SOMEONE DIFFERENT (10 page)

***

As soon as I opened my eyes on Saturday morning I texted him, and we sent messages to each other constantly for the next hour.

Finally though, when I had to take down the tray that had been left in my room from the previous night, I found Mum and Dad sitting at the breakfast table. I’d practiced saying sorry all the way downstairs. I knew, if I wanted to create any chances to see Jay, I had to convince them I really did regret it.

As I stood there in front of them like a criminal in court, however, the word ‘sorry,’ still made me choke. But I spat it out, and sounded as genuine as could.

‘Well, it’s really good that you’ve apologised; I knew once you’d thought about it you’d come round.’ Dad stirred his espresso and tapped his spoon on the rim of the cup.

‘Yes,’ said Mum. ‘Thank heavens you’ve finally realised we only acted in your best interest. Now, how would you like to go shopping?’

I don’t know where I dragged that smile up from, but I managed one, and an enthusiastic nod to go with it.

‘Great,’ Mum said. ‘I thought we could get you something new to wear for this evening, would you like that?’

‘Err, yes, thank you. Who’s coming tonight, anyway?’

‘Just Gillian, David and Rory. So come on then, get some breakfast inside you, and we can head straight off.’

I spent the majority of our time in the shopping mall hiding behind rails of clothes and texting Jay. Mum never even noticed
; choosing outfits for me, asking which I preferred, then buying one of the others anyway, kept her totally happy and absorbed the whole time.

We managed to stay in touch all day, Jay and I, until the clock in the hallway struck eight, the doorbell rang, and Dad’s business associate – and family – descended.

The traditional gush of greetings and kisses lasted for a few minutes, then the G and Ts tinkled into the glasses. Rory stood by the fire. He seemed taller than he’d been when I’d last seen him, and the flecks of blonde in his hair, complimented by his golden tan, all pointed to a recent winter holiday that hadn’t been spent in Blackpool.

He’d just passed his driving test; first time, apparently. So he, Dad and David spent a good twenty minutes deciding which car would be best for him. E
ngine size, nought to sixty, and paint options seemed to be what mattered.

‘Does that mean you can
drive the horsebox as well?’ Dad said after a while.

‘Yes, Mum’s just put me on the insurance. I’m taking it up to the hunt at Fairfield next month.’

‘You still got that big chestnut gelding?’

‘No – it got injured; had to go. Then we got a grey, but that didn’t perform either, so we got rid. This new one’s top quality though; not fazed by anything, and used to being right up there at the front.’ Rory flashed a smile in my direction. ‘Which is the only place to be, really; it’s alright having a good time and enjoying the chase, but there’s no point if you miss out on the action at the end.’

He carried on chirping along with David and Dad until we went through to eat, but then phrases like, ‘strength of the pound’, ‘import tax’ and ‘fuel duty’ took over. I held my phone under the table and managed to sneak in a quick message to Jay, but Mum glared at me, and I remembered I was supposed to be behaving myself.

‘So, how’s school, Annabel?’ Gillian asked.

‘Oh.’ I stirred the croutons into my watercress soup. ‘It’s err, fine, thanks.’

‘And the boys?’ Mum said. ‘How are they both doing?’

Gillian beamed and lifted her shoulders up round her ears. ‘It’s almost certain that William will get a first, actually,’ she said. ‘He’s doing so well; I’m sure he’ll stay on to complete a master’s at least. We got to meet his latest girlfriend last week as well; she’s lovely, isn’t she David? Her grandparents own Blue Standard Boy – you know, who won the Gold Cup last year?’ She lifted her glass to take a drink of wine, and made sure everyone had plenty of time to be impressed. Then she said, ‘And Rory, how many A-stars have you been predicted for your A2s? Is it three?’

‘Four.’ Rory broke into a bread-roll. He scanned the table, and was o
bviously pleased to get his fair share of the nods and admiration.

‘We’ve decided to take a skiing holiday at Easter now,’ David said. ‘We weren’t going to originally, as we didn’t want to distract the boys from their revision, but you’re doing so well, aren’t you, son, we’re sure it will be fine.’

Rory nodded like a Churchill dog, and I nearly threw-up.

‘Ooh, where are you off to?’ Mum said.

‘Zermatt – Switzerland,’ Gillian replied. ‘Do you know it?’

‘Oh, yes, we went before we were married; it’s stunning. It doesn’t look like we’ll get away at Easter at all now; Andrew has a conference in Madrid. But we’re looking at Thailand for the end of May.’

We had an hour of holiday talk then. My phone vibrated at ten minute intervals in my pocket, and I struggled to stop my hand reaching in for it.

When Mum stood up to make coffee, I hoped I might be able to slip away, but instead, she smiled at me. ‘Annabel, why don’t you and Rory go and watch a DVD or something up in your room?’

I looked at him. Please, say no.
Please
.

But he grinned. ‘That sounds a hell of a lot more inviting than listening to you old fogies for another hour,’ he said.

They made a lot of noise taking mock offence, then laughed fondly as Rory followed me out of the room.

I couldn’t resist reading Jay’s messages as we climbed the stairs:

Missin ya
: -(

Hav u dun yet x x

How long duz it tek 2 eat ya t
;-D

Were just some of them, and I giggled quietly to myself

‘A joke?’ Rory asked.

‘Oh, no; just a friend.’ I slipped the phone back in my pocket.

In my room, he examined the DVD collection on the top shelf of my bookcase. ‘So, what would you like on?’ he asked.

‘Whatever. Really, I don’t mind.’

Eventually, he must have decided he didn’t particularly like my taste in film though, because he switched the TV on instead, then wandered around the room. When he reached my dressing table, he picked up a photograph of Pepper and scowled at it. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve still got this one?’

I shook my head.

‘Thank God for that. Your Jack Russells could jump higher than him.’ Rory dropped the photo and strolled across to the sofa. Jay’s hoodie lay folded over the arm, and he looked at it. ‘Credit crunch hitting hard is it?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘That.’ He nodded at the hoodie. ‘ ...
Reebok?
’

I stepped over, swiped the top away from him and sat down.

Straight away, he flopped next to me and pressed his leg and shoulder against mine.

‘So, how’d you like a line to liven things up?’ he said, reaching into his pocket.

‘What?’

‘A line?’ His eyes narrowed, then he smirked. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t know –’

‘Yes, of course I know. I just didn’t think ... ’ I shook my head. ‘Anyway, no, I don’t.’

‘Have you ever tried it?’

‘What does that matter?’

‘Because if you haven’t, you should. Not every two minutes I suppose, but once in a while – when the pressure’s on.’

Rory? Pressure?

‘What pressure?’I asked.

He sniffed. ‘You want to try having some scientific genius, sporting hero babe magnet as your older brother. I swear, if he decided he wanted to live on Mars he’d find some way of making it happen. And don’t they know it. Did they ever tell you I took a month longer to come out of nappies than him?’

I looked away, keeping quiet.

‘Well they probably will do, one day, and it sucks.’ He stood up, emptied the small packet of white powder on to the top of my dressing table, then spread it out thinly, before scraping it back into a long line. ‘Here,’ he said, holding out a rolled up twenty pound note.

‘No, really; I don’t want to.’

‘Go on. It’s just what you need; you could do with something to loosen you up.’ He pushed the note closer.

I looked at it, then him. I already have something to loosen me up, I thought. And boy, do I wish he was here right now instead of you. It did vaguely cross my mind, though, what I might have done if I’d been in that situation a month earlier.

My eyes still glared at his. ‘No,’ I said again.

‘OK.’ He shrugged. ‘Please yourself.’ He leaned over, and the powder disappeared like it’d been sucked up by a Dyson.

The theme music for Celebrity Juice blared out of the television then – which was perfect timing for Rory. He bounced down beside me again, and sniggered, snorted and squealed his way through the next forty-five minutes. He even slapped his knee at one point.

Fidgeting around on the sofa, I made a huge effort to smile along with him as often as I could – although I’m sure he wouldn’t have noticed if I’d climbed into bed and dropped off to sleep. The minute-hand on my watch seemed to have gone on strike, and I prayed the brandy was running out quickly downstairs.

When the TV programme finally finished though, Rory gave me a look that made me wish it hadn’t. His eyes flicked over me slowly, then he moved his face closer to mine. ‘Do you remember when we all went to Egypt last year?’ he said.

I shifted into the corner of the sofa, but it only won me a few inches. ‘Yes.’

‘And you wore that black dress?’

My entire body stiffened as he lay his hand on the side of my neck.

‘You know,’ he went on. ‘That tight one? And it had all those lacy bits ... and they went all the way down to ...’ The tips of his fingers slithered over my collarbone and inside my top.

‘No!’ I jumped up, shaking.

‘What’s wrong?’ he said.

My hand reached up to where his had been. ‘I ... err ...’

‘OK, Annabel – chill.’ He stood up and took hold of my hands. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you. You just looked so, you know ... hot ... sitting there? I thought it’d be all right. Look, I’m sorry.’

‘Come on you two.’ Mum’s voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs. ‘Time to go, I’m afraid.’

He squeezed my fingers and shot me a gleaming smile. ‘You do forgive me, don’t you? You know I’d never do anything you didn’t want me to?’

I freed my hands from his and backed off towards the door.

He stuck out his bottom lip and tried to look like a puppy that’d been told off for chewing a pair of slippers. ‘Annabel?’

I hesitated, then nodded. ‘Yes, sure,’ I said quietly, and without looking at him again, I hurried down to where Mum was waiting.

We all said goodnight then, and I managed to force a smile as Rory kissed me on both cheeks before he left. As soon as they’d driven away though, I raced straight back to my room and ran a bath. Was I over-reacting? I really couldn’t make up my mind. Half of me thought he was a complete slime-ball who had no right to touch me, AT ALL. But on the other hand, was what he’d done really so terrible? He had stopped when I’d told him to, and he had apologised afterwards. Maybe it was just a simple misunderstanding?

So why did I still feel so shaky, and why did I need a hug so badly?

I took out my phone, but instead of sending Jay a message, I called his number.

‘Whey-hey!’ he said when he answered. ‘I were beginnin’ to wonder how much you lot could eat?’

Just hearing his voice calmed the shaking right down, and I stood by the bath smiling silently.

‘Anna?’

‘Yes, I’m here; sorry.’

‘Are ya alright?’

I closed my eyes for a second. ‘I am now.’

‘Why, what d’ya mean? What’s up?’

I nearly told him, but gradually changed my mind. There was no real reason to, and I didn’t want to waste any of our precious time talking about Rory. ‘Oh, just boring people talking about boring subjects,’ I said eventually. ‘Are you at home?’

‘Yeah. Me an’ Billy chilled out for a bit earlier, but I’m back home now. I’ve been thinkin’, what time does that lesson thing finish that you’ve got to do on Monday?’

‘Four-thirty.’

‘Wicked. So I could wait for ya, right? When I leave at four, I could hang about somewhere, and meet ya at the end of the lane or summat?’

‘Oh, Jay, that’d be so cool. I’ll say I’m walking the dogs or something. I can’t wait.’

It was quiet for a few seconds before he said, ‘Could ya bring me that money then as well?’

‘Yes, of course I can.’

‘That’s not why I wanna meet ya though, ya know that, don’t ya? It’s just
–’

‘I know, it’s OK.’ I wriggled out of my clothes as I spoke to him.

‘So, what you doin’ now then?’

I grinned. ‘Well, actually, I’m just stepping into a lovely, hot, deep bath.’

‘Jesus, don’t go puttin’ pictures like that in my head!’