‘Good evening, kind sirs and ladies,’ Gavin says with a weird old-fashioned bow. Crap, how many shots has Postman Gavin had?
Balls.
Leo laughs. ‘Peach and Gavin, right?’ He stands up to kiss Peach on the cheek and shake Gavin’s hand warmly. ‘I’m so glad you guys could make it.’
‘It’s a party . . . in a church!’ Peach giggles, using her hand to cover a burp. She reaches over and takes one of the bottles of champagne off the table. ‘Is . . . is thisfree?’ she asks, already popping it open, the cork whizzing precariously close to Rufus Frost’s ear.
‘It is,’ Leo replies, grabbing a couple of glasses from the table for Peach to pour the golden fizz into. He hands one to Gavin, who knocks it back instantly and holds the glass back out for another.
‘Partay!’ he yells, punching the air, which makes everyone else at the table wince with distaste.
Eep. If they drink much more I’m in real danger of things going awry. God, why did I think it was a good idea to bring them? I was trying to be nice, but it was a stupid, stupid plan.
‘Come on!’ I say breezily, standing up from my chair so rapidly that it makes the table shake. ‘What say we dance?’
‘Great idea!’ Leo agrees, draining the rest of his drink.
‘Come on, you two,’ I gesture to a swaying Peach and Gavin, taking their flutes away and placing them firmly on the table. They sulk in response.
‘Come on!’ I repeat, in the same voice I use when I’m trying to get Mr Belding not to take a dump on Grandma’s carpet. ‘Come on now! That’s it!’
My coaxing works and they follow me towards the dance floor.
As the four of us inch our way through the happy crowds towards where the other guests are dancing, I hang back and grab Peach by the arm.
‘We’ll catch you up in a second,’ I call over to Leo and Gavin. ‘Just a little ladies-only chat.’
When the two of them are out of earshot, I pull Peach over to one of the huge columns surrounding the room.
‘You’re fucking pissed,’ I grumble, folding my arms huffily.
She hiccups. ‘I’m not. I only had five shots. And look, now Gavin and I are getting along famoushly. He’s really, really, really nice. He likes to hike on the weekends. And his favourite colour is blue. Like my dress. It’s like we’re meant to be!’
I see that she’s been grilling him twenty questions-style like she did with me on our first night out at Twisted Spin. I wonder if she’s assigned him a nickname yet.
‘I love you, Jeshicaaa,’ she grins, closing one eye to focus on my face. ‘You’re my besht pal. I won’t dump you for Gavin, you know. I’m not that kind of friend.’ Then she pulls my head down to her sizeable bosom and pats my hair with her big meaty hands.
‘Ow, gerrof! And it’s Lucille,’ I hiss, removing my head from her boobs. ‘You’re supposed to call meLucille.’
‘Lucille − oh, yeah. Sorry.’ Peach nods sagely and rubs her eye, causing a bit of mascara to splodge onto her cheek. I flick it off. ‘You’re actin’ a little uptight,’ she pouts. ‘Thas not like you. It’s notwho you are.’
She’s right, I’m usually chillin’ like Matt Dillon on penicillin. But tonight Iamuptight. I’m super on edge. There’s just so much a stake now. Part of me genuinely wants to be here, on a night out with Peach and Leo (not too bothered about Gavin, to be honest) having fun. The other part of me just wants to do one, so I don’t have to acknowledge the complicated situation I’ve managed to get myself into.
I peek over towards Leo, who is awkwardly dancing with Gavin on the dance floor. It’s a pretty slow song, so they’re just sort of swaying from side to side and making small talk.
‘No more booze, all right?’ I say to Peach sternly and sounding a lot like Grandma. ‘Your innocent body won’t be able to handle it and we’ve got work to do. We can’t risk any slip-ups. Think of Matilda. How important this is to her.’
‘I won’t slip up! I wouldn’t do that to you, because you’re my person, like Cristina Yang and Meredith inGrey’s Anatomy. I loveGrey’s Anatomy. Do you, Jess? D’you love it?’
‘Peach!’ I hiss. ‘Listen to me!’
‘Fine. Fine. I’ll jusht have one or two more drinks, maybe five more drinks. That’s all.’
Jeez. Is this what I’m like when I’ve had a drink? Is this why Summer used to get so mad at me?
I try to keep my patience. ‘Promise me you won’t drink any more.’ I plead, putting my hands on her shoulders.
Peach throws me a look as if I’m being a huge spoilsport, shakes my hands off her shoulders and stalks off to find Gavin. With a sigh, I follow her, reaching Leo just as the band starts up with a big-band version of ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ by the Drifters. Leo’s face softens when he spots me. He takes me into his arms and together we glide across the dance floor in a waltz, just like Grandma taught me. At first I move stiffly, trying to remember the steps, trying not to tread on Leo’s feet, but he has obviously had a great deal more practice than me and sweeps me across the dance floor effortlessly, making me look like I know what I’m doing. It’s like something from a film. I’m basically Baby Houseman right now.
