Without warning, Finn grabbed her hand. ‘Come on, do you dance?’
‘Do I hell?’ She laughed, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. That was sudden. Balaclava man as a dancer, no way had she seen this coming.
‘I used to dance all the time, but I haven’t for ages.’ It was true, it was a long time since she’d felt like dancing. Too long.
There was something about watching someone dance that told you more about them than words ever could. They rocked around the room, ignoring a series of thumps on the ceiling from the neighbours upstairs. Feck them, it wasn’t even ten. It was funny, they’d never met at a school disco when they were sixteen, never swigged vodka in a field or snogged behind the school hall, but it didn’t matter – those kids were still inside them, just waiting for a chance to burst out with the joy of feeling totally, ridiculously alive. They went through his playlist – a few oldies:‘Since U Been Gone’ by Kelly Clarkson, ‘Lost Weekend’ by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – until they finally heard the soulful strains of Adele. Wordlessly, they moved together, and she felt his heart pounding as he pulled her against his taut body and slid his hands down her back.
‘This is what I’ve wanted to do from the first time I saw you,’ he whispered.
It seemed unlikely to Cassie, given their first meeting, but who cared? She caught a faint musky smell rising off his body and the prickle of his stubble against her skin. She felt his mouth on hers, his tongue forcing her lips apart as she closed her eyes.
A moment later she held up her hand. ‘Hold on, don’t move for a moment. I need the loo.’
At some point, without Cassie noticing, they’d started a second bottle of wine and she was feeling more than a little floaty. Outside in the hallway, dizzy from desire, she found herself facing a row of identical doors. She could hear Finn’s voice shouting something vague and indistinct above the music, which she blithely ignored in her current state, and grabbed the nearest doorknob and twisted. Next thing she knew, a whack of something hard walloped against her forehead and sent her staggering backwards against the wall. As her shock abated, she realised it was a child’s scooter, which was followed by an avalanche of toys: coloured things, squeaky things, bouncy things, hard things .?.?. She screamed and slapped her hand to her forehead to find a definite bump coming up.
‘Finn!’
‘Shit, shit, I tried to tell you. I was going to.’
Far from being the strong, silent type, all of a sudden it seemed Finn couldn’t talk fast enough.
‘What the .?.?. fuck? Why didn’t you tell me?’
She picked up a plastic unicorn and hurled it at him, followed by the controller of a remote-control car.
‘Jesus, how many kids have you?’ she yelled.
‘Three. I have three,’ he gabbled, trying to shield his head after the first projectile made contact.
‘And I’ve just been clobbered by a Barbie .?.?. fucking .?.?. scooter,’ she wailed. ‘Why would you do that? Hide it all? Why wouldn’t you just tell me?’
‘I didn’t want to ruin things. I really like you and I was afraid you’d have this reaction.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t have if you’d just told me the truth.’
‘I wasn’t trying to deceive you. I swear. Wait here,’ he said and disappeared into the kitchen, returning with two pots of frozen yoghurt, one of which he was holding to the bruise on his own head, the other he handed to her.
‘What are you giving me that for? Is that dessert?’
‘It’ll stop the swelling.’
She took the frozen tub and held it to the bump.
‘I can’t believe this is happening, I feel like such an idiot. I can’t believe after everything that happened with Gav, I’ve walked into it all over again.’
‘Cassie, please .?.?. it’s not like that.’
‘I mean, do I actually have a sign on my forehead sayingbig eejit? Do I? Because if I do, tell me! Please. You’d be doing me a favour!’
‘Stop, stop, listen to me, will you? I’m an idiot.’
‘You said it. Well, don’t worry, because that makes two of us,’ she retorted.
There was another thump from upstairs.
‘Aw fuck off,’ she roared.
‘Please, just calm down, we don’t want the Gardaí called. Let me explain.’
