I wasn’t the only one with a problem. Yeah. We both needed to talk. That was obviously clear.
Chapter 23
Peter
“How was football?” Safe. Sane. An obvious, simple question requiring a simple, safe answer.
“Ollie here was good.” Cal.
“Decent player. Good fun.” Ed.
“I play for my company team. I mean, it’s like once a month tops, but there’s a Square Mile league, and our company team is quite good. We won two years ago. I mean, not by much. The Capital Finance team is ridiculous; they have like two former pro players on their rota, and they don’t even work there.”
“Man.” Cal grinned, still chewing a mouthful of food. “I can picture that, a bunch of pale office jockeys trying to hit a net.”
“Some of us are decent.”
“I don’t mean it like that; you’re definitely decent.”
“Thanks,” he said. Oliver. A little blush.
So fucking cute.
The ceiling creaked.
“Aww come on, Mary!” I hurled at the ceiling.
“She does that.” Ed laughed. “I just have to think about it, and the ceiling creaks.”
“What were you thinking of?” Cal teased. He looked fuming. “Another bloody threesome?”
“Oh, fuck off,” Ed spat.
“What now?” I sighed.
“He’s all pissy.” Ed sighed. “Because he fancied this bird, and then she came over and ended up in my room with Mischa and…”
“I fancy someone, and I’m all nice and lively and fun and girls are supposed to love me, and I bring her home and my antisocial idiot of a brother goes and pulls her? Right under my nose? Not only that, but he pulls her with my best mate in the room? I have to spend the bloody evening listening to them…”
“Enough.” I had to boom.
Oliver was grinning.
“It’s never fair, is it?” Oliver said softly.
“It’s bloody ridiculous, and before you start up, Mum, yes I know. So yeah. Save your energy. Fucking hell.” Cal sighed.
The ceiling? We all looked at it. Nothing.
“Now you’ve done it.” Ed laughed. “Bro, you need to calm the fuck down. She wasn’t into you anyway. Do you think that was a good night for me? Eh?”
“What happened to open and honest? Eh?” Cal shouted. “Now pass me another naan, Ollie. I need to comfort eat carbs. Ed here is forcing protein shakes down my neck during the week, and I’m constantly starving.”
“But have you, or have you not, lost a bit of flab and gained some fantastic arm muscles?”
“Don’t start about my flab.”
“You don’t have any flab.” I was not even being acknowledged at this table, as Oliver was laughing with his mouth full. Ed was trying to force Cal to flex a muscle, and Cal was…
