The cold air stung her lungs.
The feel of the cold crisp night in such stark contrast to the humidity of the building she had just exited.
As the door to the familiar bar closed behind her it barely failed to muffle the raucous sounds of the packed establishment.
Nicola Strachan tugged the collar of her little leather biker jacket around her neck as she stepped along the pavement leaving the sights, sounds and smells of The Lunswick behind her.
Her heeled boots click clack as she glances to her watch, ten minutes past Eleven. She had not wanted to leave old school friends behind but the Midnight service at St Michaels Church was as deep rooted a family tradition as any. This Christmas Eve played out no differently than the past few years had. Drinks with friends then a quick journey to ensure she arrived on time.
Her Father had not been keen on her heading out to the City, politely refusing to come and collect her, no doubt in preference for several glasses of wine ahead of the short walk from their cottage to the local church.
Her mother far more understanding of her wish to meet up with old friends had slipped twenty pounds to her as she'd left earlier to help fund her journey home on proviso she not be a minute late for the traditional Carol Concert and Church Service. With the added proviso that she change into something more demure than what she had chosen to wear for her night out.
Cursing her lapse in forward planning for not pre booking a taxi Nicola flicked open her phone immediately disheartened to discover that there was an hours wait for the next available Uber.
Her spirits lifting immediately on spotting a light colour Mercedes Saloon turn into the street that she traversed, headed in the direction of the City Centre based Taxi Ranks, and the inevitable queue that would hamper her need to be home well before midnight.
Raising a hand and waving Nicola smiled to herself as with a flashing of orange indicators the vehicle bearing Taxi plates swung to the pavement and came to a gentle halt a matter of metres from where she stood.
Her mind somewhat distracted as she reached for the back door handle to enter the car, her mind lingering on the unexpected meeting that the evening had bestowed upon her.
The last time she had seen Owen Chambers had been the Friday night before she had departed for University. There was little to no excuse for loosing touch in the social media era, especially given her long standing admiration of the tall dark, athletic male. Owen didn't believe in the benefits of social media platforms, his online profile a void that subsequently explained their lack of contact in the three months since she'd left to study Pharmacology in Edinburgh.
"You look good," his words echo through Nicola's mind, her memory lingering on how she felt her cheeks flush as crimson as the dress she wore. She had not forsaken her friends but she had spent a good hour stood to the side of the bar engaged and enthralled by Owen and his depiction of life studying Zoology in Bristol.
Time in his company was always well spent, his demeanour was always pleasant and affable, and his dark brooding features had always made him incredibly, if not traditionally, handsome to her.
Her heart had near stopped at his suggestion they meet up for a meal during the time between Christmas and New Years.
She had accepted the offer immediately trying her best not to act like an infatuated school girl and forgetting all about any loyalty to the burgeoning relationship she had with Niall Wilson who lived in the same University accommodation as she did.
Nicola had hastily agreed to Owen's suggestion and thrown the date of the 27th at him almost immediately, as if to wait any longer would see the opportunity pass. The agreed date and time might have meant nothing or everything but she couldn't help but gush on confirming her mobile number to Owen before breaking from his company to return to her group of girls who had by such a point secured a table on the far side of the venue.
Nicola was still grinning as she sat herself down in the back of the warmth of the taxi and closed the door behind her.
"Where we headed?" The Driver asked without tuning back as over his left shoulder as she straightened the hem of her short red tartan dress towards the top of her over the knee black leather boots.
"Redbrook Lane... Haremarsh Village," Nicola replied settling back into her seat while pulling her seatbelt diagonally across her chest, noting the driver typing the address into dashboard mounted iPhone that doubled as a sat nav.
Moments later, as the doors clicked automatically locked, the car she sat in merged into traffic and headed through the City streets. Driven in silence Nicola watched the busy City lit with colourful festive lights pass by through the back passenger window, her mind drifting to the traditions of a family Christmas Day.
"This is going to be about sixty quid you realise?" The Driver declared when he finally spoke again, around ten minutes into their journey as the car left the streetlights of the dual carriageway to traverse the dark rural lanes that meander through open countryside towards the small village that she had been brought up in.
"How.... How much?" Nicola proclaimed in shock at his announcement "...it's never usually anywhere near that price."
"Triple fare past eleven on Christmas Eve," was the somewhat blunt response Nicola gained in response as he drove at a steady pace through the hedge lined roads.
Nicola's heart sank as she snatched her little black leather purse from her jacket pocket, despite knowing she had little more than fifteen pounds tucked into the zip compartment of the accessory as she fumbled with the zip in the darkness of the back of the cab.
"I've... I've only got about fifteen pounds on me...." She offered with all honesty, "...do ...do you take card payment?"
"Sorry my love... cash only."
Taking a deep breath Nicola composed herself. Sixty pounds seemed an extortionate amount of money to be paying for the fare in the first instance but even with her mind slightly fogged by the excessive consumption of alcohol across the night the logic of the disproportionate fare given the time and date made some sense. She silently cursed once more at her lack of foresight to have not pre booked a taxi and agreed a sensible rate for carriage.
"Is this going to be a problem?" The Driver interjected seeming to slow the vehicle as he looked briefly back at her, "Because I'm guessing there's no Cash Machines in this Village of yours."
Nicola knew he was right, the isolation of Haremarsh was a blessing and curse in equal measure. A simple little rural village that offered next to nothing in the way of amenities.
Her mind whirled on a solution, considering the consequence of arriving at the church service she was duty bound to attend and asking her Father for the monies she would owe was her only genuine recourse. The prospect of the ire she would invoke filled her with very little joy.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as if only to exaggerate her predicament. The SMS visible on the locked screen of her phone, a single line message from her Mother:
' I do hope you're already on route xx '
Nicola grimaced closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to compose herself. There has to be a solution she thought to herself.
"If it's a problem we can turn around..." The Driver impatiently cut across her thought process, "...You can draw out money and I can still get you home... be an extra thirty though."
Nicola looked to the phone screen once more, the digital display reading twenty-eight minutes past eleven. She knew there would be no time left in following his suggestion. Not only that but the additional thirty pounds would burn a considerable whole in her already meagre student budget.
"I've... I've got to be there by Midnight, " Nicola offered fully appreciative that this problem was hers not his.
As the driver kept driving her heart sank further, with only limited options to a plight that she made a panicked drama of in her own head.
"Is... is there... any other... another solution?"
Nicola Strachan heard the words she meekly offered before she even thought about what she was saying. Without consideration to what she meant or would be implied by the seven word enquiry.
**********
"You're... you're not fucking serious?" the dark haired girl offered as I sat alongside of her in the back of the car with the doors set locked.
"Those are my terms," I reconfirm without detailing again exactly what I've asked of her.
In the darkness of the back seat of the car, I can barely see her. Pulling the Taxi from the main road into a signposted picnic area the headlights had strobed across a heavy tree lined clearing. I was relieved but not surprised to see there were no other vehicles in the vicinity given both the time and the date.
She had already offered negotiation, argued and backed me down from my initial request come demand of her in exchange for the significant reduction in the due fare. A fare I had only hiked in value to make the remote destination worth the multiple fares I could have taken in the City during the same time period. I may be about to receive more than financial benefit.
"I... I can't..." she offered on a shuddered breath, "...you can't expect me to..."
"It's not like I'm asking to fuck you...." I respond, perhaps a little too bluntly I consider on immediate reflection, "...the longer we wait the later you'll be."
Looking to the digital clock on the dashboard that is illuminated by the engine being left idle I note the time approaches twenty to midnight. Her self imposed deadline of midnight that made little sense to me but obviously greatly troubled her was fast approaching.
I let the palpable tension and uncomfortable silence hold. Her suggestion at an alternative arrangement such a cliche I consider. A suggestion that had been made only once before in my time driving the Taxi for additional income. My consideration of her proposal had not taken long to agree to, especially in memory of the lithe young figure I'd observed as she had stepped towards the car barely half an hour previously.
"You... you..." she offers feebly.
"Just a simple little submission and we're done ....five minutes is inconsequential" I gently goad her, pressing her for what I've requested before I'm willing to make the suggestion of an alternative method of payment from the pretty looking brunette.
