Chapter 17 #2
It was refreshing, how calm Catpurrcino was compared to Muddy Paws: no scuffling of paws or yipping or barking, no animated hikers arguing over maps and walking routes – even when the place was open for business, it was tranquil.
The striped cat had now finished drinking, and it rolled onto its back on the wooden flooring, stretching out its front paws.
Clem was checking her phone again, and her face paled in shock. She nearly dropped it. ‘It’s up!’ she squeaked, already scrolling.
‘The video of the round?’
She nodded, hair whipping around her ears.
‘Going straight to the comments probably isn’t a good idea . . .’ he cautioned, reaching into his pocket for his own phone. Normally, he’d take his own advice, but she looked like she was going to burst into tears, which made him want to know what people were saying.
It was clear right away what was giving her that expression.
Did you see the way he swooped in to help her? SO dreamy. Don’t get what he sees in her though, she dresses like a kid and her nose looks squashed?
It’ll never work out anyway, dogs hate cats, haha!
He’s way too good-looking for her!
Shut up, they’re both good-looking – those babies would be stunning.
I doubt she’s his type.
He was usually pretty thick-skinned, but Lucas’s palms tingled with unease at seeing strangers from across the country talk about them so openly.
The more complimentary comments had a bizarre undercurrent to them, like they were speculating about their favourite characters on a TV show and didn’t realise Lucas and Clem were real.
When he looked up, Clem’s eyes were gleaming with tears. She sniffed and blinked them away.
Lucas shuffled in his chair, unsure what to do. ‘Hey,’ he said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘Don’t cry . . .’
Clem gave a shaky laugh, scooping her hair behind her ear. ‘I’m going to be such a mess by the end of this . . .’ she muttered, as if to herself. She blinked away more tears. ‘Or maybe I am already. Such a mess . . .’ She caught herself, glancing up at him. ‘Sorry. This is so ridiculous.’
‘An Eton mess?’ he countered.
‘W-What?’
‘Mess isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You know, like an Eton mess. Those are pretty good, right?’
The laugh that broke free was more genuine this time, lighting up her face.
But it soon faded, like a light bulb dimming.
She frowned down at her phone and poked at her own nose.
‘People used to make fun of my nose all the time. I haven’t heard that in a while.
’ She took a long breath, but her shoulders stayed hunched over.
‘Your nose is adorable. Ignore them.’ He wanted to add your entire face is perfect but he bit the comment back.
She stared at him, a delightful flush on her cheeks. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have . . . You know . . . when you took me home . . .’
She gestured vaguely, and he knew she meant the kiss. He’d been wondering whether they should have done it, too. He’d been caught up in everything – in her. In how he felt. Should he have acted on those emotions?
Clem took a sip of her iced tea and watched one of the black cats chase the ginger one up the length of the cat café.
‘Look,’ he continued, ‘I’m sorry I kissed you, if that’s what’s bothering you. Maybe I—’
‘It’s not!’ she cried. ‘I wanted to kiss you, too. It’s just . . .’ She trailed off, as if fumbling for the right words. She looked on the verge of more tears and his chest constricted.
Clem looked down at her phone and scrolled. Her face dropped and she gasped. ‘Oh my God . . .’
‘What is it?’
‘How? How did they . . .’ Her hands were shaking so much the phone was jerking around in her grasp.
‘Let me see.’
He reached for the phone, and she snatched it away from him, looking thunderstruck, as if he’d tried to hit one of the cats.
‘I’ll be able to see it anyway,’ he said gently, ‘if it’s in the comments. Come on, Clem, they’re talking about both of us. We’re in this together, so let me see.’
His choice of words seemed to bring her back from whatever panic she was feeling. Slowly, she leaned over and pushed her phone across the table towards him.
‘It’s not about both of us. You see that link?’ she said, so quietly it was almost a whisper. ‘The one people keep posting? Go to it, and you’ll see.’
Lucas looked down, tapping on the link. It brought up a video, but it didn’t look like it came from the competition, as it was too dark.
He glanced up at her, seeking permission to play it.
Clem hid behind her hands. The cats continued to chase each other around the room, paws padding furiously on wood. One of them leaped up onto a table.
‘You’ll see it anyway, like you said,’ Clem told him, voice muffled by her fingers. What little he could see of her face was rapidly turning beetroot red.
He turned his attention to the phone and pressed play. The picture was murky at first, and he caught snippets of a pavement, and a pair of baggy black-and-white trousers shoved into some fur-lined ankle boots.
‘I feel ridiculous,’ said a young woman’s voice. She sounded light and excited, but with an undercurrent of uncertainty. ‘I should have put the costume in a bag, and changed into it when I got here.’
‘Don’t be silly!’ came another voice, laughing. Lucas still couldn’t see anything except the murky pavement and patchy black-and-white trouser bottoms. ‘You look perfect. It’s a themed hen party – overdressed is the whole point.’
‘But you look plain!’
‘I’ll be changing soon enough. I told you, my sister is bringing a spare costume. It’s not like I meant to spill red wine everywhere.’
‘I still don’t get why your sister is having a themed hen party in a student area in Cumbria ,’ the first girl complained. ‘It’s quiet here. There are way more exciting—’
‘We’re here! Go on, you go in first.’
‘ Me ?’
‘Sure, the other girls will spot you straight away. The sooner we find them, the sooner I can change so we match!’
‘Okay, okay, don’t shove me!’
The camera was obscured by an arm before it panned upwards, revealing a nervous-looking Clem. The only reason he didn’t laugh was because he already knew something was off about this whole situation.
Clem was dressed in a one-piece cow costume, her body covered in a patchwork of white fabric and black splodges.
The front of the costume, across her belly, had a huge pink circle stamped across it, complete with a dangling set of udders.
She’d also pulled the hood up so a set of floppy ears hung either side of her head, and two yellow horns stuck up from her temples.
She was visibly younger here in this video, the lines of her face softer and her hair longer beneath the hood, poking out and trailing down her torso.
She was looking worried and Lucas’s insides clenched, because whatever happened next, he was guessing it wasn’t good.
‘Are you filming this?’ on-video Clem asked.
Lucas glanced up at present-day Clem, who had abandoned her tea. She was half turned away from him, her elbows propped on the table, eyes shining with tears as she watched the ginger cat and the black cat playing with each other nearby.
‘Why are you recording?’ asked on-screen Clem.
‘I haven’t seen her in forever. I want to get her reaction to your costume!’ Was it his imagination, or did this other girl stifle a giggle at Clem’s expense? ‘Go on.’
In the video, Clem took the other girl’s word for it and pushed open a set of double doors leading into a building.
It was still fairly dark, but it looked like a function room or events hall.
The camera followed Clem’s progress down the hall, the video getting brighter as they moved beneath the indoor lighting.
It clearly wasn’t a hen party like her friend had said.
Rows of chairs had been set out in the room, in front of a lectern and a large projector showing an image of a landscape and the words CONSERVATION CAREERS .
Many of the chairs were already filled and other people were helping themselves to flutes of champagne and some snacks that had been set out around the edges of the room.
When they started to notice Clem standing there in her loose-fitting cow costume, fluffy boots at her feet, laughter broke out. Someone called out, sounding half amused, and half baffled: ‘Who hired a mascot?’
He wasn’t sure if Clem was going to move; she was rooted to the wooden floor, rigid, her arms locked at her sides.
She turned on her heel and ran, but the hood must have fallen down, concealing her vision.
She barrelled into a long table by the door, crashing into a cluster of champagne glasses and sending them careering sideways, smashing onto the floor.
Her legs were quickly soaked through with champagne.
Behind the camera, the other girl was laughing; Lucas had never heard such a cruel sound. On-screen Clem yanked her hood down and, clearly in tears, fled the room.
The video cut out.
Slowly, Lucas set the phone down between them.
Clem turned away, leaning down to stroke the big ginger cat that had come strolling over to her. He couldn’t see her face; her hair was covering it.
‘Why would your friend do something like this?’ said Lucas, his anger at the way she’d been treated making his voice rise.
‘Good question,’ Clem mumbled. She straightened up, her face still incredibly red, and snatched up her tea, taking a long drag.
She still wasn’t looking at him, instead watching the ginger cat as it rolled onto its side, tail twitching.
She sounded as if she were speaking around a lump in her throat.
‘We were at university when that was filmed. She knew I wanted to work in conservation. Maybe she thought it was funny? She’d made friends with some other people .
. .’ Clem’s voice quietened again. ‘Could have been their influence? Some of them thought I was weird. I don’t know.
I thought about it after, and she must have spilled that red wine on herself on purpose, because she knew it was never a themed party we were going to.
I’ve never understood why she did it. We were close. I trusted her.’
Lucas scowled. ‘Doesn’t seem like a good friend to me.’
‘I thought so too. That’s why we stopped being friends after this.’
‘How long ago was this video?’
‘I was twenty, so . . . about five years ago? Ironically, I was so scared back then of this video getting out and spreading further – going viral – but it didn’t go far outside the university.
But that was enough for them to mock me, wherever I went on campus.
The stress was enough to make me drop out.
I was pretty ill for a while. Kept imagining applying for jobs in the area, people remembering the video and . . .’
So that’s what she’d meant, when she’d said her life had been derailed. But Lucas’s mind was rushing over everything she’d said, and the video. ‘I went to uni here, too,’ he admitted, though he must have been a year above her. ‘I used to do catering for some of the events.’
‘Why would she post this now?’ said Clem, and her voice cracked. ‘I don’t get it. Because of the contest?’
‘Maybe jealousy?’ he suggested. He was so furious with this other girl, his words spilled out of their own accord.
‘You got through the round, you’ve got talent as a baker, you work at a pretty unique place, and you’re beautiful – there’s a lot to envy.
Maybe she was trying to mess up your success. She could have felt threatened by it.’
Clem stared at him, her tea halfway to her mouth. ‘I’m . . . You think I’m beautiful?’
He hadn’t meant to lay out all his thoughts like that. The most logical conclusion came next: ‘Well I kissed you, didn’t I?’
She opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could, Lucas’s phone buzzed. He checked the screen and saw the word MUM flashing at him. Dread gripped him. When he unlocked it there were six missed calls and some messages. He must have missed them, while he was in the kitchen with Clem.
Dad been taken to hospital, the first one read. Call me.