The Thrill Is Gone

It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon that Paulina finally had a chance to hang out with Olivia. She’d gone to mass early, having sat through the one at ten that morning, and after riding around on her bike for a bit, decided to text Olivia to see if she could drop by. It wasn’t until she’d sent the text that she remembered Rhys was still there. She hadn’t been in his company, knowing him only through pictures and a few anecdotes that Olivia shared with her. So she was nervous about spending time with Olivia, while he was there. Would she have to act different? Restrained? Was cursing allowed or frowned upon? She pondered those things as she biked over to Olivia’s flat, but was pleasantly surprised when she learned that Rhys wasn’t there.

Apparently, Alfred invited Rhys out to give him a lad’s tour of the university and to show him a few landmarks that Olivia hadn’t gotten a chance to take him to. Olivia was elated by the fact that Alfred was spending time with Rhys. She took it as a compliment to herself, and spent the first ten minutes of Paulina’s visit, talking about how well Rhys and Alfred had gotten along, about how she knew they were going to be the absolute best of friends. Paulina listened in silence, a proud smile adorning her face as she heard about how eager Alfred had been to show Rhys around. She knew, of course, that Alfred was going it all for Olivia. He wanted to show her that he cared about her family, that anyone that mattered to her mattered to him. It was adorable a step in the right, and she hoped that soon, Alfred would be taking Olivia out on romantic walks and dinners around their college town.

When Olivia finished talking about Alfred and Rhys, she began asking about how Paulina’s break had been going, if Oxford had been lively enough for her, how the tutoring was going, and how her family was doing. Paulina gladly answered the questions, taking longer on some than she did on others, and pausing whenever Olivia commented on something she’d said. The pair soon discussed everything that had come to mind, well, almost everything. Olivia had consciously kept herself from mentioning the dates, wanting it to be Paulina who brought up the topic, but after nearly an hour of it not being mentioned, she relented and brought it up.

“So,” she leant forwards in her seat, trying to close the small gap between them. “How’s your boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?” laughed Paulina. “I don’t have one of those.”

“Thought you’d been swept off to Manchester, and didn’t ya have a date yesterday?” asked Olivia, looking curiously at her friend’s face.

“Um, well, yeah, I’ve had a few dates, but he’s not my boyfriend. We’re just feeling things out. You know? Seeing if we like each other and . . . making out a little . . .” a sheepish smile played across her lips towards the end.

“You slag!” she exclaimed. “You’ve snogged him? Like a proper snog?”

Paulina nodded.

“How was it? Was it brilliant? Passionate?” she asked. “Electrifying? You best not skimp on the details. I'm currently living vicariously through you, romantically, I mean.”

“Oh. Hush up. You’re love life is busier than mine.”

“Ya think? I don’t think so. I mean, he’s taken my cousin out and all, but he’s not asked me out. And I've been waiting ages!”

“Just wait a little longer. It’ll be worth it.”

“Has Alfie mentioned anything to you?”

“If by mention, you mean him going on about how brilliant and angelic and divine, you are, then, yes, yes he has.”

Olivia let out a delighted squeal. “Wonder why that bloody man doesn’t just ask me out, if he’s saying all those things about me. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I think he’s just scared.”

“Of what?” she asked, puzzled.

“Not sure, maybe rejection.”

“Rejection?” she sunk back into the couch, resting her head on the obliging backrest. “I’ve dropped hints like mad. And I'm always so friendly!”

“You are, but he’s just nervous. And who can blame him? You are pretty fucking amazing.”

A faint blush crept across her face. “How was the snogging?” she asked, changing the subject, compliments always took her by surprise and left her feeling a bit awkward.

“Fucking amazing!” she said, a dreamy look washing across her face. “He’s just like – he’s really tall, so I felt petite when he was holding me. And he has really big hands, that were just – AHH! It was amazing, I swear it took so much restraint to not throw off my shirt and be all, ‘Let’s do this’ Oh! Almost forgot the best part, his tongue . . .”

“His tongue?” questioned Olivia, unsure that she’d heard right.

Paulina nodded. “It’s just – the way he moves it made me question where else it could be put to use.”

“Stop being so gross!” she covered her face with her hands, cheeks blushing furiously.

“Well, it’s not like I can help it. I'm sexually deprived!”

“So am I.”

“Then I guess you’re civilized and I'm a Viking. Yes. Yes, I'm a Viking that needs booze, sex, and tasty food. Ah it’ll be great. The Catholic guilt will probably creep up on me, at some point, but that’s nothing booze can’t fix.”

“I worry for you.”

“You worry enough for both of us.”

Olivia shook her head, keeping the smile that threatened to play across her lips, from being seen.

“So what’s he like? You’ve not even told me his name.”

“Henry, his name’s Henry.”

“You can call him, Harry.” Olivia commented.

“Why would I do that?” asked Paulina, growing nervous.

“Because Henry’s have a way of being called Harry,” replied Olivia, shooting Paulina a questioning look. “You alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, I just, I don’t know my mind was weird. But what else did you ask?” she wanted to change the topic.

“What’s he look, like? Or do ya have a picture.”

“I don’t have any pictures. We haven’t really taken any. But he’s tall, probably somewhere around 6’3” and he has these broad shoulders that are just, ah. And his hair’s –” she was going to say that he had fiery red hair, but her mind stopped herself from uttering such words. “– dark brown, he’s got these massive sideburns. They’re rad. And these really brilliant blue eyes, swear I can just stare at them without getting bored.”

“Sounds quite handsome,” commented Olivia. “Is he tan?”

“Tan?” she laughed, shaking her head. “No, he’s really fucking pasty. When we went to the match, he ended up getting a real bad sunburn, looked like a lobster.”

“Poor Henry!” exclaimed Gwen.

“He’s better now, his skin was pretty much healed by yesterday and he put on some sunscreen so he didn’t burn when we were bike riding.”

“It’s good that he protected himself. Sunburns are no laughing matter,” since she was studying to become a nurse, Olivia took health risks quite seriously. “So what’s this side burn toting man like? Is he funny? Can’t imagine you being with someone that’s not funny, you love to laugh.”

“I do.” Paulina agreed. “And he’s so funny. It’s like I can’t help but laugh and smile whenever I'm around him. He just has this way of making me laugh. Even when he’s being cheeky, I burst into giggles and it’s so lame, because sometimes I feel like I'm laughing too hard and that he might think I'm faking it, but I can’t help it. He’s just great. He’s a little full of himself, but he’s not obnoxious. Does that make sense?”

Olivia nodded that it did.

“I told Alfie about him, yesterday. And he was all disapproving that I was going out with someone that sleeps around.”

“That’s because he’s an old man in a young man’s body.” Olivia laughed. “But if you like Henry that’s all that matters. I still can’t believe he drove all around just to take you to a match. He must really fancy you.”

“I hope so or else I’ve been brushing my hair for no reason.”

Olivia laughed. “You’ve brushed your hair for him? He must be quite the lad.”

“He is. And I'm seeing him on Wednesday.”

“That’s an odd day to meet up with someone.”

“It is, but since this is our last week of break he wanted to hang out. He’s also coming over on Saturday to watch the match at my place.”

Her eyes lit up. “Can we come over?” asked Olivia.

“What? No. No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean I want you guys to meet him to tell me if you like him or not, but no, I don’t think that should happen, not right now.”

“But I want to meet him,” she pouted.

“It’s too soon.” Paulina stated. “I don’t want to scare him off by making him think that I think that we’re at the friend meeting stage.”

“You’re really into him.” Olivia smiled, realizing just how much her friend fancied the so called Henry.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I just – I can’t stop thinking about him. It’s worse than when I started going out with Joaquin. I mean, I thought about Joaquin a bunch, but I saw him almost everyday so it was normal. I think. But with Henry it’s like, I’ve only seen him a handful of times, but each time I’ve just been left wanting more and thinking about how amazing a time I had with him. Ugh. I have it bad. And I'm working hard at trying not to make a massive ass of myself, because I know I'm bound to embarrass myself, it’s what I do, but I'm just trying to make it so it’s not that bad.”

Olivia smiled, noting how flustered Paulina was growing decided to steer the conversation to new territory.

“Do you want to stay for dinner? Alfred and Rhys should be coming back soon and I'm going to ask Alfred to stay, so why don’t you stay to? We’ll make an evening out of it.”

“Where are you ordering take-away from?” asked Paulina, knowing very well that her friend didn’t have a culinary bone in her body.

“That Italian place that Alfred’s so fond of,” she replied, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“Want me to make a cake?”

“That’d be lovely!” Olivia loved to indulge in baked goods. “You left some flour and ingredients from the last time ya made a cake. Do you want to use those?”

“Nah, I’ll just go home and grab some ingredients from there, and come back. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is,” she said.

Paulina left the apartment and biked over to her own where she grabbed all the ingredients she’d need, as well as a fresh shirt, and then went back to Olivia’s apartment. The apartment was still only inhabited by Olivia. She’d thought that the guys would’ve been back by then, but apparently Alfred was set on making a good impression on Rhys, and had invited the young man out to lunch.

“How’d you meet Henry? I know you said in London, but how?” asked Olivia as she tidied up the living room area in the apartment.

“I sort of just ran into him, well, my fist did.” Paulina chuckled to herself. “I was leaving Alfred’s apartment to make a coffee run so we ran out and I’d heard this news report about a guy going around raping women and then Henry just sort of snuck up on me, and I punched him. It was horrible. He was just asking if I made a habit out of singing and I responded by punching him in the face, but he got over it.” There were a few embellishments to the story, but the basic facts were true.

“Bloody hell, you punched him?” gasped Olivia. “That bloke must really fancy you then. I mean your fist didn’t deter him, so bravo, you’ve got yourself a keeper.”

“I'm sure I'm not the first girl to punch someone and get asked out by them.”

“I think you might be.” Olivia laughed. “That’s not a common thing.”

“But it’s bound to have happened before.”

“Perhaps in a novel, but in real life, I have my doubts.” Olivia walked into the kitchen and leant against the counter. “It’s good to see you so happy.”

“I'm always happy.” Paulina countered, looking up from the mixture she was stirring.

Olivia chuckled. “Yes, you are, except now there’s this twinkle in yours eyes that I’ve never seen before.”

“There’s no twinkle.”

“And a glow in your cheek, perpetually rosy, they are now.” Olivia observed.

Paulina smiled, returning her gaze to the bowl. “You’re one to talk about rosy cheeks. You’re always blushing whenever Alfie’s around.”

“Am not,” she argued.

“Via, my love, you’re pasty. It’s real easy to tell when someone’s blushing when they’re pasty.”

Having nothing to say in response, Olivia scrunched her nose at Paulina, and hopped onto the counter, her legs dangling over the side as she stared at her friend. She wasn’t lying when she said that there was a twinkle in her eyes and a permanent blush on her cheeks. Ever since she’d started going out with Henry, she just looked happier. At first, Olivia didn’t know that it was because of a man, she thought that Paulina was just really excited to be on break, but when Paulina told her that she was seeing someone, it clicked in her mind. He was the reason why her smile seemed to radiate happiness, why she was laughing more often than usual, and in such elevated spirits. Paulina had always been happy and outgoing, but she was at another level. And Olivia hoped that one day soon, she’d be able to meet Henry so that she could give him a hug and warn him that if he were to hurt her friend in any way, he would have to deal with her.

The pair bustled around the kitchen for awhile longer, only deserting it when the cake had been put in the oven and the timer had been sent. They made their way over to the couch, plopping down on it to watch whatever was on the teli, as they waited for Alfred to return with Rhys. It was awhile before they got back, the pair managed to watch an episode and a half of Doctor Who.

“About time you lot got back. Was about to send out a search party,” Olivia said as she stood up from the couch. “How was the tour?” she asked Rhys.

“Was brilliant,” he replied, a smile that was strikingly similar to hers, adorning his face. “Alfred showed me a lot of great spots. Even had lunch at some pub, it was delicious.”

“That’s great.” Olivia looked over at Alfred. “Thanks for taking him out Alfie.”

“No need for thanks. Was glad to show him around,” his insides were screaming with joy. “How’s it going, Paulin?” asked Alfred.

“Bloody hell!” yelled Olivia. “I'm so rude. Rhys, I want ya to meet my friend, Paulina. And Paulina this is my cousin, Rhys.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you.” Paulina walked over to him and held out her hand. “I hope Alfie didn’t bore you.”

“Not at all,” laughed Rhys. “He was quite the talented tour guide.”

“Well I'm glad to hear that. Hopefully that means Oxford will be a high ranking option.”

“Oh, it is, absolutely.” He said. “I visited Cambridge last week, as well as Edinburgh. They were both quite lovely, but I must admit that Oxford has a certain charm about it that the others lacked.”

“That’s because this is the best university.”

“Better than Stanford?” questioned Alfred.

“Hmm, yeah, but only by a little,” Paulina had never said that before. In her opinion, Stanford had always been held as the best, but the more time she spent at Oxford, the more her undergraduate university seem to sink in comparison.

“So how’d it go yesterday?” asked Alfred as he took a seat on the couch.

“It went well. We went over to the botanic gardens and hung out there for awhile.”

“Did you sneak in?”

“Of course!” she said. “Do you seriously think I’d pay when I can just sneak in? It’s like when I go to the movies, I pay for one and sneak into another, because if I'm getting popcorn and a drink, then I deserve two movies.”

“My thoughts exactly,” commented Olivia.

“Can’t you get in trouble for that?” asked Rhys, he’d been raised to be sensible and cautious; breaking rules was not a strong suit of his.

“There is that risk, but if you’re mindful of things, it’s alright.” Olivia replied. “But don’t go telling my aunt that I’ve taken an interest to sneaking in, she’ll tell mum and I won’t hear the end of it.”

It was then that the phone tucked away in Paulina’s pant pocket, began to vibrate. She smiled nervously as she reached for it, not wanting to come off as rude in front of Rhys, but when she saw that it was a private number, her heart began to race. It was Harry. He hadn’t yet given her his number. At first she was bothered. He had hers. So why didn’t she have his? But then she remembered that he had to be cautious about who he gave it to. If it got into the wrong hands, it would end up on the internet or the front page of The Daily Mail. So he was waiting to see if things got more serious with her, at least that’s what she told herself, and she hoped that one day soon, when he called, his name would appear, instead of private number.

Paulina shot Olivia an apologetic look, telling her that she had to take it. Olivia nodded and tossed the apartment key to Paulina so that she could let herself in. The key was easily caught, allowing Paulina to walk out. As soon as she was in the hallway, she pressed the talk button.

“Paulina, speaking,” she said, pretending not to know it was Harry.

“You answer the phone like an old woman.” Harry commented. “What happened to the flare?”

“Well, I didn’t know it was you, now did I?”

“I'm offended that you didn’t. You should have some sort of Henry sensor.”

“Rather not, it seems like a boring ability to have.”

“Does it now?” there was a hint of humor laced in his voice.

She walked down the stairs. “It does.”

“Well you’ve gone and hurt my feelings now. I'm strongly considering whether I should have myself a cry.”

“As long as I don’t have to listen to it, you can.”

“Think I will have a cry, you have no consideration for my feelings,” he feigned hurt.

She let out a laugh. “So overdramatic, I'm beginning to reconsider hanging out on Wednesday.”

“It’ll be your loss. I’ve got quite the evening planned.”

“Is that so?” she took a seat on the bottom stairs.

“I do.”

“And can I hear them?” she asked.

“Ah, well, no, it’s meant to be a surprise.”

“So in other words, you haven’t made any.”

“I'm offended.”

“Cut the act, I know you haven’t.” she chuckled.

“Oh, alright, I’ve not yet made any, but I will.”

They talked a short while longer, bidding each other farewell when William made his presence known to Harry. He’d slipped into the room unnoticed, having knocked several times before growing worried and stepping inside to check if his brother was alright. He was surprised to find Harry on the phone, talking so warmly and animatedly.

“Where you off to?” asked William, casually.

“No where, I'm staying in tonight.”

“Not tonight, on Wednesday,” he said.

“You heard that?”

William nodded. “Seem excited for Wednesday. Are you meeting with Chelsy?”

“Chelsy?” he shook his head. “Haven’t spoken to her in ages, not since we broke up, well, saw her once after, but that was just a run in.”

“Then there’s someone new? Bloody hell, the press hasn’t run anything about you seeing anyone.”

“That’s because they’ve not seen her.”

“How’ve you managed that? There’s, cameras everywhere.”

“I’ve got my ways.”

William stared at Harry with great curiosity. “Must be quite the process if the press hasn’t caught wind of it,” he commented.

“Oh, it is, but she’s worth it.” Harry cursed inwardly when he realized that he’d said she, instead of it.

“She lovely then?” asked William.

“Since when do we talk about birds?”

“Last time I checked, they’re our favorite topic.” William replied.

Harry remained quiet.

“Awe come on, Harry. You’re not going to be tight lipped with me, are ya?”

“Why you have to be so nosy for?”

“I'm your older brother, it’s what I do.”

Harry let out a sigh. “You’re not going to drop this, are you?”

“Not until you give me a name.”

“Rachel.”

“Is that her name?”

“No, but it’s a name.”

“Cheeky bastard,” muttered William.

“It’s Paulina,” he said after a short silence.

“Paulina,” repeated William. “Do I – ah, is she the American? The one that, well, you know, gave you that nasty bruise?”

“It’s because of that memory that you’re going to be king.”

“So it is her.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“But I though – no offense to her, but she’s not the sort you go for.”

“She’s not, but I . . . not to sound like a ninny or anything, but I . . . I . . .”

“You what?” asked his brother.

“Remember when you told me that one day I’d think differently? About relationships and all that?” whispered Harry.

William nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“Well, I do. I mean, I think I am, thinking differently. I can’t get her out of my mind, Will.”