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44
Jack
I was on the afternoon shift at the pub and my mind wouldn’t settle. There was the usual slew of medical students and off-duty doctors dipping in and out, and a group of builders working on one of the exclusive properties surrounding the pub had commandeered the corner by the TV, their table scattered with crushed crisps and spilt beer. Luke shoved a plate of beef lasagne and salad at me and told me to take it to table five.
When I got back, he was looking at me, chucking me a cloth to polish the taps.
‘Spill,’ he said.
I pretended to concentrate on rubbing at a miniscule smear on the Amstel tap. ‘Spill what?’
‘Something’s wrong.’
‘It isn’t,’ I said.
‘Are you not enjoying the fringe thing?’ he asked, emptying some change into the till.
‘Actually that’s going much better. It’s all coming together, finally.’
And Joe seemed to have settled down and was starting to give constructive feedback rather than just barking orders. I was beginning to think we had something really good and was looking forward to actually performing it for whoever Alistair had lined up.
‘Anything else bothering you?’
I sighed. ‘If you must know, I’ve got myself into a bit of a situation with my neighbour. You know that girl I told you about? Rebecca?’
‘Oh yeah, the one you’ve got a thing for?’ he grinned.
‘I wouldn’t say I’ve got a thing for her,’ I said defensively. Was it that obvious?
‘Go on,’ he said. ‘What happened?’
A bell rang in the kitchen and I evaded his line of questioning by rushing off to deliver four portions of fish and chips to the builders, who then had me running back and forth from the kitchen to fetch various condiments. For once I didn’t mind, because there was a good chance Luke would have forgotten what we were talking about by the time I got back.
He hadn’t.
‘You were saying …?’ he piped up, leaning against the bar with his arms crossed.
I pushed my sleeves up. ‘Is it hot in here or is it me?’
Luke tutted. ‘I’m waiting.’
‘Fine. We slept together, all right?’
‘Ha!’ said Luke, doing an annoying sort of gun-slinging action in my direction. ‘I knew it.’
‘Pipe down,’ I said, as one of the regulars looked over, an oncologist, he’d told me once, which explained why he was constantly in desperate need of a pint.
‘So did you do something to mess it up, then?’ asked Luke, looking serious all of a sudden.
I gave him a look. ‘Why would you say that?’
He grabbed a damp sponge from the sink and removed fish and chips from the chalkboard menu; the builders had clearly polished off the last of it. ‘Well, you’ve got that look about you,’ he said. ‘Sort of regretful. Like you did when you told me you weren’t going to call that Janine girl you met at our dinner party.’
‘I never promised to call Janine.’
‘Well, she was under the impression you’d hit it off.’
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. ‘I didn’t feel like we did,’ I said.
