Page 52 of Five Things I Love About You

Matt picks up the wine bottle and we hurry over to the table before anyone else takes it.

‘Right, heads or tails?’ Matt’s holding a coin in his hand.

‘Heads.’

He flicks it into the air and smacks it on the back of his palm. He watches me with a lopsided grin on his face as he slowly peels his hand away.

‘Heads it is. Do you want to start or shall I?’

‘I will.’

I pick up the smaller cue, chalk the end and wait while Matt arranges the balls in the triangle at the other end. When he’s done, he straightens, and I bend and smack the white ball, scattering the reds and yellows across the table. We both watch as a red ball rolls slowly towards the corner, hovers, then drops into the pocket.

‘I guess I’m reds then?’ I say, giving him a cheeky grin.

‘I guess so.’

I pot the next one, and the next as Matt watches intently, his glass of wine going down quickly. I miss the next one, and let him on, and he’s right, he is good. Just as I think I’m not going to get back on the table at all, his yellow misses the centre pocket and ricochets in the wrong direction.

‘Fuck it,’ he says under his breath, and I smother a smile as he looks at me.

‘Ah, sorry about that.’ I pot the next two reds and peer up at him from my position at the table. I’m having fun, and I can’t pretend I’m not enjoying impressing Matt. ‘Oh by the way, I forgot to mention, I’m pretty good too.’

I clear the table of reds, and then there’s just the black left, alongside two yellows, both of which are blocking a clear way for me to pocket the black. I pretend to think about it for a while, although I can see exactly how I’m going to take my next shot – and I’m pretty confident I’ll get it in. Matt is staring at the black and I can tell he’s doing the same.

I bend, position myself, and lower my chin to the cue and line up. Then I take the shot and watch as the black bounces off the edge just where I’d planned and rolls smoothly towards the corner pocket. It drops.

I straighten and smile at Matt.

‘And that, I believe, is a wrap,’ I say.

He crosses his arms and shakes his head. ‘Well, I never.’

‘What, didn’t expect to get beaten by a girl?’

‘Nope, I never expect to get beaten by anyone. I thought I was invincible to be honest. I can’t believe you’ve just obliterated me.’

‘It was hardly an obliteration,’ I say, graciously. ‘It was pretty evenly matched.’

‘Well, even so.’ He drains his glass and goes to pour another, but the bottle is empty. ‘Another one?’

‘Tell you what, I’ll go to the bar, you line up for a rematch.’

As I head to the bar I’m fairly certain Matt’s watching me and I feel a shiver of something – excitement? Attraction? My clothes have dried out now and the wine has given me a low buzz of warmth which I’m enjoying. But I know I need to be careful. Flirting with Matt would be unfair on both of us.

Wine bought, I return to the pool table. Matt wins the next game, and the relief on his face makes me laugh. As we line up the balls for a deciding game, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to see Kirstie is Facetiming me.

I’m about to reject the call when Matt says, ‘Is that your best friend?’

‘One of them.’

‘Please answer it, I want to say hello.’

His eyes glimmer and I laugh. ‘Are you drunk?’

‘Maybe a little. Go on, quick, before she hangs up.’

I move my thumb from the red button to the green and press it, and after a couple of seconds Kirstie pops up on the screen. She’s outside somewhere and I wave, although I can’t hear her yet and she has her face close to the screen.

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