‘I mean, no.’ Georgie didn’t need to pretend to her best friends about her family. ‘But we could just turn up and what can she do?’
‘Why don’t you stay here?’ Noah’s neck was reddening.
‘Are you sure?’ Beth said.
‘Definitely.’ Noah was absolutely scarlet now.
‘Let me help you carry the drinks, Raf.’ Georgie stood up.
‘I’m fine,’ Raf told her. ‘Been honing my landlord drink-carrying skills.’
Honestly. Georgie swivelled her eyes in the direction of Noah and Beth, and Raf finally caught on and said, ‘However, Iwouldlike some help withthesedrinks.’
‘Not to be too pantomime-obvious or anything,’ Georgie grumbled to him as they moved over to the bar together.
‘Speak for yourself.’
‘Shh,’ Georgie admonished. ‘Let’s focus on thepointhere. We have to make sure nothing happens between Noah and Beth before itshouldbecause we don’t want them to start their relationship off on a bad footing.’
‘Are theyhavinga relationship?’
‘Well, I think they will. But first Beth has to split up with Dominic and Noah has to realise that Ankita isn’t the one for him. And if both those things don’t happen, they can’t get together.’
‘True. And we’re whispering about this now because…?’
‘Because obviously you have to be on it tonight. I’m just reminding you. You need to make sure nothing happens between them.’
‘Oh, okay. Yep, I’ll be on it. Well reminded.’ He grinned at her and Georgie looked up at his mouth, barely able to take her eyes from the cuteness of his smile. ‘What?’
‘I like…’ Whoops, no, what was wrong with her? She’d literally nearly said out loud that she liked his mouth. ‘I like… this… pub,’ she improvised.
Raf laughed, his breath tickling her neck. ‘Good to know. Come on, let’s get water for everyone. A bit of sobering-up wouldn’t hurt for a start.’
Once they’d drunk their water, they all decided it was time to head off towards their beds.
Raf insisted on accompanying Georgie across the green back to her mum’s.
‘You’re supposed to be in the flat with Noah and Beth, though.’ Georgie was feeling ridiculously pleased that he wanted to walk with her.
‘I should.’ Raf nodded. ‘Although I think we’re okay for a few minutes. I reckon that at the moment they’re still both feeling awkward and saying nothing.’
‘What if theyaren’t, though? What if they’ve both lost all their inhibitions?’
‘Okay. Once I’ve made sure you’re safely home I’ll sprint back and make sure they aren’t having rampant sex.’
Georgie took a moment to imagine Raf sprinting. If he was wearing running kit when he did it, she was fairly sure he’d look very good. Of course, he wasn’t wearing running kit at the moment; he was wearing old jeans and a rugby shirt. Which he didn’t look bad in either. She sighed out loud.
‘What?’ said Raf.
‘Nothing. Just… looking at the lovely stars.’
‘Wow, you have X-ray vision.’
Georgie looked up. Oh, okay, there were no stars visible.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘It must suddenly have got really cloudy.’
Raf laughed and put his arm round her shoulders and Georgie felt the most incredible thrill.
