Page 19 of Beg, Borrow or Steal
‘I’m fine,’ Jamie muttered.
‘And why are you smiling all the time? It’s weird and it’s starting to freak me out.’
‘Fuck off, mate. I smile.’
Pav scoffed. ‘Er ... no – no, you really don’t. You were grimacing in our graduation photos and don’t even get me started on your thirtieth birthday.’
‘I don’t like surprises.’
‘You looked like a constipated goat the whole night. I nearly punched you in the face.’
‘You did punch me in the face.’
‘Oh, did I?’
‘Yes, you said it was to cheer me up.’
‘Ah …’
‘I had a black eye for my consultant interview.’
‘Yes, well … Look, stop trying to put me off! Tell me what’s got you so goddamn happy all of a sudden.’
‘I repeat: Fuck. Off.’
‘What are you two ladies banging on about?’ Dan shouted across the table at them.
‘Chopper’s smiling like a weirdo and he won’t tell me why.’
‘Smiling? You’re normally a miserable fucker, Chopper – what’s tickled your giblets?’
Jamie sighed. Weren’t they all too old for these bloody stag weekends? Endless rounds of drinking games, reverting back to their student days. He loved his friends but it seemed like there was one of these endurance tests every five minutes at the moment. This was the fifth stag he’d been on that year. Practically all his spare time was swallowed up with other peoples’ nuptials, be it stags, stens, rehearsal dinners, and of course the actual weddings themselves. It was exhausting. And why did Dan have to come along to all these things? Jamie’s brother hadn’t even gone to medical school with them all, but somehow they’d adopted him as ‘the Fun Grantham Brother’. Annoying. And this time he was actually the best man.
‘Maybe he’s found out where we’re off to later,’ Dan said. ‘That would cheer even the most grumpy article up.’
‘Please not another casino,’ Jamie groaned. Those places blocked all natural light, had no clocks and fed you endless drinks so long as you kept gambling. Last time he’d been dragged to one he hadn’t emerged until the next morning, with someone else’s vomit on his sleeve, a heavy head and a considerably lighter wallet.
‘Uh-uh,’ Dan said, his face lighting with anticipation. ‘Much better than that, brother dearest.Muchbetter. Pavlos knows all about it, don’t you mate?’
When Jamie turned to Pav he was frowning down into his drink, an uncharacteristically pensive expression on his face.
*****
Libby looked up at Claire, who tutted and swatted her with the brush. ‘You’re smiling like a badger watching a car crash. Go back to your normal exhausted, slack-jawed face – it’s easier to do your make-up.’
‘Sorry, hun,’ she said, trying to rearrange her expression.
‘What’s perked you up?’ Claire asked, narrowing her eyes at Libby’s lips, which were pressed firmly together to suppress another smile. ‘I thought this new fancy-pants medicine was getting you down.’
‘It’s not that it’s “fancy-pants”, it’s just that I can’t sit in the back of lecture theatres anymore if I’m tired. I’ve got to beon itall the time.’ Libby’s shoulders slumped and her smile faded. She’d always known that this half of her training would be tough, but she’d come too bloody far to give up now.
Claire pushed some of Libby’s thick hair back from her face and took in the shadows under her eyes with a small frown. ‘You’re a determined little shit, aren’t you?’ Libby shrugged. ‘You know,’ Claire fiddled with the brush for a moment, shifting uncomfortably on her feet, ‘the girls and I, we’ve been talking about you and your little one, and if you need a loan or … well … we’d be happy to club together. Give you a break.’
Libby’s throat closed over and she felt her eyes fill with tears. Claire was the very definition of hard-nosed bitch. Libby was guessing that genuine expressions of concern and offers of help from her were few and far between.
‘We’re fine,’ she said as one of her tears spilt over, no doubt ruining the perfectly applied eyeliner. ‘Thank you.’
Claire huffed and rolled her eyes and she wiped away the tear with a cotton-wool pad. ‘You’re not fine,’ she muttered, applying concealer under Libby’s eyes.
