The Deepest Cut (11 page)

‘You're welcome,' she said, shutting the door and flinging herself onto her bed.

Her room was all lava lamps, dream catchers, and incense sticks. Total hippy paradise. Cosy though, and at least I wasn't on my own anymore, but…

‘What?' She asked.

‘If Ed knows I'm in here with you, he's going to rip my balls off,' I said.

‘Fuck Ed, come and sit down,' she smiled.

‘Are you going to try and shag me?' I asked.

‘Only if you want me to,' she said.

She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, so I could see her knickers under her cheerleader's skirt. She was too busy leaning back against the wall and rolling a fag to notice me looking, or twig that I now had a massive boner.

I sat down on the edge of her bed so she couldn't see it.

‘Want one?' She asked, without looking up.

‘I don't smoke,' I said.

I'd seen Polly around school a couple of times, but I hadn't realised she was Ed's sister. I hadn't ever paid any attention to her, but sitting in her room, right next to her, I realised how pretty she was. When she tucked her long hair behind her ear, I actually wanted to lean over and kiss her.

‘Bollocks,' she said.

‘What?' I laughed. She may have been pretty, but she was no lady.

She leant over the side of the bed and was rooting around under it, which meant that her really crisp white knickers and her arse were on show and it was pretty much perfect and cute.

She got back up holding a pack of filters.

‘Help yourself,' she said, pointing at the vodka.

I wasn't falling into that trap. I'd end up drunk, then she'd take advantage of me. OK, I really wanted to shag her but there were three reasons I didn't think it was right: we weren't together or anything and I'd never done it before; she was a bit of a demon and I was quite intimidated by her; and Ed would rip my balls off, pickle them in a jar and take them to school, where everyone would laugh at me even more than they already did.

‘Adam,' she said. ‘Vodka, get it.'

‘What we got to do with it?'

She snorted, grabbed the bottle and took a swig of it straight. Like swigging vodka from a bottle was the most natural thing in the world. She handed it to me.

I didn't want to look like a massive idiot, so I took a swig myself. I nearly choked to death.

‘You're alright, you know.' She laughed at me and went over to the window.

I took another swig. It wasn't as bad but it was still disgusting.

‘I mean you're a bit strange, but I like strange,' she said.

She opened the window and lit her cigarette. ‘Eugh,' she said, looking at some of the people in the garden. ‘Can't stand that wanker.'

‘Which one?' I asked, poking my head out.

‘That one there. He's our cousin Danny.'

‘Yeah, we saw them when they came in. Everyone in the kitchen went quiet. Why don't you like him?'

‘He thinks he's hard.'

‘Is he bad news then?' I asked.

‘No, he just thinks he is. He's harmless really.'

‘He's older than us?'

‘Yeah, he's twenty-one. He's not in college or anything anymore. My aunt's always moaning about him getting a job and stuff, and how she and my uncle can't keep giving him money all the time.'

‘What does he do with himself, then?'

‘Just bums around really. Must be so fulfilling,' she said.

‘Who's the girl?' I asked her.

‘Sarah.'

‘Danny's girlfriend?' I asked, but I wasn't listening when she answered. Nathan and Megan were up the end of the garden. They weren't in their usual position with her wrapped round him and him touching her up. They were serious. Her hands were waving about all over the place. He looked like he was about to cry.

‘Are you even listening to me?' She asked.

‘Do they look like they're having a row?' I nudged my head at where Nathan and Megan were.

We watched them in silence. The only sound was Polly pulling on her cigarette, inhaling, then blowing the smoke out.

‘Yeah, looks like it,' she said. ‘Is that your mate Nathan?'

‘Yeah,' I said.

‘That his girlfriend?'

‘Yup.'

Nathan's arm reached out for Megan but she shoved him off and walked quickly down the garden. He stood with his hand over his mouth, watching her go.

‘Looks serious,' Polly said.

‘I better go and see if he's OK,' I said.

‘Leave him a minute,' Polly said. ‘Let me finish this first. You can keep an eye on him from up here – let him have a minute to himself.'

‘He looks pretty upset.'

‘He'll be OK,' she said, touching my arm, which made my stomach flip. ‘Anyway,' she said. ‘Tell me more about …'

I'd stopped listening again. Nathan had sat down on a bench at the bottom of the garden. His face was in his hands.

‘Adam?' Polly said.

‘Look.'

‘Oh …'

‘I should go and …'

‘He's a big boy, Ads, he can look after himself.' She took a final drag on her cigarette and flicked it out the window. Nathan got up and started walking down the garden, head down. I walked away from the window and towards the door.

‘Well I need to find out where Megan is. And Jake,' I said. ‘I haven't seen him for ages.'

‘Suit yourself,' she said.

‘Come with me?' I asked. ‘Where are all your friends?'

‘None of them are here tonight; Ed wouldn't let me invite them. No year elevens allowed,' she said.

‘I'll come back up,' I said, hoping she'd want me to.

‘OK,' she smiled and plonked herself back on her bed.

What I really wanted was to find Jake in a corner somewhere with his hand down Kelly's top, and Megan and Nathan making up in another corner. Then I could have gone straight back up to Polly.

I checked every dark corner of the house. I couldn't find either of them anywhere.

The last place to look was the garden. Where that Danny was. No matter what Polly said about him, I was intimidated by him. I really didn't want to go out there, but then I heard Nathan's laugh.

Bingo. He'd be outside with Jake. Definitely.

I weaved past a few people, went out the back door, and did a quick scan to see Nathan sitting at the table with Danny and his mates.

‘Ads.' Nathan nodded at me. ‘Grab a drink, come join us. This is Danny, Sarah, and Lucy.'

‘What happened with Megan?' I asked.

‘He don't wanna talk about that, man,' Danny said.

Sarah and Lucy laughed. Sarah was looking at Nathan like she wanted to jump him there and then.

‘Grab a drink and come and sit down,' Nathan said.

‘Alright,' I said. ‘Let me just go and find Jake,' I said.

‘Why do you need to go and find Jake?' Nathan asked. ‘Just come and sit down, enjoy yourself, let your hair down … chill.'

‘I'll go and find Jake, we can all chill together, you can tell me what happened with Megan and–'

‘Didn't you hear me the first time?' Danny asked. ‘I said he don't wanna talk about that.'

I took a few steps back and tried to stop my hands from shaking. ‘Nath, come and help me find him,' I said. I wanted to get him away from Danny and his mates. Even if Polly reckoned he was harmless, I didn't like him.

‘Go and find him yourself,' Danny said. He gave me a filthy look and turned his head away. Nathan was looking at him intently, then he waved his hand at me to tell me to go away, to get on with it.

‘Come back when you've found him,' he said. He was staring at me weirdly.

‘Nath?'

‘Just come back when you've got him,' he said, a bit more softly.

‘What you doing hanging around with this knob cheese?' Polly appeared behind me.

‘Fuck off,' Danny said to her.

‘You fuck off,' she said back.

‘Don't start, Pol. I swear to God just don't start, alright?'

‘Scared I'm gonna embarrass you in front of your mates?'

‘Whatever. Just do one, yeah?'

She turned her back on him. We took a few steps away from them, towards the house. ‘Just seen Kelly coming out of my mum and dad's room, Jake'll be in there.'

‘Cool,' I said.

‘What's he doing with that dick head?' She asked, looking over her shoulder at Nathan and Danny.

I shrugged. ‘I don't know. He said to go and find Jake and come back out.'

Polly screwed up her face. ‘Find Jake, make sure he's OK, leave Nathan to it.'

‘Shouldn't I try and get him away from them?' I whispered.

‘I told you, Ads, he's harmless really. What's the worst that could happen?'

Nathan was laughing with Sarah, who still looked like she wanted to jump him. I shook my head.

‘Sarah's alright, actually. She's quite sweet. God knows why she hangs around with Danny. Look, if he's had a row with Megan, he'll be getting his ego kissed better with Sarah's flirting. Leave him. Let's go and find Jake, make sure he's OK, then we can go back upstairs and have a quiet drink.'

Even though I felt uneasy, I agreed. Polly was right, Nathan looked like he was having an OK time. I didn't want to hang out with Danny. I'd go and find Jake, make sure he was alright, then slip back upstairs with Polly.

‘Laters,' Nathan said as I walked back into the house.

‘Top of the stairs, first on the left, I'm just going to grab some ice,' Polly said.

I jogged up the stairs and onto the landing.

‘Adam,' Kelly pulled my hand away just as I was about to open the bedroom door.

‘Where's Jake?' I asked. ‘Is he in there?'

‘No, there's someone else in there now,' she said, but the tone of her voice was off.

‘You were just in there,' I said. ‘Polly saw you come out.'

‘No I wasn't. No she didn't. Who's Polly anyway?' Her hair was all over the place, she'd blatantly just been shagging.

‘Yeah, you did,' I said. I put my hand back on the handle. ‘Let me in, I need to speak to Jake.'

‘He's not in there,' she said, looking at the floor.

‘What?'

She stood to the side; I opened the door and went in. There was a bloke sitting on the bed buttoning up his shirt. I had no idea who he was.

‘Where's Jake?'

‘Who the fuck is Jake?' He looked up at me.

‘Her boyfriend,' I pointed at Kelly.

His face fell. ‘What?'

‘Listen …' Kelly said, walking into the room.

The bloke stood up. ‘You've got a boyfriend?' He asked.

‘I just …' She stopped talking and looked at me.

Then the penny dropped. ‘You've been shagging him?' I asked.

She said nothing.

He barged past and out of the room.

‘Did you just cheat on Jake?' I asked her.

She looked at the floor, then up at me. ‘Please don't tell him, Ad. I'm fucked; we drank two bottles of wine before we left. It just happened. I couldn't find him. I didn't mean it to, I don't … I'm sorry … please don't tell him,' she grabbed my arm. ‘Please?'

I shook my head at her.

‘Adam,' she cried, but I was already gone and out the door and down the stairs.

Polly caught my arm at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Someone said he's out front with Megan … Adam, what's up?'

I ignored her, opened the front door, and stormed out. Polly was close behind me, asking me what was going on.

Jake and Megan were sitting on the wall at the front of the house. Jake was holding a bottle of wine, which was almost empty. Megan had a half-full glass.

‘Jake,' I said.

‘Ads,' he put his arm around me. ‘I love you, man,' he said.

‘You're fucked,' I said, pulling away from him. His breath stank of wine and his eyes were droopy. ‘What's going on?'

‘What happened, you see,' he said, swaying. ‘What happened was … What happened?' He asked Megan.

‘I dumped Nathan,' she said, looking at the floor.

‘What?'

‘There was a girl out the back garden who kept looking at him and smiling. I was gonna let it go, but then I caught him smiling back. I had a go, he told me to stop being an idiot,' she said. ‘I'm sick of his shit lately, Ads. He's not like he was when we first started going out, he's got an attitude now. I love him, but I can't deal with it. The way that girl was looking at him …'

‘Sarah,' Polly said.

‘Is that her name?' Megan asked. ‘Anyway, I was gonna go home but Jake caught me here on my way out and told me to stay. He said leave Nath for a bit, then go in, and sort it out with him.'

‘What were you doing out here? Why weren't you with Kelly?' I asked Jake.

‘Funny story,' he said. ‘Thing is, I think I'd had a bit tooooo much of le alcoholohlico beveraaaages. I felt sick. Turns out Kelly hates sick, so I came out here for some fresh air and she stayed inside. Shit, I better go and find her, man. She's probably worrying about me.'