
‘That’s because I always thought you were out of my league.’
She snorted. ‘Don’t you believe it, I was so gagging for it from that first time I met you at Angela’s party.’
I shrugged. ‘I never was much cop at reading those kinds of signals.’ I sipped at my coffee.
‘Well, I guess I wasn’t much good either,’ she said.
‘How’s that?’
‘I was going through some boxes when I moved into my new flat and I came across some of the letters you wrote me.’ She shook her head. ‘Christ, I must’ve been blind not to have seen it – it was right there in front of me the whole time in black and white.’
‘Oh I don’t know; I seem to remember trying very hard to stay on the right side of the just good friends’ line.’
She smiled again. ‘Maybe that’s what you were telling yourself but I don’t think your subconscious was doing a very good job of filtering out your real feelings. Your heart was there on every line. I was just too stupid to see it until it was too late to do anything about it.’
‘Do you remember the tape I sent you? That really should have been a dead giveaway. I was always making mix tapes up for girls I fancied. I think I was going through my High Fidelity phase and hoping that my taste in music would win you over.’
She blushed over the rim of her mug. She fidgeted a little in her chair.
‘What is it?’
‘I used to play that tape every night before I went to sleep – it was like this ritual I had. God, I haven’t thought about that tape in years.’
I felt a burst of adolescent pride. At least some of my fledgling romantic gestures had been successful …sort of.
‘Have you still got it?’
‘My crappy old ghetto blaster finally chewed it up and spat it out one day. I had to bin it. Sorry.’
There was a not entirely uncomfortable silence. We were both looking at each other across her paper strewn desk. I could see the way her smile still crept past her lips to the corners of her eyes. It made those old butterflies land back in the pit of my stomach once more.
‘You know, we’re both so dumb it’s a wonder either of us is still breathing.’ I said.
‘Who knows,’ she said. ‘Maybe in a parallel universe we were a lot smarter.’
‘How do you think that one ended up?’
She reached over and put her hand over mine. ‘I’d like to think that we lived happily ever after.’
I raised my mug. ‘To being smart,’ I said.
About the Author
Born in Perth and now living just outside Aberdeen, Bill Robertson has created a large body of work showcasing a tendency towards the darker side of life and stories which leave an indelible impression on the reader long after the final word is read.
An active member of Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree Writer’s Group, Bill’s work has appeared in Journeys, an anthology of work from the group, and most recently in a chapbook, Himself by the Seaside. He has performed some of his stories as part of the Word and New Words festivals and other events around the north-east. He has also self published two e-books: Reindeer Dust, a short Christmas story, and When the Revolution Comes, a collection of linked short stories concerning an uprising in a fictional eastern European country. A number of his stories have featured on the website http://www.shortbreadstories.co.uk, where he has been chosen as the featured Friday story a number of times and has won a number of competitions with his short stories and flash fiction pieces.
If you would like to hear an interview with Bill and listen to him read some of his work, please go to this link to hear Bill’s appearance on Mearns FM's Smith on Sunday show. You can also keep up to date with Bill’s work by visiting http://www.billrobertson55.wordpress.com, where he often shares work in progress as well as finished stories.
An active member of Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree Writer’s Group, Bill’s work has appeared in Journeys, an anthology of work from the group, and most recently in a chapbook, Himself by the Seaside. He has performed some of his stories as part of the Word and New Words festivals and other events around the north-east. He has also self published two e-books: Reindeer Dust, a short Christmas story, and When the Revolution Comes, a collection of linked short stories concerning an uprising in a fictional eastern European country. A number of his stories have featured on the website http://www.shortbreadstories.co.uk, where he has been chosen as the featured Friday story a number of times and has won a number of competitions with his short stories and flash fiction pieces.
If you would like to hear an interview with Bill and listen to him read some of his work, please go to this link to hear Bill’s appearance on Mearns FM's Smith on Sunday show. You can also keep up to date with Bill’s work by visiting http://www.billrobertson55.wordpress.com, where he often shares work in progress as well as finished stories.