A Story of Now (27 page)

“Seriously, sorry,” she tells him. “Things have been crazy.”

He nods, still smiling as if she doesn’t have to explain. She can’t tell, though, if it means she doesn’t have to explain because he doesn’t care, or because he doesn’t want to hear excuses.

Either way, she’s up for a little torture.

But before she can say anything, Nina comes over and puts two beers in front of him. Her eyes flick between the two of them, clearly curious why Claire is giving a customer the time of day.

She waits for Nina to walk away before she continues. “Like I said, sorry. I’ve had exams and stuff. Oh yeah, and my brother nearly died in a car crash.”

His eyes widen. “Whoa. That’s awful. Sorry.”

“He’s fine now. I just wanted to make you feel bad.”

“It worked.” He sips his beer and then puts it down with a frown. “Hey, how come I have to feel bad, anyway? You’re the one who didn’t call.”

Claire shrugs. She’s bored of the conversation now. “How’s your guitar practise? Still a two-chord wonder?”

He laughs and holds up three fingers. “I got to three before my friend took his guitar back.”

“Impressive.”

He picks up the beers and smiles at her. “Anyway, I better get back.” He nods in the direction of the booth, where a lone girl is sitting, staring at her phone.

Claire looks over at her, raises her eyebrows, and nods. “Yeah, you better.”

Nina is on her quickly. “Who was that guy?” she asks in a break between customers.

“A guy.”

“Do you know him?”

“Kind of. Maybe. No.”

“Thanks for clearing that up. He’s hot.”

“I know.” Claire starts to clean a section of the bar, ignoring Nina’s curiosity.

“God, you’re annoying.”

“What? Because I won’t tell you every single thing that goes through my head?” Claire asks. “That’s your thing, not mine.”

“Yeah, definitely not your thing. Blood from a stone, Claire, blood from a stone.” She shakes her head. “You know, I’ve never had a
friend
who plays hard to get before.”

Claire laughs and throws the cloth in the sink before walking away. She probably would have told Nina about him eventually. But now that she knows how much it tortures her, it’s more fun not to.

The next time he comes to the bar, Claire serves him.

“Just a pint, please, and two shots of…what?” He scratches his head.

Claire raises her eyebrows and hands as if the answer is completely obvious. “Tequila.”

He laughs. “Tequila then.”

After she pours the drinks, he pays for them and pockets the change. Then he pushes one of the shot glasses toward her, smiles, and holds up his own. She doesn’t take it, though. Instead, she looks over at his table. There are three girls sitting there now, all hunched over the original girl’s phone.

“Uh, shouldn’t you be drinking with your harem over there?”

“My little sister and her twit friends?” He raises his glass higher. “I think not. She’s a one-pint screamer.” He leans in closer. “Are you going to make me do this alone?”

She purses her lips and glances around. No Andrew to be seen. And it
would
be rude to make him drink alone. She touches her glass to his, meets his eyes for a split second, and downs it.

CHAPTER 35

They edge around the crush of bodies inside the front door.

Claire senses it immediately, the shrill energy of a room full of people determined to slough off this last tense fortnight. To let go after the marathon of output. Now, whatever happened, everybody gets to throw up their arms and stop caring because there is nothing they can do about exams anyway. As she stands there, Nina by her side, Claire senses a thread of something bordering on hysteria in the air. Everyone is wired on the mutual thrill of finishing. And she feels the same.

Claire spots them from across the living room. She grabs Nina by the sleeve and hauls her through the crowd to where their friends are clustered around the kitchen counter. Already the room is awash with empty bottles, puddles of spilled booze, and abandoned plastic cups. Nina launches herself onto Pete’s back and hangs off his neck.

“It’s over!” Robbie hoots as she gets closer and pulls her into a tight a hug.

“Yep.” She grins. Even though she had her last exam three days ago and has had a little time to get used to the newfound feeling of summer freedom, it still feels pretty damn good to be here and to have them all back in the land of the living again.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your exhibition,” she tells him, genuinely remorseful. “We had this family thing to welcome Cam home.”

“It’s totally fine.” Robbie waves her apology away. “Anyway, how is he? How was it?”

“Cam’s fine.” Claire rolls her eyes. “Fell asleep straight after dinner. He got off scot-free.”

“But didn’t you say the poor guy has to, like, lie around for a month now before he can do anything?”

“Yeah
and
?” She raises her hands. “What’s so bad about that?”

“Right now, nothing.” He swigs his beer, puts it down on the bench, and claps his hands together. “And we’re going to be doing that up at the lake next week! Thank God your parents said yes.”

Asking her parents hadn’t been too bad in the end. She played it the smartest way she knew how and presented it to her mother while she was right in the middle of a phone tangle with the hospital. She did exactly what Claire hoped she’d do. She waved her away and told her to ask her father. Surprisingly her father agreed easily. It looks as if the guilt of leaving her with Cam on her own paid off. He told her she deserved a break after these last few weeks, and that they were welcome to go up there if they promised to look after the place and not upset any of the neighbours.

Robbie grabs her around the waist again, lifts her up, and swings her around. “It’s going to be so amazing!”

She thumps him on the shoulder. “You are nuts tonight!”

“I’m happy.” He picks up his beer again. “I am so happy that I kicked ass on my feedback, and I’m happy because I even did pretty well on that essay.”

“Of course you did.” She takes the beer Nina passes to her. “I helped.”

“Yeah, you should never do modesty, Claire.” He shakes his head as a girl skips up and grabs him by the arm. “It wouldn’t suit you.” He grins, a parting shot before he throws his arms around the girl. “Oh hey!”

Claire smiles. It looks as if Robbie is going to hug the whole world tonight.

She turns and steps into the loose circle made of Mia, Pete, and Nina. Pete gives her an exuberant kiss on the cheek.

Mia jumps off the bench and leaps over to her. “I missed you!” She enfolds Claire in a hug.

Claire laughs, returns the hug, and blushes. They don’t usually hug. Well, Claire doesn’t usually hug. Except with Robbie because she has no say in the matter. “You know, I actually missed you too.”

“Aw
thanks
.” Mia rolls her eyes and laughs as she steps back. Tonight, Mia seems happier than she has in ages. And different. She looks different.

“What’s changed?” Claire narrows her eyes and looks her up and down.

“Hair?” Mia suggests. “I got a celebratory haircut this afternoon. But it was only a trim.”

Claire looks her over again. It might be her hair. It does look good, glossy and rich. But it’s not just that. It’s all of her. Claire tries to figure it out. She’s still wearing her basic uniform—jeans, boots, and a tank. Maybe it’s a more sophisticated version of her usual look. Her top is black, made of a silky material, showing off her already tanned shoulders, with a cutout pattern along the neckline. She wears her aunt’s pendant and large silver hoops in her ears too. She’s a shinier version of Mia.

Mia frowns and runs her hand self-consciously through her hair.

“Oh no, you look really good,” Claire tells her quickly when she realises she’s made Mia uncomfortable. She takes a swig of her beer and then offers it to Mia.

Mia shakes her head and laughs. “No, I need a break, I think, if I am going to last. I’ve already had a few too many tequilas.”

“You did earn it.”

“Yeah.” Mia smiles wider, her freckled nose crinkling. “You know, I really did miss you, though. Study breaks were no fun on my own.”

Claire smiles back at her. She wishes she’d been there for that last slog too. Her mother took some time off when Cam arrived home and got immediately busy with one of her intense maternal spells, an obvious attempt to make up for the lost hospital week. She’d constantly knock on Claire’s door and ask if she needed anything. Sometimes it would be just an inane question. Other times, she’d offer Claire food. It happened so often, it felt as if Claire’s irritation had just calmed from the last invasion when there would be another knock. It was so much calmer at Mia’s house. The energy is different there.

She’s just about to ask how Mia’s parents are when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns. It’s Jeremy, Guitar Boy, a six-pack of beer under his arm. He smiles as he tucks his hair behind his ears. “Hey, I made it.”

“You made it,” she agrees as she tries to hide her surprise. She completely forgot that she invited him along—after a few tequilas—the other night at the bar.

Sick of his sister and her friends, he hung around the bar and chatted to Claire and Nina while they packed down the place. He was just like he was that morning she woke up at his place, fun and chilled, with that wry, easy sense of humour. She can see how she ended up in his bed. Well, not in his bed exactly, but how she went anywhere near him in the first place. He’s nice and he’s funny. And definitely hot.

Still, for a second she’s a little thrown by his sudden appearance in this kitchen. She smiles blankly at him, not sure what to say.

So he takes over. “Hey, I’m Jeremy.” He holds his hand out toward Mia.

“Sorry,” Claire mutters. “This is, uh, Jeremy.”

“Yeah, got that.” Mia shakes his hand. “Mia.”

“Hey, Mia. That’s my sister’s name.”

“Is it?” Claire raises her eyebrows. “The one from the other night?”

“Nah, another one.” He turns back to Mia. “What do you know, huh?”

“Hmm,” is all Mia says to that revelation. Then she looks between the two of them and kind of smiles again.

“Did you just finish exams too?” Jeremy asks.

“Yep.” She sighs. “But I plan on forgetting them now. Tonight, there is no such thing as exams.” She nods, decisive. Then she reaches out and threads her arm between them. Claire steps aside as Mia takes the shot being passed to her. She holds up the glass in their general direction. “Cheers,” she says and throws back the shot before they can even lift their beers in response.

Claire smirks as Mia winces. So much for the break. Mia looks back and forth at the two of them, presses her lips together for a second, and puts the glass on the bench. She throws her arms in the air and says, “Right, I’m dancing. See you.” She smiles briefly and squeezes between Claire and Jeremy. “Robbie, let’s dance!”

Claire watches as Mia departs for the living room turned dance floor, her arms still in the air and a sway in her hips as she slides between bodies and into the crush. Robbie is close behind. Claire shakes her head. Clearly, Mia is totally committed to partying tonight.

“Did you want to go and dance too?” Jeremy says in Claire’s ear.

She shakes her head. Maybe she does, but considering she invited him, it’d be kind of rude to ditch him when he just walked in the door. She takes over Mia’s perch on the edge of the counter and downs the last of her beer. He pulls two out of his pack and passes one to her.

“Thanks.” She eyes Nina and Pete as they continue to chat at the other end of the bench.

“I don’t know what these are like.” Jeremy inspects the label. “I found them in the fridge at work. Colombian, I think.”

“Where do you work that you find random Colombian beer in the fridge?” She raises an eyebrow as she unscrews the cap with the sleeve of her top.

“A music studio.”

“How very rock and roll.”

“Not really. It just sounds it.” He taps his beer gently against Claire’s and takes a sip. “Me and my three chords, we just supervise. We don’t play.”

“Still, it’s kind of cool.”

“Nope. You know what I actually do? I manage the bookings for recording spaces for people who couldn’t organise a drink in a brewery. They’re the kind who inevitably turn up late or at the wrong time no matter how many times you email or call to confirm the times they requested. And then I clean up after them. And let me tell you something, Claire, musicians pretty much live up to their reputation for being pigs. So, not the prettiest job in the world.”

She tips her head to one side and concedes it does sound less appealing now.

He pulls himself up on the bench next to her, and they sit there in the swampy thoroughfare of the kitchen, drink surprisingly good Colombian beer, and compare life notes while the party escalates around them. A ceaseless flow of people parade past, from the dance floor to fridge and back door. As the house fills, it becomes steamy and hot, and the whole house smells like beer breath and sweat and something vaguely hippie. Like incense.

Despite the constant flux, she doesn’t see her friends for a while. Pete and Nina disappeared at some point when she wasn’t looking. She hadn’t thought of that particular potential. Nina and Pete. It’s about time Nina dated a non-idiot.

Part of her would like to go and find everyone. She hadn’t really thought this through when she off-the-cuff invited Jeremy to come along. She forgot she’d be somewhat responsible for him. It’s not that she doesn’t like him. She does, in some kind of benign, unsure-yet way. But she also wants to celebrate with her friends tonight, and instead, they are all scattered to the high winds of this party.

It’s not long, though, before Robbie appears, pushing his way through the back door. Claire has no idea how he made it around the house, but he has.

“Hey, you guys, come here!” He beckons furiously, unable to get much closer than a few feet away before the push of the crowd forces him back as if he’s caught in a riptide.

“Where?” Claire calls.

“Just come!” He gestures over his shoulder as he drifts back toward the door. “And bring whatever drinks you have.”