Page 25 of Topped

He’d had the whole afternoon to bring this up, but he’d insisted on waiting, for some devious, scheming reason I didn’t understand. It wasn’t like I’d hidden the fact I was going out for lunch with Rupert. I’d spent the whole flipping afternoon floating around the shop singing under my breath and trying to make Alfie dance with me.

“Now?” I asked, swallowing quickly and regretting it when the inside of my throat burned. “You want to talk about this now?”

“Why not?”

“I dunno, because you’ve had the whole afternoon and we’re trying to have dinner?” I gestured at the group of us who were sat around the kitchen table in Jonathan’s cottage. It was a little small to fit all five of us, but I didn’t mind the cosiness. There was something so warm and comforting about all of us getting together to eat and hang out, and I hoped it’d be something we’d do more of, especially over the winter when things were quieter.

“Sorry,” Alfie said, almost looking sheepish. But not quite. Despite his innocent-looking face, he was totally in on this scheme too. “We thought you might try and avoid it if we asked you this afternoon.”

“Why would I do that?”

“That’s what I said,” Owen said. He gave Darcy a teasing smile. “It’s just lunch. Not like they’re doing anything nefarious.”

“Thank you! I took Rupert to Novel Tea for food, nothing else. It’s not like we were sneaking off to shag behind the beach huts,” I said with a casual shrug. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Alfie’s and Jonathan’s faces tint slightly. I was ninety-nine percent sure they’d hooked up in Theo and Laurie’s beach hut at least once over the summer while Alfie was on his lunch break. The only thing I lacked was proof. But their blushes were all the confirmation I needed.

I wasn’t going to bring it up though, because contrary to what some people believed, I had class.

Sometimes.

“I guess I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the idea of you and Rupert,” Darcy said as he took a sip of his wine. He wasn’t quite meeting my eyes, his gaze falling somewhere off to the side and landing on the bowl of salad in the middle of the table. “I know I shouldn’t judge, but you two spent the whole summer bickering and arguing and now… I mean you wanted to train seagulls, Milo! Seagulls! How do you go from that to kissing over cake in Novel Tea?”

“Stop spying on me, Darcy. It’s creepy,” I said. I didn’t want to know how Darcy knew what Rupert and I had done because that was a conspiracy theory rabbit-hole just waiting to happen.

“Sorry, er, that’s on me,” Jonathan said quietly from the other side of the table. He looked very embarrassed, like he wanted the ground to open and swallow him up. “Theo saw you, and he told me and Laurie. He’s a terrible gossip. Although I suppose I’m not much better since I told Alfie.”

“And I told Darcy and Owen,” Alfie said.

He, on the other hand, did not look embarrassed.

“Fuck’s sake. Is there no privacy in this godforsaken place?” I asked, half for dramatics and half out of frustration. Living in a small town meant everyone knew everything, and while most people kept things to themselves and minded their own business, it meant there was this weird middle ground where everyone knew things, but nobody told you they knew and then pretended they didn’t.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Jonathan continued and I felt a pang of guilt. Out of everyone, Jonathan was the person it was least possible to be annoyed at. He was too sweet.

I waved his concerns away with my hand. “It’s not your fault. You can’t help that Theo is nosy and I guess… we were in public.” I sighed, wondering if I should tell Rupert before he found out from anyone else. I hoped he wouldn’t freak out, but if he did, I’d do my best to reassure him.

Turning to Darcy, I continued, “Look, I get that maybe it’s sudden for you, but I don’t need to sit here and justify myself. Rupert’s sweet, and yeah, maybe we’ve been shitty to each other all summer, but that’s in the past. We’re not holding it against each other, and I need you to do the same. I’ve told you this isn’t a joke, and it’s bloody annoying you’re still treating it like one.”

“I’m sorry,” Darcy said. “I promise I’ll do better.”

“Thank you.”

“We can still tease you about your dating life though, right?” Alfie asked, picking up his glass of sparkling elderflower and giving me a little smile. “Give you unwanted advice, tips, that sort of thing?”

“Hey! My advice is always excellent. I am a top-notch dating advisor.”

Owen grinned and nudged Darcy gently. “I mean, you did help us get our shit together.”

“Exactly. Point to me,” I said. “And I helped Theo and Laurie remind Alfie of things.”

“You let them kidnap me,” Alfie said with something akin to outrage. I don’t know why he was upset. It had needed to happen.

“Kidnap is such a strong word. I’d prefer to say I let them borrow you,” I said as I went back to my lasagne, which really was excellent.

We’d requested it specially because Jonathan had sent Alfie with a lasagne to my flat when Owen was being a twat and Darcy had turned up crying. The lasagne had been amazing, but I’d been desperate to know what it tasted like straight from the oven when I could focus on eating it, not on mopping up Darcy’s tears and plotting ways to make Owen see sense.

Although most of my ideas had been vetoed by Alfie, because apparently it was a crime to force people to stay in the freezing depths of the North Sea until they pulled their heads out their arse.

“Anyway, it all worked out,” I continued. “But I have to say, if any of you try that shit with Rupert, I will be pissed. He’s…” I trailed off. I trusted all the people at this table with my life—mostly—but Rupert hadn’t given me permission to tell anyone about his ADHD or his rejection sensitivity, and I wasn’t about to go airing out his private business to anyone without permission. Not even to my best friends.