Page 37 of Just Like in the Movies

‘Do I have to sing? In the Talent Show?’

So he’d noticed the posters in the foyer announcing the after show entertainment? She had a moment of panic, how to reassure him that was not a requirement?

But then his lips curved. He was joking.

She got breathless again; Luke Devlin really was gorgeous when he smiled. And even more gorgeous when he laughed, she’d discovered a few minutes ago.

Although he was most gorgeous when he ran his long tanned fingers over the skirting board to test for woodworm, she decided. She would probably have a spontaneous orgasm when she saw him in a tool belt

Ruby flushed at the arbitrary thought.

Earth to Ruby. You and Luke are not going to be a thing.

He was not and could never be her type. When it came to dating, she didn’t do hot and solvent, she only did geeky and dysfunctional. And she would hazard a guess she was about as far from his type as Hugh Grant.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t admire Luke Devlin in a tool belt – on a purely aesthetic level.

‘Not unless you really want to,’ she said, smiling back at him.

‘I can’t promise I can make any of the other screenings,’ he said, the stern tone not as convincing as it had been.

‘But you’ll stay for this one?’ she asked, the light-headedness becoming euphoria.

‘Sure, I guess it can’t do any harm.’

‘That’s so wonderful, Luke.’ She led him to their sofa in the back row, and gave Gerry and Jacie, who were watching from the bar, a thumbs up behind his back. ‘You have no idea how much this means,’ she gushed as they took their seats.

Because it could mean everything.

As the lights went down five minutes later, and Hugh Grant’s Will Freeman started spouting off about how cool his empty life was, Ruby sent up a silent prayer.

Over to you, Will. This is our chance to show Luke what family can mean – even to cynical loners. So don’t fuck it up.

But as she sat beside him, it was actually quite hard to concentrate on her – and Will’s – mission and not the industrial strength hotness vibes pumping off him.

***

‘How’s it going? What does he think of the movie?’ Jacie hissed, waylaying Ruby on her way back from the loo.

The film was nearly over and the tension had taken its toll on Ruby’s bladder. The school talent show – which was part of the film’s finale – was in full swing on screen. Will and Marcus sharing an uncomfortable duet of ‘Killing Me Softly’ had been Ruby’s cue to make a dash for the loo for a tension-busting pee. Sitting next to Luke and gauging his every reaction was hard work, not least because he was not a demonstrative man, and she’d become more than a little addicted to his gruff chuckles, which had a rough, rusty quality to them that only made them more precious. Until the scene in the middle of the movie, when Will and Marcus and the Irish Lady with the baby who Will wanted to shag walked in on Marcus’s mum after she’d made a suicide attempt. At which point everything had changed …

And Ruby had actually started to feel sick.

‘Good, I think,’ Ruby whispered, trying not to stress about it. ‘He’s laughed a couple of times, which is a big improvement on The Wizard of Oz.’

But who wouldn’t laugh at About a Boy? It was a very funny film which had stood the test of time. Will Freeman’s self-serving laddishness was infectious – you couldn’t help liking Will because he was so self-aware about being a selfish tosser and so unapologetic about it too. Will’s studied immaturity had also made him the perfect person to understand Marcus – a thirteen-year-old boy with a suicidal mum and no cool points whatsoever.

But the more of the film they watched together, the more she became aware of the massive flaw in her strategy to use About a Boy as a way to soften Luke up.

The notion she could put the kernel of an idea into Luke’s head, that family could come in all shapes and sizes, and that being rich and cynical could make your life poorer – had been delusional at best, and manipulative at worst. Especially as there were a lot of things about the movie she’d forgotten, or never realized in the first place.

After watching it with Luke, those omissions had become glaringly obvious.

First off, she’d realised Luke’s personality wasn’t that close to Will’s at all. Luke might be rich and cynical, but no way would Will have helped her over that gate or done something as cheesy as sung ‘Over the Rainbow’ with her, or gotten arrested, not unless he was trying to get into her pants – which Luke categorically was not.

And that was without even factoring in the massive misstep she’d made getting him to sit through the suicide attempt scene. That scene had taken on a different significance when she’d noticed Luke’s reaction. He’d immediately tensed, then his expression had become rigid, he’d disappeared to the toilet and she’d been scared he might not come back. But when he had, there had been no more laughing.

Why hadn’t she remembered that scene? And figured out the hideous significance it might have for Luke? She’d hurt him, and that had never been her intention.

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