Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Dylan and Frankie blinked at each other in the light, then burst out giggling. ‘Woah. I almost lost my mind there,’ he said when he could speak again.
‘Rude,’ was all she said in reply.
‘No, I didn’t mean… Oh, you’re joking.’
‘Of course I’m joking. Although you would have to lose your mind to kiss me,’ said Frankie, a little too loudly.
His eyebrows lifted. ‘Is that what you think I was going to do? Kiss you?’
Shit. Backtrack, backtrack. ‘No. Of course not. I just meant…’
‘Relax,’ he said. ‘Of course I wanted to kiss you. I still want to, and my mind is very much intact.’
Frankie shifted in her seat.
‘Am I interrupting something?’ came her brother’s voice from the doorway and Frankie contemplated throwing something at his head. Like a dagger, maybe.
‘Of course, you bloody are,’ said Dylan, his eyes dancing, never leaving Frankie’s face.
‘Good,’ said Bobby, throwing himself down on the sofa. ‘That was the plan.’
‘You’re such a git,’ said Frankie, though she was secretly relieved. Two seconds longer and she would have hurled her caution into the fire along with her last shred of sanity.
Bobby had already got his phone out of his pocket. ‘Wifi’s back on.’
‘Oh so now you know how to use wifi,’ said Frankie.
‘Ouch,’ said Bobby, without even looking up.
‘I mean it,’ said Frankie. ‘All the communications channels in the world and you can’t even bother to send Mum and Dad an occasional text.’
‘Must try harder,’ muttered Bobby under his breath.
‘Bobs, I’m serious. Promise me you’ll make more of an effort. For Mum’s sake. For mine. Please.’
Bobby looked up at her pleading face, then grunted, ‘Fine.’
‘Pinky promise,’ said Frankie, holding out her little finger, a reference to their childhood.
‘Fine, I pinky promise,’ said Bobby, waving his back at her. He gave her a wink and went back to his phone.
Dylan gave Frankie what she took to be an approving nudge as he got his own phone out of his pocket.
‘I doubt anything exciting’s happened in the last half an hour,’ said Frankie, rolling her eyes at them both. She was allowed to be smug about not using her phone, surely, even if it was mainly because the only reason she ever had for using it was sitting beside her. What had she become?
After a few seconds of them both scrolling their phones, and just as Frankie was beginning to wonder if she should go and get hers from her room, Bobby let out a little gasp. He looked at Dylan, his eyes wide. ‘Is this true, mate?’
Dylan froze beside her. ‘Is what true?’ he said, his voice a notch higher than usual.
Bobby held out his phone and Frankie’s heart stopped in her chest. There was a BBC News headline. Two words. That’s all it was. Two tiny words.
Misdemeanours Split
Two words were enough.
She looked at Dylan, who was leaning forward with his head in his hands. ‘Dylan?’ she said softly, touching a hand to his shoulder.
‘It’s true,’ he said, towards the carpet.
Bobby let out a long whistle. Frankie’s pulse began to pound in her ears.
‘You knew?’ she said. ‘Sorry. That sounded dumb. They wouldn’t split up without you knowing, would they?’ Of course he knew. Realisation washed over her, followed swiftly by a wave of nausea. ‘Johnny?’ she said.
‘Yup,’ said Dylan, leaning back into the sofa and crossing his arms over his face.
Frankie’s throat felt like it was closing up. ‘Is that when it…?’
‘No,’ said Dylan quietly. ‘I knew when I came here.’
‘Shit,’ said Bobby, still looking at his phone. ‘This is bad, man. I’m really sorry.’
‘What?’ said Frankie, her voice taking on a pitch she didn’t know it could.
‘I gotta go. Sorry,’ said Dylan, and he stood up and left without another word, leaving Bobby and Frankie staring at each other in disbelief.
As the door closed behind him Frankie grabbed for Bobby’s phone. And there it was in black and white.
Misdemeanours Split
Frontman Dylan Wright goes AWOL as the indie rock band announces it is splitting up after ten years.
The band, who formed from a group of university friends at Royal Holloway in London, is best known for its first album, All These Songs Are About You.
The ambitious project topped the album chart for 18 weeks when it launched in 2008 after they became an internet sensation for a series of stunts involving members of the public.
Their music has developed and changed over the years but has never quite replicated that initial success.
Recent single ‘My Heart is Full’, a complex piece featuring a full orchestra, has been tipped for awards but it seems it may be their last.
Bassist Johnny Shears said: ‘We’re just taking some time to be with our families. We’re all still good friends and I hope we always will be. It was just the right time. We’d like to thank all our fans for their amazing support. It’s not the last you’ve seen of us, don’t worry about that.’
Dylan Wright, the band’s charismatic lead singer, was not available for comment.
When they’d both read it approximately fifty-five times each, Bobby and Frankie stared at each other for a long moment, mouths open.
‘Not writing, then,’ said Frankie. ‘Escaping.’
Bobby shrugged. ‘I mean, he might be writing. He might be planning to go solo or something. Who knows? Did you know?’
Frankie shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Shit, Franks,’ said Bobby again. ‘This is huge.’
‘I know.’
‘What’s huge?’ said Lily, sticking her head round the door.
Perfect timing as always.