“What? No! House rules mean no stealing, remember? Fuck that. We buy it from the SPAR shop. Jess’s sister works in there. Can’t tonight, though. Haven’t got any money.”
“I’ve got a tenner.” Leo pulled out a Velcro wallet Charlie hadn’t seen before.
“Arsenal? Where’d you get that?”
“Andy gave it to me.”
Ah. That made sense. Leo still avoided Reg like the plague, but he didn’t seem to mind Andy.
“Come on, then,” Leo said. “Let’s get some cans.”
Turned out Leo’s idea of cans was the biggest bottle of cheap rum they could find. Bev, Jess’s sister, eyed them dubiously as Leo handed over his crumpled tenner, and Charlie couldn’t blame her.Rum? Really?He didn’t know about Leo, but he had a feeling that two swigs from that ominous-looking bottle would have him puking in the bushes with the WKD girls from Old Farm Park.And what about Leo?
Charlie swallowed thickly. Hard-core drinking was probably on the list of sins that could get Leo sent away. “Are you sure you want that?” he asked when they were back on the street, the bottle safely hidden in Leo’s coat.
“It’s booze, innit?” Leo’s tone was playful, but when he met Charlie’s gaze, his eyes had dulled, like they often did when Reg tried to engage him. “Fuck this shit. I wanna get smashed.”
Despite the unease prickling his neck, Charlie knew better than to argue, and they walked the rest of the way to the park in silence, side by side, arms swinging just a hairsbreadth away from each other. At the park entrance, an icy wind whistled through the trees. Charlie shivered. Leo glanced at him. “Cold?”
“Nope.” Charlie shoved his hands in his pockets. “Come on. The girls are waiting by the splash park.”
Leo snorted. “Bloody girls.”
“Suit yourself. Stoners hang under the bandstand.”
Charlie set off across the muddy football pitch. He figured Leo would drift away to find Wayne and his gang of twats, so a hand on his arm caught him off guard a few moments later.
“Which girls are you meeting again? Jess and Lucy?”
“You really give a shit?”
Leo shrugged. “Not particularly. I don’t like girls.”
Charlie tripped over his own feet. “You don’t like girls?”
“They’re annoying, all that fucking staring and cackling. Don’t know how you spend so much time with them.”
Because it’s easier than pretending to be one of the boys.“I grew up with Fliss, remember? No one’s as annoying as her.”
Leo’s reply was cut off by a shout from somewhere in the darkness. Charlie stared in the direction it had come from as three figures emerged from the gloom. Jess, Lucy, and Lucy’s cousin Meg surrounded them, grinning at Charlie and eyeing Leo with a speculative interest that reminded Charlie of a gang of feral cats he’d once seen on holiday.
He kicked Jess and shot her a meaningful glare. “All right?”
Jess’s grin widened as she artfully avoided his gaze. “And then some. Hi, Leo.”
Leo grunted and pulled a packet of cigarettes from his coat pocket.
If Jess was bothered by Leo’s flat response, she didn’t show it. Instead, she winked and threaded her arm through Charlie’s. “Come on. Let’s go find Maria. She’s got some vodka.”
Charlie suppressed a sigh. Vodka, rum, weed—apparently however the night panned out, he’d be carrying someone home.
An hour or so later, his money was on Lucy, who was slumped against him, giggling at whatever Jess was mouthing to her behind her hand.Daft twats.
Charlie sighed and tuned them out, scanning the dark park, squinting at the scattered groups huddled on the grass, illuminated by the glow of phone screens and whatever they were smoking. Wayne Murphy’s group usually hung around by the basketball court, but Charlie couldn’t see that far, let alone tell if Leo—who’d long since grown bored with the girls and wandered off—was with them.
“Earth to Charlie?” Lucy waved her hand in front of his face. “What are you staring at?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing.”
