Chapter 7 #2
‘Truce.’ He smiles at me – he has a really nice smile, which I haven’t actually seen before; when he wants a real girlfriend he’ll get one very easily – and then shakes my hand.
Then he leans his head towards mine and says, ‘Do you think it looks weird for a couple to shake hands? Your grandmother keeps checking on us out of the corner of her eye in quite an obvious way.’
‘Hmm, maybe it does look weird.’
‘Should we… perhaps I should… should I – briefly – put my arm round your shoulders?’
I start giggling again.
‘Focus. Do you, or do you not, want me to put my arm round your shoulders?’ Marcus asks, his voice stern but his eyes twinkling.
‘Yes please,’ I say, giggling even more.
‘Okay. Great.’ And then he shifts further towards me, and I move towards him, and then he places his arm around my shoulders, and I lean against him.
He has a lovely, masculine scent, and is very large and solid, and of course handsome, all of which might possibly make this seem almost genuinely romantic, in that on paper you’d have to call him attractive and say that we were in a loose hug, if his body weren’t unbelievably rigid as he lightly holds my shoulder.
I’m laughing so much now that I think I’m in danger of being sick.
‘The reason for all the mirth?’ he enquires.
I look up into his face, still laughing. ‘You’re just so rigid,’ I say. And then I gasp. ‘Nooooo, not in that way. I mean, you might be, but I’m not touching you there, so I wouldn’t know. Gaaah. No. Gaaah. Erm. Please just ignore everything I said. What I meant was that you seem a little tense.’
Now it’s Marcus who’s laughing. As he laughs, his body relaxes, and it feels as though his arm around me is, well, friendly, really.
‘I’m going to say goodnight to you two lovebirds.
’ Gran has popped up from nowhere, which is a surprise to me because while she’s in excellent shape for her age, she is eighty-five, and not super fast on her legs.
‘You look as though you’re having a lot of fun together.
It’s lovely to see how much you make each other laugh. Goodnight, Frankie.’
I stand up, only wobbling a bit as I do so, which is an achievement, and hug her.
‘See you tomorrow,’ she says. ‘At about half twelve?’
‘Yes. Great, thank you. Night.’
I watch her out of the room, and then turn a little awkwardly round. I can’t really sit back down into the circle of Marcus’s arm, because that would be truly weird given that Gran has gone and she was the only person we were actually pretending for. Although…
Still standing, I bend a little so that Marcus can hear if I speak quietly. ‘I hope you don’t mind but… we’re going to have to pretend to some people, as in not tell everyone the truth immediately.’
‘Because this village is powered by gossip and someone would tell your grandmother?’
‘Yes,’ I say miserably.
Marcus rolls his eyes.
‘Sorry,’ I say, even more miserably.
‘Yeah, I think this was a what-could-possibly-go-wrong kind of situation.’ He doesn’t actually look angry, more just kind of resigned.
‘Sorry,’ I repeat. I’m too tired to think of anything else to say. I just want to go to bed. ‘I think I’m going to go now.’
‘Yeah. Probably a good plan.’ He looks round the room. ‘Where’s Ellie?’
Ellie, it turns out, is deep in conversation with a man of about our age who I don’t recognise.
Hmm. Ellie never dates anyone. I think it would be lovely if she did date. I don’t want to disturb her.
‘You know what?’ I say. ‘I’m going to just go home by myself.’ I hiccup again. ‘Dammit. I thought the hiccups had stopped.’
‘I’ll walk you.’
‘There is really no need.’ I just want to be alone now.
‘It’s fine. We don’t need to talk; no-one will be watching us.’ He has a very square jaw and it’s looking very obstinate. ‘And you’re on my way.’
‘Okay. Fine. Thank you. Very kind.’
Marcus laughs. ‘You sound so sincere. Come on.’
‘I’ll just let Ellie know.’ I can’t just walk out and leave her.
‘I don’t want to interrupt her, though. You know what.
Change of plan. I’ll just sit on this sofa and wait.
Please don’t feel you have to wait with me.
You can go. Or mingle. Or something. I’ll just snooze. ’ And I sit down and close my eyes.
I feel the sofa dip as a large weight settles next to me, and then I hear Marcus’s voice in my ear. ‘As your boyfriend-for-the-night, I can’t actually leave you here to sleep and just go off and enjoy the party or go home. No nice boyfriend would do that.’
‘You’re right,’ I say with my eyes closed. ‘That’s a bugger.’
‘Tell me about it.’
We sit there in silence for a minute, and I begin to feel very sleepy.
‘So,’ Marcus interrupts my almost-snooze. ‘You might not like this but I’m thinking that I should walk you back sooner rather than later, so you don’t go into such a deep sleep that you have to spend the night here.’
I heave a very deep sigh. ‘Marcus. You’re right again. I don’t like it.’
‘Yeah, I’m always right.’ His voice sounds smiley. ‘So, you’re going to open your eyes now? And then stand up? And then we’re going to start walking?’
‘I suppose so.’ I don’t move, because my limbs have become extremely heavy.
‘Right. Sorry about this but I think it’s the only way.’
The sofa suddenly springs up a little next to me; he must have stood up.
And, yes, next thing, he’s taken one of my hands in each of his and is hauling me to my feet. He applies a bit too much pressure, because I suddenly find myself almost flying through the air and landing smack against him.
‘My goodness,’ I say, looking up at his face. ‘Your chest is like a brick wall.’
Marcus laughs, a bit weirdly, and kind of manoeuvres me away from him, still holding on to my arms.
‘You okay?’ he asks. ‘As in, can you stand up without falling over?’
‘Totally.’ My voice is suddenly bizarrely loud because standing next to him like this is making me feel a bit odd. ‘Totally,’ I repeat in a whisper.
‘Great.’ He’s kind of laughing at me again. ‘So I’m going to let go of your arms but if I think you’re going to fall over I’ll catch you again.’
‘Okay, cool,’ I say.
He lets go, I stagger a bit, he grabs my arms again, and then he turns me round and kind of marches me over to where a lot of kids, including his two, are in a side room off the kitchen watching TV, and he says goodnight to Ruby and Sam, and then we go over to Miranda, where Marcus says goodbye and thanks her heartily for the party and I do the same.
And then, still holding on to me, with my left arm clasped very tightly through his right, he marches me out of the room.
‘Did you bring a coat?’ he asks.