Oh jheeze! Oh no. How did his calm train ride home alone become some kind of sideshow of people watching him discuss his personal life? What did he do to deserve this? One moment he was alone and the next moment, Chloe was standing in the doorway asking him to call her his girlfriend next to Curtis who had come in to…give Missa a flower? Huh? Had he forgotten something again? Since when were Missa and…No, that couldn’t be right.

“Uh…Listen…Chloe…I….”.

Why did his cheeks feel insanely hot all of a sudden? And his throat…why did it have a massive Quaffle sized lump in it? Taking a steading breath, he flashed a nervous smile at them all and mumbled “Hey Missa, Hey Curtis”. Needless to say, he was stalling for time or a distraction or and act of God, just something to remove him from the centre of attention so that he could pull Chloe aside and tell her what he actually wanted to say.

What did he want to say? It’s not like he hadn’t know this was coming. To say that he didn’t care for her and that there hadn’t been something between them would have been stupid but what did he really want? What was for the best? It’s not like they were going to be living close together at all. She could end up in Germany and he could well be in Canada! They needed to talk. This wasn’t just a yes or no decision, at least, not to him.

“Do you want to make get out of the doorway and come sit down Chlo? I mean, I think you’re in the way of…whatever it is that Curtis is up to there”, gesturing first to the seat opposite him and then to the two people standing behind her in the doorway. Hopefully, with her sitting oppoisite him, there was a chance of a little more privacy although in a place like this, what chance did he really have?