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‘Yes, that Quinn,’ Minnie said, nodding slowly.
Leila abandoned her quest to get dressed and bounced her bottom onto the bed next to Minnie.
‘What, how, w …?’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘How did you know it was him?’
‘It was his birthday party. Greg’s friend from the paper, Lucy Donohue, goes out with him. I was only introduced when he let me out of the bathroom at seven o’clock this morning. I knew who he was straight away. How many Quinns born on the first of January can there be?’
‘Why are you saying Lucy Donohue like that?’ asked Leila, squinting her eyes at Minnie.
‘Like what?’
‘In a funny nasally voice with your nose all scrunched up?’
‘Was I? I’m not sure – I think she was annoying. Anyway, back to Quinn. Quinn! Can you believe it?’
The screen on Minnie’s phone lit up and pinged into life. Greg’s name flashed up on the phone as a stream of messages came through. Minnie groaned.
‘All OK?’ asked Leila.
‘Greg abandoned me in the club last night and now he’s sending me arsy texts because he thinksIleft withouthim.’
‘I would never, ever leave without you,’ Leila said solemnly.
‘I know you wouldn’t. I would never leave without you either.’ Minnie reached out to squeeze her friend’s hand. ‘He does sound pretty pissed off, though. I should probably call him.’
‘Tell me the story first, Bathroom Abandoner can wait.’
‘OK, give me one minute, I’m just going to text my landlord to see if he can let me into my flat today. I’ve got to get in somehow to feed poor Lucky.’
Minnie tapped away on her phone and Leila made a tick-tock clicking sound with her tongue, nodding her head from side to side like a metronome.
‘So, did you tell Quinn he stole your name?’ Leila asked once Minnie had finished typing. ‘What’s he like? Is he hot? Quinn Hamilton sounds like a hot name to me.’
‘Yes, I told him he stole my name – he laughed like it was a joke. And I don’t know where you get the idea that there are hot names and not-hot names,’ Minnie said irritably. Shestarted fiddling with the dress she was wearing, swishing the skirt back and forth in her lap. She was so unused to wearing skirts that she felt as though she was looking down at someone else’s body. ‘You’re not seriously going to make me go out in public like this, are you?’
‘So he is hot?’ said Leila, narrowing her eyes even further.
‘I guess, but only in that textbook, arrogant, rich-boy way. He was probably born with a silver spoon in every orifice,’ said Minnie grimacing.
‘OK, well I need to hear every single detail. I have to get my love-life kicks through you now I’m so bloody normcore. And yes, you need to wear the dress, it will be fun, I promise.’ Leila went back to her wardrobe and held up a bright yellow 1950s-style tea dress. ‘Too much?’
‘You can pull this look off, I can’t,’ said Minnie, shaking her head. Leila dropped her pyjama bottoms on the floor and stepped into the yellow skirt. ‘Hang on, what do you mean “love life”? This isn’t anything to do with my love life, this is just me meeting the man my mum’s been comparing me to my whole life. Right, I’m going to call Greg now.’
Minnie dialled his number. Greg didn’t like speaking on the phone, he preferred text, but this didn’t feel like a text conversation. It went straight to answerphone. ‘Hi Greg, it’s Minnie. Just ringing to say, I didn’t go home without you last night, you were the one who went home without me, and anyway … wait, someone else is calling me … maybe it’s you, no, it’s an unknown number. Hang on, I’ll call you back, I was just calling to say I’m alive – bye.’
Minnie quickly switched callers to take the incoming call. It was her landlord, Mr Buchanan, saying he could meet her at the flat to give her a spare key.
‘You’re going now?’ Leila asked, once Minnie put the phone down. ‘What about lunch?’
‘I have to go and feed Lucky. I’ll go now then come and meet you out.’ Minnie stood up and pulled her friend in for a hug, ‘Thank you for rescuing me.’
Leila’s lips twitched as she watched her friend leave, ‘This better not just be a ploy to change out of that dress,’ she called after her.
*
Mr Buchanan was waiting for Minnie on the street. He was busy inspecting her wheelie bin when she arrived. He was in his mid-sixties with bright white hair and he spoke with a lisp. When he saw Minnie in her polka-dot dress he did a double take.
‘Thank you so much for meeting me,’ Minnie said breathlessly, running up the street to meet him. ‘I couldn’t afford a locksmith call-out, especially on New Year’s Day.’
