Page 14 of Keep in Touch

Of course Emma would say exactly what she thought.

“I… We got chatting on the beach. He saved my earphones from the seagulls,” she replied meekly.

“I’m Emma, Lucie’s sister,” she snapped before thumbing in the direction of Jess, who was gazing intently at her outstretched tongue. It was blue. She must have downed several cups of her favourite drink, raspberry slushie. “This is my mate, Jess. We’ve seen you at parties.”

“Yeah, I recognise you,” he replied with the same enthusiasm that kept Lucie grinning from ear-to-ear all afternoon. Emma’s attitude hadn’t dulled his energy. “What’s the time?”

“It’s six o’clock,” Emma grunted, looking him up and down with a furrowed brow.

“I’ve got to make dinner.” He forced his feet into his trainers, but he was tripping over them because he was trying to return Lucie’s pad to her. “Can I have this masterpiece? I can’t wait to put it on my wall.”

“It’s not finished yet,” she said as he danced around her.

“You’ll have to meet me again tomorrow so that you can finish it,” he responded with a beaming smile.

“You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to,” Emma jumped in as if he wasn’t there.

“I…” Did she want to spend another day being this nervous? And this happy. The voice inside her saying those last three words didn’t sound like the one that made her feel less than she was. But what would Emma say?

“It doesn’t matter,” Chris replied, shoving his feet a little harder into his trainers. “I’ve got to go. You have a good weekend.”

He ran from the beach.

“But—” she said but he was gone. What was the point anyway?

“Was that Chris? He is so hot,” Jess said, catching up with the conversation. “I bet his girlfriend is gutted she dumped him. I heard it was to do with him going to university.” Hadn’t Jess and Emma said it was to do with him sleeping with a teacher?

“Tell us as we run. We’ve got to get back in fifteen minutes, or Dad will cancel bowling tonight and make us listen to his reason for cancelling it for the rest of the evening. I want to hear everything about Chris!” Emma said as Lucie forced her trainers on, and they set off on their run back to the lodge.

I should have said I would meet him. Why didn’t I say anything?

Chapter Ten

Luminous pink and green balls slid down the lanes, racing to get to the pins. Neon lights flashed across the shiny alley before highlighting parents’ smiles and little kids crossing their fingers. Would their skittles drop this time? It was always party night at this forest park entertainment building. Bowling should have been fun. But it wasn’t tonight for Lucie and her family.

“A friend of a friend saw him get a tattoo off another drunk guy at a party once. I didn’t see it, but his thigh has a scar from that night,” Jess whispered in her ear. The rumours about Chris came thick and fast. Where did he find the time to do all the things he’d allegedly done? Jess was more vocal than Emma, but the message was clear: stay away from him. “And didn’t he get caught getting a bj from his girlfriend and her best mate in the school science lab? Like who would do that?”

Was it possible to get a bj from two people simultaneously? “During the lesson?”

Emma laughed. “It wouldn’t surprise me based on what I’ve heard about him.”

Why was he nice to her if he was such a bad boy? From what Jess and Emma had said about his friends, including his girlfriend, Lucie was nothing like them.

Emma nudged her. “Look at Dad.”

Their dad was inspecting the lane floor for bumps. “I knew it. My bowling was fine for a good quality lane, but I can’t help it if the alley is substandard.” His face was blotchy, and he made the noise of a strained groan as he raised himself from his crouching position.

Every day Lucie found a new reason to dislike him. Some days she had several.

Did the venue have an escape route? Would anyone notice if she sneaked off and sat in the toilet quietly for a while? Publicloos were often her safe space. No one usually bothered her there, and sometimes at school, she could hide on a closed toilet seat for ten minutes without anyone noticing.

On every lane, balls rumbled up the machines as outdated pop music played in the background. Her mum mouthed to Britney Spears when her dad wasn’t watching.

“Come on, Dave. You can do better than that,” Jess’s dad, Steve, shouted over from his lane.

Her family was on one team, and Jess’s family on another. Nothing mattered more to the men than the win.

Her dad bristled but accompanied it with a fake smile. “As I said, the problem was the lane. Also, as the score shows, my family is beating yours, mate.” The trash talk was always the same when they got together. They were rivals in business and life.

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