Page 86 of The Reboot
Ella smiled. She liked his confidence. Even when it spilled over into arrogance, it could be kind of adorable when she was in the mood. Tonight she just found it tiresome. ‘Apart from that, yeah.’
‘Oh, you know – the usual. Counting my socks, taking the bins out… You?’
‘Yeah, same.’ She took a long sip of her drink. ‘But mostly studying at the moment. I have exams coming up.’
‘Oh, that’s a drag. Poor you.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s fine. I’m doing what I want to do.’
He nodded abstractedly, then drained his drink and called the waitress over to order another. ‘You?’ he asked, pointing at Ella’s glass.
‘No thanks, I’m fine.’ She wasn’t even halfway down it yet.
‘Drink up, brainiac! Do they teach you nothing in that college of yours?’
Before she could reply, he excused himself to go to the loo. When he returned, Ella sat in dismayed silence, unable to get a word in as he rambled on loquaciously, boasting about Oh Boy!’s next album, which apparently was going to be ‘huge’, the size of the arenas they’d played, the ridiculous spoiled brat riders they got away with, the producers they’d worked with, the famous people he’d met, the countries he’d been to, even the size and luxuriousness of the hotel rooms he’d stayed in. She waited for him to take a break and ask her something – anything – about what she’d been up to, but it never came.
Still, it served her right. She’d blown off drinks with her study group to come here tonight. This was what you got when you ditched your friends in favour of a ‘better offer’.
‘So, I’m really loving Trinity!’ she said eventually, breaking into a long rant about Oh Boy!’s tour manager.
‘Oh, right.’ He nodded. ‘Great.’
‘Yeah, it is.’ She felt like she was wading through mud.
‘It’s just putting real life off a bit longer, though, isn’t it? Delaying the inevitable.’
Ella frowned, bristling. ‘No. It’s really not. Itisreal life, Roly. It’smyreal life.’
‘But it’s just more school.’ He took a long slug of his drink.
‘No, it’s so different. I feel like my life is really starting, you know?’
‘Seriously?’ He gave her a pitying little smile, and she wanted to punch him.
‘Yes, seriously.’ She wished she could convey to him how exciting it all was to her — new people, new ideas, independence; the feeling of life opening up and broadening out, the world becoming so much more expansive than she’d ever imagined it was, and somehow all available, hers for the taking.
‘That’s how I felt when I started with the band,’ he said, steering the conversation back to himself. ‘Like everything before was just kids’ stuff, and this was the real deal – seeing the world, earning real money. It’s like … living life, instead of just reading about it in books.’
‘Well, I’m not just reading about going to college in books – I’m actually doing it.’
‘Sure, sure. I guess it’s all relative, right? I mean, having drinks in the student bar is probably exciting for you if you’ve never—’
‘Never what?’ she snapped, finally losing her patience. ‘Snorted cocaine off some groupie’s boobs?’
Roly laughed. ‘Well…’
Ella rolled her eyes, huffing in exasperation.
‘Sorry, sorry. And I never did that either, by the way.’
‘I’m glad to hear it, considering most of your groupies are underage.’
‘Hey, that’s not true. I mean, they may have been in the beginning, but they grow up too, like the rest of us.’
‘Sorry.’ She sighed. ‘Let’s not fight.’
‘Deal.’
