He steers her away, already regaling another circle.
Cigarette smoke fills my vision, Nova’s hand perched on my shoulder.“So. The two of you finally made up. How satisfying for him. Was it good for you too?”
I bat the air, and the smoke disperses, along with her ghost.
I’m startled by Ellenor’s voice beside me.
“What’s up with you and Willoughby?” she demands. “If looks could kill…I thought you were going toAvada Kedavrahim.”
“Not quite.” I don’t get the reference, but I get the gist. I exhale slowly, forcing my shoulders to loosen. “Just an old friend.”
“Oh. I see.”
I can tell she isn’t fooled, but I’m glad she doesn’t press.
Until she comes at me again like a bulldog.
“It’s just that, back at the pub, you put up with Sean’s bullshit without batting an eyelid. Mine too, for that matter. But Willoughby…” She gives me a predatory grin, closing in for the kill. “I noticed you call him Jack.”
“That’s his name.”
“Lily-Anne calls him Willoughby.”
I don’t react. I can see where she’s going with this, and I won’t take the bait.
She snorts air, not yet defeated. “So, why don’t you call him Willoughby? I figure you either hate his uncle’s music—and you don’t seem like a hater, no offence; some people are just tolerant by nature, and I respect that—orhe did something to piss you off.”
I open my mouth to speak, then I think better of it.
“Is it about Lily?” She adopts a singsong voice. “Because I’ve been watching you two, and I get the feeling that something’s in the air….”
“It’s not about Lily-Anne. And there’s nothing going on between us.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m just her friend—same as I am to you.”
“You? My friend? Ha! Real friends don’t abandonWords with Friendsgames, Brando. Anyway, I’m onto you and Lily—I’ve been waiting toflagrante delictoyou two ever since we arrived. That’s fancy lawyer talk for ‘I see the way you look at her.’”
“I’m sure that’s precisely what you wrote on your bar exam.”
“Who the hell knows? It’s been a while. I’m pushing thirty, you know.”
“So you said.”
She finishes her drink, raises the empty glass, and peers at me through it with one distorted eye. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you always call her Lily-Anne.”
“Names have importance,” I state simply.
“They do. Especially when the person is important to us.”
I look towards the exit, wishing I could leave. I’ve resigned myself to staying to hear the headline act, and Lily-Anne clearly wants to stay longer.
Thankfully, exhaustion soon catches up with Ellenor, and she insists we head back.
Before we exit, Willoughby gives Lily-Anne a paper bag. “Muffins—consider it a deposit to lock in your next performance,” he says with a wink. “I threw a couple in there for you as well, Brandon.”
There’s no way for me to decline without sounding like a twat, so I settle for a curt nod.
