I threw a pillow at her, laughing.‘Well, I hope shedoesn’tthink that!’
Then I turned to her and inhaled.‘What about Niall?How do you think he’ll be?’
On the face of it, the old Niall was back.The Niall that I knew and loved, who playedMario Kartwith me, who took the piss out of teachers with me and watched football clips on YouTube with me for hours.But Shane hadn’t been in the picture.Not properly.And I deliberately didn’t talk about him in front of Niall.I saved all that for Megan.I’d even been opening up about it to Zoe.She’d been so sweet about everything, even though I knew she probably still liked him.And it’s not like I brought it up or anything.She did.Turns out, she really wasn’t the girl I thought she was.
Megan was lying on her stomach on my bed now, her chin in her hands, shiny brown hair tied up in a ponytail.‘You know what?We don’t really talk about it that much.I tried to bring it up before, but he totally shut down and then I just didn’t push it.So I think he’llprobablybe fine, but I really can’t be sure.Sorry.’She sighed.
‘It’s not your fault.Ah well, guess we’ll just have to go for it and see what happens.’
Megan sat up and sniffed.‘What’s that smell?’
‘Mum wanted to cook.’I rolled my eyes.‘Mum can’t cook.’I made a crying face.‘And Shane’s, like, really good at cooking.He’s going to be horrified.’I put my hands on my face.I’d thought about asking her to get takeaway or something, but she wassointo it that I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her.
‘What’s she making?’Megan asked.
‘Lasagne,’ I said.
‘OK, that’sfine!How wrong can lasagne go?’
I laughed.‘That just tells me that you’ve never tried my mum’s cooking.’
‘Lexie?’I heard Mum call from downstairs.
‘Oh my God, she heard us,’ Megan whispered, and I laughed.
‘What?’
‘Shane’s here.’
And then my stomach was in my throat.I took a last look in the mirror.I was happy.I looked good, I smelled great, and I couldn’t wait to see him.
‘Go for it,’ said Megan.
I smiled at her and walked downstairs.And he was standing there in the hall in a pair of jeans, trainers and a black jumper.I ran down the last few stairs, into his arms and breathed him in before anyone saw me.
‘I didn’t want to wear a tracksuit,’ he said as I pulled away.‘Mum got me these jeans.I never wear jeans.’He sounded nervous, and I quickly looked towards the kitchen to check Mum and Dad weren’t coming before reaching up to kiss him.
‘You look so good,’ I said.‘But a tracksuit would have been fine too.’
‘Oh, hey,’ Shane said, looking behind me.
I spun round to see Niall staring at us.There was no way he hadn’t seen the kiss.
It felt like thirty minutes instead of three seconds before Niall spoke.
‘Hey, man,’ he said.
I let out a breath.
‘Nice house,’ Shane said.
I felt for him.What was he supposed to say when Niall was just standing there making him feel awkward?
‘Do you playMario Kart?’Niall asked.
I almost laughed with relief.
‘I don’t have it, but yeah, I’ve played.’