Page 30 of Freshman

Alfie wrinkled his nose, then shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

Henry patted his shoulder. “That’s it, that’s being part of the team.”

A team of one, Alfie thought bitterly, but he forced a small smile. There was no point arguing about the previous night. Queenie was still alive, as far as any of them knew, and that was the most important thing.

Alfie saw Marie coming toward them in his peripheral. He turned away, hoping if he didn’t make eye contact, she would leave him alone. She tapped him on the other shoulder, and he gritted his teeth, fixing her with another fake smile.

She flicked her heavy fringe away from her eyes and blinked a few times before speaking. “I’m sorry. Me and Glen, we…we let you down. We won’t again.”

She used the same tone of voice when she asked Glen to check a noise with her. Alfie shuddered. He couldn’t be seduced by her self-perceived sweet voice, but Nate and his seductive drag and drawl…

“It’s all right. I just want to forget about it.”

She nodded, tutted, then pouted as if she was disappointed he hadn’t fallen at her feet.

Alfie’s cheeks began to ache with his pretend smile. He strode ahead of them, and as soon as Marie and Henry were out of sight, he dropped his cheeks to his neutral expression.

Ryan didn’t look at him once at the handover. He turned on his heels and strolled from the office, whistling. If he had a cane, he would’ve been twizzling it.

The twins moved into the lobby; Dan stood on one gate and Ben the other. Alfie snapped his eyes between them, then groaned and squeezed the bridge of his nose. There were identical twins, and then there were clones. Dan and Ben fit the clone category.

“It’s good to know Queenie’s okay,” Glen said.

Henry nodded. “Yeah, he’s on suicide watch. Every hour we’ve got to check him.”

“Nothing says don’t kill yourself like sleep deprivation,” Alfie muttered.

Henry chuckled and nodded. “The six of us will take turns, make sure he hasn’t choked himself again.”

It wasn’t Henry or the twins’ job to check on Queenie. Alfie knew it was an apology of sorts and nodded in agreement.

“What did he swallow?” he asked.

Henry flicked his head toward the papers on the desk. “His hospital report. Have a read.”

Alfie frowned and reached for the medical notes. He scrolled through, then widened his eyes at the foreign object that had blocked Queenie’s windpipe.

“Tea bags? He tried to kill himself with tea bags.”

“Yeah,” Henry muttered. “In all my years, that’s the first time someone’s shoved teabags down their throat as a way of killing themselves.”

Alfie grimaced as he dropped the papers back on the desk.

“I love tea,” Marie said, ruffling her fringe.

“Love it that much you’d want to choke on it?” Glen muttered.

They shot a venomous look at each other, then stared in opposite directions.

A heavy silence fell over the room.

“So, I’ll check on him first,” Henry said, clapping his hands together. He staggered out of the office, hunched forward, with his head lolling on his shoulders. Nap time was calling to him, Alfie thought bitterly.

Marie and Glen didn’t vanish to check odd noises in the toilets. Glen perched on the desk at one end of the office, and Marie sat on a chair with her legs crossed at the other. They stared in opposite directions.

Alfie shut his eyes and breathed heavily through his nose. They hadn’t sorted their lovers’ tiff, even though he’d seen them kissing and whispering during Queenie’s suicide attempt.

Alfie sat in pin-drop silence for two hours. Henry wasn’t bothered by the atmosphere. He settled in his chair, shoved his glasses over his eyes, and then went statue still. Alfie didn’t have a pair of shades on him, and even if he did, he couldn’t force sleep. He went outside with the twins to escape Glen and Marie, but it didn’t help. They were just as silent with his presence. He had encroached on some unspoken twin moment, and when he declined a cigarette, they both scoffed at him.

---