Kellan’s house shouldn’t exist without Freya, but exist it did, the monstrous lounge filled with familiar faces from school and a wider circle of Campion lads that Sophie only knew from the half-dark of Friday nights out in town, or the background of other people’s Insta. People whose world kept turning while Sophie’s had ground to a halt without its axis.
She needed to get it going again. Forcing herself into party mode, Sophie plastered on a knowing smile.
“So I see that Ewan Moore’s looking particularly fine tonight, presumably to impress…”
But Morgan had widened her eyes and was staring over Sophie’s left shoulder.
Dismayed, Sophie whipped round to check Ewan wasn’t standing right behind her, only for Morgan to cackle with glee at the wind up, Georgia thumping her in the arm and saying that she was mean. But Sophie was laughing too, maybe louder than the joke deserved because bursting with fake laughter was better than bursting into very real tears.
She didn’t want to be here. She wished that instead of talking to her old friends, she’d stuck close to Win and Sunny, where she felt safe. A team of three on the hunt for answers. Twisting round, she scanned the room, wondering if they’d made it back from the kitchen yet…
But the crowd by the door were parting for someone more important.
Kellan Spencer.
And, edging in after him, Lucas.
Seeing him now, dressed up for a party and looking a little less stressed and sweaty, she saw more of what Sunny had.
“Why are you looking at Big T like that?” Morgan sounded suspicious.
Sophie shrugged, a lie slipping out under the cover of the truth. “Haven’t seen any of these guys in a while. I’d forgotten how cute he was.”
She knew the look she was getting for that, and ignored it as Lucas scouted the room, missed seeing her through the crowd and made to move in deeper.
“I’ll just go…” But as Sophie rose from where she’d perched on the arm of the sofa, it wasn’t Lucas who saw her.
“Hey Carbonara!”
Kellan walked right past a group of girls who cast a disgruntled look in Sophie’s direction, not realising she was a zero-risk threat. Firstly, whether she was here or not, Kellan was Freya’s. Secondly, as Freya’s best friend and relationship confidante, Sophie knew of the less-pretty personality traits lurking beyond that killer combination of good looks and charm.
Still, good looks, charm – and history – were enough for Sophie to accept the hug Kellan was offering. The emerging flu-like ache of muscle pain in her shoulder made his grip a little uncomfortable and when Sophie let go, she was disappointed to see that Lucas had vanished.
“It’s been a while,” Kellan said. “Don’t think I’ve seen you since Christmas?”
Time that had only added to Kellan’s appeal. Something in the slant of his smile and the lazy cast of his eyelids suggested he knew this.
He reached out and gave her shoulder what passed for a gentle squeeze. “I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
“As if.” But Sophie found it hard to meet his eye when she said it.
When Kellan had got to know her, Sophie had been shining in the spotlight next to Freya. The Sophie he knew enjoyed a drink and could beat him three times in a row on Rainbow Road. Now the lupus threatened her kidneys and she couldn’t hold a controller without paying for it the next day.
And Kellan was someone who saw. The pretty face and easy smile reeled everyone in, but it was his attention that kept them hooked.
Attention that Sophie didn’t want.
“I hear you’re the only one Freya’s still talking to. How is she?”
And there was the other reason Sophie had been reluctant to socialise with this crowd.
“Oh, you know. Unbearably smug about how amazing Manchester is.” She aimed for a smile, but Kellan looked almost as sad as she felt.
“I still miss her, you know.”
“Same.”
Kellan frowned and the look he gave Sophie froze every cell in her body. “But you’re still in touch?”
“I could FaceTime her every hour and it wouldn’t be the same as having her around.” Sophie took the drink he was holding and pretended to take a sip – casual and comfortable. “Not like we can hang out and get ready together like old times.”
“Shame. Maybe she could have steered you away from that shirt?”
“Ouch.” She grinned and gave him a playful shove.
“I’m joking.” Kellan slid an arm around her shoulder to give her a kiss on the side of her head. Each point of contact felt sensitive and tender and Sophie marvelled at how she’d never noticed how vigorous Kellan’s affection was. “Gorgeous as always, Carbs.”
“Whatever.” The name had reminded her. “Is your cousin here?”
A question that tightened the line of his shoulders and the press of his mouth. “Popular man, our Ry.”
Lucas had already asked, then. Sophie raised her eyebrows. “Well? Is he here or not?”
“Didn’t think you two were pals.” The way Kellan was looking at her had changed. A plate shifting beneath the surface, threatening a disaster that Sophie would rather avoid. She’d skirted the subject of Freya safely just now, but unless Kellan’s name was on the next layer, she’d prefer to avoid any mention of the parcel.
“We’re not.” She got her phone out as a diversion and scrolled her feed for the photo Joe T had posted. “I was just wondering if Ryan was still modelling this work of art…”
RYAN
Getting the dick off his forehead had taken a while. He’d scrubbed at it with soap, washing-up liquid – even a bit of laundry powder. If it hadn’t been for Jules, he’d have been tempted to take his chances with toilet bleach.
“Is that permanent marker?”
“No, I went and got a massive cock tattooed on my forehead.” Mood as raw as the skin on his face. “Course it’s marker and I can’t get the fucker off.”
His sibling had scampered off downstairs, slammed every cupboard door in the kitchen, then returned with a bottle of sunflower oil and a wad of kitchen towel.
“Try this.”
The oil worked.
“Where’d you learn that?”
“Chemistry.”
“Nerd.”
“Dickhead.”
Thirteen years old and smart as shit. If Jules hadn’t been the only person in the world Ryan loved, he’d have hated them.
Jules followed him the two steps it took to get from bathroom to bedroom, where Ryan dug about in the heap of laundry Mam had upended at the bottom of his bed.
“Where you off to?”
Ryan didn’t say immediately. The top he’d picked up had a hole in the armpit, but if he couldn’t find anything better it would do.
“Ry?”
“Kellan’s having a party.” After pulling on a less-weathered T-shirt, he glanced at the door to find Jules had gone. Jules never liked it when Ryan and Kellan hung out, but tonight it wasn’t about choosing one over the other, it was about the last night of school. Ryan had to do something and Kellan’s party was the only something to do. The muck-up down by the river had been a bust after some old fart called the community cops. If anything was going to happen, it would be at his cousin’s house. Ryan wasn’t prepared to have his face missing from all the shitty photos that got posted, or to spend the twenty minutes before every exam lurking in school reception listening to everyone else speaking in a post-party code he couldn’t crack.