Page 43 of Enemies to Lovers

Siri sounds her alarm, and Laurie throws down his pad of paper and his pen petulantly.

‘That’s not very sportsmanlike,’ I point out. ‘Aren’t you going to tell me: Congratulations, the best man won?’

Laurie rolls his eyes and holds out a hand. As I reach for it, he pulls it away and slicks his hand back through his hair, like an eight-year-old.

‘Very cool,’ I tut. ‘Very mature.’

I watch him walk away and dive-bomb into the pool, Mr Moody Pants because his little sister is smarter than him.

‘Well,’ Mum says, ‘I’d rather Laurie lost than Florence.Thenwe’d know about it!’

‘Oh, really?’ laughs Adonis.

‘Absolutely,’ says Mum. ‘When she was fifteen she once lost at Monopoly and she didn’t speak to any of us for almost seventy-two hours.’

‘And when we went on that adventure holiday when we were about twelve and she lost at archery,’ offers Alex.

Even Kate offers her twopence-worth. ‘Flo once tipped over the Scrabble board at the pub because shewas losing. Said it was an accident, but we all know it wasn’t …’

I am aghast that my family would all pile on and assassinate my character in this way.

‘Adonis won’t want to play Dobble if you scare him with stories like this,’ I declare. ‘Shush, the lot of you!’

I didn’t know Mum had asked Adonis to come and look at my hip, but it’s feeling okay after a good post-run stretch. Instead of a massage, I motion for Adonis to sit and I take the seat next to him. Laurie sloshes about in the pool noisily.

‘Who’s in?’ I say, reaching for the cards.

‘Me,’ says Jamie, sitting opposite me.

‘Anyone else?’ I ask. Kate shakes her head, Mum and Dad pull a face that I take to meannot on your nelly, and Alex looks between us all and decides, ‘Nah. I’m going to challenge Laurie to an underwater handstand competition.’

‘Fine,’ I say. ‘Just us three, then.’ I look between Jamie and Adonis. ‘Ready?’

‘As soon as you explain what I must do,’ Adonis says. ‘Yes.’

I click my fingers and point at him. ‘Fair enough,’ I reply. ‘Right. Well, Dobble is a kids’ game, really. There’s a massive pile of cards, and you all have to race to match the symbols on them. See here? There’s an ice cube, sunglasses, a knight …’ Adonis nods. ‘I like it because itgets you properly thinking,’ I say. ‘And when you get into the rhythm of it, you feel really clever.’

Jamie laughs. ‘And when everybody else is matching them really quickly and you get stuck in a rut, it’shorrible,’ he says.

‘Okay then,’ Adonis smiles. ‘I’m ready.’

Dad delivers a big jug of water and some glasses with his cursory pun. ‘Did you ever hear the joke about hydration?’ he asks us, and on account of having heard this for my whole entire life, I don’t answer.

‘No,’ Jamie supplies. ‘Because it’s no laughing matter.’

Dad smacks him on the shoulder good-naturedly. ‘Good man,’ he says. ‘Now drink up!’

Jamie grabs the cards and starts dealing them out, and as he catches my eye he … smirks. I quickly focus on the cards and on what he’s doing, watching his big hands deftly flick between the three of us. I have to reach and get a glass of water, taking it down in big, deliberate gulps.

‘Ready?’ Jamie asks, to which Adonis and I say, ‘Ready!’

And we’re off. Adonis does great, considering it’s his first time, matching ice cubes to ice cubes and pencils to pencils.

‘Dog!’ shouts Jamie, matching a pair, and then I yell, ‘Treble clef!’ and whack my card down too.

‘Treble clef?’ says Adonis. ‘What is that?’

But we don’t answer him, because now for every card I put down, Jamie puts one down, too. Adonisleans back in his chair, his beginner’s luck no match for my and Jamie’s determination, and I find myself leaping up so that I can stand over the piles, all the easier to win.

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