Effie

(from HERE)

That made him smile. "Maybe not," he agreed, looking at her there, right there on his arm like she'd been made for it.

He kept his shopping close and stood close her in the lift, but not too close, not wanting to come off as...as what? As a man who wanted to see her smile again. Hear her laugh. Maybe feel that light touch again. The lift took them to his floor and he lead the way to the door. Just the business of a lock and key and he let her into his flat. It looked utterly unlived in.

"The kitchen's this way. I'll put on the kettle," he said as he showed her the way in. He went straight to the kitchen to put away his groceries, thinking the entire time that he should say something. Say something witty. Or interesting. Or at least something not stupid. He tucked the cheese and bacon away and when he turned from the refrigerator he saw her and smiled.

"It feels like it belongs to a stranger," he said. "But if it's to be mine I'll turn it into a home. It's not like I'm used to. My home in London was quite posh."

Not his home, though. Their home. Of late, his 'home' had been the couch in his mate's flat.