Page 49 of One Night With You

‘Look atyou,’ she whispers back.

‘I want you in bed,’ I tell her. ‘You’re going to have to come home with me.’

She shakes her head, but only just. ‘I want to,’ she says. ‘But Candice – it’s her birthday …’

‘Hmm,’ I say. ‘When do you go back?’

‘Tomorrow.’ And then, when I start to move my hand away she clamps her legs together and says, ‘Don’t you dare.’ I smile, looking her dead in the eye as I resume the movements of my fingers. She makes another appreciative noise.

‘This,’ she says, softly. ‘This is what I remember.’

I grin.

‘Ruby?’

The voice comes from the double doors of the kitchen, loud and clear as a bell.

‘Candice,’ Ruby whispers.

‘Ruby!’

I half expect Ruby to ignore it, considering where my hand is and the noises she has been making. But she doesn’t. She whispers to me, ‘Sorry,’ and then calls Candice’s name in return.

‘On the picnic table,’ she continues, and I take my hands out from under her, and because I don’t know what else to do I sit on them as if to deny having ever touched her in the first place.

Candice wears a furious expression, muttering loaded nothings about how cold it is.

‘Oh,’ she says, when she sees that I’m there. ‘I see. Sorry to intrude.’

She’s slurring her words, and looks pretty out of it. I glance from Candice to Ruby, and immediately know that I needto leave. As if to underline the point, Candice stares at me with eyes so hard I have no doubt she’s staking her claim and silently letting me know to sling my hook.

‘I’m just going to search out another beer,’ I declare, disappearing – albeit disappointedly – into the bright lights of the kitchen. I look back before I dip inside, but I can’t see them anymore, hiding in the shadows.

23

Ruby

‘You having a good night?’ I ask Candice jovially. ‘Everyone seems on really good form.’

‘Well,’ she says. ‘I’m a bit annoyed, to be honest.’

Surely she’s not pissed that I’ve been outside with Nic for half an hour? When I slipped out, she was dirty dancing with his brother in the music room, his face pressed into her neck and her eyes closed. It was a calculated move – she was busy with a bloke, so I took my opportunity to be, too. I’d been inside with her for all the rest of the night. We danced, we lit a match to some sambuca, we took several wees together, gossiping as one of us sat on the loo and saving water by not flushing before the other had her turn too, like all best girlfriends do.

‘How come?’ I ask. The last of Nic’s drink is still beside me on the table, so I finish it off.

‘You just missed the cake cutting. Did you know that?’

I didn’t, actually. I look again to where Nic just disappearedand, yeah, now I think about it I suppose everyone else has cleared off from the back door, where all the smokers had been. My attention had been a little divided, what with me sat on Nic’s lap that way.

‘Oh, pal,’ I say. ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m ready to be as effusive in my apology as I need to be, but as I take a breath, it appears she has more to say.

‘You’ve not been very present all night, to be honest. I’ve barely spoken to you since you got here. For a best friend you’re kinda letting the side down. Jackson thinks so too, so it’s not just me.’

Her words come thick and fast, like she’s been saving them to fire off all at once. I don’t get it, though. Ihavebeen with her tonight.

‘It’s your party!’ I reply, stung. ‘You’ve been a social butterfly! I was letting you get on with it! But for the record I’ve not been more than six feet from you since I got here, Candice. Come on.’

‘Hmm,’ she says, in response.

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