‘I would very much like you to stay the night, Zach,’ she says, hooking her fingers through the belt loops of my jeans. She pulls me in through the front door and every single one of my senses is now fully tuned to Alice. I reach out to circle my fingers around her wrists, running my hands up her arms and feeling the goosebumps on her skin as I pull her close. She backs up against the hallway wall and our bodies are pressed together, her head tipping up to meet mine. We kiss again and it’s like a lightning bolt through my body. My heart’s on fire as I reach up to stroke the soft skin at the nape of her neck. She’s inching her fingers up and under my T-shirt. Suddenly she stops kissing me, looks straight into my eyes, and leads me up to her bedroom.
Garden
Alice
BREAKING NEWS. Are you both free for a group chat?
Natalie replies immediately.Dyl’s scrolling through his contacts to find “hot single celebrities” for me to date . Famous people bring me out in a sweat so YES I’m free and can we do it now please?
I press call on our group WhatsApp and watch my friends’ faces appear on screen. Natalie looks flustered.
‘You okay?’ I ask.
‘She’s fine,’ butts in Dylan. ‘The whole point of this weekend is to get her back out there.’
‘I thought it was a chance for two old friends to catch up?’ Nat says, biting her thumbnail.
‘London is full of rich pickings. We might as well launch you back onto the dating scene again while you’re here.’
‘I’m not a boat!’ She grumbles.
‘Yes and not everyone is permanently randy, Dylan,’ I say, standing up for Natalie.
‘Says the girl who can’t stop chatting about the new dude she’s dating,’ he grins.
‘I wouldn’t say I can’t stop, thanks very much,’ I pout, though in fairness I did expressly call them to talk about Zach. ‘So, what have you guys been up to?’
‘We went for a walk along the canals this morning, stopped for a brunch of hellishly overpriced waffles with bacon and tonight Dyl’s insisting on going to some celebrity haunt,’ Nat groans.
‘We’re going out out,’ Dylan winks, which means a champagne-fuelled all-nighter is on the cards for my best friends and I feel a massive pang of FOMO.
‘Stay safe kids! And don’t miss me or anything.’
‘Obviously we will miss you. Anyway, what’s the breaking news?’ Natalie asks.
‘Oh gawd. Are you sitting down?’ I watch Natalie and Dylan obediently drop down onto his sofa. ‘Right, good. So, I’m officially seeing Zach now.’
Dylan and Natalie exchange looks.
I drum my fingers on the kitchen table, waiting not very patiently for them to say something.Anything.
‘Oh shit,’ Dylan finally says.
‘Oh shit?’ I frown. ‘That’s all you have to say?’
‘Wow, Alice!’ Natalie exclaims.
‘I know! So …?’
‘So …’ Natalie nudges Dylan.
‘You’re obviously going to pretend that you don’t, but you clearly like him a lot,’ Dylan muses.
I squirm.
‘Given that No Big Deal is the …’
‘You’ve got to stop calling him that, Dylan!’ I interrupt. ‘I only said it back when we were coming to your Sheffield gig because I know how you can overreact.’
