The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson (18 page)

Jack stops in his tracks and stares at me directly. ‘Zayn?’

I shrug. ‘He’s in One Direction too.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ he says with a grin. ‘Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, One Direction . . . You are so not a rock chick.’

I frown. ‘Who says I like Katy Perry?’

‘I saw you dancing away to her on the bumper cars.’ He raises one eyebrow at me and keeps on walking.

‘Did you?’ He noticed me before I noticed him? We reach the path lit by torches, hanging back as a kart whizzes past.

‘Moments before you nearly took me out,’ he adds, crossing the path to the grass on the other side.

‘Yeah, well, this is coming from someone who has a One Direction tattoo,’ I tease.

‘I do
not
have a One Direction tattoo,’ he says firmly, stopping again and facing me.

‘He who protests too much,’ I say in a pretend plummy accent.

‘I bet I got mine done first,’ he says.

‘Bet you didn’t.’

‘How much?’ He raises one eyebrow.

‘How much what?’

‘How much do you want to bet?’

I laugh. ‘Are you serious? You really want to have a bet about this?’ I hesitate. ‘OK, you’re on,’ I decide. ‘What are the odds?’

‘The loser has to jump in the pool naked.’

My mouth falls open. ‘No way.’

‘OK, in their underwear,’ he concedes, walking on.

‘Are you taking the piss?’ I walk after him. ‘There is no way in hell I’m getting into that pool in front of all of those people. I wouldn’t get in, even if I was wearing a bikini.’

‘Why not?’ He takes a casual drag and eyes me up and down, a smile playing about his lips. My stomach ties itself in knots as he takes me in.

‘I’m not that much of an exhibitionist,’ I reply. ‘I saw Macy slip over on the marble earlier in her wet bikini. Fell flat on her arse.’

‘Macy?’

‘Yeah, you know, Michael Tremway’s daughter.’ There I go again, saying Michael instead of Mike.

He grins. ‘You mean Charlotte?’

‘Hey?’ Then I realise my mistake and start to laugh. ‘I’ve been calling her Macy inside my head since I arrived.
Little Miss Mulholland
is one of my favourite TV shows.’ Was it really uncool to admit that? Oh well, add it to the list.

Jack looks amused as he takes a final suck on his cigarette and flicks it on the ground. I step on it and grind it into the grass with the sole of my shoe. ‘You trying to start a fire?’

‘You sound like my mom,’ he says wryly.

At least he’s got one.

That’s the first time I’ve thought about
my
mum all evening. ‘I need another drink. At least they don’t seem to care about the age limit here?’ I pause. ‘How old are you, anyway?’

‘Eighteen,’ he replies. ‘And here that’s still underage. Good thing it’s a private party. You can get away with a
lot
of stuff.’

The way he says ‘a lot’ seems ominous.

We spy a serving girl near the corner of the house and swipe a couple of glasses. The music is louder than it was when we arrived and there are a few less people in the pool. The sky is now dark blue up above, an orange tinge visible on the horizon behind the far-off trees. I wonder what time it is. I hope Meg and Johnny aren’t looking for me.

Jack sits down on a sunlounger and stretches out, crossing his legs. He pats the one beside him.

‘Take a seat.’

I’m careful not to flash my knickers as I do. From here we have a perfect view of everyone in the swimming pool and the house behind it. All of the lights are on inside now and the windows are casting a warm glow which reaches us even from this distance.

Cold War Kids’ ‘Hang Me Up To Dry’ comes on the sound system. ‘I like this song,’ I say.

‘My bro’s DJ-ing,’ he tells me.

‘Is he really? That’s cool.’

‘He won’t be playing any One Direction, though,’ he says to mock me.

‘Aw, I’m so sorry for you,’ I mock him right back. ‘Come on, then, I’m not jumping into the pool naked or in my underwear, so you may as well just tell me when you got your tat done,’ I say, taking a sip of my drink.

‘About four years ago.’

‘Bullshit!’ I splutter. ‘That would have made you fourteen!’

‘Yep.’

‘You’re not allowed to get tattoos until you’re eighteen! Believe me, I checked. At least, not without parental consent and there’s no way in hell I was getting that.’ I remember that particular argument with Mum. Libby was on Mum’s side, as usual. She couldn’t believe I was considering getting a tattoo. It was a month or so before Mum died, but even then we’d already started to grow apart. I try not to dwell on it. I’m having too good a time to spoil it now. ‘Is it different over here?’

‘I don’t know,’ he says. ‘My older brother’s buddy did mine.’

‘Didn’t your parents go mental?’

He shrugs. ‘My parents don’t really mind what I do.’ My face falls and he notices. ‘Not minding is not the same as not caring,’ he points out. ‘They’re just pretty laidback, that’s all.’

‘Oh.’ They sound like Natalie’s parents, and that’s not so bad.

‘What are yours like?’ he asks.

‘Um . . .’ Conversation killer alert! I seriously don’t want to talk about this. ‘Is that Macy?’ I sit upright as I see a girl coming out of the house.

Jack follows my gaze. ‘You mean Charlotte?’

Whoops. Did it again. ‘That’s the one.’

He smirks. ‘You want me to introduce you?’

‘You
know
her?’

‘I know
Charlotte
,’ he says pointedly. ‘She’s a friend of my sister’s.’

‘No way! Is she nice?’ Out of the blue I feel nervous. ‘I mean, is she . . .’

‘A bit of a bitch?’ he interrupts. ‘Oh, yeah, comes with teen star territory,’ he says nonchalantly. ‘But you seem to be able to handle yourself.’

I raise one eyebrow. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

He grins, but ignores me. ‘Here she comes.’

I look back over to see her approaching the pool. A couple of her friends sitting on nearby sunloungers stand up and wave her over. Jack gets another cigarette out of his pocket, but stays where he is. I decline his offer, too edgy to smoke, ironically. She glances over at us and her face lights up.

‘Hey, Jack!’ She leaves her friends looking after her as she heads over to us. ‘Where’s Agnes?’

Who’s Agnes? Is that his girlfriend?

‘Not here tonight,’ he replies.

‘Oh yeah, I forgot about her and Drew.’

She leans over and gives him a hug, then spies his cigarette. ‘Oh, let me have a drag.’ She takes it from between his fingers, but he doesn’t seem to mind. She perches on the edge of his sun-lounger, facing away from me. Her dress is low-cut at the back and she’s so skinny, I can see her ribs as she inhales deeply.

‘I needed this,’ she mutters, taking another long drag before handing the cigarette back.

‘You want one?’ Jack asks.

‘No. Mike’ll go crazy if he sees me.’

Mike? Does she call her dad, Mike?

Jack taps her shoulder and jerks his head in my direction. ‘This is Jessie, by the way.’

I’ve been sitting here, watching this entire exchange and feeling totally left out, but now she swivels around and looks almost surprised to see me. I didn’t know I had invisible powers.

‘Oh, hi,’ she says, then frowns. ‘Sorry,
who
are you?’

‘Jessie,’ I repeat.

‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

‘Jessie likes your show,’ Jack says calmly.

‘Oh.’ That seems to placate her, strangely.

‘She’s over here from England for a few days.’

‘I love England!’ she says, warm all of a sudden as she swings her legs over Jack’s to face me. ‘Which part?’

‘Berkshire.’

She wrinkles her nose up.

‘It’s not that far from London,’ I explain.

‘I love London,’ she says, her blue eyes widening. ‘It’s so pretty and so . . .’ She thinks for the right word and comes up with ‘quaint.’

I’m not sure about that, but I’m too distracted to comment. I can’t believe I’m sitting here talking to Charlotte Tremway.

She pats Jack’s thigh and nabs his fag again. ‘So how have you been, baby?’

‘Yeah, I’m good. You know me.’

‘Yes, I do.’ She blows smoke over the top of his head and I seem to have invoked my powers of invisibility once more. I don’t even want to know what she means by that comment. She certainly seems very comfortable with him.

‘Are you all set for the seventh?’ she asks.

‘Pretty much,’ he replies as he takes his cigarette back. ‘My band’s playing a gig on August seventh,’ he tells me.

‘Cool,’ I say.

‘
Way
cool,’ Charlotte adds, not looking at me. ‘I’m still working on getting you guys on my show.’ She pats his thigh again.

‘Charlotte, do you want a drink?’ one of her friends calls from nearby.

‘There in a minute,’ she replies over her shoulder, in a bored-sounding voice.

Are all of the girls in LA complete bitches? Much as I’m a fan of the show, I really wouldn’t mind if its leading actress buggered off right about now.

‘So what’s up with you?’ Jack asks her, and I start to think that maybe it’s time I went to find Meg and Johnny.

‘Usual crap. C driving me insane. Mike being an A-hole. Did you know he’s letting them kill off Bessie in this next series?’

‘You know I don’t watch it,’ Jack replies, while I wrack my brain to think which character is called Bessie in real life. I give up. I can’t be bothered to think right now and I find myself tuning out.

‘Maps’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is playing now. I lean my head back on the sunlounger and look up at the stars that are starting to appear overhead. I hum along.

‘OK, you’re starting to win back some of my respect,’ Jack says. I realise his comment is directed at me.

‘
You’ve
still got a long way to go,’ I reply without missing a beat.

‘How do you two know each other?’ Charlotte interrupts with a frown, her eyes drifting to the slit up the side of my skirt and my bare midriff.

‘We met tonight,’ I tell her, sucking in my tummy as a precaution. I am so not Hollywood skinny. At that point I see Lissa and Bryony on the terrace. They’ve spotted us.

‘Charlotte!’ Lissa calls.

Great, they’re friends. Of course they are.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Charlotte exclaims as she scrambles off Jack and hurries over to her.

Alone again. At last.

‘Heart-Shaped Box’ by Nirvana starts to play. Johnny looks a bit like a cleaner-cut Kurt Cobain, I muse. I should probably go and find Johnny and Meg soon. But I really don’t want to leave Jack, yet . . .

‘Your brother has got good taste in music,’ I say, forcing Johnny and Meg out of my mind for a bit longer.

‘Come meet him,’ Jack says suddenly, standing up.

‘OK.’ I get up, touched that he wants me to meet his brother.

‘You know, you still owe me a forfeit,’ he says as we walk alongside the pool. ‘I won the bet.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’ I brush him off. ‘I told you I’m not getting naked or going into the pool in my underwear.’

‘In that case . . .’

I scream as he sweeps me up in his arms and carries me a few steps to the pool. In a panic I hook my hands around his neck. ‘Don’t you dare!’ I squeal. ‘This is a Roberto Cavalli dress!’ Not words I ever thought I’d say.

He grins. ‘You can buy another one.’

‘My dad got it for me!’ And I’ve just realised I haven’t even said thank you. What’s Johnny going to think if I have to get back into the limo dripping wet? What will Meg think? That’s what a rock-star wannabe would do. ‘Don’t you dare,’ I warn again, more seriously.

‘You owe me a forfeit,’ he repeats, more slowly this time. I’m instantly aware just how very close his lips are to mine. Heat floods my body as I stare back into his eyes.

‘JESSIE!’ I start with surprise as I look past him to see Johnny standing on the other side of the pool. Jack sees him, too, and suddenly I’m back on my feet. ‘We’re going,’ Johnny shouts, beckoning me over. He doesn’t look too happy. My heart sinks for more reasons than one. I don’t want to go, yet. And I don’t want to piss off my new dad.

‘You know Johnny Jefferson?’ Jack asks with confusion, and I’m aware we have Charlotte, Lissa and Bryony’s attention.

‘Yeah,’ I reply warily. ‘He’s . . .’ I don’t want to lie. ‘I’m . . . I help out with their kids.’ Well, it’s sort of true.

‘You’re the nanny?’ OK, he came to that conclusion himself. Not my fault. ‘Lucky kids,’ he adds, glancing over at Johnny.

I laugh weakly.

‘If my nanny looked like you, I wouldn’t be thinking about moving out.’

‘You don’t have a nanny,’ I scoff, before I can register the fact that he was flirting with me.

‘She’s fifty-one, the size of a small car and she’s looked after me since I was a baby. Are you calling me a liar?’

‘You have a nanny?’ I ask in disbelief.

‘Yep.’

‘Well, OK, then!’ I say breezily, looking back over at Johnny. He coolly points to the terrace by the house and I nod my acknowledgement. Meg is there, too.

All of a sudden I feel very flat. ‘Well, it was nice meeting you,’ I manage to say.

‘What are you doing tomorrow?’

My sinking heart does an about-turn.

‘I don’t know,’ I reply. ‘Probably not much.’

‘Do you want to do something?’

I can’t keep the smile from my face. ‘Sure.’

He grins. ‘Give me your number.’

I’m about to reel off my mobile when I remember it doesn’t work here. I’ve been using Johnny and Meg’s landline all week. ‘I don’t know what it is.’

‘Are you trying to blow me off?’ he asks warily.

‘No! No, I swear I’m not. Give me your number and I’ll call
you
.’

He looks bemused as he digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He extracts a card from inside.

‘You have
business
cards?’ I take it from him.

‘You could do with some,’ he replies with a wink, stuffing his wallet back into his pocket.

‘I’ll call you,’ I tell him with a smirk, walking away, distinctly aware of the nearby girls watching me.

‘You better,’ he calls after me. ‘Otherwise I’ll track you down.’

By the time I reach Johnny and Meg, Johnny is tapping his foot impatiently.