Page 75 of You Belong With Me

Elliot

Martin Amis’s short stories.

Edie

Oh, you like his books? Name one.

Elliot

Martin Amis’s Collected Short Stories. Got to go – we’re playing strip beer pong.

Edie giggled stupidly. She received the ‘typing’ dots and then:

Elliot

(NB: We’re not! I don’t have the steely nerves for this game with you, Thompson. YOU WIN.)

She beamed. Look at her, living fearlessly, trading the gags. It probably helped she was socialising herself, not trotters up, wearing her period week nightie and trying to keep track of a Harlan Coben.

An hour later, Elliot sent:

Free to talk? Only brief and non-urgent. Don’t want to disturb your evening. xx

Edie

Sure, it’s noisy in here though. I’ll nip out into the garden. Give me one minute. xx

Elliot

Got it. Here’s your homework!X

Edie refilled glasses and excused herself, as Elliot pinged her a link to a minor item story on the showbiz page of a national.

Things may be heating up with Elliot Owen and his girlfriend, Edie Thompson, who lives in his home city of Nottingham. Our spies hear Owen has bought a house in a leafy suburb as a base to visit the 36-year-old ad exec. It will do nothing to dispel rumours that theBlood & Goldsex symbol is planning to break many hearts and make an honest woman of the lucky gal. ‘Elliot’s keen to settle down and says Edie is the woman for him,’ said our expertly placed source.‘They’ve talked about marriage and starting a family and they’re on the same page.’

Edie closed the back door behind her, iPhone once again weighed like an unpinned grenade in hand. She and Elliot, she noticed, never mentioned the febrile wedding bells element to any write-ups. It’d be awkward if it was true and awkward if it wasn’t. This one, however, might need probing.

‘Fuck’s sake,’ Edie said, by way of hello.

‘Evening, darling! Fuck’s sake indeed.’

‘What’s the list of suspects this time?’

‘Me, you, Mum and Dad, and my parents told Fraser. End of list. The temporary news blackout plan with my brother isn’t working in this respect as I’m not going to tell my parents to keep any more secrets from him … The stag do has gone on to a local bar, by the way, and I’m catching them up.’

‘Only you and the henners in bikinis, eh.’

‘That reminds me – I let Fraz post that photo. I want to see if it somehow escapes his social media. I don’t know why, though, because it couldn’t be more obvious that the leak is via Fraser, without his knowledge. I still haven’t spoken to him, and I’ve got to. If he goes ballistic at any Molly imputation, I’m going to say to him: I’m not suggesting I have an explanation, give me your explanation.’

‘Imputation!You’re so clever for a pretty boy,’ Edie said.

‘You are riddled with prejudice. Some of us worked in school, instead of truanting with the guy with the smutty DVDs.’

Edie grinned. ‘You know, the timing here is another signpost away from Molly. I doubt she’d have the head space tobe in Palma with her Prosecco covenanddoing this?’

‘Smartphones being what they are, I think you can multitask. You know what has been worrying at me and has finally moved from back burner to front brain?’

Elliot’s flat vowels in ‘worrying’ was purest East Midlands. Edie liked being reminded of his roots.

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