CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
Laura and Anna started giggling, and I did my best not to look over at them.
‘Something like that,’ I said weakly.
The whole table was laughing now – well, except Toby, but he smiled good-naturedly and shook his head. I got the impression he was used to his friends’ silliness.
‘Patrick here is a writer, but he’s hardly the most interesting person at this table,’ Anna interjected, giving me a look that said much more. ‘What I want to know is, where are my –’
‘Presents!’ Laura cut in with a knowing look. ‘You are so materialistic!’
‘I’m not materialistic! Some of us just have real jobs that earn real money so we can buy ourselves nice things!’ the birthday girl retorted.
‘And some of us have real jobs to buy presents just for you,’ Cas said with a grin, pulling a small, wrapped gift out of his rucksack.
Anna fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘Aww, you should have.’
Laughter pooled around the table, and it seemed that I’d been forgotten again.
And I loved it.
This was … nice. Being with Jessy was always a good time – when we stopped fighting – but I hadn’t known what to expect from her friends. I should have known they would be an extension of her.
‘That,’ Jessy murmured beside me, low enough that no one else at our table could hear, ‘can’t happen too often.’
I glanced at Anna, who was unwrapping Laura’s present now, and frowned. ‘What?’
‘Not being recognized.’
‘Oh.’ Obviously. ‘Yeah, not that often. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.’
‘Good, right?’
‘Derek would suggest not,’ I joked.
‘There can’t be too much that’s bad about being recognizable, though?
’ Jessy asked, curiosity written across her face.
‘Other than …’ Her voice trailed off and her gaze melted away from mine.
I frowned, curiosity of my own growing. When she looked back at me, Jessy almost seemed embarrassed.
‘Obviously there are downsides. I mean – I shouldn’t have mentioned – I … sorry, I know it must be –’
My complete confusion must have showed on my face, because Jessy lowered her voice even more and said in barely a whisper, ‘The DUI.’
Oh. Right. That.
‘It wasn’t me.’ The words slipped out without me thinking.
I mean, it couldn’t hurt. Who was she going to tell?
Jessy was the one frowning now, and the instinct to tell her the truth, to open this part of my life to her, pushed me forward.
‘I mean, it wasn’t – the DUI. I wasn’t the one driving,’ I said quietly, leaning back against the wall and turning slightly, as though that could give us extra privacy.
It didn’t seem to matter. Anna was laughing with the others about the presents they’d given her, attention elsewhere.
Jessy bit her lip. ‘You weren’t?’
I couldn’t help myself. ‘It was Ben.’
Fuck. I probably shouldn’t have told her that.
But it was Jessy. She was just so easy to talk to. So easy to reveal things to.
I knew, deep down, I could trust her.
She was still worrying her lip. ‘So, you – you what, switched places?’
I nodded.
‘Why would you do that?’ Her shock was palpable. ‘Why would you agree?’ she said in an undertone. ‘Ross once asked me to – and I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t switch.’
For some reason, I felt a little … defensive.
The mention of her ex threw me off-kilter.
‘He’s my friend. I would do anything for my boys.
’ They were the only family I had. ‘I just … It would have wrecked him, being torn up on the internet and in the papers like that. And he already has points on his licence,’ I explained.
‘To be clear, he didn’t ask. It wasn’t like that.
I just kind of stepped in and decided for him. ’
The laughter and chatter of the birthday group continued around us as Jessy examined me, a mix of emotions swirling in her eyes.
Curiosity, and something else I didn’t recognize.
‘You just did it for him?’ she said as Laura passed a plate of dumplings around the table. Neither of us took any – too engrossed in our own world. ‘Accepted the DUI? Isn’t that a criminal record?’ Concern was evident in her voice, a concern I definitely shouldn’t have been so glad to hear.
‘A warning and public penance, as I had an otherwise clean record. Nothing I wouldn’t do again, for a friend.’
After a second, her lips lifted into a smile. ‘You’re a good man, Patrick.’
My stomach swooped and for a moment I was speechless. ‘I … I would do a lot. For the people I care about, I’d do anything.’
Jessy looked at me, her freckles sun-kissed and her lips so inviting, and there was warmth in her eyes that felt all for me and no one else.
The moment stretched.
We were so close, surrounded by people but somehow completely alone. Lost in our own bubble. It felt private. Intimate. Ours.
‘Right, Patrick, your vote.’
And the bubble burst.
I blinked. Anna was grinning at me, and when I glanced back at Jessy, she had already turned to chat with Laura.
‘Patrick?’ Anna called my name again. ‘Your vote is needed – is it or is it not weird that Toby still doesn’t know how to do his own laundry?’
‘I know how to –’
‘Then why are all my undies pink now, you dimwit?’ Anna turned back around to lightly smack her housemate’s arm.
Apparently Anna didn’t need my vote too badly, because she continued berating her housemate for some time. Which was perfect for me.
Not just because I didn’t have a particularly good insight to share – I hadn’t done my own washing in some time – but because Jessy had placed a hand on my thigh, and all coherent thought was driven away.
Save one.
‘So have you two fucked yet?’