Hero Next Door

Waking up with her was incredible, knowing that she isn’t going anywhere, well it’s just wonderful.

“Hey there, you.” Tamara is the first one to greet me and she has a very knowing look on her face. It’s almost as if she can see what’s going on behind my eyes without me needing to say anything. “How are things, lover boy?”

“Er… things are good.” I narrow my eyes curiously at her. “What are you talking about, lover boy?”

“Oh, come off it. As if we don’t all know about you being in love. The girl from the fire, right? The one that you rescued. Man, that is such a fucking movie style romance, isn’t it? You being her hero.”

Much as I want to protest, I can’t stop myself from laughing at her. I suppose she’s right in a weird way, but really this is just my life. I didn’t know that I was going in to save Esme, I didn’t know what would follow, it’s all just been a bunch of happy coincidences that have resulted in her being mine at long last.

“I don’t know about love, but yeah me and Esme are together. I wasn’t in yesterday because I was at the police station with her. She had finally remembered that the asshole in the building with her set the fire.”

“He did?” Tamara’s eyes nearly burst with shock. “Wow, any reason why? Some insurance thing?”

“An insurance thing combined with rejection.” I roll my eyes to try and play down how much this really angers me. “Esme didn’t want him but he said that he would get rid of the company for her.”

“Wow, this girl must be something else. She must be special if some guy was willing to get rid of everything for her. I guess there must have been money problems as well. No one would do something that wild.”

“I think so.” I nod at Tamara. “It was some seriously fucked up thing anyway. At least it’s over now.”

“And you are back to falling in love with the girl that you rescued from the fire. Perfect.”

We head up the stairs to join everyone else where I am of course teased some more being in love after insisting that it wouldn’t happen. There’s no point in me arguing, I know that much, it will only make everything a million times worse, so I sit back and accept it. In fact, I accept it so much that I find myself drifting off in to feelings of genuine love for this woman. I mean, does all love have to go at the same pace? Does every story have to follow the same pace? No love story makes sense, it doesn’t have to, it’s all about feelings and they could come from anywhere.

“How are you going to declare your love?” Frankie nudges me in the side. “Unless you’ve done so already. You going to do some big grand gesture for her? I bet she would love that after all she has been through!”

“Keep out of it, will you?” I chuckle. “No one is telling anyone anything. You guys are just getting carried away with yourselves. I haven’t said anything about being in love, have I? I’m just sitting here quietly.”

“You don’t need to, mate. We can all see it in your eyes. You don’t hide it very well.”

I’m actually pleased when Joe walks in for a meeting with us all, halting the conversation where it is because to be honest I need to get my own head in order before I can even decide on my next move. I really do want to be in love, I adore the idea of starting afresh with Esme, and I would honestly relish the idea of being in love with her, but will it scare her away? If I blunder in with my feelings too soon will I freak her out or will she like it? Oh God, the last thing that I want to do is make her run now when we have finally made it to this incredible point at last.

I guess I don’t need to do anything too drastic. I don’t need to tell her how I feel, even if I’m feeling it. I can just wait until the moment is right, then let everything free. Whatever works for us will be right…

As I watch Esme across the room on her computer, half searching for jobs and half laughing at something her best friend, Delia, is saying to her on the phone, my heart melts. She must feel the same way about me too because she leapt out of her door the moment I got in from work and told me to come and sleep on her couch. She’s missed me and wants me back with her immediately, even if it’s me sleeping. Of course I agreed, and here I am, half drifting in and out of the best dream ever, and half living in it with her when I’m awake as well. It’s perfect.