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‘Right.’ Jen gave herself a moment before putting the key in the lock. ‘After you.’
Holly scooped a supporting arm around her again, helping Jen into the flat. It wasn’t too bad. But why had she just done a wash? Pants were everywhere.Why am I worried about pants?Holly didn’t care about her underwear. This was just like having Chloe round, and she certainly wouldn’t clean for her.
With Holly’s assistance, Jen hopped down the hall and into the open plan living room-come-kitchen.
‘There you go,’ Holly said, holding Jen’s elbow as she slowly lowered herself onto the sofa. ‘Now, let me get you something for that leg.’
‘Like what?’
‘I dunno. Peas, or something.’
‘Good luck with that,’ Jen said with a smile.
Holly eyed her with suspicion, her changing features saying she understood once she opened the freezer. She checked the fridge for good measure.
‘Okay, so everything we need to make cocktails, not so much on the food front. What the heck do you eat?’
‘I’m rubbish at eating when I’m busy and when I remember I usually just grab a ready meal or get a delivery.’ Jen took the trainer off her good foot, wincing when she loosened the laces on the bad one. Thankfully, Holly hadn’t seen. She gritted her teeth as she eased the shoe off.
Holly stood, hands on hips, staring into the fridge. ‘I literally don’t think I’ve ever seen a fridge more empty.’
‘Told ya.’
‘Right, so nothing cold,’ Holly said, wandering back to the living room and perching on the sofa by Jen. Holly patted her own thigh. ‘Put it up here if you can. Let me have a look.’
‘You got healing fingers now?’ Jen said with a snigger. She did as she was told, though, carefully manoeuvring her leg onto Holly’s. She shuddered at the sudden skin on skin contact, playing it off as pain.
‘Is that sore?’ Holly asked, concern clear. She gently gripped Jen’s ankle in her hand and this time pain did play a part in making her grimace. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s fine. It’ll be better tomorrow.’
Holly didn’t look convinced. ‘I've seen plenty rolled ankles – usually drag queens in my pub. Some cracking injuries, let me tell you, and this looks bad. You can already see the bruise coming up.’
Jen leaned forward, inspecting the limb. Holly was right: a blue tinge bloomed around her ankle bone. ‘Ach, that’ll fade.’
Holly skirted her fingers over the mark. Jen shivered as her nipples instantly hardened. Thank God she’d chosen to wear a loose hoodie; she wasn’t used to such close proximity and even the slightest touch from Holly was driving her senses haywire. ‘Did you pay that squirrel? Was this all part of the plan to touch me?’
‘A girl never tells. But looks like it worked,’ Holly replied with a wink, although, as if embarrassed, she dropped her hands away from Jen’s leg.Oops.
‘Well, we’ve started, may as well finish. What’s next?’
‘Huh?’
‘You want to hold hands or something?’
Holly snorted. ‘I mean, if you want.’
Jen bit down on her bottom lip, fighting the urge to laugh. ‘This is weird, eh?’
‘Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we can just be drunk every time we meet.’
‘Would certainly make life easier.’
Holly paused for a second before twisting to a new position under Jen’s leg, their other knees now touching. Had she done that on purpose? Where was this going? Jen’s body hummed with anticipation.
‘Let’s style this out,’ Holly said, finding the hand Jen had draped over a cushion. She laced their fingers together. A thrill of anticipation ran over Jen. ‘Let’s pretend we hit it off at Cal’s. First date went well. We go for drinks after D’Angelo’s? That sound right?’
Jen looked at Holly’s hand in hers. She’d never been so acutely aware of every millimetre of her fingers, her palm, the back of her hand. It was like she’d suddenly developed a thousand new nerves. ‘Sounds about right.’
