He's here again. He can't seem to stay away. Hopefully I'm the attraction, hopefully it's not just that my fridge is full. But I shouldn't worry, he comes for me. I know that. I know it.

I'm just waiting for him to tell me. And if he doesn't tell me, I'm going to ask him. Either that or I'll drink a lot of wine and just jump him, subtlety is over rated, as I'm starting to discover. But he is here, and for tonight that might be enough. Unless I start with the wine.

"So Gil, what'll we do tonight?"

"I don't mind. Whatever."

"Look, you arrange that we have the same night off, as you have done for the last few weeks and all we do is stay in here and eat, drink, and watch movies. My daughter has a better social life than I do. She is out tonight with her friends, out having fun. Do you ever do that, do we? You know, go out. Have fun."

"This is fun, Cath. Watching you rant is fun."

"Whatever. You can watch me rant at work, on our off time we should do something different. Something wild."

"I get my wild rush times hanging out with you. That time you made me play strip poker..."

"That doesn't count, you won that game if I remember correctly."

"Yes." See. See, that's my problem. When he smiles like that, that unforced, sexy smile. Right, if he smiles like that again, I'm lunging. Well, that or I'm gonna lose at strip poker again...

"Okay. So we stay home again, what do we do?"

"I thought we could eat, drink, watch a movie."

"Okay. I'm sold. I have junk food, there is no way I'm cooking. So you eat Pringles, or you starve. I have beer and wine, and I have many wonderful movies. What? What are you laughing at?"

"You do not have many wonderful movies? You like bad movies"

"Take that back or you get no food, and you sit on the floor next that weird wine stain that refuses to leave my carpet."

"You know I could probably get that out..."

"Enough, I believe we were discussing my wonderful taste in movies."

"Right. I'm gonna start bringing movies with me to educate you in the ways of the cinema."

"Yeah, cause I've got that sort of time. I just like what I like."

"Mmm. Linds and I were talking about it earlier."

"What? No daughter of mine would mock my choices."

"She said you like fluff."

"I like what?"

"Fluff."

"Which is...?"

"Happy films. Girl and guy fall in love, get together, stay together. Kiss, kiss some more. You know where I'm going with this."

"What's wrong with watching happy movies? I like a happy ending. What's wrong with that? That movie you made me watch a few months ago, the Seventh Seal..."

"It's a classic. "

"No, it was depressing. Grease is a classic, Steel Magnolias is a classic..."

"Wait you made me watch that one, you cried for about an hour after it finished. That was depressing, I still can't watch a Julia Roberts movie without thinking 'there's that poor girl who wanted so much to have a baby'."

"It's a good depressing though. It's cathartic. Anyway, Linds will grow to appreciate fluff as she gets older."

"Not if I have my way." Again with the sexy smile, and with what he just said. He's gonna influence Linds as she gets older? Hmm. Right, I get an answer from him tonight, next time he smiles like that. Wait did I not already say that... I'm so weak. It's that smile...

"It's my house, so dealers choice. We watch what I like or we watch nothing."

"Either of those is okay."

"I hate you when you're agreeable. It doesn't suit you."

"And pouting doesn't suit you, my dear."

"See, that's just plain wrong. I've spent many years perfecting my petulance, and it suits me fine."

"Yeah."

The moment lasts a little longer than it should, we grin at each other, comfortable with the banter. Comfortable. But we have a movie to watch, so I move to get one of my new dvds. As I pass Gil I skim my hand over his shoulder. It is an act of companionship, and an act of worship. I'm sure he knows.

"So what delight have you got for me tonight, Cath?"

"When Harry Met Sally. A classic."

"I don't think I've ever seen that one. Isn't the one where Meg Ryan does the fake..."

"Yeah. That's the one."

"So you're showing me a dirty movie?"

"Get over yourself wise guy. It's a sweet movie, a happy movie. It's fluff, but choice fluff. You'll like it. It's sort of like a Woody Allen movie but with less angst."

"What makes you think I would like Woody Allen?"

"Please. The clues are so obvious. You like Ingmar Bergman movies, you're rather too fond of introspection. You so like Woody Allen."

"Okay, then show me a Woody Allen movie."

"No, you get this. I watch this three or four times a year, so watch with me already."

"What's it about?"

"It's a romantic comedy."

"Catherine, my dear, with you that was a given."

"Okay. It's a movie about a man and a woman who are good friends. It's about the change that takes place in their relationship over the years."

"What changes?"

"Well, you'll find that out when you watch the movie."

"I want to hear you say the words."

Okay, this is new. I can do this.

"It's about two people who are best friends, who tell each other everything, who laugh at the same things, who have a short hand with each other that they can't find with anyone else. Over the years of their friendship, they change. Their feelings change. They fall in love. But they're friends, so they try to pretend that it's not true. That there is no love."

"Why?"

"Well, they're scared. What if they were to lose each other, what if they lost the friendship. What if they were to split up and ruin the friendship."

"Sounds unlikely. If they're friends, surely they would be able to work out anything."

"Yeah. You would think, but sometimes people get scared. Love makes them a little crazy. It's difficult to admit your feelings, what if they are not reciprocated? That would be too difficult to bear. To confess your heart, well it takes guts. So anyway, that's the movie for you."

"Do they get together?"

"They're meant for each other, Gil."

"I know."

"You know, I thought you hadn't watched the movie?"

"I wasn't talking about the movie."

Breathe.

"Who were you talking about?"

"Best friends."

"Which best friends?"

At this he rises from my sofa, and pulls me from where I'm sitting. And it's like a movie, it really is. He wraps his arms round me, and he kisses me. Kisses me with tenderness until I come to my senses and join him in the motion. I have to stop thinking about movies when Gil is kissing me. Gil is kissing me... But he's stopping now.

"What was that for."

"I was being brave. I was telling my best friend that I love her, I was confessing my heart."

"I like it when you do that."

And we kiss again, standing in the middle of my living room, beside the wine stain, and the toys that clutter the floor. And it's fabulous. Better than any movie.

"I'm in love with you Gil. I've been working up the nerve to say that for a long time. I'll say it again to make sure I said it right. I'm in love with you."

I seal the words, the promise, with another kiss. But Gil wants to talk.

"They're a brilliant scene in that movie where Billy Crystal confesses to the Sally character that he love her. It always makes me think of you, Catherine. You know the speech, ' I love that after I spend a day with you I can smell your perfume on my clothes. I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep. When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.' I want the rest of our lives to start as soon as possible Cath. I love you."

"That was a good speech. I want the rest of our lives to start. I want a lot of things. More of the kissing would be good."

And he kisses me, he strokes my hair and he kisses me. And my life has begun. Our life.

"Gil?"

"Mmm."

"Gil, you like my happy movies..."

And he smiles against my lips as we start our new life.

THE END.