Page 25 of Fake Rocks
“And I saw that.” Rosie let out a breath. “Anyway, enough of where he came from. Are you going to see him again?”
I’m lucky enough to see him every day.
“Yeah, I am. He’s coming to theRocciadinner with me at the weekend.”
“Ooo, a weekend away already? It must be serious.” Rosie’s mouth curled up. “Share the deets, what’s his name, what does he do?”
“He’s called Tris and he’s, um, helping his uncle with his painting and decorating business.” I hated the hesitation in my tone as I spoke. I was usually prepared to dish all the dirt on my latest boyfriend.
“Oh my God, Saff Barnes! You’re dating a manual labourer!”
My best friend burst into peals of laughter. I pressed my lips into a tight line. It wasn’t as if what Tris did was beneath either of us. He happened to be working with his family.
Shit, I barely recognised what I was thinking. Three days with someone apparently normal and I’d forgotten about the likes of Troy Carson. Jonas would think this a good thing.
“I bet he’s good with his hands,” she went on. “What’s he like in bed?”
“I don’t know, we haven’t slept together yet.” That was something else I’d have to fabricate. Rosie and I tended to share details of those kind of things. She’d think there was something wrong if Tris and I didn’t sleep together.
“Dates, going away together and you haven’t shagged him yet? Seriously, Saff, sounds like you’re losing your touch.”
I wasn’t, but I couldn’t tell her. If I could talk to her properly, I could tell her about the inner battle I was having with myself. That although this liaison with Tris was totally make believe, I was starting to think I wanted it to be legit. He constantly filled my thoughts when I wasn’t with him. As Ronnie pulled my hair again, I closed my eyes and wished I was back at home, watching Tris build kitchen cupboards rather than having my hair and make-up done. I couldn’t believe the effect he was having on me in such a short time. Why was this so different?
14
Tris
It had only been a day and a half, but I missed seeing Saff. After we’d had brunch together on Wednesday, she hadn’t been in the house at the same time as I was. There was evidence of her, the empty coffee cups and clothes by the washing machine. It was Jonas who’d filled me in on the details of the weekend’s events, giving me the tickets and the travel information, so I knew where we had to be and when.
And that was when the nerves kicked in.
I’d never been to one of these black-tie dinners before. Even my own university graduation had been low key. Well, I was graduating with a decent BTEC diploma, so it didn’t exactly warrant hiring some fancy venue with a plethora of cutlery at the table for dinner. The local pizza chain restaurant sufficed for us, follow by beers in the pub. That was my comfort level. Anything else, simply put, scared the living shit out of me.
I could only assume the event would be populated by musos and PR reps. People I had very little in common with. What was I going to talk about?
On the journey home with Uncle Col, I barely said a word for worrying. I think he sensed something wasn’t right because as soon as we got back, he suggested we all go out for dinner. Aunt Annie mumbled something about already having a pie in the oven, but soon changed her mind when Col mentioned we needed to try to get me a suit, so we’d have to do that first.
Soon, we were at the late night shopping centre nearby.
My initial thoughts were to hire something. After all, I didn’t know whether I’d be going to more events like this. But when we were told they didn’t have anything in stock for me to take away, we had to go to one of the department stores. I had to hope Saff didn’t know too much about men’s fashion and wouldn’t be able to tell whatever I ended up with wasn’t high-end designer. With Aunt Annie’s help, we narrowed it down to four possible options. I wasn’t particularly sure about any of them.
“Tris! You look amazing!” Aunt Annie’s face was a picture as I stepped out of the changing room in a dark, charcoal grey suit with black satin lapels, the last of the bunch. She approached me, fussing around with the fit of the jacket.
I barely recognised myself as I stared at the reflection in the mirror. It was certainly a far cry from the man who’d spent most of his recent past dressed in grey marl tracksuit bottoms and a matching sweatshirt.
“Not bad, son. I reckon a certain young lady would be very happy to see you looking like this.” Uncle Col gave me a sideways wink, while I noted Aunt Annie pursed her lips.
“I can’t believe we found something straight away.” I was certainly glad of that.
“See, I’ve still got it.” Aunt Annie gave a small smile. She had been the one to find it. “All these years of shopping haven’t been wasted after all, eh, Col?”
“Right, let’s get this paid for and then we can go and eat.” Uncle Col placed a hand on his stomach. “Jonas got me to try some quinoa at lunchtime and I’m not sure it’s sitting right.”
I laughed and slipped back into the changing room to get back into my jeans and shirt. But before I got changed, I took a candid snap in the mirror of me in the suit. Maybe I’d show it to Saff.
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting in Aunt Annie’s favourite Italian restaurant. We’d almost had an argument in the shop about who was going to pay for the suit. I insisted I’d put it on my credit card, but Col argued with me until I backed down and let him pay. As my aunt looked between us, I wondered how much she knew about the arrangement between us and the Barnes’ and how much they stood to benefit from it. It wasn’t long before I was going to find out.
When we’d ordered and were sipping our drinks, Aunt Annie turned to me.
