Page 28 of Fool Me Twice
“Prince of Wales.You know it?”
Si’s face split into a grin.“Course I do.Kind of me local, that place is.Go there most Friday nights.”
“Yeah?Guess I’ll be serving you drinks.”At least there’d be one friendly face, then.And probably a few unfriendly ones right next to it.
“You— You gonna be working there?”Si’s eyes were wide.
“Yep, unless I balls it up.Ange told me to turn up tomorrow.”
“That’s great!”Si’s face did complicated things Zig couldn’t interpret.“So...you’re staying here, then?”
Well, shit.Zig was a bloody idiot for not realising how that had to look.“Yeah, but nothere, here, right?I mean, I don’t expect you to put me up long-term.Soon as I’m earning, I’ll get meself a room somewhere.”
Si blinked a few times.“You don’t have to.You can stay here long as you want.”Then he clammed up, like maybe he regretted what he’d said.
Which would be fair enough.“I’m not gonna take the piss.Hey, maybe you could ask around for me?See if there’s anyone with a room going spare?”
“Maybe.”Si frowned.“Think Adam’s old place...but no, you don’t wanna live there.Bunch of arseholes, them lot.”
“Sounds like I’d fit right in.”Especially if you ask Adam.
“No, you can do better than that.And like I said, no hurry, all right?”
“Well, cheers, mate.”It made Zig feel weird.Like, warm inside, but also like he wanted to walk straight out the door again.Get away from this buff, older version of Si who was somehow still the same properlygoodbloke in his heart.
He wouldn’t have said that if he knew what you’d done.Zig jumped as he realised Si had been talking again.“Sorry, mate, come again?”
“I asked what hours you’re gonna be working?”
Zig shrugged, making an effort to appear normal.“Weekend evenings.Not sure about the rest.I’ll find out tomorrow.”
“That’s band night, Friday.You’ll be flat out, just to warn you.”
“Eh, a little hard work never hurt anyone.”At least being busy would stop him thinking too much.
Si smiled, and tension dropped out of his frame that Zig hadn’t realised was there.“In that case, wanna chop some veg while I put the pasta on?”
“No problem.Got mad knife skillz, me.”
“You can do the garlic, then.I hate them fiddly little buggers.”
Zig didn’t get the garlic chopped in record time, and it wasn’t his neatest either, but to be fair, Si’s vegetable knife hadn’t just seen better days, it’d been bashed on the blade by them a few zillion times.“Babe, you gotta get some decent knives,” he muttered, blinking as he diced the onion.“Did this one fall out of a Christmas cracker?”
“It was me gran’s.”Si’s voice had a frown in it, and Zig looked up.Shit, had he hurt Si’s feelings?“She got this fancy knife block and didn’t want it no more.Blimey, I thought you was joking about them mad skills.You done kitchen work?”
“A bit, yeah.Didn’t like the vibes, though, you know?Everyone acting like if the food don’t go out perfect we’re all gonna get strung up by our balls.”
“Worked for Gordon Ramsay, did you?”
Zig laughed.“Christ, no.The wanker definitely saw him as a role model, though.Right, what else needs doing?”
It was good, cooking together.Fun.Zig hadn’t often had that.Too often he’d been cooking for himself alone, bumping into annoying housemates all the time.There had been a girl he’d got on with at one houseshare, Ginny, and their schedules had matched enough to eat together half the time.But she’d moved up north with her bloke, and he hadn’t seen her since.
Huh.He could have looked her up, maybe, when he was getting out of London.He hadn’t thought of that.Guess I know where I’ll be heading if Glasto turns out to be a bust.It should have been a relief, realising he had options.
It wasn’t.
“You all right?”Si asked, looking up from the pan.“It’s like you’re miles away.”
