Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 05] (11 page)

‘Don’t be rotten,
Nesta,’ said Izzie. ‘I bet that Lucy felt like that enough times when we were
off with Ben and Simon, didn’t you, Luce?’

‘All in the past,’ I
said. All those times when I felt I was billy loner were ancient history. I was
so happy now. I felt bowled over by Daniel’s attention and the fact that
someone wanted to be with me so much.

‘I’ve never been
dumped before…’ Nesta started. ‘Just because he hasn’t returned one call
doesn’t mean he’s going to dump you,’ I said. ‘He’s probably been busy.’ ‘Too
busy to talk to me? To return
one
call? Get real. There’s one thing I
do
know about and that’s boys. And when boys want to be with you, you don’t have
to spend time agonising over whether he will or won’t call. If he wants to, he
calls. What shall I do? Finish with him before he finishes with me? What?’

‘Just play it cool for
a while,’ said Izzie. ‘I
have
. I only called twice, then I thought, no
way I’m doing this. Reject is not a role I want to play.’

I didn’t know what to
say. Usually it’s me going to Nesta for advice not the other way around. But she
did look fed up.

‘It will be OK,’ I
said, remembering something I’d heard my mum say on the phone to one of her
clients.

‘All relationships go
through down patches. It’s probably just a phase and next week he’ll be back
banging on your door begging to see you.’

‘Yeah,’ said Nesta,
making an attempt to brighten up. ‘Sorry I’m being a downer. So, when am I
going to meet loverboy?’

‘Tomorrow, if you
like. We’re going to Netting Hill. We’re going to go down to Portobello Market
to look at the vintage clothes stalls. Do you want to come?’

‘Yeah,’ said Nesta,
cheering up immediately. ‘When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.
Anyway, I love it down there. What are you doing, Iz? Are you seeing Ben?’

Izzie shook her head.
‘Nah. Actually, I need some space from him. All we ever do is band stuff I’ve
been locked up in his garage all week. An afternoon with the girls sounds
great. Shall we call TJ?’

‘No, I spoke to her,’
I said. ‘She’s on her way back from Scotland and is going round to ours
tomorrow to have the great reunion with Steve. Honestly, he’s been like a limp
lettuce while she’s been away.’

‘Right,’ said Izzie.
‘Tomorrow. That’s settled then.’

Daniel was waiting for
me outside Ladbroke Grove tube and at first he looked disappointed when he saw
that I’d brought the girls. Sweet, I thought. He wants me all to himself. He
was all in black and looking gorgeous as usual. I felt proud to introduce him
to Nesta as
my
boyfriend.

‘So, Lucy tells us
that you want to do fashion when you leave school,’ she said as we made our way
to the market.

Daniel nodded and
glanced at himself in a mirror in a window. ‘I’ve started already, actually. I
did some designs for our end-of-year fashion show at school. Got first prize
and the local paper came and did an article.’

‘Really,’ said Nesta.
‘We’d love to see them some time, wouldn’t we?’ She turned to Izzie, then back
to Daniel. ‘Has Lucy shown you hers?’

But Daniel wasn’t
listening. He’d seen a shop with an interesting display and had taken my hand
and hauled me off. ‘Sorry. Just
got
to show Lucy these designs,’ he
called over his shoulder.

When we got to the
market, Daniel insisted that he buy us all a drink and took us to a cafe he
knew. He asked the girls what they wanted, then went to order.

‘He didn’t ask if you
wanted anything,’ said Izzie.

I blushed. ‘Oh, I
trust his choice. He knows so much about everything, even coffee.’

Daniel came back a
moment later with Cokes for Izzie and Nesta and double espressos for me and
him.

‘But you don’t like
espresso,’ said Izzie as I took a sip.

‘It’s what everyone
drinks in Milan. It’s an acquired taste,’ said Daniel. ‘She’ll get used to it.’

I might have been
imagining, but I was pretty sure Izzie shot Nesta a ‘look’.

As the afternoon went
on, I could see that Nesta was feeling more and more miserable. She kept
checking her mobile for messages and I don’t think it helped that Daniel kept
putting his arm around me and playing with my hair and kissing me at every
opportunity. That’s one of the things I like about him, it’s like he’s really
proud to be with me.

After about an hour of
Daniel and I running into shops and Daniel explaining to me why he thought this
outfit worked and that one didn’t, Nesta pulled me to one side. ‘Izzie and I
are going for a wander on our own. We feel that we’re a bit in the way, so see
you at the tube about four?’

‘Yeah, cool,’ I said.
I didn’t mind. It meant I had Daniel to myself again.

Daniel walked me to
the tube when it was time and gave me a really smoochy snog in front of the
girls before letting me go.

As I watched him walk
away, he kept turning back and waving until he’d disappeared round a corner. A
moment later, my mobile bleeped that I had a text message. ‘Big hugs, little
bear.’

I showed it to the
girls. ‘See what I mean? He’s
so
sweet.’

This time Nesta gave
Izzie the funny look.

They’ve been talking
about me, I thought. You don’t hang around with mates as much as I do and not
learn to pick up when stuff’s not being said.

‘OK, so what’s with
the secret looks?’ I asked as we went to buy our tickets.

‘Nothing,’ said Nesta
unconvincingly.

‘What do you think of
Daniel?’

‘Um… He’s very
good-looking,’ said Izzie. I knew Izzie well enough to know that she was being
diplomatic.

‘OK, spill,’ I said.
‘What have you been saying about us?’

‘Well he is a bit all
over you,’ blurted Nesta.

‘
Nesta
,’ said
Izzie. ‘They’re in love.’

‘So, didn’t you like
him?’ I asked.

‘It’s not that I
didn’t like him,’ squirmed Nesta, ‘it’s just, well, I thought he was a bit
arrogant. And a bit self-obsessed. He talked about himself all afternoon and
never once asked anything about Izzie or me. And I lost count of the number of
times he checked his appearance in a window.’

Trust Nesta to say
exactly what she thought. She can never hide her true feelings and sometimes it
can sting.

‘
Nesta
,’
warned Izzie.

‘Yeah, well, we could
have been invisible for all he cared.’

Ah, I thought, not
being the centre of attention is a new one for her. And she’s clearly jealous
because I have a boyfriend who’s really into me and hers is cooling off.

‘Well, I like him,’ I
said. ‘And it’s what I think that’s important. It’s me that’s spending time
with him. He’s really great, you just need to get to know him better. He’s not
like anyone I’ve ever met before. Um…
you
like him, don’t you, Izzie?’

She shifted awkwardly.
‘He seems a bit different to when we were in Devon. But then so are you. You
let him monopolise the whole afternoon, like that espresso - you
hate
strong coffee. And you went where he wanted and it was like, well, he was the only
expert on fashion. Usually you have so much to say about it all and your
designs are awesome. You were as quiet as a mouse all afternoon.’

‘I talk to him a lot.
I
do
. And I
like
listening to him. I feel like he knows so
much more than me. I’m really learning from him,’ I said.

‘Just don’t let him
take you over,’ said Nesta. ‘Girls are either goddesses or doormats. Don’t let
him walk all over you.’

‘I
don’t
,’ I
said. ‘How can you say that?’

Izzie looked awkward
again. ‘Nesta may have a point, Lucy.’

‘Why? What do you
mean?’

‘It’s about Daniel,’
she said.

‘What?’

‘You might not like
it.’

‘Oh, just
tell
me, Izzie.’

‘Well, remember Mark
in the band? Ben’s mate?’

I nodded. I’d met him
at Ben’s birthday.

‘Well, he brought his
girlfriend Amy along to rehearsal last night and she overheard me saying
something about the weekend we had down in Devon. Anyway, she asked if I knew
Daniel. I said, yes, my friend’s going out with him…’ Izzie looked at me
anxiously.

‘And?’

‘Well, she said poor
you. Apparently she went out with him last year and said he was a real pain.
She said it all started out well, then it all got too much. He followed her
everywhere, started telling her who she could and couldn’t see

I was determined to
stand up for Daniel. ‘Well, actually, I already know about her. But he told me
that
she
was the pain, always running off to her friends the minute
they beckoned.’

‘Well, she said to
tell you to be careful and not to let him take over,’ continued Izzie. ‘She
said he gets jealous if you even look at another boy. I hope you don’t mind me
telling you.’

I shrugged. ‘No,
course not. Anyway, she’s an ex. Maybe she wasn’t the right one for him. And
besides, when does anyone ever have anything good to say about an ex-boyfriend?
Maybe he dumped her and it’s sour grapes.’

‘Yeah, that’s probably
it,’ said Izzie quickly. ‘It’s whether you like him that counts.’

‘Exactly,’ I said with
a quick glance at Nesta, who had kept very quiet for once.

‘Um, yeah,’ said
Nesta. ‘Sour grapes. You like him. That’s what counts.’

The tube journey home
felt flat as we all sat lost in our own thoughts. It’s not fair, I thought. I
felt really hurt that they couldn’t be happy that I’d met someone who really
liked me. It was true that we always went where Daniel said, though. Was it possible
I was turning into a mouse or a doormat around him? We
did
always talk
about
his
designs and he still hadn’t asked about mine. He was making
the rules. But that was OK, I decided. It was my choice to go along with it and
I’m not going to let what Izzie and Nesta think ruin it all.

C h a p t e r
 
1 3

Goddesses

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Things didn’t improve much
with Izzie and Nesta the following week, and it felt like an invisible wall had
gone up between us. I spoke to them as usual on the phone but we talked about
other things — what was on telly, what was happening at home… everything except
boy stuff. Izzie invited me and Daniel to go to watch her band rehearse, but
Daniel said it was his idea of a nightmare, so I didn’t want to force him.
People are different, I told myself, with different interests. You can’t make
everyone like everything the same and we did have a good time on our own,
hanging out and exploring London again, even if it was him who chose where we
were going every day. It felt like I was having a proper grown-up relationship.

However, despite
everything I told myself about it not mattering what the girls thought, a seed
of doubt had been planted in the back of my mind. Part of me wondered if I was
letting him take over and giving in to him too easily.

Thank God for TJ. She
came over to see Steve one evening and came into my room for a catch up.

‘But I think he sounds
great,’ she said after I’d filled her in on the latest. ‘You don’t want some
wimp who doesn’t know what he wants or leaves it all up to you.’

‘Nesta says I have to
be a goddess and not a doormat,’ I confided.

‘Ah,’ said TJ, ‘but
which goddess? There are loads of different types. There’s Hestia, the goddess
of the hearth, Athena, goddess of wisdom, Artemis, the huntress, Aphrodite the
goddess of lurve and beauty… loads. What type of goddess do you want to be?’

Trust TJ to know a whole
list of them, I thought. She has a different way of looking at everything. Like
she sees all the shades of grey in between the black and white.

‘I think Nesta meant I
should be the one calling the shots and not him,’ I said.

‘I think it should
be’mutual,’ said TJ. ‘Like both of you decide. You do some things he wants and
he does some things you want and you compromise on others.’

‘Well, it’s not that I
didn’t want to do all the things we’ve been doing. We’ve had a great time.’

‘Then there’s no
problem,’ said TJ. ‘But why not try picking some things you’d like to do next
and see how he takes it. If he goes along with it, hey, no biggie.’

TJ was right. When
she’d gone I had a think about what I’d like to do with him in the coming days.
Bring him into my world, I decided. Invite him home and show him my designs.
Maybe a walk in Golder’s Hill park. I could show him all the lovely flower
displays they always have there. Maybe see a movie at Hollywood Bowl. Introduce
him to our favourite cafes. I made a list, then called him to see if he wanted
to come up to Muswell Hill and meet in Ruby in the Dust on Thursday.