Sounds Like Radio Episode 28
It was quite a surprise for Cesca to see Bill’s friend Travis outside the studio, without Bill and dragging an enormous suitcase.
“My flight’s at five,” he said. “I’m done.”
Done with what, Cesca thought.
“Do you need a cab?” she asked. He must have just been saying bye to Bill.
“Nope,” he said. “Kelly’s taking me in her car.”
He stayed right where he was, and Cesca wondered why he wasn’t waiting for his sister next door.
“He’s crazy about you,” Travis said.
“Pardon?”
Travis sighed.
“I can’t go back to Oz without saying this. It’s definitely interfering, but it’s gotta come out.
“Bill is the shyest man I have ever known. He takes shyness to a new level. An Olympic level.
“Look, Cesca, I’ll lay it on the line. He’s good looking, right?”
Cesca felt heat flood the skin of her neck and face.
“Yeah, I’ve gathered that,” Travis said with a smile, “from a thousand girls at school and every point since.
“The laid-back vibe is designed to shield him from the things that send him into a funk. It’s a defence. I’ve seen it all before.
“If Bill likes someone – really likes them – his brain sends him running in the opposite direction.”
Cesca held on to the door frame.
“But I’ve seen him perfectly fine with people he likes. My colleague Miriam, say, in the Pheasant –”
“He’ll have chatted away to Miriam because he was too terrified to talk to you!
“Oh, yeah, he can talk to anyone he isn’t worshipping from afar.
“And when Bill falls, he falls heavy.”
Cesca discovered that she was holding her breath. Travis sat on the low wall, a few feet from her, and his voice became softer.
“He let on that you shared a kiss.”
“Not really.”
“Did he back off as soon as it happened? Did he look as though it had all been a mistake?”
“It was a mistake, really.
I –”
“No mistake, Cesca. Believe me. His hopeless mind makes him do that.
“It tells him it’s not possible that a nice, pretty, clever woman like you could really have wanted to kiss him.”
He threw up his hands.
“There! It’s said.
“It’s been driving me crazy, coming back year after year to find Bill miserable again.
“I don’t suppose you know how often he ‘finishes at four’ and then loiters in the park in case he bumps into you?”
“I didn’t know,” Cesca said.