Page 63 of Ask Another Day

‘Yes the birthday.’

‘Oh my God. OK, give me a second,’ she fluttered out a breath and rubbed her face, ‘I need to prepare myself for this.’

‘You are such an idiot.’

‘I know you are, but what am I?’

‘Ten, apparently?’

‘Quit stalling, Loxley, and tell me what happened at your 21st birthday party.’

Holly took a couple of seconds to prepare herself before she relayed the memory she’d banned herself and Luke from ever talking about.

‘So in 2007, I was really into Keanu Reeves and The Lake House.’

‘Who wasn’t?’ Rose interrupted, then apologised, ‘Sorry, please continue.’

‘Thank you. As I was saying, I was really into The Lake House, and I also fancied the pants off Seb. I concocted this plan - I wrote him a letter, telling him how much I liked him and saying if he liked me too, to meet me, before the party.’

‘Cute.’

‘That’s what I thought. But when I told Sloane–’

‘Sloane?’

‘My best friend from school.’

‘Why am I only hearing about her now?’

‘If you let me finish, you’ll find out,’ Holly groaned.

Rose mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key, so Holly continued.

‘When I told Sloane, she said it was a stupid idea - really immature. She offered to tell him instead, to act as the go between for us.’

‘I’m sensing Sloane is the Iago in this story?’

Rose’s promised silence had lasted all of six seconds. But Holly didn’t mind - she hadn’t expected her to not interrupt - this was Rose.

‘The who?’ Holly asked - she had no idea who or even what an Iago was.

‘Iago, Holly. Othello? Shakespeare? The greatest villain ever known?’

‘Never heard of him.’ Holly shrugged.

‘What am I going to do with you?’ Rose groaned.

Holly rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

‘So what happened next. I’m guessing Seb didn’t show up?’ Rose prompted Holly to carry on her story.

‘Not only did he not show up, but Sloane told me he didn’t like me like that. That he saw me as a sister.’ Rose started to say something, but Holly held a finger up, halting her, ‘It got worse. When I stepped outside the pub during the party, heartbroken he didn’t like me, I saw him and Sloane snogging up against the wall of the pub.’

Rose’s shocked gasp was instantaneous, ‘Nooo?’

‘Yes’

‘What a cow!’