Page 52 of Girls Just Want to Have Sun

‘About last night and the fire,’ I say hesitantly. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Matteo shakes his head. ‘No worries. It’s been dealt with.’

‘Alex told us you were very angry.’

Matteo’s eyes widen. ‘You’ve been to see Alex?’

I nod. ‘Nancy told us to go and apologise. Did Alex not tell you?’

Matteo looks away as though he’s hiding his annoyance.

‘She told us you were furious and that I should…’ I blink. ‘I should stay away from you. Which, under the circumstances, is probably… wise.’ A thought occurs to me. ‘How do you all know each other? Nacho, I mean. Does he work for you?’

He hesitates for a moment. His fingers reach out and lightly graze mine, but before he can answer, we hear the girls shrieking and making a fuss of Nacho, pleading with him to come to The Strip tonight to ‘celebrate’ our night off.

‘We’re helping Connie find her true sense of self,’ I hear Liberty saying to Nacho. ‘A sort of fast-track professional development for beginners.’

Beginners at what?

‘And we’re showing her how to move properly on stage,’ adds Cherry. ‘She’ll be benefitting from my many years of TikTok choreography.’

‘I’ll be transforming her look,’ says Tash. ‘Contouring, shaping, smudging.’

Good Lord.

‘We’ll be in charge of making her sexy,’ says Big Mand, grinning from ear to ear at Big Sue. ‘She’ll be a total wang-magnet by the time we’ve finished.’

Oh my God, they are so not helping.

Nacho lets out a small laugh. ‘Wouldn’t miss it, Cenicienta.’

I blush instantly.

Matteo looks impassively back at me. ‘Sounds like you’ll be very busy.’ That chemistry between us is suddenly gone like a puff of smoke.

‘No, it’s very not what they are making it sound like. I won’t be attracting anywangs. None. Nowangs,’ I blurt in panic. I’m horrified. My eyes flick once more to the bags I’m holding. I feel they are giving out the wrong impression. ‘I’m as far from a good-time girl as you could possibly hope to get!’

The Dollz groan and start protesting.

‘We’ll be on The Strip at 9p.m. You’ll not miss us,’ Tash promises the men.

Nacho looks briefly at Matteo before confirming that he will see us there.

‘Try not to burn anything down, will you?’ Matteo says in a cool tone. ‘I’ll see you at the festival tomorrow.’

‘What? Aren’t you coming to see us tonight?’ yells Cherry, not making it sound obvious in the slightest. ‘I mean, you don’t have to. But if you want to, then Connie will be there. I mean, you’re the boss so you probably should come. Not that I’m telling you how to do your job or anything.’ Cherry is the colour of thetomato she shares her name with. ‘But if you could please come that would be great. You won’t believe your eyes.’

Pathetic. Utterly pathetic.

She’s crumbled even faster than me, making out that there’s going to be some big reveal that simply must not be missed.

‘Fine. Can’t wait,’ he says dryly before his phone rings and he mouths ‘work’ before disappearing off into the crowded lane, Nacho running after him.

‘Well,’ I say. ‘That didn’t make me look desperate at all, did it?’

Big Sue checks her phone and barks at us, ‘Look at the time. Let’s go! Move it, people. We only have until twenty-two hundred hours to complete the mission.’

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