Page 37

I only spent about thirty minutes getting ready.

Not the hours I’d usually take if I had a date.

Shane made me feel comfortable, like I didn’t have to be perfect.

But I still wanted to look good, so I did curl my hair and put on lip gloss, but I wasn’t meticulous, and I definitely wasn’t perfect. But that was OK.

When I’d finished getting ready, Megan knocked on my door.

‘You read–’ she said as she walked in, stopping mid-word as she saw me. ‘Lex, you look amazing. How do you expect him to chat to your parents when you look like that?’ She sat down on the bed.

I laughed. ‘I’m sure he’ll manage. But you think this is OK?’ I gave her a spin of my new Barcelona shirt that I’d tucked into my favourite shorts. The ones Shane loved. Megan gave me a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

‘How do you think it’ll go? Think your parents will like him?’

‘I think so?’ I cocked my head in the mirror. ‘Mum’s just so excited I have a boyfriend, I’d be really surprised if she didn’t like him.’

‘Yeah, I mean, he’s super likable … and super hot.’

I threw a pillow at her, laughing. ‘Well, I hope she doesn’t think that!’

Then I turned to her and inhaled. ‘What about Niall? How do you think he’ll be?’

On the face of it, the old Niall was back.

The Niall that I knew and loved, who played Mario Kart with me, who took the piss out of teachers with me and watched football clips on YouTube with me for hours.

But Shane hadn’t been in the picture. Not properly.

And I deliberately didn’t talk about him in front of Niall.

I saved all that for Megan. I’d even been opening up about it to Zoe.

She’d been so sweet about everything, even though I knew she probably still liked him.

And it’s not like I brought it up or anything.

She did. Turns out, she really wasn’t the girl I thought she was.

Megan was lying on her stomach on my bed now, her chin in her hands, shiny brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

‘ You know what? We don’t really talk about it that much.

I tried to bring it up before, but he totally shut down and then I just didn’t push it.

So I think he’ll probably be fine, but I really can’t be sure. Sorry.’ She sighed.

‘It’s not your fault. Ah well, guess we’ll just have to go for it and see what happens.’

Megan sat up and sniffed. ‘What’s that smell?’

‘Mum wanted to cook.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Mum can’t cook.

’ I made a crying face. ‘And Shane’s, like, really good at cooking.

He’s going to be horrified.’ I put my hands on my face.

I’d thought about asking her to get takeaway or something, but she was so into it that I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint her.

‘What’s she making?’ Megan asked.

‘Lasagne,’ I said.

‘OK, that’s fine ! How wrong can lasagne go?’

I laughed. ‘That just tells me that you’ve never tried my mum’s cooking.’

‘Lexie?’ I heard Mum call from downstairs.

‘Oh my God, she heard us,’ Megan whispered, and I laughed.

‘What?’

‘Shane’s here.’

And then my stomach was in my throat. I took a last look in the mirror. I was happy. I looked good, I smelled great, and I couldn’t wait to see him.

‘Go for it,’ said Megan.

I smiled at her and walked downstairs. And he was standing there in the hall in a pair of jeans, trainers and a black jumper. I ran down the last few stairs, into his arms and breathed him in before anyone saw me.

‘I didn’t want to wear a tracksuit,’ he said as I pulled away. ‘Mum got me these jeans. I never wear jeans.’ He sounded nervous, and I quickly looked towards the kitchen to check Mum and Dad weren’t coming before reaching up to kiss him.

‘You look so good,’ I said. ‘But a tracksuit would have been fine too.’

‘Oh, hey,’ Shane said, looking behind me.

I spun round to see Niall staring at us. There was no way he hadn’t seen the kiss.

It felt like thirty minutes instead of three seconds before Niall spoke.

‘Hey, man,’ he said.

I let out a breath.

‘Nice house,’ Shane said.

I felt for him. What was he supposed to say when Niall was just standing there making him feel awkward?

‘Do you play Mario Kart ?’ Niall asked.

I almost laughed with relief.

‘I don’t have it, but yeah, I’ve played.’

‘Grand Prix?’ Niall asked and nodded upstairs.

Shane looked at me, like he wasn’t sure what to do. ‘Sure?’

‘Let’s do it,’ I said. I took Shane’s hand and pulled him upstairs after Niall.

Megan was playing too. We all chose our characters and were squished together on the sofa.

Niall then Megan, then me, then Shane.

‘Hey, before we start, can I say something?’

Mario Kart music played in the background, and everyone looked at Niall.

‘Sure, yeah,’ said Shane, clearly even more nervous now.

‘Sorry for acting like a dick when you joined Westing. Don’t know why I did that. Can we be cool?’ Niall reached over for a fist bump.

‘Yeah, man, sounds good,’ Shane said with a smile, and I shared a look of relief with Megan.

I was so grateful to Niall right then.

‘Nice one. You’re not beating me at this, though. Or you’re dead.’ Niall laughed.

But Shane didn’t win. I did . And then I did a victory dance, which was cut short when Mum came up the stairs.

‘Dinner’s ready. I think I did a really good job this time.’ She smiled and looked so proud.

‘Thanks, Mum.’

We went downstairs and Mum had set the table like it was Christmas or something, with a centrepiece and candles and the good cutlery. So embarrassing.

‘Look at the lovely flowers Shane brought.’ Mum pointed to the carnations in the middle of the table, and I looked at Shane, who’d gone bright red.

‘So, Shane, sit down, tell us about you,’ Dad said. ‘Lexie has already told us bits and pieces, but I’d love to know more. Then maybe I’ll understand why my daughter is walking about with a grin on her face all the time.’

I wanted to die. ‘Dad!’

Shane talked about football and school and his family. He talked about everything that had been going on, starting with his dad’s accident. I hooked my foot round his under the table.

‘Oh, Shane. That’s a lot to deal with at your age.

If there’s anything at all we can do to make things easier, please tell Lexie and we’ll do whatever we can,’ Mum said.

I was hoping she wouldn’t cry when Shane was talking, because she looked like she was about to.

But she didn’t. Instead, she got up and opened the oven. ‘It’s ready!’ she sang.

Nobody said anything when she set the lasagne on the table. We just stared at it. Black congealed cheese round the edges, dried out sheets of pasta that hadn’t been covered in sauce.

Niall burst out laughing. And then everybody laughed, including Mum.

Dad got up and squeezed Mum’s shoulders behind her. ‘Shall we get some pizza?’

She nodded through tears of laughter, and later, we sat in the living room eating pizza and trading stories about school.

Then Mum came in to ask us all a question. ‘I have a challenge for you all. We’d love to take you on holiday this summer. Shane, we can work around you and whatever you need, but I need you all to come up with somewhere to go. Anywhere.’

Megan gasped and grabbed Niall’s hand. I looked at Shane, scared it was too much and that he would run right out of my house.

He just smiled at Mum. ‘That sounds amazing, Mrs Ryan. I’ll speak to my mum and see what could work.’

‘Brilliant.’ Mum looked so happy.

When Shane had to leave, we stood in the hallway again. This time we were actually alone.

‘You know, you don’t have to come on holiday, if it doesn’t work with your dad or whatever. I can say no for you. Or maybe I’ll just stay at home.’ I shrugged.

‘I’d love to go, Lexie. Aunt Tammy has promised to help out even more than she does, and Mum has been saying that I need more time to do my own thing.’

I reached up and kissed him. Then I felt his hand slip underneath the bottom of my shirt, and find that space at the top of my shorts. Our space.

My whole body was fizzing with electricity when he left.