Page 23 of You Float My Boat

Yes, I’ll be waiting.

I typed out an x then deleted it. Should a fake girlfriend put a kiss on their message? I typed another, then deleted itagainbefore deciding against it entirely. Too soon for the x.

Hopefully he wasn’t watching thedot dot dotsof indecisiveness.

Shit, I really needed to get a better hang of this. I was yet to decide if it helped that Charlie seemed way more nervous than me, although thinking about it he was probably just distracted by Evie.

‘Violet, what are you staring at?’

I glanced back up at the mirror, my gaze cutting to the reflection of Stella now tidying up the clothes explosion behind me.

‘Nothing, just replying to Charlie.’

She thumbed through a copy ofEmmawhich she’d found under a pair of jeans, and tossed it onto my desk. ‘How are you feeling about it? Calmed your racing pulse yet?’

I sighed. ‘I think so. I dunno. It’s hard to tell.’

‘What d’you mean?’

‘When I’m with him, and it’s just us two, it’s like I’m a different person. I’m playing this role he wants, and it’s all good. I can forget he’s the guy I’ve fancied for years. But the second we part ways, and I’m alone, I panic all over again that I’m going to fuck up or he’ll somehow see right through me and have to let me down gently that we’re just friends. I don’t need the reminder.’

‘Hmm, quite the conundrum,’ she replied, without offering up any kind of solution. ‘Where do you have to meet him?’

‘At Radcliffe.’

‘Oh great!’ She placed a now folded t-shirt on top of another one. ‘That’s on the way, I’ll come too, I can assess how believable you are as a couple. And then it also doesn’t look like you’re trying too hard … you know, like you’re passing and thought you’d wait quickly.’

‘You’re right,’ I nodded, more from habit than anything, because she probably was.

I, on the other hand, hadn’t really thought about the granular details of the situation because my brain was too focused on seeing Charlie. Out of the two of us she was the one who was right more often than not.

It was how we rolled, and one reason we rarely argued despite the fact we were almost polar opposites.

‘And after we can swing by the theatre and see if they’ve made any early decisions.’

‘They won’t have. Cece said they’d let us know next week.’

Stella shrugged as she re-hung a cute, polka-dot mini skirt I’d immediately dismissed as not ‘Charlie girlfriend-wear’ back in the wardrobe. ‘No harm checking. Then we can go for lunch before my three hours of French conversation.Très bon. Or it would be if Tavener wasn’t in it too. Maybe I can have a glass ofvinat lunch, that would make him less insufferable.’

‘Is he any good at French?’ I asked, running my fingers through my thick curls to make them more of a casual wave instead of the eighties bouffant I was currently sporting.

Based on Evie’s sleek, glossy hair I couldn’t see Charlie being with someone who looked like they’d stepped out of one of those retro shampoo ads.

‘Unfortunately, yes, annoyingly so. Probably why he took it, because he knew he’d ace it.’

‘You never know, he might put in a good word with Cecily, and you’ll get the part of Olivia.’

‘I’d rather get it on my own merit.’ She moved overto my dresser, twisting the lid off a pot of lip balm and swiping her finger through the top. She held it out to me. ‘Here, you better use this, get your lips all nice and kissable for your new fake boyfriend.’

Dropping onto the chair next to me, I waited until she’d stopped laughing like it was the funniest joke she’d ever told, but her throaty cackle was too infectious not to get caught up in it.

‘You’re an idiot,’ I grinned, snatching it from her and, against my better judgement, lightly coating my lips in the rose-scented balm.

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