Page 78 of Little Miss Fortune

Toby: I promise they are nice. I wouldn’t be friends with weirdos. We can dip if it gets to be too much.

He doesn’t make me feel silly or belittle my feelings. Takes his time to reassure me and gives me the option to leave if I don’t want to be there. Very hard not to swoon.

The pub is rammed with people eager to win the quiz, but I spot the group immediately. Toby waves and brings a stool to the table. He gives his seat with a proper back to me. He dresses very differently when he’s not at work. Black mock-neck short-sleeved shirt and pleated black trousers. Oh god, his arms look great. Don’t stare, Fuko. Look somewhere else. Not his hands, his hands have rings on.

‘Everyone, this is Fuko.’

‘Hi.’ I wave with both my hands and proceed to overthink the gesture. Did it look odd? Am I overdoing it?

‘Wah gwaan, Fuko. That’s a cool name. Is it Japanese?’ A man with curly black hair asks.

‘Yeah, it’s meant to be Fuuko.’

‘Ah, two moras on the u, that’s so cool,’ he says, looking genuinely excited to learn. ‘I’m Isaac.’

‘I do not know what a mora is, but Isaac is also fun, two a’s, yet it makes a kind of an i sound. Ai-zik,’ I say without thinking.

‘You know what, I have had this argument multiple times with people.’ He forcefully places his elbows on the table.

‘Here we go,’ says the woman with a blonde pixie cut.

‘Not again.’ The woman with braids and laid edges rolls her eyes.

He kisses his teeth at the others, telling them to stay in their lane. ‘I completely agree with you, Fuuko. A and a in Isaac makes an i sound, which to me makes it a digraph, like c and h make ch—’

A man to the left of Isaac puts his hands up into a T.

‘I am pausing this. We haven’t introduced everyone yet. Hi, nice to meet you, I am Kenley.’

Kenley is a tall man with a delicate flair in the way he flails his arms. He is hunched over, probably from not wanting to loom over people. His accent is very Northern and reminds me of my grandmother.

‘Nice to meet you!’

‘I am Freja!’ says the girl with a pixie cut. A slight Scandinavian accent slips through.

‘I am Zaria. Pleasure to meet you.’ The girl with braids smiles brightly, a slight gap between her front teeth.

‘Chloe,’ says the last girl, just as pretty as the other two, but there is something fae-like in her face. I have seen her before.

She forces a smile, but it was an obvious afterthought.

Uh-oh, she has decided that she doesn’t like me.

‘So, Fuko, you work with Toby, right? We heard of his suspension.’ Zaria chuckles.

‘How much do you know?’ I glance at Toby to see any clues on his face.

‘He won’t tell us anything, which is strange because he’s usually an open book,’ Kinley chimes in.

‘Only because it’s not up to me to tell it.’ Toby shrugs.

Chloe glances at him, at me, takes a sip of her drink and looks away. Right, there is some weird tension here. Mental note made—I’ll ask about it later.

Where have I seen her?

‘Let’s just say I have this thing of being mildly unlucky, which then kinda got Toby in trouble.’

‘I’m going to get you a drink,’ Toby whispers and brushes his hand on my back. ‘Zaria is about to bombard you with questions.’