Page 82 of When The Night Falls

‘Hiya,’ I answered.

‘Hi, love. How did it go?’

‘Okay, I think, but it’s hard to say. I might have missed the target. Who knows?’

‘I’m sure you nailed it. Anyway, I’m heading to Will’s, so I doubt I’ll be home when you get back. We’re playing a game of chess, and it tends to last a couple of hours.’

‘Right, sounds like fun. Tell him I said hi, I suppose.’

‘Will do. Love you.’

‘Love you too.’

I rang off and saw that I had a couple of notifications, but one in particular earned my immediate attention. It was a message from William.

Congratulations on completing the first of your exams! I’m checking in to make sure you’re still alive.

Sensing Mary-Anne’s eyes on me, I looked up to meet them.

‘That’s a lovely smile you’re wearing,’ she said amusedly. ‘Could it be due to a lucky man?’

I feared my blush exposed me, but I shook my head all the same. ‘No, just a friend, and a funny one at that, hence the smile.’

‘Mm-hmm.’ She was evidently not convinced, but instead of probing me, she merely gave me a knowing smile. I wondered if she would have reacted the same had she known about my arrangement with her son. Probably not.

Turning my focus back to my phone, I replied with a meme of a man in seemingly impenetrable armour of the medieval sort, with the caption ‘Me: fully prepared for exams’. But in the image straight below, an arrow struck through the slim gap in his helmet, with the text ‘question number one’ written along its shaft.

After that, I put my phone back in my pocket and promised myself not to look at it again before I left.

§ § §

Olivia and I had planned a sleepover at mine, so we headed home together shortly before midnight. By the time we parted ways with Aaron and Tyler, I had grown impatient, wanting to check if I had received any new messages. As we stepped onto the Central Line, which would take us from Wanstead to Notting Hill Gate, I took my phone out of my pocket. A smile lit up my face when I looked at my screen. William had replied.

Haha I’m sure you aced it

Ever the pessimist

I liked his last message but decided to wait with replying because Olivia wanted to talk about Colin. She had heard that he was seeing Alison now, the girl he had cheated on her with. Naturally, she was rather irate about it, and she had only found out yesterday, so she was worried the news had affected her performance in her exam today. Listening to her was a solid reminder of exactly why I would do best to avoid William. To find myself in her shoes, my attention divided between a man and my ambition, was a far cry from tempting.

‘You need to put that arsehole out of your mind, Livy,’ I said. ‘He’s not worth your attention. I know it’s easier said than done, but if he’s really seeing Alison now, it’s just another reason never to give him a single thought again. He really doesn’t deserve even a scrap of your time.’

‘It just feels so unfair,’ she whined.

‘The world isn’t fair.’

‘Your realism is hardly what I need right now.’

‘Sorry.’ My lips protruded. ‘I wish there were something I could do to make you feel better. I completely agree that you don’t deserve this, but...’ I shrugged. ‘It is what it is. You’ve spent three years of your life with a man who didn’t deserve it, but that can happen to the best of us. You ought to do yourself a favour and learn from it as you move on.’

‘Yeah, it’s just difficult to accept.’

‘I get it. I’d probably feel the same way.’

‘Urgh.’ She tossed her head back. ‘I can’t wait for exams to be over so I can start dating again. The lack of male attention isn’t helping me forget about him.’

‘I’ll gladly be your wing-woman again. That’s if you would dare to entrust me with that task after it failed last time.’

She laughed. ‘You’ll be too busy working anyway.’

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