‘What did I walk in on?!’
‘You walked out…’
‘Don’t semantic me!’
‘I’m sorry. I’m— I need a minute to— Just a minute…’
He turns away from Elsy’s indignant look, his panic notching up. Loris has moved back closer, and his eyes aren’t shining with anything anymore.
Charles gulps and takes his hand. ‘There’s a simple explanation for all this and… Well, not simple, but… It’s… It may have looked like—’
‘Whatever. I don’t think I care. And you’ve just outed yourself to your girlfriend, so deal with that. I’m going home.’
‘She’s not my girlfriend! Let me explain, it’s not… Hold on, what do you mean, home? What about the evening at the pub?’
Loris steps back. ‘I don’t lie to my friends, but I can’t really imagine explaining why you stayed behind. I’m gonna text Phoebe that I’m feeling nauseous.’
‘Which is a lie…’
‘No, I really feel like throwing up.’
The bitterness of the response pierces through Charles’ scarf to coil around his throat.
AsLoris strides away, Charles remains frozen and agape, drifting in an oppressive scenario. One he had never drafted, because even his most dramatic-self couldn’t have made this up.
Fortunately, Elsy plants herself in front of him and startles him out of this wallowing pit of his own making.
‘You took up snogging guys in public while I was away?’
‘No! That was a mistake. That was a gross error in judgement. To snog him here, that is. Snogging him isn’t a mistake. And I don’t snog guys. It’s only him, we’re— He— He’s…’
Gone.
Loris is gone, angry and hurting because of Charles, once again.
‘He’s the one you ran to, isn’t he? The night you talked to Liv and disappeared on me?’
‘Yes, but… that’s when it became a thing. A real thing. Before that, it was just a thing that couldn’t be a thing. It wasn’t a thing behind your back, I swear. There was nothing to tell before you left, and then I… I didn’t want to mention it over the phone. I’m sorry you found out like this. I’m usually careful, we don’t do that, but I forgot to be careful, and now I’ve messed things up. I— I don’t know how—’
‘Chips.’ Elsy grips his arms to shake him. ‘Take a breath. Another one. Good. Do you need to catch him?’
‘Catch him?’
‘It looks like I’m not the only one who didn’t get the memo that you’re a polysnogger. Do you want to fix your… thing?’
‘I have to.’
‘Go, then. You better come to me the second you’re done with work tomorrow, but go. You’re so distraught, I can’t be mad at you and I deserve to be mad.’
‘Thank you!’ Charles smothers her with a hug, gratitude bringing tears to his eyes. ‘Let’s get you an Uber first.’
‘Oh,no. Catriona and her dinner will wait. I’m going back to Divya to process the news, because I’m completely… Hang on.’ Elsy moves back, shaking her head. ‘I mean, no. Sorry. I can’t do that.’
‘You can… Divya has proven she can keep secrets.’
‘Are you sure?’
Charles isn’t sure of anything, but he doesn’t have time to ruminate on the consequences of doubling the amount of people who know about Loris. He will keep that headache for tomorrow.
