Love Bomb (10 page)

He isn’t coming. Amazingly, the two kisses quickly dissolve my disappointment. I wanted my friends to properly meet Toby, but it looks like they’re getting along fine without me.

I take one last look at Bill and Kat. In a matter of minutes they’ve got the hang of the dance and now they don’t look so ridiculous. In fact, they look quite good. I thought Kat was playing around when she said Bill was cutesome, but, watching them together, I’m not so sure. Kat’s perfect hair is getting tangled as she turns round and her cheeks are bright red, and Bill … He looks different, somehow.

I turn away and walk towards Burger King. I text Bill:
Couldn’t see you guys in crowd x Betty

Toby and Nat are sitting at a corner table. When I see
that Toby has drawn a ketchup heart on the top of my Whopper, my heart lifts. I look at him and he winks as I slip in next to him on the bench.

‘You owe Nat five quid,’ says Toby.

‘Right.’ I tear my eyes away from him and get out my purse. I pass Nat five pounds and he shoves it in his pocket. Suddenly, I feel Toby’s leg rest, ever so slightly, against mine. Even though I’m surrounded by screaming children and the air is thick with the smell of fries, I feel the yummy glow creep over me. Who would have thought Burger King could feel so explosive?

‘Do you like the picture I did?’ Toby asks. I nod and nibble a French fry. ‘It’s Nat’s arse!’ he says, grinning.

‘Oh.’ I turn my burger round. ‘I see it now,’ I say. Toby winks at me and takes a huge bite out of his Double Whopper.

After mooching around the shops for a bit longer, we head down to the seafront and walk towards the marina.
The blue sky has been hidden by clouds and it’s turning wild. We pull our hoods up and battle against the wind, yelling when spray from the sea hits our faces. I don’t realise we’re heading anywhere in particular until Nat says to Toby, ‘In there?’ and nods towards a peeling Victorian shelter.

It’s good to be out of the cold, but it’s dark and dirty in the shelter. Fliers and take-away cartons blow around the floor. Also, it smells of wee. Nat and Toby go to the back, but I stay where I am. I’d rather be near fresh air. Suddenly, my phone beeps. It’s a message from Bea:
Hey sorry we missed you we’re going on the crazy mouse wahoooo!!!! Wanna come??? Xx

Bea loves the Crazy Mouse. It’s this roller coaster right at the end of the pier. I look across the sea. The pier’s covered in twinkling lights that are reflecting in the churning waves. Right at the end, I can just see the twisting track of the Crazy Mouse. I glance back into the shadows of the shelter where Toby and Nat are
sitting on a rusting bench. Drink cartons and tissues are stuffed down its slats.
Have fun … I can almost see you xx
I text back.

Nat opens his rucksack and pulls out different cans, carefully lining them up.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask.

‘This, Betty,’ Toby says, opening a can and giving it a shake, ‘is a bit more of my bad stuff.’ Then he jumps up on the bench and, with a swoop of his arm and a hiss from the can, starts to spray an enormous ‘T’ on the wooden wall of the shelter. I glance over my shoulder, but the prom is deserted. Nat stands next to Toby and starts on his own graffiti. From what I can make out, he’s spraying the outline of a green furry fish. A gust of wind slips into the shelter and I pull my hood tight round my face.

‘I tagged our school’s chapel and they freaked out,’ says Toby. ‘Apparently I ruined a nineteenth-century panel.’

‘Isn’t what you’re doing illegal?’ I ask.

‘Alright, Mum,’ says Nat, laughing.

‘Graffiti is illegal,’ says Toby, turning the ‘o’ in ‘T-Dog’ into a snarling bulldog. ‘But what we’re doing is
art
. Like Banksy.’

I’m not so sure. What they’re doing looks pretty much exactly like graffiti. I turn back towards the prom. Someone’s got to be their lookout, and if I don’t watch I can pretend they’re not doing it. The rainclouds make it seem later than it is and the pier glitters in the darkness. If I stare hard enough, I can just about see a carriage slowly climbing the track of the Crazy Mouse. Are they all on there right now? It hovers for a second at the top before zooming down. I imagine their screams. I guess Kat is sitting with Bill. He loves fast rides and roars all the way through the scary bits.

‘Hey, B-Cakes, what d’you think?’ Toby is standing next to his graffiti. Honestly? It’s a bit messy and drippy and the shading’s gone wrong. Still, his is definitely better than Nat’s.

‘It’s good,’ I say. Then, because Toby’s waiting for more, I add, ‘It’s massive.’ I mean it’s big – it stretches across the whole of the back wall of the shelter – but Toby thinks I mean massively awesome. He grins as he jumps off the bench.

After he’s put the finishing touches to his furry fish (which is actually a wolf), Nat heads home. Before Toby and I leave, he gets out his phone and takes a photo of his art. Suddenly, it feels extra quiet in the shelter and even the crash of the sea dies away. We’re standing so close together our shoulders are touching. This feeling creeps through me that Toby might do or say something.

But the shelter still smells of wee and the pier looks so pretty that I don’t want to be in here a minute longer.

‘C’mon,’ I say, stepping out on to the prom. ‘Let’s go.’ Immediately, sea spray mists my face and a gust of wind tugs me forward. Toby joins me and we run laughing towards town, being knocked on all sides by the wind.

*

As the bus sways back across the Downs, Toby drops a crumpled Burger King bag on my lap.

‘What’s that?’ I ask.

‘A present,’ he says. ‘You said you liked it.’

I open the bag and pull out a necklace. It’s a curled-up fox made out of a thin disc of wood hanging on a chain. Foxes are my favourite animal. Earlier we walked past a stall where a man was making them and I pointed the necklace out to Toby.

After putting it on, I study the tiny carved lines of its nose and ears. Buying me a necklace … this tells me Toby likes me, doesn’t it? There’s just one problem. I didn’t actually see Toby buy it. Did he run back and get it when I went up to watch Bea dance? There definitely would have been time. Also, why would you steal something if you had a pocketful of money? I tuck the necklace inside my coat.

‘I love it,’ I say.

It’s almost dark when I get to my road and I see my house lit up and looking all cosy. Toby and I said goodbye at the bus stop because he had to go round to Dexter’s and watch
Bad Asses
. Apparently it’s the sequel to
Bad Ass
. I’ve remembered word for word our goodbye so I can write it in Dennis the minute I get in:

Toby:
See you.

Me:
Thanks for my fox.

Toby:
Now you’ll never forget our first trip to Brighton.
(Little wave from me, gorgeous eyebrow wriggle from him.)

First
trip to Brighton!

I’m actually smiling when I let myself in, but that vanishes when I hear two voices coming from the kitchen. One of them is definitely female and has a Poo-ish quality. I’m just about to sneak upstairs when Dad sticks his head out.

‘There you are!’ he says, holding the door wide open. I’m still considering running to my room, but then I notice he’s made caramel slices and, honestly, I would put up with anyone’s company for one bite of Dad’s famous caramel slices.

They’re piled up high on a plate in front of Poo. The shortbread is golden brown, the caramel is oozy and they’re smothered in thick cracked chocolate. It’s as though Dad has set a Betty-trap to lure me into the kitchen.

I sit down on the edge of a chair and pick up a caramel slice. ‘Hi,’ I say, trying my absolute hardest to be nice … or at least not to be nasty.

‘Did you get anything in Brighton?’ Poo asks. She’s sitting cross-legged on one of our kitchen chairs and sipping herbal tea. Either she brought her own teabag or Dad’s got them in for her.

‘This,’ I say, holding out my fox necklace.

‘Beautiful,’ she says, leaning forward and picking up the necklace. She runs her fingers over the lines of the fox’s face. Today her nails are painted various shades of orange, although everything else about her is totally boring. She’s wearing a blue top, jeans and, just like last time, her hair is short and shiny.

I look over at my dad in his almost skinny jeans and faded green T-shirt that says ‘I
Beards’. He looks cool. I like having a cool-looking dad. Poo just doesn’t suit him.

‘Foxes are my favourite animal,’ she says, letting go of my necklace.

‘Really?’ I say.
As if!
Rue would say anything to make me like her. I narrow my eyes as Dad puts a cup of tea in front of me.

‘Absolutely,’ she says. ‘In fact, I’ve a tattoo of a fox on my arm.’ And just as I’m thinking she’s probably got some lame cartoon fox on her wrist, she rolls up her sleeve and shows me her tattoo. That’s definitely a fox. It’s all done in black ink, its pointy nose touching her hand and its tail curving into her elbow. Poo’s got a whopping big fox running up her arm.

‘Wow,’ I say, before I can stop myself, which is so annoying because immediately I sense how pleased Dad is. Quickly, I add, ‘I prefer owls.’

‘I’ve got an owl on my shoulder,’ she says.

What?
I bet if I said I liked zeedonks she’d show me one on her bum. We’ve definitely done enough bonding. Balancing one more caramel slice on the top of my mug, I stand up. On the way out of the kitchen, Dad gives me the most grateful smile I’ve
ever seen, and all for saying,
this, really, wow
and
I prefer owls
.

Upstairs, I write in Dennis and check my phone. I’ve got a message from Bill:
Crazy Mouse + doughnut = good.

They all got a Mock Turtle doughnut! How can I be jealous of a doughnut? It’s like they had my best day out ever and didn’t invite me … although they did invite me of course. I force myself to think of Toby and me on the bus, knocking into each other when we went round corners and how he smelt of this yummy mix of fabric conditioner, spray paint and Toby. The bus journey took half an hour. The Crazy Mouse probably only lasted a couple of minutes. But I do love doughnuts …

Just as I’m feeling all my good Toby-vibes slipping away from me, the doorbell rings. I hear Dad open the door and then a muffled voice. It’s Bill! I launch myself off the bed and into the hallway.

‘Hi,’ I yell, jumping down the stairs two at a time. Bill can’t let Dad know that I wasn’t in Brighton with him!

‘Haven’t you had enough of her?’ Dad says as Bill steps into the house.

‘Clearly he hasn’t,’ I say, landing in front of them with a bang. ‘Bill, you loser, stop stalking me.’ Bill looks confused for a second, then picks up on my wide, pleading eyes. ‘We’ve only just said goodbye,’ I add, pointedly.

‘Yeah, I know,’ says Bill, ‘but you forgot your doughnut so we thought we’d bring it round.’ He holds out a paper bag.
We
? And then I see Kat hovering behind him.

‘My favourite,’ I say, pulling it out of the bag and taking a big bite.

‘Two caramel slices not enough for you?’ asks Dad.

‘Nope,’ I say, licking up the dripping jam. ‘Coming up to my room?’ I really need to get them away from
Dad. As they follow me up the stairs, I notice Poo standing in the kitchen doorway.

‘Hi,’ she says, taking a sip of her tea, her eyes looking at me over the rim. She knows. Somehow she worked out what my dozy dad couldn’t see.

‘Bill, Kat, this is …’ I hesitate for a second before forcing myself to say, ‘Rue.’ Then I whisk them up to the safety of my bedroom.

As soon as the door shuts, Bill starts setting up my Nintendo. It’s ancient, probably an antique. My mum got it for my dad to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. This time he connects three handsets.

‘Hey,’ I say to Kat, who’s hovering by the door. ‘I really am sorry about the Autumn Celebration –’

‘Shh!’ she says, putting a finger to her lips. Then she smiles. ‘Bill told me how heartbroken you’ve been and how you were planning to make cupcakes.’ I nod earnestly … actually I’d forgotten about the cupcakes. ‘So I’m going to perform on my own at the concert and
look like a total dork, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to help you get it on with Toby.’ She flops next to me on the bed. Bill still has his back to us as he fiddles with leads. ‘I know how much you like Toby and you were right. I’d probably dump a friend for a snog.’