Page 87 of White Noise

“You. We need to talk,” Sadie hissed across the table.

“OK?” There were terrified butterflies trying to flee my stomach.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re seeing Con Telford?”

“Why didn’t tell me that you know Con Telford?”

We both glanced at Con, who had returned to his seat post-photo and was staring at me with a cute, weirded-out look on his face.

“How mad is that?” he said, reaching out and taking my hand. “You work with Sadie.”

God, I wanted to kiss him so badly it hurt, but if we weren’t careful, this was all going to end in tears.

“Who’s Sadie?” Caroline asked. I’d almost forgotten she was there.

“ME!” Sadie grinned.

“She hates me,” Con filled in. “I’m fake dating her girlfriend, and according to Twitter, we’re getting married.”

“You dumped her!” Sadie pointed out. “I saw the texts! No taking it back, dude. You’re split up and staying so.”

“Our work commitments were obviously keeping us apart,” Con said flatly, like this was a normal conversation. Caroline pretended to slap him over the head, then turned to me and took my hand.

“I need to tell you all about Connor here. All his bad habits. Did you know he’s been known to pick his nose?”

Yeah, I didn’t need to know that, but whatever. More beers arrived. Sadie threatened to cut Con’s manhood into risotto if he ever came near her girlfriend again. I tuned out for a while, and when I tuned back in, they were planning some kind of garden party. My head spun a little.

I needed to stop drinking, but at the same time… Was I really supposed to smile this much?

It turned out Caroline was delightful, and we quickly got talking about education and university studies, and I almost—almost—forgot who she was.

Just like I was almost enjoying myself.

I wasn’t really a social butterfly. Work meetings with set agendas were much more my jam, but sat here letting the beer soothe my nerves, especially with Con sitting across the table from me, it was actually…OK. He and Sadie were engrossed in conversation, yet he kept reaching over and touching my fingers, shooting small longing glances my way. It made me all jittery in the calmest possible way.

He drove me crazy.

“You!” Chloe, head of Year 10 and also slightly terrifying, plonked down beside me. “What the hell, Matt? You’re dating Connor Telford?” She shook her head. “How the hell does that happen in real life? I’m having some kind of weirdNotting Hillmoment here.”

Caroline leaned in. “Girl, I work with him. Every day. I keep thinking someone’s having a laugh.”

Which, of course, made Chloe blush vividly. She grabbed my bottle of beer and took a gulp, then put it down in a flurry of nervous apologies.

“And you’re like my superhero,” she said, suddenly starstruck. “I use a scene fromWhite Noisein my fact-checking lecture.Always re-evaluate the evidence. Use multiple sources. And trust nothing but your instinct. If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?”

“I wish I could take credit for at least some of those lines, but I just turn up and play out a script. Sometimes even with conviction.”

“Convincing enough for me. I teach drama and philosophy.”

“Now I’m scared.” Caroline laughed. “Never actually studied any of it.”

“And it makes you all the better for it.” Chloe looked at me pointedly. I took the hint and got up, so they weren’t talking around me. Caroline jerked her head towards Con, directing me to sit with him.

“To be honest, I don’t think Inspector Rubin fully understands her own logic. She lost a witness. Twice. Because she didn’t fact-check. She’s a little irresponsible at times.”

“You’re allowed to be a little irresponsible in a scripted drama. In real life, we have to be bang on or we find ourselves in front of a tribunal over calling something trivial the wrong word.”

“And you deal with children.” Caroline made a face that made me laugh.

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