All four friends looked up in surprise at the aggressive interruption.
‘Oh,no…’ Tom muttered. Anna’s blue eyes were huge, like two turquoise saucers in her face.
‘Laurence?’ Rachel said. ‘Laurence. What are you doing here?’
‘I’m here to have it out with you,’ Laurence said, standing over her and swaying.
Tipsy as she was, Rachel could see that he was drunk – and not the nice sort of drunk that buys a round for the whole bar and then leads a chorus of ‘Champagne Supernova’. Laurence wasmeandrunk, and he was here to cause a scene.
‘Have what out with me?’ Rachel hissed, exasperated.
‘You talked to Cass about me, didn’t you?’
‘Who?’
‘Cass! My girlfriend!Ex-girlfriend now, thanks to you!’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, Laurence. I don’t know who she is. I couldn’t pick her out of a line-up, and I promise you I’ve never spoken to her.’
‘Of course you have! Why else would she dump me?’
Rachel heard someone break into helpless laughter, then realised it was her.Shewas laughing, hysterical at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
‘Because of this, Laurence!’ Rachel made an all-encompassing gesture with her arms. ‘Because you do stuff likethis.’
Still unsteady on his feet, Laurence advanced a step closer towards Rachel, who was still sitting down. Within seconds, Tom had put himself between them.
‘Enough now. No more. Go home, calm down and sleep this off. And maybe consider making an appointment with a therapist first thing in the morning.’
Laurence sneered at him. ‘I wondered how long it would takeyouto get your paws on her. Always waiting in the wings, weren’t you? Are you the reason why she finished with me?’
Tom leaned forward, towering over Laurence by several inches. ‘I. Said. Enough.’
He looked almost menacing, and Laurence shrank back.
Rachel stood up and put a hand on Tom’s arm. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘I’ve got this.’
She squared up to Laurence, daring him to shout her down when her very best friends were behind her.
‘I finished with you because ofyou,’ she insisted, firm but not shouting. ‘Because you’re an overbearing, insensitive, arrogant, entitled bully.’
Laurence opened his mouth, ready to retort.
‘I’mnot finished!’ Rachel seethed at him. ‘You’ve bothered and harassed me for months, after I told you I didn’t want to see you any more. You continued to contact me by phone and email long after our relationship was over, even though I asked you not to. You sent flowers. You turned upat my work. And now you’ve followed me to my favourite pub to throw around insane accusations – to suggest that I might have deliberately sabotaged your relationship with some woman whose name I couldn’t even remember! None of this is okay. And actually, it’s only now that I’m realising just how NOT FUCKING OKAY it is. It’s crazy – and Tom’s right. It stops, right now.’
Tom was still at her elbow, and Rachel stepped back towards him, thankful for his support. Laurence’s eyes were angry slits in his scowling face.
Will, who until now had stayed silent, stood up and folded his arms. His hulking frame dwarfed Laurence’s; he was a man-mountain, built like the proverbial barn door. Will’s arms, Rachel thought, were probably almost as broad as Laurence’sthighs. He could floor him with a single well-aimed shove.
‘Couple of things,’ Will said, in the same friendly tone he’d have used if he were asking someone whether they knew the latest Arsenal score. ‘Number one: your behaviour sounds an awful lot like stalking. Now, I’m not a criminal lawyer, Laurence, but it seems to me that the police would take a pretty dim view of all this – as might your employer, or any future employer, should Rachel decide to prosecute. And we’ – he indicated himself, Anna and Tom – ‘are going to make sure she dials 999 immediately if she ever sees or hears from you again. Number two: despite my build, I am a very mild-mannered man. But if anything’s going to inspire me to throw a punch, it’s seeing another bloke try to intimidate a woman – especially one I love. Rather foolishly, you’ve gone one step further too: you’ve disturbed Friday Night At The Hope, which you knowfull wellis sacrosanct.’
‘Andyou interrupted myRomeo and Julietstory, you wanker!’ Anna yelled, poking her head out from behind Will’s arm. Rachel bit back a laugh.
Laurence’s shoulders had sagged and he’d begun slinking away – as if he wanted to leave but was frightened to turn his back in case someone lunged for him.
‘Go, Laurence,’ Rachel said. ‘Go for good. Don’t ever contact me again, or I will report you.’
He tried to glare at her, but the alarm in his eyes won out. He looked like he was trying to think of some way to salvage his dignity. In the end, he just spun around and walked away – and Rachel knew that, finally, she was rid of him.
