Echoes of Love (6 page)

Everyone, it seemed, was deep in conversation. Everyone except the black guy. Maybe if she went up to him . . .

‘Anna, hi! It’s so great you’re here!’ Louisa Musgrove came rushing up to her as she was still hesitating in the entrance and grabbed her arm. ‘It’s been ages
since we saw you. Hey, what’s with the hair?’

‘Don’t ask,’ Anna groaned. ‘I’m thinking of suing the makers!’

‘So how are you coping? Is it awful?’

‘Is what awful?’

‘That state school you’re at now,’ Louisa said. ‘Is it full of chavs?’

The Musgrove twins were still at the same rather exclusive boarding school that Anna and Gabriella had once attended, and where Mallory was still a student.

‘Don’t talk rubbish,’ Anna retorted. ‘It’s brilliant. People are really friendly and the facilities are amazing and, more importantly, I can do music and politics
and philosophy and . . .’

She wanted to add that she was overjoyed to be rid of the cliques and the bitchiness and the way everyone tried to outdo everyone else by having the best clothes and the wildest parties, but
since the twins were right in the middle of the in-crowd at Swancote Hall, she thought better of it.

‘Rather you than me,’ Louisa replied. ‘I mean, those kind of schools – people go around brandishing knives and stuff. I read in the paper only the other day that . .
.’

‘Lou, do shut up!’ Louisa’s twin sister, Henrietta, pushed her way through the clusters of partygoers, a glass of champagne in each hand, and grinned at Anna. ‘Honestly,
she watches too much
Waterloo Road
!’

She handed Anna a glass and took a sip from her own.

‘So come on – are there lots of hot guys there?’ Henrietta, dark and petite like her twin, was boy mad, something that being at an all-girls’ school did little to
appease.

‘Not as hot as him,’ Anna murmured, glancing towards the tall guy. ‘Who is he?’

‘Don’t know his name,’ Henrietta replied, sipping her champagne. ‘It’s all a bit embarrassing, really. Zac just turned up with him – well, seeing as how Zac
is one of Charlie’s best mates, we had no choice but to say it was OK for him to stay, did we? Total gatecrasher or what?’

‘Shh!’ Anna hissed, but she could see from the expression on the guy’s face that it was too late. ‘He heard you.’

‘Serve him right,’ Henrietta muttered.

‘You’d better go and chat him up and make peace then,’ Louisa teased. ‘It’s pretty obvious you’re into him.’

‘Don’t be so silly.’

‘Lulu’s right,’ Henrietta added. ‘You’ve been eyeing him up the whole time we’ve been talking.’

‘You go,’ Anna said. ‘You’re the one who was mouthing off.’

‘No way, he’s not my type,’ her friend replied. ‘Leo Hayter’s here – now that is one seriously hot guy!’

Leo was the seventeen-year-old son of the new Rector of Kellynch and already had every teenage girl in the area drooling over his film-star looks, inherited from his Italian mother, and the
rumour that, while his father might be pure and holy, he certainly wasn’t.

‘I think he really fancies me,’ Henrietta whispered. And with that, she winked at Anna and drifted off towards the makeshift bar, followed closely by her sister.

Anna was still wondering what to do when she saw the black guy head towards the exit. On impulse she pushed her way through the crowd and stepped in front of him.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m Anna and . . .’

‘And I’m Felix, otherwise known as the gatecrasher,’ he replied. ‘But . . .’ He dumped his empty glass on a nearby table. ‘. . . since I’m leaving,
that’s not a problem, is it?’

‘You can’t go!’ Anna exclaimed. ‘It’s not your fault Zac dragged you along. And knowing him, he probably made out it had all been arranged.’

‘He did make it sound like it was a free-for-all,’ Felix admitted. ‘If I’d known it was going to be a posh affair like this . . .’

‘It’s hardly posh,’ Anna laughed. ‘Hog roast, bucking bronco and a disco in the barn – it’s pretty low-key really.’

‘Depends what you’re used to, I guess.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, I’m off. It’s clear the family don’t want me here.’

‘Oh for goodness’ sake,’ Anna retorted following him. ‘Ignore Louisa – she’s lovely but she never knows when to stop. Anyway, think about Zac.’

He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her. ‘Zac? Why?’

‘It’s obvious,’ Anna replied. ‘You go off, Zac will feel bad about it and come after you – and his evening will be ruined too.’

‘I doubt he’d notice,’ Felix commented dryly. ‘He’s far too busy moping over that girl.’ He jerked his head in the direction of Gaby. ‘The loud one with
the boobs hanging out of her dress.’

‘My sister,’ Anna smiled.

‘Oh God, my turn to put foot firmly in mouth.’ He cringed and looked at her appealingly. ‘She doesn’t look like you – is she really your sister?’

‘Regrettably, yes. Why?’

‘Only that she must be the girl Zac’s been going on and on about all day,’ he sighed. ‘Gaby, isn’t it?’

‘Mmm.’

‘It’s been Gaby this and Gaby that and how he’s never felt like this about any other girl and he’s dreading having to tell her . . .’

He paused, clearly embarrassed.

‘Tell her what?’ Anna asked.

‘Nothing,’ Felix replied hastily. ‘Knowing him, he’ll chicken out anyway.’

He frowned, glancing across at them once again. ‘I just – well, somehow I didn’t picture her as the glam, fashion babe type. The girls he goes for are usually much less flashy
– more like you.’

‘You weren’t thinking of going into the Diplomatic Service by any chance?’ Anna asked. ‘Because if you were, forget it.’

Felix pulled a face and laughed. ‘No honestly, I meant it as a compliment – look, can we start again? I’ll pretend I’m a regular guest, and you can pretend I’m not
a total idiot.’

Anna burst out laughing. ‘Deal,’ she said. ‘On one condition.’

‘And that is?’

‘You get me a drink and we talk about something more interesting than my sister’s love life.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ he said, nodding.

As he pushed his way towards the trestle tables laid out with drinks, Anna was conscious of her sisters eyeing her in amazement. And it hit her that, for the first time in her life, she might
just be on her way to pulling a guy. All she had to do now was make sure she didn’t blow it.

‘He used to live next door to us in Fleckford – that was before his parents divorced and he moved to Kellynch with his mum,’ Felix replied. ‘Then he won a sports
scholarship to that posh school where Charlie goes, but we stayed mates. He’s cool, not like . . .’

He broke off, clearly embarrassed at what he had been about to say.

‘And that guy over there? Jamie, isn’t it?’ he went on. ‘I’ve met him a couple of times when I’ve been staying with Zac. Isn’t he the one who got that
part in
Emmerdale
?’

‘Yes,’ Anna laughed. ‘If you can call it a part – two episodes and a total of eighteen words! But I guess it’s a start. You know he’s at RADA?’

‘He got there? Nice one!’ Felix said. ‘Zac teased him like crazy about being a total wannabe!’

Anna smiled. ‘So what are you doing? Gap year? Uni? You’re not at agricultural college with Charlie, are you? Or are you working?’

She knew she was babbling, but looking into those dark eyes appeared to have an odd effect on both her tongue and her brain.

Felix grinned. ‘Would it be quicker if I just handed you my CV?’ he teased, passing her a plate and gesturing towards the table loaded with slices of pork, bowls of coleslaw and
piles of baked potatoes. ‘Food first, life history and career plans later. OK? Besides, if I tell you too much too soon you might lose interest, and I don’t want that to
happen.’

‘You don’t? Really?’ The second she had said it she realised how totally uncool she was being.

‘Course not,’ he replied. ‘I mean, who the hell else am I going to chat to if you do a runner? Even Zac’s ignoring me. You’re my last hope.’

Anna was in the middle of retouching her make-up in the Portakabin loos a couple of hours later when Gaby burst in, cheeks flushed and a none-too-happy expression on her face.

‘What do you mean?’ Anna asked. ‘Falling off the bucking bronco three times in a row? I know but it was such a laugh and —’

‘Not that!’ Gaby replied. ‘The way you’re coming on to that guy all the time. You’ve hardly spoken to anyone else.’

‘That’s so not true,’ Anna protested, unscrewing her mascara wand. ‘We talked to Jamie and Phoebe for ages, and to Hen and Leo – she’s really got the hots for
him! Felix and me, we’re going clubbing with them next Saturday because Leo’s got these freebie passes for Clouds.’

‘Oh? So it’s “Felix and me” now, is it?’ Gaby replied sarcastically. ‘Well in that case, you can tell him to keep his nose out of Zac’s life!’

‘Gaby, what are you on about?’ Anna asked. Gaby always got confrontational when she’d been drinking vodka.

‘You know I’d asked Zac to come on holiday at Easter, right?’ Gaby fumed, slamming her make-up bag on to the washstand. ‘I’d got it all planned and now he says he
can’t come.’

‘Why?’ Anna frowned.

‘You won’t believe this,’ her sister replied. ‘I don’t suppose this Felix has got round to telling you he’s going into the Royal Marines?’

‘Yes, he sounded keen.’ It had been the one time when his face had lost the slightly anxious, haunted expression that she found both disturbing and endearing. ‘Mind you,
he’s failed once but he sounds determined to make it this time.’

‘Yes, well he’s only gone and persuaded Zac to apply too.’

Anna frowned. ‘Persuaded him? But I thought the Forces was what Zac had in mind all along,’ she reasoned. ‘Surely he only put it off this long because of that hiking trip he
went on – and then he broke his ankle and couldn’t do the fitness test. When we were at Phoebe’s party on New Year’s Eve, he said he couldn’t wait.’

‘I know he did say all that but then I reminded him that he’d never get to see me, and told him I was not going to hang around for some guy who was never home and might get himself
blown up at any minute.’

‘Gaby, you didn’t? That’s emotional blackmail!’

‘So what? It worked. A few weeks back, he told me he loved me so much that he was going to apply to the police instead. Now it seems Felix has got him to change his mind.’

‘But what’s all that got to do with you and Zac going on holiday?’ Anna asked.

Gaby looked close to tears. ‘They’ve got this assessment next week, right?’

Anna nodded.

‘And if they get in, Zac says they’ll be starting a couple of weeks after Easter and he wants to spend the time preparing, not going to Ayia Napa.’

Anna sighed. ‘Well, he might not get in – it’s pretty difficult.’

‘He says he’s not up for it – he can’t talk about anything but training and getting fit,’ Gaby muttered. ‘Anyway, I’ve told him, it’s the Marines
or me.’

She pushed open a cubicle door, and paused, turning to Anna. ‘And by the way, if you’ve got any sense, you won’t even think about getting involved with Felix. I mean, what do
you know about him?’

‘Who said anything about getting involved? I only met him three hours ago, for God’s sake!’

There was no way she was about to admit to Gaby that she had been praying all evening that he’d ask her out.

‘As far as I’m concerned,’ she went on as nonchalantly as she could, ‘he’s just a really nice guy.’

‘With some seriously big issues,’ Gaby concluded, slamming the cubicle door shut and sliding the bolt. ‘Zac says —’

‘I don’t want to know what Zac says,’ Anna interrupted.

‘Suit yourself,’ her sister replied. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘Gorgeous? Witty? Totally amazing?’ Anna teased, gasping inwardly at her own audacity. Never before had she felt confident enough to chat this easily with anyone, let alone someone
she had only known for three hours and whose mere touch was enough to send shivers down her spine.

Felix laughed. ‘All that, of course,’ he replied. ‘But I was going to say you’re so normal.’

‘Oh. Now on a scale of one to ten, that scores about two and half in the compliment ranking!’

‘Trust me, when you’ve got a family like mine, normal is good.’

‘So tell me about them,’ Anna said quickly, recalling Gaby’s insinuations earlier that evening.

‘You really don’t want to know,’ he said, pulling away slightly and looking her straight in the eye. ‘Ever since I got home from my gap year – well, gap six months
– we’ve been . . .’ He faltered and then grinned. ‘Well, let’s just say that right now we’re not exactly a role model for happy families.’

‘Right,’ Anna murmured, not really knowing how to respond.

‘But actually, tonight I’m glad I had a bit of a bust up with Mum,’ he said, ‘because I only turned up at Zac’s on the spur of the moment to escape the fallout and
now I’ve met you and . . .’

He didn’t say any more. He gently tipped Anna’s chin and drew her towards him. The kiss when it came was all she had imagined it would be.

And the astonished expression on Mallory’s face as she walked by with Olivia just added to the magic of the moment.

‘Sexy or what?’ Phoebe Harville had mouthed, as she and Jamie danced beside her. ‘Nice butt!’

‘Well,
you
certainly made him welcome!’ Louisa muttered under cover of a particularly noisy rendition of ‘Hug Me, Love Me, Snog Me Senseless’ from Charlie’s
old school mates.