“Not till you giggle again.”
“I’m...not...gonna...giggle.”
“Then I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop.”He throws me onto the bed, and then he’s on top of me.“Just once,” he begs.
“No.”
“You’re so boring, Livy.”
“And you’re soannoying.”
He beams, and then we freeze as the door flies open.
“Oh, no, I think I’ve gone blind!”Tori covers her eyes with her hands and stumbles backward out onto the corridor.
“What’s up?”Sinclair shoves past her.“God, Victoria, you’d better just shut it.”
“Yeah, Victoria,” I repeat her name severely, trying to look unfazed as I sit up.“D’you think it’s fun for me to crash the two of you winching?”
“Yeah, so I get that now.”Tori grins.“But seriously, who even are you?”She turns to Sinclair.“Can you see this too?They’resmiling at each other and look besotted.Where are Olive and Colin, and what have you done with them?”
I roll my eyes at Colin.
“Your friends are seriously weird,” he remarks.
“They’re your friends now too,” I point out.
“I didn’t choose them,” he says.
“Bad luck.”Sinclair strolls into my room.“Emma and Henry were talking about going into Edinburgh to the cinema.Want to join us?”
“Now?”
“Aye, there’s a bus in half an hour.Grace and Gideon are coming too.”
I glance at Colin, who just shrugs.
“OK, see you downstairs, then?”I ask.
Tori and Sinclair nod.“I’m never walking in without knocking ever again,” I hear Tori say as she shuts the door.
I have to smile.
Colin
I don’t remember much of the movie because I spent most of the time holding hands with Olive Henderson.Yeah, it’s every bit as embarrassing as it sounds, but I stand by it.Besides, it’s better than constantly thinking about whether I’ll ever hear anything back from the police in New York.It bugs me, but all I can do is wait.
After the movie, we go for something to eat.All the Christmas lights are up as we walk back to the station through the old townof Edinburgh.I love it here.It feels like a giant version of Disneyworld, but no way can I say that aloud if I don’t want Olive to call me Cowboy or refer to me as “such a Yank” again.
It’s true, though.There are these narrow, cobblestoned streets and tall, thin buildings, which are kind of magical.I wish I could show Cleo around here.She’d love it.I’d take her to London so she could see the phone box on her British boy band’s album cover for real.The thought makes me smile.
I drop back slightly when my cell phone rings.Olive glances at me, but I gesture to her to go on with the others as I take the call.It’s an unknown number.
“Hello?”I dig my free hand into my coat pocket and watch Olive link arms with Grace and Emma.
“Am I speaking with Colin Fantino?”
I stop.“Yes, that’s me,” I say.
