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He lets out a soft laugh. “I’m pretty sure apologies only work if you actually change your behaviour.”
Fucking hell, is he a mind-reader or something?
I let out a groan of annoyance. “Can’t I just not want to be mates with the guy?”
“What’s the problem with him?” Alex asks. “It’s not because he’s gay, is it?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
He holds a hand up. “Okay, okay, just wanted to check. What is it then?”
I rub a hand over my face, feeling exhausted. “He’s just so…happyall the time.”
“What a monster,” he says with a chuckle.
“You’re a dick,” I grumble.
“Yep, that’s what everyone says about me.”
“I already have enough friends,” I mutter.
Alex laughs outright at that. “You have Courtney, and you have the team—when was the last time you spent any time with any of us outside mandatory team things?”
I have no response to that, so I merely glare at him.
Alex sighs. “Look, I’m not saying you need to become camping buddies or whatever, but maybe you could throw the guy a bone? You could at least stop treating him like a rival and more like a teammate.”
I let out a heavy sigh and thrust a hand through my hair. He’s right. It’s not helpful to anyone for me to give Archie a hard time. “Okay. Yeah. I can do that. We’re teammates, though. Not friends.”
Alex holds up his hands. “However you guys want to label it is up to you.”
The night starts winding down not long after Archie finally gets off the stage. For some reason everyone starts calling for yet another song once he’s done with the Smashmouth one, so he struts around to Harry Styles’s “Watermelon Sugar High” to rapturous applause, the rule about girl bands and the nineties having apparently gone completely out the window.
“Whereabouts do you live?” I ask him as everyone is making their way out of the pub.
He glances around, as though expecting to find me addressing someone else. “Me?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, you.”
“Umm…Purley.”
I arch an eyebrow. “You’re on five million a year and you live in Purley?”
He shrugs. “It’s where my folks live. I’ve thought about moving out, but then I’d have to start cooking for myself and learn how to wash my clothes. Sounds like a nightmare to be honest.”
Bloody hell, he’s a child. I’m lusting after a fucking child.
“Right. You want a lift?”
He blinks at me. “You…want to drive me home?”
“Five second offer, Milligan. Take it or leave it.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll take it.” He gives a wry shake of his head. “Wow. Who knew the magic of song could be so powerful.”
“Don’t read anything into it,” I say gruffly. “We’re not friends. We’re teammates.”
“Whatever you say, mate.”
