Bit 1.3

It was that magic time of evening, as we travelled through the city. The sun was casting dying embers down the streets, golden flecks, brilliant reds refelcted in the plate glass. The night people were taking over from the day people. People dressed up for a night on the town, people like Kate, in her flowing white skirt, with her red hair the same colour as the sun...
"You're thinking about her aren't you?"
"Oh for God's sake drop it Rob. For the last time, I do not fancy the temp!"
"You know exactly who I'm talking about."
Unfortunately, my infatuation with Kate had not remained solely in my head. Rob had figured things out a long time ago. It's to be expected really - he's my best mate and knows me as well as anyone. And to his credit, when he figured it out, he didn't flatten me for having designs on his sister, a fate that had befallen numerous other friends of ours. Dmitri still swears he's got lasting damage.
"Am I that transparent?" I smiled ruefully.
"Only in as much as you drool every time you see her."
"I'd better bloody not to - that'd be a dead giveaway. I hope she doesn't figure it out soon."
"I hope she does." Rob fixed me with a glare. "It'd put me out of my misery."
"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad."
"We're on a bus heading the opposite direction to where we should be going, where no-one in their right mind goes for a good night out, because you don't want to go to a local pub in case you find Kate and Mike there. That's not normal behaviour."
"I said nothing, but stared out of the window. He really did know me well.
"Why haven't you said anything yet? It's getting worse."
Here it goes again. At least once a week we have this conversation.
"You know why. We've got a good house, I don't want to rock the boat."
"That's bollocks and you know it."
He has a point.
"Look, even as a friend, Kate makes life in this place bearable in a way that I don't want to imagine being without. She's shown no sign of interest, and you yourself have said that she'd turn me down flat if I ever did anything. And you know very well that after that it'd only be a matter of time before she moved out and I'll never see her again."
Rob began to laugh. "What are you, living in some kind of soap opera? 'Oooh, I'll never see her again...I'll be doomed!' She's my sister you cretin, of course you'd see her again."
"You know what I mean."
"That you only still hang around with me because of my sister."
Ouch.
I think that's what you call an uncomfortable silence.
"And you've made me late for the match now." The olive branch of peace was extended.
"Have I told you lately how much I hate football?"
"Frequently" grinned Rob.
It wasn't true at all. Rob and I will be sat in a pub together at the age of 70 with me still complaining about football, and him still loving watching me squirm. He's been a good mate, and I think we rely on each other an unhealthy amount.
And besides which, I'd still have to work with the lazy git.