“Not Like Normal People”
“Laura, you still home?” Lucy poked her head into the bathroom, where her older sister was fixing her hair before work.
“Of course I am! Unlike you telecom lot with your ungodly seven a.m. shifts, us office workers keep decent hourseight to five, like civilised folk.”
“Oh, please, ‘office workers’!” Lucy snorted. “Youre just factory girls like the rest of us, only you sit around in your little design office in white lab coats, thinking youre geniuses.”
“Couldve been you too if youd studied engineering,” Laura shot back. “But no, you just had to chase after that Darren bloke into technical college!”
“Oh, shut it!” Lucy waved a hand. “Darrens ancient historygone and married some girl from his course!”
Lucy hated when Laura brought that up. Darren, her school crush, had been devastatingly handsomefilm-star material, in her opinionso shed followed him to telecom college like a lovestruck fool. Not that hed appreciated the gesture.
She rinsed off under the shower, threw on her cosy pyjamas, and shuffled into the kitchen, yawning.
“Anything here to nibble so I dont wake up starving?”
“Leftover omelette under the lidmade enough for both of us,” Laura offered.
“Ugh, omelette *again*? How can you eat eggs every day? I need something lighter.”
Lucy grabbed instant porridge, poured boiling water over it, and stirred lazily.
“Youll fall asleep mid-bite,” Laura smirked.
Lucy forced down two bland spoonfuls before pushing the bowl away.
“Right, sleep it is.”
She trudged to her room, and soon, loud, even snores echoed out. Laura checked the clock. “Why did I even get up this early? Half an hour left to scroll my phone.” She curled into the armchairtheir spacious kitchens throneand sank into her screen.
Thena knock. Laura answered and signed for a telegram from distant relatives stuck in the past: *Happy New Year, health, happiness* She returned to her radiator-side throne.
Suddenly, Lucy shuffled past to the loo, then stopped in the hallway and yelped, “Oh, for heavens sake!” Laura listenedshoes scrabbling, jacket zipping, then the door slammed.
“Lucy, whered you go?” Laura jumped up, but her sister had vanished, phone still on the side table. “Blimey. Forgotten something at work?”
She retreated to the warm kitchen.
***
Lucy sprinted down the icy pavement, squinting at shadowy figures ahead. Still dark, but she hoped to spot Lauras coat. The telegram had woken her, and when the door slammed, shed assumed Laura left for work. After tossing in bed, shed stumbled to the loo, spotted Lauras forgotten ID on the side table, and panicked.
“Idiot!” shed hissed, thrown on a coat over her pyjamas, and bolted after her.
But Laura wasnt among the factory-bound crowd. The plant was only ten minutes away, and Lucy reached the gates breathlessno Laura. The security guard frowned.
“Hasnt arrived. Its only half seven. Shes usually bang on 7:55.”
“Half seven?!” Lucy gaped. “Oh, Im such an idiot!”
The guard eyed her like shed tried smuggling in a missile.
“Leaving now!” she yelped, then*thud*her feet flew out on black ice, and she hit the pavement hard.
“Ow!” A stranger rushed over, helping her up.
“You alright?”
“II dont think I can stand!”
The mantall, in a warm coat over a white lab coatstudied her with tired, kind eyes.
“Whats the rush on ice?”
“Long story. I need to get home before my sister murders me!” She tried standing, yelped, and he sighed.
“Hold onto me. Tight.” He scooped her up.
“Which floor?” he asked in the lift.
“Third,” Lucy mumbled, flushing. Never had she been this close to a manlet alone a handsome one smelling faintly of cologne and antiseptic.
Back home, Laura gaped. “Lucy?! Whos this?”
“Evening. Your sisters badly sprained or dislocated,” the man said, carrying Lucy inside.
“Long story,” Lucy groaned, handing Laura the ID.
“Oh, *there* it is!” Laura stuffed it into her bag and dashed outthen doubled back. “Lucy, you know this guy?”
“Hes fineIm a doctor,” he assured. “Mind the ice.”
Laura nodded and vanished.
“Right, Lucy,” the doctor said briskly, removing her boot. Her ankle was swollen, the joint jutting sideways.
“That bad?” she whimpered.
“Dislocation. Hospital trip, Im afraid.”
“Ugh, no! Im shattered from my night shifttheyll X-ray me to death!”
“Night shift? Colleagues, then?”
“Oh, noIm on the factory switchboard. Round-the-clock site, so someones always needed.”
“Ah. Still an ambulance is necessary. This needs resetting under anaesthetic.” He called someone. “Steve? Got a dodgy ankle hereslipped on ice.” He smiled at Lucy. “Address?”
She rattled it off, then panicked. *What if theyre burglars?!*
“Relax,” he chuckled, seeing her face. “Steves my shift matetop-notch with trauma.”
“Hes good?” she blurted, then flushed.
“Steve? Brilliant. OhIm Max, by the way.”
She shook his large, warm hand, wishing hed never let goor better yet, scoop her up again.
***
That New Years Eve, they all celebrated togetherLucy, Laura, Max, and Steve. They toasted black ice, Lauras ID, and the magic of a night that sparked not one, but two love stories.
