Peter replied with a single blushing smiley. “Did you get any Valentine’s cards?” he asked a moment later.
“Hundreds!” she typed. “You?”
He smiled at her predicable yet clearly exaggerated reply. “Just the one.” he replied. “Off my mum.” he claimed. “She went all the way to Slough to post it!”
“You sure it was from your Mum?” she typed.
“Yeah, can’t think of anyone else who’d send me one.” he typed, knowing full well that his valentine’s card was from Carol. She replied with a smirking smiley and nothing more. A few moments passed before he asked. “So… what you up to?”
“Chatting with you.”
“I know that… I mean, generally.”
“Not much. Hibernating. It’s fecking freezing.”
“Got snow up here.”
“Lovely!”
“Yeah… looks nicer through a window than it does when your trudging through it.”
“Is it deep?”
“Nah. Just cold and wet and white… well, mostly grey sludge now.” he replied. Imagining the scene, Carol asks about his footwear which isn’t revealed on the photo he sent. “Er… yeah… I cropped the bottom off for a reason.” he replied.
“You wear girl’s shoes too then?”
“You won’t tell Noel?”
“If you don’t want me to. He’d be OK anyway.”
“Yeah but… I’d just rather he didn’t know the details.”
“Can I know the details?” she typed, adding “ 🙂 ” followed by “I won’t tell.” Peter wasn’t sure what to type so his fingers hesitantly hovered over the keyboard. “Are they like ballet pumps?” she asked.
“Nah. Kinda wish they were though.”
“What are they like then?” she asked.
A moment passed before a window popped up on Carol’s laptop screen, ‘Peter J is sending a file: Do you want to accept?’ She clicked ‘yes’ and waited for it to download. “Nice.” she typed after viewing the photo. It’s identical to the one he’d sent to Noel earlier, only this time it isn’t cropped just above the knee. “Mary Jane’s!” she typed, adding a big grin smiley.
“With heels!” he replied, adding a frowning smiley. “ 🙁 .”
“They don’t look very high though.” she typed.
“They’re higher than what I was used to.”
“Can you walk in them?”
“I can now.” he replied. “I can run in them!”
“Really?! :d.”
“Yup, not very fast though.” he typed, feeling both guilty and proud of this achievement. “Don’t say owt… pleeeease.” he typed, followed by a blushing smiley.
“Promise.” she typed, adding a standard smiley. “Do you have to wear heels?”
“Well it’s not through choice.” he sarcastically replied. “They reckon they’re to discourage running in the corridors.”
“And do they?”
“Mostly.” Peter typed. “A sign saying ‘no running’ would work just as well though.”
“LOL.” she quickly typed, adding a big grin smiley. “Can we meet up when you come down?”
“Course. I’ll be coming round to see Noel anyway.”
“I know but… just us two?” Carol added a blushing smiley.
“Er… sure.” Peter replied. “I’d better go… I still need to change and if we spend all night chatting we’ll have nowt to talk about when I do come down.”
“Do me a favour before you go.”
“Sure. What?” he asked. A window immediately popped up on his screen. ‘Carol Scott wants to video chat – click yes to accept’.
“Don’t really wanna video chat.” he typed.
“Pleeeeaasssseee.” Carol replied. “I just want to see you, before you get changed.” she added a winking smiley followed by another elongated please.
Reluctantly, Peter clicked ‘yes’ in the video chat box and her face instantly appeared on his screen screen. “There you are!” she grinned. “Hey is that your tie?” she enthused.