Page 25 of The Layover
‘What?’ he repeats tightly, then throws a glower my way. I barely blink in reaction. ‘What the hell are you talking about? Did you know about this?’
‘I just found out. I got a look at their messages. Looks like darling Marcus is playing away from home.’
There’s a flash of emotion in Leon’s eyes that takes me a moment to process, it’s so out of place.
It’s the kind of lookI’mtrying so hard to hide.
He asks, head snapping between the two of us now, ‘Why? What’s he said? Is this that text he just sent you? Is that what this is about? Let me see.’
Fran is shaking, now, poor thing, but manages to sound fabulously indignant when she says, ‘Marcus and I arefriends. There’s nothing to see, alright? I don’t expect to go digging throughyourphone looking for rubbish I can blow out of proportion. Butfine, if you want to look,fine. Go on! I’ve got nothing to hide!’
She wrestles her phone into one free hand to unlock it, the text thread still up on the screen, and slams it down on the table before storming off.
I hope she remembers the oat milk.
Leon has picked up the phone before he even sits down, so focused on the messages that he half falls back into his seat, almost misses the chair completely. I watch his frown deepen as he concentrates, reading slowly, scrolling back up – and then down again, rereading, like he’s missed something.
He lowers the phone to look at me, and exactly like I thought he would, he says, ‘Am I missing something here? I thought you said he was cheating.’
‘I didn’t saythat.’ I huff, and take Fran’s phone to put it on the table. I love her phone case, all pressed flowers in pink and yellow. So cute. Basic, but cute. I point at the screen. ‘Read between the lines, Leon.Look. Like how he only texts in these chunky paragraphs – probably because it’s when Kayleigh’s not in the room, or asleep or something, rather than texting back and forth throughout the day? And he doesn’t even reply to half the stuff she says, but he’ll heart-react so itfeelslike he’s paying attention, so poor Fran is probably out here telling herself,Look how much he cares about me!Bless her.’
Leon nods, once, slowly, absolutely not getting it.
‘Like, did he need to send her a shirtless selfie? Or this gym-mirror selfie, post-workout? Like hell he did. And look, that message he just sent her – wish you were here, won’t be the same without you, need you here with me, and all that crap. Itsoundsfriendly, but if you’ve got a raging crush on someone and they send you messages like that—’
‘It’s not going tofeelfriendly,’ he concludes, finally catching on. He leans back in his seat and rubs his hand across his mouth, frowning at the screen.
It’s startling, how much he and Kayleigh don’t look alike. She’s all dainty, sharp edges and refined features and graceful stature, whereas Leon is …clunky. Squarish face and squat nose and unruly hair, thick limbs and clumsy, calloused hands. Hedoes a lot of weightlifting – he makes a lot of really boring, dry posts about his progress on his Insta Stories – but it’s a far cry from any sort of gym-bro energy.
Sometimes, I think if I really wanted to get under Kayleigh’s skin and piss her off, I’d fuck her brother.
But that feels weirdly Freudian and I’m sure a therapist would have something to say about that, so.
‘So …’ Leon clears his throat, shuffles in his chair. ‘Are they having an affair?’
‘I don’t think so. Anemotionalaffair, maybe …’
‘I knew something was dodgy, whenever Kay mentioned the work wife. I mean, who says things like that anymore? It’s …’
‘It’sverypick-me girl,’ I say sagely, nodding, though I’d be willing to bet Leon doesn’t know what that is. Honestly, he thinksI’man idiot for not knowing who Zeus is off the top of my head, but he wouldn’t understand the nuances of pop culture if they bit him on the arse.
‘I knew it was bothering her. She always acted like it was some big joke, though.’
‘Well, yeah. What else are you going to do in that situation? It’s not like she doesn’t have a harmless little flirt with guys if we’re out at a bar, or everyone’s round to dinner.’
Leon recoils a little. ‘She what?’
I roll my eyes. As if we’ve got time for his rose-tinted glasses when it comes to his sisters. (I mean, you justknowhe’d go to his grave denying that little Myleene’s ever touched weed, but she was high as a kite the last two times I saw her.)
‘Anyway,’ I carry on, ‘obviously Kayleigh whinges about the work wife thing behind Marcus’s back. He always treats it like a joke. The way he talks about Francesca, mocking her and saying how sad the whole thing is, you’dneverguess—’ I snort, cutting myself off before I can say –
‘Hardly surprising, though, coming fromhim.’
It takes me a beat to realise thatwasn’tme saying it, and that yes, it did, in fact, come from Leon. I’ve never heard him say a bad word aboutanybody.
This is a delightful turn of events.
Truly, spectacular.
