Page 56 of Do You Ship It

‘Cerys!’ Jake exclaims, setting me back down. ‘What’re you doing here?’

‘Oh, you know. I thought I’d come see the match. A bit like old times.’

I bump my shoulder to his and give him a smile that – I hope – borders between cheeky and flirtatious. By now, though, Max has joined us, with hisimpeccabletiming as always.

My smile turns a bit rigid, but I face him anyway. ‘Hi.’

‘This is … a surprise,’ he says.

Oh, I’m sorry, Max, do you think I’mintrudingon your quality time with your best friend? Tough luck, pal. This is what it feels like.

Not, of course, that I’m here to spite Max. I really am here for Jake. But it’s an unexpectedly good side-effect, which might be vindictive of me, but I can’t bring myself to care too much. Max just has a way of bringing out that side of me.

‘I just thought it’s been ages since I saw you,’ I say, which is half in response to Max, though I direct it to Jake. ‘I’ve missed you.’

Jake sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘Yeah, sorry, Cer. Things have just been a bit … intense, lately. And I’m sorry about skipping out on the Wednesday watch-parties, but sounds like you’re enjoying the show?’

Max gives a short breath of laughter, giving me a pointed look I can’t distinguish. It doesn’t feel like his usual judgement and accusation, but whatever it is, I’m not getting it. Aware that I’m staring back at him now, I say, ‘Thanks for putting me on to the audiobooks, by the way.’

‘Sure thing.’ He nods once, then scuffs the toe of his shoe against the grass.

God, am Ireallythat awful to talk to? Is itsucha chore for him to be halfway polite?

Fine. Whatever.

Jake is as oblivious as ever to the tension between the two of us, and clasps Max’s arm before saying to me, ‘Hey, actually, now you’re here – I’ve been meaning to tell you! One of the guys at college is throwing a house party for Bonfire Night next week. You should come!’

‘Are … Bonfire Night parties a thing, now? Are wenot doing Halloween parties anymore?’ I ask, glancing between the pair of them, feeling like I’ve missed something. Is this a guy thing? A Jake’s college thing? Have Halloween parties looped back around from being cool to childish once more?

They both share a look; Max scoffs, and Jake rolls his eyes.

‘We tried,’ Max says. ‘But most people decided they couldn’t be bothered with costumes. Nobody cared enough.’

Costumes. I bet he was going to show up in his OWAR cosplay.

Thank God it’snota dress-up party, I think suddenly. They might’ve expected me to wear my Lady di Silver outfit. I don’t know how I would’ve explained that to a group of total strangers.

Jake tells me, ‘The guy’s parents are away that weekend, and some of the year above are coming too; they’re old enough to buy fireworks, and they’re going to bring some drinks.’

‘Right. Yeah! Sounds …’

Oh, God. This changes things. Aproperno-adults, boozy house party.

I mean, it’s not like we haven’t had a few drinks at a party before. Ginny was always great about slipping us a bottle of wine to share around, andsomeone had usually got their hands on a few ciders, but never enough for things to getproperlymessy. And whoever was hosting usually had their parents down the road at the pub or shut away upstairs out the way, so it wasn’t like things were completely unsupervised …

This sounds like arealhouse party.

My mind suddenly fills with images from American teen romcoms: red Solo cups and beer pong at dining tables, couples snogging on sofas and in bedrooms, couples maybe doingmorethan snogging in bedrooms, vodka shots and rowdy games of Truth or Dare and Never Have I Ever …

Could this be what me and Jake need, to break the ice and move our relationship from friendly to romantic at last? A kiss in a game of Spin the Bottle, stepping away from the party to get a quiet moment of fresh air together, sitting on a step outside a door, huddled close against the cold?

‘Sounds brilliant,’ I say, my voice cracking only a little. I force my smile wider to make up for it.

‘You could stay in Gin’s room, if you want. She’s not coming home for reading week, so it’ll be empty.’

‘Oh! Um …’

A sleepover at Jake’s? Yes! No? Yes. I don’t …

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