‘No worries. Wanted to show you my favourite spot.’ He winks and I remember the first time he did it, at the party. ‘Let’s sit by the tree.’
As I follow him, there’s a lightness in me that I haven’t felt for days. It’s not just the giddiness from being with a hot guy. Uphere, far from family, memories and crows, I feel free. I needed this.
We sit under the probably oak tree. Part of me wants to worry about staining my jeans, but I decide to push that away. Today I am going to be someone who doesn’t care about grass stains or getting tree sap on my cute green T-shirt.
‘Beer?’ Paul asks, reaching into his bag.
I shouldn’t.
‘Sure.’
We tap tins and I take a sip. It’s not very cold and the bitterness makes me blink, but today I’m going to be the type of person that can have a beer with Paul. We lean against the tree and our elbows touch.
Screw you, tree sap!
‘Settling in OK?’ he asks, staring straight ahead.
‘Yeah, not too bad.’ Aside from discovering I’m from an ancient line of goddess-serving death poets.
‘Nice one. Cormac’s really happy you’re here. He always talks about you.’
I blush. ‘What, seriously?’
‘Yeah! You’re his cool cousin from London. Never shuts up about you.’
Meg said the same thing. ‘It’s nice spending time with him.’
‘Even if he farts up the bedroom?’ says Paul.
I choke on the beer and spray it out of my nose, which sets Paul off. We lose ourselves in laughter. I wipe at the beer on my chin.
‘You’re funny,’ he says.
The compliment lights me up. ‘What? No, I just can’t drink properly.’
He laughs again. ‘See, you are.’
‘Thanks.’
‘You’re really sound too. Like what you said the other day, about me and Ellen…’
‘Oh, sorry. I—’
‘No, seriously, you told me what I needed to hear.’ We lock eyes. ‘Thank you.’
The sun is starting to set and there’s a golden glow on his tanned skin. ‘That’s OK.’
‘You’re a good friend.’
Yup, that’s me.
My stomach has a boulder in it. ‘Oh, you too.’
‘That’s why I brought you here. I wanted to say thanks.’ He looks out over the city. ‘I even apologised properly to Ellen.’
Oh hip hip hoo-fucking-ray.
I pull at some grass. ‘Great, that’s really great. You back together?’
