The Decoy Date

Chapter Eleven

“They all really like you by the way, my mum especially. Anyone who likes her food is already in her good books.” Imogen led the way up the stairs to her flat above the shop, she’d invited Charlie in for a coffee again hoping the lack of alcohol meant both of them would be a bit more sensible. She’d spent most of the night laughing at his mother’s stories and his embarrassment, it was nice to see a side to him that didn’t exude confidence.

“Well she’s a great cook, I think that chicken is the best I’ve had in my life.” She smiled dreamily remembering it, food was an important part of her life it always had been. She could never be one of those stick-thin women who could live on a glass of water and a salad, she loved steak and chips and roast dinner with sticky toffee pudding for desert; no matter how much dieting and nagging from her mother, she just couldn’t give up food.

When he didn’t say anything she turned to look at him, one glance down showed he was staring at her arse. It was pretty sizable, one of the things she loved now she’d lost a little weight was that she now had curves in the right places; she’d caught men checking her out before but felt too embarrassed to say anything to them. Charlie’s eyes slowly moved up to hers and his cheeks flushed bright red as he realised he’d been caught ogling her, she smiled as he stuttered out an apology and climbed the last couple of steps.

Reaching the top she smiled to herself as she thought about the effect she was having on him, if only she could tell her sixteen year-old self that one day Charlie George Ramsey would be lusting after her. She walked into her open plan kitchen and living area and placed her iPhone on the breakfast bar, Charlie walked in behind her and looked around.

“Coffee, alright?” She flicked on the coffee machine and put a new filter paper in, it had been a present from Jess when she’d moved out a few months ago trying to soften the blow of her leaving. Grabbing a couple of mugs, she followed Charlie into the lounge area and breathed a sigh of relief at the fact she’d tidied this morning. Ten hours earlier Charlie would have been wading through piles of newspapers, books and dirty washing – including her underwear, not what he would have wanted to see.

Walking back into the kitchen she poured the coffee, keeping a close eye on Charlie who was looking along her book shelves; she kept her own personal books up here, the ones she loved to reread over and over again.

“Why do you have so many copies of Pride and Prejudice?” She placed the two mugs on the coffee table in front of her sofa and joined him in front of the bookcase.

“I collect them, it’s one of my favourite books. My parents gave me a copy for my twelfth birthday and I just fell in love with it, every time I pass a second-hand bookshop I have to go in and see if they’ve got a different copy. Any of the copies downstairs are duplicates of ones I’ve got up here.” She looked up at him slightly embarrassed, he probably thought she was crazy keeping lots of copies of the same book. She could see him trying to assess if she was obsessed with Colin Firth emerging from the lake in a wet shirt, which she sort of was; the show had definitely made her like the book even more and fancy Colin Firth something rotten.

“Lizzie is definitely Austen’s best heroine. I never got on with Anne, she always seemed so weak if she loved Wentworth she should have just ignored her father and Mrs Jenkins and Emma always seemed way too pretentious and up herself.”

Imogen raised her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn’t come across many men who’d read Pride and Prejudice let alone the other Austen classics. “You’ve read Jane Austen?” She tried to keep the disbelief out of her voice but completely failed.

“Is that so unbelievable? I love reading, especially the classics. Around the World in 80 Days is my all-time favourite book, Jules Verne was just a master of adventure writing, I always wanted to be Philieas Fogg and travel around the world in a hot-air balloon and ride on an elephant. I’d still love to do it.” He turned and smiled at her, the innocence of childhood still shining in his blue eyes.

They both settled onto the sofa and drank their coffee discussing the books they’d read and she even divulged a little about how they had saved her from her childhood misery but she didn’t dwell on it when she saw the guilt once again cross his face. They also chatted about his family, how they all seemed happy and liked her, she felt slightly embarrassed but revealed that she liked all of them as well.

Charlie finished his coffee and continued to snoop through her things, she thought about stopping him but if he was really her boyfriend he’d be snooping through her stuff anyway; at least this way he’d know more about her. This last thought scared her a little, she’d worked so hard repressing her memories from school and having them thrust back in her face and combing through her belongings didn’t feel quite right. Imogen watched Charlie carefully ready to stop him if she couldn’t take it anymore, he was looking at her pictures on the wall when he almost tripped over her acoustic guitar.

“Do you play?” He picked up the instrument her father had given her for her twenty-first birthday, it was meant to replace the one he’d given her five years earlier that had been his but she still loved that one.

“A bit, I’ve been trying to choose a song for my sister’s first dance at the wedding, she’s left the choice up to me and the pressure to find the right song is unbearable. I was hoping to play and sing for her to make it more personal but the songs I’m looking at need two people.” She walked over and pulled a notebook out from the side of the sofa, it had a list of songs with lots of notes and crossings out. She’d narrowed it down to a choice between two songs but both needed a second player and she didn’t really want to involve the band she’d hired for the wedding.

“That sounds amazing, I bet she’ll love it. I can’t believe she’s given you free reign on the music though, it’s such a personal thing. Catherine had Etta James’ At Last, she hired this really great singer; everyone loved it.” Imogen had to agree with him, she could never let anyone else make such an important decision for her, but Daisy had never been interested in music; she listened to the radio and sang along to songs she liked, but she didn’t go to gigs or follow bands the way Imogen did.

“I play a little guitar if you need someone to practice with, I’d be more than happy to help.”

“Really, well I’ve got another guitar upstairs. If you really want to help me out that would be brilliant.” She rushed up the two flights of stairs to her bedroom and grabbed her father’s guitar and her laptop; she had both her songs choices on there and could let him listen to them. When she walked back into her lounge, Charlie was sat on her sofa again with the guitar on his knee. He strummed the strings and she watched from her hiding place behind him as he began singing softly; she recognised Jack Johnson’s Banana Pancakes and stood frozen simply listening to his voice.

His voice was beautiful, melodious and rich in tone; it would be perfect for either of the songs she had shortlisted to perform, but she’d never dare ask him to do it with her. The guitar in her hand slipped and she caught the strings as she prevented it from falling to the floor, he stopped and looked round embarrassed that she’d heard him. “Don’t stop.” She smiled encouragingly but he was unwilling to continue; damn her clumsiness, it always reared up at the most inopportune times.

“I’ve narrowed it down to two songs, I thought we could listen to them and you could help me decide which one to use.” She perched on the edge of the settee next to him and set the laptop on the table in front of the both of them. Uploading the internet, she searched for the first song; an acoustic version of Madness’ It must be love. She sat back and tried to gage his reaction, he tapped his foot as he watched the video but didn’t say a word.

He motioned for her to play the next song when the first had finished. She searched for the video and decided this one needed a little more of an explanation, before hitting play she turned towards him.

“This one is from the TV series Nashville, it’s one of Daisy’s favourite shows and I thought this song would be perfect for a wedding dance.” He nodded eagerly not giving anything away, she pressed play and they listened as Sam Palladio and Claire Bowen – the stars of the show – sang Fade into you. This was her favourite of the two, it seemed perfect for Daisy, it was the right sort of tempo and was from her favourite TV show. Charlie leaned in towards the screen and her heart rate increased a little as she watched him.

His voice was still resonating inside her head, the low rumble had stirred something inside her and she couldn’t wait to hear him sing again. She watched as his hand tapped his thigh in time with his foot tapping the floor and the strumming of the guitar coming out of the speakers. when the song had finished he turned to her and simply nodded; decision made, that was easier than she’d expected.

“I’ve got the chords and the lyrics here, I thought I’d sing the first part if that’s okay?”

“It’s your song, I’m just here to help.” She let him look through the words and music and watched as he positioned his fingers on the guitar frets. He moved them gently into the different positions and couldn’t help but feel jealous. Oh, how she’d like to be touched like that. She felt his gaze shift to her and flushed at her inappropriate thoughts about his hands.

“Do you want to try the song? It seems fairly straight forward but I’m a little rusty.” He smiled and she thought back to his earlier playing, if he’s a little rusty he must be bloody good. Imogen placed her own guitar on her knee and counted them in.

“1, 2, 3 . . . If you were the ocean and I was the sun

If the day made me heavy and gravity won

If I was the red and you were the blue

I could just fade into you”

“If you were a window and I was the rain

I’d pour myself out and wash off the pain

I’d fall like a tear so your light could shine through

Then I’d just fade into you”

“In your heart, in your head,

in your arms, in your bed under your skin,

Til there’s no way to know where

you end and where I begin”

“If I was a shadow and you were a street

The cobblestone midnight is where we first meet

Til the lights flickered out, we dance with the moon

Then I’d just fade into you”

“In your heart, in your head,

in your arms, in your bed under your skin

Til there’s no way to know

where you end and where I begin”

“I wanna melt in I wanna soak through

I only wanna move when you move

I wanna breathe out when you

breathe in then I wanna fade into you”

“If I was just ashes and you were the ground

And under your willow they laid me down

There’ll be no trace that one was once two

After I fade into you”

“OoOoOo OoOoOo OoOoOo

Then I just fade into you.

OoOoOo OoOoOo OoOoOo

Then I just fade into you.”

When they had both fallen silent, Imogen noticed her heart was racing and her hands were shaking around the guitar. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw him staring at her, they’re voices had fit so perfectly together; both melodic and beautifully harmonic. She sighed and placed the guitar down on the table, standing up she ambled towards him and took the face he had turned up to her in her hands.

All her sense left her and she stroked his stubbled cheek, leaning her lips down to meet his softly; her heart strummed in her chest as he moved the guitar from his lap to the floor. He stood and put his arms round her back extending the kiss. His lips were soft at first but became more insistent and Imogen opened inviting him in, as his tongue flickered across hers she sighed into the kiss and moved one hand up to his hair. It was soft and feathery where she thought it would be greasy from gel, she felt him moan as she began to move her fingers through the strands and she smiled to herself, feeling his lips smile back on hers.

Pulling back to see the smile on her face, it suddenly dawned on her what she was doing. She was kissing Charlie Ramsey; she was dating Charlie Ramsey, well fake-dating Charlie Ramsey but she’d just kissed him like they were dating for real. And she’d liked it, well more than that, she’d loved it and wanted more. He opened his eyes when her lips hadn’t returned to his and saw the daze instantly clear when he saw the anguish on her face, his hands dropped from her back and he stepped back.

“I think the song’s perfect for Sam and Daisy, I’ll play it with you if you need me to.” Charlie continued chatting as if the kiss hadn’t happened, it was just another cover for the relationship even though there had been no one there to see it. Imogen decided it was probably for the best, there was no way she could like Charlie Ramsey, she was just confused about the public affection and not having to show any behind closed doors, that was it.

She walked him down to his car and said good night, avoiding even the slightest of pecks on the cheeks in case they led to something a little more out of control. When she returned upstairs she sighed as she saw the guitars, without putting anything away or washing the coffee mugs she climbed the two floors to her bedroom. Sinking into her mattress, she tried so hard not to think about Charlie as she drifted to sleep but found it incredibly hard.