‘I thought you said that you were waiting for us?’ Jessy said darkly, reaching forward and moving her glass so that the waiter could squeeze in another plate.
Anna shrugged. ‘Toby and Cas must have ordered before we got here.’
‘We are starving,’ one of them grumbled. ‘And we got here early. Besides, you always take ages to order.’
As conversation erupted around us, Jessy grabbed the waiter and requested a few dishes that were obviously favourites. Thankfully no one seemed to need much input from me. Laura was teasing Anna about something relatingto a particular brand of strawberry lube, a story I wasn’t sure I wanted to know more about, and Toby and Cas – whose full name I’d learnt was Casimir – were laughing along.
‘I did never find that tube again,’ Cas said with a sly grin aimed at Anna.
I watched as her cheeks went a darker red. Yeah, there was definitely something going on there.
‘It was not my fault,’ the birthday girl protested, headband still flashing.
‘You already knew you were allergic to strawberries,’ Jessy pointed out, using her chopsticks to grab a few dumplings. She placed two on my plate, and two on hers. ‘Remember that time what’s-his-face, Yang –’
The entire tabled groaned or giggled.
‘I do not want to talk about Yang,’ Anna said firmly.
‘You said he could eat strawberries off your –’
‘I said I don’t want to talk about it!’
‘The point is,’ Jessy said with a grin, nudging me with her shoulder as she laughed, ‘the A and E nurse was super understanding, and my girl Anna here promised me that she would never touch strawberries again!’
‘But I did,’ Anna said with wry smile. ‘And I probably will again. Honestly, there’s something about an allergic reaction tingle –’
The table collapsed into giggles and calls for her to shut up.
I smiled.
This was beyond odd. Being part of a group like this.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had hung out with people outside of the industry. As we gorged on dumplings,and chatter – interspersed with laughter – rang out around me, a strange sort of realization hit me.
I’m a celebrity.
I was a celebrity. Everything about this dinner felt strange because I was so used to being the centre of attention. Forced to be funny and charming, making sure my good side was camera-forward, smiling at every inane comment …
None of that was me, and yet it had been my life for so long that I’d almost forgotten how much I hated it.
Or how nice this was.
‘– and that is exactly why I will never hire you to be my lawyer,’ Toby said with a snort. He picked up his glass before turning to me. ‘So what do you do, Patrick?’
The table fell silent. Jessy paused with chopsticks full of spring roll halfway to her mouth. Anna snorted into her drink, gasping as she put it down, and wiped her mouth. Laura’s lips had parted in silent shock.
Wait, is he being serious?
Toby looked around the table, as though mystified as to why everyone had halted their conversations. ‘What? Can’t a guy ask a question?’
I blinked. He was serious.
Of course he was. There were people who didn’t listen to These Exiles. Who didn’t know who I was, even if they recognized my face off a screen. I knew that. I just hadn’t encountered one in … in a while.
‘He’s in the music business.’
I turned my head to look at Jessy just as she popped her spring roll into her mouth.
