‘I – should I be thanking you for your service?’ Cece said. ‘I don’t quite know what to say.’
Dylan snorted. ‘You can thank me by not making me think about it,’ she said. ‘I am fully committed to living in fantasyland in here, thank you very much.’
Back past her shoulder, I caught sight of Romeo-Dylan again. He was chatting to the Mandie Clone now, listening just as attentively to her as he had been to Dylan.
‘Speaking of fantasyland,’ Dylan said, waggling her perfect eyebrows, ‘can we talk about the Romeo? Because that man is fine.’
Now there was something I could wholeheartedly agree with. ‘Oh my God, so fine,’ I said.
‘Really fine,’ Cece agreed.
‘I was just with him,’ Dylan said. ‘He’s a nice guy. Really down to earth. Easy to talk to. I liked him.’
‘I liked him too, when I met him on the driveway,’ I said. ‘He has really kind eyes.’
Dylan gave me an inquisitive look. ‘That’s a thing for you, isn’t it?’ she said, poking me gently in the shoulder with her index finger. Her nail polish was sparkly green too. ‘Kind eyes.’
‘You can tell a lot about a person by their eyes,’ I answered.
It was true. When you worked around as many men as I did, you learned to gauge pretty quickly how they were thinking about you by the way they were looking at you.
Dylan grinned. ‘What about my eyes?’ she said. ‘What do they tell you?’
‘Hmmm,’ I said. ‘Come closer. I can’t quite see. You’re too tall.’
She bent down, still grinning.
The world went away.
Her face was close to mine. I could feel her breath on my skin. Maybe I was living in fantasyland too, because I was nose to nose with a sea witch, and I was going to live to tell the tale.
Probably, anyway. It was a big call to think that I would survive this.
‘Your eyes tell me that you’re strong,’ I said, somehow.8)must be true. I really must be getting better at keeping it together. ‘You’re no nonsense. You’re firm.’
‘I think the word you’re looking for is “ball-buster”,’ she said.
‘Be quiet,’ I said, because I could feel her words against my lips, and I was genuinely worried I might die if she said anything else. ‘I haven’t finished.’
She grinned even wider. It was incredible. I wanted to trace the curve of her eyebrows gently with the very tip of a finger, featherlight, like a butterfly.
‘But you’re also gentle,’ I said. ‘Tender. Protective, when you care about someone, but—’
‘How dare you!?’
It was like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over my head. I sprang away from Dylan, and only just managed not to fall over.
‘How dare you?’ Lily Fireball exclaimed again, sweeping towards us with a gaggle of cameramen.
She poked Dylan hard in the shoulder. ‘That was my time with the Romeo!’ she yelled. ‘How dare you interrupt?’
Dylan didn’t move. ‘We all want time with him. That’s what we’re all here for. You don’t get to keep him all for yourself, Lily.’
‘It’s LilyFireball!’
It was like dominoes. Lily pushed Dylan, and Dylan stumbled backwards, but I was close behind her, and I was already unsteady, so I fell back too, into Cece, and then – splash!
‘Oh my God, Cece!’ I exclaimed as she surfaced, spluttering, in the pool. ‘Are you all right? I’m so sorry.’
