Page 46 of Unapologetic Love Story

Raina gave a half-hearted smile. ‘You mean am I a savant? Sure. I’m super good at disposing of bodies. I’ve a special interest in soil so I know exactly where to bury them. I can dig a shallow grave better than any neurotypical.’

Ottie’s eyes narrowed and Tom released a solid bark of laughter.

‘Well, this is quaint,’ Seb said, a little too loudly. ‘London really is becoming a little English village. You knowing Pep, and Tom knowing you, Raina. Tom was at Cambridge with us.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Raina said, finally flashing Tom a glance.

Tom felt like pointing out that Raina probably knew a lot more about him than he did about her. He left each interaction with more questions than answers. It felt a little surreal to be sitting in his local with her socialite friend, who had millions of pounds compared to Raina’s hundreds, and his two university associates who, in the cold light of day, seemed worse than he remembered.

When he was apart from Seb and Ottie, his mind often conjured them up to be the same carefree, and often careless, friends he made during his time at Cambridge. He forgot the people they were turning into. The people who did a few episodes on True Love Summer and then decided the folk they’d once thought were beneath them were actually completely subhuman. Something that their behaviour regularly reflected.

‘By the way, Tom,’ Pepper said, emphasizing his name as if it were an insult. ‘I saw Caroline Gibbs at a party last week. Not a fan of yours.’

Tom felt everyone glance at him. He kept his face mildly disinterested.

‘I don’t really lose sleep over what Caroline Gibbs thinks of me,’ he said.

‘Pep knows everyone,’ Raina said, patting her friend’s knee.

He wanted to grab Raina’s dainty hand and ask her why she was friends with this dreadful London princess. He knew she, in turn, would demand that he explain his awful university friends. Then they could abandon all three of them and go somewhere else. The green, the garden, his place, wherever.

‘We should really let you three get on with your night,’ Raina said warmly, slipping her hand around Pepper’s elbow. ‘Keep the rest of that champagne, if you like.’

The dismissal was clear, albeit affable. Seb and Ottie were happy to hear it, grabbing their glasses and the almost empty bottle from its ice bucket before heading back into the fray of the main bar.

‘Tom, let’s sit outside,’ Seb called over his shoulder, miming the act of smoking a cigarette.

Tom looked back to Raina and Pepper. The former gave him a tired smile, and the latter raised her eyebrows in irritation.

‘Go on,’ Pepper said dismissively.

Tom hesitated. Coincidences were never just coincidences. He’d probably never see Raina Lewis again. If he turned around and went out into the pub garden, he’d have to listen to Seb and Ottie vilify and degrade everyone in their lives, making him wonder what they said about him in his absence. He would wrestle his way back inside to order a round at the bar, and he’d notice that they were gone. That she would be gone. He would glance around, hoping to catch them putting on their coats.

But it would be for nothing.

The idea that this was some kind of final goodbye made Tom unable to move. When Raina had left him in Poplar, he watched her leave, all the while thinking he would be able to rearrange another outing or interview. Then the email had arrived, mere hours later.

Now, knowing this could be the real ending to their strange, confusing little back and forth . . .

He didn’t know what was happening to him. He’d never been this all over the place before. This was a job. He was at complete liberty to write the piece – he had a few quotes to use already. He could chase up the rest. He needed no permission, no approval; it was all within his reach and something that his agent and publisher were keen to see. There was no concrete reason why his shoes should be glued to the hardwood floors of the White Horse pub, incapable of leaving to join his friends outside.

‘You deserve the award nominations,’ he heard himself say, staring into Raina’s eyes with a strange sort of melancholy. ‘I hope you get everything you want.’

She was wearing her usual mask. Unflappable. Yet something softened in the greenish hues of her eyes. There was some kind of acknowledgement, some kind of understanding.

He turned sharply and walked away, before her privileged friend could say something crude. He felt every cell in his body resenting him, demanding that he revert his course and turn back. He ignored the feeling. He pushed his way out of the heaving crowd of pubgoers and weaved his way to Seb and Ottie, who were both smoking.

‘Good, you got away,’ Seb said briskly as Tom sat down on the wooden bench next to them. ‘I like Pep, God knows I do, but she’s become so dull since she started hanging around with that one.’

‘That one?’ Tom asked, his voice icy.

‘She thinks she’s better than everyone, clearly,’ Ottie said, casting a glance towards the pub. ‘Does not look in the least bit autistic to me.’

‘What do autistic people look like, Ottie?’ Tom asked quietly.

‘Not like that. Anyway. You’re going to rip her apart, aren’t you, tiger?’

She cackled and Seb snorted, taking a long drag.