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It’s hard to reconcile this Lloyd with the one I met last week.
After Burnley, Monty and Dylan collect drinks and head back to our table, Lloyd gestures for me to go ahead.
‘Can’t be accused of cutting the lineandgatecrashing, can I?’ he jokes.
‘Right,’ I mumble, and give the bartender my order. Then, feeling all too aware of Lloyd just inches away, and not wanting him to think of me as stand-offish, I gesture for him to add his drink to the order too.
‘I’ll get it,’ he says then, taking his wallet out.
‘No, I’ve got it.’
‘Annalise, c’mon – let me get the drinks. I was only going to stay for one anyway.’
‘I said,it’s fine. It’s my round, so, I have to get them.’
He sighs, more playful than exasperated, slipping a card out of his wallet and braced as if he’s going to race me to reach for the machine to pay, but just as I cut him a glare and prepare to shove his arm out of the way, something clicks.
Annalise.
He knows my name.
He does remember, after all.
Fury explodes inside me, bleeding through my body until I’m vibrating with it. He remembers, and he’s just been pretending all this time.
Somehow, that’s worse.
I stare at him, horrified and devastated. I know why I didn’t ask for his number … But he never asked for mine, either – was he relieved when the night finally ended, and too polite to say so at the time? Maybe itwasall an act.
The bartender tells us the total and Lloyd reaches to pay. I catch his wrist to stop him and then drop it like his skin burns to touch. I tap my own card to the reader, doing my best not to mentally track what my bank balance must be right now, and decline Lloyd’s help when he tries to take some of the drinks to carry back to the table.
With three glasses balanced precariously in my hands, I turn to Lloyd. I can’t manage to meet his eyes,but tell him in the steadiest voice I can muster: ‘You know, if you were embarrassed about me and didn’t want people to know we kissed last week, you only had to say. You didn’t need to act like I was a total stranger all week.’
‘That’s not – I wasn’t …’
‘It’s fine.’ It’s not. My voice shakes, giving me away. I start to leave – the sooner I can disappear into the crowd among the others, the better.
But Lloyd’s fingers graze my elbow, the barest touch, and I can’t move away.
‘I thought I was doing us both a favour. I didn’t mean to …’ He sighs sharply, dragging his free hand through his curls. ‘Can we talk about it? Away from the others. Meet you out the front in ten minutes?’
There’s a sinking feeling in my stomach, another flare of anger that he did thison purpose, but I agree. And I think: let’s see the office golden boy talk his way out of this one.
Without my jacket, it’s surprisingly chilly outside, but given that I told the others I was popping to the loo, I could hardly bring it with me. I wrap my arms around myself, shifting from foot to foot, too hurt and angry to form a single coherent thought, until finally, Lloyd joins me.
I must give him a pretty fierce glare, because he immediately holds his hands up and approaches slowly.
‘So, obviously I didn’t handle this very well, but hear me out. I panicked when I saw you on Monday. It was a snap decision. It’s … not a good idea, for me to get romantically involved with the interns when it’s my dad’s company.’
‘That’s not my fault!’ I exclaim. ‘You could havetoldme before you kissed me – instead of just ignoring me for the entire week, acting like it never happened.’
‘I didn’t know your job was at Arrowmile! You never said. There must be dozens of corporate summer internships in London. How was I supposed to know? If anything,youshould’ve known whoIwas.’
The laugh that tears out of my mouth is bitter. I thought, seeing him around the office this week, that he must be pretty full of himself – but this really takes the cake.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Well – I mean, all the research you would’ve had to do on the company to get the job … There’s a ton of pictures of me with my dad and at company events and stuff. I’ve grown up with Arrowmile. My dad’s mentioned me in a bunch of profiles people have written about him. I’m used to people – especially the interns – recognizing me.’
