Thirty-Five Lucie
Thirty-Five
LUCIE
I t’s been a long time since I last did the creeping into the house in the early hours thing. And, it turns out, I’ve completely forgotten how to do it successfully.
‘Back so soon?’
Lyle is sitting on the stairs when I jump and look round from the front door I’ve just closed as quietly as I can.
‘How long have you been there?’
He smirks. ‘Long enough. Who dropped you off? Private taxi?’
‘Does it matter?’
‘Not in the grand scheme of things,’ my housemate replies, with a shrug. ‘Only I thought your taxi driver looked vaguely familiar …’
I wasn’t expecting to do this now – or today at all, if possible. I’d hoped to spend the rest of the day getting my head around everything before trying to explain it to anyone else. I’m not ashamed – and I won’t be when I tell my friends that Theo and I are together. I’d just hoped to enjoy it by myself for a little longer.
‘Okay, what’s your point?’
His smile softens. ‘Nothing, Lu. If you’re happy, I’m happy.’
I wait for a barbed comment to follow but none does. ‘Thank you. I’m making a coffee – do you want one?’
‘Thought you’d never ask.’ Lyle rises to his feet and jogs down the remaining stairs to follow me through to the kitchen.
He fetches his mug and my travel cup and busies himself with making toast while I ready the coffee machine. When it’s percolating, I lean against the countertop and rub my tired eyes. Lyle joins me, bumping his elbow against mine.
‘I take it you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.’
My cheeks burn a little. ‘Not much.’
‘You seem very chipper, considering.’ He laughs when I roll my eyes. ‘Nice sweater, by the way.’
Crap . I’d forgotten I was wearing Theo’s jumper. Even though my work clothes from last night dried beautifully by the time we left Theo’s bed, I needed something to keep out the early morning chill.
‘Thanks,’ I reply, smoothing it down. It smells of Theo and, like a lovesick teen, I’m reluctant to part with it. I might just forget to give it back …
Lyle gives a snort. ‘Hussy.’
‘Jealous much?’
‘Always. Just be careful, okay?’
‘I will be. I know what I’m doing.’ I edge away from him, readying the coffee mugs and making the most of the opportunity to avoid eye contact.
‘Of course you do. Only yesterday morning he was the bane of your life and now you’re modelling his sweater with impressive bed-head hair.’
Instinctively, I reach to the back of my head, of course finding no such thing, but simultaneously proving Lyle’s point. I groan and he laughs, throwing an arm around my shoulders.
‘You are so busted, my friend.’
‘Don’t tell anyone else yet?’ I plead. One friend’s gleeful jokes at my expense are enough for this hour of the morning. ‘Especially not Cass.’
‘Scared she’ll judge you?’
‘No – it isn’t that.’ Weariness tugs at my bones. ‘It’s all so new. I need to work out where I’m at with it before I explain it to anyone else.’
Lyle raises an eyebrow. ‘Even your oldest, dearest friend?’
He’s loving this, isn’t he? ‘I thought he already knew.’
That got him. He gives me a small bow. ‘Nicely done.’
He nudges me out of the way and pours coffee for us both. As I watch him, I’m aware of something on the horizon, words biding their time to be delivered. When we’re sitting at the kitchen table, it arrives.
‘Just one question,’ Lyle says, his big-brother-I-never-had tone appearing. ‘Do you trust him? Because yesterday …’
‘He defended me,’ I reply, clipping the end of his question. ‘In front of everyone in Gonzalo’s, when his director was yelling abuse at me. And then he rescued me from the rain.’
‘Two very good things. But do you trust him, Lu?’
I face my friend, never more certain of anything as I am now. ‘Yes, I do.’
Lyle’s smile is gentle when it reappears. ‘Then I’m happy. Just be careful, okay? That lovely heart of yours needs cherishing.’
*
I’m still thinking of his words later when I’m packing the delivery bags at WhatNews? Cherishing is such an old-fashioned word, but it’s pure Lyle. He’s always been protective of me and while it’s occasionally caused frustration, I love that he is. He had his heart broken a few months ago, which gives his words today even greater weight. We don’t talk about Sarah, or how close Lyle came to marrying her, but I see it in his unguarded moments, when he turns away, when he thinks nobody is watching. He didn’t say that today just from the position of a concerned friend – he spoke with the ache of one who’d trusted the wrong person.
I trust Theo.
Nobody is more shocked about it than me, but last night changed everything. I just hope he doesn’t lose his job over what he did, lovely though it was. The press would love nothing more than a Theo Larkin Does It Again headline, undoing everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve. With only a week left of our summer performances, they’ll be searching for new stories – the darker the better. From my limited dealings with journalists I’m well aware of their desire to knock back everyone they believe they’ve lifted. Tall poppy syndrome in action – we made you, now we’ll break you.
‘Earth to Lucie …’ Dev is standing by the counter, grinning.
‘I’m sorry. Miles away.’
‘Final week of the craziness, huh?’
Put like that, it sounds final. Will I miss the attention? I’m not sure. But when Theo starts rehearsals for Hamlet , everything is going to be different. ‘I’ll have to get used to it being me and Ced again.’
‘Reckon you’ll miss the hype?’ Dev heaves the last stack of newspapers onto the counter and we start sorting them together.
‘I’ll miss the tips,’ I grin, knowing I’m deflecting the question.
Dev knows it, too. ‘And Theo?’
‘We’ll stay in touch.’ My smile, sneaky git that it is, betrays me the moment I reply, my early morning employer’s eyebrows making a bid for the ceiling.
‘When?’ he asks, all thought of newspaper sorting vanished.
I give a sheepish smile. ‘Last night?’
‘Bloody hell, Luce, you don’t hang about!’
‘It’s been four weeks,’ I protest, but said out loud that doesn’t seem long at all. ‘I think we both felt it but last night we admitted it.’
To my surprise, Dev gathers me into a huge bear hug. He’s known for these, but also for doling them out sparingly, so this is his equivalent of a ticker-tape parade. ‘About flippin’ time!’ He ruffles the hair on the top of my head like my dad used to. ‘I knew something was in the air with you two.’
‘You could’ve told me.’ I smile against his jumper. But actually, his reaction means the world. After Lyle’s big-brother caution and my own fears of what people might say, Dev’s happy response is a gift I’m not going to ignore.
He releases me and laughs. ‘Good luck keeping the media out of it, though.’
I hadn’t thought of that. ‘They’ll be looking for their next story. We’re old news.’
‘So trusting, so naive.’ Dev grins, picking up a newspaper and flicking through it. ‘Oh, wait, what’s this? Garden Romeo beds his Juliet! Surprise Shakespeare star Theo Larkin reveals onstage passion is now real-life romance …’
‘What? Give that here …’ I yell, making a swipe for the newspaper. I’m pretty sure he’s kidding, but a shot of fear races through me.
‘The world needs to know!’ Dev laughs and avoids my grabbing hands, holding the paper aloft and making use of his considerable height advantage over me. ‘You’re the scoop of the summer!’
‘That’s not funny. Give it to me!’
He finally relents when panic sneaks into my words, spreading the paper over the stack on the counter. ‘Okay, okay, calm yourself – it’s not there, look.’
I dig him in the ribs with my elbow. It’s just a joke and it’s fine, but it’s revealed more than I expected. I have to focus on Theo and me and forget everything else. We’re really not newsworthy – and after this week we won’t be working together, so attention will drift to the next big story.
There is one person who needs to know, though.
He’s waiting by the gate when I cycle into Henley Street, looking worried, a trayful of takeaway coffee cups and a large brown paper bag in hand.
‘Lu! Thank goodness. How are you?’ Ced rushes as I dismount and wheel my bike over to him.
‘I’m okay. Why?’
‘Ben called this morning. Asked me to check on you after what happened at Gonzalo’s.’
Of course. I’d forgotten that Ced and Ben go way back. Everything with Theo last night has pushed the Greg Dabrowski incident out of my mind. ‘What did he tell you?’
‘Everything. The scene and the other diners and Theo declaring his support.’
‘Ah.’ My heart drops as I push open the gate to the Birthplace, holding it open for Ced to pass through. ‘It was a mess. I wish I’d never agreed to take the shift.’
‘But Theo did the decent! Bravo to him, I say.’
He waits while I chain my bike to the drainpipe and then we head into the crew room. The familiarity of it is wonderful, together with the smell of fresh coffee and whatever baked blessings are awaiting us in the paper bag.
‘I brought supplies.’ He smiles, concern still painting his expression. ‘Coffee and cinnamon buns the size of your head from that new Swedish fika café that’s opened at the end of my street.’
‘You’re my hero!’ I hug him, gazing happily at the enormous pastries he unpacks from the bag. It’s only now I realise how hungry I am. Ordinarily I would eat when I got home from a Gonzalo’s shift, Ben often giving me a box of leftovers to enjoy before bed. But I wasn’t exactly thinking of food last night, so … My cheeks grow hot as I take a bite of the cinnamon roll. ‘Did Ben say what happened after I left?’
Ced hands me a coffee and we sit together on the props trunk. ‘He ripped a strip off that odious man in front of the whole restaurant. Dabrowski was a whimpering, penitent mouse by the time Ben had finished with him.’
‘Really?’
Ced nods as he bites into his breakfast treat. ‘By all accounts he left a changed man.’
‘I’m worried for Theo.’ I don’t mean to voice this, but it’s out so I go with it. I shift on the trunk to face Ced. ‘He came to find me, last night. He … I … we …’
Ced’s mouth drops open. ‘Oh Lu . You didn’t?’
‘I wanted you to know before anyone else. He’s crazy about me – and I feel the same about him. It’s been building for a while now.’
‘Mm-hm.’ My friend observes me as he takes a long sip from his coffee cup. ‘That explains the kissing, then.’
I risk a smile. ‘The stage kisses were just that. But I think something built beneath them. Do you think I’m insane?’
‘Yes.’ He wraps an arm around my shoulders. ‘No. You’re in love. You both are. And if you think this has come as a shock to me, then you don’t know me as well as I know you.’
I breathe out my relief. Of everyone in my life, Ced’s opinion matters most, especially after everything that’s happened this summer. ‘Thank you.’
He waves this away with his cinnamon bun. ‘Don’t mention it. With all that thirsty lusting between the two of you this summer it was either going to end in copious copulation or first-degree murder. I do hope you riotously shagged the fella?’
‘Ced! A lady never tells.’
‘That’s a yes, then.’ He grins. ‘Well, well, Lucie Hart. It appears you got your man.’
‘And you’re okay with it?’
He frowns. ‘What does it have to do with me? As long as your lovely heart is happy, I am.’ He raises his cup. ‘To joyous bonking a-plenty!’
‘Absolutely!’ Blushing, I clunk my cup against his, loving my friend with every atom. ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’
‘You know me, ever the proclaimer of truth.’ Ced grins, taking another bite of cinnamon pastry. ‘Just one question, though.’
‘Anything for you.’
‘Does Theo have a sexy older brother stashed away somewhere? I could do with a handy chest like that myself …’