The Happy Hour

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

By the time Jess got to Lola and Malik’s flat, the sun had given up and the temperature had dropped, reminding her that the year hadn’t fully shaken off the last traces of winter. She wasn’t sure whether to tell Lola about her coffee with Ash, and their plans to meet up again. This would be big news, and Jess didn’t know if she was ready for the full force of her best friend’s excitement.

Lola answered the door, tendrils of her long blonde hair falling down either side of her face like curtains framing a beautiful view.

‘Hey,’ she said, breathlessly.

‘Am I interrupting something, or...?’ Jess raised her eyebrows, but Lola scoffed and turned round, heading back into the flat and clearly expecting Jess to follow.

Their living room was a haven of soft furnishings, the two rather threadbare sofas hidden beneath a sea of brightly coloured scatter cushions, most of which had been bought at the market. Malik, Lola’s lanky, bespectacled boyfriend was jiggling up and down in front of the TV, playing one of his favourite shoot-’em-up video games, the sound turned low so that the gunshots were quiet, which somehow made them more sinister.

‘Hey, Jess,’ he said, barely looking up.

‘We’re getting our Fitbit targets,’ Lola explained. ‘He’s been sitting down all day, so now he’s trying to hit his ten thousand steps.’

Jess laughed. ‘You could both – I don’t know – just go for a walk? Not that you need any more steps, I’m guessing. You were working earlier, weren’t you?’

‘Yup. Sunday lunch shift, always a delight.’ Lola went into the kitchen, filling and then flicking on the kettle. ‘Tea?’

‘I’d love one.’ Jess followed her and leaned against the kitchen counter. ‘The market’s filling up with tourists now, so I expect the Gipsy Moth is the same.’

Lola worked at the pub closest to the Cutty Sark, which had a large, outside veranda looking out over the British clipper and the concrete foreshore that ran down to the river, a gloomy interior and a menu that stretched to several pages. It was always busy with a combination of locals and tourists, which meant that Lola rarely got a quiet shift.

‘It was non-stop,’ she replied, tipping her head back on a half-groan. ‘There was a family of fifteen, four generations, from newborn baby to crinkly old great-grandma, behaving as if we were a Michelin-star restaurant. Could we supply them with jugs of iced, filtered water and gluten-free bread?’

Jess smothered a laugh. ‘Gluten-free options are pretty standard these days. So is water.’

Lola’s lips twitched. ‘Yeah, well, my patience was frayed by that point. Thenone of the women suggested it would have been nice if the napkins had been shaped like swans. I couldn’t decide if she was winding me up, or if she was genuinely going to give us a two-star review on Tripadvisor for our serviette oversight.’

‘And, after all that, you’re adding to your twenty thousand steps by prancing up and down in front of the TV with Malik, who isn’t even paying attention to you.’ Jess tapped her fingers against her lips. ‘Who lives in the flat below you again?’

‘We were both playing that game before you arrived. He’s switched to single-player mode now you’re here, like a good boyfriend.’ Lola grinned.

Jess liked to pretend that she was mad her best friend had found her person, but Malik was genuinely lovely: quietly geeky, unwaveringly patient, and committed to Lola 100 per cent. He had a well-paid job doing something in computer tech that she didn’t understand – she wasn’t sure Lola did, either – but mostly Jess loved that Lola was so happy, and had only been mildly miffed when it had meant, a few years ago, that she’d had to find somewhere else to live.

Lola and Malik had bothsaid she could move into Malik’s two-bedroom flat with them, but who wanted a third wheel rolling around their love nest on a daily basis? And who wanted to be that wheel, constantly walking in on moments of affection, always being in the way?

Jess had got used to her near-solitary existence in her shared flat with Terence. She was, for the most part, happier on her own anyway. For a long time, she had daydreamed about her future in those terms: about one day owning her own home by the sea, big enough for her to adorn with beautiful items (though not sinister hares) and perhaps share with a scruffy dog; going for walks along the beach; maybeone day levelling up from her Etsy shop to running her own gift shop.

Right now, she and Lola both lived in Greenwich and saw each other at least every other day, and that was what mattered to Jess. They very rarely annoyed each other.

‘I was thinking of invading the market sometime next week,’ Lola announced, her back turned as she drowned teabags in boiling water, and Jess remembered that it was actually verypossible to be annoyed with her friend.

‘For your video?’ she asked.

Lola chuckled. ‘I don’t need any more cushions, do I?’

‘You don’t,’ Jess agreed.

Lola’s passion was playing the violin; after years of being first violin in a community orchestra, she wanted to branch out on her own, to do something more than play classical pieces as part of an ensemble. Jess knew she was biased, but she loved listening to her friend play, especially since she’d turned her focus to folk and rock music, transforming modern tunes that she knew well into pieces that sounded magical on the stringed instrument. She should be making a career out of it, not having it as a hobby while she worked all hours in a pub.

‘You really think the market’s the best setting?’ Jess asked, for probably the tenth time since Lola had told her her idea.

‘Of course.’ Lola crossed her arms. She was wearing a thin grey long-sleeved T-shirt and navy jogging bottoms, and still managed to look chic. ‘You’re always going on about the weird and wonderful things that happen there, so what better place for my video? TikTok will lap it up.’

‘Things do happen there.’ Jess scrunched her nose up. After today, that felt like an understatement. ‘It’s just...’

‘Just what?’ Lola stirred milk into her and Jess’s tea, leaving Malik’s black.

Jess thought of the people who worked at the market. Gentle, quiet Enzo with his delicate filigree jewellery; Susie who ran Better Babies, all the items on her stall plush and desirable, her bright smile hiding her insecurities; Roger, who aimed for cavalier but was as strait-laced as they came. She wasn’t sure how much they would love being thrust into the limelight in Lola’s TikTok video – Lola, who was loud and confident and captivating. But then, Jess wanted her friend to get the success she deserved; she wanted to support her. ‘Are you going to prepare everyone first? Explain what you’re doing?’

Lola put the milk back in the fridge. ‘I’m going to do better than that, I’m going to get you to explain it to them.’

Jess closed her eyes. ‘I knew this would happen.’

‘Of course you did. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already primed them for my appearance.’

Jess huffed out a laugh, and her gaze fell on the digital clock on Lola’s oven, the display stuck blinking at 00:00, as if it hadn’t been reset after a power cut. She thought of the solid half-hunter in Braden’s small hand, the way he’d clutched it possessively while Roger explained its provenance.

She accepted her tea from Lola, in a cream mug with World’s Best Friend in rainbow letters on the side. It had been a birthday present, one Lola had insisted stayed here, the gesture – that she would always be welcome – meaning so much more than the mug itself. She followed Lola into the living room, her thoughts on fire.

The half-hunter. Ash and his ridiculous pigeon story. The reminder that she was seeing him again sent a swift, sharp thrill of excitement through her. She settled on the sofa and Lola held out a share-sized bag of Doritos that looked as though it might have been stuffed between the cushions for a couple of days. She hadn’t eaten anything since wolfing down a peanut-butter muffin after she’d got back from her impromptu break, so she wasn’t about to turn them down.

‘Hellooo, Jess?’ Lola waggled the crisp packet and she realised she’d had her hand in it, hovering, without actually taking any crisps.

‘Just wondering how many dust bunnies I’m going to find in here.’

‘We opened it last night,’ Lola protested.

‘And I had a clip on it until an hour ago,’ Malik added, slightly out of breath from his spot in front of the TV.

‘Five-star hygiene rating then.’ Jess grabbed a handful and shoved it in her mouth.

‘So, about my video,’ Lola said. ‘Let’s do it together, OK? You can introduce me to everyone, I can sell the magic of featuring in my TikTok, and ask people if they’re happy to be involved. You’re, like, royalty there, so if they know I’m your friend, they’re much more likely to say yes.’

Jess scoffed. ‘You’re overestimating my influence over everyone.’

‘I bet I’m not. And anyway, I’ll give them a demo.’ Lola waved her hand as if it was a done deal – and perhaps it was: she was charismatic enough without a violin tucked under her chin. When she started to play, people went positively misty-eyed.

‘Who’s filming it?’ Jess asked.

Lola’s smile was slow and catlike, and Jess’s stomach swooped.

‘No,’ she said. ‘No way.’ She didn’t think she could shake her head any more vigorously. ‘I have zero video skills. My Instagram reels for the shop could have been made by achild.’

It was Lola’s turn to scoff. ‘A child genius who’s done an Instagram Secrets course. And this is TikTok. You hold up my phone, point and shoot. Ta-da!’

‘Can’t Malik do it?’

‘I’m at work when the market’s open,’ he puffed. ‘Lola needs you, Jess.’

‘I absolutely do,’ Lola agreed.

Jess made a grunt of protest. Introducing Lola to her market colleagues was one thing – one morning, over and done with. Doing the filming was a whole other level of involvement. ‘You do not need me.’

‘I’m doing this properly,’ Lola told her. ‘I’ve got release forms and everything, and I really want you to be part of it. You and me against the world, right?’

Jess buried her head in a cushion and groaned. Because that was it, wasn’t it? She kept her social circle purposely small, and Lola was the most important part of it. She would do anything for the blonde, bold, slightly scatty woman sitting next to her on the sofa. The smile on Lola’s face said she knew it.

‘I’ll think about it.’ Jess sipped her tea. ‘But I can’t change anyone’s minds if they don’t want to be filmed, and I can’t suddenly become Steven Spielberg.’

Lola squealed and wrapped her in a hug. ‘Thank you so much. This is going to be so awesome!’

‘Is it, though?’ Jess muttered, but she hugged her friend back anyway. She hoped managing Lola’s expectations as well as her colleagues’ wouldn’t be too much of a juggle.

‘A thousand steps left,’ Malik panted. ‘Join me, ladies!’

Lola bounced up immediately, but Jess stayed put. It was one more thing she didn’t need to be involved in. She didn’t even have a Fitbit.

Then, before she could sink fully into the sofa cushions, Lola took her World’s Best Friend mug out of her hand and put it on a side table, then pulled her up. Soon, Jess was jumping about on the old beige carpet to the sound of gunfire and the cries of animated people falling down dead, and she was laughing and sweaty and wondering if, actually, Lola and Malik knew a few things about happiness that she didn’t.