Roger blew on his drink. “Drink.”

Colin tugged at the neck of his shirt, which just made it tighter and made the veins in his neck stick out.

“Stop fiddling with that,” said Roger.

“I feel stupid,” Colin said.

“Well, you look very smart.”

“I look like a butler.”

“No. You look like James Bond.”

Colin laughed derisively and stirred his coffee aimlessly.

“You will sit up straighter than that during the interview, won’t you?” Roger asked.

“I’ve got underwear up my crack as it is. If I sit up any straighter I’ll start chafing, and then I’ll get piles.”

“Stop it, Colin.”

“What?”

They both drank for a few moments.

“Cambridge is a good school. If you give them the usual bit of attitude they won’t want you there.”

Colin sighed. “I’m just gonna go in there and be myself.”

“That might not be enough.”

“Well, I knew that. Everyone knew that. It’s just you and the school who won’t drop it.”

Roger sipped slowly. “You’ve got top grades in exams I wasn’t even allowed to take. That’s not going to be enough, though. But I know you can do this.”

“I’m not even sure if I want to.” Colin shrugged.

“Fine. You want to drop out of school, do it. I can always find work for you to do.”

Colin snorted. “I’m not laying bricks.”

“You wouldn’t have to, I suppose. With your grades they’d definitely take you at McDonalds.”

Colin began shaking his head. He took a packet of cigarettes out of his blazer pocket and began tipping it end over end on the table top.

“Don’t smoke any of those before you go in,” said Roger. “Smelling of them will make a bad impression.”

Colin slammed his palm down flat on top of the packet. “Christ.”

“Colin.”

“What, Dad? What?”

Roger shook his head.

Colin leaned over the table. “I got into Warwick. Who gives a shit if I don’t get into Cambridge?”

“Your mum and I.”

“Well, I’m glad I come into it, then.”

Roger sighed. “Warwick’s only a conditional offer.”

“Yes, but if I don’t get the grades to get into Warwick then I’m sure as hell not going to get into Cambridge.”

“Don’t you want the best education?”

“I’m not sure Cambridge is the best.” Colin shrugged again.

“Better than Warwick.”

“What’s all this anti-Warwick stuff about? Where’d that come from? You’re the one who said apply to Warwick.”

“Only in case you failed to get into Cambridge.”

“So you wouldn’t be happy if I went there?”

Roger sighed. “Right now I wish I hadn’t suggested it. If you didn’t have any offers you might not be so blase about this interview.”

Colin put the cigarettes back in his pocket and drank.

“When’s your train, again?” Roger asked.

“11.45,” Colin muttered. “I told you.”

Roger looked at his watch. “Should probably be making a move soon, then.”

“You don’t have to come with me to King’s Cross, Dad.”

“I want to make sure you get on that train.”

“I’m going to. And I’m going to take this interview. But I’m not going to get in.”

“That you at least try, that’s all we want.”

“Well, it isn’t all you want.”

“What?”

Colin shook his head. “Nothing.”

Roger swilled the remainder of his coffee around the bottom of his cup and drank it in one.

“Did you ever see those programmes about pushy parents who put their five year old kids in beauty pageants and auditions and who turned out to be failed actors themselves, Dad?”

Roger looked past him, out the window. It was bright sunshine. “We just want the best for you, Colin.”

“Yeah. So do I, Dad.”

Roger opened his mouth to argue.

“Think about that,” Colin got in first.

Then Colin got up. He tugged his trousers down a bit and shifted the belt. He wasn’t lying about chafing.

“I’ll see you after dinner,” he said.

“Good luck,” Roger said.

Colin nodded and headed out of the cafe.

Roger folded his arms and leaned forward on the table. He saw Colin hadn’t finished his coffee. There was still a little steam coming off the hot liquid. Roger picked up the cup and drank.

The door opened. Roger looked up.

It was Colin.

Roger sat up straight. “Colin?”

Colin came back to the table and smiled crookedly. “I don’t have enough money for the tube.”

“How much is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ll need a return.”

“Just get a travelcard,” Roger said, fumbling for change. He pulled out a handful of coins and held them out.

NOTES:
Looking back at the last ten stories, they are all to a certain degree about, if not undesirables, then abnormal things happening to normal people. Even abandoning your husband and taking your daughter away in the middle of the night, or hitch-hiking from one end of the country to the other, whilst perfectly plausible, aren't exactly the kind of thing normal people do on a normal day. So the intention with Roger and Colin was very much to have normal people having a normal day doing normal things: namely, going for an interview.