Serena leaned over the seat and thrust a twenty into the guy's hand and told him to keep the change, like a big-shot movie star. £1.60 wouldn't change the guy's life, but a tip was a tip.
She swept up her handbag, almost twisted her ankle getting out of the taxi, slammed his door, and waved him off with her arms in the air, almost popping her boobs out of her strapless dress. She immediately felt a shiver on this wintry December night.
To make up for her stumble out of the taxi, her inebriated brain thought she should overcompensate for any potential observers, so she strode heel to toe, catwalk style, to her garden gate, giggling as she steadied herself on the frame, the energetic walk making her feel warm and sexy.
It had been a good night. The asshole ratio had been low; a few guys worth flirting with; and she even gave her number out to a guy.
But today was about Ayesha and her relationship rehabilitation.
Serena had last spotted her waving as she jumped in a car with some handsome, prematurely bald lad. So the rehabilitation could be deemed a success, in her eyes.
The stupid, goddamn latch was brok- nope, she worked it out and stumble-fell into her garden.
Her heart dropped to her bowels, and she was instantly overcome with sobriety and fear.
Someone was pressed against her living room window, peering in? Drunkenly leaning?...
"Oi! You wanker! Are you pissing on my house?" She blurted.
The figure turned slowly, an old man it looked like. The light, such as it was, picked up the grey of his hair and the fullness of a wild beard.
"You see me?" The figure asked in a clipped accent that Serena associated with old British films.
"Yes, I see you, pissing on my wall!" Serena exclaimed. But her eye was caught by the glint of light coming from the window. She watched as intricate swirls and branching fern patterns unfurled in real time across her front window.
By the time she looked back to the stranger, he had taken a few steps forward, and she realized he wasn't an old man at all, but a light-haired twenty-something without so much as a 5 o'clock shadow.
His fresh, pale face was rather beautiful.
"What... why are you in my garden?" She asked, her breath caught in her chest.