“No, not by you. Dani asked me along. I wanted to see you, so I thought, why not?” Her hand brushes over my face, which I push away.
I wasn’t even aware Dani and Jade were friends, so this is a new one on me. “I told you already, it was nice while it lasted, but now it’s over.”
“Oh, come on Ash.” Her hand rests on my shoulder and she leans against me, making sure Cal is within hearing distance. “You can’t be serious about her. Is she still hanging around?” Jade tilts her head in Cal’s direction. “Surely you’ve got her out of your system by now.” Jade pulls herself up to my ear, bites my earlobe and laughs while dropping back to her feet. Of all the fucking things to do and I’m not quick enough to stop her. I glance towards Cal, who is looking everywhere but at me.
“Don’t fuck around Jade,” I tell her firmly. “You’re out of order.”
“Touchy,” she groans, but I give her a warning look in return. “All right, have your way, but you know where I am when you’re done with her. Don’t keep me waiting too long this time.”
Fuck, could she be any more obvious? I rub my hand down my face while I watch her sway in the direction of the exit. This will not be easy to explain.
I’m nervous when I finally approach Cal, not knowing what she’ll say. I hook my fingers in my back pockets, just because I’m wary of touching her.
“Okay?” I ask, a little worried—unsure of the reception I’m about to get.
“Yeah, sure.” She won’t look at me and seems distant, cold even. It’s difficult to hold back, not to touch her, feel her body next to mine, to make reassurances that what she witnessed was nothing.
“Cal?”
“Yeah, sorry, Ash.” She chews her fingernail then says, “Actually, do you mind if I head off? It was a blast watching you tonight. I loved it, but I’m so tired.” A tight smile forms a line across her mouth, and she’s already making her way towards the exit before the words, “Hold up,” leave my lips.
I call again, “Cal, wait.” When I catch up with her, I pull gently on her arm. “What’s going on? I thought we could hang out after this. I can take you to dinner. You must be starving, seeing as we never did get to eat.” Stupidly, I smirk while I think back to our make-out session earlier. Bad timing on my part.
“Oh, yeah—could we do something another time?”
I don’t want her to leave under a cloud and I’m getting these negative, distant vibes again. I don’t like it.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Angie interrupts from behind. “Isn’t this a small world?”
“What are you doing here?” Cal’s mood instantly lifts. “Are you—.” Cal looks past Angie to find Tommy waiting behind her. “Is Tommy the reason you were busy tonight?”
While trying to hold back her smile, Angie glances over her shoulder towards him, places a strand of hair behind her ear, then whispers, “I was going to tell you all about it tomorrow. Who knows what will happen, but I’m willing to give ita shot.” She flicks her hair in my direction. “Anyway, you know I can’t turn a good man down.”
“Oh, I know,” Cal laughs all bright and breezy as if I haven’t just pissed her off royally.
Angie’s face turns serious. “Are you okay, Cal?”
“Great!”
“It’s just you seem a little… on edge.”
“No, I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
Then Angie really drops the bomb. “Hmm, I just saw that bitch Jade hanging around. You sure it was nothing to do with her turning up?” Angie’s eyes glance over to mine in warning.
“You know her?” Cal asks.
“Oh, come off it, Cal, you must remember. She went to St. Theresa’s. Bit of a bike back then and hasn’t got much better by all accounts.”
“Angie!” Cal’s eyes are popping out of their sockets. “You can’t be nasty about someone you don’t know.”
“But I do know her and so do you. Rack those brains girl, come on. Remember the Robinson brothers from our school? One in our year, the other a couple of years older?”
“Oh my God, she wasn’t the girl who dated both of them at the same time?” Cal asks.
“You got it.”
“Oh fuck, I don’t think I want to know.” I shake my head.
