‘And?’ He grinned widely, his freckles stretching across his cheeks. ‘I’m drunk and you’re beautiful. That’s just the way it goes.’ He shrugged his shoulders and sighed.
‘You won’t leave me when we get inside, will you?’ she pleaded, cursing the fact she sounded like a lost little girl.
‘Leave you? Don’t be silly, Elles.’ His face dropped momentarily, as though her question had offended him.
‘I just don’t know anyone here. It’s all your new friends.’ There was an unmistakable resentment to her tone but maybe he was too intoxicated to register it. She knew it was inevitable that things would change as they got older, but lately Fin seemed permanently attached to a new crowd. A crowd that made him stay out late, forget to call her and, most worryingly of all, a crowd that seemed to think it was funny to get drunk at every opportunity.
‘You’re the only person I need.’ Fin took a step forward. Eleanor could feel the heat from his body. ‘You always have been.’ His gaze lingered on her mouth. ‘You know I’m lost without you.’
Eleanor’s entire body sparked with electricity. Fin’s eyes darted up to meet hers, their jade green brighter than she’d ever seen them. Every cell inside her body seemed to be on high alert, prickling with anticipation.
‘Really?’ she whispered.
The corners of his mouth curled up at the edges and she saw his head tilt slowly towards her.
‘Really.’
Eleanor’s world shifted into slow motion.
This couldn’t be happening. Not with Fin. Not after all this time.
She closed her eyes and allowed the moment to hold her.
‘Fin!’
Eleanor’s heart jolted. She snapped her eyes open to see the front door ajar, revealing the night’s host, Jimmy Turner. The most popular boy in the year above them at school, and one of Fin’s new acquaintances.
‘Jimmy!’ Fin cried, turning sharply away from Eleanor. ‘How’s it going, buddy?’ He slapped him on the back and swaggered inside.
What the hell just happened?
Eleanor didn’t have time to linger on the thoughts for much longer, as Fin was very quickly disappearing into the throng of dancing bodies. The music was so loud she could feel it reverberating in her ribcage. Her eyes searched wildly for Kate, but it was hard to see anyone through the heavily perfumed cigarette smoke that hung across the room.
‘Come in and shut the door,’ someone called out to her. Eleanor hurried inside and spotted Fin snaking his way towards the kitchen.
‘Fin!’ she shouted after him. ‘Fin, wait up.’ Everything felt out of sorts. Her brain was fizzing with confusion. All she needed to do was get to her friend and then she’d be fine, but bodies seemed to be piling in around her, blocking her view, pulling her further and further away from Fin.
Suddenly she felt someone grab her hand.
‘Eleanor!’ Kate screamed in her ear. ‘You made it.’
Her friend was wide-eyed and beaming.
‘It’s so busy in here,’ Eleanor shouted, her voice already hoarse. ‘Can we talk? Something weird just happened.’
‘What?’ her friend screamed back.
‘Can we go somewhere to talk?’ Eleanor mouthed, gesticulating wildly in the hope that somehow her words would register.
Kate nodded and dragged Eleanor back through the pulsating crowd of teenagers and up the stairs.
‘Excuse me, excuse me, my friend needs the toilet – I think she’s going to throw up,’ Kate announced loudly as she pushed her through more entwined couples.
‘Oi,’ a gruff voice shouted after them. ‘We all need a piss, love, there’s a queue here.’
Kate whipped her head back sharply. ‘My friend’s about to vom, so unless you want to seeandsmell that, I suggest youmove.’
The crowd instantly parted and made way for them to come through. Once they were safely inside, Eleanor sat down on the edge of the bath.
