Lizzie’s eavesdropping skills were put to the test at big break when I was abruptly stopped in the school corridor on my way to the lunch hall.
“Claire, can I have a word?” Jamie asked, surprising me by stepping in front of me mid-run and causing me to crash into his chest with a loud oof. “Jesus, sorry about that,” he grunted, hooking an arm around my waist when I staggered backwards from the force with which we collided. “Are you alright?”
“Yep, yep, all good,” I replied with a nervous cackle, quickly steadying myself before stepping out of his hold. “I was just racing to make sure all the chili wasn’t taken by the rugby team.” Blowing a rogue curl out of my face, I smiled up at him and asked, “What’s up?” even though I knew full well what was up.
“Oh shit, if that’s the case, do you want to talk as we walk?” he offered, gesturing towards the lunch hall. “I don’t want you to lose out on your lunch.”
“Thanks,” I replied with a smile, falling into step beside him, all the while trying my best not to be weird. God only knew why but I had the strongest urge to make farm animal noises in this moment. Probably because I was epically nervous and had no clue how to navigate these unchartered waters.
“So, listen, I was thinking about it a lot lately, and I was hoping I might be able to take you out again some time.”
And there it was.
Lizzie was dead on the money.
Jamie did want to go out with me again.
Aw crackers.
“Take me out?” I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, when we entered the lunch hall. Baa. Baa. Baa. Dammit, why couldn’t I stop thinking about sheep noises? “Out where?”
“The cinema? Or maybe for a drink? Whatever you want,” he offered, joining the queue for hot food with me. “I know it didn’t exactly end well the last time, and I was a fucking eejit back then, but I really think we could have something good.”
Purposefully keeping my attention off the rugby table, I focused on the boy speaking to me instead. “Something good?”
“Yeah.” Jamie nodded and smiled. “If you’re willing to give me another chance.”
It was a cute smile.
He was a good-looking boy with dark hair and pretty brown eyes. He was tall enough to have a couple of inches on me, and he smelled fantastic, which was always a huge bonus in my eyes. He even had a tiny dimple in his chin and an adorable, crooked smile.
But he wasn’t Gerard.
Feeling hesitant and uncertain, I opened my mouth to respond, but Lizzie got in there first.
“She would love to!” Joining us in the lunch line, she draped an arm around my shoulder and beamed. “Isn’t that right, Claire?”
“Lizzie,” I whisper-hissed, flicking an anxious glance in the direction of the rugby table. Immediately, my eyes sought Gerard out, and when they locked on his, I could feel the tension emanating from him.
Aw crap.
“Listen, if you still have something going on with Gibson, that’s fine,” Jamie said, quick to catch on. “Just tell me now because I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here.”
“She doesn’t,” Lizzie responded before I could. “They’re just friends.” Tightening her arm around me, she smiled harder. “Isn’t that right, Claire?”
“Uh … ” I glanced back to the table once more, but this time Gerard wasn’t looking at me. In fact, he had his back to me, giving Johnny his full attention. “Right?”
“Okay, good.” Jamie sighed in relief, smile reappearing now the coast was apparently clear. “So, what do you think?”
“About what?” I asked, distracted by the table behind me. Namely the boy sitting at said table.
“Going out with me sometime?”
“She’ll have to think about it.” Appearing out of thin air, Shannon slipped under Jamie’s arm and caught ahold of my hand. “Thank you so much for the offer,” she added, pulling both Lizzie and me away. “It was very thoughtful. Claire will get back to you in the next five working days.”
Jamie frowned in confusion. “Uh … okay?”
“Bye,” Shannon called back.
“Yeah, bye,” I laughed, waving after him as I let my little friend lead me away.
“The next five working days?” Lizzie huffed, trailing after us. “What the hell, Shan?”
“It was all I could think of,” Shannon squeezed out, red-faced, as we hurried over to the table we used to sit at for some girl talk before we joined the rugby table. “Claire looked so uncomfortable back there, and I just, I don’t know, I felt like I needed to buy her some time.”
“That was epic,” I choked out through fits of laughter, thrilled with her intrusion. “Five working days.” I snorted. “You sounded like my personal secretary.”
“So, you’re not mad at me?” Shannon asked, looking up at me with nervous blue eyes. “I didn’t overstep?”
“Are you crazy?” I reached across the table and snagged her hand. “Shan, I’m beyond grateful. That was so awkward.”
“Really?”
“Really, really.”
“Oh.” My bestie sagged in relief. “Thank God.”
“I’m mad,” Lizzie chimed in, holding a hand up.
“You’re always mad.” I rolled my eyes. “What’s new?”
“Claire, that was your perfect chance.” Leaning back in her chair, Lizzie folded her arms across her chest and glowered. “Jamie’s a nice boy. You could do a lot worse.”
“Then you go out with him,” I shot back.
“I don’t want to go out with him.”
“Yeah, well, neither do I,” I laughed, completely unaffected by her incessant probing.
“Only because you’re wasting your life waiting around for him,” she grumbled, gaze flicking to the rugby table. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, what is wrong with the big eejit now?”
“I think he saw Jamie asking Claire out,” Shannon offered, gesturing across the room to where Gerard was glaring at his uneaten lunch like it had mortally offended him. “He looks so sad.”
“He’s not sad, Shan,” Lizzie explained with a frustrated sigh. “He’s sulking.”
“Sulking?” I turned around in my seat and watched as Johnny tried to coax Gerard with a spoon of yoghurt. “Oh god, he does look sad.”
“Yeah,” Lizzie agreed hotly. “But only because another boy dared to play with his toy.”
“Hey,” I warned, smile fading. “Don’t call me a toy.”
“Why not? That’s exactly what you are to him.”
“As opposed to you using me back there to hurt him?” I shot back, feeling a surge of heat rise up in my belly. Contrary to my appearance, I was no doll, and I had no intention of being used in Lizzie’s game to get one up on her nemesis. “Because I know what you were trying to do back there.”
“I was trying to help you.”
“Don’t fight, guys,” Shannon admonished quietly. “Come on. We’re all friends here.”
“I don’t need you to help me,” I argued back, ignoring Shannon’s attempt to diffuse the situation. “I’m perfectly capable of navigating my own love life, thank you very much.”
“Fine.” Lizzie rolled her eyes unapologetically. “Do whatever you want, Claire.”
Sometimes, I wished I never started speaking to her after she got with my brother. At least that way, when they ended it would have been over. But I felt horrible for thinking that way. Especially when the girl I’d grown up with from the age of five to thirteen had been so amazing. We had eight years of pure friendship before everything went to hell. I couldn’t erase that, and I didn’t want to.
“Thank you,” I replied with forced cheer in my tone. “I intend to.”
