Somewhere Only We Know: The bestselling laugh out loud millenial romantic comedy. Erin Lawless

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СКАЧАТЬ stop her own. "Well, I've already eaten," she told him. "But I was going to hit Starbucks en route home and, to be honest, even a Starbucks toastie is going to be better for you than a kebab from Tooting High Street."

      "You Clapham snob!" Alex pretended to be affronted. Nadia rolled her eyes, getting to her feet as the tube began to noticeably slow, swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

      "Are you coming?" she asked him, with her hand on her hip and a small smile on her face. Alex closed his book decisively. Why not? It wasn't like he had anything in particular to go home to.

       Nadia

      "I hope you're not one of those 'I want a super-massimo soy latte, extra hot, extra foam, extra soy, extra latte, extra cup-holder please' people," Alex teased her, as they pushed open the glass door and entered the blessedly cool air-conditioned café beyond.

      Nadia glared at him. "No, but there's nothing wrong with people knowing what they like. Besides,” she sniffed, “'Massimo' is a Costa sizing and this is a Starbucks." Alex laughed and rolled his eyes at her. Across the tiled floor a harried barista in a long green apron looked over at them from where she was stacking chairs.

      "We're closing in five minutes," she told them, accusingly, as if she suspected they were there to bed down for the night.

      "Guess there will be no super-nutritious panini for me," Alex signed, gesturing to where the food shelves were already emptied. It was almost eight o' clock at night, of course Starbucks was closing.

      Nadia winced. "Sorry. My bad. But to be honest, just air is still better for you than a takeaway kebab. Can we still get some drinks?" she asked the barista who looked towards the ceiling as if she was the most put-upon creature on the earth and mutely moved back behind the counter.

      "Actually, it's still a bit too hot for coffee," she told Alex. "Could I have a Lime Refresher, please?" she asked the barista, taking care to be super-polite.

      "Refresher? Isn't that a sweet?" Alex asked.

      "Oh, it's a drink from their summer range. It's sort of like iced tea."

      "It's made with real fruit and green coffee extract for a low-calorie boost of natural energy you can enjoy anywhere," the barista intoned in the most bored-sounding voice known to man, clearly reciting from her training script. Alex blinked at her.

      "Er, sounds…great. Make that two of those thingies, then."

      After a reasonably awkward exchange, where both tried to pay for the other, they each just paid for their own and left the miserable barista to her evening. Outside, the evening was still hot and sticky. Nadia sipped her drink through its straw.

      "Well, go on then," she gestured at Alex's drink. "What do you think?"

      Alex took a tentative sip, then a larger one. The fat ice cubes rattled inside the transparent plastic cup. "Hmm. Well, it's certainly 'refreshing'," was his blunt assessment.

      Nadia laughed. "So you're not enjoying a boost of low-calorie natural energy right now?"

      "Ask me again when I'm about halfway finished."

      "Anyway, I'm sorry I dragged you away from your dinner plans for a drink that's a bit shit," Nadia apologised.

      "I know, and it's not even an alcoholic one," Alex agreed solemnly.

      "And we couldn't even sit in to drink them," said Nadia, gesturing behind them to where the barista had continued stacking up the chairs beyond the glass.

      "So whereabouts do you live?" Alex asked her. Nadia blanched. She was enjoying his company and all – and she had been the one to drag him off the Tube three stops early – but she could imagine Holly's face if she suddenly arrived home with Alex in tow. Their flat was usually just on the embarrassing side of messy and there was more than the off-chance in this weather that Holly might be sitting on the sofa wearing only a vest top and knickers.

      "Er." She gestured vaguely to the south-east.

      "I can't bear the thought of getting back in that sauna of a Tube, even with my oh-so-refreshing drink," Alex explained. "I was going to walk towards Tooting over the Common. If that's on your way, I can walk you partway home."

      Nadia felt stupid. Of course this very proper gentleman wasn't just inviting himself back to her digs.

      "That sounds like a pretty great idea," she told him, turning on her heel in the direction of home. "A walk on Clapham Common of a summer's evening. Lovely!"

      "Cool," Alex smiled, turning and falling into step beside Nadia as they moved off towards the green expanse ahead of them. "But I'm not going to lie to you, Nadia. When I reach Tooting, I am going to have the biggest, most disgusting kebab going."

       Alex

      "Oh, hang on." Nadia said, suddenly breaking off their conversation. "I've just got to." She handed him her half-finished drink along with her little handbag and moved purposefully towards a small children's play area.

      "I think it's locked up," Alex warned her, immediately noticing the shiny, large padlock holding the area's gate firmly in place. Nadia shot him a look over her shoulder as she reached with her foot for the top of the fencing. Alex glanced away politely as the hem of Nadia's dress rode up her leg, and by the time he looked back she was standing inside the small play park grinning at him.

      "Well? Are you coming?"

      Alex moved towards the fencing, dubiously. "Are we likely to get in trouble for this?" he asked.

      Nadia shrugged, reaching over the fence and taking both drinks and her bag out of his hands. "I never have before."

      "Before?" Alex studied the – admittedly very low – fencing carefully, testing its strength by putting his weight on it briefly. "Do you make a habit of breaking into playgrounds?"

      "Just this one," Nadia told him solemnly. "Now stop being a baby, come on."

      "I imagine it's locked up for a reason," Alex insisted, as he nervously swung one leg into place.

      "Yes, to keep out dogs and teenagers," Nadia assured him, watching as he clumsily vaulted the barrier. "And we are neither." Alex surreptitiously checked his suit trousers for snags and rips as he pretended to dust them down. When he straightened, Nadia was looking at him with a little smile on her face. Without comment she handed him back his drink.

      "Would you care for a seat?" she asked him, gesturing behind them as she dropped her handbag to the grass.

      "More of a swing, really," Alex pointed out. Nadia ignored him, and sat down on the left-most swing, scudding her wedge heels through the tight-packed wood chipping that lay beneath them as she started swinging back and forth. Alex set his drink down to one side before settling on the second swing, holding on to both chains. Nadia wasn't even holding onto one; she smiled at him as she brought her drink up to her mouth.

      "What's the matter?" she asked him. "Don't you know how to swing?"

      "That sounds like a chat-up line from the seventies," Alex retorted. "But of course I know how to swing." Nadia raised an eyebrow at him and kicked off the ground a little harder, making Alex's stomach go all nervy about the fact that she still wasn't holding on.

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