35

                                    

                                          
13th July 2023 – London (UK)
Luke Newton: How far away are you?
A smile stretched across Nicola's face as she typed out a reply on her mobile phone.
Nicola Coughlan: I'm sending you my live location.
The response was instant.
Luke Newton: It's not as fun as you trying to tell me where you are and failing.
Nicola Coughlan: I'm doing my best!
Luke Newton: You're nowhere near Canary Wharf. 
Nicola Coughlan: My head barely reaches up to the window.
Nicola Coughlan: Did I mention I'm very small?
Luke Newton: Being short can't be an excuse for everything.
Nicola giggled out loud at his response and then remembered where she was.  She looked self-consciously at the front seat of the car she was in.  The middle-aged taxi driver was staring straight ahead, his eyes bloodshot, and his face slightly weary.  He gave no indication that he had noticed her sudden giddiness.  
God, was she giddy.
Her life felt like it had never been better.
The last few weeks had allowed her to finally be in the same city as Luke and they had taken every opportunity possible to be together, usually at her apartment or his.  This had also been an incredibly busy time for both, and they had been pivotal cheerleaders for one another as they went through career milestones.  When Luke was invited to Wimbledon for the first time as a guest of GQ, he had responded in true Luke fashion: with joy at being acknowledged but also severe anxiety at the whole idea of being a fashion object of some sort.  She was fast learning how much he loved being an actor but how much he equally struggled with just being Luke at these events – being most comfortable when he could disappear into a role.  She had reminded him how only a year ago, he had teased her about her own Wimbledon appearances and now here he was – being a fashion icon at a top British sporting event.  She found the way he blushed in response to her praise endearing.   She loved how quick he was to remind her that she was invited to several Wimbledon events this year and was constantly being revered in the fashion pages for her style – she loved this not because she wanted him to admire her but because it demonstrated how humble he was.  He never wanted the spotlight for too long, and he was all too happy to cast it back on her.  
In their personal lives, they had not been shy about demonstrating their affections for each other around people they knew.  She attended the wrap party for The Shape of Things as his date; they had walked in together and then spent most of the night pressed up against the side of the bar, not-so-discreetly making out, much to everyone else's amusement.  They had decided they did not want to nor feel the need to be more public, with both agreeing not to post anything on their respective social media accounts or to discuss their relationship in the press.  They knew that at some point, talking about each other would be inevitable but they were keen to keep as much of their relationship for themselves for as long as possible.
Nicola thought about how she had never felt so good in herself.  She was in the city of her dreams, with a burgeoning career, and with a boyfriend with his own successes, and they were both aligned in their core values.  They just seemed to fit.
How the hell does it get better than this?
Some days, she worried about whether she was peaking too soon – in both her career and love.  She dismissed these thoughts quickly, and usually on that kind of day, there was something consuming on her schedule that distracted her from the fears.