“That’s why I thought it would be nice if Brian came here,” Mum says, placing the carved joint on the table next to the vegetables and gravy. “Especially as I wasn’t sure whether you’d be back in time or not.”
I sit and serve a tiny portion of everything onto my plate. Hopefully, as Brian’s here, Mum won’t notice.
“It’s a funny old thing,” Brian says, and I smile at him politely since he directs the comment at me. “Life.”
I wait for a moment but that appears to be it, so I make an agreeable noise in the back of my throat. I’m so stuffed if I eat even a single mouthful I’ll explode.
“It certainly is,” Mum says. “Brian, dig in.”
He piles his plate high with potatoes. “Your mum’s a fantastic cook, Alice.”
I glance up from my phone, which is hiding on my lap, where I’m surreptitiously texting Hannah. It’s never occurred to me before whether Mum’s a great cook or not. She cooks because she always has, and while I sometimes help out, my efforts are pitiful compared to hers. Although she’s always game to eat whatever I serve up, even the burnt bits.
It must be novel for Brian having someone else do the work for a change. Or maybe he lives on microwave food?
“Oh, Brian.” Mum gives a little laugh, apparently oblivious to the fact I’m not eating. Thank you, Brian. I go back to telling Hannah about my day.
“It’s true, Lyn. I’ve never tasted such delicious roast potatoes.”
My thumb freezes. Did he really say that? Visions of Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice flood my mind, and I have to bite down hard on my lip before I giggle. There’s no way I want to hurt Brian’s feelings because I know he’s being genuine.
Their conversation flows over my head, and I push my food around my plate every now and then so it looks like I’m eating something. I need to work out a strategy to get Harry to invite me back to his place tomorrow evening. Or should I stick to my plan and just sleep with him the night of my leaving party?
I ponder this for a moment. That was a good plan right up until he kissed me. Until then, I wasn’t sure if he wanted to do even that.
But wouldn’t it be so much better to have almost three weeks of earth-shattering sex with him before I leave for university? Because it’s going to be earth shattering. Maybe even brain exploding.
“Not long until you’re off to Durham then,” Brian says, helping himself to a second serving of beef. “It doesn’t seem that long ago you were only just starting high school.”
I hide a shudder. I hope university life is a lot better than high school. Not that I was bullied, exactly, but I sure wasn’t in the same elevated social stratosphere as most of the girls there.
“Time certainly flies,” Mum agrees.
“I bet you can’t wait,” he says to me. “Although your mum’s going to miss you.”
“It’s going to be real wrench. But I’m so proud of Alice and everything she’s achieved. It’s all been worth it.”
Blood heats my cheeks. Does she have to talk like that in front of Brian? “Um, I’m sitting right here.”
“You’re a real credit to your mum.” Brian beams at me before transferring said beam to my mum. “I admire you both so much.”
Mum flaps her hand at him, and I get the weirdest sensation that I’ve just tumbled down the infamous rabbit hole. Mum’s acting so…I can’t even think of the right word, because the only one that springs to mind is flirty, and women of forty don’t do that kind of thing. Especially Mum, whose opinion of men is so low as to be almost nonexistent. Brian doesn’t count, obviously, as he’s a friend and work colleague.
I must be projecting, with all my sizzling thoughts of Harry.
“You do what you have to.” Mum offers him the gravy boat, even though it was sitting right in front of him on the table. “And Alice is so single-minded. She’s never been obsessed with boys the way some girls are.”
Why is she telling Brian this? And to clarify, just because I haven’t dated every night since I was fifteen doesn’t mean I didn’t want to. It means I never had the chance.
As in, no one ever asked me. And while a kind person could excuse that deficit as a by-product of going to an all-girls school, I know better.
“Plenty of time for dating.” He throws me another smile, but this time all I want to do is sink through the floor. Does he feel sorry for my pathetic lack of social life? After all, Lucy’s two years younger than me, and she’s on holiday with her boyfriend.
“Exactly,” Mum says. “Once she has her degree under her belt and a good career ahead of her, life will still be out there waiting.”
This isn’t a revolutionary statement. Over the years, it’s something we’ve both agreed is a brilliant strategy. But for the first time, the image of that being my foreseeable future leaves a hollow sensation in my chest.
This has nothing to do with Harry.
“Well, I hear they throw good parties at university.”
“I remember the parties from university,” Brian says with a reminiscent smile before catching Mum’s eye. He clears his throat and goes back to finishing his dinner.
“But you don’t like parties.” Mum sounds so confused by the turn in the conversation that I almost feel sorry for her. Except I’m too mortified, since she’s basically just told Brian I’m a social misfit.
“Anyway, I need to get ready for my driving lesson.” I ignore Mum’s contrite expression and her outstretched hand, because although we might discuss and disagree with each other in private, I don’t know what she was thinking doing it in front of Brian. Just because she’s known him for years isn’t an excuse, and so I pick up my plate and leave the room with what remains of my tattered dignity.
Chapter Twelve
Alice
As I sit on the bus the following morning, I can’t help fiddling with my hair. I left it loose again, but it’s going to take some getting used to. Mum had an early shift this morning so we haven’t seen each other since last night, as after my driving lesson I hung out with Hannah.
My phone goes. It’s a text from Mum.
Sorry, darling. Please forgive me! I’m just so proud of you and so is Brian, but I shouldn’t have gone on the way I did. XOXO
Typical Mum to still be worrying about that. I’d forgiven her before I even went to bed last night. Although I’ve no idea why Brian would be proud of me. I’m nothing to him. Anyway, that’s not important. I text back.
You’re forgiven XOXO
Then I remember something.
I might be late home tonight, work stuff
I bite my lip. Hanging out with Harry isn’t work stuff, but I don’t know how else to let her know I’ll be home late. If I tell her what’s going on with him, she’ll immediately jump to the conclusion we’re dating, and we’re not. Well, I don’t think we are. I’m not sure what we’re doing, but it doesn’t really matter.
Whichever way I look at it, this is only a temporary thing until I go to university.
By the time I reach Blitz, I can’t wait until I see Harry again. Although I’m guessing he wants to keep the fact we’re seeing each other outside of work quiet. Well, of course he will. Which means there’ll be no sneaking into the office supply cupboard for a quickie, in case we’re discovered.
Not that we have an office supply cupboard, since everything is open plan, but it’s the dirty thought that counts.
I’m still trying to smother my giggle as I enter the building, when I see a group of the guys, including Harry, gathered around Di’s desk.
“What’s going on?” I stroll up to them, already regretting my impulsive decision to wear a pair of heels today instead of my usual Doc Martens. They shuffle around to make room for me.
Harry flashes me a grin that has me rethinking the whole keeping it secret thing, because I’m not sure I’m that great an actor. “Don’t hit me. But you’re famous.”
Okay, I didn’t expect that. Curious, I peer over Di’s shoulder to see what they’ve all bee
n gawking at.
Beauty and the Geek
I grip the back of her chair as the video starts to play, of Harry and me walking toward the stage the other night. Holy shit. My face burns even before we pause before the podium because I know what’s coming. And it does. In glorious, slo-mo, zoom vision, full-screen mode.
Di sighs. “Sooo romantic, you guys.”
“Hope you’re getting a bloody good bonus for having to put up with Harry for a whole night,” Joe says, throwing me a grin. Not that I can respond. I can’t do anything but stare at Harry’s and my locked lips, frozen on the screen, for the entire workforce of Blitz to see.
“You deserve an Oscar for that, Alice,” Caleb says. “And guess what? Oscar Jarrod emailed. He fucking loves it. Wants to know if we’ve any more high-profile stunts lined up.”
“The publicity is awesome,” says Meg, who used to work in the same computer store as Caleb before Blitz took off. “Look how many views it’s got already.”
Seventeen thousand, four hundred and nine. And there are comments. Lots of them. I can’t focus to read them.
I blink the haze from my eyes, but the number doesn’t magically vanish.
“Sorry.” Harry doesn’t sound like he thinks the whole thing is a joke anymore. “I had no idea anything like this’d happen. I thought at worst they might post a photo of us in their next issue.”
I take a deep breath. Now that the first shock is wearing off, it’s obvious nobody’s guessed just how much that kiss means to me. It is, after all, just a kiss. Not a freaking sex tape.
It’s my Cinderella moment, splashed online, for the world to see.
Everyone kisses. It’s no big deal and no one will read any more into it as long as I don’t behave like an idiot. All the guys seem to think I was just doing my bit to help with the PR, and Harry sure hasn’t corrected that assumption.
Like I thought, he wants to keep the fact it’s more than faking it for the good of Blitz strictly between the two of us. Which is fine by me.
Sure it is.
“No problem.” I squeeze the words out and thankfully they don’t sound too constipated. My gaze drifts over the tagline again. How much research did they do on me? I’ve never seen myself as a geek, but maybe since I’m off to university is all the angle they needed for their hook.
They sure got it right with Harry, though. Di hits play again, and I can’t tear my besotted gaze away from him. Although the lighting isn’t great, it somehow makes him look more gorgeous than ever. And just before we kiss, the camera manages to capture his heart-stopping smile.
“Jesus, Di, turn that fucking thing off.” There’s a note of irritation in Harry’s voice, which is so unlike him that we all turn to stare at him. “How many times do you need to watch it?”
“Haven’t decided yet.” Di grins and hits play again. “Have you read some of these comments?”
I take a stealthy step back. While I have every intention of watching this clip at least a hundred times today, I’m doing it in private and won’t be reading the comments. I can just imagine what some of them will say and don’t want anything negative to ruin my memories of that night.
Once I reach my office, I boot up the laptop before slumping in my chair. I need to book the golf thing for when Oscar Jarrod is here, but I can’t concentrate. Why didn’t we know we were being filmed? Then again, once Harry took my hand that night I was oblivious to everything else.
I groan and close my eyes. All right, so it wasn’t my very first kiss, but it was my first real kiss, and it’s horrible knowing that the whole world can tune in and leave their opinion on it. Or, rather, on me, since the kiss itself is visually stunning and Harry is the stuff of dreams.
“Alice, are you okay?”
My eyes spring open and I jerk upright. Harry, his hands planted on my desk, looms over me with a worried expression on his face.
“Yes, sure.” Get your shit together, Alice. “Like Meg said, it’s brilliant publicity.”
“Screw the publicity. I saw your face downstairs. I know how much you hate this kind of thing.”
He does? How does he know that?
“You don’t like it, either,” I counter, since, to be fair, it was only because Caleb and I insisted he go to the event that he decided to attend in the first place.
He shrugs. “No, but I’m more used to it than you are. Like I said, they’re fucking vultures.”
A morbid shiver inches along my spine. Is he warning me against reading those comments? Like I need one. I’ve seen how bloodthirsty keyboard warriors are once they dig their claws into something juicy.
“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not like they gave out my full name and address, is it?” Oh my fuck. They didn’t, did they? The horror of that unlikely possibility paralyzes me.
“No.” He stares at me as though I’ve lost my mind. “I’d sue their fucking arse off if they’d done that.”
Of course, they didn’t. Why would they? It’s Harry everyone’s interested in, whether for his brain or his body. I’m just the placeholder.
Which, actually, really sucks.
…
Harry
Alice’s lovely mouth droops for a second, and I have the mad urge to hit something. Why did I think she’d like that clip of us kissing?
Sure, it pissed me off when I first saw it, but it grew on me. And there was never any way we could keep it secret from the guys at work. It had nothing to do with Caleb. They were already all over it before I ever got to see it.
But I should’ve guessed how horrified she’d be. She’s never been in the spotlight. At least I’ve had a taste of it, with my parents’ lifestyle in the past and the times I’ve been out with Lucas over the last few years.
No way am I letting this come between us.
“Just ignore it. This time next week it’ll be yesterday’s news.” Nothing dies on the Net. Shut the fuck up.
“I know. It’s just, geek.” She gives a weird little shrug, and I don’t know what she means, since the entire reason we went in the first place was because of the cringe-worthy geek award. But at least it’s a way to move on from the fact it’s my fault her privacy’s been invaded.
“That reminds me. That award now sits on my desk. I hate to say it, but I think you’re dead wrong. It still looks like a glorified glass dick.”
Her smile lights up her face. “Has it occurred to you that maybe we just have very dirty minds?”
“Nah. It was the first thing Caleb said when he saw it. Correction. He called it a big knob, with the clear inference that I deserved it, and not in a good way.”
“Ooh.” She gives a fake shiver. “That’s mean.”
“Still want to hang out after work?” Okay, that was hardly a subtle segue, but I need to know she hasn’t changed her mind.
“Sure.” A faint blush heats her cheeks, and for the first time ever I’m tempted to forget work for the day and take Alice out some place where it’s just the two of us. “The Slurping Toad?”
I have a better idea, one that kept me awake half the night, but it’s hard to spit out the words. It’s easy for Lucas. He meets girls and takes them back home without a second thought, and frequently without even knowing their second name, but I’ve never been into that. Plus, Alice is a friend.
Jesus, just ask her, you fucking dope.
“I could cook for us tonight.”
She stares at me in clear shock, and I resist the urge to back track. No delete button here, mate. She obviously needs some kind of reassurance. “Promise I won’t give you salmonella.”
“You mean,” she clears her throat and winds the end of her hair around her finger, “like, go back to your flat?”
“Unless you want me to roast something over a camp fire.” I grin to hide the awkward fact that this conversation isn’t going to plan at all. “Or we could get a Chinese takeaway instead.”
It’d be less painful to bash my head against the glass wall. We should’ve just gone to the pub. I’m mov
ing too fast for her, but since we’ve known each other for nearly nine months it didn’t occur to me she’d think that. Although I’m hardly an expert when it comes to dating. I should’ve asked Mac for some pointers.
“I’d love that.” She finally smiles, and the relief is great. “And forget about a takeaway. I didn’t know you could cook. That’s awesome.”
“One of the extracurriculars the three of us were forced into was cooking. Although to be fair, it’s come in handier than the rock climbing.”
“I’ve never progressed beyond the basics. I just know enough so I won’t starve when I’m at university.”
Maybe I overstated my case. “Don’t expect cordon bleu. But I don’t burn water.”
“What do you want me to bring? Wine? Dessert? I have to warn you, though, it’ll be shop bought.”
“No need. I need to stop off at the shops on the way home. We can get something then.” Yeah, not very suave. Shame I never took a course in how to sweet-talk girls. Not that I want to sweet-talk Alice, since it sounds kind of creepy and fake. “Is there anything you don’t eat?”
...
An hour later, after having done my usual morning run to the coffee shop for Alice and me—although this time I disrupted the space-time continuum by asking for a takeaway tea for her, which, incidentally, she loved—I’m back in my office.
There are forty-three urgent items on my to-do list for the current scene I’m working on, but instead I scroll through online articles on “Amazing First-Date Recipes.”
Apparently, there’s a lot more to it than simply the food.
“Candles,” I mutter. Hadn’t thought of that. I make a note on my phone to buy some. And not just any ones. Beeswax. Fuck, where the hell do I buy beeswax candles if the local grocery store doesn’t stock them?
My phone rings, and I nearly ignore it, but since I haven’t spoken to my brother all weekend, I guess I need to take the call.
“Hey, congrats on winning your award. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Cinderella and the Geek (British Bad Boys) Page 10