Chapter Thirteen
Saturday
Ruby:
“I’m not wearing anything from here,” Brooke shouts from the other end of the fancy-dress shop. She looks different to usual today, having spent hours at the hairdressers this morning before re-emerging with a sleek ombré sew-in that’s blonde at the ends.
“Why is nothing working?” Abi complains.
She’s the reason we’re here. She insisted we needed outfits for tonight’s party. I’m hungover from last night. It’s Saturday, and the party she’s dragging us to has been questionably named Glow Jobs.
Abi’s blonde hair is falling down her shoulders in curls, and she’s tall enough I have to crane my neck to look up at her.
She’s got blue eyes framed by the longest lashes I’ve ever seen, and she’s holding up a neon tutu at arm’s length, her mouth twisted, the fabric dangling limply from her fingers.
This is how things seem to move in uni. Friendship seems to happen through proximity.
Last year I'd have found an excuse to stay in my room. Today, I'm standing in a tacky fancy-dress shop with two girls I made fast friends with. My therapist would probably give me a thumbs up and wry smile if he could see.
Brooke is flicking through a rack of fluorescent tops with the same enthusiasm someone has for doing homework. Each hanger clacks loudly against the next, blending with the shop’s tinny pop music.
“We have to find something!” Abi whines, scanning shelves and rails, shifting from foot to foot as she tries to look everywhere at once.
We’ve been all over town, and no one is selling snot-green or bright-orange stuff. The dress code for tonight is basically: be offensively bright. I suggested taping glow sticks to our clothes, which is what led us here.
Abi huffs and drops the tutu back onto the pile, the skirt puffing slightly as it lands. “Why is everything either tiny or hideous? There’s no in-between.”
Brooke holds up a neon yellow crop top between two fingers, pinching the fabric. “I’m not wearing this. I’d rather show up in my pyjamas.”
“You can’t wear pyjamas to Glow Jobs,” Abi tuts, elbow-deep in another rail. The metal bars rattle with how fast she moves. “We’ll get laughed at.”
“We’ll get laughed at if we wear this,” Brooke fires back, lifting a mesh vest in an unmistakable shade of road-sign orange. She presses it flat against her torso and then slams the hanger back onto the rail.
I take in the shop around us—the harsh lighting, the stacks of plastic-wrapped costumes, the chemical smell of new synthetic fabric.
This is no use.
We’re not going to find anything.
Abi groans again. “Why did I think this would be fun?”
“You were excited for a theme,” I pacify, trying to bring the mood up, stepping aside to let someone pass behind me. “We couldn’t have known we would find nothing.”
“I thought it would be a cute neon vibe. Not—” She gestures to a pair of glowing fishnet tights stretched across a hanger, her wrist bending awkwardly. “—whatever this is.”
“We have actual traffic cone costumes,” the woman at the front calls out, cutting me off. She’s leaning on the counter, bored, tapping a pen against a stack of receipts. “You could wear those?”
Abi gives her a withering look. “No thanks. We’re trying to pull boys, not run them off.”
“I’m not trying to pull boys,” Brooke tuts. “I have a boyfriend.”
“I’m also not interested in boys,” I add, searching around until I stumble upon some glow-stick bunny ears near the till. The plastic is cold and flimsy in my hand. I hold them up to eye level, turning them slightly. Could these work?
Brooke appears at my shoulder, eyeing the bunny ears with a doubtful look. “Are you actually considering those?”
“I don’t know,” I give them a small wiggle. “They glow?”
Abi joins us with her arms full of face-paint sticks and a packet of UV bracelets. “Ooh, those are cute,” she points at the ears.
Brooke looks between us, unconvinced. “Are they?”
“They’re better than everything else in here,” Abi argues, moving the supplies in her hands. “Plus, Ruby could pull them off.”
I blink, not sure what she means by that. “Could I?”
Abi shrugs. “Yeah. You’ve got the face for it.”
What kind of face is one for glowing bunny ears?
Brooke’s eyes narrow. “Hold them up.”
I do, slipping the headband gently over my hair. It feels a bit ridiculous, but not in a bad way. Just because we are in a shop in broad daylight. I’d probably fit right in later tonight.
Brooke takes me in, then nods. “Okay… annoyingly, that does work. You look—” she lifts her hand, searching for the word—“fun.”
Abi smiles at me. “You should get them.”
“We should all get some,” I tell them, picking up two more pairs.
“Oh, look!” Brooke yelps suddenly, stepping closer to the shop window. “There’s Ewan and Josh!”
Abi and I move beside her. The three of us stand shoulder to shoulder, looking out onto the pavement.
Outside, Ewan and Josh are walking across the street.
Ewan is talking, moving his hands a lot and Josh walks beside him with his hands in his jacket pockets.
His posture is straight, and his expression is neutral.
He looks the same as the other night. Unreadable. Seriously hot.
Seriously.
He’s covered in mud; his white socks are brown. His brown hair is mussed, and his football kit looks like it might be damp, I’m assuming from sweat as it hasn’t been raining. His shoulders are broad, and he’s tall, broody, sexy—
“He is so fit.” Abi booms, her eyes fixed on Josh, a dreamy look spreading across her face. “Thank God. There are tall and fit guys here. So far they’ve all looked half dead and been creepy as hell.”
“Didn’t you make out with Voldemort the first night here?”
Abi waves a hand. “I was distressed after seeing Georgie.”
I stifle a laugh. “Your ex is called Georgie?”
“Yeah.” She snorts. “Georgie the Porkie.”
Brooke chuckles, keeping her eyes on her boyfriend out the window. “Oh. They’re coming in the shop!”
I adjust the bunny ears on my head and glance toward the door as they enter.
“Hey,” Abi calls, waving hard. Almost to the level of aircraft marshal, her arms moving in tandem like some odd dance. She realises quickly how mental she looks and tones it down.
Josh looks freezing, shoulders slightly hunched inside his jacket, the skin across his nose and ears pink from being outside. His green eyes sweep the shop once until they land on us. He takes in our faces before he settles on me. And I swear his mouth turns up a tiny bit as our gazes collide.
Ewan heads straight to Brooke. “Hello. Saw you from outside so thought we’d come and say hi.”
Brooke steps forward, and everything about her seems to soften. “Hi.”
“Hi, Baby.” He presses a quick kiss to her lips. “What have you been up to?”
“We’ve been shopping.”
“I can see.” Ewan smiles down at her.
From Ewans side, Brooke peeks at Josh. “How was training?”
Josh gives her a small smile. “It was alright.”
“Josh took them all to the cleaners,” Ewan boasts like a proud dad. “He’s beasting the whole team, even Oscar is impressed with him.”
Josh looks down at the floor, uncomfortable with the attention. “I wasn’t that good.”
“AHEM.” Abi coughs, staring at him hard enough to make the poor bloke combust.
Josh looks at her; slightly taken aback by the manic energy she’s pushing out. “Hi, Abi.”
“Good thanks, you?” Abi screams, and Ewan turns his face away, shoulders shaking.
Josh’s face contorts in confusion. “What?”
Scrambling, Abi’s cheeks goes bright red. “I meant how are you?”
He looks at her like he thinks she’s insane. “Yeah, I’m okay. How are you?”
“I’m good.”
He glances at me and back to Abi. “Okay?”
Abi is nodding so hard I’m scared her head is going to fly off her neck and spin around the shop like one of those Beyblades we played with as kids.
Deciding to help her out, I move forward a bit, a weird nervous anticipation fluttering through me. “Was Oscar still being tyrannical today?”
Josh’s gaze meets mine, and his entire face lights up. “Nah. He was alright.” He lapses into silence for a moment, thinking. “Cam really is an insane fucker, though. He started off the session in a tutu pretending to be a ballerina.”
“Yeah.” I nod. I love Cam. There is no one more pure, more loyal, or better than he is. I would jump in front of a moving train to save his life. But he is the definition of insane.
“We’re all going for drinks,” Josh tells me. “Seems to be the thing after training.”
I’m totally captivated by his eyes. They’re green with flecks of orange and gold running through them. “You’re not going though?” I point to his dirty kit and then gesture to the shop.
“I am,” he nods, then shrugs. “I wanted to shower first.” He points at the bunny ears still on my head. “What are they for?”
“Blowjobs!” Abi half-screams, her face turning bright red.
Josh reels slightly. It takes a second for the words to register before a slow smirk spreads across his face and his eyes sweep the length of me. “Ruby Hollis.” A laugh catches on my name. “Do you need glow sticks to give blowjobs? Is that a requirement for you?”
“It’s Glow Jobs,” I correct, my entire body heating up. “Glow. The party. Not blowjobs.”
A deep laugh rumbles out of him. “Are you sure?”
“Why?” I shoot back. “Have you got a fetish for glow sticks the group should be aware of, Josh?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Because sharing is caring,” I say, folding my arms, “and we’d be fascinated to know.”
“Would you?”
“Of course.” I nod, trying not to burst out laughing. “We’re a very open-minded group.”
“I’d hope so. You’re the one buying glow sticks for blowjobs.” He lifts an elbow and rests it on top of a rail, cocking his head to the side. “Anything you want to share?”
“It’s Glow Jobs.” I correct again but feel myself grin at him. I can't remember the last time flirting felt fun instead of terrifying. “Are you coming?”
“I imagine there’s a lot of coming in a blowjob party.”
“That’s what she said.”
Josh throws his head back and laughs.
It fills me with a sense of pride, and a feeling I’m not used to starts blooming in my chest. “So? Are you coming?”
He sobers. “Where is it?”
“The Shed.”
“Maybe.” His eyes twinkle. I like it so much I wish I could take a picture of it. “But I told your brother that I’d hang out with the football lot, so it depends on where they end up.”
“Right," I nod, fighting off the tiny pang of disappointment that catches me off guard.
“If we’re nearby,” his voice deepens, causing a ripple of lust to hit me, “I’ll come.”
“Okay.” What else can I say? No! Don’t hang out with my brother, your football captain, the coolest person I know! Hang out with me instead!
Ewan presses a quick kiss to the top of Brooke’s head. “You having pres?”
Brooke nods once. “The boys from the opposite hall invited us to theirs. We thought we might go there.”
Ewan studies her face. It isn’t suspicion, checking she’s comfortable. “They seem alright?”
“I think so?”
Ewan’s shoulders ease slightly. “Alright. Message me when you’re there.”
Brooke rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “We’re literally going to be five minutes away, Ewan.”
“Still,” he’s firm with it.
Abi elbows me subtly. “Look at him. Being all… boyfriend.”
I don’t comment. I’m too busy watching the way Ewan softens around Brooke. God, I want that. I’m envious of it. I’ve never had a cutesy, caring, true love. No one has looked at me the way Oscar looks at Emma or Ewan does Brooke.
It all seems to come so easily to them. I don’t even get how you’re supposed to meet someone you like that much.
What comes first? Is it the attraction? Because there’s plenty of people I’m attracted to, but it never goes beyond that.
Maybe that’s a me problem. Maybe it’s because I’m so fucked up from everything that happened.
Ewan squeezes Brooke’s waist gently. “I’ll see you after?”
“Yeah.”
Josh nods to Brooke, then to me, another small, quick look, one that lands and lingers for a fraction longer than it should.
Then the boys turn and head for the door.
Only Josh stops just before he’s about to head out.
“You should wear them.” He turns to me and points.
“The bunny ears. They look cute.” There’s nothing shy about him as he grins.
“If you were doubting it. I don’t think anyone will suspect they’re part of your foreplay. ”
I feel my cheeks blaze. “They’re not part of my foreplay!”
“I don’t believe you, Ruby. But I will be sure to keep it in mind.”
“Yeah, I bet you will.”
“Oh,” he lets out a soft chuckle. “Try and avoid the lake if I’m not with you, will you?” Then the good-looking prat winks at me, making my knees knock, before they’re gone and out the door. Leaving my cheeks hot enough to rival the neon paint in Abi's basket.
“Alright,” Abi’s voice is pitched high, her free hand clutching my arm. “He is so into you.”
“Who is?”
“Josh!”
I gape at her. “No, he isn’t!”
“Yes! The chemistry was flying between you.”
“We barely spoke?”
Brooke snorts. “You barely took your eyes off each other too.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Eurgh!” Abi groans. “Why is everyone having sex but me?”
“I’m not having sex!”
“Yet.” Abi frowns. “You’re not having sex with that stud yet.”