Since the open day, Cooper didn’t know who he was any more. He didn’t really do friends, beyond the occasional mate. He didn’t do family, since the aunt who’d raised him after his mother died had dumped him and moved to New Zealand the moment he turned eighteen. He certainly didn’t do romance. Romance was a luxury, for people who didn’t spend all their time working and didn’t spend every last penny on paying rent and bills. What was he supposed to do with a girlfriend? Cosy nights in at his dilapidated bedsit? Very sexy, flipping the sofa into a bed at the end of the evening. Eating Pot Noodle sharing his one fork. Pretending the place didn’t stink of mould and stale food and what he was fairly sure was decomposing rat.
But now her.
And suddenly Cooper was hunting for clothes that looked halfway decent in charity shops. Paying to get his hair cut. Working another double shift at the warehouse to afford a decent backpack, even though he had no laptop to carry, and couldn’t even splash out on a packed lunch to put in it. He was daydreaming –dreaming! –imagining conversations, introductions, first dates, speaking on the phone last thing at night. Heart stuttering whenever he thought of her, his breath catching in his chest, feeling a completely different sense of urgency from the background panic that had propelled him forwards for over a decade. When he closed his eyes at night, it was her long dark hair, her sparkling eyes, her joy and herlightthat he saw. When he woke up, it was with a smile, because now he had a reason to get out of bed, because she was out there somewhere, and every day took him closer to the day when he would find her again.
Was this what they meant by love at first sight? Or had he totally lost his mind?
Either way, Cooper was now enrolled at the University of Nottingham to study neuroscience. Whether the sunshine girl was there or not, merely being back in that lecture hall made him feel closer to her, and that made him happy. And after everything, Cooper wasn’t walking away from the chance to feel a sliver of happiness.
It was two weeks before he saw her. Two weeks of wearing the same not-ex-kid-in-care clothes he’d carefully put together, of walking around the campus with a fixed ‘I’m a nice, normal, friendly neuroscience student exactly like you!’ expression on his face (it wasn’t bad – he’d done a lot of practising). And then, just when he thought he was totally lost, she came right up and spoke to him.
‘Hi!’
Cooper froze. His heart felt as though it had catapulted halfway up his windpipe. Her eyes were darker than he’d remembered. Nearly as dark as her hair, but with tiny rings of amber around the pupils. How could eyes be so captivating, say so much? Like, every thought in her head was exposed for anyone to see, and she didn’t even care, because she had nothing to hide, no shame, no dirty secrets, no horrendous past. Nothing to prove.
‘Hi!’ he managed, in a sort of shouty croak.
‘Are you doing neuroscience? Because I thought I recognised you from the open day, but the lectures are so full of people it’s hard to spot everyone, and I keep ending up sat next to physiologists or biochems. I’ve got my first tutorial in three minutes and I’m totally lost.’
This could not be happening. The lonely, neglected boy still hiding inside Cooper keeled over in a dead faint. Girls like this did not talk to people like him. Not while smiling, anyway.
‘Um, yeah. Is it with Professor Cole? The tutorial’s in his office.’
‘Yes! Oh, my goodness, that is so amazing. I’m so relieved. Can I walk with you?’
‘Umm…’ Cooper hiked his bag up higher on his shoulders, and checked his non-existent watch for no reason at all except that he was disintegrating inside and wasn’t sure of the correct protocol for dealing with this.
Her eyes widened in horror. ‘I mean, if you’re, I don’t know, busy having some alone time, or something, that’s fine, I don’t want to impose. I could always follow behind you at a distance.’ She laughed, awkwardly. ‘Okay, now I just sound like a crazy stalker. But that is totally what I’m going to do.’
‘No! No, of course not, that’s fine. It’s just… I can’t find it either.’
‘Well, if we’re going to end up in trouble for being late, might as well do it together, right? My dad always says that shite smells better when it’s shared. And this way, I can push in front of you at the last second, so I’ll not be the last to arrive. Oh, and I’m Bridget.’
‘Cooper.’
‘Cooper? Cool name! You must have interesting parents.’
‘Yeah. It’s a long story.’
Bridget smiled. ‘Well, I’ll look forward to hearing about it when we’ve got more than three minutes.’
When they arrived at their first tutorial with Professor Cole, twenty-three minutes late, both of them dishevelled and sweating, she had no need to push past because Cooper stood aside to allow her to go first. Of course, he found out soon enough that she was madly in love with her boyfriend, and was planning on getting married as soon as she graduated. That was fine. He never really expected to be loved by the sunshine girl. Simply spending a few days a week in her orbit was more than enough.
And now, seven years later, here he was standing outside the door to Professor Cole’s office yet again.
* * *
Emma
With Monday night being my gym class, and Bridget spending Tuesday evening with Paolo, I didn’t get the chance to ask her what the ‘worst thing of all’ that she was going to tell me about the professor’s stupid bet was. However, this evening was Wednesday Wine at Sofia’s, and there’d be plenty of time to find out.
Although the whole family got together every Sunday, so as sisters we saw each other often, the key phrase is ‘whole family’. With Mum hovering about scavenging titbits for her to then carve into the concrete of our family history forevermore, plus offer up to everyone she met, we had learnt to add a certain level of spin to our conversations. Plus, we could hardly discuss husbands, potential future husbands, children, or the deepening heartbreak at the lack of children, on any sort of meaningful level given that the very people we would be discussing were milling around.
So, a few years ago Wednesday Wine was born. Wednesday lime and soda in Sofia’s case. Around twice a month we convened to slob about in comfy clothes, eat copious amounts of snacks, laugh, cry, bicker and most of all to share whatever was uppermost in our heads and forefront in our hearts.
They were the highlight of my month.
How did people get through life intact without sisters, biological or otherwise?
