Page 28 of Enemies to Lovers

Me

Urgh, Jamie alert. I’m hiding in the bathroom and he’s just come up to our room

Hope

How was it this afternoon? So weird, your little run together

But at least it’s progress on the exposure-therapy front!

Me

Well, is it, though? By thetime I got back from the shopwith Mum, he’d gone off ‘exploring’ with Laurie and I’ve not seen him since

I keep thinking about what he said, though, about having nobody

Obviously he’s got us, like The Greenbergs, as a family unit …

Hope

Do you think you should maybe get Laurie, or somebody, to reiterate that to him? Couldn’t hurt (not that I’m not still mad at him for what he did, but also: bless him)

‘Do you need the bathroom?’ I yell through the door to Jamie. I could open it a fraction to make sure he hears, but I think we’ve done enough interacting while half dressed. The movement stops.

‘No,’ he yells back. ‘I showered in Alex’s room. The bedroom is all yours – I’m going down for a drink.’

I try to listen for any subtext in his words, any hidden depths to his tone. I come up blank.

‘’Kay,’ I shout back, and I hear footsteps that seem to stop, right on the other side of the door. I reach out to the wood. I swear I can see his shadow under the crack, in the space between the door and the floor. Is he going to say something?

Jamie clears his throat then, drawing me out of my thoughts, and keeps moving. I listen, frozen to the spot, as his noise echoes all the way down the hall and eventually disappears entirely. I clear the steam from the mirror with my hand and look at myself.

I put on some blusher and lipstick, and comb my hair back from my face to pile high on my head. I’mgoing to wear my backless maxi-dress, so having my hair up will show off my shoulders, and I find some studded earrings in my make-up bag that add sparkle to the look. I take a picture and send it to Hope.

Hope

Approval granted!

I find a gold bracelet to wear where I’d normally put on a watch, and top up my lipstick, but I can’t shake the growing feeling of unease in my chest. I feel anxious, my head full of all these scenarios and hypotheticals: what if Adonis invited me as a joke? What if he tries to take things too far? What if I go off with him, but get lost? What if Dad disowns me for being a slut?

This is what my brain does. It makes me catastrophise and spin out, no matter how positive I try to be. It manufactures worst-case scenarios and tells my body to panic in preparation. I will myself to breathe, like the therapist taught me.I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.

‘Flo!’ Laurie bellows up the stairs. Footsteps. ‘Flo!’ he shouts again.

‘Coming,’ I scream back. ‘Give me a minute.’

I look in the mirror one last time, remembering to breathe and listing everything I like about myself in my head. I am kind. I listen well. I am a good daughter. I am an accomplished runner.

‘Florence!’ Laurie yells up the stairs once more, and I bolt down to join everyone.

Jamie is there, looking tense but handsome in a shirtand chino shorts. It’s the most covered up I’ve seen him all holiday.

‘Nice of you to grace us with your presence, Your Highness,’ Laurie says, curtsying deeply, and I scowl at him.

‘Sorry if I’m holding you back from your Adonis man-crush,’ I say.

‘Hardly,’ shoots back Laurie, rolling his eyes.

Mum slaps my arm, dispersing the sibling tension. ‘I’mdesperate to go and stare at him again,’ she giggles. ‘Now come on, or all the food will be gone.’

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