One by one, the other women trickled away, off to bed, or to try to squeeze a few minutes of hot water out of the shower, or to talk. ‘Guess you’re going to be the welcoming committee for whoever’s coming, Cece,’ Kanda said, standing up. ‘Because you haven’t already had enough camera time.’
I didn’t bother responding.
The fire had burned down to a dull glow. Someone had turned the lights off as they left, and the only illumination came from the soft orange of the coals and the two pinpricks of green light that marked the cameras in the corners.
Was Murray sitting somewhere, looking at me curled up in my friend-zone armchair like a total sad sack?I worked so hard on that kid, and she threw it all away, he’d say.What a useless waste of space she is.
A tear beaded in the corner of my eye. I wiped it away with my thumb. Murray would probably be mad at me for not letting it trickle down my cheek.
There was a rattle behind me, and I jumped, whipping around as one of the French doors screeched open. Dylan, my ridiculous, treacherous heart said.
It wasn’t, of course.
‘Hi,’ I said.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ Lily Fireball said. ‘Hi.’
Lily looked like shit. Her mascara was streaked down her face and her lipstick was smeared halfway across one of her cheeks. Her hair was full of leaves, and as she came closer, I could see that her sequined red dress was smudged with dirt. She looked like I might have if I’d spent another few minutes pressed up against that hedge with my legs around Dylan’s waist.
Oh God. Was that where she’d been?
I told myself not to be ridiculous. If there was one thing I knew about Dylan, it was that he’d never been interested in Lily Fireball.
‘Where’s the shower?’ she asked.
‘Upstairs,’ I said. ‘First door on the left. You can’t miss it.’
‘Thanks.’
‘It’ll be cold, though. There’s never enough hot water.’
‘Fuck!’ she said. ‘Just what I fucking need!’
‘Are you…’ I licked my lips. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Do I fucking look all right?’
‘Sorry.’
She sighed. ‘No, I’m sorry. That was bitchy. Can you help me get all this shit out of my hair?’
I blinked, surprised. ‘Okay.’
Lily plunked herself down on the ground in front of me. I turned on a lamp so I could see and gingerly started removingthe leaves that were stuck in what once must have been a fairly spectacular up-do. ‘Do you want me to take the pins out as well?’ I asked. ‘Most of them are half out anyway.’
‘Yes, please.’ She reached out, dumped out the contents of the bowl of decorative rocks that was sitting on the coffee table, and handed it back to me. ‘So you don’t throw leaves everywhere.’
I took it, and started dropping pins, twigs and other detritus in it as I pulled them out of her hair. ‘So—’
‘Don’t.’
‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘You were going to ask me if I wanted to talk about it. I don’t.’
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘But did you know you’re bleeding?’
‘What? Where?’ She craned her head around, trying to see, and started patting at her neck and shoulders. ‘Ah, shit,’ she said, when her fingers came away stained with blood.
