Page 77 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Yeah, I’ll be fine. She can still walk . . . just,’ I say as Mandy sways next to me.
Those of us who don’t have rooms in the pub leave and go our separate ways, while Mandy and I stagger together towards Mandy’s parents’ house.
‘Ah, Frankie,’ Mandy says as we wobble along, her arm still around my shoulders. ‘How did it come to this, eh?’
‘Me making sure you get home all right?’ I ask. ‘I think it might have happened a few times before.’
‘Yeah, you have, haven’t you?’ she says, stopping to look at me for a moment. ‘You’re a good friend. One of the best!’
‘Thank you.’ I move her along again.
‘You know you’ve always been special to me,’ Mandy says as we walk extremely slowly along the pavement together. ‘And I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry for what?’
‘For what I did at that dance.’
‘What dance? Do you mean the Enchantment Under the Sea dance?’
‘Yeah, the enter . . .encha . . . that sea thing we all went to and sang. Do you remember?’
‘Of course, I do,’ I say, desperately trying to get her safely across the road before a car comes.
‘Do you remember what I said to you that night . . . you know, in the toilets?’
‘Er . . . vaguely, yes.’ This journey back to Mandy’s house is getting harder by the minute. Every time Mandy asks me a question, she stops walking, as though she can’t cope with doing both at the same time.
‘Well, I’m going to tell you something now you might not like.’ Mandy pulls an overly sombre expression, which ends up looking quite comical.
‘OK, can we keep walking though while you tell me? Otherwise you’ll never get home, and neither will I.’
‘Yes . . . ’ Mandy waggles her finger at me. ‘That is a genius idea. Let’s do that.’ She is silent while she tries to concentrate on walking for a few steps. ‘Wait, the thing!’ she says, suddenly remembering. She stops walking again.
‘Right, I tell you what. You tell me thething, and then we’ll walk back quietly together. How about that?’
‘Yes.’ Mandy nods furiously. ‘Again, a wonderful idea.’ She stands swaying slightly in front of me. ‘Do you remember what I told you about Rob that night?’ she asks, surprising me.
‘Kind of – why?’
‘Well, I shouldn’t have said it.’ She nods matter-of-factly. ‘I told you that because I was jealous. Not because it was the right thing to do.’
‘OK . . . but what you said was great advice if I remember rightly. About your girlfriends being the most important thing.’
‘And you not needing a man to make you happy. Yes, it was, wasn’t it?’ She thinks about this for a moment. But then just as quickly she shakes her head. ‘No! No, it wasn’t good advice. I only said it because I was jealous, Frankie.’
‘Yes, you’ve said that already. But it really doesn’t matter now if you were jealous of me having a boyfriend back then. It was a long time ago.’
‘No!’ she says, shaking her head again but much more vehemently this time. ‘You’ve got it all wrong.’ She pokes her finger into my chest. ‘I wasn’t jealous of you having Rob as a boyfriend. I was jealous of him having you as a girlfriend.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask, not understanding. ‘It’s the same thing, isn’t it?’
Mandy shakes her head, slowly this time, and then wobbles a little.
‘You’re not listening,’ she says as she steadies herself. ‘I didn’t like you giving Rob all your attention, Frankie, I didn’t like it at all. So I said what I did to try to break the two of you up. And I did it because . . . because . . . because I fancied you,’ she finishes with a flourish of her hand. ‘There, I’ve said it.I fancied you, Frankie. In fact,’ she looks me up and down, ‘I think I still do.’
I stare at Mandy for a moment trying to take this in.Is she really saying what I think she is? She’s clearly more drunk than I realised.
‘OK . . . ’ I say, not really knowing how to respond. ‘Perhaps we should get going again.’ I try to take hold of her once more.
